Final Fantasy and the Toxic Fanbase.

[Wolf Kanno]

I gotta say that WK and Fynn are definitely right up there with the most anti-new-FF people in recent years. I can understand why they don't like how FF has been because I don't like every game in the series and I'm sure they see the newer games like I see the battle system of FFII, for example. But I have an innate habit of focusing on things I like and also have a seemingly lucky ability to enjoy things others don't, maybe lower standards or something. xD

To be fair, I actually liked FFXV. Perhaps it didn't crack my all time favorite, and it did feature some game design choices I don't particularly care for, but I did actually enjoy it. My beef is really more with XIII.

[Mr Gashtacular]

I think all fandoms have toxic bubbles. I think fandom itself is inherently toxic - people take their obsession too far. It's a natural side effect of being so personally tied to a thing. Someone else is personally tied to your thing in a different way, and that makes them a problem. However, I suspect different media will trend more toxic than others. I would hazard to guess that outside of some small bubbles of toxicity, FF has a nicer fanbase than most others I can think of.

[Lord Golbez]

Well, after all, fan is literally an abbreviation for fanatic, so taking the obsession too far is kind of in the description. Granted, in modern parlance, "fan" tends to take on a less pejorative and less extreme connotation than "fanatic." Nevertheless, there's no mystery behind that origin. It's pretty easy to see why devotees of particular works would be referred to as fanatics.

[Loony BoB]

One thing I will say is that when we went to Kupo Con in Glasgow, the fans all seemed to really support each other and were really friendly. We didn't approach all that many and start up conversation of course, but just the ones we did talk to were really chatty and friendly. It was admittedly a bit of a nerdy affair by nature but it was great.

[Malreckus]

My theory is that there's no foundation to create a good fanbase on because of the franchise itself.

If Final Fantasy 1, 2, 3 (...) 14 and 15 were all about the same world, like; Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc., then the fanbase would be completaly different. If you're a fan of one game, you're a fan of the series.

In reality, today's fanbase is the same as sports: You can connect on your passion for football or some other sport (being the FF-series) and then you can connect or have heated discussions about your favorite team (like FF7 vs FF9). It's too broad, too many aspects.

So.. I'm guessing it's impossible to not get a toxic fanbase in Final Fantasy as a whole. But if you look at the fanbase for Final Fantasy VII, then there's no such thing as toxicity - right?

[Jessweeee♪]

I feel like it hasn't been cool to like the "latest game" since I became aware of the series, at FFVIII. Idk if that attitude was around for FFVII and before but it sure as hell was prevalent for the launches of FFVIII, FFIX, FFX, FFXII, FFXIII, and FFXV. Some of these titles were forgiven and even highly regarded in later years, but when it was the hot new thing? Lots of bashing. Yes, even FFIX.

And don't even get me started on r/ffxiv. There's a string of comments in there right now about whether or not someone is obligated to tell the whole party they have a disability.

Oh also people are super mean on gamefaqs if you ask how to cheese any FFX-2 bossfights in the remaster with the catnip nerf. Like I just want to get 100% in one run I've been trying for 15 yeeeaaaarrrrssss