How Do You Like This Progression

[Zephyroth]

I would like to know how other fans feel about the progression of Final Fantasy. When i say this i dont mean FF11 and online play, but instead the charecters. Im a big fan of FF7 (who isnt) and it seems to me that charecters now as compared to then just dont seem to have much intrigue. To be fair since FF7 ive only played FF9 and FF10 and have seen FF12 and i cant tell much yet but it seems to look a lot like FF10. The whole metrosexual look and feel to me dosnt live up to Final Fantasy of old. Please let FF13 (if FF13) be a return to the charecters of old. I mean 13 couldnt be a better number to start over again.

Please reply!

[Ouch!]

I don't think you're giving them enough credit. Just because they have a "metrosexual look" doesn't mean they aren't going to have as deep and thoughtful pasts and emotions. Also to be fair, I've played, I, II, IV, VII, VIII, IX, X and X-2. With the exlusion of I (which had no room for character developement, much less dialog) and II (which I could never get into), the characters and their developement has never been disappointing. None of the characters were ever two dimensional. FFVIII bordered a lack of developement of the support roles, such as Zell, Quistis, Selphie and Irvine; that was because the focus was mostly on Rinoa and Squall, and even a bit with Seifer. But otherwise, the characters have proven to be deep enough to provoke thought and emotions linked to those characters.

I think you're stepping out about the characters in FFXII a little too early. Like you said, you haven't played this game, and as far as the characters go, not much has been revealed. We don't know anything about their pasts really, except that Vaan and Penelo's parents were killed in the war and all the characters' occupations. You're simply basing your opinions on their appearance, which is not a very good thing to do. Honestly, I think these characters have some great potential. Balthier, in my opinion, has great potential. From the trailer I get the vibes that he is going to be a very cocky character, and as IGN's response to FFXII at E3 states, he "equalizes the testosterone a bit for the macho types."

I guess what it comes down to is that we're all going to have to wait until the game comes out. Though it has been revealed to be taking the series in a bit of a new direction, I don't think they'll drop their attempts to make the character's pasts and personalities deep and involving.

[aeris2001x2]

well imho opinion u r bound to be disapointed cause i doubt anything will ever be as good as ff7 character development wise. an emerald will always disapoint if u want a diamond.

but yeah, as Zaphier touched on, wait until the game before u judge.

and in the progression.

ff1 had no development cause they were not meant to. they were just the flawless "light warriors".

ff2 was the worst developed ever and while we may never get ff7 again, be thank ful they have learned from this failure.

ff3 was in a similar way to ff1 but slightly diluted cause they spoke at times.

ff4 had more development in the first min then the previous games combined. the leap in quality from them to this is immense. cecil became the first of the legendary protaginists. i,m only 2 hours in and its destined to be in the top 4 ff games.

ff5 i have heard this dropped characters 4 gameplay. if so...

then ff6 combined ff4 drama with ff5 gameplay quality for the ultimate epic. almost every normal character here is very deep, perhaps suffering from too many characters. of course many hail this as the number 1 ff...

then imho ff7 goes and tops the perfection of ff6.

then the decline ff8. but despite only squall being a worthy character this still had miles better development then the first 3. u may hate them but at least u can. u cant hate ff1-3 two dimensional non entities.

ff9 picked itself back up but still found itself falling short of the high bench marks of ff4, ff6 and ff7.

ff10 in my opinion was the rebirth of the seris and excedded all my expectations. it had incrediable character depth, but inevitablly STILL disapointed because it was still not as good as the big three.

ffx-2 was another collapse imho opinion but still managed to be immense fun.

so yeah, the reason ff1-3 are not killed for no characterisation is because it was not expected back in 1987-1990. when ff4 was released, eveyone expected the rest to match it. ff6 and ff7 set new standards of such divinity it was inevitabally going 2 be impossible to match. ff8-10 were all rationally better then ff1-3 but because they wernt ff6 or using the old job systerm they r heavily criticised. if ff1 for example was released today as a new game and had not existed before would it be hailed as genius and far better then ff8-10? of course not.

so i would say the latest batch (except ffx-2) have there place stuck between the top three ff4,ff6,ff7 and the bottom four ff2,ffx-2,ff3,ff1 and we should just recognise that while it wont beat some of the older ones, ff games r still alive and kicking in character development.

[Loony BoB]

The only thing that I really don't like about the newer FF's is the fact that the main character is becoming less and less "you" and more and more That Character - there's no involvement. I think Cloud was the last FF character that I really felt I was in charge of. You chose a LOT of what he said, you could make him say something witty or something serious, you could do a lot - it would still be the same old Cloud no matter what you did, but the fact that he wasn't a striking personality like Squall and Tidus are makes it a lot better. I hated FFX because Tidus is such a ... dumbass. In a bad way. He's a complete twit, in my opinion, and I never liked him, yet this character was "controlled" by me? No way. I had no control, it was merely me pointing him in a direction and him doing what he wanted once he got there. If FFXII brings on a more complete character control, I'll be happy. If it's just another character that they randomly picked from the existing party and told you to move his extremely linear story, then FFXII will be another failure in my eyes.

RPG. Role playing game. I would like to play the role. I would not like the role to play itself.

[Ultima Shadow]

aeris2001x2, Whise spooken.
Loony BoB, Yes ff4, ff6 and ff7 was more role playing. I didn't feel that at all in ffX, but it was still a great game.

[DJZen]

FFII had weak characters? What? Did we play the same game? Sheesh...

FFV had a lot of character development. It had knockout gameplay but it also had a really cool story. (SPOILER) The main character is the son of a wayward hero of light who helped defeat an evil power years ago. Two characters are estranged sisters and also princesses. The other two are uncle and neice I think, but the elder has amnesia for a while. He was one of the original light warriors. I won't say more 'cause it's been too long since I played the game and I can't remember most of the details and fear that I will mess them up.

[aeris2001x2]

FFII had weak characters? What? Did we play the same game? Sheesh...

FFV had a lot of character development. It had knockout gameplay but it also had a really cool story. (SPOILER) The main character is the son of a wayward hero of light who helped defeat an evil power years ago. Two characters are estranged sisters and also princesses. The other two are uncle and neice I think, but the elder has amnesia for a while. He was one of the original light warriors. I won't say more 'cause it's been too long since I played the game and I can't remember most of the details and fear that I will mess them up.

i dont know about ffV but the ff II i,m refering to is the one with firional, maria, gus and leon. so unless u thought i was talking about ffIV we r on the same game, and ffII characters r absolutly pathetic. Gus says 2 lines or so the whole game, maria and frional not much better and it never explains the Leon nonsense. there is more character development in Seifers little toe then FFII.

[Del Murder]

I don't like modern looking characters. I prefer the cartoony style of old. Tidus looked too much like some random Japanese dude, which turned him from some epic hero to half the guys in my math classes.

[Zephyroth]

Thank you del, random japanese dude is a perfect example of what i mean, but also the charecters are whiny little BOYS not MEN their balls have not dropped yet and i dont find myself intrigued at all with theyre problems. I will wait and see 12 though, i have seen and heard new things since i posted and am a little more interested. But one more gripe (okay im whiny sometimes too) Could we PLEASE have a more dramatic camara system like in 7 where Cloud would be at the end of a hall and wed have to move him toward a static camara until he passes. Its just so much more cinematic. I cant wait to se Advent Childeren. Sephiroth in real CG. SWEET.

[TheAbominatrix]

If you dont like the newer games, dont play them. Try playing IV - VI, for starters.

You complain that there's no character development... but there was a lot in X. They focused on every character plenty of times. You complain about Tidus being a wuss... so, what, do you want copies of Cloud constantly? That's annoying. I felt Tidus was actually a real guy, not some no-nonsense tough guy like every other lead in the recent games.

If you continually compare every game you play to some game you seem to be a tad obsessed with, you'll find yourself continually disappointed. The only thing that really bothers me about the new games is everyone complaining about the 'new direction' the series has taken because they arent carbon copies of VII.

[DJZen]

Well, I've only just started playing X, but I can say one thing that bothers me off the bat; Tidus is basically a jock. He's not an underdog, he's not in the middle of some sort of spiritual struggal, he's a celebrity. You start the game by signing autographs. THAT bugs me. It's hard for me to identify with a character who reminds me of the most annoying social caste in the world. But as soon as Sin shows up that sorta changes things.

[Az Lionheart]

the only problem i had was with FFIX. all the characters looked about 10 years old.

[DJZen]

Ooooooh... Don't ever play FFIII....

[aeris2001x2]

ffIII knocks the stuffing out of ffII.

[Outsider]

I think that the characters have to be interesting. I don't really care if they are developed at all.

FF4, for example. They don't tell us much about the past history of those characters during the game, but still, I love most of them. They have interesting personalities, and it's fun to feel it in the dialogues and stuff.

But since FF7 the characters are getting boring. I'm not even a FF7 fan (in fact, I don't like it), but it had some good (not that good), interesting characters, FF8 was a total disaster, and in FF9 most of them are too childish and silly, so I don't take them too seriously. I never played FF10.

FFTactics had a good amount of great characters, being the only Final Fantasy game I like since FF6.

But I don't blame Square... They are, at least, trying to create new stuff. Their new stuff is not good, but hey, it's new. Heh.