Blinded by new-school

[Sefie1999AD]

i h8 ff1!!!! its teh carppiest ff eva!! teh grafix r so ugly, i mean their 2d and nuthin compaired 2 teh gr8 3d grafix!!!11 lol and their is no stryline and no charcater can spaek!!!! omfg theyve got no devlepoment!!! all teh charctaers r soooo big wusses!! look @ warmaech his olny got 1 thousnd hp in teh nes versoin omg what a wuss! penaence has 12 milloin hp and lol even ffVIII's ifreet has more hp then warmaech and ifrett's the 1st boss in ffVIII 4 lulus saek!!! so ff1 has teh wusseist supa bosses eva and teh fnal boss has only 4000 hp even in teh psx vesrion!! tahts sooo laem ffX spolierbraskas fnael aion has 180,000 hp totaly sooo his got 45 tiems more hp then teh fnael boss of ff1!! ur charcters r wusses too i maen u cant do 999,999,999,999 damge unliek in teh newer ffs!!! lol animas oblvion, knghts off teh round, gardn of eden and cat nip + triggre hippy do alot mroe damgea then all ff1 charcters 2getha! xDDDDDD teh best ive neva been able 2 do is 500 dmage wit a lvl 50 mster balck belt. y cant lvl 99 b teh max levl!!?? and i h8 teh most how spiel anmiations r so short they taek 5 or 10 secodns at most lol ff8 is alot bettre bcuz i luv thoes 2 minite long gf summon seqeunces lol!!!! yea ff1 is defintaly teh worst ff eva!!!!!!!!111

(SPOILER)The above is sarcasm, so don't take it too seriously. xD

Seriously speaking, though, do you think many "new-school" FF players have seen too much flashy 3D-graphics and extremely powerful eye candy spells that they can't appreciate what the FFs originally were? That's why they might not like games such as FF1 since there's no 3D, no cheesy love stories, whiny hero characters or other things like that (okay, this is generalising the newer FF games, but you probably got the point). I've heard of a few people who have tried the newer FFs but quit playing it immediately because the graphics "sucked" and they couldn't stand the game. I've seen this happening with at least FF1 and FF4. A few people were also hesitating to play FF5 because its graphics were 2D.

Those who have played the older FFs (1-6) and mostly liked them, do you think many FF gamers have indeed been blinded by the 3D-graphics used in the newer FFs? If you know someone who really dislikes all the older FFs but loves the newer FFs (or if you're like that yourself), can you tell me more about why s/he dislikes the older games? Discuss.

[TasteyPies]

My experiances with FF was..

1,8,9,7,5,10,2,3,6,4 in that order. after 10...2,3,4 and 6 were just lame. Mostly because they all looked the same. So yeah I started with an oldie but then went to alot of flashy ones...I realy enjoy the low-tech graphics and love playing the oldies....butt i liek teh sexxors 3d beter!!!!!!111

[Cz]

Contrary to what we'd like to believe, very few FF newbies are graphically obsessed morons. Most people here seem to enjoy playing the older FFs as much as the most recent releases. Of course, there's always going to be a special place in their heart for FFX, but the same is true of all of us. FFVII's popularity is due in part to it being many player's introduction to the series, if not the RPG genre. The same applies to FFX.

Despite the current trend of style over substance, people still know a good game when they see it, and the older FFs continue to attract new players. The poor graphical quality of certain titles might deter some, but the true gamers will see past that and play on regardless. Indeed, certain people around here seem to prefer FFI-VI, despite having joined the series in more recent years.

To be perfectly honest, I can't blame people for not wanting to play FFI-VI, if flashy graphics are all they're looking for. It's their loss, though, as they'll be missing out on some of the greatest titles in gaming history.

[aeris2001x2]

its odd in ffVI case, since it actually has beter graphics then ffVII, just 2D.

anyway true gamers will decide for a proper reason if they dislike the old school. Tasteypies believes they r mostly the same which is fair enough. i hate the morons who dont have proper reasons, who want graphics. and in this country uk, most will ignore the oldies and play ffX-2 instead!

personally i started with ffVII and its my fav but i was not silly enough to care about graphics, which is why ffVI is my second fav. after that ffIV,ffV,ffVIII,ffIX,ffX all more or less draw cause they are all brillant.

and when i say i dislike ffII i mean it 4 proper reasons.

i dont think its good to seperate old school from new anyway. not just because ffVI was when the seris truely started to change(ffVII is a rehash of ffVI) but because it sort of creates divisions in the ff fan world and tries to make ppl pick a side. imho there is just 11 proper final fantasy games.

[Cz]

its odd in ffVI case, since it actually has beter graphics then ffVII, just 2D.

That's true. Not that it would affect my enjoyment of FFVII, of course.

[Rase]

Stared with FFIV, then went VII, VI, VIII, IX, X, and I. But I love the oldies more then the new ones (don't ask why, I don't know). But I hate people who like style over substances. A good balence is what's needed. If they remade I-VI in 3D, do you think more people would play them?

[Trumpet Thief]

I started with FFIV as my first FF. But for first RPG, it was Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. I agree with you on many points, for many of the old school Final Fantasies i.e. FFIV, FFVI, FFI are really great games.

I have met quite a lot of people that think that if you like the new FF's, then you obviously hate the old FF's. I think that is far from the truth as after playing FFIV, I played FFVI, then V on Anthologies. After that, I took a little break from playing RPG's, and bought FFIX. I thought that game was perfect first time through, and I still love at as a game, but as an FF, I didn't think it was that good. Still, FFIX was great game.

Aftter that, I bought FFVII, then VIII. I loved them both. I think that many people can like the new school Final Fantasies and the Old school Final Fantasies. And it's not bad for newbies to not try older Final Fantasies. Really, it is their decision. although they might be missing out on adventures they would have loved.

[dman]

Every time we have a "best FF" thread here, FFVI steals the show. However, on many mainstream gaming sites (ie. www.gamesite.com) and not your typical www.finalfantasysite.com/www.rpsite.com, it's FFVII with 70% of votes, followed by VIII with 25% and X with 5%. The older FF's don't get a single vote at all! Then there's people who say they "<3" "t3h 53ph!r07h" or whatever and then say, "oh I played FFVI and it's gfx sux. It's all about some ppl called Biggs and Wedge who kill people with some sorcereress lady." Personally I believe that's blasphemy.

While I don't think FFVII is bad (hell, its a great game), there are so many newbs who don't know what they're talking about when the Biggs/Wedge/Terra event only lasts for about...5 minutes. I have no problem with people having proper reasoning as to why they don't like a particular game. I'm not saying that I like all games with old graphics, but the graphics will have to be very bad for them to outweigh the good aspects, such as the story, characters, etc.

Moral of the story is: don't judge a book by its cover, or a game by its screenshots

[Trumpet Thief]

I agree. If gamers could accept all the games, or at least try them, they would see what great games they are. For graphics aren't walys everything.

[Mo-Nercy]

i h8 ff1!!!! its teh carppiest ff eva!! teh grafix r so ugly, i mean their 2d and nuthin compaired 2 teh gr8 3d grafix!!!11 lol and their is no stryline and no charcater can spaek!!!! omfg theyve got no devlepoment!!! all teh charctaers r soooo big wusses!! look @ warmaech his olny got 1 thousnd hp in teh nes versoin omg what a wuss! penaence has 12 milloin hp and lol even ffVIII's ifreet has more hp then warmaech and ifrett's the 1st boss in ffVIII 4 lulus saek!!! so ff1 has teh wusseist supa bosses eva and teh fnal boss has only 4000 hp even in teh psx vesrion!! tahts sooo laem ffX spolierbraskas fnael aion has 180,000 hp totaly sooo his got 45 tiems more hp then teh fnael boss of ff1!! ur charcters r wusses too i maen u cant do 999,999,999,999 damge unliek in teh newer ffs!!! lol animas oblvion, knghts off teh round, gardn of eden and cat nip + triggre hippy do alot mroe damgea then all ff1 charcters 2getha! xDDDDDD teh best ive neva been able 2 do is 500 dmage wit a lvl 50 mster balck belt. y cant lvl 99 b teh max levl!!?? and i h8 teh most how spiel anmiations r so short they taek 5 or 10 secodns at most lol ff8 is alot bettre bcuz i luv thoes 2 minite long gf summon seqeunces lol!!!! yea ff1 is defintaly teh worst ff eva!!!!!!!!111

[TheAbominatrix]

I started with either IV or VI, I cant remember which.

I've noticed this trend, but usually it's just with younger gamers, who grew up with Playstation as their first system, and are somewhat 'spoiled' by nice graphics. Of course, that's a broad generalization.

I agree with what most everyone has said, but I'd like to add that I've noticed that some of the 'old school' players are immeadiatly put off by the newer games. Many of them spend a lot of time complaining about every little aspect of the new games (I was guilty of this until I realized how dumb I was and stopped) rather than just playing and enjoying them for what they are (though I still like more of the other games than the newer).

[Big D]

In the interests of fairness, I should note that there are plenty of "old school" gamers who bash the new ones without knowing anything about them at all.

I enjoy both the old and new games, however some of the new ones stay in my mind more. FFVII, for instance, was my first FF, and remains my favourite. The characters are, in some instances, more believeable in the newer games. In FFIV, for instance, (SPOILER)Cecil gets used and abused, turned into an instrument of murder, then fights back against his own people, losing a siege in the process, then finds out his beloved has been abducted, then gets shipwrecked and left thinking that all of his friends are either dead (Rydia, Edward, Yang) or have betrayed him (Kain). And all that's only a few hours into the plot... yet he never falters or suffers any kind of trauma, he just keeps soldierin' on. In the later FFs, human suffering and personal conflict is far more prevalent, more believeable. Cloud Strife, for instance. Even the oft-criticised Tidus of FFX has a more realistic response to his changed circumstances. As the games' characters have become to look more human, they've also started to behave more human.
In general, anyway. There are strengths and weaknesses in both the new and old games, in this regard.

Improved visuals are by no means a bad thing, either. It's just like with a novel - a crude, basic Mr Men-style description of the scenery lets you know what's there, but a well-written story can bring the scenery to life in a way that a sketchy outline can't. The same can apply to visual representations. In FFX, (SPOILER)Sin's destructive attack on Kilika would've had little emotional resonance if it'd just been shown as a two-dimensional representation, with a dozen-odd wide-eyed sprites standing in the identical "shocked" pose as the screen turns blue and they disappear.

If The Lord of the Rings movies had used jerky stop-motion monsters and cheap painted backdrops, the effect would've been less immersive, less 'real', less faithful to the books. Visual quality doesn't make or break a good story, but it certainly doesn't hurt, either.[q=dman]..."oh I played FFVI and it's gfx sux. It's all about some ppl called Biggs and Wedge who kill people with some sorcereress lady." Personally I believe that's blasphemy.[/q]Most criticisms of FFX and X-2 are very similar - a superficial rendering of the first few minutes of the game, with no appreciation for the depth and complexity of the plot. It seems that some people just need to have conflict, criticism and confrontational but petty hatreds in their lives, so they make this decisions that they'll adamantly object to any old or new FF games, depending on what they prefer. I prefer my vewpoint, and that shared by most of the people here - the view that there are good and bad things about any games, regardless of age, and different things appeal to different people for different reasons. Being "old" doesn't make a game good or bad by default, neither does being "new'.

[TheAbominatrix]

D, as usual, you said it better than I ever could. I agree with you fully.

[Martyr]

I'm an old school gamer because I loathe modern graphics. I do not feel that I have the same reasons as most people.
Ya see, in the older FFs, and, indeed, in older games in general, there is a very mystical aura about the game. I feel like I'm actually drawn into the world of the game, like I'm there. When I get a game over, or when somthing from the outside pulls me away, it's actually very startling. Like I'm being wrenched out of one dimension and returning to another.
But that only happens with low graphic games. Nes and limited Snes, mostly.

When I'm playing 3D stuff, it takes a lot of concentration. It's more like a sport. I'm in my world, focusing on a game. on a story, in a computer chip and I'm controlling my actions through a remote control and a television. It's all a game today. I never feel that other world in the modern games.

I think the closest I got was the first time I played Starcraft. That was an awesome game for a while. But the majesty of that game faded over time.

So... Bizarre as it sounds, my reasoning is that there is a serious lack of majesty in the modern games. They're games. That's all. They often bear the Final Fantasy title, and that's fine. But the Final Fantasy that took me to another world, a world that does not seem to exist on a Playstation, is no longer in production.

The Playstation simply mimics the real world. It doesn't make the games realistic. To me, it only makes them more fake. The failure to be real simply points out that the game is not real. Nor is it its own. The game is not a new or special world. It's role is as a game in ours.

Thus, making an RPG in 3D is completely bogus. It's better to read a book. If you want newer, graphically enhanced games, play Mario Kart. Or a FPS. That's where better graphics make enhancements in gameplay.

Edit: And anybody who doesn't try things on the basis of them thinking they won't like it is a bull headed fool. I hate those people, and I try not to associate with them. If anybody refuses to play old school games because they're blinded by the new stuff, then screw 'em. Maybe they're missing out, but, chances are, they don't have the capacity to appreciate it anymore because the power of the new consoles have set in too well. And so they aren't missing out on anything.
We're all different, we all have different opinions. If somebody feels liek telling me that VIII is the schizznit, that's great. If they tell me that 1 sucks in comparison, then they're dillusional. Not because they should enjoy 1 more, but because there's no longer any way to compare the games on equal levels with the old schooler and the new schooler.
For example, what's better: playing chess or working with clay?
Nobody can decide. Your answer can only be based on what the individual prefers.

1/6/3 or 5/2/7/etc...

[SomethingBig]

In FFX, (SPOILER)Sin's destructive attack on Kilika would've had little emotional resonance if it'd just been shown as a two-dimensional representation, with a dozen-odd wide-eyed sprites standing in the identical "shocked" pose as the screen turns blue and they disappear.

That would make me laugh my heart out. On a serious note, I agree with everything Big D said.

My very first FF was FFVII, then moved on to 8, and then 9. I played VI and loved it almost as much as 7, if not just as much. Then played IV and liked that one quite a lot. Went on to 5, same story as IV. I tried FFI, but didn't really like it for unknown reasons. I don't think I've tried 2 yet. As for 3, I didn't really like it.