My beef with FFX

[feioncastor]

I've been playing FF games since 1993 when I first played FF2 for the SNES. It was (and is) a wonderful captivating game that has really done a lot for me.

I was very stoked when FF3 came out, and a bit confused when FF7 came out a little while later, but thouroughly pleased with both games.

Then I played FF8 which I thought to be a disgrace to the FF name. FF9 was a little better, but I think they fell back into that hole when they made FF10.

I'm not posting this to cause trouble or flame anyone or anything. I'm posting my genuine opinion and backing it with my reasons why.

First of all, FFX had no world map. Well, it did have a world map, but you couldn't really walk around on it or anything, which has long been a trademark of FF games.

And also, the gameplay, if you can use the word "play", because I did so little playing. Most of the game is watching FMVs and conversations and such, with a little fighting in between. I did like the Cloisters, but that was only a small part of the gameplay. There was Blitzball, but I really didn't enjoy that either. I can't really specify why.

Bascially, here's my theory.

Squaresoft was a hard-working company that thought up great titles and GREAT storylines and GREAT game play, but then, in 1996-97, they decided to work on a game with GREAT graphics (compared to previous games), and that game was Final Fantasy 7. People bought up Final Fantasy 7 like mad, and they realized that they could sell games on graphics alone, without putting effort into the story or the gameplay. Thus, we see Final Fantasy 8, which was (and is) a disaster. Then they decided to try to return to their roots with Final Fantasy 9, and they somewhat did, but not as well as I had hoped. Then came Final Fantasy 10, which put so much effort into the graphics and cutscenes that they forgot to work on the gameplay, story, and so forth.

I mean, in FF7, a FMV was like a treat. It was a reward, and I have a memory card with saves right before all the good FMVs. In FF10, FMVs were more like obstacles that were holding me up from playing the game. I just wanted them to end so I could get back to the game, and then as soon as they did, I'd talk to someone, and another FMV would start, and finally, I'd get back to the game and find that all I had been striving for was an hour or so of walking over almost identical terrain, which was boring as heck.

Please dont' respond to this if you're only gonna bash on me for not liking it because I didn't once bash on you for liking it.

Feion

[Lon611]

geeesh. there are so many of these "i hate ffx" threads. lol.

everytime a new ff game is released, there is always a minority that doesn't like it and completely hates it. personally, im not finding ffvii very fun. but thats just imho. i think ffvi is much better. and i thot ffix was awesome, followed by my favorite ffx.

if u want gameplay, try the nemesis side quest?that was hell personally, but really really fun adn challenging

[nugun]

wow....almost enough haters here to start a player hater's ball.....get the pimp cups..chocoboos and fake furs ready

[Lain]

they decided to work on a game with GREAT graphics (compared to previous games), and that game was Final Fantasy 7

lol, I disagree
FF7 haven't got so GREAT graphics, thay just made better graphics because of technic, it's nothing wrong if game have a good graphic if it still have great storyline and I think storyline of ff7 was the best storyline ever. Game could have fantastic storyline, but without good graphics and music it also sucks. I don't like play older finals than ff7 because graphics and music sucks. FF7 in my opinion was perfect.

Now about ffX....here I have to agree with you. FFX have so great graphic but storyline was so so. And you have to watch what happens to this "great, awesome, wonderful" lady yuna instead of playing game. But it wasn't so bad game at all. Did you play ff x-2?? That game really sucks

[SomethingBig]

Woah woah woah woah woah. Are you saying that FFVII was all eye candy with a thin plot? FFVII had an extremely complex plot. And FFVIII didn't have a godawful plot, it's just that it wasn't as good as VII's, but still had its major twists and turns.

EDIT: I agree with your views on FFX, though.

[Auronhart]

Woah woah woah woah woah. Are you saying that FFVII was all eye candy with a thin plot? FFVII had an extremely complex plot. And FFVIII didn't have a godawful plot, it's just that it wasn't as good as VII's, but still had its major twists and turns.

I don't think that's what she was saying, it looked like the "it came out a while ago" argument followed "by the storyline is what matters" and the "storyline of ff7 was the best storyline ever". (I don't agree with that last statement)
FFX wasn't a bad game, it had some good characters (Auron ), an innovative/cool battle system and a decent plotline. The music was mostly done by Nobuo = very good, however the tracks he didn't do were kind of average. Personally, I don't understand people that say graphics ruin the game, I understand they are not as important as gameplay and story, but FFX was only a little lacking in the story department and the gameplay was very well done.

First of all, FFX had no world map. Well, it did have a world map, but you couldn't really walk around on it or anything, which has long been a trademark of FF games.

I can't see this being a big deal.

And also, the gameplay, if you can use the word "play", because I did so little playing.

There are plenty of bosses, plus you can go and do all the piles of optional ones.

Most of the game is watching FMVs and conversations and such, with a little fighting in between.

Most FMV's are fairly short, if the ratio FMV of time to gameplay time was even 1 to 5, you might have a point.

There was Blitzball, but I really didn't enjoy that either. I can't really specify why.

Blitzball was okay, a little bit too easy though.

People bought up Final Fantasy 7 like mad, and they realized that they could sell games on graphics alone, without putting effort into the story or the gameplay. Thus, we see Final Fantasy 8, which was (and is) a disaster.

Final Fantasy 8 has it all, the best character cast, music, gameplay and the best story
of any Final Fantasy. Don't make pre-emptive attacks against FF's which aren't here to defend themselves.

I mean, in FF7, a FMV was like a treat. It was a reward

FF7 is incredibly easy. I don't know how you can see those FMV's as rewards.

[ShivaBlizzard8]

Personally I found FF7 very hard - I agree the FMVs felt like rewards and breaths of fresh air, wheras I found FFX relatively easy, and therefore the FMVs just added to the sense I was watching a movie rather than taking a break from gameplay.

However, I really liked FFX. The world map thing didn't bother me; although I know that a lot of FFers were upset by their lack of mobility and forced to travel along the game's set track until the very end, but doing something different now and again isn't a bad thing, IMHO. If every FF were exactly the same, you'd be playing the same game over and over, so what's the fun in that?

Also, although I was, as many were, amazed by FFX's graphics, and yes, a lot of time and effort was spent on them by Square because the PS2 had just come out and Sony was milking FFX's graphics to help sell consoles. However, I don't think storyline was sacrificed for this.

FF8? Yes, the storyline was relatively weak, with lots of plotholes. Still a good game with good characters, but the main villian was confusing and wasn't introduced until too late, and so much attention was given to Squall and Rinoa that the other potentially facisnating supporting cast was left out in the cold.

In X, however, I liked how the storyline made sense, had plot twists, made a comment about the concept of organized religion, and told Tidus' story (too often I feel the main character is just a vessel for us to watch the plot unfold through) without sacrificing the personalities and backgrounds of the supporting cast of characters. I also liked how they didn't try to make a happy ending out of it (I'm not going to get into X-2 here), and the tragedy of the need to sacrifice somebody so that the overall good can prevail was much more powerful then it would have been otherwise, similar to what happened in FF7.

Also, FF9 went back to its roots on purpose in attempt to pay homage to FF's beginings as it bade farewell to the original PSX game system.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is if you didn't enjoy FFX, okay. But don't fear - I don't think Square and FF is going downhill. Everybody hates some FF games, even among the old school ones. For instance, I love FF5. Most people hate it. And Square has been accused of selling out before - look at FF Mystic Quest. But they bounced back. You have FF11 which is completely free-roaming and all about gameplay, and you have FF12 coming out, in which it is said a signifgant effort was made to cut back on FMV scenes. Just because X doesn't top your favorites list doesn't mean all is lost.

[feioncastor]

they decided to work on a game with GREAT graphics (compared to previous games), and that game was Final Fantasy 7

lol, I disagree

You don't think the game has great graphics compared to previous Final Fantasy games?

Here's an FMV image from FF6:


And here is an FMV image from FF7:


In my opinion, and mind you, this is only my opinion, but I feel that FF7 had WAY better graphics than any of its predecessors.

And I don't hate FFX. I really don't. In fact, I actually like it. But I dont' like it nearly as much as I like just about any other FF that I've played, excluding FF8. However, I like it more than many other popular games like Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto III, and so forth.

Woah woah woah woah woah. Are you saying that FFVII was all eye candy with a thin plot? FFVII had an extremely complex plot. And FFVIII didn't have a godawful plot, it's just that it wasn't as good as VII's, but still had its major twists and turns.

No, I didn't intend to say this, and if I did, I'm sorry. I said that FF7 had an excellent story, excellent gameplay, excellent music, and excellent graphics. But when Square realized they could sell game with graphics alone, they stopped working on the story and gameplay, and started focusing too much effort on the graphics. FF7 was the last GREAT one, in my opinion.

Feion

[Lon611]

each person has their own opinion on things. i just don't think ppl should keep barking at a new game. 10 years from now, ppl will see 10 as a masterpiece and vii as a warm, old memory, just like the old ff's.

[Sephex]

Okay...okay.

FFX was one of those games that was good to me, but there was things in it I couldn't stand.

1) Blitzball is god awful. I hate that game so much. It is boring, *****y, and a waste of time to me. It makes no sense and doesn't use the fac that you are in a waer sphere to your advantage. I understand that Blitzball is supposed to be a turn based sports game, but it had to much of an RPG feel to it.

2) I understand what you mean by FFVII FMV's being a reward. I thought the game was easy, but it was awesome to see those slick graphics (at the time).

3) The lack of a world map did make the game have a "boxed in" sort of feel. It also made the game feel WAY to linear.

4) I didn't think the conversations went on too long. Though, some of them were boring and pointless. That might have made it seem that they went on too long for you. I am a person that doesn't mind watching lengthy cinema sequences--as long as they are interesting. Games like the Metal Gear Solid series and Xenosaga had great cinema sequences. They were lengthy, but most of them were done very well.

[YunaXTidus]

i personally really enjoyed playing FFx. i thought the story was well developed, and there was not one FMV which i found to be boring or too long or pointless, i thought the fact there was no world map was a welcome change IMO because it made it seem more realistic.

i loved 6, but i am playing 7 and i dont really find it to be all its hyped up to be, thats just my opinion though.

i enjoyed 9.

if i could make one improvement on 10 it would be to have a skip scene option in the pause menu, like in 10-2, so if u get a game over u dont have to watch the conversation all over agian (like before u fight yunalesca)

but apart from that i loved 10, it is my favourate.

[bakabakabaka]

one thing that i used to really hate was people asking why i played so many FF games because they're allt eh same. They're not and you should see it like that. i f you compair all the games to eachother it ruinds the game. my oldetr brother hates FFVIII because he thinks FFVII is the best ever and nothing compairs to it. i see each FF game as a total different game, just because its got FF in the title dosnt mean they're the same!!!!
i've played ALL the FF except 1 and 2 which i do want to try! and iv enjoyed everyone.
VIII is not VII and X is very differnt to others.
i can understand you not liking it. it is different.

[beyondthegrave]

Well they all kinda follow the same story line basically Guy saves girl then Guy saves world.

[Lain]

Well they all kinda follow the same story line basically Guy saves girl then Guy saves world.

Except ffX-2. There a girl saves world and no one saves girl

[YunaXTidus]

[QUOTE=borisnono]one thing that i used to really hate was people asking why i played so many FF games because they're allt eh same. They're not and you should see it like that. i f you compair all the games to eachother it ruinds the game. QUOTE]

thats a good point, i guess it does in a way ruin it if u compare, i will have to try that (seeing them all as different games.

and hey, i guess if they were all the sam it wud be boring