Is Final Fantasy Taking Steps Forward or back

[RedCydranth]

Okay, It is Final Fantasy, But I still feel that it shouldn't be in the numeric series. The CG thing is neither here nor there, it doesn't make FF an FF game. Xenosaga had more CG that all FFs combined, so theres proof CG does not = FF.

FFXI sounds fun, but it can not be beaten. It doesn't have built in drama, you have to basically create it. As for under developed characters, I agree with squareSOFT on this. There aren't any highly developed characters in FFXI. I can't say to you, "When Garamonde killed the cerberus, it totally took me by surprise!" because you don't know who Garamonde is, unless you play in the server i do, and know who that player is. So, sure you can remember a lot of other human players, but that doesn't mean the game has memorable characters for everyone. Also, FFI was a last ditch effort to save the company and at the time RPGs were virtually non-existant. You can't seriously balme them for having under develpped characyers on the NES. For god's sake, even the most famous of NES characters had no development, Mario, Samus, Simon Belmont.... At that time, character development didn't mean as much as gameplay. Now in this era we need dramatic storylines and character development. As for VIII, Sutre they didn't have in depth storyline, but when i say Irvine, you all know who I mean. When i say Garamonde, you haven't the slightest idea who the hell that is. (acctually its Cyan's last name, but you get what I mean.)

[squareSOFT]

The story's actually pretty interesting. The way things play out between the 3 nations suprised me a lot. The fact that it had a storyline that progresses as you play the game suprised me at first, but it's also one good enough to get wrapped up in.

Oh come on. Yes, it has some mumbo-jumbo about the three nations and the beastmen and such but really, you can go play the game for hours and hours without encountering a sniff of story. And even if you would encounter some story it's hardly deep and compelling like any of 6-10's.

Memorable characters? You mean like FFVIII's entire cast of undeveloped characters? How about The characters from FFVI who got about 2 seconds worth of storyline? How about FFI where your characters don't even SPEAK? How is not having memorable characters un-FF? The characters are all other players anyway, which to me makes them more memorable.

If you believe ffviii characters are underdeveloped then fine. But even if they were, it's still better than having a character who has no personality or thoughts of his own. And I would say that ff vi's chars got a bit more than 2 secs. worth of lines. I think there are many who would agree that vi's chars were well developed and life like. And picking on FFI?! Come on thats a whole nother era. And unless you have any others up your sleeve I counted 3 ff's you jsut critized. Considering how many there are I would say that memorable characters would be ff-ish even if all you said was correct.

No kick ass CGs? What? Not even considering the fact that you've just discounted the entire first half of the series by saying that, you're completely wrong.





The CG is VERY kick ass.

Yes, I missed that one. But that is only in the beginning of the game and unless I'm missing some there aren't any scattered throughout the game, like all ff's 7 and up.

No dramatic moments? Try fighting three ITs and suddenly having your tank disconnect. If that's not dramatic enough, try the walk to Jeuno through tiger filled lands at level 20. How about realizing your puller just aggroed every last goblin in the area? Trust me, drama abounds in this game.

There is a difference between drama and thrills. Drama is more the beautiful emotional moments, with the sad music and brilliantly written lines. What you are referring to can be exciting, but the problem is that's all XI has. It doesn't seem to do what most other ff's are capable of. That is taking you out of your present situation and put you into a world of magic and mystery. A world where the pain of your main character is also tranfered to you. You cry when he cries, you rejoice when he is happy and you are sad when he is. XI just didn't do that for me. Because, while it was exciting at times it lacked that kind of emotion that sets ff apart from your basic games. The stroy, chars and music just werent good enough to do it and THAT is my biggest problem.

It's a VERY traditional RPG. Perhaps a little too traditional for most. It's more like playing a game than watching a movie. You need to coordinate and strategize with your party. There's plenty of dungeon crawling and loot farming to be had as well. You play the game exactly as you want to play it. It's far closer to a tabletop RPG than the series has ever come.

You play the game as you want to play it because SE has done very little to define it. You can define the game yourself and I see that as a problem and not a good thing. It's an expanded version of "choose your own adventure" really. Sure, it has good gameplay but that doesn't make up for the ridicoulous non-linearism this game has. Not that can be solved with an MMORPG which is why SE should look elsewhere.

It's VERY much a Final Fantasy game because it has the elements that have traditionally made a final fantasy game. You want the FF jobs? You got 'em! How about the magic system? Done! Summons? Oh yeah, we got summons. Crazy boss fights? How do bosses that require alliances between parties sound? Bizarre metaphysical nonsense? Oh yeah, still tons of that. Chocobos? We got more chocobos than you can shake a stick at! Airships? Definitely. Moogles? KUPO!

It's Final Fantasy to the core. It just happens to have a chat room built into it now.

Yes, and I really do love those elements. But the biggest most underrated part of an ff is missing and that is the earlier mentioned emotion. It's not like the excitement you get from a well planned kill. Any number of games allow that these days. But what is missing is the rarity of beautiful character interaction and a well planned game in general. Mabe XI does have a decent story, characters, gameplay and the like. But always in the past square have created games that were brilliant standouts. But as for XI I would just as soon play Everquest, Guild Wars, WOW or any other MMORPG. Because ff no longer stands out and I think it's a real shame. Please respond when you receive this.

[rubah]

Great strides forwards, I'd think ^_^

[DJZen]

Bah. Phillistines. All of you.

EDIT: And no, I wasn't attacking FFVIII, VI or I. I was pointing out that in the lifespan of the series, the role of personality has had different importance. I could also have brought up FFIII's nameless main characters or FFII's lack of depth. I could have brought up how one dimensional Squall, Tifa, Barret, Cait Sith, Vincent, Palom, Porom, Rosa, Rydia, Edward, and countless others are, but I don't think it's necessary.

FFVIII strayed heavily from the formula. It changed the gameplay, it changed the setting, it changed the focus of the story. The only things it really had in common with the series is some spell and item names. Yet for some reason, FFVII and VIII are somehow considered the height of the series, when it was LEAST like itself. Before anyone jumps up and says "that's 'cause it's the best when it's like that" I'll strike ya down with some good ole' "no, it just tells me that games sell better when they're heavily marketted to mainstream crowds who like girly emo heroes and eye candy". OH YES I DID! :O

[ughhis]

Yes, they are.

[ChaosCalibur]

The recent games have a traditional(old) feel to them, you may feel that it's taking a step backwards or forward but i like it either way...

[ThroneofDravaris]

And no, I wasn't attacking FFVIII

You mean like FFVIII's entire cast of undeveloped characters?

"no, it just tells me that games sell better when they're heavily marketted to mainstream crowds who like girly emo heroes and eye candy". OH YES I DID! :O

Hmm…

Anyway, I actually agree with DjZen in that FFXI is no LESS a FF game than any of the others. Rather than having a complex, epic story line, the focus has been put on gameplay, which is to be expected with an online game. However, I don’t agree when you say that it was more of an FF game than FF7 or FF8 (I think you were joking, but I’ll construct this post as if you weren’t). FFVII and FFVIII were general progressions of an idea that was originally put forward in FFVI. From what I know of the game (I’m don’t trust the internet/credit card combination, so I haven’t played it), FFXI was very different from FFX, you can’t really find much in the way of obvious common ground between the two, yet it was very close to the ideas proposed in earlier FF games. To contrast, FF8 only seems different when you compare it to the earlier FF games, not the ones directly before it. I don’t really see how you can say FF8 is any more or less an FF game than FFXI.

[SeeDRankLou]

X-2 was a failure, unfortunately.

Selling almost two million copies in one day does not a failure make. If the game was a failure then it would have gotten horrible hype from the Japanese community and not sold 1.5 million in the US, and however much it has sold in Europe. Have all the opinions you want, but the numbers don't lie.

[KoShiatar]

It's evolution, baby! (as Eddie Vedder once said)

[squareSOFT]

Selling almost two million copies in one day does not a failure make. If the game was a failure then it would have gotten horrible hype from the Japanese community and not sold 1.5 million in the US, and however much it has sold in Europe. Have all the opinions you want, but the numbers don't lie.

Mabe it wasn't a complete failure, but compared to any other ff it has very little hope in stacking up. And numbers can lie to a certain extent. I'm sure quite a few people bought it because they assumed it would be good cause of the final fantasy on it.

[SeeDRankLou]

I'm sure quite a few people bought it because they assumed it would be good cause of the final fantasy on it.

Well that can be said for every Final Fantasy.

[Mo-Nercy]

If you'd all think back to the old days, you'll recall that people were skeptical about Final Fantasy VII being a complete failure. The concept of 3D environments was uncharacteristic of the conventional RPG. Surely, this game would ruin the series...You all know how that turned out.

Final Fantasy X's announced voice overs once again made a splash in the FF community. As far as I can tell, this hasn't hurt Final Fantasy as a whole either.

Final Fantasy XI is online. It generates more money than any other Square project. Definitely not a step back.

No Final Fantasy has taken a step back, so to speak, but the series has definitely been changing to appeal to the new generation of gamers. Period.