BEST Final Fantasy?

[blackmage_nuke]

The awesome thing about VI is that you dont often find games that have a serious story even though half the world is made of comic relief characters!

[Wolf Kanno]

(Renmiri and Bolivar should have seen this post coming )

When I read it, I thought to myself "I wonder what WK would think of this?" well...

Cyric brought up the ending of FFX... I re-played it over my winter break, and watching the ending, especially the part ontop of the farenheit, I honestly felt like crying, my stomach was in knots, it was such a... DAMMIT HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF ART!???

Lord knows how much we've discussed characters, so i'm just gonna say this: different strokes for different folks. I personally liked every one of the characters, I can honestly say I know people in real life like Lulu, or Wakka, and Tidus, and maybe that's why the newer games do it for me, because I can relate to the characters. I'll admit, you brining up that Susan-O whatever story thingy was like finding out Santa Claus isn't real, but I still feel it was an amazing story that gives alot for the player to take out of it.

I also wanted to say, I, too was blown away by Celes trying to commit suicide, but moreso due to the fact that like so many things in VI, it was really ahead of its time, and it's a shock to see a 16 bit game do things like that, like when Draco opens his mouth and begins singing. But she was pretty weak through out, expressing her melancholy consistently in several scenes, beginning with her very introduction, when she tells Locke to leave her there.

Actually I do like the ending to X cause even I'll agree it was well done (in fact until XII, I would have said its the best ending in the series). I just saw it coming so it didn't shock me but I did find it touching. I just wish I could see Yuna as more than a two dimensional cardboard cut-out otherwise that scene would have really been heart wrenching. My issue is that the game has a beautiful opening and a beautiful ending... its the 40 hours in-between that bother me.

Celes perks up once she meets Locke and only goes back to being slightly melancholy when he doubtsa her loyalty. She's definetly too serious (I would say Terra was more melancholic than Celes) Her moments on the Floating Continent shows how strong willed she really is. Watch her go from that, to trying to commit suicide, cause she's lost all hope was just a shock to me.

Overall, I agree that different people like different characters (thinks back to being the only person who defended XII's cast)

[Bolivar]

^ well I said in another thread, XII gets better the more I play it, and the cast is one of the main reasons why it's becoming one of my favorite FF's. I initially slammed it for having each main character as an obvious rip off from star wars (Fran being the sexed-up Chewbacca), but I really think each one in the main cast (most in the supporting cast, too) are really great characters, especially Ashe. As "cool" of a character she was made to be, she is very human, and unlike alot of video game characters, she has her faults, too. But through the course of the game she overcomes these, and like Ramza, comes to the conclusion that the ends actually don't justify the means. Plus when they show her before the war and she's all young and innocent, it's really sad to think what an effect the war's had on her. She's probably my favorite heroine (sp?) in the series, that is, until XIII comes out

[Forsaken Lover]

A lot of video game characters have fault.s..heroes and villains alike.

[Rostum]

My favourite is FFIX.

[toad626]

Yes, many of the FFs are predictable but X for me was literally knowing how every scene was going to pan out. I knew around the time of Tidus' revelation about Yuna being sacrificed, what his fate was going to be. When the Yevon faith was presented early in the game, I knew it was going to turn out to be false and corrupt. Not cause I'm smart or anything but rather cause I had dealt with this scenario multiple time before (Xenogears, BoF2, and FFT to name a few...) what bothered me most was that it wasn't dealt with in an original or exciting way. At times I had to keep asking myself why certain elements were even in the plot since they were poorly dealt with.

Course we knew Yevon was going to turn out corrupt, you got the feeling the minute we all saw Maester Mika for the first time. And Seymour. Though his character was s rip off of Kuja. But I won't hold that against him either as Sephiroth was just a rip off of combining Kefka's insanity and state of mind with the posture (both looks and arrogance) of Chrono Trigger's Magus. They even copy their own characters.lol. Wow, I'm impressed, you made SENSE of FFT's storyline. Worst localization job I've ever seen in a video game. And that's including a FF5 fan English translation I played years ago before 7 was released (long story). Don't get me wrong I loved FFT's, but that localization job. WHO AT SE was responsible? It more than made up for it though with its gameplay. And remains one of the sole FF's that contain something called DIFFICULTY. The hard ones are the early ones up to 4. From 5 on they are a breeze. 12 seems to be harder so far. No I haven't finished it yet. So I don't have a full opinion of it yet.

When Celes tried to commit suicide it blew me away cause she had been portrayed as such a strong person, to watch her do such an act was an emotional blow and speaks depth of her character cause it showed another dynamic to her. Yuna deciding to continue her Pilgrimage despite learning its pointless was not so much cause Yuna' personality is trapped in the confines of her archtype so the player knew (or at least should have known) what her decision should have been. Even her crying wasn't out of character for her. She, like all of the cast never strayed from their surface personas. How can a story have emotional impact when its cast are card board cut outs?

I knew what she was doing right when the screen jumped to the bottom of the mountain. Then the words of that bird confirmed it. Yep she's gonna try to kill herself. Since the game already killed this installment's character, I knew she wasn't going to die. Then I guessed she'd get some type of message from Locke. And sure enough she got his bandanna. No I'm not bashing 6. That was my favorite game until I got into X. I just don't see where you think that Celes was a strong character. She had to have her ass saved one too many times for that, I'd say. Cyan was the one that blew me away. Got to feel for the guy. Loosing a family... That could do a lot to a person.

Cloud, Squall, Kain, and Vivi were far more than their surface appearance. There was a true change in the characters (like Bolivar had mentioned) even though Wakka was hit with the impact of learning Yevon was false (Since he's the games token Billy or Rei, cause the rules stipulate that games with false religions have to have some religious nut who gets his world shattered by the truth) he goes from denial to acceptance and moves on like nothing had happened.
Had he been a real person, he may have left the group despite his close ties to Yuna, especially considering how much the game tries to make him out as a faithful follower. It shouldn't be outside the realm of possibility considering he left a previous Pilgrimage due to bliztball of all things. He may have left or at least more focus could have been placed on him trying to discover something else to fill that void. Basically, he's left as a characture cause it works for the story whereas real people tend to complicate things...

I've already told others, don't quote or mention Cloud. He was a sissy emo punk tart with self esteem issues. Luckily RedXIII, Barrett, and Cid were there to make up for it and save the game. Squall was nothing more than the loner, that's in every damn story/novel/myth/legend. I agree on Kain and Vivi though. But I think Wakka went on like nothing happened for a reason. Wouldn't you. You just find out what you've known your whole life is false. What would you do? So he turns to the one thing he does know he still has left, his duties and his friends. Those he knows will always be real.

Though I do agree with you that the ability to switch out party members mid-battle was something much needed in the series. It had a few issues (like getting a gameover cause the active party is dead or being unable to switch out dead characters for live ones) but luckily XII accomodated these issues.

I think that was more to add to the non-existent difficulty factor in the game rather than realism. If you had the option to switched out the dead ones, you'd never have to reset the game in X. XII is considerably more challenging (so far as I can tell anyway) so it's kind of needed there.

[Fynn]

I've already told others, don't quote or mention Cloud. He was a sissy emo punk tart with self esteem issues. Luckily RedXIII, Barrett, and Cid were there to make up for it and save the game. Squall was nothing more than the loner, that's in every damn story/novel/myth/legend. I agree on Kain and Vivi though. But I think Wakka went on like nothing happened for a reason. Wouldn't you. You just find out what you've known your whole life is false. What would you do? So he turns to the one thing he does know he still has left, his duties and his friends. Those he knows will always be real.

First you bash Cloud and then you praise Wakka for doing the same thing Cloud did. Cloud was a tragic character, IMO. He tried to act all bad-ass and was lying to himself about his past. What would you do, if all your memories turned out to be false? Surely you would have doubts as to who and what you are and depression is normal. But Cloud got a hold of himself and tried to forget about his sadness and live for the others. Seriously, I think this character doesn't get enough credit...

[Wolf Kanno]

Course we knew Yevon was going to turn out corrupt, you got the feeling the minute we all saw Maester Mika for the first time. And Seymour. Though his character was s rip off of Kuja. But I won't hold that against him either as Sephiroth was just a rip off of combining Kefka's insanity and state of mind with the posture (both looks and arrogance) of Chrono Trigger's Magus. They even copy their own characters.lol. Wow, I'm impressed, you made SENSE of FFT's storyline. Worst localization job I've ever seen in a video game. And that's including a FF5 fan English translation I played years ago before 7 was released (long story). Don't get me wrong I loved FFT's, but that localization job. WHO AT SE was responsible? It more than made up for it though with its gameplay. And remains one of the sole FF's that contain something called DIFFICULTY. The hard ones are the early ones up to 4. From 5 on they are a breeze. 12 seems to be harder so far. No I haven't finished it yet. So I don't have a full opinion of it yet.

Seymour was written into X cause they needed a chatty villain. I never saw his point and I feel he's a waste of space in the game. Sin was more than enough as a villain.

Tactics is my favorite FF, and yes I agree it had a horrible translation and localization... sheesh but then again alot of games in 97-98 were like that. I love its story and cast of characters. It also has the best version of the Job class system in the series... I'm actually playing through War of the Lions and the new translation alone has me justifying picking up my own PSP for this game...

XII is more difficult than people give it credit for but it has its broken elements. Its optional missions can get pretty damn difficult, but big game like Yiazmat and Omega mark XII are more about patience than skill I'm afraid. But most of the mark hunts are pretty challenging and even the main story likes to throw a few nasty bosses at you from time to time.

I knew what she was doing right when the screen jumped to the bottom of the mountain. Then the words of that bird confirmed it. Yep she's gonna try to kill herself. Since the game already killed this installment's character, I knew she wasn't going to die. Then I guessed she'd get some type of message from Locke. And sure enough she got his bandanna. No I'm not bashing 6. That was my favorite game until I got into X. I just don't see where you think that Celes was a strong character. She had to have her ass saved one too many times for that, I'd say. Cyan was the one that blew me away. Got to feel for the guy. Loosing a family... That could do a lot to a person.

Part of my reasoning might come from the fact I feel the GBA translation portrayed her more strongly. Perhaps a better way of putting it, is that she tries to be strong. The suicide scene was just her finally giving up pretending. Then again it all comes down to personal taste and interpretation

I've already told others, don't quote or mention Cloud. He was a sissy emo punk tart with self esteem issues. Luckily RedXIII, Barrett, and Cid were there to make up for it and save the game. Squall was nothing more than the loner, that's in every damn story/novel/myth/legend. I agree on Kain and Vivi though. But I think Wakka went on like nothing happened for a reason. Wouldn't you. You just find out what you've known your whole life is false. What would you do? So he turns to the one thing he does know he still has left, his duties and his friends. Those he knows will always be real.

I can understand your feeling about Cloud, I only mentioned him cause I do feel he's a complex character, though I don't necessarilly feel he's a likable one. Squall has a personal place for me in my heart so I will agree to disagree. Glad we can agree on Vivi and Kain though. Everyone deals with problems differently. I just felt that for a game that seemed to be all about high melodrama; Wakka got out of his personal issue too easily. He whines about it and then just accepts. It just seemed like a cop out to me. Like Quistis giving up on pursuing Squall, or Barrett's epiphany, Cecil gaining Rydia's trust, or the entire plot of KH2. I do feel Wakka is one of the better written characters in X. I just feel for the amount of time spent making a big deal about his faith, he quickly got over it too fast.

I think that was more to add to the non-existent difficulty factor in the game rather than realism. If you had the option to switched out the dead ones, you'd never have to reset the game in X. XII is considerably more challenging (so far as I can tell anyway) so it's kind of needed there.

Oh god, tell me about the difficulty issues in X. I know difficulty has been going down in SE games since VI but damn... I was replaying through the game and never realized how many boss fights the game practically hands you. Not to mention the random encounters are a joke.

[Jessica_wohoo]

Final Fantasy VII. Always loved it the most, and always will

[Araciel]

Clearly the correct answer is FF6.

[Thoughtless]

Tie between X and VIII for me. Such a hard decision though.

[demondude]

Final Fantasy 12 surpassed all my expectations and still does.

[dragontamer]

FF6 - Seifer? Really? Have you actually played any of these games? Do you even know how to spell sorceress? Does your tiny average sized brain even understand how even mispelling a name disrespects the whole of Square-Enix?

Please do not criticise my spelling, it isn't very becoming of you and it belittles yourself to pick at small matters. Yes, I have played the games; considering that I am one of the newer generation of FF fans, (I only found out about it in 2002) I own, and have played all Final Fantasies save for III Origional, VI - as I havent been able to find it (I don't use Ebay for buying games) and XI as I do not have the time for online games. I realize now that for FF VI it was Setzer, not Seifer and I would thank you, Comet;2425770, not to call my brain 'avarage sized' unless you personally knew me offline.

@Toad626: I find it funny that you criticise FFVII for its character developement after having applauded FFX for the best character developement in the series.

Yeah that is ironic as X has NO character development at all, or pacing, the only attempt was a very bad stitch in scene with Lulu and Waka mid game.

Which one was that? The only one that i can think of was at the begining of the game! Wakka and Lulu always remind me of an old married couple (Although the techinically are in X-2, save the old part. )

[Clawsze]

XII, though X comes a close second. I always felt that in most FFs, the bad guy was too blatantly obvious, I mean, come on, yes Vayne was implyed many times during the story as the villain, but i always got the nagging feeling that he wasn't. But in a way, he wasn't exactly "Evil" he had the right idea, making the world peaceful and freeing peoples destiny, just using the wrong methods.

I also thought that the politcal side to it, although some may is tedious, really gives some depth to the troubles that the actual nations feel, instead of just the heroes point of view. The inner plots of assination, controlling and power gave a subtle hint to the world we live in now.

The characters, although not one being the main, are well thought out, if a bit too thought out. it sometimes feels as though they stick too closely to their characters, however this does not stop the development being noticable. I have only one complaint in that Penelo is completely overlooked through the whole story.

[Flying Mullet]

FFVI plz.