Meccanical
Member
I'll just leave this here.
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FINAL FANTASY Community Thread: XV Mainline Entries and Counting
- Thread starter Kagari
- Start date
I'll just leave this here.
Looks a little like Sazh.
I know. If Mana did come back, it would be no guarantee of worth. I could forgive Dawn of Mana, because transitioning to 3D was hard back then. But Children of Mana they should've known better. A randomly generated dungeon crawler is not what your fans want.
And there is no excuse for Heroes of Mana. I mean, REALLY. Let's make a game set in the same world as SD3, which we still won't release in America, and then, let's make it a completely different genre. Then we'll blame its poor sales on people not liking RTS!
And then we'll do it all again with Revenant Wings.
I really don't get why Koichi Ishii did such a bad job...I'd love to read an interview with him.
Maybe in 10 years, no one went up and told him the immense popularity SoM got over here and he was forced by upper management to make things that were trendy with The Kids, which meant 3d nonsense and apparently sit-down-and-pick-up dungeon crawlers.
Just imagine if they'd done a SoM over wireless where you could play it with your friends on the Vita and wander around the world without having to stay on the same screen...
Maybe in 10 years, no one went up and told him the immense popularity SoM got over here and he was forced by upper management to make things that were trendy with The Kids, which meant 3d nonsense and apparently sit-down-and-pick-up dungeon crawlers.
Just imagine if they'd done a SoM over wireless where you could play it with your friends on the Vita and wander around the world without having to stay on the same screen...
What did I say about twisting knives?
But yeah, the death of Mana is made all the more confusing because it was the guy who'd given it life. At least Final Fantasy we can all blame these other guys.
Mana's death is the great tragedy of Square history.
I've been on something of an FF binge for the last month or two
I've played through, all for the first time:
FF13 - Remarkable experience. I tried and failed to get through it around launch, blinded by hatred of the linearity, Hope, Vanille, and the railroaded tutorial heavy battle system.
I went back into it with teeth set to grit and simply swallowed the linearity, the music, the tutorial difficulty, the awful presentation of some of the characters early, and you know what?
In the end? I loved the end of the game, I like Lightning, the battle system bloomed on Pulse in the challenge missions and the last part of the game, and the story was melancholy and satisfying.
It was, however, delivered with all the grace of a naked fat man roller blading on ice using a sledgehammer. (L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie FocusL'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus). I'm surprised the voice actors didn't revolt and kill the director.
FF13-2 - Horrible game. People said the battle system was better than 13. Noooooo. Faster access to everything? Yep. No challenge whatsoever? Yep. I blew through the game doing barely any side material and spent the vast majority of my time in Com or Rav. Crap. I won't even bother talking about the story. It was nice to see Hope grown up I guess? I did like Noel, charming dude with a good VA in spite of the plot insanity.
For both 13 and 13-2, the music was a borderline physically painful experience for me. To say I dislike Hamauzu would be an understatement, and FF has always been a series with soundtracks that I love. Oh well.
Crisis Core - Neat game. Gameplay was a bit too basic (funny playing KH: BBS now for the first time and seeing the evolution of KH gameplay that was used in CC a long time ago), but the presentation was incredibly nostalgic. Zack was likeable, seeing Cloud and Sephiroth in something other than their post-AC lameness was a nice treat, particularly Sephiroth. Could have done without Genesis entirely, but whatever.
I'm now on to X-2 with a side of Dissidia (got two of my friends into it, giving me an excuse to pick it up again). Girl power!
I've played through, all for the first time:
FF13 - Remarkable experience. I tried and failed to get through it around launch, blinded by hatred of the linearity, Hope, Vanille, and the railroaded tutorial heavy battle system.
I went back into it with teeth set to grit and simply swallowed the linearity, the music, the tutorial difficulty, the awful presentation of some of the characters early, and you know what?
In the end? I loved the end of the game, I like Lightning, the battle system bloomed on Pulse in the challenge missions and the last part of the game, and the story was melancholy and satisfying.
It was, however, delivered with all the grace of a naked fat man roller blading on ice using a sledgehammer. (L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie FocusL'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus L'cie L'cie L'cie Fal'cie Focus). I'm surprised the voice actors didn't revolt and kill the director.
FF13-2 - Horrible game. People said the battle system was better than 13. Noooooo. Faster access to everything? Yep. No challenge whatsoever? Yep. I blew through the game doing barely any side material and spent the vast majority of my time in Com or Rav. Crap. I won't even bother talking about the story. It was nice to see Hope grown up I guess? I did like Noel, charming dude with a good VA in spite of the plot insanity.
For both 13 and 13-2, the music was a borderline physically painful experience for me. To say I dislike Hamauzu would be an understatement, and FF has always been a series with soundtracks that I love. Oh well.
Crisis Core - Neat game. Gameplay was a bit too basic (funny playing KH: BBS now for the first time and seeing the evolution of KH gameplay that was used in CC a long time ago), but the presentation was incredibly nostalgic. Zack was likeable, seeing Cloud and Sephiroth in something other than their post-AC lameness was a nice treat, particularly Sephiroth. Could have done without Genesis entirely, but whatever.
I'm now on to X-2 with a side of Dissidia (got two of my friends into it, giving me an excuse to pick it up again). Girl power!
PowderedToast
Junior Member
i sort of adore FFXIII, it's my favourite next to IX, which is absolutely beautiful
while almost diametrically opposed in terms of style and design approach, both games encapsulate everything i love about the series - very humanist stories with focused themes and a fantastic sense of wonder, not to mention some really fun and engrossing gameplay systems
and say what you like about XIII's development but that game just exudes polish - same goes for IX. they both feel like they were made with the utmost care, that goes a long way for me
while almost diametrically opposed in terms of style and design approach, both games encapsulate everything i love about the series - very humanist stories with focused themes and a fantastic sense of wonder, not to mention some really fun and engrossing gameplay systems
and say what you like about XIII's development but that game just exudes polish - same goes for IX. they both feel like they were made with the utmost care, that goes a long way for me
Meccanical
Member
I disagree.
Sure is not a broken, but I don't feel like it was made with care.
It doesn't feel transcendentally intelligent or some such.
Sure is not a broken, but I don't feel like it was made with care.
It doesn't feel transcendentally intelligent or some such.
PowderedToast
Junior Member
i don't find it particularly intelligent, just resonant (XIII that is, IX is definitely the sophisticated sibling)
Really? To me it evokes the image of like, half a Frankenstein. It's evident it was obviously going to be something else, but pieces got chopped up and put together in all the wrong ways. XIII is the one Final Fantasy I feel doesn't feel polished.
The combat is so stupid and mind-numbing, felt like being babied the whole time. Can't fathom the argument "it goes straight to the essential" or something like that. Well, it does if you consider the game remains balanced since pretty much all skills are useful and that the system cannot be exploited, but that isn't enough of a reason granted everything else is watered down in comparison to the previous FFs'.
PowderedToast
Junior Member
yes, but i'm not talking about design. the flashy but always functional menus, rock solid technical performance, gorgeous cinemas and just overall aesthetic coherence all equate to a very polished experience
Some pictures of FF/related items I took for Ashbear http://imgur.com/a/YWzB2
Ashbear wrote this mega popular FF8 fanfic 13 years ago
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/276798/1/Castles-in-the-Sky
and had a continuation to it this week
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9070366/1/Sandcastles
I never gave fanfics the time of day until reading Castles in the Sky, which says lots about how great she writes (then and now).
Ashbear wrote this mega popular FF8 fanfic 13 years ago
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/276798/1/Castles-in-the-Sky
and had a continuation to it this week
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9070366/1/Sandcastles
I never gave fanfics the time of day until reading Castles in the Sky, which says lots about how great she writes (then and now).
Femmeworth
Banned
I intended to get the platinum trophy during my current run of XIII, but this shit is going to take forever. -_- Currently in Chapter 13, doing hunt missions. I want to flip off whoever decided to make the waystones so spread out. Why not make every Cie'th stone a waypoint? Or better yet have the bloody marks close by their respective stones. For a game designed to be streamlined, it's pretty damn inefficient in some respects.
Also, why the fuck is the growth egg guarded by such a powerful enemy? This game, I swear...
Also, why the fuck is the growth egg guarded by such a powerful enemy? This game, I swear...
idlethreats
Member
Growth egg is pointless. You'll max out out on CP long before you obtain enough gil to get the Treasure Hunter trophy.
But yeah, Platinum takes forever. :-/
Did you do the Death spell? I got Growth Egg on my last playthrough that way. Basically you make Vanille Party leader, have her cast Death at the beginning of the fight on Neochu, and if it survives, restart the fight. Once you've OHKO'd Neochu, it's a matter of surviving the microchus or whatever and the Growth Egg is yours. It's a bit like FF4CC's Brachiorados, in that the random chance of successfully triggering a beneficial status effect is the best strategy for winning the fight.
Femmeworth
Banned
Yeah, I've seen that advice everywhere. Grinding for money is so much fun. The drop system is utter crap.
No thanks, I'm not a masochist.
I've read about that method.
Death Method isn't as bad as it sounds. It's still terrible, but it isn't as bad as it sounds. It beats the hell out of grinding for drops.
That's the joke.
Femmeworth
Banned
I can't bear to spend another minute grinding, fuck this game. Finished the main quest last night (ending was as stupid as I remember), so I think I've seen enough to move on to XIII-2. I wanted to see more of the post-game/side quest content, but oh well.
Drop it while your sanity is still in check: LuuKyK platinum'd it; last side-boss was the only one I was yet to beat. Ending is fine if you ask me. It may be stupid, at least it doesn't leave the impression the plot is incomplete; XIII-2 was unwarranted story-wise, in other words. Well, there were also the FNC's mythos that were being briefly tackled in the wiki, but I was expecting Versus to be the one expanding them.
Femmeworth
Banned
Heh. The ending is on the abrupt side, needed an epilogue or something. Still wouldn't have saved the story, just made it marginally less incompetent. Everyone is all cheery and shit, but their situation is actually quite dire. Then again, the story is full of tonal issues.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Noi and I platinumed it and we're perfectly okay.
And to be fair, the game does have an epilogue... in the form of a novel.
And to be fair, the game does have an epilogue... in the form of a novel.
Yeah, because, as they put it themselves...
...the game gravitates around the characters' "emotions", meaning that's where the emphasis is at. Other FFs aren't as focused on characters in comparison: they remain part of a world; FFXIII never allows you to explore that world, it's nothing but a wiki.
I understand what you're saying by the ending being "on the abrupt side" since that's how I've felt about the space scene in FFVIII. At the end of the day, neither of them bothered me that much; albeit I think it has to do the fact I've never read many fictional, more complex stories by and large, so that I'm inclined to be easygoing on that stuff.
Yet weren't you falling asleep on the controller at times?
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Ahaha, that's true. Granted, I was playing it in flannel jammies with a faux-wool blanket in cold weather so that might've been part of it (weird, since I did the same thing with Kirby's Epic Yarn and I was pretty engaged with that game). Too relaxing. But when combat becomes repetitive or by-the-numbers, yes, it truly does become rather tiresome to the point of almost feeling sleepy.
Though to be honest, FF13-2's platinum was truly the most boring out of the two.
Though to be honest, FF13-2's platinum was truly the most boring out of the two.
Femmeworth
Banned
As far as you know.
Admittedly, I have a mild to low tolerance for grinding/bullshit.Oh yeah, meant to read that.
Yikes.
As for the platinum, LuuKyK and our "sanity"... that was uncalled for in retrospect (can relate since insulting was what I've got banned for) but take it easy somewhat: there was a point behind. The game mind-numbs because of all that grinding. You look forward to Pulse for the whole time until realizing it's actually a watered down version of Monster Hunter. There is little to no strategy involved, let alone timing which is what the system aimed at catering to granted of the way it has been advertised. Regardless, XIII does remain my 4th favorite FF, but clearly, the combat is its weakest point, which is usually what its
Don't play XIII-2, because the ending of it makes XIII's ending look decent by comparison. XIII-2's ending is stupid beyond count. If I hadn't played The Third Birthday, it would be the single worst ending to any video game I had ever played.
I platinumed FFXIII and XIII-2 but a barely remember it. I kind or zone out when doing that stuff lol.
Edit: Ending of XIII-2 might be the only part of the narrative in either game I enjoyed in any way; I think Corvo and I have clashed on this before.
Edit2: We'll see if LR's does anything interesting, could easily change views on what happens in XIII-2 in retrospect.
Edit: Ending of XIII-2 might be the only part of the narrative in either game I enjoyed in any way; I think Corvo and I have clashed on this before.
Edit2: We'll see if LR's does anything interesting, could easily change views on what happens in XIII-2 in retrospect.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
You know what? It feels good to move away from the RPG genre and return home to the platforming genre every once in a while. I get the feeling that lots of focus on RPGs lately has made me all crabby and easily-irritated.
I'm gonna focus on platformers for a little while. Especially since I can typically finish them off in a short amount of time. SE needs to make some platformers, yo.
Hm. I still don't know what my favourite FFs are. To be honest, I feel like I've gotten a little burnt out on the series, and part of that may have been because of the playthrough thread. Though I have noticed that I've started to gravitate towards the job-based ones in 3, 5, and 10-2 lately. I guess I like going for more customization options via dedicated jobs in FF in this frame of time. Edit: FF9 is still what I think FF truly is to me, though, despite the narrative falling apart late in the third disc.
I'm gonna focus on platformers for a little while. Especially since I can typically finish them off in a short amount of time. SE needs to make some platformers, yo.
Someone didn't play Ghostbusters NES, then.
Ahaha, don't feel too bad about it. It was just a joke. Context is important, etc.
Hm. I still don't know what my favourite FFs are. To be honest, I feel like I've gotten a little burnt out on the series, and part of that may have been because of the playthrough thread. Though I have noticed that I've started to gravitate towards the job-based ones in 3, 5, and 10-2 lately. I guess I like going for more customization options via dedicated jobs in FF in this frame of time. Edit: FF9 is still what I think FF truly is to me, though, despite the narrative falling apart late in the third disc.
You never played MYST, I assume?
Yeah, but all NES games had terrible endings. XIII-2's ending is so bad that it invalidates every effort you've made from FFXIII onward. It's the seal of awful on the series of disappointment that is FFXIII.
I never beat Myst, no.
But I'm willing to bet money T3B's ending is worse than either by a country mile, even if XIII-2's isn't.
Femmeworth
Banned
I know it's bad, but I want to see it for myself. Besides, it's not like I'm that invested in the story.
100% guarantee Myst's original ending is worse.
Xux
Member
One of the parts that killed me about FFXIII was the weird tone compared to the music. Like, at the beginning, Sazh describes the C'ieth as being condemned to walk the planet in endless agony until someone kills them and the game cuts to Snow and his lame buttrock theme.
The pinnacle was the end of FFXIII-2, though, how the pop song just keeps going through a complete 180 in tone and then finally stops when something less notable happens. :\
The pinnacle was the end of FFXIII-2, though, how the pop song just keeps going through a complete 180 in tone and then finally stops when something less notable happens. :\
Femmeworth
Banned
Not always! It's that some words are to be banned no matter what the supposed intent is. Here are the two TOS I broke on that day...- Sexual, racial, or ethnic slurs will not be tolerated in any form and are bannable on the first offense.
- Foul language in the form of insults directed towards other forum members may result in a ban.
No point in ranking FFs if you don't feel like it. I do it myself as a reference. In other words, if someone asks me which games they should play first to discover the series, I would recommend the PSX's ones.
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
What direction should FF go in storywise? I fear that the concept of Friendship>All Obstacles may be lost sooner or later.
Wait is the power of friendship still relevant? Storywise, I not sure where the franchise should go next. Maybe a FF where you don't have to save the world for once? I prefer the witty dialogue from FFXII and the Garden/mercenary aspect from FFVIII so I would like an FF where I'm fighting for characters that I care about, rather than a world that I don't.
One thing I would definitely want Square to do is to tone down the god damn Anime Tropes.
This is the best mentality for enjoying the FFXIII's sequels.
That pops up no matter what. Even in Dirge of Cerberus, a solo shooter, it still managed to pop up.
That'll never go away.
This will never go away either. FF has been, and always will be, aimed at the teenage Japanese male audience. Anime is a big part of that audience and thus FF reflects that.
Femmeworth
Banned
XIII really didn't focus upon the power of friendship, it's more of a story about the power of human will. Actually, I wouldn't say any of the other mainline entries really do either. Sure you have a group of people coming together to save the world, but it's not really the focus. Kingdom Hearts is much more about friendship.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Plus +1 for my collection! (even though my Mac can't read this disc... perhaps is just bluray I guess :\)
The fact XIII has little to no romance is also why I've enjoyed it.
FF8 is winning, I wonder why
http://www.votable.com/1845/What_is_the_greatest_Final_Fantasy_game_of_all_time
http://www.votable.com/1845/What_is_the_greatest_Final_Fantasy_game_of_all_time