Can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I am.
The NES FF's are so old that I really have no desire whatsoever to play them. Tried the PSP remakes, but I found them to be a bore eventually. SNES FF's were good; I played small amounts of IV, V and most of VI (completely lost interest after the world of ruin though), but I never really cared enough to keep playing them. Chrono Trigger is the ultimate 16-bit RPG, at least for someone like me who didn't play 16-bit RPG's at the time when they were new.
Before you old school gamers get all pissy, I found FF to be extremely weak on the PS2. FFX was the best the series had to offer on that console, which isn't saying much. X-2 was a joke, and I absolutely hated XII (adventures in AI scripting -- no thanks. Five years for that? Hah!) Dragon Quest VIII and Valkyrie Profile 2 wiped FF all over the floor last gen.
So, for me personally, the only time I can say that I really appreciated FF as a series was during the PSX days. VII, VIII, IX and Tactics were all incredible. To me, these games are the best in the series. What happened afterwards I see as a huge decline overall. And even though I don't care much for the SNES FF's, those games still represented a desirable progression of the series. Can't say the same for the ones on PS2!
With FFXIII continuing to stay in the shadows and probably not coming out for a long time (wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't until towards the end of this current gen), I've honestly stopped caring. I waited five years for FFXII, only to be extremely disappointed by its battle system (if you even want to call it that), story that falls apart at the 35% mark, and some of the series' WORST characters EVER (besides Ashe, Balthier and Basch, NO ONE in this game mattered. Not even the villains!)
This gen has a lot to offer. Plus I know just by browsing GAF over the past couple years that a lot of you still playing PS2 are trying all kinds of stuff in what seems like an endless pool of non-FF RPG's for that console.
But for the 360, Mistwalker cranked out two awesome RPG's that get no love whatsoever because so many people are on the Square-Enix bandwagon AND Japan seems to hate 360 with a passion -- Blue Dragon (best RPG of this gen so far, IMO) and Lost Odyssey (despite its flaws, the best Final Fantasy that's not even Final Fantasy since 1999).
Plus, there's other ones coming like Infinite Undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia, Cry On, Spectral Force 3, White Knight Story, Last Remnant, Fallout 3 -- all of which seem more promising than FFXIII at this point. It's just not worth getting excited for a game that may very well not even come close to meeting your expectations, since FF has been like that for me since X. At this point I'm prepared to be disappointed in FFXIII, and may not even buy it if Square-Enix decides to take their good old time for another half decade. Not to mention, all of the XIII spin-offs I find completely uninteresting.
If you ask me, it's time to stop acting like FF is the flagship RPG series. Most people will continue to insist that it is, but I now disagree. It was, for a time. There's so many other RPG's out, and so many more coming that its not even worth getting pissed over XIII being pushed back forever. It's been typical of Square ever since they started hyping FFXII and I don't expect that to change.
The NES FF's are so old that I really have no desire whatsoever to play them. Tried the PSP remakes, but I found them to be a bore eventually. SNES FF's were good; I played small amounts of IV, V and most of VI (completely lost interest after the world of ruin though), but I never really cared enough to keep playing them. Chrono Trigger is the ultimate 16-bit RPG, at least for someone like me who didn't play 16-bit RPG's at the time when they were new.
Before you old school gamers get all pissy, I found FF to be extremely weak on the PS2. FFX was the best the series had to offer on that console, which isn't saying much. X-2 was a joke, and I absolutely hated XII (adventures in AI scripting -- no thanks. Five years for that? Hah!) Dragon Quest VIII and Valkyrie Profile 2 wiped FF all over the floor last gen.
So, for me personally, the only time I can say that I really appreciated FF as a series was during the PSX days. VII, VIII, IX and Tactics were all incredible. To me, these games are the best in the series. What happened afterwards I see as a huge decline overall. And even though I don't care much for the SNES FF's, those games still represented a desirable progression of the series. Can't say the same for the ones on PS2!
With FFXIII continuing to stay in the shadows and probably not coming out for a long time (wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't until towards the end of this current gen), I've honestly stopped caring. I waited five years for FFXII, only to be extremely disappointed by its battle system (if you even want to call it that), story that falls apart at the 35% mark, and some of the series' WORST characters EVER (besides Ashe, Balthier and Basch, NO ONE in this game mattered. Not even the villains!)
This gen has a lot to offer. Plus I know just by browsing GAF over the past couple years that a lot of you still playing PS2 are trying all kinds of stuff in what seems like an endless pool of non-FF RPG's for that console.
But for the 360, Mistwalker cranked out two awesome RPG's that get no love whatsoever because so many people are on the Square-Enix bandwagon AND Japan seems to hate 360 with a passion -- Blue Dragon (best RPG of this gen so far, IMO) and Lost Odyssey (despite its flaws, the best Final Fantasy that's not even Final Fantasy since 1999).
Plus, there's other ones coming like Infinite Undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia, Cry On, Spectral Force 3, White Knight Story, Last Remnant, Fallout 3 -- all of which seem more promising than FFXIII at this point. It's just not worth getting excited for a game that may very well not even come close to meeting your expectations, since FF has been like that for me since X. At this point I'm prepared to be disappointed in FFXIII, and may not even buy it if Square-Enix decides to take their good old time for another half decade. Not to mention, all of the XIII spin-offs I find completely uninteresting.
If you ask me, it's time to stop acting like FF is the flagship RPG series. Most people will continue to insist that it is, but I now disagree. It was, for a time. There's so many other RPG's out, and so many more coming that its not even worth getting pissed over XIII being pushed back forever. It's been typical of Square ever since they started hyping FFXII and I don't expect that to change.
