Favourite FF game in the series?

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Final Fantasy VII  :lol:

Perhaps not the best game of all time, but among the best :wink:.  First -- the graphics were absolutely spectacular for being the beginning of the Playstation Era. I remember, after playing Final Fantasy VIII and IX, thinking back at how much "worse" the VII graphics were (of course, don't comment about the newer and/or newest Final Fantasy series). However, upon playing VII again I realized my error. The fact is, they did absolutely amazing things with the resources they had.

Second, regarding the characters. They do indeed start by presenting the characters as the usual stereotypes. However, through the game you find out more about each character, including some major things that make them anything but your ordinary "wooden, teen-programmed protagonists."

Third, some people said Sephiroth is an angst-ridden villain who we must accept as evil simply because he acts like it, with little discernible motivation. There are places you would get lynched for saying this. First, Sephiroth is perhaps one of the most complex villains of all time, because he is truly likable. In addition, his actions are clearly being influenced by an outside source (Jenova), which has an unknown degree of control over him. In addition, his relationship and history with the main character leave room for major psychological examination. So I think we can drop the mistaken notion they seemed to have that he is stereotypical.

In addition, the primary struggle in the story is not "ultimate good versus ultimate evil." When truly examined (assuming you've played through the entire game), you can see that the primary conflict is the psychological conflict that the main character has with himself. Even the final battle can be viewed entirely as an allegory for a struggle inside his mind. "Good and evil" are not the sides presented. The "good" characters are clearly flawed, even somewhat villainous in their own ways. The "evil" characters are clearly gifted and most are very likable, despite being on the opposite side of the conflict. There were indeed more groundbreaking projects, similar deep stories, and these games should have a better reputation. This does not, however, diminish the amazing gameplay, graphics (yes, graphics), story, characters, and structure of this game. It's more than a "good JRPG." It's a great, universal RPG that is one of the most timeless classics we have seen in the genre.

Anyway...(before it gets off topic :-P), this game is a work of art... I played this game for about 70 hours or more!!! :-P And I had a hard time fighting the final battle not because it was hard(if you can beat the ultimate weapons, Sephiroth is nothing) it was hard because I did not want the game to end, this is the only game i have ever played that made me mourn at the thought of it coming to an end. :lol:

Many people say this game is one of the most overrated game of all time because it is the first game that a lot of people played, including me. The thing is, many of those people have their own little game from which they all rate others game from and very often this game is FFVI. Personally, I don't see what these people see in it as I didn't like it but they don't see what we love about FFVII either.

Sure, our expectations for future games reflected FFVII's style as but the thing is that it was a great game, it set the bar too high for us to even think about something better, even today. The AMVs are simply phenomenal for the time, the story is complex and holds many twists, finally, I loved the materia system and the mini-games but that's more personal. There's a lot of good stuff of which FFVII was the pioneer at the time, mainly storyline and AMVs and will remain for that reason a ground breaking game.
 
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VII for me as well. I agree with all of Moi_Rama's points (although I think that it IS the best of all time). Some other things that I think set it apart were the music and the "feel" of the game (the two go hand in hand). VII feels much more "cosy" (in the British sense of the word) than the other games in the series, particularly the later ones; this is perhaps best illustrated by the design of Kalm and the music piece "Ahead On Our Way", as well as Tifa's theme. Just about all of the music fits perfectly the tone of the scene or character for which it is played, and makes the player fell as if he or she is not playing a game, but actually in the world, feeling what the characters are feeling. VII showed that video games are capable of being great works of art too; it had its flaws, but the are incredibly minor ones. I think the fact that 10 years after its release it is still as popular as ever, still as loved as ever, still having such a strong emotional impact on its fans as ever, shows what makes it special, and how enduring its power is. VII, I think, is the Shakespeare of video games.

After VII, I think that VIII and X are the best. X was great fun to play. I loved the sphere grid, which allowed for very balanced characters growth and a third way between the rather "samey" characters of some games and a rigid character class system. I also loved the huge number of optional bosses: the monster arena and Dark Aeons were like battle square and Emerald and Ruby version 2.0. Unlike other games, no matter how much one powers up, one can always find a challenge, or at least a battle which can't be won by holding down the OK button.

VIII often gets some unfair treatment. It was labelled as a flop or a disappointment by many when it came out, which I doubt would have happened had it followed any game other than VII. VIII also had a great atmosphere and soundtrack, reaching its high point towards the end of disc 1. I didn't like the junction and draw system which I think allowed the player to get through most of the game without casting many spells at all (well-junctioned characters could win all normal fights by just attacking and all boss fights by spamming meltdown-aura-Renzokuken; at least KotR was hard to find), but I did like the idea of having the enemies level-up as the party does. The characters and plot, whilst not as strong as in VII, were still very good; I feel more for Squall than I do for any of the protagonists since. It also looks wonderful; during my goth phase I loved Ultimecia's castle in particular. The design of Edea was brilliant, and the opening FMV one of the most specular in the FF series. Finally, the card game was a delightful addition to the game. A side quest almost as enthralling as FFVII's chocobo racing.

Well there we are. Horribly disjointed rant over.
 
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For me, FFVII wins the award for best story and antagonist (every game has got to have a cool antagonist, right?).

It was way too easy though.  FFX had exactly the same problem, and there's so much dialogue.  Playing through the game a second time gets boring quickly unless you didn't catch the details of the storyline the first time.

FFXII is my overall favorite.  It was something entirely different for a change.  It also took a much longer amount of time to fully beat, it was hard, and there were so many sidequests (which are important to me).  You could even skip the dialogue and cutscenes if you so wished.  Final Fantasy XII ALL THE WAY!!
 
LOL I am one of those many people who like ff7 the most, but ffx definately gave it a run for it's money. I feel that ff7 is so great because of the charecters and thier personalities (although i don't care for tifa really) there is also the plot twists and the mandatory playovers cuz u didn't get it the first time.

The soundtrack was decent but it lacked the ability to really put you into the action. (like i felt with the battle music "challange" from ffx)

and last but not least, theres all of the cool moves you can get like most of the summons and some magic spells like ultima and shadow flare, and i also liked 4X cut paired up with cloud since it looked awesome (btw his regular attack in kh was 4X cut)

oh and who could ever forget the infamous SUPERNOVA? the greatest summon/magic attack i have ever seen, they really outdid themselves with alot of the elements
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X has definately come closest to unseating ff7, but the storyline of 7 takes it above.  Both are great games.

X-2 and XII however are the worst FF games I have ever played.  Mindless cash in of X-2 to possibly the thinest excuse for a plot from XII

Just how these 2 games get such raving reviews is well beyond me.  Not only did XII have a poor plot, it had the laziest battle dynamic of all time, in that you actually do the programmers job for them with gambits

What a waste of time
 
IMHO, I'd say that it's a tie between FFVII and FFIX. VII and IX both have freakin' nice storylines that'll totally kick the cartridge pins off and rip out the PCB traces of RPGs like Pokemon. They both excel in their own ways. The ability system of IX was more easy grasped by me than VII's Materia system. IX is also more straightforward than VII. VII's storyline gradually unfolds while in IX you already know how it'll turn out by the end of Disc 1, and the field icon makes it so much easier to locate treasure. IX is also more refined than VII (pretty good translation, graphics and ATE system is unobtrusive because it doesn't distract the player as much as FF7's constant party-switching). Both games have made me cry at one point or the other. In VII it was the Sephiroth flashback scene of the Nibelheim incident (pyromaniac Seph!!!) and the murder of Aeris. "Aeris is gone!!!" *Sephiroth poses in the background and gloats*, while in IX it was the overworld tune, the FMV where the airship lifts off w/ Garnet waving to Zidane, and the ending where Garnet runs into Zidane's arms with the rest of Alexandria applauding.

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well, and I think that A LOT OF people will disagree with me, my favorite Final Fantasy game was the original japanese NES game of Final Fantasy III (I'm not talking about final fantasy III on the snes, wich was just the american version of Final Fantasy VI!)

to be honest, the graphics did suck, and sometimes were the enemies extremely hard, but this game put a spell over me, and I like it...

except the DS port, man, that game sucks ass! Why did they let bosses attack twice in a row?
I'll never understand those weird Japanese guys...

If you want to play the game for your self, tough luck, better learn Japanese and search e-bay :wink:
 
i can't choose my favorite its between ff7 and  ff X i like ff7because of the characters and the story line but i like ff X because of sphere grid also being able to talk instead of reading it and playing blitzball can sometimes be fun.
 
FFIX. Hands down. Zidane was the first FF character that I thought had a believable personality.
FFV is in the top five for sure. The story gets a little cheesy at times, but it has very imaginative boss battles which are still hard for me.

I hate FFX. I just don't see what everyone likes about it.
 
I like the fact that in the begninning Tidus is a brat who I can't stand, but after some characterisation, he seems alot more... Real, and likeable.  Also, I think Yuna's pretty hot in FFX compared to when she goes into slut mode in FFX-2.
 
Like the kind of people that will say for example Metal Gear Solid for the PSX is the best game ever, when it's quite clear that Twin Snakes on Gamecube is better.
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Not really man. It is graphically superior and stuff but it's a bit too crazy. Action scenes are... Too much. The reason why I prefer original MGS is cause it's normal. No snakes jumping of rockets etc. And they changed few things in the game but it's ok.

Let's get back on topic. I played every FF game except Revenant Wings and those new remakes on DS but still my fav is FF6, 7 and 12. Played 7 countless times and achieved hundreds of hours. I fell in love in it before it was released, I loved the world that they shown me in previews. It was dark, gloomy and serious despite super deformed appearance. I like the dystopian Midgar concept, people struggling with every day but affraid to change their lives, living in slums but still call it their home. Atmosphere really hooked me. And the soundtrack, I still listen to it sometimes, it's magical.

FF6 was really awesome game despite narration problems that's why I'm so eager to see remake of it. Game hadn't main protagonist, there were lots of chars and every of them had their own special ability which played different mechanically. The story was adult and serious, and there were some pretty shocking events during the game. It had a lot of optional stuff to do and shortly after the "big event" it happened to be a bit sandbox too. In some terms FF7 was a step back not forward in comparison to FF6.

Why FF12? It was different. A lot different. Had it's flaws like completely useless Espers, lame main character but what I love about this game is in-game cutscenes. They are simply amazing. Great acting, awesome voices and immersing story. It had amazing visuals for PS2, draw distance in some places was really impressive and changing seasons on the desert made me "wow". Most people don't like it, I don't care. FF12 is really great game despite some minor flaws and differences.
 
Haha, I feel weird coming into this thread, but I have to say, I started playing final fantasy back when I was 7, having gotten FF2 (we call it FF4 now) for Christmas.  I had also rented FF1 and MQ at one point.  And since then I have played every single game in the series, except for FF12, although there are some that I have not beaten, for various reasons.  So here is my list:

Nostalgia purposes, FF2/4 is my favorite.  The music.. the combat.. the story.. all of it brings me back to an incredibly different time in my life, and I always try to play through it differently.  I definitely enjoyed the DS version in which you could switch party members at the end, as Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia and Edge got old after a while.  But I always use Rydia.  Of all my favorites, Rydia holds a place in my heart.  Nothing beats the first time you summon Bahamut in that game simply to see that you did quad 9's to every enemy on the stage, numbers that you had never seen aside from Meteo (yes, Meteo) cast by Tellah or others.

FF7 is definitely up there, I think Sephiroth is the most hateful villain, especially when you see what he's really like in Advent Children.

FFX is amazing.. Although it didn't capture the mystery of FF7 so well, since most of the questions were answered by the end of it, it still had some, and it took the emotions from FF7 to a higher level, I thought.  Rikku is by far my favorite here.

Why does no one mention Final Fantasy Tactics?  Does not having a number somehow impact its quality?  Has no one here played it?  Its story is completely unlike that of any other in the series, the political intrigue, the backstabbing, the upheavals, the manipulation of war and just simple underhanded activities make this one of the more easy to enjoy games I think, I just keep wanting to find out what's going on next, and what each discovery really means down the road.  Plus the party customization goes so deep with the job class changing and job ability purchasing and equipping.  There's no end to the number of times you can play through this game, each time trying something different and learning something new.  The Zodiac system in combat allows the combat to be complex, even though the numbers and lists of abilities in any given battle are rather small.  Meliadoul is by far my favorite here.  Finally (this game came out before FF9) a female character with some real strength.  She is proud, family-oriented, a strong swordswoman, and beyond that, does not back down from overwhelming odds.  Both her and Agrias are two of the strongest in the series, although I consider Beatrix on that list as well.
 
Like the kind of people that will say for example Metal Gear Solid for the PSX is the best game ever, when it's quite clear that Twin Snakes on Gamecube is better.
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Not really man. It is graphically superior and stuff but it's a bit too crazy. Action scenes are... Too much. The reason why I prefer original MGS is cause it's normal. No snakes jumping of rockets etc. And they changed few things in the game but it's ok.

Let's get back on topic. I played every FF game except Revenant Wings and those new remakes on DS but still my fav is FF6, 7 and 12. Played 7 countless times and achieved hundreds of hours. I fell in love in it before it was released, I loved the world that they shown me in previews. It was dark, gloomy and serious despite super deformed appearance. I like the dystopian Midgar concept, people struggling with every day but affraid to change their lives, living in slums but still call it their home. Atmosphere really hooked me. And the soundtrack, I still listen to it sometimes, it's magical.

FF6 was really awesome game despite narration problems that's why I'm so eager to see remake of it. Game hadn't main protagonist, there were lots of chars and every of them had their own special ability which played different mechanically. The story was adult and serious, and there were some pretty shocking events during the game. It had a lot of optional stuff to do and shortly after the "big event" it happened to be a bit sandbox too. In some terms FF7 was a step back not forward in comparison to FF6.

Why FF12? It was different. A lot different. Had it's flaws like completely useless Espers, lame main character but what I love about this game is in-game cutscenes. They are simply amazing. Great acting, awesome voices and immersing story. It had amazing visuals for PS2, draw distance in some places was really impressive and changing seasons on the desert made me "wow". Most people don't like it, I don't care. FF12 is really great game despite some minor flaws and differences.
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totally agree.  The voice acting was worse, the action scenes were way out of control for all the little fanboys, the gameplay was easier.

It was a disaster.  Graphics DO NOT MAKE GAMES.
 
"Graphics do not make games"

I've never been a fan of that saying. I can see you're not saying this, but I read a lot of people say "OH NOES IT HAS POOR GRAPHICS!!!" As an insult to someone saying a game has poor graphics. Graphics don't make the game, but they most certainly enhance it and can even destroy it if they're bad enough. I honestly believe that if Final Fantasy VII came out on the SNES and Final Fantasy VI came out on the PSX, Final Fantasy VI would be regarded as vastly, VASTLY superior. VII ran deep, but VI ran deeper. It just isn't displayed as much because of the limitation of sprites and no dramatic CGI cutscenes. To me, there's absolutely no question VI would have been freaking EPIC on the Playstation. (cue smartass comments about the SNES port here)
Can we imagine for a second the scene where Clyde (Shadow) leaves his friend behind to die instead of killing him as a CGI instead of just 2D sprites and some written dialog? Or imagine Kefka actually laughing and destroying people in 3D with absolutely no regard to their lives? How about Cyan watching his family and entire kingdom die slowly and painfully from poison in the water, only to have the pain dig deeper when he has to see them one last time taking the train to the afterlife. The Esper kingdom invasion where they're just hunted by power hungry soldiers? The only scenes in VII that can compare are the Nibelheim fire and Aeris burning. VI barrages you with these kinds of scenes, it just doesn't have the same impact because it's sprites. It's less realistic. We're separated from the drama more.

There's an argument here that's kind of moot, because the fact is VII has the chance to be presented more dramatically and is therefore regarded as superior (which even I might think), but there's still an argument none the less and that is that in the case of VI vs. VII, graphics most certainly made the game.
 
but there's still an argument none the less and that is that in the case of VI vs. VII, graphics most certainly made the game.
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Do you think so? There have been many FFs released since whose graphics have been better in comparison to VII than VII's were in comparison to VI, but, good as they are, (in my opinion) none of them match it. I don't think the cut scenes were very important in making the drama in VII; of course, it would have been weaker without them, but only slightly. There just seems to be a closer personal connection between the player and the characters in VII, and that, I think, is its strength. That connection doesn't come from the graphics (which I thought were awful when I first played it), it comes purely from characterisation, atmosphere and music (the importance of good music to a game is often massively underestimated). I can't help but feel that, even if it were made into a 3D cutscene, Kefka's killing of all those people (for example) wouldn't have had the same impact as Sephiroth's killing of Aeris; remember what Stalin supposedly said about the death of millions? I'm starting to ramble incoherently now; if VI is ever remade properly for a modern platform (and I'd much rather see that than any more VII spin-offs), we'll see whether it really was deeper, but I can't help but believe that VII would still come out on top.
 
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The gap between VI and VII is much larger than the gap between VII and even XII. The difference is in VII, you had physical body language, facial expressions in timely situations, and cutscenes where you needed to show the most dramatic presentations. The only difference between VII and it's later counterparts here is the QUALITY of these things. VI didn't have the luxury of any of these, period. You had the head drop a pixel or two, and that's it. Didn't look convincing. When I say graphics, I'm not talking "Oh, shiny bloom lighting and 3D!" The emphasis here is that with superior graphics comes superior presentation.
In converse of my previous post, consider some of FFVII's scenes if they were forced to be in FFVI. Let's take your example of Sephiroth killing Aeris. You honestly think it would be the same? It would go like this:
Sephiroth's sprite just sort of drop down. His sword isn't impressive at all because you can barely make out what it is, and it's size it downplayed by it's 2D nature. Nor is his costume. Cloud's sprite just sits there like it's frozen, and Aeris, well we can barely tell she's praying because she's only got so many sprites. Nobody has a remarkable facial expression. So Sephiroth comes down, you see his sword twitch a couple times, and Aeris sort of collapses. Sephiroth never gets the evil look in his face, Aeris' eyes never light up, Cloud never looks overly concerned at all, and Sephiroth isn't able to slooowwwllllyyy pull the Masamune back out of Aeris' body. That scene is only dramatic as it is because the graphical technology allowed Square to actually show all of these minor details that made the scene. Were it not for them, well, I can't take anyone seriously who actually thinks my described version is just as dramatic because no, it's not. It'd be the equivalent of Cid jumping off the airship in FFIV. Did anybody honestly care? His sprite spun a couple times and you saw explosion sprites replace him. Not very dramatic at all.
And you can forget Aeris' build up too. None of that leaning from side to side looking at Cloud, no jumping for joy (at least not realistically), Cloud would look completely boring probably, and the buster sword would just be another "bronze sword" as far as significance goes. Nobody would care about the Masamune. Pretty much everything that made FFVII iconic besides maybe the music wouldn't be left intact if FFVII were made in place of FFVI. I love both games. I don't say this as a bitter FFVI fanboy. I'm just able to realize that's why FFVII succeeded where previous games failed.
 
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Would FFVII's scenes lose something without the PSX's graphics? Certainly. But they would only lose the icing on the cake. What made the Aeris scene special was not Cloud and Aeris looking at each other nor Sephiroth's smile as he slowly pulled out his sword, though they added to it. What made it special was the suddenness of it, the helplessness and Sephiroth's callousness afterwards. I can't really see why, with the right timing and sound, you couldn't make a pretty dramatic Aeris' death scene with just sprites. Not quite as dramatic as the original, but dramatic nonetheless. And the build-up with Aeris would lose something too, but still retain its core.

And I must also disagree with the claim that the gap between XII and VII is smaller than the one between VII and VI, at least with respect to character animation (it is, of course, with respect to things like backgrounds). VII only had facial expressions in cut scenes, and they still weren't convincing. On the PS2/3 you can see a tear running down someone's cheek; imagine how much FFVII would have been improved with the kind of detail. It didn't have it, but was able to make do without. If you watched at the Red XIII and Seto scene without the context or music, it would seem ridiculous. With them it is very different. The body movement of FFVII characters is pretty hard to take seriously as well (or would be if the game were less immersive), at least in the rendered scenes where most of the important things happen. Nevertheless, it didn't bother anyone because other things had made the dramatic illusion so strong.

If I seemed to be saying that FFVII would be exactly the same if it looked like Super Mario Bros. 1, then I am sorry for not making myself clearer. If I seemed to speak to you as if you were a "bitter FFVI fanboy" I again apologise; that was not my intention (if I seem to be a VII fanboy, you may be right ;-) ). What I meant was that although 3D graphics and whatnot enhanced FFVII and helped it do some things better than it could have done without them, they are only a *very* small part of what made it what it is; if they were any more than that, most of VII's fans would have forgotten as soon as VIII came out, a game with a strong storyline, excellent music and graphics far, far superior to those of its predecessor, but without the same impact or level of immersiveness (IMO, of course ;-) ). All of this reminds me, I must get around to playing VI again.

PS. 100 posts: w00t!

Terribly sorry about that.
 
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Not at all, just bringing up the fanboy comment because I didn't want to come across as one. Well I'm not going to try to change your mind, it's simply how I feel. Not just about these two games, but a lot of other games in series as well.
 
My favorite FF game was X.  Between the great music, the addition of voice acting, and IMO a really great story, it really got me.  I even enjoyed X-2, simply because I was able to continue in that universe(I technically liked the battle system too...)

I have enjoyed all but one(Crystal Chronicles for GC) of the FF games I have played so far, even Mystic Quest.  Right now, I'm playing through Crisis Core, and this might be the second FF game I don't enjoy unless the story gets better.

I liked a lot of what they did with XII, but the gambit system is not included. Also, the lack of random encounters is really cool, but I would really it to be mixed with turn based combat, perhaps something akin to Chrono Trigger.
 
I thought I was the only one who didn't think that X-2 was *that* bad :-). Don't get me wrong, it's hardly my favourite game of the series, but it was fun! I also loved X, although for quite different reasons.

I'm also playing through Crisis Core for the first time at the moment (hard mode, of course  8-)), I'm on chapter seven and also trying to complete all of the missions. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about it. For a start, it doesn't feel like VII; both the look and feel of the game are more similar to a cross between VIII and X: two of the best games of the series, but not what I'd expect from a VII prequel. I have actually been turning down the sound on my PSP and playing VII music on my laptop instead; it seems to make it feel a bit more like its predecessor (of course, the absence of Nobuo Uematsu means that the music doesn't compare to that of the original). I also didn't like the story; it seems that the makers of the game have included the right amount of originality and faithfulness, but in the wrong areas. The universe seems to bear little resemblance to that of VII (I thought that the fight scenes, for example, were, like the fights in Advent Children, very OTT); the story, however, goes *too* far in paralleling that of VII (at least it has done so far). Sephiroth was built up as being unique in the original game and so was the threat to the world; it's hard to accept Genesis and Angeal as being almost his equal, or Hollander being a new Hojo, or Zack meeting Aeris by falling through the roof of the church (if he dresses up as a women in Wall Market, it will be the last straw ;-)). In many ways it feels more like a game based on the FF7 universe that a true (canon) prequel. it also seems too easy; I'm a mediocre gamer and I'm having no trouble with hard mode, but maybe that's because I'm doing the missions. the fighting system seems a little unbalanced as well; physical attacks are *far* to powerful in comparison to magic (or even limit breaks) now that the player basically has 4xCut from the start of the game and can get back attacks very easily on most enemies. Most FF games have this problem towards the end, but CC has it almost from the beginning (however, status inducing spells are *finally* useful - hooray). I can't help but wonder whether the makers took into account that fights in action games work very differently from those in RPGs. There were far too many random encounters as well, and it was almost impossible to escape from them.

All of that said (whew, there was a lot of it!), Squeenix has made a decent action game if not a perfect one, contrasting strongly with DoC (the worst sequel since Super Mario Bros. 2). The missions are great fun, it's nice to learn more about SOLDIER (VII didn't go into nearly enough detail about them) and I like the way that the game plays with you by making you think "Go Shinra, go Sephiroth!", when they were the antagonists in the last game. It's definitely the best part of the Compilation that I've experienced so far (I haven't played Before Crisis yet, and it might be a very long time before I do), and the only one to cause any nostalgia (even if there could have been more); all of those little references: a man with a gun on his arm, a man with a hat and a black chocobo, Yuffie, the list goes on.

As for XII: didn't like it; I think that XII is like marmite ;-).

EDIT: One day, I'm going to make a post in "General" that is fewer that has fewer than 1000 words.
 
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