Final Fantasy

[Captain Vegetable]

Originally posted by Rob
FF7 was by far my favorite and I often cite it as my favorite game. It just came at the right time for me, a time when I was only playing a few games a year and hadn't really played an RPG before (besides the first FF and a demo length session here and there of a few others). It was incredibly atmospheric, with great soundtrack and highly detailed environments (which I had never seen anything like before). The game was long, the story was great and there were lots and lots of detail-work done by Square to make the game more "real" and fun (minigames galore). I think the time spent on this game is obvious.

Do you think maybe this is why you feel as though Star Ocean Second Story is copying from FFVII? You obviously hold it high reguard...and maybe it's a "how dare they use that concept in Star Ocean! It was in FFVII first!!!" kind of thought process? And maybe you have a propensity to compare every RPG with FFVII, since it's your favorite game? Those two thought processes are very valid reasons as to why you think what you do about Star Ocean. But I could be wrong.

[Despair]

Why are people making a big deal of random battles. They never bothered me much, and there always a item or a spell in the game, that either halves or completely removes them for the game duration.

Sure, the ability to see your enemies and try to avoid them is nice, but even with ramdom battles its possible to have fun.

[FirstBlood]

yeah... i really don't mind random battles

sure, they can be annoying, but that's only when i'm really sick of fighting... but usually i'm fine with them

[Tsubaki]

Lunar was originally a random battle game... I guess you never played the Mega / Sega CD games and Final Fantasy wasn't the first game to use random battle so Final Fantasized in so not right

I know, but still... it boggles the mind why GameArts would go backwards with their latest Lunar remake. It would have been the best version (well... 'cept no "Tsubasa" op ) if they screw with the battles. And I'm not talking just about the random battles. The actual battles themselves are "Final Fantasized".

You no longer position your party members. They're just stuck to the right hand side of the screen, and warp in front of the enemy when they attack. Aurghhhhh!!!!

[Werewolf]

Originally posted by Tsubaki


I know, but still... it boggles the mind why GameArts would go backwards with their latest Lunar remake. It would have been the best version (well... 'cept no "Tsubasa" op ) if they screw with the battles. And I'm not talking just about the random battles. The actual battles themselves are "Final Fantasized".

You no longer position your party members. They're just stuck to the right hand side of the screen, and warp in front of the enemy when they attack. Aurghhhhh!!!!

I don't know why they would go back to random ether, some games I don't mind the random battles but they do become repetitive after awhile especially ones where you get attacked every 5 or 6 steps.

[Captain Vegetable]

Originally posted by Werewolf

I don't know why they would go back to random ether, some games I don't mind the random battles but they do become repetitive after awhile especially ones where you get attacked every 5 or 6 steps.

Like Skies of Arcadia? I loved that game...even if the randomness of the battles was way to clockwork...and annoyingly closely spaced.

[Tsubaki]

Like Skies of Arcadia? I loved that game...even if the randomness of the battles was way to clockwork...and annoyingly closely spaced.

Arcadia would have been one of the best RPGs I've ever played, if it weren't for that flaw.

"Oh, we have all these discoveries for you to find, but we're going to punish you for looking for them by making you fight enemies every 2 seconds."

Ruined an otherwise excellent RPG.

[Frogacuda]

I really don't like Final Fantasy. I've given the series more than a fair chance. I've played all of the games, japanese or american up to 8, before finally accepting that 9 wasn't going to be good. They lack any kind of gameplay, or skill. They're just story dirven level up fests, and they aren't fun as games. The stories are overrated as well. They're hailed as the "best" because of all the big epic over dramatized crap, but few of them really do much for me because the characters are so 1 dimensional. FF3 (the japanese, NES one) was good for its day and had the cool job system, and FF5 had an even cooler version of it which made it playable, but all in all I really haven't been able to enjoy them. They're the opposit of everything I want in an RPG.

I look for depth, gameplay, and character depth and development in an RPG, so I love Tri-Ace and hate most of square's works.

FF1: Indistinct and mediocre
FF2: Incompotent and unplayable, probably the worst RPG ever.
FF3: One of the better 8 bit RPGs
FF4: Story driven level up fest, relatively good characters somewhat redeem.
FF5: Story driven level up fest with a cool job system, cliched villain and flat characters
FF6: Dumbed down simplified FF5, in which most of the plot is wholly irrelevant, the characters are just "Guy with an accent and a background story", and another cliched muhahaha shouting villain.
FF7: Linear, bland, and unplayable crap with no gameplay, and obnoxious melodrama.
FF8: FF7, but worse.

A good RPG needs a good battle system, good levleing/magic system, characters with some genuine depth, and some originality. None of this can be found in FF. Some of them barely seem like games. Just a story with some tedious interaction. If the gameplay isn't fun I don't want it.

[Jeremy]

The Lunar games have been out for damn near S-E-V-E-N years now, Tsubaki...

[Victrix]

Primarily the exploration. Square can make some pretty nifty areas.

That said, I tend to enjoy Square's bastard children more than FF. Any of Vagrant Story, Mana, Saga, Tactics, or Chrono are higher on my list than the Final Fantasy games.

If it is possible for me to be less interested in FF XI, I don't know how. Have to wait and see what FF XII will bring. X was disappointing because it had a really good battle system, a decent leveling system, and damn near no exploration