Final Fantasy

ntlbell

So.

If at this point you had never played any of the FF's.

Where would you start today?

Would you use emulation and go back to the start? or be a lot more selective in what FF's you would play?

IrishZeus

If you had never played any, you would have no idea where to start.

Personally, having played them, I would start with 7 from a graphics/playability point of view.

ntlbell

IrishZeus wrote: »

If you had never played any, you would have no idea where to start.

The point of the thread

IrishZeus

Ah, I get you now...

I guess having never played any, I would begin at the beginning and work through....!

Retr0gamer

IrishZeus wrote: »

Ah, I get you now...

I guess having never played any, I would begin at the beginning and work through....!

I would highly advise not doing this. FF1 is a grind heavy game and very tough, FF2 is one of the worst games ever made and FF3 is a bit bland. They only really get great from FF4 onwards.

My advise would be to start with either 4, 6 or 9 since they are the best. FFVII is another good place to start but it's not aged great graphically and in terms of mechanics, it's very simple.

Kiith

I'd start with VI. It's probably the best (even with my VII nostalgia), and it's a fantastic game. Great soundtrack, and a superb villian. Plus, each game after VI is a fairly major graphical improvement.

animaX

Retr0gamer wrote: »

My advise would be to start with either 4, 6 or 9 since they are the best

Second this.

FFVII was the one which popularized the series but it's so hyped at this stage that you might be left wondering what the fuss is.

Each game is completely independent (save for a few sort-of-sequels) so you could even work back from the latest game

ancapailldorcha

I think FFX would be a great place start. It might be a bit weird playing the older titles after it though.

Memnoch

I strongly recommend starting with 7. I base this recommendation on one thing and one thing alone.

It is the ONLY game my Misses has started and finished. She enjoyed it a lot too. I think she'll probably finish 10 also when it comes out in remastered HD and she might have have played 9 but couldn't due to lack of free time in the past.

But yeah... I would start with 7. Also, pay no attention to retrogamer on this issue. As fantastic as he is he's got some kind of religious fanaticism when it comes to 7.

Motley Crue

I recommend starting with the first one. That's actually my favourite game of all time. It's available widely on Mobile, as is 2 and 3, and if you have the patience to play through them all then you'll love FF7, FF8 and FF9 (the last of which is the series creators favourite)

Motley Crue

Just to give you some idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9XvuKnN_50

Contains a few spoilers but a good review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF_9vXRNuFI

Retr0gamer

Memnoch wrote: »

But yeah... I would start with 7. Also, pay no attention to retrogamer on this issue. As fantastic as he is he's got some kind of religious fanaticism when it comes to 7.

It's a fantastic game it's just got fanboys that really over hype the game and don't accept criticism about it (not saying you're one now).

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's a fantastic game it's just got fanboys that really over hype the game and don't accept criticism about it (not saying you're one now).

Anything people say about 7, i.e. that people's opinions on it are coloured by the fact it was their first FF or by their youth etc can just as easily be said about FF6.

At this stage, I guarantee that the more casual gamer will (okay probably just to make it sound like I am giving an opinion!) prefer 7 to 6. Maybe the remake for the GBA was good but the difficulty spikes, loading times, frequency of the random battles, sometimes being unsure where to go etc etc all make 6 somewhat difficult to swallow now.


If I had to tell people to play one, it would be one of 7, 9 or 10.

bigdaddyliamo

On first thought I'd say go with 7, but after taking a nap and thinking it through properly I'd recommend starting with 9 as it is the best game overall and the style is just beautiful!:D

noodler

Motley Crue wrote: »

Just to give you some idea


Contains a few spoilers but a good review

The gameplay is worse than the holocaust - heh.

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

Anything people say about 7, i.e. that people's opinions on it are coloured by the fact it was their first FF or by their youth etc can just as easily be said about FF6.

At this stage, I guarantee that the more casual gamer will (okay probably just to make it sound like I am giving an opinion!) prefer 7 to 6. Maybe the remake for the GBA was good but the difficulty spikes, loading times, frequency of the random battles, sometimes being unsure where to go etc etc all make 6 somewhat difficult to swallow now.

Loading times? I think your problem with FF6 is you played the god awful PS1 version.

There's having an opinion that FFVII is your favourite game and it might be based on opinion but if you are going to really discuss the game and tell me the story isn't a bit cliche or that the materia system is excellent and full of depth without getting into intelligent debate about it then I've no time for it.

ancapailldorcha

That FF7 video is terrible. Just because several games have stories worse that FF7's doesn't make FF7's great. That chap makes no arguments whatsoever to back up his opinions. And the ATB system was in place in the series since FF4, maybe longer.

noodler wrote: »

Anything people say about 7, i.e. that people's opinions on it are coloured by the fact it was their first FF or by their youth etc can just as easily be said about FF6.

At this stage, I guarantee that the more casual gamer will (okay probably just to make it sound like I am giving an opinion!) prefer 7 to 6. Maybe the remake for the GBA was good but the difficulty spikes, loading times, frequency of the random battles, sometimes being unsure where to go etc etc all make 6 somewhat difficult to swallow now.


If I had to tell people to play one, it would be one of 7, 9 or 10.

Strongly disagree here. I've played both 7 and 6 and, for me FF6 is the superior game. With the espers and the frozen stats I feel like I truly have complete control on the development of my characters. It's not perfect as you can just stick an esper on just before a level up but it's a good system regardless. In FF7, I just gave Cloud my best materia because he couldn't be swapped out and allocated leftovers accordingly. Aside from limit breaks there was no real difference between the characters battlewise.
I don't know where people are getting this stuff about loading times from. I was able to save

Shadow

with over 30 seconds to spare. And it's nice that there are plenty of tough battles. I think I died once in FF7 because I accidentally flew into ruby weapon.

Retr0gamer

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I was able to save

Shadow

with over 30 seconds to spare. And it's nice that there are plenty of tough battles. I think I died once in FF7 because I accidentally flew into ruby weapon.

I had awful trouble trying to do that on the PS1 version, It's not just that though, the load times completely kill the pace of the game. It's just a much better experience on the SNES, I don't know why anyone would even go near the PS1 version.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I had awful trouble trying to do that on the PS1 version, It's not just that though, the load times completely kill the pace of the game. It's just a much better experience on the SNES, I don't know why anyone would even go near the PS1 version.

Lack of a SNES?

ancapailldorcha

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I had awful trouble trying to do that on the PS1 version, It's not just that though, the load times completely kill the pace of the game. It's just a much better experience on the SNES, I don't know why anyone would even go near the PS1 version.

I didn't know any better. Plus I don't need a SNES cluttering up my room. Is the translation different for the SNES version?

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

Lack of a SNES?

I'm pretty sure whatever you are posting that from is more than capable of playing the game through an emulator considering my old PC from 1997 could play it.

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I didn't know any better. Plus I don't need a SNES cluttering up my room. Is the translation different for the SNES version?

The SNES and PS1 translation is the same to my knowledge.

ancapailldorcha

So is it just the load times then? I think I asked you before and you mentioned the music being off and the aspect ratio as problems as well.

Retr0gamer

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

So is it just the load times then? I think I asked you before and you mentioned the music being off and the aspect ratio as problems as well.

The music sounds crapper as well. On the US version it's in the correct aspect ratio but on the EU store, like most of the games, it's the terrible PAL version which has borders that mess up the aspect ratio and it also runs about 20% slower.

Memnoch

Quite possibly, I am a fanboy, though not sure how you define that? I can only go by my opinion of the game in comparison to other games that I've played.

The thing about 7 is that it is a hell of a lot of fun on top of a game that really involves you emotionally in its characters.

Maybe my view is coloured by the fact that I was 16-17 when I first played it, but like I said, my Misses played it a few years ago and loved it.

Story wise, I think it has the best story after X in the ff series. I think 9 had a good story that was ruined by the ending which did not bring everything together for me.

In terms of gameplay. I don't care if the materia system is 'simplistic.' It's wonderful and a lot of fun. Again maybe because this was my first RPG but I'd love to have a game with a similar system again. I love the way the materia were weaved into the storyline, unlike say the main combat system of FF - 13.

I think just the way the game is laid out, the minigames etc. It's just fun from beginning to end.

But the most important thing in my view is that 7 has that great intangible. It has SOUL, you can tell it was made with a lot of love and passion and not simply produced, which is how the more recent FF's feel. Especially 13. And in terms of story, when you compare 7 to 13, it seems like a masterpiece.

Maybe there are fanboys who overhype it. I think equally there are detractors who simply hate it because of the fanbase and blow the negatives way out of proportion.

P.S. ntlbell, if you are looking for good JRPGs from that era. I also want to mention the much overlooked and under recognised Breath of Fire 3. A beautiful game in every way. And my 3rd favorite RPG of all time.

Memnoch

In terms of difficulty. Maybe it was because it was my first RPG, but I died a fair bit. I remember dying a couple of times to the scorpion boss at the beginning. Call me stupid.

Kept attacking when its tail was up

The other thing about 7 is how EPIC it felt. I remember running around in Midgard thinking about how big the city was.

I remember thinking okay we gotta blow up eight reactors and so on. And then all of a sudden you're out of the city and onto this sprawling world map. I think you could easily clock 10-15 hours in the game before you get out of midgard on your first playthrough

I mean every bit of the game, every quest, every new place, it just had that feel of epicness, of grand scale.

I remember chasing after Sephiroth, convinced for the longest time that he was going to join up with us and become a kick ass party member. Imagine my disappointment *grin*

Retr0gamer

Memnoch wrote: »

In terms of gameplay. I don't care if the materia system is 'simplistic.' It's wonderful and a lot of fun. Again maybe because this was my first RPG but I'd love to have a game with a similar system again. I love the way the materia were weaved into the storyline, unlike say the main combat system of FF - 13.

Actually the materia thing being woven into the storyline isn't a big deal considering that every FF game weaves it's battle mechanics into the story, it's one of the series defining characteristics. FFVII it's a bit more prominent but no more so than in FFVIII, FFV or FFVI.

Still think it's horribly simplistic with no depth to it. It's fun because the game is a walk in the park so even if you mess up your materia you can still breeze through it with little hinderance. A bit of depth though would have been nicer than just slapping materia on characters willy nilly.

In terms of difficulty. Maybe it was because it was my first RPG, but I died a fair bit. I remember dying a couple of times to the scorpion boss at the beginning. Call me stupid. Spoiler: Kept attacking when its tail was up

You weren't stupid. The translation is so god awful that it actually tells you to attack when its tail is up when it should have said attack when it's down

Andy!!

The great ones IMO are 4, 7, 8 and 9.

Make sure you don't skip 4 just cause its in 2D, its great. I would also reccomend playing the 2D version over the DS version...

ancapailldorcha

For me, any souls in FFVII died after Midgar. It set up the world quite well in an interesting sci-fi manner and then blew it by going down the standard stop the baddie road. The only times I was emotionally invested in the story were Cloud's scenes and worrying I wouldn't get my materia back when

Aerith

died.
I thought FFXIII had a much better story (not perfect, mind) and a better world. It was just a shame there was close to zero exploration.

Memnoch

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I thought FFXIII had a much better story (not perfect, mind) and a better world. It was just a shame there was close to zero exploration.

I think 13 had the potential for a decent overall story but it just twisted in on itself again and again and totally lost the point on the end.

But the characters in 13 were absolutely horrendously dull, made worse by some of the worst dialogue I've ever come across in any RPG. I had to fight the urge to turn of the console so many times in that game because of how lame the dialogue was.

ancapailldorcha

I thought FFXIII's characters were human, flawed and developed quite nicely (except Snow of course). In contrast, there's almost none of that in FFVII (except for Cloud of course). Maybe it was just the translation but VII had a much worse script that XIII (which was no masterpiece). Come to think of it, FFXII is the only entry I can think of offhand with an excellent script and story.

Retr0gamer

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I thought FFXIII's characters were human, flawed and developed quite nicely (except Snow of course). In contrast, there's almost none of that in FFVII (except for Cloud of course). Maybe it was just the translation but VII had a much worse script that XIII (which was no masterpiece). Come to think of it, FFXII is the only entry I can think of offhand with an excellent script and story.

FFXIII definitely had some great character writing and progression. Pity the main storyline was so poor but I really liked how the characters grew in that game, other than Snow again.

FFXII started great storywise but you can tell almost the exact point where Matsuno left because it just gets terrible and rushed after that point with only a few glimpses of what it could have been. All that's left that is actually well written is the judges stories and even they aren't as fleshed out as they could have been.