Final Fantasy Series

[FoleyIsGod]

One thing I realised about Final Fantasy 7, and its probably the biggest reason that tis still regarded as genius is the fact that the storyline revlovees around a massive coperation basically screwing over the planet to make more money from themselves. This storyline is mirrored in real life at the minute, with rising oil and gas prices. Not to mention the four ultimate weapons whoa re out to destroy mankind for hurting the planet.

Plus there is things like Mt Corel and Golden Saucer. A theme park suituated not far from vast poverty, caused by big business. Its just ironic, you walk thrugh Corel and there is a cut scene of people laughing and cheering as you drive upto Golden Saucer, despite the misery of those you have just met.

Its kinda scary how much it mirrors real life.

 

[RatedR]

FFVII is my all-time favourite game even to this day and the only one of the series I own atm. Everything I remember of that game makes it a classic, the story, the characterisation, the gameplay and the depth and lifespan is unmatched even by more modern games. As FoleyIsGod mentioned, there's the irony of how it mirrors real life too, so much about that game just works for me. Next to VII would be IX and X, mainly for the same reasons of excellent graphics absorbing gameplay and storylines.

My least favourite is XII easily. I played about 1/3 of X-2 until I realised it's a horribly watered down, mainstream FF that falls way short of the mark compared to other FF games. With XII though I played probably about half the game and ended up disliking amost everything about it. I have to admit it looks wonderful for a PS2 game, the city of Rabanastre seems almost life-like and the quests that see you hunting monsters for rewards are a great idea. Just about everything else didn't seem to work to me though. For a start the battle system feels confused, what's the point in having free movement if in battle you're not allowed to use this to avoid attacks. It felt like any other turn-based FF, but with the ability to run around between turns. Then there's the environments that descend into RPG cliche far too soon. Oh look,a vialage in a desert area, followed by a jungle section...and wait for it, a snowy mountain!! There are more things I disliked but perhaps the main point was after playing through most of the game with a main party of 3 characters I noticed it seemed to be getting easier instead of more difficult. My friends informed me around this time that you have to pause the game to rotate the members of your party in and out and level all of them up to "play the game properly". After getting past the annoyance of playing half a game "the wrong way" I thought back and realised there was no indication of this, the game doesn't force you to use all the characters, yet it becomes increasingly easy to beat if you don't. Maybe I missed something during my time playing it but after that I gave up on it. For me, FFXII marks the series going downhill along with X-2, I hope it picks back up again with XIII.

 

[BigMike1994]

I couldn't really Decide between X and VII but I voted VII due to the back stories spin-off games Anime and a CGI Movie. VII has a fantastic Storyline and awesome Characters quite possible the best Characters in the whole Series. I found the game and story very fun to play and watch. The cut scenes and fillers (parts where you had to read) were very interesting. For Square Enix/Square Soft first shot at a fully renderd 3D FF game it ended up been the best in the series. But I think X wasn't far off. The story was just as interesting and the gameplay just as good But Since VII had great Fun Spin-offs t makes it just that much better. My final Verdict..

Final Fantasy VII: 9.5/10
Final Fantasy X: 9.2/10

Also I am looking foward to Final Fantasy XIII and will surely be getting it.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Wow, the last post in here was from July 2008. I only found it because of looking to see if this thread already existed, since I was about to create one myself. I am giving this a response that it deserves.

The best Final Fantasy game (gameplay-wise) is Final Fantasy 7. No questions asked. It is the most popular RPG and the reason that the genre went mainstream. Everything about it was almost perfect. Believe it or not, I was actually not that big a fan of the materia system.... and i find that to be the biggest flaw of the game. I love pretty much everything else about this game.

Right behind it, if not on par with it, for me though is Final Fantasy 4. (Originally released on the SNES as FF2 because of translation issues). It was my first "true" RPG experience. Had I not played this game way back in 1991, then I would be drastically different as a person 18 years later (today). This game showed me how awesome RPG's are. Now, thousands (I kid you not) of replays of this game and nearly 20 years later, not a lot has changed. I still consider it as awesome as ever, and it will always hold an important place in my memories for being my first game of my favorite genre. Also, the remake on the DS is breath-taking. Beatifully updated soundtrack, better graphics, and some new features not in the original. If you have a DS.... check it out, you will NEVER regret it.

I find 4 and 7 nearly impossible to choose between for best.... but I find it probably 51% to 49% in favor of FF7 because of the impact it had on the gaming industry.

 

[J-Dogg]

Final Fantasy X for the fact it was such an enticing game, great graphics, and an interesting story, the way you could level up and customize the main characters was nice, the atmosphere of the game and the sounds and soundtrack roped me in too. I liked the Blitzball game i used to have alot of fun with that as well as the main character Titus and his story.

Honourable mention to FF 7, that was a fantastic game loved every minute of playing it.

 

[Dave]

As everyone probably knows, I am the biggest Final Fantasy X mark you are ever likely to meet in your life. With that being said, I have to throw my weight behind it here too. Personally, I have played every single European release in the Final Fantasy series to completion (with the exception of X-2... Eek!) and Final Fantasy X is by far and away my favourite of the series. However, I find it hard to justify exactly why that is. As I have stated on many occasions, Final Fantasy X had a definite quality about it. Something like that is very hard to put into words but it is definitely real. Personally, it is my favourite and is a game that I have completed 5 times and done every single thing that can be accomplished in the game. This is no mean feat as it is such an expansive game.

The Blitzball aspect of the game brought something better than what had gone before it in terms of side quests. I remember loving the card system in previous Final Fantasy games and I thought that Blitzball was both a welcomed addition to the game and something that I had a lot of fun with. People have criticized the voice overs and had said that the story was too linear but I would have to disagree. That is not to say that they were amazing because the voice of Tidus drove me nuts at times. However, I did really like the game and things like this are easy to put up with when you have a great game to play. The story was fantastic too and enthralled me from the very first moment.