Final Fantasy discussion

[Angle-san]

The Xbox 360 Final Fantasy XIII Special Edition Bundle is the total entertainment experience.
This special offer includes Final Fantasy XIII, two Xbox 360 wireless controllers, and a 250GB hard drive.
$399.99

I guess it's worth the money for the 250GB HDD and the game. -nods-
I'm actually excited for Final Fantasy XIII to be released onto the Xbox 360, besides the Final Fantasy Online game this will be the first actual game
to hit the PS3 and now the Xbox 360 at the same time.
...
Still waiting for a Final Fantasy VIII remake. xD

[zeroality]

I haven't heard good things about any FF after 8 although I did enjoy 9.

[Angle-san]

WTH?! You didn't even enjoy FFX? : o

[ImmunityBow]

Haven't played past 9. (Unless you could Tactics Advanced)

Tactics was my favourite, 6, 7, 8 ,9 and 4 were all pretty good. 7 and 9 I liked better than the others besides Tactics.

Chocobo Dungeon was pretty fun as well.

[zeroality]

WTH?! You didn't even enjoy FFX? : o

Never got a PS2/3.

[Cyndadile]

Yay Chocobo Dungeon!
...
That is the only one I have.

[Pirotechnix]

FFXIII has been shown by multiple reviewers and people commenting on the game to be a terrible and completely linear experience. It's gotten so bad that second-hand gaming stores in Japan are struggling attempting to sell it at $15 USD, when a new game retailed just a few months ago at somewhere in the neighborhood of $70-80 USD. As for the 360 version of the game, screenshots have shown it to be quite inferior production-wise to the PS3 version, with jagged graphics and a significantly lower playing resolution.

Buy at your own risk -- don't let the Final Fantasy tag trick you into buying a poor game.

FFIX has been the best numbered FF of the Playstation era (Tactics notwithstanding.)

[zeroality]

So I finally found some time to play ahead on my FF VII walkthrough. This will be my second complete journey through the game. It takes a lot more playing through the game for that certain character to die than I remembered. I am amazed at the cutscenes, they are of better quality than FF VIII.

[ImmunityBow]

FF VIII had the best intro video of all time though. Everything about it was just epic, from Liberi Fatali as the music to the waves to the random petals to feathers that don't really have anything to do with the game besides show its graphics potential.

[zeroality]

I just beat Emerald Weapon in FFVII using only 3/3/4 materias per character - to minimize damage from Aire Tam Storm which does 1111 damage per equipped materia. Strangely enough, the battle lasted about 20-25 min and he did not use Aire Tam Storm once. >_>

I beat him with physical attacks and Limit Breaks. Cid/Barrett were doing 8000-9999 damage per hit with a regular attack. Cloud was only doing 5000-6000 because I forgot to equip Ultima Weapon on him.

They all had Double Cut materias, so it was 4x cut - averaging 20,000-35,000 damage in one attack. Cid had Double Cut/Phoenix/Fullcure, Cloud had Double Cut/Underwater/All+Revive and Barrett had Double Cut/All+Restore.

My limit breaks were coming really fast thanks to Fury status on all 3. I just kept pounding away and healing with Elixirs and Megaelixirs when needed.

[Limkins]

FFXIII is absolutely piss poor. It's completely devoid of the FF series in terms of being a true RPG, it's very very basic and almost seems like an action adventure rather than an RPG. I'm waiting for FFXIII Versus instead, least the characters will have more depth and substance than this crap.

[zeroality]

Are X, XI and XII worth playing?

[ImmunityBow]

XI is online, so if you're willing to invest the time, then I've heard it's not bad.

X is decent, I've heard, but the premise/main character seems a little weird to me.

[Limkins]

X is actually not bad, kinda has nothing related to the FF universe as a whole (Same as FF13) but it offers quite a compelling storyline and imo is quite underrated. x-2 on the otherhand is a pile of wank.

XI is internet based MMORPG really, bit like Monster Hunter, I hear good things about this but haven't played it as such.

[Flynt]

I hated XIII when I played it. As stated before, it was extremely linear. I didn't like the characters at all, and I feel they took a step backwards with the battle system, managing to make it worse from how XII had done things.

I managed to get bored of X not too far it. It started out a bit too slow for me, but it seemed like a good game over all. XII is my second favorite game of the series, but it gets a lot of hate, so it's something of a black sheep of the series. My favorite game, VIII, is also something of a black sheep, but I really do have to recommend you play it first, it experimented with a lot of firsts in the Final Fantasy series.

It has become the 'in' thing to bash VII, for no real reason other then to piss off the diehard VII fans. If you can follow it, VII doesn't deserve the criticism it gets nowadays. VII spawned a whole generation of RPGs, each trying to copy it success. The main characters have a lot of mental issues, which are all very interesting to see. Really though, there is nothing wrong with 7 but the overworld graphics, which were a very early experiment with 3D polygons over a 2D background.

VI I never really played too much of, but what I had completed showed me another good game in the series. VI has a horde of playable characters, each with their own backstory, personality, abilities, and motives. It shows that they did their work, but it is also extremely confusing to follow for some people. IV was also a very good game, the first I ever managed to beat 100%. The DS remake is something I do have to recommend, as it was an extremely good game, again with a number of likeable characters.

The original and II were you average early RPG. Final Fantasy was a basic DnD style RPG, while the sequel tried something interesting instead of a leveling system. If you have a PSP and a few dollars to spare, I do suggest picking up II at the very least, as it is something of a classic. I've never played III, V, IX, or XI, unfortunately, but I have heard good things about them as well. Be warned though, XI has a WoW style payment plan.

As for the side games, Tactics A2 is probably one of the best things you can grab. The War of the Lions, the PSP remake of the original Final Fantasy: Tactics, was alright, but limited in what you can really find. The Crystal Chronicles games looked alright, if a bit of a departure from the norm. Dissidia and Dissidia 012 are both things to invest some money in if you want a Final Fantasy SSBB styled game. Chocobo Dungeon, from what I've heard is a game a lot like Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon gameplay wise, so that's something to look into if you like that sort of thing.

I'm afraid that's all the experience I have with Final Fantasy.

[Blade Flight]

I've played (and owned) 1-6, 9, 10, Tactics, Tactics-A, Tactics-A2, CC, CC:EoT, and MLasK. I own 7 and 12, but I haven't touched 'em yet, and I *hated* FF3's absurd difficulty (IIRC, you can't BUY Phoenix Down...wtf), so I wound up selling it...

I have particularly good memories of FF9 (I refuse to name them using Roman numerals). I never beat it (got to Disc 3 before starting over and getting stuck on that optional boss in the library early on in Disc 2), but I plan on starting up again...

[zeroality]

I don't see how VI is confusing to follow for anybody. The story keeps you fairly well apprised of what's going on throughout.