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Final Fantasy: Reviews
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by
 
on 2010-04-05 20:39:46 (edited 2010-04-06 22:16:21)
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Final Fantasy: This game was the start of a revolution, the peak of gaming at it's time, and the savior of the company we all know and love as Square. Well, now SquareEnix, but that's ok, better in fact. Anyways, this game featured many new things to gamers, as you got the ability to make your own party of four out of different characters. You could have one warrior and three mages, or a fighter, a monk, and two mages, or if you wanted to be either hardcore or an idiot, four white mages just for the hell of it. Once you've made your party, you are thrown into a map in which you know nothing about. It's easy to figure out what to do, as there is a giant castle right next to you, but nontheless you can just skip it if you really wanted to and get right into the game. With the start of this game came many things to come, such as leveling up and getting stronger as you do so, and changing your class in order to get stronger. This game marked the natural enemies in the many future games to come, as well. One more thing this game did was start the generation for the next few FF games and their crystal frenzy. Final Fantasy 2: This game was really fun, but really weird at the same time. This game has the normal enemies, world map, and weapons as every other one, but there is a twist with leveling; in this game, you actually have to use what you want to level up. That's right, you can make you swords better, your spells better, and your axes better, or any weapon for that matter, just by simply using it. It doesn't work very well, though, as you have to use it on stronger enemies, or your party members, if you want to level up quickly or near the end of the game. That's actually pretty much the only change from this one and the first game. Final Fantasy 3: This game starts you off differently, with only one party member. You have to go out and find your other three party members, which doesn't actually take that long at all. Once you do this, you find a crystal and then fighting classes are available to you to use. Because you've only found one crystal, there is not very many you can choose from, but each class has it's own strengths and weaknesses, and you can change them around whenever you feel like it. As you progress in the game and find more crystals, more classes will become available for you to choose from. If I remember right, there is at least thirty or so classes in the end of the game. This game takes the crystals to a new level, as you have to find them to repair the world for you to continue, instead of just finding them for the sake of finding them. Final Fantasy 4: My personal favorite, with characters like Cecil and the magic twins, this one is easily a new game compared to its past counterparts. This game focuses more on story than the last ones, and introduces new enemies such as the four beasts; Scarmiglione, Catoblepas, Barbacia, and Rubicante. These are the four beasts which control the elements, so fighting them is an interesting bout, for sure. Anyways, this game does not really have classes to choose from like in FF3, but instead you get about ten or so party members, each with their own class. Swordsman, black mage, archer, cleric, and so forth. The bad news about this is that you can only have three others with you at a time, because you must always use Cecil, as he is the main character. In this game, they still use the crystals, but they also added a lot of extra stuff to make the story longer than the other games. In this one, you have to really go and search for them, reaching from the ocean, to the center of the world, to space itself. And man, come on, Golbez is like a genius until he's bashed into the ground XD Final Fantasy 5: This one was weird to me, as it felt a lot like FF3, in a lot of ways. You have to find your party members, you can change class whenever you like, and there is crystals. There is an up to the classes in this one though, and that's that you can level them up and make them stronger. Other than that, there actually isn't much to say about this game... Final Fantasy 6: I have only played the first few mins of this one...I know, shoot me. Final Fantasy 7: This one has got to be one of the greatest games mankind has ever created. With it's innovative graphics (at the time) and amazing story to boot, this one will forever be in the history books of gaming. This game puts you in the hands of Cloud, a young boy who just quit the military, aptly named Soldier, for a life of a mercenary going against Soldier. All you know is that Cloud is with a freelance group, doing jobs to get paid to do so. These jobs include blowing up factories, but you don't know what they are, or why you are blowing them up. Once you get past the beginning part, you'll quickly notice the glum area and single town this game resides in, but once you get a few hours in, this game really kicks into gear, as you start to finally cross the overworld map. Once you start doing this, the game really begins, as the story slowly unfolds and you find out who Cloud really is, this game has almost no down time and to many side quests to count, including the fabled Knight of the Round. As you all know, Sephiroth is the main bad guy, and the most awesome of bad guys next to Kefka in history of anything. This game has a variety of characters to choose from, and everyone can learn anything, depending what materia you give them. Using materia, you can implement any spell, summon, or skill on any person, at any given time. When you want to level up a skill, it does so by the materia, not the person. This means you can level up something one one person, and then give it to someone else and they will automatically have the leveled up version of it. I honestly don't know the main part of this game's story, but whatever it is, Square really pulled it off in a great way. Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus: This game takes Vincent from FFVII, and tells you his story. The entire game is based on him and his past, which is great if you ask me, cause I was very curious about a lot of things about him, and I am glad they got answered in this game. This game is not like the other Final Fantasy games, as it is a third person shooter, and not a time based game. Just like in FFVII, Vincent uses guns as his weapons, and you can do a lot with them. Your main gun, as well as every other gun, can be upgraded and have attachments put on it that can be switched at any time, even during a level. You get your main gun, which is a three barreled pistol, a machine gun, a rifle, and a toy gun. The toy gun is the best if you spend the money to upgrade it, as it turns into the Ultima Weapon after three or so upgrades. There is not very many of the Final Fantasy monsters in this game, as it takes place in the city, I don't quite remember, but I believe most, if not all takes place in Midgar. As you battle your way through soldiers and various monsters and mad scientists, you eventually learn the entire past of Vincent, and how truly amazing it turns out to be. Final Fantasy 8: This game is great. Good story, good battle play, good everything...almost. The one thing that made me stop playing this game was the way they did magic. In order to get spells, you had to draw them from points on the overworld map, or from mosters fought in random battles. You could gather up to 100 of every spell, and attach your magic to a weapon or armor to power it up, but if you did not have 100 of said spell, you would not be powering it to its fullest. Let's say you have fire attached to your sword; you have 100 of them and it's powering it by twenty attack; next thing that happens is you run into a monster that can only be hurt by fire damage, so you use your fire spell. Doing this will lower the power on your sword, as it is now at 99 fire, and not 100 fire. I hated this with a passion so much, that it got me to stop playing the game altogether. Sorry folks. Final Fantasy 9: I only played the first few hours of this one, so I say much about it. Sorry guys. I can say though that they tried a multiplayer function in this game, making it so two people can play during the fights. This was ok, but did not do much, as all you could do was control the attacks. Final Fantasy 10: Just like FF7, this one will be in history for ages and ages to come. This one by far has the best story in my opinion, and some fantastic characters to match it. The game starts you as Tidus, a young (like always) boy who is a Blitzball champion. The game quickly gets into story within the first ten minutes, as you are quickly swept 1000 years into the future, which actually seems like the past, but isn’t. Tidus quickly learns this and meets new friends in this new world of his, as it is almost 100% different from before. The story in this game revolves around the character Yuna, and her going to different temples to get blessings and such from them, so she can wipe out Sin, the main bad guy. However, in this game, the story changes halfway through the game, but I will not say what it is just in case you have not played it before. You get about seven party members in this game, and every single one of them can learn every single thing in the game, and get the same stat boosts in this game. You level up by gathering points, and you can use those points to move the character that has them on the thing they call the Sphere Grid. This grid has every single attack and spell in the game, and you have many, many ways of moving about it. Because every part of the grid is connected in some way across the board, eventually, you can move every person to every space on the board, to learn everything. This gives you more freedom to choose who you like more to fight, but leaves out the fact of variety from each person, even though each of them start at a different point on the board. This game offers the main story, as well as more than plenty enough side quests to keep you going if you want to stop the story for a while, including ultimate weapons for each person, and certain ways to power them up specifically. Almost every weapon and piece of armor in this game, besides the ultimate weapons, can be powered up and given skills to your choosing. You can give a water sword the ability to poison, or you can give a weak staff more magic. You can also give armor special things, such as petrify resist or heal when outside of battle. There are way too many things to choose from, so it gives you a ton of freedom with this. Final Fantasy X-2: This game takes it to a new level, by being the first actual sequel in the Final Fantasy series. In this game, there are only three party members: Yuna, Riku, and Paine. You don’t level like in FFX, but you gain level ups and strengthen up classes just like in FFV, but more intense. In this game, you have to find the classes, as you only start off with a few, and level them up with AP points. Every class has about twenty or so things it can learn, and each one of them takes a different amount of AP in order to learn it permanently. One skill might take 100ap, while another takes 500ap. There are about fifteen different classes to choose from, and each one of them can be mastered. You can change which one you start off at, at the beginning of the battle, and during the game you can collect “Class Grids†so you can change during battle, but you can only put so many classes on each grid. The story in this game sucks; it’s horrible, terrible, simply put that is. I’m not going to say what it is for those who haven’t played it, but you’ve been warned. Final Fantasy 11: This is an online game, and I have not played it. Sorry guys. Final Fantasy 12: I hated this game with a passion. It was great when you started, you could level up in a similar way to FFX with the Sphere Grid, but this time it’s a box instead. This game sucked for many reasons, and my favorite reason is…everything. The gameplay in this game is way too easy; you can set it to pause while you’re choosing your action, or you can set it up in such a way that all you have to do is set the controller down and watch your party members have at it. There is a story to this game, but that’s not what makes this game. The main point of this game is the hundreds of side quests you can do. Heck, sometimes I did side quests without even knowing I was doing side quests, that’s how many side quests there are in this game. Another thing I really hated about this game is that after you’ve done everything, beaten every boss, beaten every side quest (besides the non-fighting ones) and done just about everything else, that’s when you get the best weapon in the game, which also happens to be the slowest weapon in the game. Hooray, you got the best sword in the game, good luck hitting anything with it because of its thirty second charge with haste on. Final Fantasy 13: This one is simply amazing, with its beautiful graphics and even better story, this one will probably never be forgotten. You start off in a huge battle area with only two party members and you quickly notice how simplistic, but intense the battle system is, as you automatically start in one. After a while, your party switches to some other people. Get used to this, as it happens for half the game. It may be annoying, but it forces you to train every party member, and you will be glad you did later in the game. In the battles, you will notice you have an ATB bar, but there are sections to it. This ATB bar is upgraded from previous games, as you can store attacks in it, and then either wait for it to fill up, or execute it whenever you like in case you need to attack sooner for a quicker kill. Do not worry though, because if it was halfway through filling up the next bar when you set it off, you get to keep that for a faster first attack in your next sequence. Getting farther in the game makes the bar bigger, so you can use more attacks. There is no main character in this game, and Ragnarok is no longer a weapon (you find out what it is in the first two hours though). As much as I really want to, I will not get into FF: Mystic Quest, FF: Tactics (all 3), or FF: Crystal Chronicles (any of them)  |
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Re: Final Fantasy: Reviews
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by
on 2010-04-05 21:15:41 |
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FF10 will go down in history with the worst scene in any ff game "im talking about the tidus fake laughing bit.. x.x oh.. how i muted my t.v. every time i got back to that part" However FF8 will always be my favorite :D 12 will always be on my hate list. The gambit system was the worst thing invented imo. Made the game really REALLy boring >_> Was the first and only time ive fallen asleep while playing ANY game. 
Don't deceive don't be deceived don't show weakness show your spirit. That is all.~ Sousuke Sagura |
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Re: Final Fantasy: Reviews
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by angel_of_stone
on 2010-04-06 20:11:20 (edited 2010-04-06 20:16:26)
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Personally, I love FF12. It is by far my favorite of them all, and I have a few points to make about your review: The gameplay in this game is way too easy; you can set it to pause while you’re choosing your action... This is not new. You could do the exact same thing in many of the FF's before it, but it was called a turn-based battle system back then. I agree with the ability to do this because in real life, you don't have to sort through your thoughts using a joystick before you pick an action, you just act. Also, you can turn it to active time battle if you want. ...or you can set it up in such a way that all you have to do is set the controller down and watch your party members have at it... Once again, this is meant to add to the realism of a real battle. A seasoned fighter will just act, s/he won't think before doing it. I realize that some people felt disassociated from the game because of the gambit system, but there is no rule that all your characters have to be using it. Personally, I set everyone on gambits except for Vaan, whom I controlled using the stop-time system. This way, I was still actively playing a character, but I wasn't constantly needing to do upkeep on all the other characters as well. The main point of this game is the hundreds of side quests you can do. Heck, sometimes I did side quests without even knowing I was doing side quests... This isn't the main point of the game, you can get by just fine without doing them. Also, I don't know what you call a side-quest. There are 45 hunts (I'm pretty sure only the first one is mandatory to advance the story), 8 optional Espers, 6 (or so) side dungeons (all associated with an optional Esper), and a handful of small quests that you don't even have to worry about and won't be initiated if you don't talk to anyone around town. I guess that's a lot more than the average FF and I can see how the average FF fan might get their mind blown by the non-linearity of FF12 (though the story is still linear). ...after you’ve done everything, beaten every boss, beaten every side quest (besides the non-fighting ones) and done just about everything else, that’s when you get the best weapon in the game... I assume you mean the Wyrmhero Blade? Though this isn't the best weapon in the game (Zodiac Spear and Tournesol are more damaging and both are obtainable well before the final boss) I do agree with you. I dislike when games make the best weapons available after you have beaten the final boss and then don't offer a new game plus for you to use it in. Also, on a side note, the Wyrmhero Blade really sucks. The slowest weapons in the game are the Guns with a rough attack time of 5.6 seconds, but the Wyrmhero Blade has an attack time of about 9.35 seconds making it the slowest weapon in the game.[1] The Tournesol and Zodiac Spear are generally accepted as the best weapons in the game. Tournesol has 140 attack and Zodiac Spear has 150 attack, Wyrmhero has only 130. The Tournesol has a better combo rate, while the Zodiac Spear has a better attack speed. There is a story to this game, but that’s not what makes this game... I disagree. I believe the story is what elevates this game above all the other FF's. For the first time, they gave us a story that wasn't intended for pre-teens. There was no "Love will conquer all!" or "This bad guy is being a douche simply for the sake of douchebaggery." No, this story gives us character development, a mature wartime story, and story EVOLUTION. This last point is key. Remember FFX? Remember how not even 1/4 of the way into the game you knew Sin was Jecht and from that point knew pretty much how the story would end? FF XII has none of that. It begins with "Lets get this invading army out of our country, diplomacy will involve the least bloodshed." then evolves to "Well f**k, diplomacy failed so lets use force." then evolves to "Mad scientist making WMD's!?!?11? Lets stop him, then get back to the war thing." Then evolves to "Mad scientist was being used by Evil Dictator!!!?!!?1?!1 We should stop Evil Dictator and the war thing will sort itself out, right?" etc. etc. etc. [1] http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/459841/48977 But nothing I say will ever sway the FF fans into not looking at the FF's as a series. They aren't a series, they are all individual games with their own individual stories and gaming experiences. Sadly, this game will always be underrated. *sigh*
"But as Deepak Chopra taught us, quantum physics means that anything can happen at anytime and for no reason." -Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth
"I don't have any opinions anymore. All I know is that no one is better than anyone else, and everyone is the best at everything." -Seymour Skinner "...if I got trapped by an evil wizard then I did enough cool s**t in my life to be content with it ending. " -Wolf |
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Re: Final Fantasy: Reviews
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by
on 2010-04-06 21:08:30 |
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Hmmm... I haven't played much FF games but with the ones I have, I agree. Seems like you forgot Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus though. That's the game that take it to a whole new level with the FPS function. 
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Re: Final Fantasy: Reviews
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by
on 2010-04-06 22:11:15 |
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Stoney, I will not bash your opinion on that game, as I do see how it can be an amazing game to most, but compared to the other Final Fantasy games, I just cannot accept it as one. To me, it just doesn't feel like an FF game. And I count side quests with the bazaar making as well, although I can clearly see how some wont agree. As for Dirge of Cerberus, I am adding it right away. |
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Re: Final Fantasy: Reviews
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by
on 2010-04-07 11:04:42 (edited 2010-04-07 11:43:36)
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@ Inu-san Pretty good summaries of each game. I agree & disagreee on some of them but overall i liked reading others opinions of the series. Personally Final Fantasy 4 & 6 are the pinnacles of the series. No other game in the series has come close to the presentation these 2 games offered. Sure FF 7 was big in that it introduced the masses to the RPG genre like no other game has, before RPGs were niche titles beloved by hardcore gamers. After the release of FF 7 & the marketing buzz it created the genre became more mainstream. So its an important game in the series but not the best overall. Back to my point about 4 & 6 being the best in the series. I'll start with off with... Final Fantasy 4 The FF games before 4 were a setup to this masterpiece of a game. It relied heavily on storytelling & presentation with memorable scenes, characters & gameplay that stand the rest of time. It introduced the now staple ATB (active time bar) system that has become common in RPGs. A story dealing with redemption, family, sacrifice, betrayal & finding the true meaning of one-self. Some describe the story as being the 'Star Wars' of Rpgs. The music done by Uematsu-san is one of the best OST he has ever done. The 'Theme of Love' to this day has become common in music classes all over japan in teaching composition & recitals. Music like 'Battle with the 4 Fiends', 'Lunar Whale', 'Red Wings', 'Rydia' & 'Main theme of FF 4' have become classics in the series. And personally 'Final Battle' aka. Zeromus is the GREATEST FINAL BOSS THEME EVER!!!! Final Fantasy 6 Perhaps & argubably the BEST game of the series. Gendou-san will agree to this! To many fans of the series this game is the benchmark in how future games of the series is made. No other game in the series can duplicate the presentation in every aspect this game has to offer. From character development, setting, story, music, & of course how BAD ASS a clown can be (Sephiroth has nothing on Kefka!!!) Of all the games in the series FF 6 does what no other has done. Create numerous playable characters (14 in fact) & each and every one of them is developed to the utmost care. From heroine Terra to even Umaro the sasquatch thingy. All of them had a background & history to rival any character ever made. Last but not least....Kefka. What can i say about this guy? He is what every villian in any game wants to be. Many have tried to imitate Kefka but not many actually succeed. He was crazy, deranged, evil, hell-bent & almost ALMOST succeeded in doing what he wanted to do & that is destroy EVERYTHING! Next is the music of the game. Many agree that this is the masterpiece that Uematsu-san had hoped to achieve. Every track of this OST is magnificent & is a soundtrack nobody should be without. From the magical yet mysterious 'Terra' which also acts as the world map music is brilliant. To 'Forever Rachel', 'Theme of Celes', 'Theme of Relm', which tug on the emotions. To 'Phantom Train', 'Decisive Battle', "Battle to the Death' are kick ass. The great 'Opera song' aka Aria di Mezzo Carattere is how music should be created. Finally we have 'Dancing Mad'...what can i say about this EPIC track. And i mean EPIC!!! Over 17 mins long it defines what Kefka truely is. This is how music for a final battle should be like. There are no words to describe the greatness of this piece of music....no words. There these are my opinions on the best games of the series & no other game of the series has come close to matching the overall grandiose that these 2 games defined. After playing these 2 games these should be how games of the series should be made....and anyone who thinks otherwise are missing out. ********* To be fair to the other games here are my short summaries of each, in bullet form. Final Fantasy I - III - If you don't know the story for the creation of the series than you are not a true fan of the series :P - The games that became the blueprint of future games of the series. - Introduced many staples of the series we see today: crystals, classes, menu based battles, random encounters...etc. Final Fantasy V - introduced the job system (upgrade in future titles like FF Tactics) - the final boss is a FREAKIN' TREE!!!! How cool is THAT! - Gilgamesh!! "Enough expository banter. It's time we fight like men. And ladies. And ladies who dress like men. For Gilgamesh...IT IS MORPHING TIME!" <---nuff said! Final Fantasy VII - introduced the RPG to the mainstream...first game of the series to use CD base - epic production values, epic story, epic villian, epic moments - Aerith DIES!!! < --- ooops....spoiler - Tifa + polygons X 'BOOBS!!' = WIN! Final Fantasy VIII - used more realistic character models - first game to use a vocal ending theme "eyes on me" - new battle system & character setup < --- Junction system Final Fantay IX - returned to the roots of the series - ol' school battle system...ol' school all round - under appreciated of all the games of the series - some of the better character development in the series Final Fantasy X - next gen (at the time) - a tad linear at some parts but good overall - first to use voice actors - sphere grid added nice character setup Final Fantasy XI - online....that's all i can say...not an mmo player Final Fantasy XII - first game of the series i actually quit halfway - didn't like the battle system where it tried to be like a MMO - what i played the story was interesting & Balthier was awesome!! Vahn not so much.... Final Fantasy XIII - THIS IS NOT A FINAL FANTASY GAME!!!!! - If you wanna read about my rant of this game visit the thread cause i don't wanna waste my time on this game. There hope you guys find this enlightning.....opinions are opinions so don't take these too seriously.  |
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Re: Final Fantasy: Reviews
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by
on 2010-04-23 02:01:04 |
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It makes me feel so good that I get reviews added to my reviews ^^ I'm not the greatest for reviewing, sure, but at least I get the basics in there for each game =P |
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Re: Final Fantasy: Reviews
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I find it interesting that the OP somehow likes 4 the most yet completely missed playing 6 and 9, which are the closest matching to 4 and related deeply to both. You should really go back and play through them, if you want to get an accurate bead on the entire series. As a note, the creator of the series considers FFIX to be his favorite of the entire series of games. |
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Re: Final Fantasy: Reviews
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by
on 2010-05-26 13:41:11 |
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Since I've only play VII-XIII I'll start from there Final Fantasy VII : - Good storyline - Good graphics for it's time. - Excellent music Final Fantasy VIII - Junction System was not a favorite of mine, it was overly complex for my taste and I didn't spend too much time on it. - The whole school theme was refreshing. - I agree with you Inu, the whole drawing magic took up too much time. Final Fantasy IX - Good Storyline. can't say much more about it. The battle system was good. loved the Trance system. Final Fantasy X -Hmm in terms of the story it was kind of predictable. -Good music - Except for Tidus whining through have the game. The characters personality developed pretty good for my taste. - Sphere grid was awesome. I was satisfied that we didn't have to spend hours leveling up, Final Fantasy XI - Didn't play Final Fantasy XII - Good storyline but, the time in between cut scenes were way too long for my like by the time I reached the next destination the previous scene was forgotten. -Battle system wasn't too bad. Gambits helped somewhat. -License system just sucked, searching around the board for the weapon I just bought for 20,000 gil is not exactly a fun pastime. - I enjoyed the atmosphere that FFXII offered, seeing I've always been a fan of Ivalice. Final Fantasy XIII -Battle system was fast paced and kept you on your toes literally with that Paradigm system. -Crystarium, similar to the Sphere grid was a good feature I enjoyed, regardless of the increasing CP I had to use T.T - The storyline was good, had it's twist and turns. all and all I really enjoyed this game 
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Re: Final Fantasy: Reviews
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PLZ GIVE US FF LIKE IT USED TO BE~~!!!! Why dont they made FF:Medley of the Past? Like,cross-story game? Include all the good system/character/points/stories in all FF Series! |