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Post by Badalight on Feb 21, 2011 10:35:04 GMT -5
Arsenette, what are your favorite FF's? I agree, 10 was awful. Though I think 8 is pretty close to being as bad. I came to FF very late (my first was 7) but remember other people playing the old school ones. My husband's favorite is 6 and I have to agree with him. I liked 7 for what it was (played it 5 times (full play through with everything gotten.. especially since I'm a damn completist..) and although the story was generic I still liked it. 8 I thought was horrible simply because I felt it didn't "feel" like a Final Fantasy game. I loved 9 with an utter passion (even though some of the character super deformed heads was kinda weird) but I felt THAT was closer to the spirit of Final Fantasy than 8 ever was (though I did play both .. full completion). Then 10 came out and I realized WHY so many of the original writers left Square.. 10 was an abomination.. and even the 10-2 Barbie Dress up was just as bad. 11 we already covered and 12 was getting closer but the JRPG set up of the stupid fetch quests to kill time killed my enjoyment of that game. I did enjoy the political intrigue of it but I felt it was losing it's touch. 13 was a brash new way of doing the game (meaning the fighting system and I enjoyed that part). But the set up again of the JRPG of grinding to get full completion is wearing very very thin.. 14 was an atrocity.. and it will take a long time if they have that much to fix that game. I won't pay a dime for it though. I don't see it lasting much longer.. which is a shame because the game visually GORGEOUS. I really really tried to be a completist in 7. (I'm the furthest thing FROM a completist) I simply couldn't do it... those stupid chocobo's, ugh From an unbiased standpoint. I think 6 is simply the "best" final fantasy. That game is seriously character driven, which is really rare in a final fantasy game. The newer ones try to be like that, but fail with really lame drama and over-the top acting. The villain in that game is great, the conclusion is amazing, the final boss is perfect, the soundtrack is top notch. Anyway, my personal favorite with 7. Once again... bias aside since it was my first RPG I ever played... I simply love this game. It gets a lot of hate for being "over-rated". Gimme a break, this game was groundbreaking when it came out. This game is the reason 8 sold so well The gameplay graphics are pretty... funky now a days. They havn't aged well. Cloud with his popeye arms and all... But I really like playing as a 3D character almost on a... 2D background. Honestly this game is still beautiful to me. Especially Midgar... I love climbing up that wall of graffiti and then looking down at the city. The character definitely could use some work, however they are far from horrible. Yes people say cloud is an "emo" but only after the huge realization he gets mid game, and still that only lasts for a short amount of time. At the start of the game he's really carefree and makes some pretty witty jokes. It's also a lot harder to get a character's personality right in text based games with no voice acting. I'll admit it doesn't match 4, 5, or 6 when it comes to characters, but it's really hard to beat those. Some characters do get fleshed out quite a lot. I really like Sephiroth and how he developed as a character. It's interesting learning everything about him, and even though I knew he was the final villain going into the game, the big reveal that he's the final villain was still just as shocking. Barret gets good development, and Cait Sith is a great comedy relief character. It's hard for me to laugh at text based jokes, but he had me cracking up at times. The gameplay is some of the best when it comes to final fantasy. The Materia system is simply ingenious. It was different than the norm of a final fantasy game, but people still loved it. THIS is how to do it right... FF8 got it horribly wrong. They tried to be different and it simply didn't work. FF7 tried to be different and is great The gameplay was very fast paced and I love the limit breaks. The color scheme was very flashy and awesome. The different towns all had life to them, and you really felt like you could feel what each town was going through. You met the people and got to know them. Even without talking to anyone, the music and just feeling you got when you entered the town told you all you needed to know. The soundtrack here is also very very good. Some absolutely beautiful tracks in here... my favorite probably being the one played in the opening scene, or final scene. This game also does an excellent job of scaling up the adventure. At the start you're walking on foot to each town, then you get a chocobo, then a "rover" and then suddenly you're flying through the air in Cid's highwind. As generic as the storyline might be, it really puts you into these characters shoes and you feel like you're just a small person in this chaotic world that is trying to make all of the difference. Not only that, but it has really one of the best endings of a game I've ever played. The meteor drops down, they try to stop it, but fail, and then the lifeforce comes in... it's amazing.
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Post by Badalight on Feb 21, 2011 10:35:21 GMT -5
And yes I'm done ranting now
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Post by mikessssssss on Feb 21, 2011 12:01:40 GMT -5
I felt that 10 had an awesome storyline. Bad things happen and people rely on religion/the past to live their lives. They feel a sense of guilt and need to repent for the sins of their predecessors. It's a morality thing in which they finally realise that they are trapped in a cycle of meaninglessness; they don't need to rely on the past in order to live. Tidus was the key to this realisation because he was from a different world.
In terms of mechanics i understand but i liked it. If you wanted a challenge you had one. Two places in particular - the fight in that temple with seymour and the evrae fight. They were super hard if you weren't good enough player or a high enough level. Conversly, if you trained hard the fights would be super easy - which can seem cheap but i don't think so.
The more i think back on 10, the better it seems. I loved it.
The 8 hate i can understand Bada because the mechanics were kinda crappy, but i enjoyed it alot. Squall was a reluctant protagonist who became one; and he definitely progressed as a character - coming out of himself. I liked the rinoa/squall thing because Rinoa reminds me of girls im in to; those who are quite confident yet you aren't sure what they're up to; elusive, mysterious. But that might just be me.
And the card game was without doubt the best mingame ever - it was awesome.
I really didn't think i'd be in the minority for loving 8 and 10, haha.
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Post by Badalight on Feb 21, 2011 12:21:43 GMT -5
I feel 8 is probably the most polarized final fantasy. You either love it or hate it. Also, shooting a dog from your arm is not a good attack. I can't comment much on 10 though, because of how little I've played it, but from what I understand the summons are I-win buttons, which was how 8 felt like at the beginning. I also think of it as the end of Final Fantasy, as we know it. It got rid of the world map, and introduced voice acting, and started really screwing with the normal mechanics of what we came to know and love. Changes are fine. Seven had tons of changes yet was still a very solid game. When you change too much or introduced bad changes, you get things like 8 and 10. (And also 13) I feel there are eras of Final Fantasy, which strangely come in pairs 3. 1-3: A very lighthearted era. The games weren't meant to be taken too seriously, but they were great for their time. One was literally the companies last shot before closing. Two wasn't all that great but still a solid improvement over-all and had a pretty cool villain and story surrounding him. Three had the amazing job system, but was incredibly hard. They also all were on the NES. 4-6: The SNES ones. Final Fantasy became a lot more character driven. Games were evolving and they evolved with them. The music got 10x better while the graphics naturally improved. This is when people could really get connected to a game and the stories. People were drawn into games like they'd be drawn into a book or a movie. These all sort of revolutionized the series while keeping the same gameplay mechanics as before 7-9: Enter the world of 3D. Since the stories had already become a huge part of Final Fantasy, the only thing left to change was of course the graphics. Going into a whole new dimension these games were simply beautiful for their time, all of them. They also experimented with new ideas on the battle systems, without changing TOO much and sticking to the roots of final fantasy. Still a text based game, still the same good ol battle system we knew and loved. These are the PS1 games. 10-12: While it's a bit weird with 11 in their (and X-2, but I'm sticking to the main titles) these games really broke from the normal final fantasy roots. They all appeared on the PS2, of course. With the improved graphics and storylines already there, FF games would get boring eventually, right? They needed to change things up, and boy did they ever... 10 as I said added voice acting and had a lot of new things to offer in the battle system. It also took away the world map. 11 was waaaaay different because it was an MMO. 12 also brought a lot of new mechanics to the table and the battle system was far different than anything seen before. 13- : Right now, the PS3/360 titles are 13 and 14, and as we've seen they got a massive graphics over-haul, and many new things are being done to the battle system, once again. In-fact, 13 is so different from your normal final fantasy game that it honestly should not be called final fantasy. I think that game would've done 10x better and got a way better reception if it was simply titled something else. Silly I know... but it's true.... and we all know the train wreck that happened with the rushed released of final fantasy 14. And that's my take on the entire series. I have not beaten all of the games, and there are a few I have hardly even touched, so I'm not the most knowledgeable on the subject. Personally 4-6 is the "best" era. Even with the improvement of graphics that 7-9 brought, 3D was still new and nowadays those graphics look pretty silly... they havn't aged well. The stories in 4-6 help us get past the dated graphics, and they are without a doubt the best written of the final fantasy games. Ok I promise... no more rants about final fantasy
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Feb 21, 2011 14:23:20 GMT -5
Well it's basically what you want to like based on your gaming experience. I know people who love 10 and all of them were pre-teens at the time they played it. No adult I've found liked it.. seriously.. but it's a game and ultimately it's good if you enjoyed it 8.. yeah.. same thing.. but you are oooooooobviously part of the minority I just wish it didn't have the title Final Fantasy.
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Post by ManuSamoa61 on Feb 21, 2011 15:00:30 GMT -5
I'm playing Black Ops Sticks and Stones. The match was about to end and sum f** was following me. At the last second it was funny because he threw a tomohawk at me and failed. I win by 7 Tomohawk KILLS!! 70 Points. He said he wanted to put it up on YouTube. But he didn't have his recorder on. hehehe
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Post by mikessssssss on Feb 21, 2011 15:06:22 GMT -5
Well, i did play 10 as a teen and loved it so i can't be objective even if i replayed it now. Maybe that's why i couldn't get into 9; it seemed very babyish - Zidane had a tail.
I'll get around to playing properly though soon enough.
Oh, and have any of you played Mass Effect? pretty damn awesome.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2011 16:00:42 GMT -5
I'm playing Black Ops Sticks and Stones. The match was about to end and sum f*g was following me. At the last second it was funny because he threw a tomohawk at me and failed. I win by 7 Tomohawk KILLS!! 70 Points. He said he wanted to put it up on YouTube. But he didn't have his recorder on. hehehe Lol nice, are you on PS3 or Xbox?
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Feb 21, 2011 18:42:39 GMT -5
Well, i did play 10 as a teen and loved it so i can't be objective even if i replayed it now. Maybe that's why i couldn't get into 9; it seemed very babyish - Zidane had a tail. I'll get around to playing properly though soon enough. Oh, and have any of you played Mass Effect? pretty damn awesome. ZOMG HELLZ YEAH on Mass Effect.. LOL Honestly has to be one of my favorite series of all time. Even the mechanic of taking your save from game to game is what fascinates me. I got a kick out of doing that in Suikoden and having my friends going "wtf how did you get that character?".. but taking it to a WHOLE new level.. from what I read something like 700+ decisions transferred from ME2 to M2.. I can't WAIT for M3.. I'm totally preordering that.. I can't wait to take my 4 characters through to see what changes are waiting for her.
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Post by Anshin on Feb 21, 2011 20:38:49 GMT -5
Incoming long Final Fantasy 8 RantThe Spoony Experiment I watched his review of FF10 and that's it so far. Also, I loved Final Fantasy IX. It was my first, and my favorite.
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Post by ManuSamoa61 on Feb 22, 2011 5:12:52 GMT -5
I'm playing Black Ops Sticks and Stones. The match was about to end and sum f*g was following me. At the last second it was funny because he threw a tomohawk at me and failed. I win by 7 Tomohawk KILLS!! 70 Points. He said he wanted to put it up on YouTube. But he didn't have his recorder on. hehehe Lol nice, are you on PS3 or Xbox? ps3 same user name ;D
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Post by mikessssssss on Feb 22, 2011 6:38:41 GMT -5
Well, i did play 10 as a teen and loved it so i can't be objective even if i replayed it now. Maybe that's why i couldn't get into 9; it seemed very babyish - Zidane had a tail. I'll get around to playing properly though soon enough. Oh, and have any of you played Mass Effect? pretty damn awesome. ZOMG HELLZ YEAH on Mass Effect.. LOL Honestly has to be one of my favorite series of all time. Even the mechanic of taking your save from game to game is what fascinates me. I got a kick out of doing that in Suikoden and having my friends going "wtf how did you get that character?".. but taking it to a WHOLE new level.. from what I read something like 700+ decisions transferred from ME2 to M2.. I can't WAIT for M3.. I'm totally preordering that.. I can't wait to take my 4 characters through to see what changes are waiting for her. The Mass effect series might just be be my favourite games ever. The fact that the saved games cross over into the other games is awesome and gives an incentive to complete the game fully. It interests me especially considering i was never a sci-fi fan. The only thing i don't like is that Shepherd is kind of annoying; in terms of looks. He's like a generic action man figure and although you can change what the character looks like, they always seems a little off so i just stuck with Shepered. You probably didn't get this cos you played as a female though.
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Post by arsenette on Feb 22, 2011 9:03:03 GMT -5
ZOMG HELLZ YEAH on Mass Effect.. LOL Honestly has to be one of my favorite series of all time. Even the mechanic of taking your save from game to game is what fascinates me. I got a kick out of doing that in Suikoden and having my friends going "wtf how did you get that character?".. but taking it to a WHOLE new level.. from what I read something like 700+ decisions transferred from ME2 to M2.. I can't WAIT for M3.. I'm totally preordering that.. I can't wait to take my 4 characters through to see what changes are waiting for her. The Mass effect series might just be be my favourite games ever. The fact that the saved games cross over into the other games is awesome and gives an incentive to complete the game fully. It interests me especially considering i was never a sci-fi fan. The only thing i don't like is that Shepherd is kind of annoying; in terms of looks. He's like a generic action man figure and although you can change what the character looks like, they always seems a little off so i just stuck with Shepered. You probably didn't get this cos you played as a female though. My husband played as a male on his 5 play throughs and each time he just used Sheppard. I did see my friend's versions and the are waaaaaaaay different.. I like the options honestly and I expect that they will get better and better as the series goes on and in the future. Personally I think it's revolutionary what they are doing and I honestly hope there are more games that fit this set up. I mean there have been "some" games where you had one save into another game but not the extent where the game literally feels different because of the decisions you made. THAT is what makes Mass Effect IMO. My female characters are very very different looking as well and yeah.. they look kinda weird but a hell of a lot better than Oblivions faces.. omg they were fugly.. Still.. if that's the only thing anyone can b**** about that's a good thing because honestly that has to be the best series of all time. Very inventive and worth every damn penny that sunk into that game. P.S. I'm glad they got rid of the Mako from ME1 to ME2..
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Post by mikessssssss on Feb 25, 2011 17:10:56 GMT -5
Hah, the mako bits got quite repetitive but i didn't mind all that much. And i've just started replaying Mass Effect as a bad guy - i didn't quite get through it as a pure renegade so i will now. It's already awesome...again.
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Post by madmanike on Feb 25, 2011 17:29:56 GMT -5
So ready for Nov when ME3 comes out. I prefer to play through as Paragon, but man, punching out that reporter in Renegade mode almost made me switch And for the record, I've played through 3 times. Once as default Sheppard, then back through as a Paragon Female and Renegade Male. As far as the faces go, I think they didn't want your guy/gal to look that good. Sort of takes away from the "normal Joe" feel if you're running around with Hollywood good looks if you ask me. Oh, just got a glimpse of this. Can you say "AWE~SOME!" ?
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Post by Badalight on Feb 25, 2011 18:57:40 GMT -5
I played the first 3 hours of Mass Effect 1 and stopped.
Not that it's a bad game or anything.
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Post by Anshin on Feb 25, 2011 20:31:33 GMT -5
I played the first 3 hours of Mass Effect 1 and stopped. Not that it's a bad game or anything. Same. Though, I do want to get around to finishing them for once. I loved Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, as well as Neverwinter Nights.
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Post by ssweetdreamer101 on Feb 25, 2011 20:42:26 GMT -5
i liked tales of symphonia that one was soo cute
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Post by Badalight on Feb 26, 2011 10:50:38 GMT -5
I played the first 3 hours of Mass Effect 1 and stopped. Not that it's a bad game or anything. Same. Though, I do want to get around to finishing them for once. I loved Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, as well as Neverwinter Nights. Biowares star wars games are simply amazing. I LOVED those games to death. I was really excited for mass effect, and simply never finished it. I do love a deep story... but that 3 hour intro was really killing me, and everything that was happening seems so cliche and predictable. Lesson learned: More dialouge =/= better story or atmosphere. Like you said, I also want to give it another go. I don't feel like I have all that much time to play through 2 very long games though.
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Post by arsenette on Feb 26, 2011 11:31:40 GMT -5
Mass Effect is an acquired taste and requires complete attention. Make one decision and it stays with you.. there is no "undoing". I like that. That said I play with the book to maximize everything.. (remember I'm a completist.. LOL). I played ME1 when ME2 came out.. Hubby was hogging up the Xbox.. LOL So I played 1-2 back to back with no breaks. 4 characters each. I have to finish my evil playthrough on 2 but I'll be more than ready when ME3 comes out around Christmas this year.
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