Someone explain the appeal of Final Fantasy to me

[johnjohn320]

Not too long ago, I actually dragged out my old PS1, with the intention of playing through some old favorites and actually tackling a couple games that I never got the chance to finish back in the day. Enter Final Fantasy VIII: a game that my teenaged self had no patience for back in the 90s, but I thought "maybe now!" But no...I still don't get the appeal.

There must be more to the game than I'm seeing, because so far, there's no challenge! Enter a battle every 2 seconds, easily win (just summon a GF, doesn't matter which one, or hit them with some magic; some are more effective than others but not by much), go to new location, fight battles along the way. Scroll through tons of predictable and cheesy dialog text. Watch a cutscene. Go to the next place. I'll admit that maybe I need to let it develop more...for those who know the game, I'm at the Tomb of the Unknown King, which according to a YouTube "Let's Play" video I found, that's about a 1/4 of the way through the game.

I played older RPGs back in the day and enjoyed the strategy involved in the battles, and puzzles along the way, along with an engaging story and set of characters. But this one? Man, I'm so bored! The only remotely fun part so far was the top-of-the-train thing.

This was my first, and still my only, FF game. I recognize that #8 isn't a lot of people's favorite, but it still has rave reviews and fans galore. I guess it's just not for me...

 

[Sulaco]

Final Fantasy VIII is garbage. I got it when it was new, played to 90% completion, and just couldn't compel myself to go any further. That was in 1999 as a 14 year old, and I thought it was stupid then.

Tried playing it again maybe 7-8 years ago, and still thought it was garbage.

If you want great RPGs, play the 16-bit Final Fantasies. FF2 (4) has been remade on practically every device known to man (even in 3D) and stands as one of the all-time classics and my personal favorite. FF3 (6) is widely regarded as the best of the series and one of the best JRPGs of all-time.

 

[pathos]

At this point, pretty much the only thing the ff games have in commons, are chocobo's and summons, I guess? The games have changed quite a bit over the years, so just because you loved or hated 1, doesn't mean that it will be the case for all of them.

FFVIII, as you've mentioned, is a bit polarizing, so, even though I like it, It wouldn't be the first game I'd suggest to a new to the ffverse player as an introduction to the series. xiv is also a bit polarizing as well, but probably less so.

Alot of the more hardcore ff fans point towards the pre ff7 games as the best, and the only ones worth playing. But, alot of other fans started with vii, and so would default to pointing that one out to you. And, you'll find an occasional late bloomer who started with x, and would say start with it, or the the hd version that just came out recently.

Heck, who knows, someone might even chime in with a 12 or 13 rec, although that person would be a rare bird. Most people consider those games to be the worst of the series, for one reason or another.

Heck, now that I read it, it sounds like mostly you'll get rec's for whichever ff someone started the series on....and it's probably true, more or less.

Historically the ff games have more concentrated on storytelling, and less on gameplay. That has....become less and less to be the case in the last few iterations, for better or worse. So, if you are interested in games with story, then you might want to try one of the other games mentioned. Otherwise, ff may not just be your cup of tea.

 

[MongGrel]

Somehow, in the multitude of games I've played in my life, I've never played a FF game at all.

Even when I was in guilds or clans in other games in general and even asked people about the games, had heard they were just major grind fests.

And that was even in some games that were very grindy to begin with. But that applies to the online mostly from the people I had spoken to.

 

[DigDog]

none. it's a crap game. worst combat mechanics ever.

but, teenagers with funky hair.

 

[xantub]

I actually preferred other RPGs of the era over the FF ones. Games like the Suikodens, Wild Arms, the Shadow Hearts, Personas and others are much higher in my 'like' list than the Final Fantasys. Only FF9 and 10 are ones I can say I really liked.

 

[pooptastic]

The older FF titles used to push the console hardware way past where everything else was.

FF2 on the SNES looked leaps and bounds better than the rest of the launch line-up. Years later, FF3 again blew everything else completely away graphically.

FF7 did it too on the Playstation, and FF8 also pushed the graphical limits yet again.

Not having these games new, right when they were launched makes them really only playable for nostalgia IMO.

Not a lot of JRPGs made it to America either, so mixed with the top of the line graphics, we took what we could get and were thankful we got even that. Lunar on the Sega CD was great, but not many people had that thing. JRpgs were heavier on storyline, VS American rpgs which had basically 0 story and no real feeling of any point to anything you're doing. VS in FF where you're always saving the world somehow.

These days, square-enix basically turned it into a cash cow. FFx part 2 was the shittiest money grab ever, and set the tone for Final Fantasy games ever sense IMO.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Treat each Final Fantasy as separate (with some references to each other) games.

FF XII is my favorite RPG to date, however, I despised XIII(-2), and VIII. VII I found I did not like very much either, contrary to it's cult status.

 

[futurefields]

what's not to understand? they are single player adventure role playing games. you can play as different classes, use different spells, weapons, armor, have different companions with you. i think some of them have multiple endings. you are thinking about it too much. if you dont like turn based combat yeah you probably wont like them.

 

[Sonikku]

I played through 6 and 7 multiple times but could only get through 8 once. It seemed decent. Though not mind blowing. Last thing I remember is a boss called Omega. God that guy was a bitch. And I don't know why I did it, but Ultimate Weapon was a pain because every step through his lair triggered a random encounter. Even with "no encounters" slotted you STILL got random encounters. Even after you beat him there was no save point, so you had to trek all the way BACK fighting battles constantly. What a gauntlet.

 

[Blanky]

but, teenagers with funky hair.

Pretty much.

I played one or two, don't plan on ever playing another. They are blah.

 

[johnjohn320]

FF7 did it too on the Playstation, and FF8 also pushed the graphical limits yet again.
...
Not a lot of JRPGs made it to America either, so mixed with the top of the line graphics, we took what we could get and were thankful we got even that. Lunar on the Sega CD was great, but not many people had that thing. JRpgs were heavier on storyline, VS American rpgs which had basically 0 story and no real feeling of any point to anything you're doing. VS in FF where you're always saving the world somehow.

Yeah, the game looks beautiful for its era, and the atmosphere seems very well done. It's just the gameplay that wasn't grabbing me at all. It's funny you mention Lunar; the Silver Star Story iteration for PSX was one of my most-played games on that system. Loved that one!

what's not to understand? they are single player adventure role playing games. you can play as different classes, use different spells, weapons, armor, have different companions with you. i think some of them have multiple endings. you are thinking about it too much. if you dont like turn based combat yeah you probably wont like them.

But see, that's the thing: I do like turn-based combat. I've played plenty of RPGs with menu-driven battles that I enjoyed immensely. As I mentioned above, Lunar was one of my favorite games I've ever played. The problem with FFVIII so far for me, is that while you can do all of the things you've mentioned (different spells, weapons, armors, company, junctioning, etc.), none of it so far has mattered at all. I'm sure if I continued on, the game will get more challenging, but so far, no real strategy or thinking has been required to advance forward in the game. Even the boss battles have been incredibly simple so far; I don't think I've come close to losing yet, and it just seemed like using some trial-and-error to find the most effective magic and GFs, rinse and repeat. Other RPGs I've played, it seemed like you had to find just the right combination, and the right order of implementation appropriate to the enemy in order to be successful; the keys to victory would sometimes be alluded to through clever hints or puzzles. Not here so far...

 

[Sonikku]

Final Fantasy Tactics was pretty good...

 

[007ELmO]

In the early days, when Final fantasy came out - you could expect a great story, fun combat, and stellar music. Speaking of FF4J/FF2U and FF6J/FF3U specifically.

When you set an initial impression (good or bad), it often takes a lot to shake it. In Final fantasy's case, a good impression was set.

IMO the new FFs (7 and onward) weren't as good, but it could just be because I grew up on the earlier titles. They may now pale in comparison to anything else you played. The problem is Final fantasy is not as good as it was before, so it makes sense you can't see it - also FF8 was just not good.

 

[Fardringle]

The best way I can think of to answer the original question is like this:

Someone explain the appeal of Call of Duty to me
Someone explain the appeal of World of Warcraft to me
Someone explain the appeal of Pokemon to me
Someone explain the appeal of NFL Football to me
Someone explain the appeal of Exercise to me


If it doesn't appeal to you, then it just doesn't appeal to you, but for those who enjoy that type of game (explore/quest/grind levels and skills) it's a pretty entertaining series. The story and characters are more fun than the gameplay itself, in my opinion.

 

[petyr_]

I'm a die hard fan but I suppose it's nostalgy for me.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I used to play every jrpg I could get my hands on. FF, chrono , breath of fire, phantasy star, dragon quest, likely more I can't remember.

I played them all. Up until the point when I loaded up FF8. Played that game for maybe 20 minutes and didn't play a new jrpg again until Ni No Kuni.

Yah I'd say FF8 is polarizing.

 

[007ELmO]

What is your opinion of Ni No Kuni.

 

[DigDog]

i worked on NNK, doing loc + testing, so i had to play it waaay mroe than your average player.. think 8h a day for 7 weeks.

the combat is horrible, just like every FF out there (it's a clone).

the mobs are insufferable. i just hate having to fight a cute cactus plant with a bow on his head. or a butterfly with a kettle on its snout. or pig-like mobs called "piggers".

the story has a part wich is based in the real world, and it's a vomit-inducing sob story where you cause your mom's death.

the second aprt is based in the world of the witch, and it's slightly less insufferable, however it progresses with such molasses-like slowness that a lazy sloth would be proud.

once you complete nearly 99% of the game, and are on the last map, it actually becomes though (nowhere else can you actually "die" or lose the game, if you exclude a horrible miscalculation early on in the game where you can run into a boss w/o any mana), and once you finish this one though section, AND if you do a weird thing where you backtrack a shitton and have found a set of mobs + items that you had to grind, then you get to a secret section where you fight uber boss mobs that wipe your team in 10 seconds unless you spam (ridiculously rare and expensive) items you crafted after grinding even more.

ofc not only the combat is bad, but it's also broken, and you can do an exploit that makes the secret boss go down relatively easy.

overall, its a Fisher-Price version of a fantasy RPG, designed for kindergarten age children and non-gamer girls.

 

[007ELmO]

Based on dig dug/dig dog's review and experience, I shall be saying No to Ni No Kuni.

 

[BoberFett]

I don't get FF either. After having played FF1-3 (US) and loving them, I had to force myself to finish FF7. I hated the whole huge-hair-huge-sword-emo-teen crap FF went to. It also became linear as all get out. FF7 was awful in my opinion, and I've never gone back. I've played other JRPGs that I liked, so it's not the genre, it really just is the FF series that's gone to crap IMO.

 

[shortylickens]

If you start with Final Fantasy 8, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

[gorcorps]

I don't get turn based rpg at all. It's so boring

 

[xantub]

I don't get turn based rpg at all. It's so boring

I don't get twitch based rpg at all. It's so simple.

 

[DigDog]

here is a video/walkthrough of NNK. take a look if this seems something you would enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-HWJ0j5cWs&index=9&list=PLrXlEm4MgsbN8NXb18x4nr32bdAAfBfvq

some of the graphic design is really good .. if you are into that sort of stuff.