Best Final Fantasy.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-09-12 08:13pm

Magic powered Machinaray

ABOMINATION!

Post by **Steve** » 2002-09-12 09:55pm

YOU DARE DISS FFIV?!?!?!?!

BLASPHEMER!!!!!!

FFIV had the best ending in terms of closure out of all the games, and some good dialogue and music.

Not that FFVI still isn't the measuring stick, but FFIV was fuckin' awesome.

The SNES FFs soooo beat the shit out of the PS ones.

Post by **Steve** » 2002-09-12 09:59pm

As for the tech, recall this....

In FFIV, airships and the Serpent Road were developed by KluYa, a Lunarian, the Lunarians being an advanced technological society centuries beyond even us (they managed to build their own moon and place themselves into indefinite cyrogenic sleep within it, after all). The Big Whale itself was a Lunarian ship.

In FFVI, the tech level is actually Industrial Revolution, minus internal combustion, with everything steam-powered, coal-powered, or powered by Espers. The pinnacle of tech would seem to be the Airships of Setzer and Darryl, and given their performance I wouldn't be surprised if they remain aloft due to brute force and the hot-air balloon attached to the ships.

Evil Jerk · Post by **Evil Jerk** » 2002-09-12 10:09pm

Steve wrote:YOU DARE DISS FFIV?!?!?!?!

BLASPHEMER!!!!!!

Yup. Whatcha gonna do about it?

FFIV had the best ending in terms of closure out of all the games, and some good dialogue and music.

Yeah the music was good.. but the plot..
Frankly, I liked Cecil better as a Dark Knight, and I just couldn't stand Kain's flip-flopping, I wish he would just MAKE UP HIS MIND!

.

Not that FFVI still isn't the measuring stick, but FFIV was fuckin' awesome.

The SNES FFs soooo beat the shit out of the PS ones.

That's what I consider blasphemy! Heresy too.
FFVII beats them all up with a board with a nail in it, it does.

Post by **Dalton** » 2002-09-13 12:08am

Steve wrote:YOU DARE DISS FFIV?!?!?!?!

BLASPHEMER!!!!!!

FFIV had the best ending in terms of closure out of all the games, and some good dialogue and music.

Not that FFVI still isn't the measuring stick, but FFIV was fuckin' awesome.

The SNES FFs soooo beat the shit out of the PS ones.

Yeah!! Preach on, brother Steve!!!

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2002-09-13 12:15am

The SNES FFs are great and all, but I don't think I've ever played a better RPG than FFX. Except for maybe FFVI.

Sienthal · Post by **Sienthal** » 2002-09-13 12:47am

Tactics

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2002-09-13 12:49am

Tactics rules. I will have to buy a Gameboy Advance now that a new FFT game is coming out for it.

Post by **Steve** » 2002-09-13 10:35pm

I am sooooo going to beat the shit out of you for saying that....

When they got onto the PS, Square got too wrapped up in playing with the engine and forgot the basics that made FFVI utterly whup-ass.

Post by **Dalton** » 2002-09-14 12:34am

Steve wrote:I am sooooo going to beat the shit out of you for saying that....

When they got onto the PS, Square got too wrapped up in playing with the engine and forgot the basics that made FFVI utterly whup-ass.

I think it's some sort of brain bug. They suddenly have a platform they can develop on that can handle 3-D graphics and FMV and suddenly it's cinematics left, right and center, complete with polygon breasts.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2002-09-14 01:40am

Durran Korr wrote:This is a tough question. I would say FFX and FFVI are tied for the best.

And also, if you prefer the older, more fantasy-oriented FFs, check out FFIX. It's purely fantasy, as I'm sure you've heard, and is really a love letter to longtime fans of the series. FFX is also more fantasy than sci-fi - it uses technology far less than FFVII of FFVIII do.

FFIX is only pure fantasy if you ignore the spaceship that nukes an entire city.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2002-09-14 01:41am

Evil Jerk wrote:
And also, if you prefer the older, more fantasy-oriented FFs, check out FFIX. It's purely fantasy, as I'm sure you've heard, and is really a love letter to longtime fans of the series.
FFIX pure Fantasy?

*don't read if you haven't played or care about the story*

I don't know, at the end it felt more like hokey sci-fi what with it's alien planets, robotic old men, genetically engineered monkey men and city-killing spaceships

Plus the fact that they changed Kuja from female to male in the North American version without changing the graphics.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2002-09-14 01:43am

Durandal wrote:Final Fantasy VI and VIII are my favorites, followed closely by VII.

Final Fantasy VIII was pissed on by a lot of fans because it had a weird battle system, but it was by far the most gripping and engaging game in the series.

It also has minute and a half cutscenes that are unskippable and get repeated over and over and over again. Unskippable long cutscenes are unforgivable in any modern game, and older games always let you skip them.

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2002-09-14 05:12pm

Graeme Dice wrote:It also has minute and a half cutscenes that are unskippable and get repeated over and over and over again. Unskippable long cutscenes are unforgivable in any modern game, and older games always let you skip them.

I avoided summoning Eden for just this reason, especially after Boost became available (and obligated paying attention to the entire summon).

BTW, does anyone here know why the U.S. versions of the FF games since FF8 have had a different control scheme from the Japanese and Euro versions? The current U.S. scheme is this (I think; I might have confused two of the buttons):
X: Select
O: Menu
Square: Special Actions
Tri: Cancel

The "overseas" scheme (and what we also had originally as well up until FF8) is this:
X: Cancel
O: Select
Square: Special Actions
Tri: Menu

I thought it was Square's way of discouraging imports, but then nearly every other game company began doing the same thing right around the same time. Dictate from Sony, perhaps?

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2002-09-14 06:26pm

Datana wrote:BTW, does anyone here know why the U.S. versions of the FF games since FF8 have had a different control scheme from the Japanese and Euro versions? The current U.S. scheme is this (I think; I might have confused two of the buttons):
X: Select
O: Menu
Square: Special Actions
Tri: Cancel

The "overseas" scheme (and what we also had originally as well up until FF8) is this:
X: Cancel
O: Select
Square: Special Actions
Tri: Menu

Probably because the X button is on the bottom and easiest to push. It's silly to make the button closest to your fingers the one you want to push the least.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2002-09-14 07:17pm

FF1: The original, the starter of it all... And when I first played it was like, this is it?! Mind you, I hadn't played this until I had started with FF6, but still. Storyline was nonexistant, yet it was still strangely compelling. I currently have a party ready to kick Chaos ass... If only we could get through the Temple of Fiends.

FF2: Played a few times. Sucks so much ass.

FF3: Now this is what Final Fantasy is about. Multiple vehicles, magic, the first summons(Bahamut!), and a world changing around you(Imagine my shock when I discovered all I had been saving was a tiny island...). Plus, you venture into the Dark World. Truly epic.

FF4: Pretty good, though I couldn't get into it to the same degree as 3. The Big Whale was just wierd to me. The inability to choose my party made me think of Mystic Quest.

FF5: Ahhh... I loved this. First off, in my translation, the hero is named BUTZ. How can you NOT love that? Big meteors, the job system(How I loved thee), and the epic tale that unfolded before you.

FF6: The eternal master of all Final Fantasy games, 6. Every character in the party had a major role(With the exception of Gogo, but he was optional), an epic, weaving storyline with many, many strange twists(Is Daryl Gogo? Is Shadow Relm's father?), and of course, the most epic battle of all time, as you fight your way through three Goddesses, up a tower of monsters, and take on Kefka himself, the Angel Of Death.

And then kick his sorry ass.

FF7-9: Didn't play 'em, watched them from the arm of my girlfriend's couch, as she is a FF fanatic. Looked too flashy.

FF10: Oooooooo. I liked it. It's edging constantly closer to the 'High tech' than I prefer in FF, but it's still good. Better than the damn stupid gunblade. I just wish the airship was a little less flashy(Really, the assload of nukes on it was stretching my credence of this).

Chrono Trigger: Since we apparantly consider this part of it, the game that defines RPG's after FF6. Wonderful characters(Even the optional one, Magus, winds up as a great addition, even in text.), a great storyline which just unfolded before you, and, my personal favorite, people in the stone age selling guns. Not just guns, no, guns better than on sale in the far future. How can you not love this stuff? The Kingdom of Zeal just rocked, and Lavos is truly a great foe.

Chrono Cross: I know it's bloody rare, and I know it turned off alot of people with the wierd battle style, but it's a truly great addition to the CT universe. The cutscenes were well made but not distracting, a cool storyline even before you get back into the stream of what happened(Being called the Chrono Trigger threw me for a double-loop, I'll tell ya.), and an excellent execution as the sequel to a game where time travel was the norm. I just wished there was more room to explore.. Two versions of the same island chain was tiny, after I explored 5 time periods of the world.

Post by **Steve** » 2002-09-14 08:47pm

SirNitram wrote:FF1: The original, the starter of it all... And when I first played it was like, this is it?! Mind you, I hadn't played this until I had started with FF6, but still. Storyline was nonexistant, yet it was still strangely compelling. I currently have a party ready to kick Chaos ass... If only we could get through the Temple of Fiends.

I vaguely remember it, never really liked it...

FF2: Played a few times. Sucks so much ass.

Never bothered.

FF3: Now this is what Final Fantasy is about. Multiple vehicles, magic, the first summons(Bahamut!), and a world changing around you(Imagine my shock when I discovered all I had been saving was a tiny island...). Plus, you venture into the Dark World. Truly epic.

Never tried it.

FF4: Pretty good, though I couldn't get into it to the same degree as 3. The Big Whale was just wierd to me. The inability to choose my party made me think of Mystic Quest.

You pampered bitch. FF4 was my first FF, there's nothing wrong with having the party with a set group of characters. Besides, you got to have five characters, which was simply too cool, and unmatched in any FF since. That, and the characters simply rock. (And, you'd be surprised at the number of post-game fanfics of FF4 with Edge-Rydia romances).

FF5: Ahhh... I loved this. First off, in my translation, the hero is named BUTZ. How can you NOT love that? Big meteors, the job system(How I loved thee), and the epic tale that unfolded before you.

In the version released in the States with FFVI as Final Fantasy Anthology (for PS), it's Bartz.

And yes, it had a whupass story. And the N-Zone was fucking long. X-Death is a nasty boss (Neo X-Death resembles the enemies you fight in the final battle of FFVI), and the end credit music is, IMHO, a challenge to the FFVI end credit music.

FF6: The eternal master of all Final Fantasy games, 6. Every character in the party had a major role(With the exception of Gogo, but he was optional), an epic, weaving storyline with many, many strange twists(Is Daryl Gogo? Is Shadow Relm's father?), and of course, the most epic battle of all time, as you fight your way through three Goddesses, up a tower of monsters, and take on Kefka himself, the Angel Of Death.

What makes you think Daryl is Gogo?

And hell fucking yeah, the end level is kickass. FFVI is the biggest, baddest FF ever, only rivaled by Chrono Trigger for baddest RPG ever.

And then kick his sorry ass.

And what better way to do that than smacking him with five Ultima spells in a turn? (Someone using the Gem Box relic, of course).

SUCK ULTIMA, BEYOTCH, WOOT!

FF7-9: Didn't play 'em, watched them from the arm of my girlfriend's couch, as she is a FF fanatic. Looked too flashy.

I played FFVII. It wasn't bad, the characters were more developed than some of the FFVI characters by virtue of having only 9 in the entire thing (With a couple of them being optional).

But the ending absolutely sucked, no closure at all, no kickass end credit music like in FFV or FFVI, it pretty much boiled down to shots of the CGI Tifa's unrealistic boobs.

FF10: Oooooooo. I liked it. It's edging constantly closer to the 'High tech' than I prefer in FF, but it's still good. Better than the damn stupid gunblade. I just wish the airship was a little less flashy(Really, the assload of nukes on it was stretching my credence of this).

Never played it.

Chrono Trigger: Since we apparantly consider this part of it, the game that defines RPG's after FF6. Wonderful characters(Even the optional one, Magus, winds up as a great addition, even in text.), a great storyline which just unfolded before you, and, my personal favorite, people in the stone age selling guns. Not just guns, no, guns better than on sale in the far future. How can you not love this stuff? The Kingdom of Zeal just rocked, and Lavos is truly a great foe.

CT ownz joo!

And, it is just me, or does Schala get an extraordinary amount of fan attention despite being an NPC? Not that I'm not guilty of having her in fics myself......

Chrono Cross: I know it's bloody rare, and I know it turned off alot of people with the wierd battle style, but it's a truly great addition to the CT universe. The cutscenes were well made but not distracting, a cool storyline even before you get back into the stream of what happened(Being called the Chrono Trigger threw me for a double-loop, I'll tell ya.), and an excellent execution as the sequel to a game where time travel was the norm. I just wished there was more room to explore.. Two versions of the same island chain was tiny, after I explored 5 time periods of the world.

I'm not so pleased with CC's end result. The unforgivable inconsistancies (Lavos did not create humanity, yet CC says he did), the overbearingly-complex plot (Which simplifies drastically at the end), and the absolutely ridiculous mass of playable-characters, of which a good two-thirds aren't even worth using for anything more than entertainment and some of which being redundant in function. Finally, I hated the god damned preaching about how the evil humans were spoiling nature and shit like that while the "decent" non-human species lived "in harmony" with nature. It pissed me off so badly, I got an evil perverse pleasure out of murdering every single fucking Dwarf on Water Dragon Isle when you go there to get the Ice Breath. Suck it down, ecobitches!

That, and again, the primary ending sucked. CT had a cool ending with magnificant music. CC had.... psychobabble.

Hopefully the rumored "Chrono Break" will be better.

Evil Jerk · Post by **Evil Jerk** » 2002-09-14 09:11pm

I am sooooo going to beat the shit out of you for saying that....

Who, me? My evil minions will cut you down before you get past my front gate.

When they got onto the PS, Square got too wrapped up in playing with the engine and forgot the basics that made FFVI utterly whup-ass.

I don't think they've forgotten about the basics.

I think it's some sort of brain bug. They suddenly have a platform they can develop on that can handle 3-D graphics and FMV and suddenly it's cinematics left, right and center, complete with polygon breasts.

No, that's a brain bug, they've always cared about how good their games look, cinematics have just replaced hour long cutscenes with conventional graphics.

Post by **Dalton** » 2002-09-14 10:24pm

Final Fantasy 1 wrote:I vaguely remember it, never really liked it...

I think I played it a bit, if only to see where Doomriser got his inspiration for Ayessveess in the RPG. I think my sister made it quite far.

Final Fantasy 2 wrote:Never bothered.

Same here.

Final Fantasy 3 wrote:Never tried it.

I think Nitram sent me the ROM. It was kinda...well, bad.

Final Fantasy 4 wrote:You pampered bitch. FF4 was my first FF, there's nothing wrong with having the party with a set group of characters. Besides, you got to have five characters, which was simply too cool, and unmatched in any FF since. That, and the characters simply rock. (And, you'd be surprised at the number of post-game fanfics of FF4 with Edge-Rydia romances).

Hear, hear. I cut my teeth on FF4 as well, and I thought the story was spectacular. Nice medieval legend quality.

Final Fantasy 5 wrote:In the version released in the States with FFVI as Final Fantasy Anthology (for PS), it's Bartz.

And yes, it had a whupass story. And the N-Zone was fucking long. X-Death is a nasty boss (Neo X-Death resembles the enemies you fight in the final battle of FFVI), and the end credit music is, IMHO, a challenge to the FFVI end credit music.

I'm still working on it (still on World 2 AAMOF...I have to level up before I face Exdeath). For the record, I'd rather have the SNES ROM than the remade FF Anthology version (something about it rubs me the wrong way entirely).

Final Fantasy 6 wrote:What makes you think Daryl is Gogo?

And hell fucking yeah, the end level is kickass. FFVI is the biggest, baddest FF ever, only rivaled by Chrono Trigger for baddest RPG ever.

I've only played about halfway through so far (getting ready to assault the Floating Continent) but it's damn kickass and has the best overworld music by far. Sort of a medieval waltz.

Chrono Trigger wrote:CT ownz joo!

And, it is just me, or does Schala get an extraordinary amount of fan attention despite being an NPC? Not that I'm not guilty of having her in fics myself......

Chrono Trigger is one of my all-time favorites (and my sister's everlasting obsession - big magus fan). The ending music kicks ass - alright, so I'm a big soppy that likes the balloon ending

so sue me.

Chrono Cross wrote:I'm not so pleased with CC's end result. The unforgivable inconsistancies (Lavos did not create humanity, yet CC says he did), the overbearingly-complex plot (Which simplifies drastically at the end), and the absolutely ridiculous mass of playable-characters, of which a good two-thirds aren't even worth using for anything more than entertainment and some of which being redundant in function. Finally, I hated the god damned preaching about how the evil humans were spoiling nature and shit like that while the "decent" non-human species lived "in harmony" with nature. It pissed me off so badly, I got an evil perverse pleasure out of murdering every single fucking Dwarf on Water Dragon Isle when you go there to get the Ice Breath. Suck it down, ecobitches!

Hehe. I haven't played a lot of Chrono Cross, but my sister got sick of it at one point (as you probably know, Steve, you've talked to her). I want to play it if only for the music.

That, and again, the primary ending sucked. CT had a cool ending with magnificant music. CC had.... psychobabble.

Hopefully the rumored "Chrono Break" will be better.

I heard it ties in more with the first game.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2002-09-14 10:45pm

Dalton wrote:
Final Fantasy 1 wrote:I vaguely remember it, never really liked it...
I think I played it a bit, if only to see where Doomriser got his inspiration for Ayessveess in the RPG. I think my sister made it quite far.

I finished it way back when. It's the origin of the end of battle music that shows up in FF9. I just wish that your dead characters would get up and dance when you win and then fall back down dead again like they used to.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2002-09-14 11:08pm

Re: Steve on CC.

While there was alot of babble about nature and the morality of survival of the fittest, I still enjoyed it. You must question how valid said babble is.. You have to beat up the Dwarves, the Hydra, and the Dragon Gods themselves!(For unknown reason, the Dragon God is named TimeDevourer. Someone on the translation crew was a fuckup.).

The characters were amusing to me, mostly. It's one of my things, I love sidequests, no matter how useless. So having that many characters to obtain.... Mmmm....

As for Lavos making humans, think on this. Lavos is the reason humanity is dominant. Don't believe me?

1) Lavos slaughtered the Reptites after the big battle.

2) Lavos made the Gates, so your party could go back in time and help beat the Reptites.

3) Lavos is the source of magic, which would propel humanity ahead.

(I know, I know. The force behind the Gates, reliving itself is Schala with Lavos.)

It was nice to have closure with Schala as well(Though they forgot she has blue hair!), and to have one more showdown with the End Of Everything.

But yea. I've not heard much about Chrono Break, but here's hoping it sticks with the original more.. With preference given to actually seeing Crono, Marle, and Lucca alive.

Post by **Steve** » 2002-09-15 12:32pm

I've heard that the Zealian hair color is supposed to be dye. At least, it was said to be in Japanese source material (or the game, don't remember which).

But yeah, I know...

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2002-09-15 02:22pm

Durran Korr wrote:I never really agreed much with the old school attitude. "Out with the new, hooray 1992!"

I can sympathize - I love old school RPGs, but people get ridiculous with this old school mentality and that leads to bad things, like Grandia, a merely average RPG that had more in common with old school RPGs than its contemporaries, being considered in the same vein or even better than masterpieces like Final Fantasy VII. It saddens me.

Worse yet, the sequel to Grandia was an overhyped piece of shit that stole much-needed attention from the vastly superior Skies of Arcadia.

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2002-09-15 02:33pm

Evil Jerk wrote:
Vendetta wrote:And if you want to fly airships, you should be playing Skies of Arcadia anyway.
That's probably the worst game for airship flying, at least until the Delphinus goes to higher altitudes, given the random encounters.

The thing is, in Skies of Arcadia, flying around at the normal altitude is basically a more interesting version of walking around, given the planet's lack of surface.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2002-09-15 03:18pm

I'm not so pleased with CC's end result. The unforgivable inconsistancies (Lavos did not create humanity, yet CC says he did), the overbearingly-complex plot (Which simplifies drastically at the end), and the absolutely ridiculous mass of playable-characters, of which a good two-thirds aren't even worth using for anything more than entertainment and some of which being redundant in function. Finally, I hated the god damned preaching about how the evil humans were spoiling nature and shit like that while the "decent" non-human species lived "in harmony" with nature. It pissed me off so badly, I got an evil perverse pleasure out of murdering every single fucking Dwarf on Water Dragon Isle when you go there to get the Ice Breath. Suck it down, ecobitches!

I'm going to have to agree with you; it was very saddening indeed to see that the storyline of one of my favorite RPGs had been stolen by eco-Marxists (lots of anti-capitalist rhetoric within the game, too) and twisted into preaching a destructive, anti-human message. The whole point of Chrono Trigger was to save humanity; the non-human Mystics seemed to be genocidal maniacs (at least the ones under the control of Ozzie), and suddenly they're wonderful, in-harmony-with-nature, benign beings (the demihumans of CC are probably the same as the Mystics of CT)? Especially angering me was when you were portrayed as being some kind of evil savage for killing the Hydra to get the medicine to save Kid; you had no choice! Why couldn't the dwarves just reproduce the hydra enough to where there would be enough medicine available for dying humans?

Also, about Lavos creating humanity; I think the game was saying that exposure to some kind of radiation exuded by Lavos greatly accelerated the development of the human brain, making humans much smarter than they should have been (this too, is bullshit; there's no way every human in the world could have received exposure to this radiation when Lavos hit the planet, given that the blast radius was not large enough, and Lavos immediately burrowed deep within the Earth after impact). And humans were not just stupid apes when Lavos came, they were intelligent beings who had developed a very primitive civilization with markets, government, and order.

Let me just state for the record that I liked Chrono Cross a great deal; the gameplay and combat mechanics were great, and the way that the time-travel theme of CT was expanded upon by adding dimensions was great (but of course, then they had to ruin it with the ecological garbage). I really hope Chrono Break takes the series away from this disastrous path that Chrono Cross set it on.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Best Final Fantasy.

=)