Final Fantasy worth it?

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Hi guys and gals,

I'm in between big games at the moment so got time to try something new.

I've never played a final fantasy game so I thought I might try one and see what all the fuss is about. Thing is with so many of them out there I don't know which to try, which is where you come in..

So which FF game is the best, and are there any I should avoid. Also is there any reason to play them in order.

For preference when playing RPGs I prefer gameplay over story (unless the story is really amazing) and story over graphics. Also I don't like overly 'grinding' games -so if I have to redo the same action/battle a huge amount of times just to get to the next proper/new section of the game then I tend to give it up.

Thanks in advance

 

Well, they don't follow any singular story, so you might start from any. FF7 has been said to be the best (I won't agree or disagree). It's just so old that you might have problems finding it.
Come to think of it, 7-9 (they have released some collector editions of the older ones some time ago) are all a little older, and finding them might be hard. But if you do find them, about any of them is quite decent (1-6 are 2d, if you're ok with that) 10 and 10-2 were a bit... meh. 11 is an MMORPG, and 12 I haven't tried yet.

As for the difficulty, none of them are really anything so hard you couldn't win. Random encounters can always get to your nerves, but that is manageable.
So, 10 and 10-2 are the worst in my list, but that doesn't mean that they aren't decent, just that they aren't as good as the previous ones.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

FF7 is generally agreed upon as the best. Though I prefer FF8, that game is something of a "love it or hate it" game, so I wouldn't suggest starting with that. FF4 & FF6 are great games, though you may see them labelled as FF2 & FF3 due to renumbering when only some came across the Pacific from Japan.

The only order to follow would be: don't play X-2 before X. X-2 is the only sequel in the series (to X, obviously), and it is widely agreed upon as one of the worst in the series, fit only for those who enjoyed the characters in X. Myself, I haven't been able to get ahold of a computer version of the game(s) and am not pleased with the idea of emulators or getting a Playstation, so I can only say what I've heard about them.

Basically, get 7 first, and if that will whet your appetite (likely enough to try to get your hands on as many others as you can ). And as a final bit of advice, play it right away to see if the reactor explosion cutscene is scratched. I know far too many people whose games stall right there on used discs; I don't know if it was some sort of weakness in production or what, but it's something to pay attention to. And naturally you'll want to make copies of the discs for when one of them eventually goes bad.

 

I used to love them. FF7 is indeed interesting but if you don't have a godly sense of patience, don't bother. Random battles occur about every 3-6 seconds. Same enemies, over and over. I bought FF3 for the DS just recently and nearly threw the thing against the wall. i like to choose my battles thank you very much, not be forced through hours of filler

 

FF6 is the only decent game, and even then it suffers from the bad engine and stupid random encounters that cripple every single one of the games.

 

I enjoyed FF8 and FF9 the most, closely followed by FFX. I enjoyed the card games for both FF8 and FF9 and then played Blitzball for hours in FFX. found FFX-2 to be the worst, by far.

I didn't have the patience to do FF7, also there is a glitch on mine, it seems, since I'm stuck in the middle of a field (sort of, it's been awhile). Overall, it wasn't too terrible, but the glitch and constant encounters got annoying quickly.

FFXII is good so far (not that far in it, though).

Since I'm not a MMORPG fan, I didn't enjoy FFXI.

The first six FF games, to me, started too slow.

 

They're all good, though often for different reasons. The latest one, XII, has a weaker story line compared to the others. But the game play and visuals more than make up for it. I mean this game looks good,whether it's the cities or the deserts, or the massive battle scenes. And let's not forget the Viera, a race of tall bunny eared super models.I also like being able to avoid a fight if I want to. No more annoying fights against weak critters that only give you a few xp.

 

I'm not a huge fan of japanese roleplaying games but I did enjoy FF7. That was a long time ago though so today I might loose my nerves with the random encounters. Another one you might want to give a try is Chrono Trigger which I think is more or less abandonware these days, I really liked it perhaps even more than FF7. It's a SNES game though so you'd need a emulator to run that one in case you're interested.

I tried FF6 a while ago too, but the plot never seemed inspiring enough to make it with all those annoying random encounters so I quit it not too long after the beginninh

 

You can get Final Fantasy 3 with new greaphics on DS, which is great. The others are available on GBA but they just have a few new features to make them less annoying for the modern gamers.

I also recommend Phantasy Star 4 and Shining Force 1&2 games. They are available on the many 'Sega Classics' compilations available on Playstation 2 and I think PSP.

 

IMO, only FF6 and FF7 are worth trying out. Maybe FF5 too if you can forgive the bad characters. These have somewhat decend story and OK mechanics, but also suffer from mandatory grinding (i.e: fighting spammed out fights).

I also found it annoying that the villains pretty much always gain superpowers out of nowhere and can do pretty much everything. For example: retreat out of battle (only to return stronger than ever later on) when you basically have a blade on his throat.

*Snick*

 

This is indeed a great series, though it has had some drastic ups and downs. The great ones (in my opinion) are V, VI, VII, IX, and now XII (that's 5, 6, 7, 9, and 12). 8 is indeed a love it or hate it game, and I absolutely hated it, as with 10. I think VI is one of the top 3 best RPGs of all time, with Fallout 2 and the Baldur's Gate Series.

The other thing you may want to consider is accessability. You'll probably never find any of the PS I games anymore (7-9, maybe 10, not sure). The earlier ones are easily available on roms if you're familiar with that. The latest, XII, is an excellent game, and the ressurection of a series that had honestly become below par. If you are mainly interested in gameplay, it may well suit you as well, as it introduces a wide number of unique elements to traditional RPG gameplay, all of which are well designed. Actually, XII really gives you the best of all worlds, with great mechanics and gameplay, wonderful storyline, and graphics that will take your breath away, and your money as it only seems to run smoothly on a PS3.

If you're looking for a cheap but good intro to the series, VI (6) is the way to go, but I honestly think XII will appeal to you more.

 

Agreed. It's weird, although I kinda liked 8 (didn't like the magic system though) I always lost interest at a certain point. Same thing has happened with 12. 7 was awesome. I myself only played it for the first time last year so if you can stand the dated polygonal graphics on the ps1 it's worth it.

X-2 is imo crap. Avoid it like the plague. X was awesome.

I finished 9 and thought it was okay. A number of similarities to "Dragon Ball" in retrospect

In my order of preference: X, 7, 9, 12 and 8 share 4th place.

 

i had and beat ff7,8,and 9(until my slut of an ex-wife stole them),and loved them all.i also greatly enjoyed ffx.i haven't got to x-2 of xii yet,but they are on the shelf waiting.right now i'm playing dark cloud 2 on playstation.
i agree with the recommendation for chrono trigger.chrono cross was also great.the 1st phantasy star was the second rpg i ever played.i had all 4.i also greatly enjoyed the grandia series

 

Good thing you finished the game, else you'd have sleepless nights figuring out what would've happened

If you want the "Final Fantasy" feel, try FF7 or FFX.
If you want it out of the box, try FF12.

 

Crono Trigger is another great oldie easily available on roms. Chrono Cross for PS1, on the other hand, seemed a great let down to me. Not a bad game, but nowhere's near as good as the original. The entire Phantasy Star series is great, but you're taking a major step back RPG mechanics for most of them. The first even requires you to go through the menu to talk to people or search things if I remember correctly. One of them (3 or 4) had a very interesting generations approach, where you played through three generations and who your character ended up marrying in the previous generation (player decided) determined exactly who the PC was for the next. It was a nice experiment. Too bad it didn't take.

 

Final fantasy 7 as many has pointed out was clearly the best, allthough imho final fantasy 6 was just as good. In FF6 you had an option to put together a 4man team of around 20 characters each with an unique ability and it had a great story, touching upon interracial marriages and racism, at its time, it was considered provoking.

final fantasy 4 is great if you can stand the old graphic, the story evolves around a black knight who prety early in the game has a problem with being "evil" and goes a great lenght to become a paladin. after that the story focus on a love triangle featuring him, his girlfriend and his best friend...and some evil corrupting power from space, which clearly wasn't importent

final fantasy 10 is imho the second best for the ps1 (ff7 being the best). but i dont think much of the story can be revealed without "ruining" the experience. imho the FF games are some of the best games ever made.

on a side note, for once i agree completely with NOG

Chrono trigger was truly great, imho one of the best snes rpg's. along with ff6 and terranigma.
and the old phantasy star games are still worth trying.

 

FFX and later are for PS2, not PSX.

I have myself played FFVII to IX, from those I would choose FFVIII as the best, but as others have said, it is either love it or hate it. I currently have FFX and X-2 in the shelf waiting for me to buy a PS2, so that I can play them.

 

I'd have to concur about FF7. It's definitely the best. If you're going to start anywhere start there. The only Final Fantasy that I can say isn't all that fun is FFXI. The MMO FF just doesn't live up to the FF reputation. That and it's full of nothing but naked cats and dancing tarus. I say pick up 7 then work backwards. Though I havn't played X or X-2(I heard they were a waste) or XII I can say that the rest are definitely worth a shot if you enjoy 7.

 

Popular choices would be FF VI and FF VII. I'd choose FF VI, but you can't really go wrong with either since you don't mind the graphics. Unfortunately if you want to get the best out of your characters in FF VII you have to get into a lot of repetitive battles, a notorious element of all FF games.

There's also FF Tactics which is actually my favourite FF game. Featuring a different combat system, there is a LOT more strategy involved during a battle as you move your characters around like chess pieces. The battles are engaging and are accompanied by a superb score. Heck, I even went out and bought the soundtrack. Also has the best storyline of all the FF series in my opinion. If you're looking for a deep and engaging game with good replayability, go for FF Tactics. Oh, FFT is also listed on GameSpot's Greatest Games of All Time.

[ March 12, 2007, 20:28: Message edited by: Rhythm ]

 

If you want to start small scale, go with some of the earlier FF's (4-6). In ROM form, they are quicker to play through (fast forward and state saving), so you can get a taste of the gameplay and storyline without getting bogged down with random battles and slow load times due to modern-day graphics and movies.