The Slowly-Dying Death of RPG's.

[muzz 0]

I cannot see how anyone could rate it that badly, unless they were RPG freaks who need perfection and things done exactly how they want.

 

The OP matches this description, actually. I, too, get nostalgic for how games once were, such as the point-and-click games mentioned before, but I wouldn't let that cloud my judgement on some fine games.

[AndrewTS 0]

FFVIII seems to be hated the most by the the FFVII newcomers who will swear up and down that FFVII is still the gr8est RPG ever.

 

I really don't see that as a detriment.

 

The battle system needed a kick in the rear, and the Draw system was a nice attempt at that. I hadn't played too much of it though.

[Special K 0]

Ooh, FFT is very, very good (NOT FFT Advance. That sucked)

 

It's the opposite of Tactics Ogre (very similar game, same development team) which I hated on PS and loved on GBA.

[AndrewTS 0]

Ooh, FFT is very, very good (NOT FFT Advance. That sucked)

 

It's the opposite of Tactics Ogre (very similar game, same development team) which I hated on PS and loved on GBA.

Tactics is Final Fantasy in name only, like the early SD games--I meant out of the existing 11/12 there are now.

 

However, it always amused me that many Final Fantasy fans would call it their favorite FF game.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

Wouldn't know. Except for Gameboy & Tactics and other crap like that, FFVIII is the only Final Fantasy I've never played. The word I heard from everyone was SO bad that I steered clear of it.

That's interesting, since I steered completely clear of FFIX for the same reason. Still haven't played it.

 

VIII was fairly enjoyable, though.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

I've been able to keep finding new little tricks and such in Final Fantasy Tactics after playing semi-regularly for 6-7 years now. I'm trying a solo Ramza game now in fact.

Shame Disgaea got rather boring pretty quickly.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

FFVIII seems to be hated the most by the the FFVII newcomers who will swear up and down that FFVII is still the gr8est RPG ever.

 

I really don't see that as a detriment.

 

The battle system needed a kick in the rear, and the Draw system was a nice attempt at that. I hadn't played too much of it though.

The draw/GF system is precisely why I hate FFVIII. You can breeze through the entire game of FFVIII doing nothing but summoning GFs and using limit breaks. It is extremely boring and you have to watch the same GF animations over and over again.

 

That's interesting, since I steered completely clear of FFIX for the same reason. Still haven't played it.

 

IX is easily my favourite of the PS1 FFs. It was overlooked because it came out with a lot less hype than FFVIII only a year earlier, and it was overshadowed by the PS2 which came out at roughly the same time. If you like FFVI, then you should like FFIX, as we finally return to 4 Character battles and characters with unique jobs (Vivi=Black Mage, Zidane=Thief, etc.). Even if you don't like the story (and I do), the fighting system is far and away the best of the PS1 FFs.

[AndrewTS 0]

I see--that must be the gripe with the Draw system. Hadn't gotten far enough to tell.

 

The things I didn't like about IX were:

 

-that the Tetra Master games went far beyond a simple little sidequest thing and got to be too much a part of the main game.

 

-the arcane secrets that you'd need to mess around with PlayOnline to get. I seem to recall I got the guide because getting it with the game was rather cheap--little did I realize that it was a complete waste to spend any money on that guide.

 

Other than that, IX was good. Vivi's been mentioned over and over again, but it was like a throwback to the older games with the semi-SD character designs, and the heavier fantasy elements.

 

Plus, I'd hoped that they'd go back to having more than 3 party members at a time, but they didn't.

[Jingus 0]

I really liked IX... up to a point.

 

That point: What the FUCK is the deal with the entire last disc? Out of nowhere, the last boss king badass of FFIX issssss... some random galactic asshole we've never even heard of before?!

 

"Hi. I was just walking by here. LET'S BATTLE TO THE DEATH."

 

And the ending was the weakest fairytale copout of all time. How the FUCK did Zidane get out of the tree? When they revealed him alive and well at the end, I couldn't even transcribe all the cussing I subjected my TV to. Square pretty much set up that last cut-scene to look like Zidane DIED, no escape possible. "He didn't jump out of the cock-a-doodie car!" So if you think about it, that means the entire kingdom Punk'd the new Queen Garnet. They let her believe that Zidane was dead for weeks before he suddenly pops up at the end. I'm sorry. I've had it. That's just fucking wrong. And it was really annoying how Steiner was a prick all the way til the end of the game, and then he turned face because... uh... because they needed a happy ending. And they more or less said that all the Black Mages were going to die within a couple of years, including Vivi. YAY SQUARESOFT. This isn;t Blade Runner, you fucking idiots. And the big payoff for the entire game was... seeing Zidane and Garnet KISS?!? For FUCK'S sake Square, we are in a new millineum now, remove the kendo stick from your ass and say the word "sex".

 

Prior to that, it's a damn fine game. Even if Tetra Master is a little too close to Pokemon for me.

 

General bitch: is it just me, or have the last bosses & endings of every single FF title released since they left Nintendo for Sony sucked? And not just sucked, but SUCKED.

[Special K 0]

IX was just fine.

I wouldn't say FFT is FF in name only, the same jobs as FFV, the same ol' FF spells and summons, Chocobos, bombs, oscars, Aeris and Clous (who suXors). True it's essentially the Ogre engine, but it was tailored to be familiar to FF fans, unlike SD I and the SaGas which were called FF just to boost sales.

 

EDIT: ^ Naw, man FFVII and X had good endings, FFVII had a good boss (though easy)

 

And I don't think I've seen a Japanese game with frank depictions of sex besides Xenogears. And Duke Togo was getting some.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Just so you know that if you got all the Zodiac Stones that it would show how Zidane survives the tree. You want to find out, get all those Zodiac Stones, I ain't telling.

 

As for the final boss, Kuja was the final boss. The guy that comes after is one of those "if I can't have the world, I summon whatever the fuck will destroy the universe for me" types of baddie situations.

[Jingus 0]

Just so you know that if you got all the Zodiac Stones that it would show how Zidane survives the tree. You want to find out, get all those Zodiac Stones, I ain't telling.

There is NOTHING I hate more than a fucking teaser. Grrrrrrrr.

 

As for the final boss, Kuja was the final boss. The guy that comes after is one of those "if I can't have the world, I summon whatever the fuck will destroy the universe for me" types of baddie situations.

It was still fucking lame. There was no reason whatsoever to have that last extra guy, other than a Russo Swerve. Kuja should have been the LAST boss, period.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Zodiac coins, the stones were in Tactics. Thought Jingus's point about no explanation was just him being Jingus until you mentioned that though.

 

EDit: You didn't mention having a problem with the ending of FF4?

[Jingus 0]

Yeah, I kinda did, and I can see the argument there where Golbez turns out to be just a lackey for Zemus/Zeromus. But it was handled a tiny bit better there. In that one, it was "and THIS is who was behind it all along!" In 9, it was "Hey guys. Wassup. I WILL EAT YOUR PLANET." And just because they made the mistake earlier doesn't excuse them from making it again. In fact, it makes the latter transgression even worse.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

FFVIII seems to be hated the most by the the FFVII newcomers who will swear up and down that FFVII is still the gr8est RPG ever.

 

I really don't see that as a detriment.

 

The battle system needed a kick in the rear, and the Draw system was a nice attempt at that.  I hadn't played too much of it though.

I started with FF4 and the Game Boy games, but I still disliked 8. The system was broken, magic was worthless because by wasting your day drawing a bunch of spells you could raise your stats up so high you didn't need magic anyway, and some summons could only be gotten by drawing during one battle only or else they were gone for good and I thought that was rather retarded.

 

Then there's the whole sappy romance novel aspect, but I know somebody out there liked it. I only really managed to get excited during Garden VS Garden.

 

I am one of those guys who tells you about how brilliant Square games were when they were sprite-based, but that's because I believe they truly were if you liked to put your own personal spin on the game and do some actual, you know, role-playing. FF8 was such a linear story with characters so fully developed, that you couldn't change anyone's name other than Squall. It's a change towards the more cinematic nature of games, but I didn't really care for it myself.

 

That said, not every old RPG is golden. There were plenty of duds, although for the most part the US got lucky and got very few of the dozens and dozens of bombs appearing on Japanese shelves regularly.

 

 

I still play RPGs, btw. I'll keep playing Suikoden games no matter what they do because I lived through #3 and I don't think it can get much worse than that. I've also gotten a little bit more interested in the tacitcal RPGs, and someday want to try out Disgaea because I've heard good things about that.

 

Lastly, FF isn't FF in name only if only by matter of it's slow integration in to the FF line. FF11 uses a job system, and FF12 will take place in the FFT universe.

 

 

Late addition: I am an admitted FF4 fanboy and even I had a problem with the end boss of 9, although I knew what they were going for there. It would have helped if he at least wasn't waving his hands in front of his crotch as an attack and, most importantly, wasn't directly quoting The Phantom Menace on his way down.

[Hoff 0]

"Hey guys. Wassup. I WILL EAT YOUR PLANET."

Awesome.

[Slayer 0]

Another thing, not mentioned yet, that I hated about FF8 was the salary system. I remember, at the time it came out, arguing with people saying "But it's like real life, no more monsters inexplicably carrying money around!", to which I'd respond "I don't fucking play Final Fantasy for an emulation of the real world."

[Black Lushus 0]

I didn't like FF8's level up system...I had gotten so used to killing shit over and over again to build levels...

[Special K 0]

I imagine FFVIII would be ridiculously difficult if you missed a couple GF's too.

 

FFII will always have the worst system, though. Almost impossible if you play it as it was meant to be played, a breeze (though a time-consuming bore) if you know how to exploit it.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

That was just one boss fight though, and you still fight Kuja right before him. It isn't like they make the switch with a 1/3 of the game left, like in VIII.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

I thought the Salary system was fine. I never had a problem with money in that game.

 

Draw was stupid because it was a waste of time. But I thought drawing GFs was kind of interesting. It's only annoying to perfectionists who need every item on their first playthrough. Besides, you could just use Ifrit almost exclusively and blast through the game, so no big if you miss a few.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Which comes to my other main argument about VIII. It is pathetically easy. By far the easiest game of the series.

[Black Lushus 0]

I dunno, X was the first one I played without needing to consult with a Srategy Guide...

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Out of curiosity, I drug out FF8 for the first time since I beat it. My final save had Squall at level 20, Zell at 15, and Irvine at 14. Sheesh.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Just so you know that if you got all the Zodiac Stones that it would show how Zidane survives the tree. You want to find out, get all those Zodiac Stones, I ain't telling.

There is NOTHING I hate more than a fucking teaser. Grrrrrrrr.

Meh... Its not much of a teaser, read at your own damn risk:

 

Kuja saves Zidane from getting speared by the tree. Typical bad guy realizing how wrong he is and how right the hero is.

 

As for the final boss, Kuja was the final boss. The guy that comes after is one of those "if I can't have the world, I summon whatever the fuck will destroy the universe for me" types of baddie situations.

It was still fucking lame. There was no reason whatsoever to have that last extra guy, other than a Russo Swerve. Kuja should have been the LAST boss, period.

Meh, its really standard evil bad guy finally being done in. Just instead of a bomb, or some really conceived evil spell, its a baddie.

 

Not really anything wrong with that.

 

Zodiac coins, the stones were in Tactics.  Thought Jingus's point about no explanation was just him being Jingus until you mentioned that though. 

 

EDit:  You didn't mention having a problem with the ending of FF4?

Right Coins, my bad. It wasn't much of an explanation (as my spoiler indicates), but it at least gives a reason to how Zidane survives. ...and no, just cause of the spoiler, it didn't make battles any less important.

 

Meh, Zeromus was introduced not on the final battle, but during the last stretch. Besides, when I got to that point, I realized that someone had to be using Golbez exactly like how Kain was being used. (I know this wasn't directed at me, but felt like commenting)

[Slayer 0]

Oh yeah, if the salary system from FF8 was like real life, then I want to go running around in a field while my bank account magically fills up

[Special K 0]

Get a job in government!

[AndrewTS 0]

IX was just fine.

I wouldn't say FFT is FF in name only, the same jobs as FFV, the same ol' FF spells and summons, Chocobos, bombs, oscars, Aeris and Clous (who suXors).

Okay, poor choice of words, and you and Jobber let me have on it on that.

 

I meant mainly in the sense that it's a completely different genre basically, but it does have plenty of FF connections--Jobber mentioned some of the ones you missed.

 

Jingus' descriptions/summations are quite amusing.

 

It seems hard to really think of Zidane as the star of FFIX, main hero/player character are not. He's just bland. Really bland. Crono and Mario had more personality in their respective RPGs. So bland that they had to give him a freakish deformity to make him memorable. The real star was Vivi with the closest behind him being Dagger/Garnet, IMO.

 

And I don't think I've seen a Japanese game with frank depictions of sex besides Xenogears. And Duke Togo was getting some.

 

Lunar, too. Although much of it was rather crude in nature (much like the rest of the translation in that game). Although Mia and Nash had that high-school-ish romance thing going on. Although we know they eventually got together, hence Lemina (who I expected to call Hiro "Third Child" at any time).

[Special K 0]

That's ALL working designs. When Kyle referred to jessica's IUD, I think my jaw literally dropped.

[AndrewTS 0]

Case rested.