Final Fantasy IX coming to the PS4

[StrawberryZebra]

FF9 had the best PC port of the classic PS1 titles, but I really wish they'd just do HD releases of FF7-9 with re-rendered backgrounds, remastered music, better models, and a few other tweaks. I'd take that over all the time and money they're pouring into the FF7 remake any day.

I've been wondering why Squenix hasn't done this for a while now, its a simple, low effort way to get a quick injection of cash for whatever hairbrained scheme they're cooking up next. Then again, Japanese companies in general make decisions which completely baffle me, so who knows?

Reminder: Last good Final Fantasy.

Yeah i said it.

Not at all true, you've clearly enjoyed your time in FF 14. Enough to start your own Blog about it, anyway .

I assume you were refering to Single player FF games? Verdict is still out on that one, but I personally really enjoy FF 12. It's open world done right in my opinion.

Not that there isn't cringe in XIII, but it's less then most of the 3D era FFs aimed at edge lord teenagers with shit battle systems.

There's nothing but cringe in FF 13. Very little interactivity, no tonal consistancy, a game world that had very little design consistancy, a horrendous cast of characters and topped off by having the most cringe worthy and edge lording FF Protagonist in any main series game to date - Yes, even more so than Squall. The game makes it very clear from the outset that it would prefer the player had as little to do with it as possible, and does its best to drive you away.

After giving it a second look, it has that very distinct "cobbled together to try recoup some of the money we spent on this" vibe running through it.

[kasuke06]

XIII sold better then XV so what is that logic again? You must have fell for the meme headline of "biggest FF launch ever" when it was the first FF to launch globally at the same time ever. XIII was a more successful game then XV by far, over 8 mil sold and reused assets in 2 more games that add a couple more million on top of it. there is a reason they're still trying to make more DLC for XV past this pass to milk out some more profits of the game.

Nobody cares about the story or characters in most FF games, only 4, 6 and 9 have anything worth giving a shit about in that regard. FFXIII has a great combat system, XV has a bland combat system. XIII had a great end game XV had an end game that consisted of fighting a pack of monsters, going down a ramp and fighting another pack of monsters. That alone makes it the far better game.

ah yes, instead you walk down a hallway and fight a group of monsters being literally able to just hit auto until you win. such different. such deep.

[Wondercrab]

There's nothing but cringe in FF 13. Very little interactivity, no tonal consistancy, a game world that had very little design consistancy, a horrendous cast of characters and topped off by having the most cringe worthy and edge lording FF Protagonist in any main series game to date - Yes, even more so than Squall.

I have to say, I unironically love how much of a dumb teenage edgelord Squall is. He's one of the few characters in Final Fantasy who actually acts like the stupid dumb idiot teenager they're supposed to be. And it's kind of sweet how the whole plot is basically about him overcoming that by developing real relationships with actual human beings and growing up. At his core I feel like he has one of the most down to earth arcs of any Final Fantasy character.

I think that's the key difference between Squall and characters like Lightning. Squall is unlikeable and makes for a pretty bad conventional protagonist as a result, but there's a reason for it. In fact, it's kind of the point of the entire game. They weren't trying to make a hyper cool badass and failing, they were telling a story that innately led to a dumb teenager coming across like a dumb teenager.

FF8 is one of those games that I really love in spite of (and partially because of) its glaring flaws.

[Eleccybubb]

ah yes, instead you walk down a hallway and fight a group of monsters being literally able to just hit auto until you win. such different. such deep.

Sorry but even some of the early FFs had some mindless "I win" mode where you could make your characters downright OP with ease or take little effort to do anything.

Also try that with superbosses. Because I remember Long Gui and Vercingetorix taking quite a lot more than just "auto spam".

8 had the Junction System which was easy to cheese early on. Not to mention the Omega Cheese with Holy War/Aura so you could just mindlessly spam LB without taking damage.

7 had Vincent's Death Penalty glitch which while took a long time to build up was doable with Mega All and Attack. Or just Mime spam. You could trivialize Emerald Weapon so much if you knew what to do.

10 had Quick Hit and the high speed bullshit that let you beat Penance with no effort at all due to the insane amount of turns you could spend wiping his arms. And Zanmato which pretty much oneshot anything including the Dark Aeons. And there was a specific way to manipulate it if I recall.

[Al Gorefiend]

What about 8? still don't get why some games are available on then Vita but not the PS4.


Still waiting for the ff13 collection

Seriously. Why the hell does 8 get skipped over every damn time? They remake 7 over and over, now they go straight to 9?!

8 was pure art.

[Sett]

I love how defensive people get when others voice their personal favorites in the FF series.


Either way FFT > everything else.

[Eleccybubb]

I love how defensive everyone gets about other people like different FFs.


Either way FFT > everything else.

OMG HOW DARE YOU LIKE TACTICS! :O (jk)

Nah Tactics is good. Not my cup of tea but was still alright.

[Al Gorefiend]

X was the last best one, and no the laughing scene doesn't make it bad.

X was beautiful story intertwined with forced, cringey dialogue and unnecessary comedic relief. Recently replayed it and forgot how damn awful listening to Tidus talk was until the beach scene downed his mood. The entire island hopping chapter was horrible.
Everything else was great about it. Some of the characters were way weak compared to others. Who didn't have tidus or yuna on their team at all times?

[Eleccybubb]

X was beautiful story intertwined with forced, cringey dialogue and unnecessary comedic relief. Recently replayed it and forgot how damn awful listening to Tidus talk was until the beach scene downed his mood. The entire island hopping chapter was horrible.
Everything else was great about it. Some of the characters were way weak compared to others. Who didn't have tidus or yuna on their team at all times?

Wakka, Kimahri and Auron on a separate save file.

Always like to mix and match each game. Right now on 7 I'm doing Cloud, Cait Sith and Yuffie.

[kasuke06]

I can at least agree on FFT being awesome. One of the only strategy style games I can play.

[zealo]

ah yes, instead you walk down a hallway and fight a group of monsters being literally able to just hit auto until you win. such different. such deep.

The game treats the first 10 chapter or so as a giant tutorial. There's a difficulty spike after that, with some genuinely hard bosses, it just takes far too long to trust the player.

[Al Gorefiend]

I have to say, I unironically love how much of a dumb teenage edgelord Squall is. He's one of the few characters in Final Fantasy who actually acts like the stupid dumb idiot teenager they're supposed to be. And it's kind of sweet how the whole plot is basically about him overcoming that by developing real relationships with actual human beings and growing up. At his core I feel like he has one of the most down to earth arcs of any Final Fantasy character.

I think that's the key difference between Squall and characters like Lightning. Squall is unlikeable and makes for a pretty bad conventional protagonist as a result, but there's a reason for it. In fact, it's kind of the point of the entire game. They weren't trying to make a hyper cool badass and failing, they were telling a story that innately led to a dumb teenager coming across like a dumb teenager.

FF8 is one of those games that I really love in spite of (and partially because of) its glaring flaws.

Can someone point out these flaws in F8? I'm really nostalgic about it, I only remember so much good.

Squall has a pretty real personality IMO. He wasn't so much an edgelord as he was mentally weak, misanthropic, hopeless and pessimistic. You learn from flashbacks how he developed this mentality from the orphanage and the headmatron of said orphanage being a bit cruel and strange. The whole story is taking him from being a hopeless loser to saving balamb and being regarded as a hero.

[kasuke06]

The game treats the first 10 chapter or so as a giant tutorial. There's a difficulty spike after that, with some genuinely hard bosses, it just takes far too long to trust the player.

Then again, XV was never particularly difficult once you figured out that dodge> basically anything the game can throw at you.

honestly, the hardest part was when I accidentally triggered a boss fight 20 levels above me, and that just became a lot less spam, a lot more hold dodge, and take safe hits, back up and hold dodge.

[RobertoCarlos]

X was beautiful story intertwined with forced, cringey dialogue and unnecessary comedic relief. Recently replayed it and forgot how damn awful listening to Tidus talk was until the beach scene downed his mood. The entire island hopping chapter was horrible.
Everything else was great about it. Some of the characters were way weak compared to others. Who didn't have tidus or yuna on their team at all times?

Auron is more OP than Tidus for most of the game. Tidus haste stuff makes him good late game though

Also found Wakka a must. His phyiscal ranged ability is soo handy

Lulu's magic one shotting stuff....

[Al Gorefiend]

Auron is more OP than Tidus for most of the game. Tidus haste stuff makes him good late game though

Also found Wakka a must. His phyiscal ranged ability is soo handy

Lulu's magic one shotting stuff....

Must not have been slotting them right when I was younger playing it the first time. I found wakka lulu and kimari to be useless. It was Yuna, Tidus and Auron/rikku from the moment I get them lol

[RobertoCarlos]

Must not have been slotting them right when I was younger playing it the first time. I found wakka lulu and kimari to be useless. It was Yuna, Tidus and Auron/rikku from the moment I get them lol

kimari was defiantly weak imo.

Wakka and Lulu took a bit longer to get going but his phyiscal ranged is amazing on some bosses like that ranged only boss on the airship, and Lulu one shots if you use the right magic type on them

[Tech614]

End game FFX the only team that matters is Tidus/Wakka/Rikku.

Any other combination is flat out inferior. They're all slow as fuck and worthless late game. They're only good for filling gaps in toolsets while under leveled.

[Wondercrab]

Can someone point out these flaws in F8? I'm really nostalgic about it, I only remember so much good.

Squall has a pretty real personality IMO. He wasn't so much an edgelord as he was mentally weak, misanthropic, hopeless and pessimistic. You learn from flashbacks how he developed this mentality from the orphanage and the headmatron of said orphanage being a bit cruel and strange. The whole story is taking him from being a hopeless loser to saving balamb and being regarded as a hero.

As much as I love it (it's my nostalgia favourite also), FF8 probably has some of the weakest characters in the series. I think Squall is great for all the reasons you mentioned, but he's not a particularly effective protagonist because he comes across as so unlikeable and out of touch with humanity for most of the game. It's no surprise that you find a lot of people saying they wish Laguna had been the protagonist of FF8, since he's just plain old fun to spend time with, despite not being anywhere near as fleshed out as Squall.

The rest of the cast are the real weak links in FF8, though, which is really weird considering it has a smaller cast than most of the other games. By all accounts they should've been able to jam pack those characters full of personality, but they didn't. No one really has an arc that isn't either over before it has the chance to shine, or vague and muddled in with the development of the other characters. Their personalities are pretty weak, and the small amounts of depth they do get are rarely expanded upon. Laguna and his pals are fun to spend time with, but they're ultimately pretty shallow and lacking in screen time overall.

I also think FF8 has a very shaky major plot once it hits disc 3 (although admittedly a lot of Final Fantasy games go off the rails at around this point), unless you view it from the perspective of Ultimecia being a future version of Rinoa, which is almost certainly not something you'll do on your first playthrough. I do adore that theory, though, since I feel like it turns a simplistic and boring plot/villain into an absolutely awesome one. It makes all of the sorceress stuff with Rinoa in disc 3 so much more compelling, and adds a real weight to the final encounter that just isn't there if you assume Ultimecia is some generic weirdo from the future who wants to do bad things cuz evil.

But yeah, for me it's mostly the characters in FF8 that are its real weak point. Rinoa is mostly just a love interest for Squall who only becomes interesting with the Rinoa = Ultimecia theory. Like a lot of the characters she has some good stuff in disc 1 as the rebellious freedom fighter who's really just a rich girl out of her depth, but many of the major changes she undergoes are all forced upon her via external sources rather than being things she acts upon herself. Rinoa has so many scenes that exist purely as characterisation for Squall, with her being either passive or completely helpless as he takes the lead.
Zell is a broad and comical character who might've had a little more meat on his bones if they expanded his relationship with his parents and the revelation that he's adopted, but that's mainly relegated to a throwaway scene mid way through the game.
Selphie is uh... I guess she's the bubbly girl. She is sad when her old child soldier school gets blown up I guess. To her credit she's a lot of fun during the missile base segment, but again that's the only real moment she gets to shine.
Quistis is pretty interesting right at the start since she's the only one who apparently understands Squall and seems genuinely fond of him (they even have some pretty fun chemistry together), but as soon as Squall heads off on his own she's basically forgotten for the rest of the game and takes a back seat to everyone else. She probably would've made for a far more organic and interesting love interest than Rinoa, but that thread is also dropped half way through disc one before it can go anywhere.
Irvine is probably the most fun guy in the main cast since he's a tryhard suave ladies man, wearing his personality on his sleeve and letting you know what he's all about right from the start. He gets a lot more interesting when you find out about his anxiety issues and realise that the suave front is probably compensating for something, but yet again that arc gets dropped almost as soon as you find out about it. Irvine is still a bit more interesting given that his loyalties are slightly more ambiguous in the early part of the game, but much like everyone else he never really develops as the game progresses.
I can't remember if there was anything more to Seifer beyond just being a babby who wanted to be a big cool knight for a sorceress. I don't think they ever expanded upon or resolved that singular motivation for his character. He just got beat up a lot and then decided not to be a bad guy any more. He was a terrible rival character.

Ultimately I think the reason for all of these underdeveloped characters in FF8 is because the game just becomes the Squall and Rinoa show at around the midway point. Couple that with Laguna's side story vying for screen time, and no one else gets the chance for much proper ongoing development. There are also multiple points in the game in which you're given a lot of freedom over who you put in your party, which constrains the writing into smaller, more generic roles for the characters that can be switched around to account for them being on the opposite side of the plot in different playthroughs.

It's really interesting to contrast all of this stuff with FF9, which does almost the exact opposite in every area and succeeds in creating far stronger characters as a result. Zidane is about as charismatic and likeable as a protagonist can get, character roles are fixed most of the time when the party splits, there aren't any weird deviations from the main plot, and everyone has a very strong and clearly defined personality from the outset with additional layers of depth revealed as the story goes on. Most importantly, everyone has an arc of some kind (although not all of them are resolved as cleanly as they could be).

FF8 also has weird gameplay that struggles with some unique issues compared to other games in the series, but since the Final Fantasies of that era are so defined by the story, characters, art, and music, I don't really consider that to be a big part of it.

[Zafire]

My idea of a good RPG: Religion, story, politics, character development, side quests. Combat matters a little bit, but I can look past it as long as it is somewhat engaging. Witcher 3, for example.

FF7 has all of this. It's a great game, there is absolutely nothing wrong with FF7 besides all the fanboys over-hyping Sephiroth.

FF8 is about a bunch of orphans that coincidentally end up reunited and blame GFs for their loss of memory, with an endgame boss that makes little to no sense because she has no back story or reason to do anything. The "Rinoa is Ultimecia" theory is fun, but it isn't proven. The antagonist changing with "possession" as the cause just feels like bad storytelling. Seifer was one of my favorite characters in Final Fantasy history until he started becoming stupid. They literally ruined him.

FF9 is great. I really enjoy how they make going to another continent a huge deal, and how the first disc, and most of the second disc, is mostly light-hearted. Of course, serious scenes are thrown in, but it doesn't over dramatize much until disc 3.

FFX is the epitome of good storytelling. You get thrown into a strange world with Tidus and learn about it as he does. There are heavy political and religious themes in the story, with an impressive plot twist. Blitzball was actually fun, and it was integrated largely into the story. The characters grow so much over the course of the game, including Wakka and Auron. I actually had to grind to beat the last boss on my first playthrough. Didn't use enough Rikku.

FF12 had an amazing open world, good bosses, and great sidequests...but the story fell flat. I still enjoy it because of all the things you can do in it, but I really dislike the story. It tried too hard to be political, and revolved mostly around chasing a stone and figuring out how said stone works. Ungh. There wasn't much character growth, either. All the antagonists are forgetful. I seriously don't even remember the last boss.

FF13 was just a hallway. You couldn't even grind levels because you were forced to stop leveling until you progressed in the story. FF13 was the opposite of 12 for me. Semi-decent story, but basically no world at all. The whole SahzHatesVanille scene was cringeworthy. It still bothers me how awful of writing that is. "I want to shoot you for unintentionally killing my son even though I could've killed about three kids by now and don't question it." Ungh.

FF15 was good until about halfway in, where it became a hallway and progressed far too quickly. It's almost like they were just in a hurry to finish the game. Cor was probably the most interesting character in the game for me and he just vanishes for no reason. There is little to no character growth for any of the characters besides Noct. In fact the main antagonist back story was probably the most interesting thing in the whole game. The battle system was fun, but you literally couldn't die, so it wasn't exciting. I defeated a level 54 enemy at level 6. Just saying. If you decided to do endgame, that last dungeon that banned you from using items was fun, I guess.

I won't talk about the MMO's or Tactics, but that's how I feel about the Final Fantasy games since the PS1 era.

[Darkarath]

Can we actually talk about FFIX?

I began to play this game but left it for some reason. Im glad that I have the chance to play it again, so in-detail opinions of the game without spoilers will be appreciated.