Best Final Fantasy game to start out with?

[Mavecryst]

I agree that FF7 wasn't difficult, but I never found any of the FFs difficult to begin with. That's kinda why I liked them, I didn't play RPGs for their difficulty levels. They weren't mind numbingly easy on the first tries either, so it was fine with me.

As for complexity though.. FFX and XIII weren't any more complex than VII. The sphere grid was really straightforward, unless you wanted to max stats, but then so were materia, unless you wanted to find interesting combos. XIII was actually kinda boring to me, had to intentionally switch paradigms to make it seem less boring, wasn't really needed most of the time though.

[Rukh]

I just recently got FFIII for my kindle fire and actually I'm kind of surprised how difficult it is. I've been dying a _lot_ :P Even though the graphics have been upgraded to 3-d and a bit of the story has been changed, it's definitely from an era when games didn't hold your hand. I went in to this cave and instantly got smacked down and had to restart from save, only after wandering around a bit realizing that no, that's really the way I'm supposed to be going. "Go grind levels, ya pansy!" said the game to me.

[ElAmigo]

I agree that FF7 wasn't difficult, but I never found any of the FFs difficult to begin with. That's kinda why I liked them, I didn't play RPGs for their difficulty levels. They weren't mind numbingly easy on the first tries either, so it was fine with me.

As for complexity though.. FFX and XIII weren't any more complex than VII. The sphere grid was really straightforward, unless you wanted to max stats, but then so were materia, unless you wanted to find interesting combos. XIII was actually kinda boring to me, had to intentionally switch paradigms to make it seem less boring, wasn't really needed most of the time though.

Sure the development system of your characters might not be any more complex than VII (though I honestly found the sphere grid to be more interesting than leveling materia) but the combat in FFX sure was better and bosses that you didn't preemptively prepare for (which you shouldn't have been, for the most part, on your first playthrough) actually required deeper tactics than in FF7.

[Demoncrash]

FF9 is not just my fav FF game but also one the best games iv'e ever played. Everything about the game was just perfect. The characters, the cities, the music, even the card and chocobo and minigames were so well fleshed out. Only other one I really liked was FF Tactics.


Seriously though, the PS1 had such an awesome stable of RPGs that none of the consoles that came after it could come close to touching it. I mean stuff like..

Chrono Cross
Breath of Fire 4
Suikoden 1 and 2
Wild Arms 2 : Second Ignition
Star Ocean : Second Story
Vagrant Story
Valkyrie Profile
Saga Frontier 2
Xenogears
Parasite Eve

And that's not even mentioning FF7 and 8 and I am sure missing many others. Really the golden age of RPGs. These days you'll see one Ni No Kuni for every hundred Mordern Warfares and that just makes me sad

[Zenko]

Sure the development system of your characters might not be any more complex than VII (though I honestly found the sphere grid to be more interesting than leveling materia) but the combat in FFX sure was better and bosses that you didn't preemptively prepare for (which you shouldn't have been, for the most part, on your first playthrough) actually required deeper tactics than in FF7.

As someone who loved 7 and 10 equally (only beaten by 9) its all the same combat IMO. I just started replaying FFX and it feels like the same thing I've been doing in every other FF game. Every FF battle in a nutshell = Haste all > Auto-regen/life all> Barrier all > Nuke, Nuke, Cure, Nuke, Nuke. Rinse and repeat. The only game that threw a curveball into this formula was FF12 with its realtime combat, but even then you were using gambits that essentially did the same thing.

I dont think its fair to compare the newer games to the older ones, but thats unavoidable. I mean thats the point of making all these sequels; to refine the formula and make it more fun and engaging each time.

Materia was enaging and was extremely fresh for its time, possibly the first game to utilize gems and gemslots strictly for spells.

The draw system in FF8 was straight forward and centered around your summons and equiping them, similar to FF6 but with more depth.

FF9 brought in a system of equipping items that taught new abilities that you could equip, separately. This was probably the most straight forward and balanced system, for me at least.

FF10 gave you options on how you wanted to advance your character at the endgame, and the International release made it so you could branch off from the get go.

FF12 attempted to improve on what the sphere grid brought in customization, but once people found out what the board actually contained there was inevitable cookie cutter builds. Lots of people ended up having all their characters progress in the same exact way. The International release added new boards for each type of 'job' that you assign once to each character but I havnt had a chance to try it. Sounds great in theory.

I havnt played FF13 whatsoever. Interested to know the systems in this game, but from what people say it sounds more like the FF9 approach in simplicity. Apart from these two, I think each games character progression became more and more complex and engaging.

[OrcsRLame]

Yeah, you can prepare for them with Overdrives if you have played the damn game before and have the foresight to pull it off. But you could say the same damn thing about FF7 with limits so that argument is moot imo. As for Midgar - Junon being hard....are you joking? The only moment that could maybe be considered difficult there is the serpent in the marsh and that's if you're stupid enough to attempt and fight him (which I did after I took the chocobo across and realized Sephiroth owns him, I failed miserably and it was funny).

I played FF7 for the first time in my life around this time last year and it was a cake walk, I hardly remember dying (not one boss felled me on my first try, that I can remember of). The first time I remember ever thinking "oh this is difficult" is when I ran into the mobs underwater where you run into the Turks, but even then I managed to not die and come back and have my way with them (slowly but surely) but it didn't compare to Omega Ruins in FFX for example. I never grinded but being somewhat of a completionist I tried to get the most out of it that I could. This means, I never got strong enough to kill Emerald and Ruby weapon (grinding it tedious, nothx) and I never found the Knights of the round summon or the Xcut materia and yet I still managed to one shot JENOVA and both of Sephiroths forms.

Sorry, but I didn't find the game to be difficult and it's combat was shallow imo compared to the later installments that I had played (which are FFX, FFX-2, and FFXIII in that order). I understand why the game got such high praise in its time and I really enjoyed it but when people try and tell me that shit is hard I can't help but laugh.

And if I necro'd this thread, sorry

I'm saying that the game is comparatively hard, not objectively hard lol. Anyone with a remote amount of experience power gaming RPGs should be able to steamroll through any FF game with virtually no difficulty. The only challenge in those games comes from the optional super bosses. You gotta remember, you're probably a lot better than an average player, as most people are retarded.

Anywho, in FF10 it's a lot easier to save your overdrives than it is to save your limits in 7. In 7, the attack command changes to the limit command. This makes it so you can't use basic attacks if you want to save your limit. In 10, you can just build it up and save it for later with no penalties. Limits in FF7 are also a lot weaker than overdrives in 10, until you start getting the limits that hit a shitload of times. For example, if you compare Cloud's Braver or Blade Beam to Valefor's energy blast, the difference is insane. Cloud's early limits are 2-3 times more powerful than his basic attacks. Valefor one shots bosses pretty much up to Macalania Temple if Yuna is decently leveled. We're talking about an attack that can easily hit for 20-30 times what your basic attacks do at that point.

FF10 does spike in difficulty towards the end, but it's still stupidly easy. And generally, it's better for a new player if the game is hard at the end, and easy at the start.

Here, lemme just give you an example. http://www.twitch.tv/lagtvmaximusblack/b/374276446 Start watching at 0:25. This is what happens when people with an IQ of -3 play FF7. FF10 early on does not have retard checks like that. And throughout the entire early-mid game you can just brute force with overdrives to the point that it's ridiculous.

[alach]

I've loved all the final fantasies since the first one. It was unique at the the time for sure.
But I sure love more than others.
I've kinda been slacking the last few years and only just picked up X and XII, just about to finish X, hopefully tonight,
and haven't really touched XII yet.
But man, I gotta give props to 8, seriously, cool hero, cool story, probably the best airship of the series.
I also feel like FFX coulda easily been a psx game, if it wasn't for the voice acting. Its good, but do we really need it in that series?
It all started as a low graphics big and very long story series of games, I sure hope the newer ones don't give up all that for graphics
and voices.
Next to Squall, Cecil rocks.

[Nario64]

As many are saying, I started with 10 (bought a PS2 for it when it came out). The music is what got me hooked, the graphics pulled me in, and the story was enticing. One of few games I can say I did absolutely EVERYTHING in. Loved it.

After I did 8, then 9. Love them both too.

I sort of watched my friend play FF7 about 5 years or so before I played FF 10. I wasn't drawn into the story and because of it's cult following I kept feeling forced to like it. I have no strong feelings either way for FF7.


Oh and 10 and 9 have the best music. Some can argue the older games had the best (1-6) but I never played those and I believe some of their music was brought forward to these games.

[Dasffion]

As many are saying, I started with 10 (bought a PS2 for it when it came out). The music is what got me hooked, the graphics pulled me in, and the story was enticing. One of few games I can say I did absolutely EVERYTHING in. Loved it.

After I did 8, then 9. Love them both too.

I sort of watched my friend play FF7 about 5 years or so before I played FF 10. I wasn't drawn into the story and because of it's cult following I kept feeling forced to like it. I have no strong feelings either way for FF7.

If you "sort of watched" someone else play it's not really surprising you weren't drawn into the story.

[leafs43]

As many are saying, I started with 10 (bought a PS2 for it when it came out). The music is what got me hooked, the graphics pulled me in, and the story was enticing. One of few games I can say I did absolutely EVERYTHING in. Loved it.

After I did 8, then 9. Love them both too.

I sort of watched my friend play FF7 about 5 years or so before I played FF 10. I wasn't drawn into the story and because of it's cult following I kept feeling forced to like it. I have no strong feelings either way for FF7.


Oh and 10 and 9 have the best music. Some can argue the older games had the best (1-6) but I never played those and I believe some of their music was brought forward to these games.

You should at least play 6.


5 isn't bad either. What it lacks in story it more than makes up for in the job classes.

[Itisamuh]

If you intend to play them all, save 7 and 8 for last, as they were the best (in my opinion.) Maybe 10 would be a good one to start with.

[leafs43]

If you intend to play them all, save 7 and 8 for last, as they were the best (in my opinion.) Maybe 10 would be a good one to start with.

Honestly, I don't see anyone who thinks 8 is the best and for good reason.

8 is confusing and weird and the world ends up being stupidly linear towards the end.

[Dasffion]

Honestly, I don't see anyone who thinks 8 is the best and for good reason.

8 is confusing and weird and the world ends up being stupidly linear towards the end.

At least 43 people from this forum thought that 8 was the best

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-your-favorite

[Deleted]

Whatever you do ignore 9. Awful characters, awfully long intro to fight scenes, it would bore you away from the series, and im a massive fan of the games.
It has only 1 redeeming quality and that is it has a pretty cool character called Steiner. Its basically the hipsters choice for those who do not want to say VII is their favourite.

VII is great though, there is reasons other than nostalgia why it is considered the best (not my personal favourite, but I would not recommend XII to anyone as their first FF game). X or VII would be a nice starter I think though, not too difficult or easy, fun mini games too.

VIII is hated by so many people for some reason. Its a classic coming of age and growing up story with some pretty dark moments, pretty fun.

[OrcsRLame]

Whatever you do ignore 9. Awful characters, awfully long intro to fight scenes, it would bore you away from the series, and im a massive fan of the games.
It has only 1 redeeming quality and that is it has a pretty cool character called Steiner. Its basically the hipsters choice for those who do not want to say VII is their favourite.

VII is great though, there is reasons other than nostalgia why it is considered the best (not my personal favourite, but I would not recommend XII to anyone as their first FF game). X or VII would be a nice starter I think though, not too difficult or easy, fun mini games too.

VIII is hated by so many people for some reason. Its a classic coming of age and growing up story with some pretty dark moments, pretty fun.

I like 9...
/sadface

[Luko]

I like 9...
/sadface

Don't worry, most did. No idea what that other guy was on. The game has some of the most refreshing characters in any RPG, ever.

[Sj]

I like 9...
/sadface

It's a good idea to remember that people have different tastes and different opinions.


If we didn't differ like that, people wouldn't be remotely interesting and we'd all basically be characters from FFVII. (burn) Seriously though, no one's opinion (including my silly jab) should ever be dispensed or interpreted as fact in these matters.

[ElAmigo]

I'm saying that the game is comparatively hard, not objectively hard lol. Anyone with a remote amount of experience power gaming RPGs should be able to steamroll through any FF game with virtually no difficulty. The only challenge in those games comes from the optional super bosses. You gotta remember, you're probably a lot better than an average player, as most people are retarded.

Anywho, in FF10 it's a lot easier to save your overdrives than it is to save your limits in 7. In 7, the attack command changes to the limit command. This makes it so you can't use basic attacks if you want to save your limit. In 10, you can just build it up and save it for later with no penalties. Limits in FF7 are also a lot weaker than overdrives in 10, until you start getting the limits that hit a shitload of times. For example, if you compare Cloud's Braver or Blade Beam to Valefor's energy blast, the difference is insane. Cloud's early limits are 2-3 times more powerful than his basic attacks. Valefor one shots bosses pretty much up to Macalania Temple if Yuna is decently leveled. We're talking about an attack that can easily hit for 20-30 times what your basic attacks do at that point.

FF10 does spike in difficulty towards the end, but it's still stupidly easy. And generally, it's better for a new player if the game is hard at the end, and easy at the start.

Here, lemme just give you an example. http://www.twitch.tv/lagtvmaximusblack/b/374276446 Start watching at 0:25. This is what happens when people with an IQ of -3 play FF7. FF10 early on does not have retard checks like that. And throughout the entire early-mid game you can just brute force with overdrives to the point that it's ridiculous.

The dude big shot him again....like, really??? I guess you're right with FFX and the tutorial thing. But I had a harder time in the final act of FFX than I did in FFVII, that's for sure.