Can someone please explain what's so special about Final Fantasy?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Actually, FF12 didn't have turn based combat, it was all in real time.

Final Fantasy is reknown for it's exceptional story telling, very long and complicated plots, very deep and believeable characters, and dudes named Cid.

The FF series is unique in that each installment has absolutely nothing to do with the other; both in terms of plot and gameplay (though they do share some commonalities).

FFVI is generally regarded as the best.
FFVII is the most popular
FFX is the most unique
FFXII is the darkest and most political realisitic
FFXI and XIV are MMOs
FFXIII is generally unpopular (as bad as it is, it deserves more credit)
All others are exceptionally high quality RPGs (they ALL are actually)

Also there are spinoff games as well, such as FF Tactics (tie in with FFXII), Choccobo's Dungeon (a roguelike), and many, many others.

[Remilia]

And now this is devolving into a "my JRPG is better than yours!" argument...

^
Can we not do this? Pleeasseee. Stay on topic.

[Ebonheart]

Okay so before I ask the question I may as well give a reason to why I am asking the question. So when I was hanging out with my friends guild last night they were going nuts over the new Final Fantasy game and I simply asked "What is Final Fantasy and why are you guys acting like its the greatest game ever?" I just wanted a explanation on what the game is and the answer I received was "Are you F***ing retarded?" and so I asked again and was just being ignored from that point on. So I come here today to ask the people on the mmo-champion forums what is so special about Final Fantasy? Like I would really appreciate it if someone could explain the Final Fantasy game series for me. Thank you for your time.

Well I've heard about the name a long time back. I then got to know it was a Japanese RPG.

Well from what I understand, its pretty popular with the Asian gamers and people that love asian cartoons.

One reason I can never play Asian games, cause their characters look weird. Especially when they laugh. I don't really know any better way to explain it, but its fake. All their characters look like dolls. If you've watched any of the Pokemon series, You'll know what I am talking about.

But I couldn't get into and was never into that game.

[dementedlogic]

And the best course of action to take is grind. So instead of using your skill with game mechanics, you rely on a mass of free time you have.

No, this is just purely false.

Very few games require that you actually grind at any point in the game (and those that do are typically for money - gil - which is normally used to buy items at the next checkpoint or for gil toss damage), unless you wish to severely outgear, or out level the content.

There is even a couple of installments where playing through the game WITHOUT grinding is easier than with grinding (FF8 being a key player here). Proper play (such as holding turns on an active time based combat), proper coordination (such as using rikku's mixture for max damage and bombs which tick 5 times? per turn), item usage and character development (virtually every FF game has different forms, but things like the materia system, sphere grid, dress spheres, and junction system are extremely flexible and play a major role in your gameplay) ultimately allows you to beat any game in the saga while running from every non-mandatory encounter in the game.

Of course you're always welcome to grind out, if you need help getting past a difficult boss, or simply made incorrect routes during your progression of the game.

[Gandrake]

And now this is devolving into a "my JRPG is better than yours!" argument...

not really

but if you want to talk shit about a game you should have some ground to stand on if you dont want someone to call you out

i don't really care, i like both of the series. "overhyped" or "overrated" is not a valid reason to imply a game/series is not great. "I hated it and didn't enjoy it" is by long and far, a better reason to suggest a game was not good. People call FFVII overrated all the time, just because so many people who have played it enjoyed it and swiftly recommend it. Then they get angry and say it is overrated/overhyped, because it was not the OMGWTFBBQ of RPGs they felt they were made to believe it was.

[Surfd]

Okay so before I ask the question I may as well give a reason to why I am asking the question. So when I was hanging out with my friends guild last night they were going nuts over the new Final Fantasy game and I simply asked "What is Final Fantasy and why are you guys acting like its the greatest game ever?" I just wanted a explanation on what the game is and the answer I received was "Are you F***ing retarded?" and so I asked again and was just being ignored from that point on. So I come here today to ask the people on the mmo-champion forums what is so special about Final Fantasy? Like I would really appreciate it if someone could explain the Final Fantasy game series for me. Thank you for your time.

I must seriously ask (and not by way of a veiled insult or anything): Exactly how old are you, and when did you get into video games?

I ask this, because as far as Console Based Role Playing games go, Final Fantasy is pretty much as close to a staple in the industry as you can get. Final Fantasy is to RPG's as Mario is to Action Platformer, on every console generation going back to the classic NES days. Most console gamers probably grew up with at least one of the FF games, and quite likely made decisions about which console to buy based purely on if a FF game would be available on it (I would bet that the fact that FF7 was a PS1 exclusive probably sold more PS1 consoles and caused more people to switch from Nintendo to Sony in that console generation then any other game available when the PS1 launched).

Simply put, your guild buddies were probably legitimately shocked that you actually didnt know what Final Fantasy was. That's like admitting as a gamer that you dont know what Zelda is, or Mortal Kombat.

[Wynnyelle]

I have never liked Final Fantasy so here is m take of it. (ITS MY OPINION SO BACKOFF WITH THE FIRE!)

Ok here goes:
You are a fancy-pancy-elf-like-person with colorful fluffy hair. You run around in this fancy world where everything is supper shiny.
The combat is turn based, so if you wanna play a better game in the middle of the combat you are free to do so. The story is linear, so no matter what you do the outcome is the same. The story is a fine balance between cheesy and corny. The voice acting makes you wanna stab yourself in the face and the dialogue is written by a angst-ridden teenager. You can never tell if the characters are male or female and they all carry ridiculously large swords and yell out random Pokemon names as they swing.

There, I just saved you like 30 days of your life. You can now do something useful with that time like... making a huge tower out of cottage cheese.

Well see, there's your problem. You're playing Final Fantasy games that are new enough to have voice acting! Final Fantasy 6 or bust.

[Icyflamez]

Square Enix must be listening to the people who say they hate turn-based combat. Final Fantasy XV looks to be almost completely action based and no inkling of the classic combat style (that was still barely there in XIII) seems to still be around. Some people hate the direction they're going and some people love it. Personally I enjoy the classic turn-based JRPGS but I enjoy action games as much as anyone else and there's no reason you can't still have an amazing storyline with more action oriented combat.

It's similar with the MMOs as well. Final Fantasy XI is (or was if you count recent expansions) about grinding parties in the open world to chain kills, menu-based combat with a heavy emphasis on auto-attack (had to wait around to generate TP but you had to be smart about the weaponskills you used), and basically all you think of when you mention the classic MMO's like the original Everquest. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (not going to mention 1.0 since it was barely even a game at all) is more geared toward the modern style of MMO: experience storyline through quests, soloable up to max level with optional party play, easier learning curve at low levels to make it more accessible to casual players, and the most challenging content in the game is end-game content like raids and hard Primal battles. Again here I enjoyed XI's community and the feeling of accomplishment you got from spending a lot of time and hard work getting to max level and completing challenging content all the way but MMOs today will just not succeed if you need to wait hours for an airship or spend many months (possibly even years) to get to end-game. XIV allows you to go solo and experience the amazing storyline without needing to party up (at least not until higher levels), allows you to level entirely on party content (Guildhests/FATE/Dungeons), or any combination that fits your schedule, skill level, or playstyle. I enjoyed XI for what it was and I enjoy XIV for what it is shaping up to be.

[Deleted]

Honestly... Its just a series that you'll either love or be completely un-phased by. I can't play it, I just can't get into it at all.

[Adamas102]

I really enjoyed the original Nintendo version. In fact, I played through it again just a few years ago (never beat it as a kid). I didn't come back to the series till a friend of mine got FFX in high school. The shift away from the original Medieval fantasy style really turned me off of the series.

[OrcsRLame]

I have never liked Final Fantasy so here is m take of it. (ITS MY OPINION SO BACKOFF WITH THE FIRE!)

Ok here goes:
You are a fancy-pancy-elf-like-person with colorful fluffy hair. You run around in this fancy world where everything is supper shiny.
The combat is turn based, so if you wanna play a better game in the middle of the combat you are free to do so. The story is linear, so no matter what you do the outcome is the same. The story is a fine balance between cheesy and corny. The voice acting makes you wanna stab yourself in the face and the dialogue is written by a angst-ridden teenager. You can never tell if the characters are male or female and they all carry ridiculously large swords and yell out random Pokemon names as they swing.

There, I just saved you like 30 days of your life. You can now do something useful with that time like... making a huge tower out of cottage cheese.

What Final Fantasy are you actually talking about? Like, I seriously can't think of one that fits your description.

Of the main Final Fantasy games, the only ones with voice acting are 10, 12 and 13. 12 Probably has the most androgynous characters, but 12 isn't turn based and the characters don't talk when they attack. With 10 and 13, it's pretty obvious which characters are male and which ones are female. Ridiculously big swords is more of an FF7 thing.

I'm not trying to hate on your opinion, but are you sure you didn't dream all this up?

Now, I will make my case for why Final Fantasy is fucking awesome.

The way I see it, Final Fantasy is the complete package. Every game has a very different story, so unless you're allergic to fun, you're eventually gonna find one that appeals to you, at least concerning the premise. Here's the initial premise of 3 of the games, just to give you an idea of how diverse they are.

In FF7, you play the ex soldier turned mercenary Cloud Strife. Cloud is hired by a terrorist group called Avalanche, to help them destroy the mako reactors owned by the Shinra company. Mako reactors are machines invented by Shinra that harvest energy directly from the planet, but this process will eventually destroy the planet, and Avalanche is trying to prevent that.

In FF4 you play as Cecil Harvey, a dark knight commanded by his king to raid a village and steal a powerful artifact called the water crystal. When Cecil is ordered to hand over an innocent girl for execution he decides to rebel against his king as he takes his first steps towards becoming a paladin.

In FF10 you play as Tidus, a young sports star living in the city of Zanarkand. During one of his matches, the city is attacked by a giant monster called Sin. Tidus is saved by his friend and mentor Auron, but they're unable to stop Sin from massacring the city. As the city crumbles around them, Auron looks up at Sin, utters some cryptic words, Tidus then loses consciousness and after some odd dreams he awakens in a strange new world.

Story stuff is all well and good, but it's something you have to experience to appreciate. Gameplay is about what you'd expect from a turn based RPG, though each game is a little different in that regard. So I'm gonna talk about some other things, namely the music and cutscenes. Why? Because Final Fantasy has the best fucking music and cutscenes for any game ever! Well, maybe not, but they're damn good. The following are a few of my favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFZVodkj9AE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI5fD7Jbnuw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7wJ8pE2qKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0G_FI61a8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miuNmfcBfu8

And now for random awesome cutscenes! One of these is from a movie, but fuck it, pandas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMd5zNUq4e4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KxjGn30PDA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7o2iOf8MWA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoyEBlNafnQ

[Tojara]

The style is slightly outdated by today's standards. RPGs have to be less about grind and more about action/adventure to be liked these days.

They are still amazing to mediocre games depending on which one you're talking about. I prefer my RPGs set in a steam punk era, drawing from Medevil times and of course with dragons. Which is why I like FF6 so much. I still think FF5 and prior to that are good games, but they shared a similar overlying arc regarding crystals, which I really didn't like.

Final Fantasy 6 has a vast amount of characters, all of which for the most part share the spotlight. There are effectively two main characters but up to 11 of them that you will actually care about when all is said and done. Best thing about this game is depending on who you connect with favorite characters will vary between pretty much everybody that plays them, they all get a lot of spotlight which is fairly unique even by today's standards.

What made these games great, at least in their glory days was a combination of a great story, characters you give a shit about and music that stand the test of time. FF6 has probably one of the best soundtracks to this day and the tunes from a 16 bit era game are still bouncing around in my head today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT9ReWDV0IU - Terras Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phgAEtFFPzs - Celes Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMFCM0SKbnY - Final Boss Theme

These are all orchestrated and you can look for the 16 bit versions, which are still amazing. Some of these themes directly influenced themes of Final Fantasy characters that came after it even though a lot don't know that. Celes theme is particular is the base for another fairly known character in the series.

Regardless this is what makes Final Fantasy to me.

Although a lot of people hate it one of the things that make the series unique is that all of them are actually unique (for the most part, except recently). Most of them aren't sequels and have NOTHING to do with each other story and plot wise. They do share a lot of things in common but they are unique.

This is a blessing in disguise for fans of these series who want sequels to these games. They wrap up these master pieces in a single game leaving most of it up to your imagination as to what happens to the characters afterwards, and honestly that's the best thing about them. If they would go back and add sequels they probably wouldn't be nearly as good and would likely tarnish what made them unique in the first place.

Revisions would probably be welcomed as long as they can get the same feel as the original without modernizing it too much. Sprites from the SNES era while simple, had something about them that conveyed a lot of emotion and meant something different to everybody that played them. Having these characters in full 3D might ruin it ;(

[Deleted]

What made these games great, at least in their glory days was a combination of a great story, characters you give a shit about and music that stand the test of time. FF6 has probably one of the best soundtracks to this day and the tunes from a 16 bit era game are still bouncing around in my head today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT9ReWDV0IU - Terras Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phgAEtFFPzs - Celes Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMFCM0SKbnY - Final Boss Theme

These are all orchestrated and you can look for the 16 bit versions, which are still amazing. Some of these themes directly influenced themes of Final Fantasy characters that came after it even though a lot don't know that. Celes theme is particular is the base for another fairly known character in the series.

Couldn't agree more with the music. In my books, FF6 has the best soundtrack in any game ever.

The gameplay elements haven't stood the test of time so well, being a bit too grindy for internet era. Back in old days having 100h+ content rocked, despite the vast majority of it being grinding or hunting for items/stuff.

[Deleted]

It was at one time probably the most consistent gaming series of all time in terms of quality, sound, graphics and gameplay. As soon as the company merged to become SquareEnix they kind of nose dived into shit, but that's opinionated and a lot of people still love their games. Personally I feel the company has been riding on the name for the last few instalments, but things looks promising with the future of FF14ARR and FF15.

[Deleted]

Truly, your friends had asked you a right question and I wish to ask the same. But to be honest, I probably shouldn't be much surprised, your name already says enough about your intellect level.

And no, I'm not a fan of FF (except for 7 and 9), but to not know these games is same as not knowing that Earth is round.

[Ferocity]

And the best course of action to take is grind. So instead of using your skill with game mechanics, you rely on a mass of free time you have.

Final Fantasies never required grinding, except maybe for bonus parts (bonus bosses required grinding) and FF 1 & 3. It was mostly about thought-out approach to combat and game system, and grinding could help to make more room for error and RNG.

Well I've heard about the name a long time back. I then got to know it was a Japanese RPG.

Well from what I understand, its pretty popular with the Asian gamers and people that love asian cartoons.

One reason I can never play Asian games, cause their characters look weird. Especially when they laugh. I don't really know any better way to explain it, but its fake. All their characters look like dolls. If you've watched any of the Pokemon series, You'll know what I am talking about.

With exception of FF X in-game movies (also I never tried 13, so can't say about this) and maybe FF VII's super-deformed style - all Final Fantasies have quite European "style".

[Deleted]

Final Fantasies I played completely through are : FF VI,VII,VIII,X,FF Tactics (PSP version)

None of these required any kind of grind, if you didn't equip a 'no random battles' ability. if you do, you should know what you're doing but still doable.

The games usually contain 99 possible lvls, you're around half of that if you play straight through the game, and the endboss is designed for you not being maxlvl.
Most FFs even have the decency to hide grind in optional content. in FF VI you don't need to collect all characters, and almost all characters have a sidequest associated with them. You do this and the endfight isn't really hard.
in FFX I did not grind anything and only did the optional side objective to obtain the ultimate weapons of my main group and collected the optional summons. I one-shotted every phase of the endfight with a single attack.

Final Fantasy games are the least grindy JRPGs I know of. You even should avoid grind if you don't want to make it too easy in the end.

that said, while FF is not your generic-looking animestyle JRPG, you still need to have a thing for the japanese style approach on story and art.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Final Fantasies I played completely through are : FF VI,VII,VIII,X,FF Tactics (PSP version)

None of these required any kind of grind....

...Final Fantasy games are the least grindy JRPGs I know of. You even should avoid grind if you don't want to make it too easy in the end.

You obviously didn't play FFXII: I can still remember running around the leviathan grinding the same Arcadian guards for 6 freaking hours so I could beat Ghis, going around in the Ozomne plains trying to level up for 12 hours so I could proceed to the jungle, or being stuck in Sochen cave place trying to get out of the place only to find I couldn't and since all the mobs were severly OP, I had to spend three weeks grinding in Final Fantasy XII. Still, despite all that, it is my favorite Final Fantasy game of all time.

[Deleted]

You obviously didn't play FFXII: I can still remember running around the leviathan grinding the same Arcadian guards for 6 freaking hours so I could beat Ghis, going around in the Ozomne plains trying to level up for 12 hours so I could proceed to the jungle, or being stuck in Sochen cave place trying to get out of the place only to find I couldn't and since all the mobs were severly OP, I had to spend three weeks grinding in Final Fantasy XII. Still, despite all that, it is my favorite Final Fantasy game of all time.

I have XII but played it very little, because the MMoish nature of the combat together with the rather slow starting story turned me off. I will replay it someday however.

And I by no means wanted to imply there are no grindy FF games. I did forgot to mention that Tactics can require a bit of grind from you in certain parts due to difficult bosses. but before the end you get some seriously OP characters so the endboss isn't really a problem. I also believe the earlier FFs needed quite a bit more of a grind, but we are talking late 80s early 90s here, game design then was so so different to today.
Remember all those old NES games that made you play from the start if you lost all lives? Contra was infamous for being only be able to beat with a cheat code for more lives or you needed to be REALLY good.

[Shinzai]

What's so special about final fantasy? It's hard to say. For the most part, the best ones are very story orientated. The combat is often secondary and more of a way of pushing the story forwards than a genuine focus. Sure, the big boss battles are normally highlights of the games, but it always comes down to a few key story elements that set the series apart from a lot of others:

1. The Characters. Most Final Fantasy characters stick with the players long after they've finished the games. Everyone's got their favourites and everyone remembers at least a couple of characters, whether it was because of a role they played or a funny scene they took part in. Most people have a bad-guy they hate more than anyone else, most people remember the loss of a party member or the death of a side-character more vividly than they may have expected to.
2. The Plot. A large majority of the Final Fantasy games revolve around the idea of magic vs technology and/or the end of the world. The world's end is often caused by humankind and can only be stopped by humankind. However, the people that end up saving the world tend not to be true-blue heroes, the majority are flawed in some way or aren't the nicest of people.
3. The Worlds. Often the worlds are large and varied. They offer a chance to feel as though you're truly exploring a unique, alien world, or a planet similar to our own, but so very different in its own right. The various races that live within the world feel fleshed out, from ancient civilizations to futuristic colonists. Regardless, you always feel as though you're seeing something new and amazing in the best games.

Now, that's not to say that the combat systems are unimportant. For a lot of people, FFX was one of the best FF games, simply because it had one of the best combat systems, despite its really... strange plot. The same goes for the Tactics games, which are almost a hundred percent focused on the combat systems at their core.

But in the end, it really is the taking part in a story that should normally be the first and last time you ever get to see that world, a resonant feeling birthed by the original designer believing that Final Fantasy would be the last game he would ever make. Final Fantasy was literally going to be his final fantasy, until it struck a chord with so many gamers and allowed him to keep on making games.

Whether you're trying to defend the gate to the Esper's world from Kefka, battling for revenge against Sephiroth or simply watching Yuna's dance, there's a moment for almost everyone in a Final Fantasy game.