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

[Teroseth]

I'm going through FFVII again at the moment because of its recent release on Steam and...well, at first I was really hesitant about going through it again because it's quite old now (about 16 years) and I've tried going through old games before and that tarnished some of the memories for me (I bought Baldur's gate on GoG and it has not aged well, at all imo). But FFVII is as good as it has ever been, the graphics aren't all that outdated because of the chibified anime style the characters have, but their edges are more noticeable now (I think Cloud's hair has more polygons then the rest of his body combined) and the nostalgia kick is ridiculously overpowering, I've been playing it with a grin on my face a mile wide.

I think Final Fantasy is a special kind of game series because, at its heart, it's a very simple series. There is a big bad who is threatening the world, enter heroes to stop him. Its themes are generally very shounen manga like, so you end up with the very skilled protagonist, the rival with an opposite temperament (compare cloud/barret, squall/seifer, zidane/steiner), the villain who's generally calm, but also manic (Kefka/sephiroth/Kuja) and the use of love triangles. (Cloud/Aeris/Tifa, Squall/Rinoa/Seifer, Zidane/Garnet/Eiko). They are simple enough that they can draw people in, but once in there are also levels of complexities that are implied or can be deduced. Look at the debate that surrounds who's the actual villain of FFVII (Sephiroth or his mother Jenova) just as an example.

The series has lost its way recently because the stories aren't as good or as in depth...the quality drops precipitously after Hironobu left, but then, that's just my opinion.

[Toby451]

Also a big part of many a nerd's childhood and adolescence, and so, most be treated with the same care, love and respect as someones incontinent, decorated veteran, dementia suffering grandfather, which FF resembles in more ways than one these days.

FF these days is mainly just disappointing main series games, and awful, money grubbing spin-offs, remakes, and overpriced iOS garbage. The SNES and PSX era games are considered the high water mark.

This is pretty accurate. Although, I personally believe FFX is as good as any PSX/SNES title.


FF11 and onward Square keeps trying to reinvent the wheel and its getting worse and worse each game. As much as I loved the franchise growing up, they are definitely going to shit.

[Deleted]

This is pretty accurate. Although, I personally believe FFX is as good as any PSX/SNES title.

Same here tbh, loved all the extra bosses and stuff, although the voice acting is still the stuff of nightmares (laff with mee yunah!!). I really liked XII too, at least the first 2/3rds of it.

[Kuniku]

I've played most of the FF games since 7, 9 and X-2 being the only exceptions.7 and 8 are still my favourite tbh, I really enjoyed 13, but did find that it was more like watching a film than playing a game, so many cut scenes and beautiful graphics - it's not a game you can play for 15 mins while waiting for dinner to cook, you need to be able to sit down and play for a few hours...

[Deleted]

People like FF just because it was a part of their childhood(for the older ones,that is).Honestly though, I think stuff went to the bonkers around FF7.However,I enjoy the old FF games even though some of them are older than myself.