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

[Issalice]

The series has been around for so long, I remember when I was a kid my mom was a huge FF fan on Nintendo, when 7 came out I started to play with her. That's why I like it, it is one of the memories I have of my mom. I'm sure a lot of other people have similar reasons, they grew up with it. It isn't for everyone, not everyone has the same taste. But for me it is my favorite RPG, and how I rate any others.

I hold out hope that one day (in my fantasy world) Squenix wakes up and stops the madness. I would love to see an old school throwback for XVI. I'm tired of the tech theme. But I digress. The reason FF is special I don't think can be answered by one person, it's special for different reasons to different people. And it isn't special at all to some. Simple as that.

[Ragnarocket]

It's hard to answer something like this...because everyone is going to have their own experiences with the game. For me personally it's about the emotional stories and the characters that I can get behind. Those things get me emotionally invested in the game. There are other games I can do this with (Tales of Symphonia, Arc the Lad, Chrono Trigger just to name a few) but the Final Fantasy games tend to REALLY pull me into their plots. And I'm a fan of the turn based combat of the earlier games in the series.

I know for me, I got invested early in life because my grandfather and I would play Final Fantasy the original on his NES, so I've got a bit of history with the series. Growing up, one of my favorite games to play was Final Fantasy 3 (technically 6 in the series) because of the complexity of the plot. It was the first time that I got truly involved with the characters' struggle. Trying not to spoil the game for you, but by the second half of the game you're so invested in the characters that when you hit...a certain part of the game you are just completely taken by surprise and the game turns you on your head.

I've always enjoyed playing through the struggles of some of these characters...some of my favorites from different games off the top of my head:

Final Fantasy 4 - The struggle of Cecil coming to grips with the man he is and the man he wants to be is a great thing to witness through the progress of the game. It is something you just want to root for him all the way. Then there is a small child, Rydia, a girl who has every reason to hate you...but yet she grows past that hatred and becomes one of the best characters in an RPG to date. (imo) There's the struggles of Tellah, a man who has lost everything and at the end, sacrifices everything else for revenge. All of these character flow in and out of your party in a seamless way that makes sense in the story. When you lose someone it's usually not in a pleasant way either...and that just makes each loss hurt more and more. By the end of the game you have a vast number of reasons for fighting, and it feels so good to finish it.

Final Fantasy 6 - This game just...goes so far above in terms of character development for me. Each player of your party (except some optional ones) feels unique and different. Terra (the protagonist) is someone we immediately want to protect, she's suffering from amnesia and struggling to figure out her place in the world. To offset that vulnerability though is a mystery...she's able to use magic. As someone who is able to use magic she becomes a pawn in a power struggle between the Empire and the rest of the world. Her past and powers become a key focus for the first part of the game. This game also has one of the BEST villains in the Final Fantasy series, Kefka. Kefka is someone who can best be described as being like the Joker. He just wants to watch the world burn, and he'll watch everyone burn with it while cackling the whole time.

Final Fantasy 7 - While I'm not as much of a fan of this game as I am some of the others, Cloud's struggle in this game is a very unique one. Though the story may seem straight forward, there are quickly many twists and turns that show that Cloud's history may not be as easily figured out as one may think, even to himself. Of course this game has a fairly well known moment at the end of the first disk that completely changes the way your group continues throughout the game. I won't spoil it but it can be a very emotional moment depending on the group you've been using up to that point. The villain is a fairly good one as well (not as good as Kefka though!). Sephiroth is definitely well known, although I would say that he's less of a "watch the world burn" and more of a calculating madman.

Final Fantasy 9 - Most people don't give this one enough credit I feel, it has a great set of characters and every single one of them goes through their own conflict as the story goes on, including the bad guy. In fact, the opening cinematic shows a key quote from each character, something that shows the struggles they will endure. One of the people has the quote, "How do you prove that you exist? Maybe we don't exist..." That's the quote of a young black mage you meet almost immediately at the start of the game. Events unfold that make him question his very existence on this world. Throughout the entire game he grapples with that question and the answers that he finds. By the end of the game each character has had to examine their "personal issue" completely and thoroughly, and it's great to watch them come to their own conclusions.

That's personally what I enjoy when I play these games, and Final Fantasy is fairly good at delivering.

[Mavecryst]

Final Fantasy is only one of the biggest names in the Video Game industry, is all.. :P and one of the oldest in the RPG scene. It has had years and years to garner a huge following, each game appealing to more and different people. The main series has different themes in almost every game, yet familiar faces; they appeal to both the fascination with new things and nostalgia for some old things. The music in every game is always good, and many characters are so memorable that there are discussions on that extend far beyond the popular period that the game they belong to lasts.

My personal reasons why the series is special: For me (and many others), it was among my first forays into the JRPG world, a genre which I still love playing till today. Aside from Breath of Fire 3, FF8 was also the first good RPG that I played when I was 14. I loved it enough that I decided to check the rest of the series out, enjoying 7 to death, playing 4 till the wee hours of the morning, and finally getting my hands on 6 years later. I've loved the series till X-2, and though I haven't enjoyed an FF game from that point, there's enough games in the series that I can go back to when I want an FF fix. The series still carries enough weight with me to automatically perk my ears up when I hear news about the latest one, even if I'm very wary about hyping it up now.

The music is distinctive to the series. Like, I know when an FF song is playing. I can't really say that about many other games, since game music is quite generic for the most part. But with FF, there's just a distinct feel to it.
The graphics are usually top notch. The CGI, the cutscenes, have always been used to wow the audience. Recently it's become the focus, much to my dismay, but still, like with the music, you almost know when a cutscene is from an FF game.
The storytelling has its own special feel to it. I haven't enjoyed the voice acting since it was introduced, but I still do like the stories being told, with the exception of 12 (too political, not my thing).
The gameplay usually has some addictive quality to it, be it with the experimentation of characters in 6, the job system, the materia system, the junction system, I loved most of the battle systems. There's usually a sidequest (hello, Triple Triad, chocobo racing, hot and cold, Blitzball) that I love to just play for fun too, along with the myriad of sidequests that accompany each one (and screw you, 13, for having ONE, BORING SHITTY ONE).

I guess that's what's special about the series, to me at least.

[Deleted]

For me, it was the story. My first FF game was FF7 and you could do so much things in that game and the story was so fckn great! A lot of playtime and fun..
Also, there were a lot of "secrets" you could figure out in the game. This game brought me into playing games and I love it.

[Angella]

I've played a few tiles for a couple days each. Never really hooked me. Linear, turn-based game play just wasn't my thing. If you're an anime fan and want a good book told via video-game it may be for you.

[Deleted]

@ Laurcus

My flatmate played a lot of them, I cant say which episodes they were, but I remember the Cloud dude and some white haired dude and they both had big silly swords.
He was totally into anime and all that as well (I am not) so he attempted to force feed me that stuff 24/7. Regardless to say he is not my flatmate anymore and I have yet to play a decent jrpg ...ever.

Also "HA" for mods thinking my opinion is so retarded that I have been warned for trolling :/

[Deleted]

Final fantasy is also not only the numbered series. There are masses of spin offs, including games sharing the setting of certain Maintitles, a nintendo-exclusive series named crystal chronicles, mobile games, card games, some of the stuff never makes it to the western audience.

The Final Fantasy franchise spans over 60 articles, including remakes, and has also produced films, an anime series, radio dramas, books, manga, you name it. This is not counting merchandising which I suspect is innumerable.

Final fantasy is so big (especially in Japan), even if Square Enix would go bankrupt tomorrow I wouldn't fear for the existance if this brand. Even the Deus Ex developers knew it, putting a poster for Final Fantasy XXVII in there :P

[Dasffion]

@ Laurcus

My flatmate played a lot of them, I cant say which episodes they were, but I remember the Cloud dude and some white haired dude and they both had big silly swords.
He was totally into anime and all that as well (I am not) so he attempted to force feed me that stuff 24/7. Regardless to say he is not my flatmate anymore and I have yet to play a decent jrpg ...ever.

Also "HA" for mods thinking my opinion is so retarded that I have been warned for trolling :/

So you never actually played them but decided to give a fairly inaccurate description of them? I'd say the infraction was warranted.

[OrcsRLame]

@ Laurcus

My flatmate played a lot of them, I cant say which episodes they were, but I remember the Cloud dude and some white haired dude and they both had big silly swords.
He was totally into anime and all that as well (I am not) so he attempted to force feed me that stuff 24/7. Regardless to say he is not my flatmate anymore and I have yet to play a decent jrpg ...ever.

Also "HA" for mods thinking my opinion is so retarded that I have been warned for trolling :/

Cloud and Sephiroth are both characters from FF7, which is certainly the most anime-like of the Final Fantasy series. Also, their large swords make sense when you realize they both have vast superhuman strength that easily exceeds 100 tons.

If you ever care to try the series for yourself, I'd recommend you try FF8. The setting is a little more grounded in realism and modern technology instead of the stream punk, sci-fi or medieval fantasy of some of the other games. If the anime-ness of 7 puts you off, the more realistic 8 may be more to your tastes. Also, the game has no voice acting, and the main character isn't incredibly androgynous.

This is Squall, the main character of 8.



I'd give that one a try, since it's the opposite of 7 in a lot of ways.

[Varyk]

They were cutting edge in the 90's. It's a popular franchise.

I don't care for turn-based RPG's for the most part (Super Mario RPG and Wild Arms I did like).

[obdigore]

4 and 6 were extremely good games with some interesting twists and very convoluted stories. 9 tries but isn't quite there. The rest of them are pretty much overhyped 'ZOMG FINAL FANTASY' games. Just like most of the recent Mario and Zelda games, they are selling through nostalgia and name recognition more than on their own merits.

[kynthrus]

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.


Please do not troll. --Sj

I'm just gonna assume that you don't play games in their original language (The final fantasy games that have voice acting at least.) Final Fantasy games are heavily story driven, so people that don't like the story it has to tell will simply not like it.

[Deleted]

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.


Please do not troll. --Sj

Was this really trolling?

[Flaks]

Which of the most recent games would people recommend? I can't stand playing games with dated graphics personally so anything between I'm guessing 10-14 or should I just wait for 15?

[Dasffion]

Was this really trolling?

I've never played a final fantasy like that so probably plus he admits later on that he's never actually played one, just watched his roommate play some.

[Kavoo]

Which of the most recent games would people recommend? I can't stand playing games with dated graphics personally so anything between I'm guessing 10-14 or should I just wait for 15?

FF10 has been released in HD if im not mistaken.

[Beenie]

Which of the most recent games would people recommend? I can't stand playing games with dated graphics personally so anything between I'm guessing 10-14 or should I just wait for 15?

Play FF10. In my opinion they starting going downhill after. I can't stand the direction they are going in now, but I had some great gaming moments throughout the years with the FF series. My personal favorite is FF6.

[Itisamuh]

Keep in mind that, for the most part, the games don't have anything to do with each other. So you won't have to play them in order (or even play all of them) to enjoy them. But, they're generally very rich games in terms of story, characters and music. I've never been a huge fan of the combat systems (a weakness of the whole genre to me) but they're great games for sure, certainly worth of the reputation. Give it a try and I doubt you'll be disappointed.

[Deleted]

What set FF apart from other D&D-ish games (D&D in inspiration, not in rules, as FF has its own set of rules for each game, and only used d20 in the first game, iirc) was the story-telling. Before FF, computer/console rpgs had very simplistic stories: traverse this dungeon - kill big bad - rescue princess.

FF first introduced plot twists and an overarching world populated by different races, living in different kingdoms. But that was just the beginning: Alredy in FF2 they began to create characters with personalities, characters one could care about, with culturally-relatable struggles (the fight against evil empires is much easier to relate than killing a big bad that threatens the world with chaos).
After that, they made their characters more complex, both PCs and NPCs, with inner conflicts (FF4), or even suffering hopelessness or clinical depression (FF6). They went as far as to completely deconstruct the trope of the "silent hero" (FF7).

FFs are not unique about this anymore. Square itself exported this formulat to most of their rpgs, and the FFs became unique only for a certain collection of common-places: chocobos, moogles, gil currency, a character named Cid...
In truth, most j-rpgs, and even western rpgs learned a lot from the FFs. Nowadays FF has been not doing so well. Some people blame the merger between Square and Enix. The truth is that they have stopped being innovative in their storytelling techniques. They refuse giving branching points, which makes their storytelling too linear. Their game mechanics have grown complicated in order to make up for the more "action-like" gameplay, abandoning the turn-based combats: they have been only half-successful with this.

On the other hand, many of their innovations have helped create a new expanding franchise, Kingdom Hearts, which is doing pretty well as an action-rpg.

[OrcsRLame]

Which of the most recent games would people recommend? I can't stand playing games with dated graphics personally so anything between I'm guessing 10-14 or should I just wait for 15?

10 Was the first with voice acting and also the last true turn based Final Fantasy game. It's a PS2 game if that's not too old for you.

11 and 14 are MMOs. 12 Is, imo, horrible, others will probably disagree with me on that, but many won't. 13 Is pretty good imo, and it's an xbox 360/PS3 game. 13 gets almost as much hate as 12 though, and I think most fans would agree that it's not the best in the series. 13 Also has a sequel, 13-2, and coming fairly soon, 13-3.

I think Final Fantasy 15 looks pretty damn sweet, but who knows if it'll actually be good.

8 And 9 don't look THAT dated, but they're both PS1 games with no voice acting, so not sure if that's really what you're looking for. 7 Will murder your eyes, and anything further back is getting into classic graphics.

If you don't mind Disney characters, I'd actually recommend you try out the Final Fantasy spinoff series, Kingdom Hearts, because it's awesome and it's getting some HD collections fairly soon, along with Kingdom Hearts 3 in a couple years hopefully.