General Final Fantasy Discussion - Final Fantasy XII remake incoming!

[sakuraZaKi]

Oh, right. That and FF2's Battle theme are really good too. The Dissidia version, especially.

 

[finalark]

]

This specific (and awesome) cover actually reminds me of the Chrono Trigger remix album, The Brink of Time. Its a love-it-or-hate it album but that cover really brings me back to it.

 

[finalark]

*bump*

At first I thought this was going to be just some dude doing a voice over explaining the plot while game play footage rolled, but Square really went the extra mile with this one.

 

[Claire Diviner]

It's old, but still awesome.

Also, I want to get my hands on Lightning Returns.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

Somehow after watching that video I have even LESS faith in FF XIII's apparent "Massive Lore"

 

[finalark]

It's old, but still awesome.

Also, I want to get my hands on Lightning Returns.

This video. You have no idea how addicted to this video I once was. Battle With the Four Fiends actually has a spot in my heart because of that.

 

[finalark]

*MOAR BUMP*

Some news here. First off, Lightning is getting a Lara Croft costume in LR. I have never once played a Tomb Raider game in my entire life but for me there is something oddly refreshing about seeing a modern FF character wearing realistic clothing.

Sauce: http://www.novacrystallis.com/2014/02/tomb-raider-dlc-is-coming-to-lightning-returns-next-week/

Second, this is just general Squeenix news rather than FF specific but EU and NA are getting Drakengard 3. I have never played the first two Drakengards, and all I know about it is that it's Square's dark and gritty M-rated series where everyone is in dire need of some therapy more so than your average FF crew. Oh, and one of the games end in giant Satan babies. I'm really not sure what to make of the trailer, since its opens with a girl asking to pee and then shifts gears to being a low fantasy epic. Well, take a look for yourself here:

http://www.novacrystallis.com/2014/...-may-gets-its-first-english-language-trailer/

 

[Minato]

I hope everyone with a 3DS is getting Bravely Default tomorrow or at least soon.

 

[finalark]

I hope everyone with a 3DS is getting Bravely Default tomorrow or at least soon.

I'm planning on getting it tomorrow, first thing in the morning! Sadly I also work tomorrow so I'll have to wait until later this weekend to really sink my teeth into it.

 

[Rutger]

I'll get it either today or tomorrow.

I haven't finished everything in the demo though, so I may do that before playing.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

I'm apparently planning on getting it next week, because that's when Walmart gets the game

 

[Rutger]

I got it. I probably will not get to play it until tomorrow afternoon though.

It's kind of silly, but because I like the For the Sequel cover art more, I took out the instruction paper and stuck it in the front of the case. I was really hoping for a reversible cover but this will work, even though there's two 3DS logos now.

 

[PillsBuryDopeBoy]

Guys is Final fantasy 7 as good as people make it out to be? (Kinda random but still). I wanna buy it, but only if its worth playing.

 

[finalark]

So Bravely Default is the best thing to come out of Square in the last ten years.

Guys is Final fantasy 7 as good as people make it out to be? (Kinda random but still). I wanna buy it, but only if its worth playing.

7 is good, overrated as all hell, but good. I warn you, graphically the game has not aged well, the translation is iffy and its legions of fanboys hype it up way beyond how good the game actually is. But it is still worth playing if you like JRPGs at all. I actually just finished a play through of that game a few days ago, interestingly enough.

 

[Sephiroths Masamune]

I think the game play of FFVII has aged pretty well over the years. IMO I think it's one of those must play PS1 Classics along with Metal Gear Solid. If you like JRPG's it'll be worth your time.

 

[finalark]

^ Pretty much what Seph said. The battle system is fast, the materia system gives you a lot of options for character building and limit breaks give you a rush of power without being triggered so rarely that they're useless *coughffixcough.* Not to mention that the world is just fun to explore, plus the game actually has a lot of secrets for your to discover if you're into post game stuff.

IMO the story hasn't aged well if you've played a lot of JRPGs before playing FF7, if only because the games characters and twists have been ripped off and copied a million times (lets be honest, how many post FF7 JRPGs have it so that a character in your party not being who they initially appear to be as a major twist?). However, if you haven't played a ton of JRPGs then FF7's story is actually quite engaging if you can get past the iffy translation.

Also, if you're basing your expectations off of Advent Children, well, prepared to be disappointed. The original game was never that over the top or broody. In actuality, FF7 is much more grounded and isn't so serious.

 

[Rutger]

Am I allowed to count Bravely Default when picking my favorite FF game? Because first impressions have been great.

I've already messed with the battle system with the demo, it is without a doubt my favorite battle system from any Square Enix game I've played. The music is great, seems it was made by the same people who made Attack on Titan's opening themes(the best parts of that show.)

I also love the hand drawn artwork used for the towns, and it looks surprisingly good in 3D.


I'm leaving the voices on English for now, but it's nice we still have the Japanese voices. I'm amazed they left in the Japanese text too. I didn't see any way to change the voices or text before starting a new file though, I wonder if there is a new game plus and if those options would carry over?

 

[finalark]

I've been having a blast with Bravely Default. Square said that with FF13 they wanted to trim down on the fat that the JRPG genre has built up over the years and distill the best parts of the genre. I think they actually meant Bravely Default, because that's what they did with this game.

 

[Minato]

Didn't realize that SWF allowed you to put your 3DS Friends Code under Personal Details. Feel free to add mine because of Bravely Default or any other future stuff.

 

[Zink Imp]

Lemme say something. I LOVE Final Fantasy XIII. I LOVE Lightning. I LIKED Final Fantasy XIII-2. I am super stoked for Lightning Returns. The collectors edition should be coming in on Thursday. But...the reviews are getting me down
Anyone have it? How's it?

 

[Lythium]

I literally only played about half an hour before I had to sleep last night, haha. Too early to say yet, but I think if you really enjoyed the other XIII games, there's no reason why you wouldn't enjoy this one.

Did you play the demo? The combat has an interesting spin on XIII's style, and it's really fun. :3

 

[Spire]

I played and completed FFXIII. Above all else, I enjoyed the environments and battle system. The latter felt like a healthy evolution of FFX-2, which I was fond of back in the day. Didn't play FFXIII-2, but Lighting Returns looks good (also, SOLDIER uniform is a must-have). I've come here asking you folk to convince me to buy both.

Frankly, Serah and Noel annoy me a lot as an outsider and it may honestly be their focus that warded me away. One plus that XIII-2 has is Valhalla. Interestingly, I had a dream about that very place a decade ago, long before the game existed. In the dream, I washed up on the shore nearby a climbing city of bleak, shadowy architecture with green crystalline-lights. I recall the city housed the dead. Only recently did I make the connection and it feels... necessary that I play the game, if solely for experiencing Valhalla from an explorative and narrative point of view.

 

[sakuraZaKi]

Lemme say something. I LOVE Final Fantasy XIII. I LOVE Lightning. I LIKED Final Fantasy XIII-2. I am super stoked for Lightning Returns. The collectors edition should be coming in on Thursday. But...the reviews are getting me down
Anyone have it? How's it?

I wouldn't trust review sites in the first place. The time I stopped looking at review sites the more I appreciated the stuff I bought (i.e. no buyer's remorse for the most part). There is a certain stigma for most JRPGs the past couple of years; you don't see many of them get above an 8 score (Famitsu aside).

You honestly have to try it out for yourself. If you liked XIII, you'll probably like LR too. I don't have the funds to buy the game right now, but I watched a stream of it on the side for a good 10 hours. It has it's good and bad moments, sure...

 

[Zink Imp]

I wouldn't trust review sites in the first place. The time I stopped looking at review sites the more I appreciated the stuff I bought (i.e. no buyer's remorse for the most part). There is a certain stigma for most JRPGs the past couple of years; you don't see many of them get above an 8 score (Famitsu aside).

I think it has to be a cultural thing. Famitsu gave XIII-2 an perfect score. But western RPGs aren't as well recieved in Japan.

 

[finalark]

I think it has to be a cultural thing. Famitsu gave XIII-2 an perfect score. But western RPGs aren't as well recieved in Japan.

If that kind of stuff interests you, this little series is worth looking at.

I will say this, the Japanese VS. Western RPG debate is rooted heavily in culture. In Japan, mainstream audiences view WRPGs as directionless and poorly structured while in the West JRPGs are seen as wordy and restrictive. That being said, just like JRPGs have a cult following in the west WRPGs have a cult following in the east. Hell, Famistu gave ES5 a perfect score. Interestingly enough, while JRPGs were very popular and mainstream in the west at one point, WRPGs like Wizardry were very popular and mainstream in the east.

Lemme say something. I LOVE Final Fantasy XIII. I LOVE Lightning. I LIKED Final Fantasy XIII-2. I am super stoked for Lightning Returns. The collectors edition should be coming in on Thursday. But...the reviews are getting me down
Anyone have it? How's it?

I played and completed FFXIII. Above all else, I enjoyed the environments and battle system. The latter felt like a healthy evolution of FFX-2, which I was fond of back in the day. Didn't play FFXIII-2, but Lighting Returns looks good (also, SOLDIER uniform is a must-have). I've come here asking you folk to convince me to buy both.

Frankly, Serah and Noel annoy me a lot as an outsider and it may honestly be their focus that warded me away. One plus that XIII-2 has is Valhalla. Interestingly, I had a dream about that very place a decade ago, long before the game existed. In the dream, I washed up on the shore nearby a climbing city of bleak, shadowy architecture with green crystalline-lights. I recall the city housed the dead. Only recently did I make the connection and it feels... necessary that I play the game, if solely for experiencing Valhalla from an explorative and narrative point of view.

I actually really love the cast and story of FFXIII. I didn't come to the realization until I played the LR demo, but I was actually happy to see Snow again and I was genuinely curious to know what the hell went down in XIII-2 to make Snow all gloomy. The way I see it, if you got any sort of enjoyment out of the XIII series, LR is worth at a try. I'll probably pick it up down the line when it drops in price.

 

[Thirdkoopa]

In FFTA2 did anyone feel underleveled all the time or is that just me?

 

[Zink Imp]

The most fun I'm having so far with Lightning Returns is the social network services. I like this "Outworld" stuff...its really elaborate. And I've been spamming my Facebook feed with "selfies" of Lightning.
Combat seems really great too, but I've barely scratched the game so far.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

Bravely default should be available at Walmart today

I can finally get it!

 

[Zink Imp]

LR is really stressful lol! I'm the kind of guy that wants to do EVERYTHING. So I've been wandering around Luxion trying to do all the side quests. Does anyone know if this game encourages multiple replays? I'm assuming I can't do every quest in one go.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

Bravely Default wasn't available BTW.

I still don't have it, but it's in the mail.

Ordered through Amazon Prime

 

[finalark]

Knowing how you have a taste for old-school JRPGs, Psycho, I'm sure you're going to love Bravely Default. It's seriously my favorite thing in the entire world right now.

 

[Pachinkosam]

I think the game play of FFVII has aged pretty well over the years. IMO I think it's one of those must play PS1 Classics along with Metal Gear Solid. If you like JRPG's it'll be worth your time.

This dude is AWESOME!!!

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

I didn't have a Playstation until right before the Playstation 2 came out

I could never get into FF7 because of how bad the graphics were

 

[Monkley6]

So, FFXIII-2. I haven't played XIII, but I wanted to when it was new. It looked good, the story sounded interesting to me, combat sounded new and fresh but not lame. Anyway... I don't really like the the idea of having a sequel.
Maybe I'm just stubborn, but the idea of a sequel, makes me less inclined to buy the first. I think it's because I like a story to be finished. I like an ending, preferable an absolute, undeniable one. I feel like, if there's a XIII-2, then XIII left things open, or they're just milking it, for success (profit) or whatever. I'll probably buy it eventually, because after all I played and enjoyed X-2 (just not the story), but I feel like the existence of a sequel made the first one less significant.

Does anyone else feel this way, or can they convince me otherwise? Of course, if it was designed and written to be 2 parts, then that changes things.

 

[Sephiroths Masamune]

^ Lol it actually had it's 3rd game out just barely.

I didn't have a Playstation until right before the Playstation 2 came out

I could never get into FF7 because of how bad the graphics were

That's sad, because you're missing out on a great experience.

 

[finalark]

Square needs to remake the PS1 games. They don't have to be in shiny HD with glorious, FFXIII graphics or anything. Just updating the models, prerendered environments, translation and maybe add in some new content and release it on handhelds or as a download. Graphically speaking, none of the PS1 games haven't aged well IMO.

Honestly if they're willing to port that POS (that I have a secret love-hate relationship with) FFII to everything with a screen then they can fix up the PS1 games.

 

[Monkley6]

Square needs to remake the PS1 games. They don't have to be in shiny HD with glorious, FFXIII graphics or anything. Just updating the models, prerendered environments, translation and maybe add in some new content and release it on handhelds or as a download. Graphically speaking, none of the PS1 games haven't aged well IMO.

Honestly if they're willing to port that POS (that I have a secret love-hate relationship with) FFII to everything with a screen then they can fix up the PS1 games.

1) Agreed. I'd love to have some remade and repolished PS1 games. What they've done for various NES/SNES games with the GBA and DS is fantastic imo.
2) I actually really enjoy the models and graphics of FFVIII. While I admit the actual "graphics" aren't that great, the animations and way they made them move made them seem believable and got the point across I think. I don't think the same animations would age well on a much higher detailed model of newer generations though. I think it would look like real people acting like cartoons

 

[Zink Imp]

Square needs to remake the PS1 games. They don't have to be in shiny HD with glorious, FFXIII graphics or anything. Just updating the models, prerendered environments, translation and maybe add in some new content and release it on handhelds or as a download. Graphically speaking, none of the PS1 games haven't aged well IMO.

Honestly if they're willing to port that POS (that I have a secret love-hate relationship with) FFII to everything with a screen then they can fix up the PS1 games.

I like how Square says they'll make remake FF7 when they "make a game that surpasses it." They did that. It's called "Final Fantasy IX". Hell, IV and VI are better than VII.

 

[finalark]

I like how Square says they'll make remake FF7 when they "make a game that surpasses it." They did that. It's called "Final Fantasy IX". Hell, IV and VI are better than VII.

I don't know if I'm feeling feisty, bored, or just want to procrastinate, but I'm going to contest that.

Final Fantasy IX is a cornerstone of my childhood, the game that got me into RPGs and Final Fantasy as a whole, and it was the first game in the series I played. That being said, I do not think it is a better game than VII. In terms of presentation and from a narrative standpoint, it blows VII out of the water IMO. From a game play standpoint, not so much. Character customization is scarified to favor party composition (nowhere in the game is this more apparent than when you have to split your party to tackle two different dungeons, Kuja's Palace and Olivert, and numerous times after that). What customization there is leaves quite a bit to be desired, with most passive abilities not leaning towards one particular build besides "make everyone immune to everything." Plus Trance was pretty much the worst implemented power system ever. It builds slowly, extremely slowly. The idea is that in exchange, Trance commands tend to be incredibly powerful on top of giving your characters mad stat boosts. In practice, this means that Trace will rarely if EVER trigger when you actually need it, making it useless.

IV simply hasn't aged well. Like, ****. Anyone who thinks that IV aged well needs to go back and play it again. Character customization is non-existent, the game is padded beyond belief, its incredibly grindy, and while the narrative was extremely impressive back in the early 90s, it doesn't hold up. Characters are pretty one-dimensional, the whole thing feels like it was made up as they went along (What? The players already have all of the crystals and have explored the whole map at this point? ****, what if we just say that there's four more underground to keep them going?). IMO this is the game where FF got the ball rolling, and it does have creative dungeons and boss fights, but is seriously lacking in most areas. I still love it, though.

I would address VI, but I haven't played the damn thing since I was eleven. Honestly, I don't really feel like my opinion on it is reliable at this point, so I'm just going to leave it at that.

 

[sakuraZaKi]

So I've just started replaying my favorite FFs: 1, 2, and 3. The Dawn of Souls remake for the GBA and the original 3 for the Famicom. So excited and having all the fun memories come back to me

Tbh, even though FF7 and X-2 were my first introduction to the '3D' FFs, I never cared for the former much as a kid (I did enjoy Legend of Dragoon much more, tbh). Until I played FF7 again ~7 years later, I never made it past the first reactor LOL. The first 3D FF I loved to play was FF8. I just got to FF9 last year and I'm slowly getting through it. Only got quarter/half-way through X, X-2, XII, XIII.

tl;dr I really need to finish my games.