General Final Fantasy Discussion - Final Fantasy XII remake incoming!

[finalark]

Final Fantasy Type-0 translation patch is live. The site is getting hammered at the moment.

No discussions on acquiring roms or emulators though.

Is Type-0 worthwhile? I'm almost finished with FFXHD and while I'm planning on picking up Persona 2 to play through that next I'm curious to know if Type-0 is worth putting on my to-play list.

 

[finalark]

Ba-bump:

Final Fantasy Agito is getting a western release. For those who are unfamiliar with the game, it's a spin-off for phones that takes place in the same universe as FInal Fantasy Type-0. I'm not familiar with Type-0's universe, it seems that it has lots of school uniforms and Japanese schoolboy/girl archetypes. From what I could gather from the trailers, it appears that it will be a more traditional turn-based RPG with social elements. It's going to be free to play, but will have "in-app purchases" (presumably it's going to have pay-to-win options).

The end of the trailer also reveals that Type-0 is going to be getting an official localization on PS4/Xbone. Kind of a slap to the balls for everyone who worked on the fan translation, especially because it just came out, but at least we'll get an official version.

Sauce: http://na.square-enix.com/us/blog/final-fantasy-agito-announced

Also, FFXIV got a new trailer. Sadly, it's composed almost entirely of stuff already in the game aside from two seconds of Shiva at the end. So yeah, I was hoping for new job reveals but I guess not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MI_iEOm4Jw&feature=youtu.be

EDIT: Also announced was Final Fantasy VII G-Bike, which is the motorcycle segment from FFVII reimagined as a mobile phone game. It actually looks pretty awesome.

http://na.square-enix.com/us/blog/final-fantasy-vii-g-bike-coming-soon-your-mobile-devices

 

[Morrigan]

I picked up my copy of FFXHD on Tuesday. It was a preorder I automatically ended up with the awesome special edition. I haven't gotten much time to play it, I just got Ifirit.

So far, it's pretty much exactly how I remember it. Although they menus have been changed to look sleeker and more modern. I know there's a new sphere grid, but I'm playing with the basic one right now. In terms of how it looks, if you've played any other HD ports of PS2 games you'll know what to expect. Although the FMVs look AMAZING in HD. They're also way more frequent than I remember them being. Weird. If you still have the PS2 version of the game, you might as well pass on this IMO. But if you want to play it for the new content it's probably better to wait for a price drop.

Also, I now for the first time in my life own a copy of FFX-2. Maybe some day I'll actually play it. Maybe.

I wouldn't say the FMVs look "AMAZING." They definitely show their age (think Toy Story 1 vs. Toy Story 3); when I first played it back then I thought they look oh so good, it's amazing how much 3D design has evolved. I'm kinda disappointed how they decided to scale them to fill the widescreen image instead of actually revealing what was "hidden" in 4:3 scale.

On another note I'm trying to get Tidus' ultimate weapon. JESUS CHRIST WHAT AN ANNOYING SIDEQUEST. Why the freaking hell didn't they refine this minigame.

 

[finalark]

*bump*

News from yesterday, but I thought it was worth posting about.

FFXIV is getting a trial version, meaning that if you're interested in the game but don't want to commit any money to it you can give it a try up to level 20. I assume it's much like WoW's trial edition, where you cap at level 20 and have restrictions on how much you can do.

There's also the new recruitment program, if you get one of your buddies to play you get a special mount and item that increases exp gained by 20% while below level 25.

http://www.novacrystallis.com/2014/...free-trial-recruit-a-friend-program-launched/

 

[finalark]

I once again raise this dusty old thread from the grave to bring some more news. It's a few days old, sorry about that. I've been really wrapped up with school and work lately and haven't had the time to really get caught up on FF news.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is planned to come out next year. However, aside from optimized controls, HD graphics and difficultly settings Square says that have no plans to add any new content to the game. Apparently, the choice to put the game on the PS4/Xbone instead of the the PS360 is to get FF fans to migrate to those consoles so they'll already have an install base on those consoles when FFXV comes out to boost sales.

Not going to lie, this pretty much confirms an article I read a while back after E3 that Type-0 is just a distraction to keep FF fans who aren't fans of MMOs busy while Square works on FFXV. I'm not really sure what this PR nonsense about getting an install base on PS4/Xbone is. If it's to attract new fans, an HD port of a game that only hardcore FF fans know about and everyone else forgot about eight years ago years ago isn't going to help much. Any preexisting FF fans were likely going to get a PS4/Xbone anyway to play FFXV, so this bait is beyond unnecessary. I'm not really sure I understand Square's business tactics, but this doesn't really seem like the way to go.

story here: http://www.novacrystallis.com/2014/...-the-next-year-include-four-difficulty-modes/

Oh yeah, and for those of you who play FFXIV if you haven't heard yet this week you'll be able to do the FFXIII quests to get themed gear until the 10th.

 

[finalark]

This news is a week old but I figured it that it was interesting enough to be worth posting.

Squeenix is hiring to build an entirely new staff for a team that will work exclusively on console RPGs. Aside from that nothing else is known about what they'll be making. Maybe we'll see Squeenix bring back an old IP or take a gamble on a new one? Only time will tell. Hopefully we'll see the long awaited third Chrono game.

http://www.novacrystallis.com/2014/...for-new-studio-focusing-on-home-console-rpgs/

 

[finalark]

GET QUAD POSTED FF THREAD

Anyway, Kotaku posted this and it seemed like fun so I thought I'd share.

Short version, the challenging is to make a mixtape of your favorite FF tracks, in this order following these rules:

1. Opening/Prelude
2. Town Theme
3. Overworld/Map Theme
4. Character Theme 1
5. Character Theme 2
6. Villain Theme
7. Battle Theme
8. Trouble/Tragedy/Major Event Music
9. Boss Theme
10. Chocobo Theme
11. Airship Theme (really not sure why this is on here given that IMO none of the airship music was ever particularly memorable)
12. World in Crisis/Heroic resolve (although I think "inspiring theme" might fight better here).
13. Final Dungeon
14. First Stage Boss music (this is so goddamn ambiguous I'm just going to interpenetrate it as unique boss music)
15. Final Boss Theme
16. Ending Theme

Here's my list:

1. Liberi Fatali from FFVIII
2. Town from FFI
3. Ahead on Our Way from FFV
4. Rose of May from FFIX
5. The Man With the Machine Gun from FFVIII (not sure if this counts a battle theme or Laguna's theme but I associate it with him so I'm counting it as a theme)
6. Jesters of the Moon from FFIX
7. Blinded by Light from FFXIII
8. You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet from FFVII
9. Boss Battle from FFIII
10. Brass De Chocobo from FFX
11. The Airship from FFV
12. You're Not Alone from FFIX (although I think this slot seems to exists exclusively for this track)
13. Castle Pandemonium from FFII
14. Fallen Angel from FFXIV (despite being a cover this is pretty damn close to how it sounds)
15. The Extreme from FFVIII
16. Ending Theme from FFX

A few honorable mentions include Ranfaure from FFXI, Desert Palace from FFIX and Battle with the Four Fiends from FFIV.

How about you guys?

 

[Yasumi]

Is Type-0 worthwhile? I'm almost finished with FFXHD and while I'm planning on picking up Persona 2 to play through that next I'm curious to know if Type-0 is worth putting on my to-play list.

Noticed that you never got an answer, might as well give my opinion:

Honestly, no. I'm not enjoying it so far. I have the PSP version, and it doesn't feel like a Final Fantasy game to me. It has neat ideas, but I'm just not engaged in it.

Anyway, Final Fantasy. I was thinking about how I would really, really like a remake or an HD port or something of Final Fantasy IX. It's so criminally underrated.

Even though it already is pretty as it is, it would be nice to get all the modern bells and whistles.

 

[finalark]

Anyway, Final Fantasy. I was thinking about how I would really, really like a remake or an HD port or something of Final Fantasy IX. It's so criminally underrated.

Even though it already is pretty as it is, it would be nice to get all the modern bells and whistles.

I actually don't think FFIX is that underrated any more. At least, not compared to a decade ago. These days I know a lot of FF fans, myself included, who put it in their top 5 at least. Hell, I know a lot of people who cite it as their favorite FF game.

Really, I wouldn't mind seeing all of the PS1 era games getting HD ports. I doesn't even have to be super pretty million dollar FFXIII graphics. Just redraw the prerendered environments, update the models and textures and maybe remix the soundtracks and then I'd be satisfied. Oh, and add in some new content and voice acting for key scenes. That would be great too.

 

[Yasumi]

I actually don't think FFIX is that underrated any more. At least, not compared to a decade ago. These days I know a lot of FF fans, myself included, who put it in their top 5 at least. Hell, I know a lot of people who cite it as their favorite FF game.

I'm glad that most people acknowledge it's greatness, but it's still behind FFVII and FFVI in most people's eyes. Coming from someone who absolutely adores FFVII, FFIX is just a better game than both of them put together. If FFIX isn't the most popular in the series, then it's still underrated in my book. -shrug-

Really, I wouldn't mind seeing all of the PS1 era games getting HD ports. I doesn't even have to be super pretty million dollar FFXIII graphics. Just redraw the prerendered environments, update the models and textures and maybe remix the soundtracks and then I'd be satisfied. Oh, and add in some new content and voice acting for key scenes. That would be great too.

Absolutely. Same with some of the Dragon Quest games. If the PS1/PS2 games were just updated, with a modern resolution and updated graphics, I would definitely buy them. Games get remade and ported all the time in this generation, so why should the Final Fantasy games go without this? I grew up with them, and they defined my gaming tastes. Newer players should have that right too.

 

[Minato]

Yeah, FFIX has garnered that following where it's not underrated anymore.

I love the game, but my biggest problems were slower battles (iirc I think the battle director wanted it fast but Sakaguchi said no) and the last boss. A smaller problem is that the card game isn't nearly as fun as VIII's lol.

Remasters of PS1 FFs would be difficult due to all the prerendered backgrounds. That's usually a big deterrent.

Edit: I suppose they could redraw them, but that's basically ever room in the game. But who knows, Square can do it if they're determined. They did something similar with KH1 after losing all the assets and recreating them.

 

[Yasumi]

Yeah, FFIX has garnered that following where it's not underrated anymore.

I love the game, but my biggest problems were slower battles (iirc I think the battle director wanted it fast but Sakaguchi said no) and the last boss. A smaller problem is that the card game isn't nearly as fun as VIII's lol.

Remasters of PS1 FFs would be difficult due to all the prerendered backgrounds. That's usually a big deterrent.

Edit: I suppose they could redraw them, but that's basically ever room in the game. But who knows, Square can do it if they're determined. They did something similar with KH1 after losing all the assets and recreating them.

Definitely agree: Triple Triad > Tetra Master.

But then again, I kind of doubt Square would remake any other Final Fantasy game like that. FFX was probably just some kind of experiment. They said they wouldn't remake FFVII until they made a new, original game that rivaled it.

And to be honest, I think I would actually prefer a newer Final Fantasy game that didn't suck like FF12 or FF13.

 

[Minato]

Oh, huh... interesting. FFXV demo coming next year

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/09/17/final-fantasy-xv-demo-episode-duscae.aspx

Edit: Info broke embargo date, so the article is down. Should be announced in a day or so.

 

[finalark]

Yeah, FFIX has garnered that following where it's not underrated anymore.

I love the game, but my biggest problems were slower battles (iirc I think the battle director wanted it fast but Sakaguchi said no) and the last boss. A smaller problem is that the card game isn't nearly as fun as VIII's lol.

Not to mention the limited customization and heavy fixation on party composition. Which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that you can't arrange your party however you wish until you're a good 3/4 of the way through the game. I think FFIX's story and characters carry it pretty far, but in terms of game play it's outclassed by FFVII and VIII.

Edit: I suppose they could redraw them, but that's basically ever room in the game. But who knows, Square can do it if they're determined. They did something similar with KH1 after losing all the assets and recreating them.

Not to mention that the profit they would earn would likely outweigh the time and money it would take to redraw everything. Plus if the environments from the Resident Evil 1 remake on the GCN still look really good today I'd love to see what could be done with modern technology on HD consoles.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if Square is hesitant given that people have been clamoring for remakes, particularly of FFVII, for years. The might be afraid of backlash from fans with unreasonable expectations who want the game to be remade with the full HD glory as if it had just come out this year.

 

[Minato]

That Noctis dialogue at the end lol. That's right, "It's been a long time coming... Almost there"

Hype went back up again for me. Now waiting on the KH info.

Edit: Oh wow... http://kotaku.com/tetsuya-nomura-is-no-longer-directing-final-fantasy-xv-1635707308

Nomura back on KH3 then? I still hope XV delivers...

 

[finalark]

After working some long overtime and then having to punch out a paper that was easily the best thing I could have come home to. I'm really digging the world. It holds a certain sense of mystery for me that just sucks me in and really makes me want to explore. Unfortunately, I can't really say any of the main cast sticks out for me right now. Hopefully the world and game play will make up for that.

I am a bit worried about Nomura leaving the project. I'm afraid that it will end up like FFXII where the game changes hands so many times that some aspect of the final product suffers for it. I wish we got a solid release window for FFXV, though.

EDIT: Apparently, the FFXV demo is going to come bundled Type-0 HD. Similar to how Squeenix tried to boost sales for Dragon Quest VIII in NA by bundling it with an FFXII demo. I don't think I'll pay $60 to play an FFXV demo but I'll be watching footage from it all day that for sure.

http://www.novacrystallis.com/2014/09/final-fantasy-xv-demo-episode-duscae-due-out-in-2015/

EDIT EDIT:

Well, apparently FFIV Metal Geared its way onto Steam. Without anyone knowing. Seriously, I never heard anything about this prior to about two minuets ago. It just kind of showed up on Steam. Well, now you can get a port of the DS version of FFIV on PC for $15.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/09/17/final-fantasy-iv-makes-a-very-quiet-appearance-on-steam/

 

[Minato]

I feel the same, but that's probably the goal. Seems like they're trying to make the characters designs as down to earth as they can (for an FF game). Hopefully the characters are written to be interesting people.

 

[finalark]

Got lots of news today.

First on the list if that FF Type-0 HD's release date is official. NA is getting it on March 17th, Japan on March 19th and Europe on March 20th.

Second, we got a trailer for Final Fantasy Explorers which will be released in Japan this December for 3DS. From the trailer, it looks like a pretty unremarkable take on hack-and-slash multiplayer grindfests like Warframe or the post PSO Phantasy Star games. Although you can play as classic FF characters, so that's something.

Third, Square has revealed a cloud gaming system they are working on called Shina, which will be made in conjunction with Avalanche studios (LOL). I'll be honest, I am not tech savvy. From what I've gathered, is a system in which part of a game is always stored in a cloud allowing for instantaneous load times and larger worlds. As interesting as this looks, it raises a lot of questions about things being always online and online single player.

Watch the vid and decide for yourself what to think:

 

[sakuraZaKi]

Not gonna go into details, but there are a lot of funny "our new Shinra overlords" comments going around.

Also, fell in love with this again:

 

[Yasumi]

The trailer gave me serious hype.

I'm now excited for this game. xD

 

[Minato]

Tech demo of the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zj5Fu09izY

The game's come a long ways in the graphical department.

 

[finalark]

Some Type-0 HD news.

The HD version will add an easy mode and will drop co-op. Which is confusing, since not does online exist but so does split-screen. Anyway, apparently the easy mode will be added because of complaints that the game is too hard. Well, at least according to the guy a Kotaku who wrote this article, who apparently pretty bad at it.

http://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-typ..._source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

 

[Minato]

FFXV article http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...er&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialoomph

Not exactly too pleased on how the battle system is handled and wanting it to be casual.

He says he wants to make things easier. This isn't the news I wanted to hear. Final Fantasy's easy enough as is.

 

[finalark]

FFXIII is coming to steam October 9th. At this it won't be long until the entire series is available on Steam.

 

[Morrigan]

Steam? Am I missing something?

 

[finalark]

Steam? Am I missing something?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/292120/

Square has been quietly sticking FF games on steam. Hell, before you know it the entire series will be available on PC.

 

[Morrigan]

Finished X-2 at 100% for the first time:

Spoiler

After getting the bad ending on my first playthrough with like 87%, completely shocked at the "good" ending, even though I always knew from tiny spoilers there were to meet again, I never knew he'd actually come back for real and forever? I mean good for them but I think I'd like it more if he didn't stay in the real world and just remained a dream of the fayth along with the rest of dream Zanarkand.

Oh I forgot about Last Mission and the bonus audio thingy, I guess I'm gonna play those now and see what's up

 

[Warsaint777]

I was gonna post a general JRPG thread but I will try to be frugal and mess with this one.

Does anyone else here like FF12 as much as I do? It's just my favorite one. For several reasons. And I know that's not common.

Also I just got Bravely Default, which may as well be a FF spinoff title. But it's super boring so far. I just got the first jobs. Maybe I'm being a baby. Should I keep it up? I think the combat is kind of boring as well so far. I know RPGs always start slow.

 

[finalark]

Does anyone else here like FF12 as much as I do? It's just my favorite one. For several reasons. And I know that's not common.

FFXII isn't really my favorite, but I think it's in desperate need of some more love. The poor game had the misfortune of being sandwiched between FFX, one of the most widely liked games in the series, and FFXIII, one of the most controversial. It just got lost in the shuffle along the way.

Doesn't help that Square hardly acknowledges its existence. At least FFIX has a fierce cult following these days. Poor XII is usually forgotten about.

Also I just got Bravely Default, which may as well be a FF spinoff title. But it's super boring so far. I just got the first jobs. Maybe I'm being a baby. Should I keep it up? I think the combat is kind of boring as well so far. I know RPGs always start slow.

Your enjoyment of Bravely Default is going to depend on how you answer these questions: What screams JRPG to you? A group of heroes going on an epic, world-spanning quest to stop a great evil usually clad in armor or surreal, metaphysical plots with dark themes and highly introspective protagonists?

And how much do you like FFIII and/or FFV?

 

[Minato]

I was gonna post a general JRPG thread but I will try to be frugal and mess with this one.

Does anyone else here like FF12 as much as I do? It's just my favorite one. For several reasons. And I know that's not common.

Also I just got Bravely Default, which may as well be a FF spinoff title. But it's super boring so far. I just got the first jobs. Maybe I'm being a baby. Should I keep it up? I think the combat is kind of boring as well so far. I know RPGs always start slow.

My thoughts on XII is rather interesting. I liked the beginning, then I started disliking it as the game went on. Looking back on it though, I'm appreciating it more and more again and would love a PS3/Vita port. The game has a lot of places to explore, and it grants you a lot of freedom compared to other FF games.

As much as I like it, it won't be my favorite. Just like FFXV right now, it suffered from development issues. XII is the FF where I'll always wonder how it could've been if it went with Matsuno's original vision. You can see the game's story decline as it went on and the scope getting smaller and smaller. Reading interviews of Matsuno and knowing that they rushed it up towards the end, Square changed a lot about the game.

I might have to dig up these interviews again since they're really interesting. Matsuno discusses how game development has changed. Back in his old games, the director could have full control and think up all the ideas. Nowadays, different ideas are all thrown together from many different people. The protagonist switch and the giant enemy airship were from other people.


Edit: As for XIII, I tried giving it more chances. It's definitely not a bad game, but it's not FF quality imo aside from the music and graphics.

 

[Warsaint777]

FFXII isn't really my favorite, but I think it's in desperate need of some more love. The poor game had the misfortune of being sandwiched between FFX, one of the most widely liked games in the series, and FFXIII, one of the most controversial. It just got lost in the shuffle along the way.

Doesn't help that Square hardly acknowledges its existence. At least FFIX has a fierce cult following these days. Poor XII is usually forgotten about.

My entire college life I was like, deeply confused as to why ff12 was never talked about, never advertised, it just kind of "showed up". Like even literally, for me, I just FOUND it, a copy of brother's. I was like I like the ff series I'll try it. Wound up loving it. The airships and epic battles, the summon designs, versatile weapon system and open-ish world setting all sang to me for some reason. I always knew there had to be odd reasons why it was delivered to the public under the table in a way, all weirdly quiet-like.

Your enjoyment of Bravely Default is going to depend on how you answer these questions: What screams JRPG to you? A group of heroes going on an epic, world-spanning quest to stop a great evil usually clad in armor or surreal, metaphysical plots with dark themes and highly introspective protagonists?

Honestly the former. I do like the weird ****ed up anime-ish plots too, but I'm pretty old-fashioned so its just the testosterone-driven basics of a JRPG that get me. Adventures, getting stronger, fighting monsters and robots, and virtual pretty girls to fight with/for.

And how much do you like FFIII and/or FFV?

Played the first disc of 8 on PC as a teen. Enjoyed it, wasn't great. Quizicotl (sp) was cool, haha. The technical aspects of the game were weird/boring. Also missed that you couldn't colorize your boxes like in 7--- OHHH I'm talking about FFVIII right now. THREE? Final Fantasy 3?? Oh man, so old, never touched it. Same with 5. I need more graphics than that unfortunately, Not that I didn't enjoy a couple older JRPGs like Dragon Quest back in the day. But aesthetics are important to me now, for better or for worse.

 

[finalark]

As much as I like it, it won't be my favorite. Just like FFXV right now, it suffered from development issues. XII is the FF where I'll always wonder how it could've been if it went with Matsuno's original vision. You can see the game's story decline as it went on and the scope getting smaller and smaller. Reading interviews of Matsuno and knowing that they rushed it up towards the end, Square changed a lot about the game.

I'm actually a bit worried about FFXV right now for that reason. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic. I like a lot of things I've seen but the sudden change of director (especially after such a long dev cycle) has me worried. Plus I'm really not digging a ton of the game play details that I've seen. But we'll see.

Edit: As for XIII, I tried giving it more chances. It's definitely not a bad game, but it's not FF quality imo aside from the music and graphics.

I actually really like XIII, despite its flaws. Although I'm really curious to know why the classic victory theme is nowhere in the game. Sometimes XIII feels like Square just wanted to to start a new series (which they totally did) but wasn't confident that it would sell without the FF name.

My entire college life I was like, deeply confused as to why ff12 was never talked about, never advertised, it just kind of "showed up". Like even literally, for me, I just FOUND it, a copy of brother's. I was like I like the ff series I'll try it. Wound up loving it. The airships and epic battles, the summon designs, versatile weapon system and open-ish world setting all sang to me for some reason. I always knew there had to be odd reasons why it was delivered to the public under the table in a way, all weirdly quiet-like.

If my memory serves, FFXII was actually pretty heavily promoted. Game stores were crammed with displays for it, commercials ran on TV, hell, Square even bundled a demo of the game in with Dragon Quest VIII. Once the game came out hype died down and people just kind of forgot about it.

THREE? Final Fantasy 3?? Oh man, so old, never touched it. Same with 5. I need more graphics than that unfortunately, Not that I didn't enjoy a couple older JRPGs like Dragon Quest back in the day. But aesthetics are important to me now, for better or for worse.

Knock yourself out.

 

[FinalArcadia]

Does anyone else here like FF12 as much as I do? It's just my favorite one. For several reasons. And I know that's not common.

XII was my favorite for a long time until I replayed X, but it's still one of my favorite games too. It definitely has a different feel to it in gameplay and story which I think might account for the very split base on it, but I would take every FF game using the battle system + gambits from XII. It was just that much fun to use. The cast was interesting enough too, it's a shame most everyone from that game minus Balthier doesn't get mentioned as much as protags in other FF games. I think that it'll be more fondly remembered in general as the years go on, though. Hopefully.

Plus, Ivalice... it had to be one of the most fleshed out worlds of FF. (and thinking about it reminds me how much I want a FFTA3 someday)

 

[Minato]

I'm actually a bit worried about FFXV right now for that reason. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic. I like a lot of things I've seen but the sudden change of director (especially after such a long dev cycle) has me worried. Plus I'm really not digging a ton of the game play details that I've seen. But we'll see.



I actually really like XIII, despite its flaws. Although I'm really curious to know why the classic victory theme is nowhere in the game. Sometimes XIII feels like Square just wanted to to start a new series (which they totally did) but wasn't confident that it would sell without the FF name.

I feel bad for Nomura if he was forced to leave the project. I know it's the director receiving the most stress in completing a project, but a lot was out of his hands at the same time. Versus XIII staff had to help wrap up XIII, then they had to help redo XIV. XV is clearly a different game from the one we saw way back, but I'm still anticipating it.

It is a bit weird to not have the victory theme song since it does have a victory theme after battles. It actually reminds me of when I played FFX. The ending credits didn't have the traditional FF theme thrown in the end like all FFs, so it was nice seeing it back in XII.

 

[Warsaint777]

So wait a minute, there was a power shift within the development of XV? Holy **** that is terrible news. I don't know many games that went thru that without the final product being underwhelming to some degree.

The thing that bothers me the most (honestly the only thing) about what i've seen of it so far is how obvious the physics glitches are in the midst of all this nearly photographically flawless texture and lighting and shaping. The more a battle sequence looks almost like a live action recording, the more obvious and unnerving it looks when a dead soldier's falling body phases straight thru another character, or like, an object seems to just barely hovering like an inch off the ground; things of this nature that we've gotten used to but will grow more flagrant with other graphical advancements.

I feel like I'm the only person in the world who is super bothered by the realism gap we have today between movement/physics and more superficial visuals like bumpmapping and high polygons.

 

[finalark]

Just got done watching The Completionist's series on Final Fantasy VII. If you haven't watched it, he discusses the themes of each game/film in the compilation and examines the story in depth. I don't really agree with certain parts of it (I still don't think that Advent Children has a greater purpose beyond just being blatant pandering to the fanbase, although I haven't seen Complete yet) but he does discuss a few things that never really crossed my mind.

Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXhG0MFmHmM&list=PLjPxbq8_wJ_0XcjKLPAWJgT6wzrsrx3Jj

 

[Morrigan]

Finished X-2 at 100% for the first time:

Spoiler

After getting the bad ending on my first playthrough with like 87%, completely shocked at the "good" ending, even though I always knew from tiny spoilers there were to meet again, I never knew he'd actually come back for real and forever? I mean good for them but I think I'd like it more if he didn't stay in the real world and just remained a dream of the fayth along with the rest of dream Zanarkand.

Oh I forgot about Last Mission and the bonus audio thingy, I guess I'm gonna play those now and see what's up

Decided to finish Last Mission and after listening to the bonus audio, I can't even describe this mixed feeling of angriness and confusion, like I'm genuinely pissed

Spoiler

For one because I know X-3 is never happening anytime soon, and leaving the audience with that cliffhanger is just wrong. I didn't hate or dislike X-2, in fact I really got into it and accepted the fact that Yuna wanted (and needed) a change, and I was happy with how Last Mission introduced a different view on YRP's relationship, but that audio drama, jesus it made me sad. I only thought it'd be a 3rd person's point of view of how Spira changed or developed after X-2 and Tidus' weird return but noooooooooo

 

[Warsaint777]

nobody responded to my post

 

[finalark]

A thought I had earlier today. FFX is the last traditional Final Fantasy game. That game is the last we'll likely ever see of what people consider Final Fantasy. From XI Square really tried to experiment with each new installment. I wonder if this was an attempt to keep the series relevant.

When you get down to it, FFXI in particular is a radical departure from everything the series had established before hand. Given it's nature as an MMO, that means that random encounters and turn based battles were pretty much completely out the window. Say what you will about the FF games and their linearity, but the series up until that point had been based in tight plotting (I mean this in a game play sense, although it usually also applies in narrative terms) in a very controlled envroment. Which is fine, but then XI threw that all out the window. Being an MMO, this kind of had to go. Of course, most people don't know this, since FFXI was an MMO a majority of FF fans didn't play it (hell, today most people either act like it doesn't exist or flat out don't know about it). XI really should have been a spin off.

Anyway, then we got XII, which is a horribly underrated game and doesn't deserve to be as overlooked as it is. XII took a lot from XI, which, again, is something that most people don't realize. I feel like Square had a very MMO-oriented mindset when they designed FFXII. The game also lacks the tight plotting seen in earlier games. Instead, it leads you very loosely by the hand from place to place. Ivalice is huge, and the game encourages you to explore it. Hell, I'd even say that the side content is handled much better than the main story is. Because when you get down to it, outside of the main story, the game has a very MMO-like progression in many ways. Doesn't help that they outright lifted 80% of the game's mechanics from FFXI.

And then we come to FFXIII. Regardless of what your opinion on the game is I'm going to discuss what it is, not its quality. Anyway, after moving away from the feel of previous FF games FFXIII feels like its oddly in limbo. It attempts to bring back the tight plotting (if it works or not is up to you) and intentionally recreates many elements of previous games. However, it simultaneously tries to push away from the series roots and tries a number of new things such as the removal of traditional towns, shops, and NPCs. Not to mention the battle system, which straddled the line between turn based and real time, taking elements of both. Again, the series at this point seems unsure if it wants to move in the bold new direction started with FFXI or if it wants to return to how things were.

Things finally come full circle with FFXIV, which I'm sure is going to be skipped over in future discussions about the series given its status as an MMO. The game celebrates everything FF, making a number of references and directly emulating elements of previous games. Interestingly, the series actually manages to return to tight plotting in the game's main quest. However, given that it's an MMO the game play seen in previous games is once again gone. This time, however, the game moves away from many of the dates aspects of FFXI and replaces them with their modernized variants. That being said, this still isn't quite FF as it was. Not to say that's a bad thing.

Now FFXV is on the horizon and Square seems determined to keep pushing the series in new directions. I'm not sure how I feel about FFXV right now, since every interview I've read about its game play makes it sound like a streamlined Kingdom Hearts (which isn't a good thing, KH was streamlined enough as it is) but I remain optomistic.

Anyway, I'm sure most folks are going to take one look at this and brush it aside as tl;dr but its food for thought.

 

[Morrigan]

Things finally come full circle with FFXIV, which I'm sure is going to be skipped over in future discussions about the series given its status as an MMO.

Like you said I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks XI and XIV aren't part of the main FF series, but more of a parallel "online edition" MMO with FF elements. The games could probably be named something else and it wouldn't make a difference, not sure why they decided to number them as if they were part of the single player series of FFs, probably to rake in more cash.