Jump to content

Best Final Fantasy story? (NO SPOILERS)


Funyarinpa

Recommended Posts

Final Fantasy VII has a predictable story that was edgy when it first came out due to the fact that it did something most video games never had the guts to do at that time involving main characters. In addition, it was one of the first RPGs to have a huge 3D makeover. Overall though, it's not my favorite and is actually pretty mediocre in terms of story.

Play Final Fantasy VI. The story is great and Kefka the antagonist is the greatest psychotic lunatic of all time; Sephiroth is just a garbage pretty boy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, OriginalRen said:

Final Fantasy VII has a predictable story that was edgy when it first came out due to the fact that it did something most video games never had the guts to do at that time involving main characters. In addition, it was one of the first RPGs to have a huge 3D makeover. Overall though, it's not my favorite and is actually pretty mediocre in terms of story.

Play Final Fantasy VI. The story is great and Kefka the antagonist is the greatest psychotic lunatic of all time; Sephiroth is just a garbage pretty boy.

Well, at least I have a $5 pass to call FF7 overrated.

Both games are normally 10 bucks anyways, won't matter much. Will buy both down the line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is FF X and X-2 not on PSN? I can see it on this page and it's currently 50% off and priced at 15$, that's cheaper than when I bought the original FF X-2 for my PS2, and that one wasn't even the HD remaster. :P 

It might be an unpopular opinion, but they're really my favorite FF games (X-2 being my personal favorite because it had best grills and I also enjoyed the customization of the characters a lot). Not that I play a lot of FF games, but they were my introduction to the franchise and it always amazed me to play them.

Even if it's not the best FF game, 2 FF games for 15$ is a pretty good deal regardless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favourite Final Fantasy game is FF7:Crisis Core which the prequel to FF7. The story and characters are just great, with Zack being one of my favourite protags.         
As for FF7 itself, while being too overhyped and not one of the greatest games is definitely a good enjoyable one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, you can't go wrong with any of the above recommendations (6, 7, X). I loved all of them. But there are some down-sides that make some of them harder to play now:

- the graphics in 7 look like absolute crap. First-gen polygon graphics = pain

- the voice acting in X is so bad it makes me want to murder the main character. Seriously. You can't even fathom it. If there's an option to get Japanese voice acting for it (I have no idea), then go for it. I tried to play the re-release a couple months ago and ran away screaming, though, and didn't consider checking for such an option before running away.

 

Final Fantasy 6 was amazing at its release, and it has aged gracefully. Play Final Fantasy 6.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the original PS2 version you can't change the voices (just checked now and didn't see any options for it)
According to this Gamefaqs thread the remaster doesn't let you change them either.

I don't remember how good/bad the English dubs were when I played the game years ago, but I don't recall it ever bothering me much, although I might be outdated and if I got it now I'd hate it.

I had a lot of fun playing the game back when I got it, so I still recommend it because I think it provides a good experience, but maybe it's just aged poorly and I'm spouting nonsense. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really love Final Fantasy X, for what it's worth; it probably is my favorite FF game. Characters and plotting were the best of any FF game, easily, and it had, for me, the most heart-wrenching scenes of any non-VN video game I've ever played. Story-wise, it's the right recommendation, and that's what Funya asked for... but when I went back a couple months ago, I literally could not make myself play it for more than a couple hours, because of that dub. I was really very sad about it...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

- the voice acting in X is so bad it makes me want to murder the main character. Seriously. You can't even fathom it. If there's an option to get Japanese voice acting for it (I have no idea), then go for it. I tried to play the re-release a couple months ago and ran away screaming, though, and didn't consider checking for such an option before running away.

There is an undub floating around the web.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favorite FF is far-and-away Final Fantasy 8. It doesn't get the same hype as 7 or X, but it's worth checking out. It goes on sale on the PSN fairly regularly, too! 

If you wanted to get a first experience with the series, I'd echo the suggestions to try 6, 7, 9, or 10 first. After your first one, my suggested list of must-plays are 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. 

The battle systems are pretty great in all of those games, so if plot is important to you, I suggest you read brief synopses and pick the one that sounds most interesting. Alternately, read character bios of the main characters of those games, and pick the one with the most intriguing cast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I only played FF7 and FF8, both are semi-cyberpunk-futuristic-idk-wtf-I'm-saying settings with emphasis on military-esque characters (FFVII Cloud's SOLDIER, FFVIII Squall's SeeD) and their journey with somewhat likable companions around the world dealing with day-by-day conflicts & shenanigans, eventually culminating into a climatic fate-of-the-world battle with the games' primary antagonists. 

7 had the better story, and 8 had the better characters. (Subjective as hell obviously).

~~

*Loads up my ancient Playstation One*

Apparently I clocked in over 100 hours for FF7 back when I played as a kid ._.

That's if you try to get everyone's Ultimate weapons and limit breaks and beat the superbosses and master all the materia, a normal playthrough should be half than that(?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Funyarinpa said:

I actually liked what I played of FF7 so far. Given how long-winded games these are, I will probably not be getting to FF6 before summer due to potential burnout. Is this game closer to 50 hour range or 80 hours?

Character models are PAINFUL, but besides that it actually has aged pretty well on Vita.

It takes me about 40h to beat each of them (my OCD/collector impulses are about a 6/10 in JRPGS, for reference).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Nosebleed said:

Is FF X and X-2 not on PSN? I can see it on this page and it's currently 50% off and priced at 15$, that's cheaper than when I bought the original FF X-2 for my PS2, and that one wasn't even the HD remaster. :P 

It might be an unpopular opinion, but they're really my favorite FF games (X-2 being my personal favorite because it had best grills and I also enjoyed the customization of the characters a lot). Not that I play a lot of FF games, but they were my introduction to the franchise and it always amazed me to play them.

Even if it's not the best FF game, 2 FF games for 15$ is a pretty good deal regardless.

Ohh, I've been waiting for FF X-2 Remaster to go on sale for Vita ^_^. You have good taste in best grills as well, so I'll take your word for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

Ohh, I've been waiting for FF X-2 Remaster to go on sale for Vita ^_^. You have good taste in best grills as well, so I'll take your word for it.

Not gonna lie, half the fun I had with FF X-2 was changing Rikku's outfit.

You can change each of the 3 main character's outfit by collecting dresspheres in the game which also changes the character's class and gives them different abilities during battle.
This actually heavily impacts the gameplay and adds a ton of variety to pick from in order to fit your playstyle better.
For example, Yuna, a gun wielder by default, can be equiped with a dressphere that makes her a sword wielder, this makes the playstyle with Yuna completely different and new AND you get the added bonus of having a different outfit.

I think this class changing system really makes FF X-2 shine through the most for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also really enjoyed FFX-2 - I think it mostly got a bad rap for having a weaker story, but in fairness, how do you follow up FFX and not look weak by comparison. The garment grid system was unique and fun, both in terms of gameplay and in terms of playing dress-up with Yuna (and Rikku and Paine, sure).

Incidentally, a rather similar system with absolutely marvelous execution is also what makes Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII a joy to play. The combat in that game is the best gameplay I've ever experienced, no question, and I'd probably be horrified to know how many hours I spent fussing with Lightning's outfits. It's a shame you feel obligated to wade through the vastly inferior FFXIII and FFXIII-2 to get there, and that the story is not too great... but it's worth it for the gameplay and the Lightning dress-up!

1 hour ago, Albedo said:

Best story? Tactics, by far. As a bonus, it also has the best gameplay!

Tactics's story is pretty vague, honestly, and it suffers from an often-incomprehensible English translation. I've played through it three or four times, and even done some reading of extra material, but even so I was never really able to grasp Delita's actions and motivations (which are confusing but absolutely central). It kind of feels like there were two different stories, each of them 80% complete, which then got merged together to make a single game. The gameplay feel is one-of-a-kind even among SRPGs, and the story is definitely interesting, but I'm not sure it is good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

I also really enjoyed FFX-2 - I think it mostly got a bad rap for having a weaker story, but in fairness, how do you follow up FFX and not look weak by comparison. The garment grid system was unique and fun, both in terms of gameplay and in terms of playing dress-up with Yuna (and Rikku and Paine, sure).

Incidentally, a rather similar system with absolutely marvelous execution is also what makes Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII a joy to play. The combat in that game is the best gameplay I've ever experienced, no question, and I'd probably be horrified to know how many hours I spent fussing with Lightning's outfits. It's a shame you feel obligated to wade through the vastly inferior FFXIII and FFXIII-2 to get there, and that the story is not too great... but it's worth it for the gameplay and the Lightning dress-up!

Tactics's story is pretty vague, honestly, and it suffers from an often-incomprehensible English translation. I've played through it three or four times, and even done some reading of extra material, but even so I was never really able to grasp Delita's actions and motivations (which are confusing but absolutely central). It kind of feels like there were two different stories, each of them 80% complete, which then got merged together to make a single game. The gameplay feel is one-of-a-kind even among SRPGs, and the story is definitely interesting, but I'm not sure it is good.

Really? Delita's the simplest character in the game. 

Spoiler

Delita's motivations are completely based on his initial social status. He couldn't do anything to save Tietra because he wasn't a noble. He pretty much says this when he's talking with Ramza in that scene where they play around with blades of grass. So, full of resentment, he decided to not be in a similar position ever again, that's why every single thing he does during the game is with the goal of gaining power in mind. 

2
2

The original translation was pretty bad, granted, but War of the Lions reads just fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Albedo said:

Really? Delita's the simplest character in the game. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Delita's motivations are completely based on his initial social status. He couldn't do anything to save Tietra because he wasn't a noble. He pretty much says this when he's talking with Ramza in that scene where they play around with blades of grass. So, full of resentment, he decided to not be in a similar position ever again, that's why every single thing he does during the game is with the goal of gaining power in mind. 

2
2

The original translation was pretty bad, granted, but War of the Lions reads just fine.

Spoiler

I got that, but it still didn't explain many of his actions to me. A couple of specific examples, although these are just instances (and frankly he doesn't have all that many scenes...):

- Delita's final scene, particularly, never made sense to me.

We also had a lot of random characters who just appeared, and as often as not disappeared, on the scene with little or no explanation. This was especially true around Delita: the witch lady, who seemed to be kind of important but apparently wasn't, makes a good example. Or take the whole fake Cid execution scene - the original translation, at least, made it pretty much impossible to tell what the heck was going on. Even the actual Cid character was almost as unexplained. I dunno, if I go read a summary now it'll probably all make sense, but I shouldn't need to do that; it was really hard to follow along while playing the game, with the original translation, at least.

The last point is totally valid - I had forgotten that the re-release was totally retranslated (I only played it a little bit, a long time ago); maybe it would resolve most/all of the issues I had following the plot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...