I admit I have a pretty forgiving floor for 'watchable', but I had fun with Spirits Within. The CGI blew 10th-grade me's little mind.
Let's Play Every Final Fantasy Game In Order Of Release [Now Finished: Final Fantasy Tactics]
- Thread starter Omicron
- Start date
- Let's Play
I admit I have a pretty forgiving floor for 'watchable', but I had fun with Spirits Within. The CGI blew 10th-grade me's little mind.
- Location
- Amman, Jordan
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Ah, okay, did not know that, but it certainly changed Squaresoft and the face of the industry. Surprising how some AAA games these days come out with the intention to change the industry and yet fail miserably, while something like FFI came out a buggy mess at the right time and became a massive success that turned into a persistent franchise.
I'm familiar with the story of Spirits Within. Hell, I still remember how they touted the first "digital actress" of Aki Ross in their promotions. How this was going to be the first true CGI movie, yadda yadda.
Between the weird storyline that appealed to no-one (not the confused general audience who couldn't understand a thing, not the veteran players who got miffed at how none of this related to any of the FF games and certainly not the kids who couldn't understand a thing and got turned off by the overall dark tone), the uncanny valley effect all over the place, and the stigma of it being a video game movie, the movie bombed pretty badly. A common joke I hear when talking about Final Fantasy online (especially FFXIII) is "if you wanted to make a strictly linear story with minimal interaction from the players, then why don't you make a movie?" Turns out, movies are stupidly complex to make and are held to a much higher standard than video games.
Egleris
Vagrant Dragon
- Location
- Italy
Yeah, as said before, one of the big things that are an albatross around the Final Fantasy series neck is they desperate desire to be "cinematic". In some case that can lead to pretty amazing things, but in other cases it leads to decisions that are really bad ideas. FFIV is in fact a perfect example of both. And that same mentality is what lead to the disaster that was Spirits Within; I think a Final Fantasy film could work (although a TV series would likely be a better venue for this kind of story), but not if handled without considering the differences in medium and the demands that switching mediums imposes on a creator.
Unrelated, I want to second the Project Aon recommendation; Gamebooks were hard to come by in Italy so I only was able to read a few titles without connection to each other when I was a kid (loving every one), so having the ability to download the entire Lone Wolf series (which is great) and being able to play it in the much more practical hypertext version was extremely fun to me, and I'd recommend it to everyone.
Unrelated, I want to second the Project Aon recommendation; Gamebooks were hard to come by in Italy so I only was able to read a few titles without connection to each other when I was a kid (loving every one), so having the ability to download the entire Lone Wolf series (which is great) and being able to play it in the much more practical hypertext version was extremely fun to me, and I'd recommend it to everyone.
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SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
While I agree both could theoretically work, Final Fantasy Unlimited proved they're not great at making TV series either.
Egleris
Vagrant Dragon
- Location
- Italy
Yeah, and that just proves the point: different mediums require different approaches. The teams working on those projects clearly had the same problem (of not understanding that what works in video games often won't work in movie/tv series) that some of the people working on the main series had in the other direction, that what works in movies often won't work in video games.
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- Location
- Amman, Jordan
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
It's because of how the medium(s) work. Movies and TV series are pretty much linear in tone and require a clear setup, arc, and climax, while video games are more interactive and require more user participation in order to sell themselves. A video game designer approaching movie design is going to realize he'll need different tricks to draw in the audience, since the main character of a video game is going to generally be a blank slate for the player to inhabit, or the player has time to get to understand the PC better and like them more (or, in cases like Spec Ops the Line, understand the true depravity of the protagonist). A TV show or movie can't do that; they have a set amount of time to define the main character(s), and while aspects and parts of their past and personality can be explored later, there's only so much you can explore while needing to cover the plot.
Kadmus
Dragon's teeth are surprisingly hard to sow
- Location
- Devon
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Also a movie/tv series doesn't have the core engagement mechanic that drives games, which is personal interaction creating attachment. A game can get away with subpar storytelling by being fun to play, but a movie lives and dies on the plot and characters.
And I don't think I've played a single Final Fantasy game where the story rose to 'excellent'. Some of them manage 'good'.
And I don't think I've played a single Final Fantasy game where the story rose to 'excellent'. Some of them manage 'good'.
Wait, WHAT ? Some were doing that ? You just destroyed one part of my childhood...
Same. I never get why people dislike it this much. It's far from being perfect, but I find it kinda honest on what it gives. And the CGI is still good even for today which is kinda impressive.
I had the same problem on my second playthrought. Happened in the Disc 3 in the middle of
the moon tear fall
My solution was to hit the PS1 or moving it to make advance the scene a little bit. To be blocked again. After 20 minutes of fight, the problematic passage was done and everything was fine after.
I suppose that the compression and the length of these cutscenes make the CD very sensitive to scratch at this time, as it happened to us everytime in these kind of cutscene.
Otherwise, my relationship with Final Fantasy is kinda like this :
- in love with the 6
- in love with the 8 (totally fine with the system)
- I find 7 painful for my eyes because I have played it very late (not fond of the materia system too because I find it was a downgrade of the 6). And between Sephiroth and Cloud, I don't know which one should be considered as the most looser. A ton of their actions make no sense for me.
- For the 9, I have a lot of problem with it. Game systems, THE NAME OF THE HERO, the main song, THE NAME OF THE HERO, the hero, THE NAME OF THE HERO, DID I TELL YOU HOW MUCH I HATE THE NAME OF THE HERO, SURE, BECAUSE I CAN TELL YOU MORE HOW MUCH I HATE THE NAME OF THE HERO.
- The 10 was mostly fine. Except for the blindness of Tidus about what happening around him and the fact that I begin to find the design of big vilain way too exigerated and similar (look, you see Seymour, YOU KNOW he is a bad guy. TOTALLY. Which is a little disappointing), but well, the rest was good enough to compensate.
- 10-2 is... Shocking at the beginning. I need time to enter in it, because after the seriousness of the previous, this following is... Difficult to digest. But when you accept that you will play "dumb girls doing dumb things to help a boy's band friend", things go smoother. And the game system is interesting too.
- 11, I have dreamed to play it, never touch it, sadly....
- 12, almost no memory except : the person who have made the Ridonara lighthouse should be punished by heaven and gambits were cool.
- For the three games about 13, it's the same, almost no memories about it. Maybe I begin to lose memory because I grow old. Though, truth is, I still have a little memory about it. But you see, it's about Serah, and it's about a particurlaly movie about her and not something you can find in the game. Soso.
- In love with 14. And if I will not have to stop playing it 2 years ago because a displeasant disease, I would have have 5000 hours of play on it today, I mean the type of guy who will not do glamour, but will pass hours in grinding Eureka, fishing legendary fishes, make plants grow and making all the side-stories. Meaning I have never have the opportunities to do salvage or finish Bahamuth because I am super slow at doing content that people almost don't do them anymore or in super-saiyan level who makes everything a little bit to easy and tedious. Well, I still hope to continue the story one day, even if I have been a little bit disappointed at the end of Stormblood with the whole "People who are supposed to be dead and finally not dead" trope which I find kinda boring and doesn't push to engage myself with the rest of the story (and the fact I have a huge to-game list which is waiting for me).
But I know, one day, I will do it. Would be pleasant to finally find a nice and chill and devoted to everything in the game company to find when that happens too. Let's hope !
Well, the fun fact, even if I say I dislike some of them, I still have passed dozen and dozen of hours on all of them, sooo—
IX doesn't have voice acting, you could always just call him Morty instead of Zidane if you like.
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
My first, and so far only FF game that I've played (in it's entirety, I'm working my way through ARR) is FFXIII, which I entirely played with a friend on their console at their house. Great times. I was like, ten.
And... I loved it? I still think, though a haze of nostalgia, that it's a fun game. I like the plot, I like Lightning, I like what I think the themes were. Hell, Hope was a crucial part of me discovering my not-straightness.
After that game, me leaving that school, and all that, I basically managed to avoid all FF discussions for about a decade. And, so, given the summaries of people's FF experiences, and how it seems to be generally unpopular, that's kind of jarring for me, and I'd like to defend its honour.
FFXIII is a pretty good game.
And... I loved it? I still think, though a haze of nostalgia, that it's a fun game. I like the plot, I like Lightning, I like what I think the themes were. Hell, Hope was a crucial part of me discovering my not-straightness.
After that game, me leaving that school, and all that, I basically managed to avoid all FF discussions for about a decade. And, so, given the summaries of people's FF experiences, and how it seems to be generally unpopular, that's kind of jarring for me, and I'd like to defend its honour.
FFXIII is a pretty good game.
Connelly
As useless as a penguin with mittens
- Location
- Salamanca, Spain
Hi, it's here for the Spirits Within Enjoyers Club? I wanted to join.
Dunno, everything seemed easy to follow and understand to my then teenage smooth brain, and agree with the CGI. Maybe it was the mixing of fantastic (ghosts and Gaia theory) and scifi (aliens, lazors, spaceshps, space lazors) the reason why it tanked? Those types of cocktails seem to not do well. That, and maybe a dose of snobism all around both sides of the gaming divide ("Ugh, another videogame movie, another stinker, surely. Who is even this Sakaguchi fellow? Another parasite." "Ugh, where's the vidya in this? Where's the FF in it? Where are the Tifa bewbs!? Sakaguchi traitor!")
I'm sure at the time it was the bomb, but I'd venture to suggest it hasn't aged gracefully. First time I tried to play it, half a decade ago, it didn't just make my eyes bleed due to the shoebox graphics, the pace had me asleep one hour into the plot.
*is distracted from defending the song's honor to scratch head in whot*
Now y'all are worrying me, I bought the FF7 and FF8 remake pack for switch and i've yet to play it…
Egleris
Vagrant Dragon
- Location
- Italy
FFVII has somewhat dated graphic, but they're serviceable - you can get used to it in a couple of hours. It's also a remarkably good game, but it has a slow start - the really good parts are toward the end, and the first section is a bit meandering. I'd go as far as to say that the story only truly starts after they leave the starting town, which takes quite a lot longer than most other RPG. Everything that happens in the starting town is important, but only as setup, so it can be difficult to keep all those details in mind until the time they suddenly become relevant to the greater plot.
It's still a very good game, and while the Materia system is not the best mechanical approach the series has taken, it's still a very well developed one, with a lot of crunch to it if one feels like engaging, while also being easy to simply use in a superficial manner if you don't want to put the effort in, which is a difficult balance to strike. The game is not the best in the series no matter what your criterion for awarding that is, at least in my opinion, but it's a worthwhile experience and the further in you go, the better it becomes.
I cannot stress enough how much the opening section gives a completely wrong impression of what the game is like, and how anything that matters only happens after you leave the starting town. All of the thing that make FFVII a great videogame are a result of its slow burn nature, but if you can stomach that and the somewhat dated graphics, it's a rewarding game to play.
I like FFVIII more, even if I will easily agree that it's technically less competently made; it's a mess, but it's a real fun mess. It still holds up graphically very well, and it's a great game for figuring out your own way to play it - messing around with side-quest and all the lore and learning all the various kinks of the game's system is an endlessly entertaining experience, in my opinion, and while the story is somewhat hit or miss, and the miss are really big misses, the hits are really the greatest hits. I am never bored playing FFVIII, and I don't think that anybody who is capable of setting their own goals to pursue in the game would be; just don't let the game plot string you along, FFVIII works best as an experience where you take your time with it.
That's my take on these two games, at least; I'm sure everybody will have their own.
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GilliamYaeger
M'crazy.
If you can't stand the graphics of the original Final Fantasy 7, that's what mods are for.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKsvmuEQusI
Ninostyle here's spent the last two years redoing basically all the assets in order to make the game look gorgeous.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKsvmuEQusI
Ninostyle here's spent the last two years redoing basically all the assets in order to make the game look gorgeous.
GilliamYaeger
M'crazy.
There's mods for that too, believe it or not. There's about a dozen gameplay mods of various sizes, though the one I'd personally recommend is New Threat, and a few years back there was this big push to get all the games backgrounds redone in HD. (the results)
Unfortunately I don't know how to mod on switch and i'm not sure how worth it is it to try.
- Location
- Land of the Midday Sun
There's also a similar background mod for FFIX, to note. And for FFVIII there's a mod collection that retextures basically the entire game.
FF7 is a game where they didn't really do anything wrong. It's a bit ugly by modern standards because it came out at the beginning of the PS1 era, and the prologue is a bit slow, but otherwise it's just a very well constructed game. Its best parts are not as good as the best parts of some other entries in the series, but its worst parts are much better than the worst parts of other entries. Really, if you like JRPGs you won't regret playing FF7.
Can't help you with FF8 though.
FF7 is mostly kind of jarring because it's in that "first forrays into 3D" console era, where a *lot* of early games looked incredibly amazing... 20+ years ago when they first released and blew our minds. Nowadays, if you didn't grow up with them it can be a bit awkward going back to that, especially in a potential case like Omni where you're jumping from "intricate and detailed spritework that expresses a ton about the characters" in FF6 to "Popeye the Sailor Man had an affair with the Lego Company" in FF7. It doesn't make the game bad by any stretch, but it's certainly something noticeable.
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Zap Rowsdower
Ex-cultist vagrant
- Location
- Bright lights, big city
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Meanwhile, as an American who played FFIX as a kid when it was new, I was exposed to FFIX years before I ever heard of the Association Football player and so to this day when I hear folks talking about the Association Football player I can't help but visualize the short blond monkey-boy with a cravat
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's very funny because when they released the game in France they were like "that won't do. The meme will literally overshadow everything else about the game and no one will be able to take it seriously," and so in FFIX's French localization the hero is canonically Djidanne.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
Oi. Spoilers.