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AuthenticM · Sep 23, 2017

It sure seems that way to me. Uninteresting characters (except for Gilgamesh), super bland protagonist, mediocre villain and story. I haven't played much of III, so maybe that one was worse. But I've read that people who played it quite like it. And while the original Final Fantasy has a pretty bare-bone story, I think the end-of-game plot twist alone is enough to make that story more worthwhile than V's.

Orb · Sep 23, 2017

Exdeath is the best design in the series though

WhoaIsThatMars · Sep 23, 2017

aidan · Sep 23, 2017

I've always considered FFV's lack of story emphasis a feature, not a bug.

ScribbleD · Sep 23, 2017

Not in a world in which 10, 13, and 15 exist.

McMoneyman · Sep 23, 2017

WhoaIsThatMars said:
XV

I agree.

ASaiyan · Sep 23, 2017

In a world where XIII and XV exist, are we really to make this claim? Lol.

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret · Sep 23, 2017

Yeah, V is pretty bad. I'd put it even below II but not below III.

Philippo · Sep 23, 2017

WhoaIsThatMars said:
XV

XV has bad execution, but the story, the themes and characters in themselves weren't bad imho

Mozendo · Sep 23, 2017

I love V, IMO III and IV are the weakest in the franchise

Palette Swap · Sep 23, 2017

I enjoyed FFVs story and characters for what they were. They might be simple, but I didnt find them bland.

Plus, let's not forget the series gave us XIII, whose story I still view as as pretentious as it is dumb.

Opa-Pa · Sep 23, 2017

Such a claim feels pointless because the game clearly is purposely light on story to focus on gameplay. And even if the story is "an afterthought", it still has pretty fun writing, a couple of twists, and meaningful character deaths, which is more than other story focused FF games can claim.

Anyway I'd rather take something like this than other crap games in the series that actually focus on story and are terrible at it.

Halabane · Sep 23, 2017

WhoaIsThatMars said:
XV

OP had a typo. Thanks for fixing it.

True Fire · Sep 23, 2017

Don't drag III into this mess lol, I'd argue that it actually has one of the best stories in the franchise. It's such a pure and wholesome game. Like a playable fantasy storybook.

Dragoon En Regalia · Sep 23, 2017

V rarely has any pretensions, and openly wears its silly premise, twists, and ending on its sleeve. I started laughing at how predictably non-committal and devoid of tension IV became...and that's not what I wanted to do. Go earlier in the series and you get games like OG and III, which don't focus on story the way IV did (but also don't have the details of V), and I don't know enough about II to judge.

Uninteresting? Galuf will have a word with you. And Exdeath's not a great villain, but has some funny moments and engineers the final overworld twist so well.

Every game after usually has some bright spots and more detail than IV, too, even if you end up with mixed characters and confused world-building/pacing like in XIII and its sequels.

mrlion · Sep 23, 2017

FFV was ok but the gameplay and Exdeath makes up for it so its not really a bad one.

NinjaCoachZ · Sep 23, 2017

Philippo said:
XV has bad execution, but the story, the themes and characters in themselves weren't bad imho

Yeah, that's how I am. XV has a pretty good story and lore. The way it's presented could be a lot better though. At launch it's like a bullet point version of the full story.

Opa-Pa said:
Such a claim feels pointless because the game clearly is purposely light on story to focus on gameplay. And even if the story is "an afterthought", it still has pretty fun writing, a couple of twists, and meaningful character deaths, which is more than other story focused FF games can claim.

aidan said:
I've always considered FFV's lack of story emphasis a feature, not a bug.

I agree with both of you. V is light on story, sure, but it's a pretty simple, straightforward game at its core that focuses on pure, lightweight fun, no frills. It does what it sets out to do pretty well, so I can't really call that "the worst". The worst would be if they attempted a big, epic story and totally bungled it.

Firemind · Sep 23, 2017

IV tho

Morrigan Stark · Sep 23, 2017

Nah. Still better than VIII.

Bland and generic > dumpster fire

Stead Fast · Sep 23, 2017

Nah V's is decent, III to me feels the most forgettable story.

R_thanatos · Sep 23, 2017

In a world where FF1, 2 , 3 , 10 exist ? hell no.

FF5 is full of good gameplay ideas and those ideas did improve the way the story was told. it hasn't aged well , but it's quite cool.

The story might be weak , but the delivery wasn't

Eylos · Sep 23, 2017

5 is a final fantasy with anime tropes but its enjoyable

Nairume · Sep 23, 2017

Eh, III's is largely weaker and V otherwise makes up for having a lighter plot with a ton of charm and wonderful character moments.

mjc · Sep 23, 2017

V isn't BAD per se, it just kind of is. I guess that's kind of a problem in it's own right.

How About No · Sep 23, 2017

Not when the first two exist (though they were fine for NES games, I haven't played III so I dunno)

FFV can at least be funny and charming at times

Morrigan Stark said:
Nah. Still better than VIII.

Bland and generic > dumpster fire

idk...at least with a dumpster fire you can stand around and watch it for a while, just contemplating, "Huh. I wonder how this started? Did anyone call the fire department yet?" That is until the diaper fumes start getting to you and you just wanna go home

FFVIII has an intriguing and interesting world, but they don't quite make the landing so I can see frustration with the squandered potential

poodaddy · Sep 23, 2017

Cyan said:
It was before they descended into a full-on embrace of anime nonsense, so no.

This. V and III's stories are awful, but I'll take them over X 2's, XIII's, and XV's. They were definitely bland if inoffensive but at least they were tolerable.

sotojuan · Sep 23, 2017

Mozendo said:
IV are the weakest in the franchise

No idea how you can think that! I accept your opinion but IV is better than most of the games for me... and it's not because of nostalgia because i played it well after I played most of the FF games including all the PSOne ones.

BocoDragon · Sep 23, 2017

ScribbleD said:
Not in a world in which 10, 13, and 15 exist.

10 is not my favorite but come on. It's got a highly coherent storyline.

13 and 15 I do agree.

Squire · Sep 23, 2017

WhoaIsThatMars said:
XV

It's not even a contest.

PixyJunket · Sep 23, 2017

aidan said:
I've always considered FFV's lack of story emphasis a feature, not a bug.

.

BigPete · Sep 23, 2017

I don't understand the hate on IV. Sure it's tropey as all heck, but it's still an entertaining story.

Rpgmonkey · Sep 23, 2017

I think FFV is a great, somewhat laid-back adventure story.

It's not best choice if you're looking for or prefer stories like VI or whatever, but I think it has a lot of great scenes and setpieces with a great soundtrack to back it up. I think it's in the top 3 in the series for gameplay, but I also just enjoy playing through it every couple of years for those reasons.

Opa-Pa · Sep 23, 2017

This might be thanks to the great GBA localization, I'm not sure, but FFV had a really great brand of humor too that you don't often see in other games from the series. I was constantly laughing at the banter between Galuf and Bartz, and I found most of its cliché elements like ExDeath's personality very tongue in cheek, so in that sense its writing is kinda brilliant.

Seriously, I had such a great time with this gem. Easily top 3 best FF games.

sotojuan · Sep 23, 2017

How About No said:
Not when the first two exist (though they were fine for NES games, I haven't played III so I dunno)

FFV can at least be funny and charming at times

I am finding III hard to play after replaying IV, X, and VII. The game is not difficult and jobs systems are fun but yeah the story is "you guys are the four heroes, go from place to place restoring the Crystals and stuff". It's not bad just a big change from IV especially.

Frost_Ace · Sep 23, 2017

I like V story, never understood the hate. Galuph death is one of the most emotional on the series too.

sotojuan · Sep 23, 2017

BigPete said:
I don't understand the hate on IV. Sure it's tropey as all heck, but it's still an entertaining story.

I was actually unaware people disliked IV D:

poodaddy · Sep 23, 2017

Mozendo said:
I love V, IMO III and IV are the weakest in the franchise

Da fuck? I mean III sure, but IV? We don't speak ill of Kain and Cecil round these parts boy.

True Fire · Sep 23, 2017

Final Fantasy IV also had a great story. It's a classic medieval story of redemption that eventually turns into a sci-fi epic with spaceships and aliens. How can you hate on that?

I'd honestly say that the weakest story belongs to X. It was the first clusterfuck story in the franchise, and it led the franchise down a dark road it hasn't recovered from yet.

Stead Fast · Sep 23, 2017

poodaddy said:
This. V and III's stories are awful, but I'll take them over X 2's, XIII's, and XV's. They were definitely bland if inoffensive but at least they were tolerable.

To be fair, it all depends on what you define 'weakness' as. V's, and i my case III's is tepid compared to a lot of newer installations, but the games you're describing don't have what I'd call 'weak' stories, but blatantly 'terrible' stories.

kunonabi · Sep 23, 2017

Yeah, its down there with XIII and XV.

Opa-Pa · Sep 23, 2017

BigPete said:
I don't understand the hate on IV. Sure it's tropey as all heck, but it's still an entertaining story.

The writing in IV is legitimately bad, and the fact that it's praised as one of the best rubs people the wrong way.

I mean, personally I find it endearing and I enjoy it even knowing its flaws, but yeah.

Hilarion · Sep 23, 2017

V has a fun story with great characterization and charm. It's far and away my favorite Final Fantasy (IX is probably second). There's none of the ultra-serious tone of games like VI-VIII.

poodaddy · Sep 23, 2017

Stead Fast said:
To be fair, it all depends on what you define 'weakness' as. V's, and i my case III's is tepid compared to a lot of newer installations, but the games you're describing don't have what I'd call 'weak' stories, but blatantly 'terrible' stories.

Yeah I'll agree with that. They're communicated efficiently, they're just hard to sit through. Yeah terrible's a much better word for them.

Yohane · Sep 23, 2017

I love XIII but that's clearly the weakest story-wise.

XV has awful pacing and storytelling but I think XIII even is worse.

The only problem with V is that IV and (especially) VI are sooo good.

sotojuan · Sep 23, 2017

Opa-Pa said:
The writing in IV is legitimately bad, and the fact that it's praised as one of the best rubs people the wrong way.

I mean, personally I find it endearing and I enjoy it even knowing its flaws, but yeah.

Do you mean the translation or the actual story writing is bad? By now Square has given us plenty of new ports with different translations I think.

DarkConfidant · Sep 23, 2017

aidan said:
I've always considered FFV's lack of story emphasis a feature, not a bug.

This.

However it seems folks took this thread as a chance to shit on any FF games they dont like, rather than acknowledge the shift in focus in FFV.

Stygr · Sep 23, 2017

You forgot the X

10k · Sep 23, 2017

I guess you haven't played XIII or XV yet.

BigPete · Sep 23, 2017

True Fire said:
Final Fantasy IV also had a great story. It's a classic medieval story of redemption that eventually turns into a sci-fi epic with spaceships and aliens. How can you hate on that?

I'd honestly say that the weakest story belongs to X. It was the first clusterfuck story in the franchise, and it led the franchise down a dark road it hasn't recovered from yet.

I agree with this completely. X was the first time that I had completely lost interest in a FF game.

True Fire · Sep 23, 2017

Opa-Pa said:
The writing in IV is legitimately bad, and the fact that it's praised as one of the best rubs people the wrong way.

I mean, personally I find it endearing and I enjoy it even knowing its flaws, but yeah.

Tropes aren't necessarily bad. In many cases, I, II, III, and IV invented a lot of common JRPG tropes.

My problem is games that try too hard to be unique, like X and XIII. They invent a bunch of ridiculous concepts and words in a sad attempt to seem sophisticated.

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