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[theofficefan99]

Trying to avoid spoilers but didn't think this deserved a new thread right now.

I've never played a final fantasy game. Ever. The platforms that I have that work right now are a 360, Wii, PS4 and PC. What's a good starting point/order? Have a ps1 and 2 but they're broken.

I like Sci-fi and fantasy along with real time/action and tactics/turn based so that's not an issue there.

There's no "good starting point/order." All FF's are different, pretty much. Just go with your gut and play the ones that appeal to you, gameplay and setting-wise.

I'd say the only outdated ones are I-III. And VII tbh wait for the remake.

 

[jb1234]

if the music in FFXV was good they wouldn't have to round out the soundtrack with 150 or whatever tracks from other games

I have my issues with XV's music (namely its overall lack of consistency) but this isn't really a fair comment. Those other FF tracks were included initially just for car travel and I was very glad to have them there.

 

[Psychoward]

I think it would be a good thread. There is always people wondering this.

Mayhe,it's just I saw this on the front page and I'm in no rush so I figured I'd ask here.

 

[John Paul v2]

Trying to avoid spoilers but didn't think this deserved a new thread right now.

I've never played a final fantasy game. Ever. The platforms that I have that work right now are a 360, Wii, PS4 and PC. What's a good starting point/order? Have a ps1 and 2 but they're broken.

I like Sci-fi and fantasy along with real time/action and tactics/turn based so that's not an issue there.

VI through to IX was Final Fantasy at it's peak. You can't go wrong with any of those. VII, VIII and IX are the PS1 entries and are playable on PS3. VI is a little older and on the SNES, so that's probably playable on Wii's virtual console. If not, if easily emulatable.

There's no particular order to play them in. All of those games I suggested are sci-fi except for IX which is fantasy. Don't expect much tactical depth from the combat.

 

[Type40]

XV is the best FF since X other than Crystal Bearers on Wii. I've played over 150 hrs of XV and counting, as opposed to a handful of boring hrs with XII, when it came out.

 

[yunbuns]

They're both messes imo. One is just less of a mess than the other. XII has a lot of shit wrong with it that people seem weirdly eager to hand wave away.

 

[MogCakes]

XII has a lot of shit wrong with it that people seem weirdly eager to hand wave away.

I have not seen much of that. Examples?

 

[theofficefan99]

Honestly I'm only 8 hours in but I'm seriously floored at how great XII is. I have some personal gripes so far, the camera is a tad too close, and I wish there wasn't a way to "mess up" your License Board, but that's about it. Honestly XII is like a meal at a 5-star restaurant whereas XV is McDonald's.

 

[Eccocid]

Trying to avoid spoilers but didn't think this deserved a new thread right now.

I've never played a final fantasy game. Ever. The platforms that I have that work right now are a 360, Wii, PS4 and PC. What's a good starting point/order? Have a ps1 and 2 but they're broken.

I like Sci-fi and fantasy along with real time/action and tactics/turn based so that's not an issue there.

Nah, screw PS1 era games even if they are good they are slooooow. Especially FF9 battles will make you sleep (i heard steam versions have options to play faster tho you might consider them).

Imo start with FFX. As story wise not my fav but it has fun battle system which is fast and tons of customization for character skills. You can start with 12 or 15 too. 13 series might have a nice battle system but they have terrible cast of characters and stories imo.

 

[ffvorax]

Hot take: XII is still the best JRPG released since XII.

No.

And Xenoblade Chronicles makes me realize how boring FF12 is.

No.


Go both play Persona 5.

Biggest problem of FF XII is the huge plot hole midway of the game...

 

[Alej]

Go both play Persona 5.

Biggest problem of FF XII is the huge plot hole midway of the game...

You wouldn't realize it's a problem if you didn't know about Matsuno quitting halfway into the project.

There's no plot hole midway of the game. There's a journey in there, and things do happen. And the script was certainly complete before Matsuno left.

Or maybe you talk about P5's summer snoozefest? Don't get me wrong, i've just done 140 hours of P5, finishing it a week ago. It's a gem, best game on PS4 to me... Until i got The Zodiac Age, though.

 

[Banana Aeon]

I find it odd that the best JRPG is the one everyone is using fast forward features to not actually play it.

If only every JRPG had this. Then JRPGs could be possibly good.

Go both play Persona 5.

Biggest problem of FF XII is the huge plot hole midway of the game...

You can't criticize plot holes then praise Persona 5 in the same post.

 

[theofficefan99]

I play using fast-forward about 90% of the time so far, but I have gambits off for my main.

 

[ffvorax]

You wouldn't realize it's a problem if you didn't know about Matsuno quitting halfway into the project.

There's no plot hole midway of the game. There's a journey in there, and things do happen. And the script was certainly complete before Matsuno left.

Or maybe you talk about P5's summer snoozefest? Don't get me wrong, i've just done 140 hours of P5, finishing it a week ago. It's a gem, best game on PS4 to me... Until i got The Zodiac Age, though.

I discovered of Matsuno later after playing the game... and it feels a lot of things happen and then suddendly nothing really important happen anymore until later the game... You don't need any information to actually see it... :\

P5 can have plotholes, but the story remain mostly full and choerent until the end, there is never the feeling of nothing happening in a certain part of the game for no reason.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

You gotta admit though. X-2 was hella fun to play. Probably my favorite combat of all FFs.

This game has my favorite battle system with X-2 in 2nd place.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Not sure about making FFXV look bad but I guess most games might appear that way in comparison to FFXII because it's an excellent game. A true evolution of ATB and a revolution in party control.

It is not without its issues but I take it over most FFs any day of the week.

 

[timetokill]

Trying to avoid spoilers but didn't think this deserved a new thread right now.

I've never played a final fantasy game. Ever. The platforms that I have that work right now are a 360, Wii, PS4 and PC. What's a good starting point/order? Have a ps1 and 2 but they're broken.

I like Sci-fi and fantasy along with real time/action and tactics/turn based so that's not an issue there.

If it HAS to be a literal Final Fantasy game, probably play 7 on PC first. It has a pretty great hook for an intro so I think it goes down the easiest at the beginning.

If you want what makes the Final Fantasy games beloved but in generally better games, try out Lost Odyssey on 360 or The Last Story on Wii. Both by Hironobu Sakaguchi, who was basically the soul of Final Fantasy until he left. The series has been sort of rudderless ever since.

 

[Angel_DvA]

Final Fantasy stopped being amazing with 10, everything else after it was garbage, I can see why people prefer XII to XV though, XV is really one of the worst FF I played.

 

[Alej]

Final Fantasy stopped being amazing with 10, everything else after it was garbage, I can see why people prefer XII to XV though, XV is really one of the worst FF I played.

X was linear garbage and the gameplay while interesting is a little too static for my taste. You can predict everything in it.

I prefer FFXII grandstory and rewarding gameplay over it.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

ITT everyone is calling their favorite FF as the best while listing others as garbage. Basically every FF fan in a nutshell.

MGS4 won GAF GOTY twice.

So can we use GAF GOTY to judge the popularity of the game now? In that case, FFXV was in the Top 6 in GAF GOTY 2016 and before you say it was because the game was closer to launch, the voting ended at the end of Jan IIRC so that makes a good 2 months for the game to end its honeymoon period.

 

[thetrin]

Its easy to appreciate XII more with the more recent FF games being kinda hit and miss. At the same time FFXII will always be the game where I fell out of love with the series. I've always been a big fan of the previous game's characters and grand story with gameplay taking a backseat. FFXII kind of switches those things around. Vaan is definitely the biggest offender of the cast and the fact that hes the main really hindered my enjoyment. He feels like that late arc thief kid character you get in an rpg that no one really cares about. The game should have followed Ashe. It would be nice to have a front seat for all the events unfolding and how they effect those close to the situation. Its not a bad game but it wasn't what I wanted from a Final Fantasy game.

While I would've been fine with Ashe leading, I actually thought of FFXII as Basch's game, because of the betrayal, and his connection to Gabranth.

 

[Isotropy]

No.



No.


Go both play Persona 5.

Biggest problem of FF XII is the huge plot hole midway of the game...

There's no "plot hole".

A plot hole is where there's something in the story that contradicts the logic of the rest of it, and is never resolved, and thus the story makes no sense.

FFXII doesn't have anything like that, it's issue is that the middle third of the game had a series of large fields and dungeons without enough cutscenes while the party

Spoiler

hunts down the crystal shards

. Even if you find that section dull, doesn't mean it doesn't make sense.

 

[13ruce]

I thought FFXV was like MGS V well sort of great gameplay and in FFXV's case a solid world too, but the main story is okayish.

 

[nOoblet16]

The MMO like (but worse) combat in FFXII puts me to sleep, especially with the gambit system.

It has a good world but let's be honest it's partly a Star Wars rip off. Then there's Vaan and Panelo.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

The MMO like (but worse) combat in FFXII puts me to sleep.

The longer the battle went on in the original, the more boring it felt. Thankfully the remaster fixs it somewhat with the 2x/4x speed in battle but it only took them 10 years.

 

[nOoblet16]

The longer the battle went on in the original, the more boring it felt. Thankfully the remaster fixs it somewhat with the 2x/4x speed in battle but it only took them 10 years.

The worst part about it is that it doesn't even look good, and you can control the camera and character movement to do a grand total of fuck all during combat. I loved FFXIII/XIII-2 combat which was built around waiting for an ATB bar to fill up as well but it was more functional and looked a lot cooler. XV's combat is rather straightforward but it's considerably more engaging so that helps it a lot.

I can't remember but did the original have a bar for battle speed? I'm not talking about the 2x/4x speed up that you get from pressing L1, but rather the "Battle Speed" option in the config menu.

 

[T.O.P]

The MMO like (but worse) combat in FFXII puts me to sleep, especially with the gambit system.

Ye

For as much as i didn't like XIII and XV as a whole, the combat at least felt fun and looked great

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

Man... reading through most of this thread depresses me.

I like every final fantasy game for what it is, not for what it isn't. Most final fantasy games just want to trash on any other game that isn't their favorite Final Fantasy.

I love final fantasy 8, 12, 13, AND 15, which is high up there for me; all for very different reasons.

 

[BocoDragon]

The MMO like (but worse) combat in FFXII puts me to sleep, especially with the gambit system.

I've been grappling with people who have this opinion for over a decade, but in the midst of playing XII as we speak, I can't fathom it.

Setting up gambit logic is endlessly fun, there are a million arrangements, and it's interesting to see how they play out against difficult enemies... and it makes for a much more rewarding grind that eliminates the boredom of no-logic encounters in traditional RPGs.

The new version improves an already great battle system, and the 2x/4x modes cut out even more of the slog.

 

[Colossal Moo]

I can understand if the OP doesn't like Final Fantasy 15 but this thread is a bit harsh. Both games are good and I would recommend playing both of them. That being said, here is why I liked Final Fantasy 15 better than 12:

1) Final Fantasy 15 had a better plot. I liked the start and end of Final Fantasy 12 but the middle of the story didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Spoiler

I hated the visiting the imperial city and it also felt like hunting for the magic stones didn't make a whole lot of sense.

I played FF12 for about a 100 hours and I never really understood what happened in the middle of the game.

2) Final Fantasy 15 has better graphics. FF12 is a good looking PS2 game but it is still a PS2 game.

3) FF12 is a very good but it did get a little boring at the end. FF15 didn't get boring until I went and played some of the really bland endgame content (http://www.ign.com/wikis/final-fantasy-15/A_Menace_Sleeps_in_Steyliff). BTW, both games are very good JRPGs and I played both for over 100 hours.

I would recommend playing both games but if I had to choose one, I would choose FF15 because it's a better game.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

The worst part about it is that it doesn't even look good, and you can control the camera and character movement to do a grand total of fuck all during combat. I loved FFXIII/XIII-2 combat which was built around waiting for an ATB bar to fill up as well but it was more functional and looked a lot cooler. XV's combat is rather straightforward but it's considerably more engaging so that helps it a lot.

I can't remember but did the original have a bar for battle speed? I'm not talking about the 2x/4x speed up that you get from pressing L1, but rather the "Battle Speed" option in the config menu.

Not sure about it.

If anyone wants to see how boring FFXII combat can get, just see this Yiazmat fight in The Zodiac Age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AWeApcrKV4

Now imagine this fight without the improved speed. It was a slog and basically turned me off from game for a while.

 

[Dunkley]

FFXV isn't a bad game compared to like, FFXIII or Type-0, but definitely falls short compared to the rest story wise because the lore was spread out between too many different mediums. It's like they wanted to pull a Kingdom Hearts on a single game.

And too with KH, gameplay is nice. I really enjoy hopping back onto FFXV from time to time for that even after beating it because it's a fun game to play.

 

[Colossal Moo]

I can understand if the OP doesn't like Final Fantasy 15 but this thread is a bit harsh. Both games are good and I would recommend playing both of them. That being said, here is why I liked Final Fantasy 15 better than 12:

1) Final Fantasy 15 had a better plot. I liked the start and end of Final Fantasy 12 but the middle of the story didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Spoiler

I hated the visiting the imperial city and it also felt like hunting for the magic stones didn't make a whole lot of sense.

I played FF12 for about a 100 hours and I never really understood what happened in the middle of the game.

2) Final Fantasy 15 has better graphics. FF12 is a good looking PS2 game but it is still a PS2 game.

3) FF12 is a very good but it did get a little boring at the end. FF15 didn't get boring until I went and played some of the really bland endgame content (http://www.ign.com/wikis/final-fantasy-15/A_Menace_Sleeps_in_Steyliff). BTW, both games are very good JRPGs and I played both for over 100 hours.

I would recommend playing both games but if I had to choose one, I would choose FF15 because it's a better game.

 

[BocoDragon]

Not sure about it.

If anyone wants to see how boring FFXII combat can get, just see this Yiazmat fight in The Zodiac Age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AWeApcrKV4

Now imagine this fight without the improved speed. It was a slog and basically turned me off from game for a while.

So a battle where the party has max stats and you're fighting the hardest boss with max stats was boring? Do tell.

I wonder if people's last impression of gambits at the endgame is the only thing that sticks in their mind. I'm sure gambits are boring when you're overpowered and have set up gambits for every possible scenario over the course of 100 hours.

 

[Sad Affleck]

I'm confused, I thought FFXV was received very well but a lot of people seem to really dislike it. Is this a vocal minority or did the game just disappoint in the end?

 

[dreamer3kx]

FF needs to go back to the basics, Black/ White Mage, Ninja, Fighter..etc, make a awesome game SE.

 

[Eria]

I'm confused, I thought FFXV was received very well but a lot of people seem to really dislike it. Is this a vocal minority or did the game just disappoijt in the end?

Vocal minority as usual.

 

[Mister Megative]

I'm confused, I thought FFXV was received very well but a lot of people seem to really dislike it. Is this a vocal minority or did the game just disappoijt in the end?

It WAS well-received. Just GAF hyperbole at it's finest.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

I'm confused, I thought FFXV was received very well but a lot of people seem to really dislike it. Is this a vocal minority or did the game just disappoijt in the end?

Every FF will be hated by someone. You can never find one which is universally praised by everyone.

So a battle where the party has max stats and you're fighting the hardest boss with max stats was boring? Do tell.

I wonder if people's last impression of gambits at the endgame is the only thing that sticks in their mind. I'm sure gambits are boring when you're overpowered and have set up gambits for every possible scenario over the course of 100 hours.

I am just showing how the combat in FFXII is flawed and how somone can easily find it boring. People shit on FFXV combat but it was more engaging and fun but even then, it started to show its flaw for me during end game dungeons. Still, it was pretty enjoyable just like XII is to me, but not without its flaws.

 

[BocoDragon]

I'm confused, I thought FFXV was received very well but a lot of people seem to really dislike it. Is this a vocal minority or did the game just disappoijt in the end?

I think the backlash against it is large and mainstream. It's going to go down as "okay, not great". It really displayed the seams of an incomplete game in a way that's hard to overlook.

It's at least as divisive as VIII and XII have ever been, and I think moreso. I won't say it's in the II / XIII zone though.

 

[nOoblet16]

I've been grappling with people who have this opinion for over a decade, but in the midst of playing XII as we speak, I can't fathom it.

Setting up gambit logic is endlessly fun, there are a million arrangements, and it's interesting to see how they play out against difficult enemies... and it makes for a much more rewarding grind that eliminates the boredom of no-logic encounters in traditional RPGs.

The new version improves an already great battle system, and the 2x/4x modes cut out even more of the slog.

While that may be fun, ultimately setting up gambits is not the "battle system" but rather an abstract layer of control on top of it that you set up outside of the battles themselves.

You don't control what happens in battles but rather you control the layer on top of it that determines what happens in battles. It's indirect on top of an already indirect system of wait based combat, THAT is what makes it boring during the actual combat.

I'm not interested in seeing how the millions of different arrangements play out via trial and error in a 100+ hour long game just so I can go back to the menu to make some more arrangements and try them again. I want to be actively engaged in a battle.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

I think the backlash against it is large and mainstream. It's going to go down as "okay, not great". It really displayed the seams of an incomplete game in a way that's hard to overlook.

It's at least as divisive as VIII and XII have ever been, and I think moreso. I won't say it's in the II / XIII zone though.

How is their backlash against the game?

Have you seen the official YouTube account? Twitter channel? Facebook page? If you claim 'backlash' is mainstream, then there are bound to be tons of fans who are reacting there, right? Nope. There is no backlash aside from the crowd here on GAF which honestly loves to rip every game apart. The Last of Us? You can find threads shitting on it. Uncharted 4? same. The Witcher 3? same.

Don't point at GAF and claim the backlash is large and mainstream because the other social media platforms say otherwise.

If you want to see real mainstream backlash, just look at the hate Call of Duty gets to have an idea of it.

While that may be fun, ultimately setting up gambits is not the "battle system" for the entire reason that it's not what you do in battles. You set it up so that it plays itself during battles.

The actual "Battle System" is trash.

The targeting is confusing making it easier to attack enemies that you don't want, especially if there are multiple type of same enemies with similar names, just separated by A-D etc.

 

[kromeo]

While that may be fun, ultimately setting up gambits is not the "battle system" for the entire reason that it's not what you do in battles. You set it up so that it plays itself during battles.

The actual "Battle System" is trash.

Personally I think people who have the controlled character on gambits are doing it wrong but that's their choice

 

[Vincent Grayson]

While that may be fun, ultimately setting up gambits is not the "battle system" for the entire reason that it's not what you do in battles. You set it up so that it plays itself during battles.

The actual "Battle System" is trash.

Surely you can come up with something more useful to say than "trash", because that tells us nothing about what you actually don't like about it.

I will say that XII's gambit system is the reason I came to the realization that JRPG combat is utterly banal 99% of the time in 99% of the genre.

Someday, someone will make the game I want, where you fight maybe a couple times an hour tops, and most combat is about accomplishing something instead of just leveling or getting through meaningless foes on the way to the interesting ones.

 

[BocoDragon]

While that may be fun, ultimately setting up gambits is not the "battle system" for the entire reason that it's not what you do in battles. You set it up so that it plays itself during battles.

The actual "Battle System" is trash.

The equivalent of "it plays itself because you set it up that way" in XII is "mash X over and over again as you select boring and obvious actions" in other RPGs.

Don't mistake your button interaction with having fun in an RPG. Gambits eliminate boring encounters (after you've had fun setting up your logic), and allow you to opt in whenever it gets difficult (i.e. Interesting).

Low level mobs are what I find boring in RPGs. I think XII is beautiful in the way that i can program those to go away, and bother me when it's a mental challenge.

 

[nOoblet16]

Personally I think people who have the controlled character on gambits are doing it wrong but that's their choice

I am not doing that, but even with controlling the party leader with gambits off it's boring because it's not very active. And not to mention very very plain and boring to look at.

Controlling the party leader is literally MMO combat but without the separate cooldown for different abilities.

 

[theofficefan99]

I'm confused, I thought FFXV was received very well but a lot of people seem to really dislike it. Is this a vocal minority or did the game just disappoijt in the end?

I was going to say "inb4 "vocal minority," there's only hate on GAF, nowhere else!!!111!!" but it seems people beat me to the punch.

Overall, the reception was lukewarm. Critically, worst in the mainline offline series. With the fanbase, I would say a majority of longtime fans think it's mid or bottom tier, and rightly so. It is a trend-chaser with a complete lack of vision and it shows. New fans that didn't have any expectations, I could see most liking it. Ultimately, it's a "meh" forgettable game that is going to be the the most poorly-aging FF. It's already been outclassed by the dozens of games it attempted to imitate, and it'll only get worse over time.

Also, pretty much all fans of the game are like "well, yeah, the story sucks (unless they say "it's good but just presented badly" because they filled all the holes with their own theories), the camera sucks, the optional content mostly sucks, a billion design flaws, etc. but I had fun!!! AMAZING game doesn't deserve hate". So lol what does that say about it?

XV is a fun time killer at the most.

 

[ULTROS!]

The best example of real backlash is No Man's Sky.

FFXII-FFXV are not.

 

[BocoDragon]

How is their backlash against the game?

Have you seen the official YouTube account? Twitter channel? Facebook page? If you claim 'backlash' is mainstream, then there are bound to be tons of fans who are reacting there, right? Nope. There is no backlash aside from the crowd here on GAF which honestly loves to rip every game apart. The Last of Us? You can find threads shitting on it. Uncharted 4? same. The Witcher 3? same.

Don't point at GAF and claim the backlash is large and mainstream because the other social media platforms say otherwise.

If you want to see real mainstream backlash, just look at the hate Call of Duty gets to have an idea of it.
.

You're acting like a backlash only means it's being brigaded by hate posts.

Critically and culturally, XV is going to go down in history as a mixed bag. Some great ideas, but ultimately a very uneven and unfinished game in terms of story and execution.

It's not a bad game. But we should all put to bed the idea that it's going to go down in history as a classic. It won't. It will be known forever as a flawed experience.

It's in the II, VIII, XII, XIII milieu of games with uneven reputations, and I don't think it's at the top,

 

[Rad-]

I think FF12's combat is one of the best in the genre. It's also the only FF where you actually have to think tactics a bit and not just attack attack attack cure attack for the whole game. Unless of course you break the game by overleveling or getting above your level gear.

I'm not sure I understand the complaints about it not being active. I mean you can input every command manually if that's what you want.