Just realized my last (real) post was done almost two months ago, so... I think it's time I post this even though I haven't finished the game yet. Read this first before reading the eventual FFXIII post.
First of all, I'd like to say I am a big Final Fantasy fan (both literally and figuratively) - my first Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy Tactics, which I maintain is the best Final Fantasy game ever made. I first played it in 1998, but wasn't to advance past the first real fight until two or three years ago (when I had either played through the majority of or finished Final Fantasy VIII), when I realized I could click L1 and R1 to add more characters to my party. Maybe I should've RTFM, I don't know. Basically I hated the game for a couple of years before I dedicated a good chunk of my gaming life to it.
As I've already hinted at above, Final Fantasy VIII was my next Final Fantasy game, and my first actual jRPG (and RPG actually). The graphics wowed me (for all you young'uns out there, they were very impressive at the time), the music was superb, and all the travelling and free-roaming was a newfound freedom, before that I mostly played Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Tomba, and Twisted Metal 2. The towns were all great to roam around in, especially with the great music. The card game, Triple Triad, is tied with Blitzball as my favorite mini-game ever. What I really hated was the group of characters you had - I hate Squall and his gang of dimwitted prepubescents.
I played through Final Fantasy VII as well, which wasn't as impressive in my opinion (flame me all you want, fanboys) - it was graphically a mess with the cast and their fried chicken wings, the sound effects were still kind of 16-bit-ish, and translation was more annoying than hilarious. The first few hours of the game didn't help, as running around in a cramped city of Midgar was very, very different stressful. I was so annoyed that when I got out, I didn't do the history lesson with Sephiroth immediately - I just ran around levelling up and essentially trolling Midgar Zolom. As I didn't like this game much back then, I don't have a lot of fond memories of it - just that Tifa had a very, very nice snacktray. I plan on buying this game from the PSN Store as soon as Square Enix promises to not release a remake this generation.
Final Fantasy IX is better than the two in some ways, and worse in others. My worst memory of this game is the Oeilvert quest, when you had to split your characters. As Oeilvert had an anti-magic barrier of sorts, I brought Zidane, Steiner, Freya, and Amarant. Big mistake - the Desert Castle forced me to level the others beyond my imagination. This was the first time I really raged at being forced to split my party. Other than that and the slow-as-molasses battle system (which made Regen very useful), I really don't have any qualms with this game. The towns, in my opinion, are way better than those in previous games overall. I love walking around Lindblum and Treno even though I'm not really doing anything much to advance the story. Chocobo Hot and Cold is my top two (third) favorite mini-game, and the character development is really, really, REALLY good. You're not human if you don't have a soft spot for Vivi.
In between these games, I played Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI, but I wasn't able to finish them as the memory card I used for them got corrupted. I have to say, though - Final Fantasy VI is very good as well. The World of Ruin, basically made the game a possible 100% bigger (my memory card got corrupted right after I got Sabin back) by adding ruined versions of towns. Final Fantasy V is up there as well - the problem is that it came in the same packaging as Final Fantasy VI, which was better. I can't say any more about these two, other than I'd buy a Final Fantasy VI rerelease again, PSN Store or otherwise.
Let's move on to the PS2 generation, starting with Final Fantasy X. Let's get this straight - Final Fantasy X is my favorite numbered FF by the PS2 season. The story was very good, the world was colorful as skittles, and the main character, like Zidane from FFIX, was very likable. Tee-dus, Tie-dus, however you pronounce it, I don't care - I maintain my stance that up to this point in the series, he was the best, most realistic main Final Fantasy protagonist I'd seen yet. I especially like his display of frustration in Home (Bikanel Island). Just play through the game and you'll know what I mean. This is also one of my favorite cutscenes. Then there's Blitzball which, as I said before, is tied with FFVIII's Triple Triad as my favorite mini-game ever. It alone is responsible for probably half my six hundred hours of FFX spread accross six playthroughs.
So what did I leave behind? Oh yeah - linear as hell world with no actual overworld to explore. Later in the game (like, right before it actually ends), you basically get a map and choose which dungeon or town to go to with your "airship". Was it an annoyance? With the random battles, it was until you got your No Encounters equipment (easiest was the weapon from that dude that dealt damage equal to half your HP in the beginning) which was, like the airship, only obtainable right before the end of the game. When you do reach that point, though, it's like the desert you could only eat after wading through eight courses of sautéed broccoli (no offense t those who like that dish). This pain is also alleviated by the fact that the game holds your hand halfway through - until your first battle with Seymour, the entire game is a cakewalk.
While FFVII introduced crazy ass bosses, the Weapons, FFX was the first to introduce really crazy ass bosses ( to my knowledge - let's assume that I use FFVII onwards as reference), and not just a few - there are literally dozens of them in the game's Monster Arena, it's biggest "mini-game". Fortunately, this is the first FF game where you could do "crazy" damage constantly with no limitations (the enemies even help you do them), which balances everything out. If you equate this to Final Fantasy VIII, it's like beating Omega Weapon with Lionheart and Armageddon Fist (some reading required) before it even makes a move on your non-Holy War'd party.
In a related topic, the way you strengthen your characters in this game is through the Sphere Grid system, which was very different to the previous games. Instead of numbering your character's levels, the Sphere Grid numbered your Sphere Levels, which was a superficial way of marking your progress in the sphere grid. It is basically a semi-linear, semi-maze-like map of nodes that determine how you improve your character - some have stats, some have spells and abilties, and some are blockades that prevent you from branching out unless you have the required Key Sphere to unlock it. This kind of node is what initially makes the Sphere Grid linear - the Key Spheres don't appear until quite late into the game. The International version of the game, which was a rerelease with lets you choose a different Sphere Grid removes the first "locks" in the game by letting everyone start near each other in the middle of the board, all with access to the starting paths of all characters - this basically makes Kimahri around 218% better than in the first game around, and gives you the option to make Auron a spellcasting pansy.
Lastly, you control your summons (called Aeons) this time around. Before, they were one-shot summons. Now, you play them as if they were actual party members. When played, all other party members are set aside and you directly control the Aeon only (with the exception of a couple of them). You don't directly improve their stats like the others, as they are affected by a character in your party (Yuna), but you can buy them abilities to use. Still, for the most part their main use is as meat shields and one-shot cannons, and by the late game your characters will have grown far more powerful that their only use would be to see the beautiful summoning sequences (which you can also shorten by toggling an option if you wish).
Final Fantasy X-2 is a direct sequel of this game, which is a first for the series. I wasn't really a fan of this game, except for one of its most important components - the battle system. Now this is the best battle system of any Final Fantasy game yet. Switching around the diverse set of jobs (Dresspheres) mid-battle with the Garment Grid system was very fresh and (gasp!) fun. Your characters also had specific Dresspheres for themselves, which removed the other characters (similar to using Aeons in FFX) from the game until you reverted to a normal Dressphere (which for most people probably happened when your character died). The game also brought back character levels, which was kind of an annoyance, really. The game recycled (and in most cases, abbreviated) most of the areas in FFX, and the game is structured in missions, which was semi-linear - unless you finished a predetermined set of missions, you won't be able to advance in the story. One can argue that this is true for all of the FF games, but separating the story into missions removes the illusion of having a flowing story. Speaking of story, don't play it without playing FFX first - you'll be more annoyed.
Oh, and they butchered Blitzball.
I didn't play Final Fantasy XI. Let's move on to the next one.
Final Fantasy XII - the first Final Fantasy game to get a perfect 40 from Famitsu, and the Final Fantasy game notorious for "playing itself". The combat system is like an MMORPG, wherein you roam around vast areas and performed predetermined actions using the game's Gambit System. You basically set cause-and-effect commands in order of priority, which the AI-controlled characters perform. Wait, did I say AI-controlled? Yes, this time around, you only control the party leader, and the other two members of the party will move independently. You can change party leaders on the fly, though, so with enough patience you can set the commands of everyone. You can also change characters mid-game, so if your three characters die (or even just one of them), you can switch them with your other three waiting characters as you see fit.
The game uses the character level system like most of its predecessors, but also includes the The License Board system, which is similar to the Sphere Grid in some ways - to let your characters use different weapons, equipment, or even ablities and magick, as well as improve your stats like HP and MP, and other augments like speeding up and gaining MP while attacking. you have to buy licenses for them first. The License Board is arranged in a chess-like plane, and you can move to an adjacent panel by "buying" the respective license for it. This opens up all adjacent panels. Lather, rinse, repeat. Summons (Espers) are like in FFX, except you still control the summoner (and the Esper as well, in the International version of the game).
Arguably, what sets the characters in this game apart from the others is that there is no clear main character. Everyone has his story to tell, like in FFIX, but no one's story is really the central one. It really is like an MMORPG in a sense. The problem with this is that I never got to relate with any single one of them at all. Fran is sexy, okay. Balthier is cool, sure. I'm Basch fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca! Whatever you say, dude. You're all generics to me.
Now where does this get us, behemothzero? I thought you were posting about Final Fantasy XIII? In the next post, you'll see how all of this rolls into the series' first official foray in the seventh generation of consoles. That's right - everything discussed here (maybe except the mini-games) has some sort of connection to Final Fantasy XIII in one way or another. See you next time (maybe in a few minutes, if I feel diligent enough).
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