Great article about the Final Fantasy series

Retr0gamer

Found this great article about the FF series going through all the main games in the series up to FFX. The guy writing it is currently doing a marathon session through all the games and writing about each one as he beats it, he recently just beat FFVIII and posted an article on it. The finished product is going to be an article in the incredible hardcore gaming 101 website. Thought it was differnet to other more serious articles thanks to the writers sense of humour and I find myself agreeing with almost everything he writes.

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=patff

animaX

Great find! I'll check it out

Mark Hamill

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Found this great article about the FF series going through all the main games in the series up to FFX. The guy writing it is currently doing a marathon session through all the games and writing about each one as he beats it, he recently just beat FFVIII and posted an article on it. The finished product is going to be an article in the incredible hardcore gaming 101 website. Thought it was differnet to other more serious articles thanks to the writers sense of humour and I find myself agreeing with almost everything he writes.

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=patff

Really well written, this guy has put a lot of effort into it. I especially like the menu for selecting which article to read.

AlmightyCushion

Man, that guy has Squall down to a T. Mopiest bastard ever.

Kiith

Aw sweet. Now i have something to do for the rest of the work day. Lovely

jethro081

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Man, that guy has Squall down to a T. Mopiest bastard ever.

too right. what a rectal discharge

Vokes

Nicely written article. And now i want to play VIII again Ultimecia's Castle is really a quite superb end game area.

Retr0gamer

Final Fantasy IX is now up for anyone interested. Just having a read of it now, although really should be asleep

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff09

matthew26

Good read. Thanks for these.

Retr0gamer

Think the writer is a little harsh on FFIX. The story may be utter crude but then so was FFVIII and FFVII ended up that way after disc 1. I thought the game made up for it by just being a load of fun to play with great characters, nice references to the old games, by far the most polished battle system of the series before X came along and a decent abilities system that was a refinement of the crude materia system.

friend and foe

great articles...

i absolutely love his description of Quina Quen

Quina is essentially a lumbering retard who never really knows what's going on and will put anything in his/her mouth.

ftw!!

carbonkid

Funny cause its true...never warmed to him, even though he was potentially the strongest character in the game, it was just too hard trying to get your enemies hp low enough without killing him/her for Quina to feed on.

Remember getting a few nice spells for him alright ^^

matthew26

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Think the writer is a little harsh on FFIX. The story may be utter crude but then so was FFVIII and FFVII ended up that way after disc 1. I thought the game made up for it by just being a load of fun to play with great characters, nice references to the old games, by far the most polished battle system of the series before X came along and a decent abilities system that was a refinement of the crude materia system.

That's true. I also loved IX (well, a lot more than VIII). It felt good that the series went back to its roots for at least a single game. Vivi with the classic black mage look really brought back memories.

beautiation

Yes!!! Finally, someone else gets the Sector 7/September 11th connection! Maybe now my conspiracy theory of 9/11 being the work of Rude and Reno fanboys will finally get off the ground.

Retr0gamer

New update, unfortunately not FFX but FF mystic quest:

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ffmq

seraphimvc

goodstuff indeed!!:Dlike always,i check review FF6 first,he passed the test,now i have something to read when i am free

ChocolateSauce

HAHA...oh man, still reading this. His FFVII review is really, really funny.

"Her (Aeris) affection for Cloud partly stems from his peculiar resemblance to her old boyfriend Zack, who is dead, just like Aeris is by the end of the first disc"

Ouch...

Retr0gamer

Final Fantasy X now up:

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff10

Out of them all this one I don't agree with the most.

elekid

I'm not such a big fan of these articles, I mean he's spot on about II, IV, VI and VII but heaps too much praise on I in my opinion and is way too critical of some of the later games. How he can give both VIII and IX the same score of 3/5 is beyond me (IX being vastly superior to VIII as far as I'm concerned).

Machismo Fan

That guy really drones on about Voice Overs.

Retr0gamer

Have to agree with you elekid about his praise of FFI. It was severely outclassed by Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star on release in almost everyway but somehow became a hit in the states.

Agree as well on VIII getting the same score as IX. FFVIII really does everything wrong but is redeemed becasue by some miracle the mess that it is is actually kind of fun. FFIX beats it in nearly every department. The only bad point about FFIX is that the story is rather weak, everything else is top notch and it's a joy to play. I also don't agree with him calling it a 'gaiden' or side story, it's more Final Fantasy than FFVIII was. Nobuo Uematsu has also stated that it was by far his favourite of the series that he worked on so really not much of a 'gaiden' then.

I really thought he heaped too much praise on FFVII. There really is loads wrong with that game that he never pointed out.

Really disappointed with his handling of FFX. Can't see anything wrong with that game other than a few dodgy voice overs. The laughing scenes was absolutely terrible yes but the voice acting was fine in my book, not perfect other than tidus who was way too whiny. Have to agree about Rikkus voice actor. Tara Strong really is a fabulous voice actor and made rikku very likeable when a lesser actress could have bad her unbearable.

I thought the story was the strongest of all the FF games along with FFVI other than a few moments of cheese.

As for the loss of the overworld, I didn't miss it. They just got rid of something that was totally unnecessary to begin with. Other than the second act of FFVI the FF series has always been very linear games, FFX just didn't try and disguise it. There were plenty of sub quests in the end game it was just ruined for us europeans by the inclusion of the disgraceful dark aeons.

I can't see whats not to like about it. Wonderful storyline, excellent soundtrack, gorgeous visuals, decent voice acting, great translation work, a battle system that could well be the best ever in a JRPG. Yet FFVII with it's dumbed down battle system, poor antagonist, undecipherable bad translation (more of a sin than FFX's voice work) and weaker plot and yet that gets a 5/5?

seraphimvc

i think when we are reading the titles,we need to keep in mind that the writer expects us are those gamer who have played FF for a long time:we knew FF are the great RPG series already.he is giving something more closer to hardcore FF fans(not fanboy).

for me i wouldnt care much on voice acting and translation,since most FF i have played them in Jap version too:pac:i take it might be something critical when FF lovers to judge a FF game so.

the score something like a relative measurement with a deduce ruler i'd say.FF6 is higher than FF7,FF10 is 2 steps lower than FF7,doesnt reflect the standard like IGN/EDGE does.FF9 should better than FF8 but some bits in FF9 drag it down.the one thing i like this score is,if you think about the writer is judging them from a same height,which is impossible,since they are in different generations of console -his score is implying that FFX could have done better than FF7 in so many ways it is on a more powerful console ,thats why he focus on vocal/translation etc,some stupid mistake Square still make in 21th century.dont forget 7 was a big mission to light up PS's name ,how many gold brick they get from Sony is still not known.

so overall i kinda agree what the guy said :Dpersonally i will give FFX same score as FF7,he is a harsh judge really

noodler

I only read his X one there. Now I know why alot of people didn't like Blitzball:

"I haven't done the market research, but I'm guessing that your average JRPG fan doesn't have a stack of Madden and FIFA games sitting on the shelf next to his Final Fantasy and NIS collections. Big miss."

I live and breathe for the game-football that is-maybe that is something that FF fans and Footie fans don;t have in common. Fair enough.

Decent review-I prefer these things as a basis for discussion rather than the god's truth obviously. I agreed Belville was a cop out, I disagree you saw how the stroy was going

MASSIVE SPOILER: TURN BACK ETC






I didn't see the fact the Yuna had to die coming. I always took it that the reason the party wanted to keep you two apart was simply over-protectionism.




Its up there with MGS2 and FF8 for best intro's to a game.

Retr0gamer

I would love to know how the japanese translations compare to the western ones. Are they more maturely written or are the mature themes glossed over? I'd especially like to know for FFVII since the awful translation really takes away from the game.

noodler

Throw me some sample diaogue from FF7 that hurt your experience of the game.

8 and 9 suffer from the same stroy problems. They both start off excellently for me and continue this way well until their 2nd discs. The problem is their ultimate baddie twist-ultemicia and Kuja felt like cop outs.

Retr0gamer

I don't know where to start with FFVII's translation.

Do you wish to continue?

'no' 'Off Course!'

Anyway apart from that the really really bad stuff are Cloud and Sephiroths monologues. They are so overblown, badly written and cliched. Just look at the the 'dire'logue from cloud after Aeris dies. Even George Lucas couldn't write that rubbish. If that was in a film I'd be cringing watching it. The sad thing is that it's probably mostly down to the bad translation but I'm pretty sure the japanese version was a bit overblown as well.

As for FFVIII, well on top of a translation that is even worse than FFVII it has a god awful storyline and hateful characters don't help matters. Example of the bile spewed by the FFVIII characters:

'sup Squall, Fuijins gonna treat you, OK?

I thought FFIX had an excellent translation. The story was never the best but it was an old school FF game, the story wasn't the focus of the game. Characters were excellent though.

The baddies in both games I agree weren't great especially Ultimecia and 'pulling a Necron'.

If you want to see how a translation should be done play Vagrant Story or Panzer Dragoon Saga. Actually for PDS the translator only had a rudimentary understanding of jaanese and a rough outline of the story but still managed to convey everything in the story with some natural dialogue.

I hated Blitzball but then I've never liked sports games.

noodler

I never once batted an eyelid at the whole "my eyes are burning, my throat is numb.." etc etc stuff to be honest. The biggest problems are with the main story devices (the upper levels I mean (Seph-meteor-jenova etc) but as noted its the same problem with FF8 and 9.

Another thing theres, accroidng to that article, 3 times as much dialgoue in FF7 than FF6-I guess it made the whole thing tougher not that I'm excusing it.

Again though, nothing wrong with 8's storyline for me BEFORE the floating Garden showdown (maybe the NORG thing was a bit out there but minor enough).

9's story I simply loved, the war stuff was so brilliantly done ( I also loved the three superpowers thing as opossed to one or two and they all had their individual specialities-Airships, sheer strength of numbers and skill). Again once Brahne stops being the bad guy the whole thing gets a bit ....F'd in the A.

elekid

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I don't know where to start with FFVII's translation.

"This guy are sick"

FFVII was pretty much my first rpg so I'm one of those people who holds it in much higher regard than I probably would if I'd played some other rpgs first. I found the poor translation endearing at the time but wouldn't stand for that kind of shoddiness in a brand new game these days.

noodler

I wish new games were half as much fun tbh.

GothPunk

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I don't know where to start with FFVII's translation.

I'm playing through FFVII at the moment on my PSP, which is my first time playing the PS version, and already I'm noticing how much the translation must have been improved for the PC release. I think that's one of the only reasons I'd like a remake of FFVII, for a better translation.

I really want to have a look at the FFX review, but I'm playing it for the first time and don't want to get spoilers.

I'm playing far too many games at the moment, of which quite a large proportion are FF games. I'm just about to finish FFIII DS, I just started FFIV DS and FFI PSP, I'm playing FFX on my PS3 and FFVI and FFVII on my PSP also. That's not including Final Fantasy Tactics, which has been put on hold til I finish Jeanne D'Arc.

For the most part I agree with the guys reviews, the FFVIII review is spot on. I havn't finished all the games yet though so I've only read a few of the reviews properly.

noodler

For your own sake don't read the FFX review GP. Not very impressed with Dark Chronicle by the way GP, did you try it?

Retr0gamer

GothPunk wrote: »

I'm playing through FFVII at the moment on my PSP, which is my first time playing the PS version, and already I'm noticing how much the translation must have been improved for the PC release. I think that's one of the only reasons I'd like a remake of FFVII, for a better translation.

They didn't change a word of the translation for the PC release.

GothPunk

Retr0gamer wrote: »

They didn't change a word of the translation for the PC release.

Have you played both versions? Because they most certainly did fix it up quite a bit. Particularly the bad spelling.

noodler wrote:

Not very impressed with Dark Chronicle by the way GP, did you try it?

Havn't had the chance to yet, I've been playing FFX, Dead Space and Zone of the Enders. I'll probably play Dark Cloud first though.

Retr0gamer

GothPunk wrote: »

Have you played both versions? Because they most certainly did fix it up quite a bit. Particularly the bad spelling.

The first time I played it was on my awful PC at the time at about 5 fps but that was ages ago. I thought they didn't really touch the translation. I think they might have fixed the bad spelling but they didn't change the context of the dialogue. I remember that in both the PC and PS1 versions the dialogue implies that you should attack the first boss when it's tail is up despite it being the opposite thing to do. Anyway could be wrong but I'm not wrong with the first boss thing.

Anima

Hmm I played the PC version also and I don't think the dialog was much different from the PS version. Could be wrong but its always been fairly bad whenever I've played the game Damn fine game though!

GothPunk

Anima wrote: »

Hmm I played the PC version also and I don't think the dialog was much different from the PS version. Could be wrong but its always been fairly bad whenever I've played the game Damn fine game though!

Oh yeah, the dialog is hardly changed at all, but surely you noticed that most of the glaring grammatical and spelling errors were fixed?

It's a lot of fun hearing peoples responses about the translation, because a lot of us seem to just let the game away with it, but if we played a new game like that we'd be pissed off most likely. How times have changed!

Retr0gamer

http://www.socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff11

Think this will be his last one. FFXI gets a hammering.

jethro081

well, i'll not be playing that then so. Just out of interest, have any of ye played it or any similar online adventure. are they really so bad?

SmileyPaul

thats pretty cool

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The first time I played it was on my awful PC at the time at about 5 fps but that was ages ago. I thought they didn't really touch the translation. I think they might have fixed the bad spelling but they didn't change the context of the dialogue. I remember that in both the PC and PS1 versions the dialogue implies that you should attack the first boss when it's tail is up despite it being the opposite thing to do. Anyway could be wrong but I'm not wrong with the first boss thing.

No wonder you hate it then!

The idea of FF online scares the hell out of me. I like the finite nature of the offline games, where you can play it a second game to do the crap you missed and that will be that.

I was addicted enough to RA2 online-can only imagine what kind of bad things a online FF (or WOW) would do to me.

Retr0gamer

FF11 wasn't the last one.

FF12 now covered:

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff12

The_Hat

No FFX-2? Probably a good thing. There's a game I never want to live through again.
Still great articles, even if I though he went on about the VA in X way too much. Other than the laughing scene its not too bad...

Mr. K

It'd be cool if he did a general article on the spin-off games. It'd kinda ruin his menu design though...

seraphimvc

i have to salute Sir.Pitchfork after i read his FF12's review just now.

tip to toe.he covered everything - pros and cons.everything in ff12.mygad!!absolute brilliant writer

never feel so content after reading a 'game review' lol the man spoke out all i felt and he tells me something more that i didnt realise.

*salute pitchfork* if i ever have a chance to meet the man,defo buy him a big pint of guiness!!

same looking forward to ff13 - ff12 was terrible,but still i cant recall which RPG spent me more time than it did in the last recent years!

seraphimvc

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff13

13's review is out.we pretty much covered what he said before but obviously he put everything nicely together.

Memnoch

Though I disagree with him about the battle system a little, I think he got 13 spot on for the most bit.

I think what the FF series needs is what's happened to Star Trek. It needs to die. It needs to sit on the shelf with nothing but nostaliga to bind it to our memories for a good ten years. Until the IP is just another catalogue for some company to buy.

And then it can be revived by someone with intelligence and passion, because god knows, the current masters don't have any. Until then, we all keep hoping for a great new final fantasy that will finally recapture our imagination the way the series did when we were first introduced to it while the money men continue to ride on the coat tails of past greatness while serving us watered down forumla.

Everyone goes on about how great the graphics in FFXIII are, well, I don't care. I wasn't that impressed, I get good graphics watching 24 on my HD TV, and a better story to boot (sad, 24's story is better than FFXIII's).

But the inescapable truth for me as a gamer, is that I haven't been satisfied with an FF since X. I might give XV a try, but that's probably going to be the last straw for the series to recapture me before the brand loses all value.

And also, shame on the hacks that call themselves journalists and reviewers in the gaming industry. They are a major part of the problem. If they had trashed XIII like it deserved, then maybe it would make the creators wake up a little instead lying in a big circle jerk on the floor, euphorically convulsing with their thumbs inside each others collective bums.

I also don't buy all this tripe about appealing to younger/new gamers. Surely a quality game is much more likely to tie someone to the franchise, or has the human gene pool been secretly polluted by some virus that turns todays teens into vegetables? (Maybe on the evidence of twilight, it has).

Xluna

Memnoch wrote: »

Though I disagree with him about the battle system a little, I think he got 13 spot on for the most bit.

I think what the FF series needs is what's happened to Star Trek. It needs to die. It needs to sit on the shelf with nothing but nostaliga to bind it to our memories for a good ten years. Until the IP is just another catalogue for some company to buy.

And then it can be revived by someone with intelligence and passion, because god knows, the current masters don't have any. Until then, we all keep hoping for a great new final fantasy that will finally recapture our imagination the way the series did when we were first introduced to it while the money men continue to ride on the coat tails of past greatness while serving us watered down forumla.

Everyone goes on about how great the graphics in FFXIII are, well, I don't care. I wasn't that impressed, I get good graphics watching 24 on my HD TV, and a better story to boot (sad, 24's story is better than FFXIII's).

But the inescapable truth for me as a gamer, is that I haven't been satisfied with an FF since X. I might give XV a try, but that's probably going to be the last straw for the series to recapture me before the brand loses all value.

And also, shame on the hacks that call themselves journalists and reviewers in the gaming industry. They are a major part of the problem. If they had trashed XIII like it deserved, then maybe it would make the creators wake up a little instead lying in a big circle jerk on the floor, euphorically convulsing with their thumbs inside each others collective bums.

I also don't buy all this tripe about appealing to younger/new gamers. Surely a quality game is much more likely to tie someone to the franchise, or has the human gene pool been secretly polluted by some virus that turns todays teens into vegetables? (Maybe on the evidence of twilight, it has).

Video game reviews often review a game on hype or by what people want a game to be like. I remember when many video game magazines considered Mortal Kombat three better than Super street fighter 2 turbo. Which has stood the test of time better? Most video game reviews could'nt review a JRPG if there life depended on it. I remember Suikoden getting alot of 6/10s in magazines. There was me on the day I bought it,expecting an average game and instead was introduced to one of my favourite series of all time. Same with Lost Odyssey, so many reviews with a 7. Give them a half decent FPS and they'll be practically jacking off on the video review. Modern Warfare two is another good example. It was a pretty average game compared to MW 1 and World at War,which got some undeserved critcism because it was simply set in WW2.

I totally agree about this BS of "getting with the times" adapting to new audience. It's crap. The truth is they want to maximise profits and the mainstream person tends to be extroverted and enjoys fast,short thrills,shinny graphics,explosions and wants to avoid reading dialogue-the opposiate of your typical JRPG fan. No wonder Lost Odyssey was given average reviews;" Oh my God. We have to read stuff!?" Sadly introverts are in the minority and as gaming becomes more "social" many big franchises will adapt games to the mainstream tastes to make more money.

OxfordComma

I headed straight for the FF XIII review (I've become obsessed with seeing what people's opinions are of this new game) and, while I feel he didn't give the game any credit for its battle system (which I enjoyed a lot, especially towards the end of the game) he definitely hit the nail on the head as regards the anaemic storyline and alarming lack of exploration, depth and fun in this game. I've become very disillusioned with the Final Fantasy series recently, and this article very much reflects how I feel myself about FF XIII. *sigh*

Aurongroove

tsk! emagine reading a music album review which read "I didn't play the last few tracks"

the ending in XIII was great, and the end game stuff is fantastic as well, and it's easily a better title then XII.
His writing abilities and judgment, I felt, were ironically mirrored by his appraisal of the very things was reviewing; his abilities seemed to peak at VI and VII and go down hill from there, by XII and XIII is writing was insufferable and, like his XIII review, I didn't finish reading it.

If I could add a P.S.
The one thing I did enjoy reading post VII, was his description of one of Yunalesca's attacks as a "telepathic bitch slap" I will probably steal that description should the occasion present itself

Memnoch

Aurongroove wrote: »

tsk! emagine reading a music album review which read "I didn't play the last few tracks"

the ending in XIII was great, and the end game stuff is fantastic as well, and it's easily a better title then XII.
His writing abilities and judgment, I felt, were ironically mirrored by his appraisal of the very things was reviewing; his abilities seemed to peak at VI and VII and go down hill from there, by XII and XIII is writing was insufferable and, like his XIII review, I didn't finish reading it.

If I could add a P.S.
The one thing I did enjoy reading post VII, was his description of one of Yunalesca's attacks as a "telepathic bitch slap" I will probably steal that description should the occasion present itself

I found the ending in XIII to be pathetic and make no sense. It was just fancy animation and graphics with no real purpose or emotion (hard when you have no connection to the characters), and the Leona Lewis song was horribly out of place.

Also your music track analogy is a bit of a fail, since he did watch all the ending scenes on youtube.

I've said before, I enjoyed the battle system and disagree with him about that, but he's spot on about the rest.

noodler

If you are going to review a game in any type of official capacity then you should play it through to the end IMO.