The better Final Fantasy game?

Gamer Bhoy 89

I recently got Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX.

I've played all three of them.

Mostly VII though i got as far as the last boss, yet to clear it.

I think IX comes in 2nd place for me as I've played it frequently and have gotten pretty far at the moment.

I haven't done much of Final Fantasy VIII though, I dunno what it is about it, but I just can't get into it as easy as I did with VII and IX.

I'll start with VII, first ever FF game I played, started it on February. So far it's my favourite, love the story and the characters. Didn't want to follow with what the critics said just yet until i played it myself and I must say, it is a gem to behold.

FFIX, love it at the moment. Pretty comedic as opposed to VII. (I'd love to see Steiner and Barrett have an argument lol.)

VIII, cannot -just, cannot- get myself going on this one. I don't know if it's the fact there's too much I need to memorize so early in the game compared to FF VII. But so far I've only gotten as far as

obtaining a vehicle past the start of the game

.

Anyway so;

VII: Unreal, enjoyed every second of it

VIII: Cannot grasp it just yet, I'll get there eventually though i suppose.

IX: I'm thoroughly enjoying this one more than VIII.

What's your favoured one out of Final Fantasy 7, 8 and 9?

(I wouldnt mind as to hear some things about VIII that might help me like it more lol)

Discuss!


EDIT: I also got Final Fantasy I & II for my PSP, grinding the hell out of both of them regularly, nice little games to play I really like them.

Mindkiller

VII is the best of the three. People don't like admitting it though.

You prolly don't like VIII because it's completely charmless.

Retr0gamer

Well have to disagree there because I think FF9 is far and away the best of the 3. FFVII's story takes a bit of a nose dive after disc 1 and the battle system is kind of crap. FFIX's story might not be as serious but I think it's better told than FFVII and its battle system is way better. I liked FFVIII even though the story is absolute unadulterated scutter. The battle system there is good because it's so much fun breaking the game.

None of them come close to FFVI though.

scum01

yea have to agree FFVII is the best! as far as storyline and freedom goes its better than most of the modern Final Fantasy's too!

I had the exact same difficulty with FFVIII! took me a long time before i warmed to it but as soon as you do its a decent game!

Fighting the summon monsters to obtain them is pretty cool!

I'd say give it time!

FFIX i loved aswell! The change of abilities and being able to "learn" them was awesome! Vivi was a hero!

Mindkiller

I think disc 2's story is hella cool. I don't think there is a single FF which doesn't jump the shark a bit in the story department, but at least VII did it with style.

Giant ass robots birthed by the earth sent up to wreck **** while a huge ass meteorite looms over the sky while Shinra build a huge ass cannon to blow up said robots.

VIII had

time kompression

and IX had that silly stuff

in outer space with monkey aliens or whatever it was

Retr0gamer

FFVII in the second disc just went too Evangelion for me just like everything else coming from japan at the time and in FFVII's case it failed. The battle system is by far the weakest of the whole series since FF2.

megaten

FFIX has vivi so it has to be the best.

carbonkid

Its a very personnel thing...specially with FF7 as it was the first FF or even rpg game for most people of the PS1/PS2 generation.

The best game for me is IX by far...in fact its probably my favorite of all the FF games. VIII is alot of fun but the battle system is geared more towards junctioning large sums of spells and using melee attacks. I didnt mind the story, for me its more important i get to like my party members. I really liked the

the outter space sci-fi elements to VIII

VII is a good jrpg game for beginners...the materia system is very simple and easy to master.

Aurongroove

VII: Squaresoft's "Star Wars episode IV"
VIII: Longer, realer, colder, harsher,
IX: Warmer, Simpler, fantastical, traditional


the way I look at it is VIII & IX were sequils in the same way hopscotch tiles sometimes come in twos,

VIII took one half of the series and XI took the other half. I dont think anyone would have noticed if the actual games of VIII and IX were swapped by a time traveler or released at the same time.

my personal fav is IX, it has aged the best and although VIII was HUGH when it came out, it aged the worst. VII is somewhere in the middle of this "how good on first impression" vs "how well it's aged" Duality

Laika1986

FFVII was my first ever game on the PS1. I loved it and recently downloaded it for my ps3 and enjoyed it just as much as ever the storyline is unique and characters are all class(although Cait Sith was a bit crap)

Aurongroove

did just the same.

I rushed through and played the game at it's sort of "natural" difficulty.
It;s actually a nice challenge.

Once I finished it "straight" I am currently powering up to kill the weapons.

K.O.Kiki

FFVII is held up by other people's nostalgia.

FFIX is clearly the best 32-bit FF title.

martineatworld

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

FFVII is held up by other people's nostalgia.

FFIX is clearly the best 32-bit FF title.

Why doesn't FF9 create the same nostalgic flustering of fanboys then, if it is clearly the best 32 bit title given that they were part of the same generation?

It's definitely aged the best of the three, in admittance. But to most it's just not the same rush as given by 7.

I've replayed both games since they came on PSN. 9 was better than I remembered. 7 was still more enjoyable for me though. That's basing them on my recent playthrough, not on memories of yonder. 9 may be better in terms of graphics, battle, story, whatever you want to argue, but 7 is greater as a sum of parts. IMO

Retr0gamer

It's because for most people especially in Europe it was their first RPG and was pretty much mind blowing because of this. It isn't the best JRPG ever and even at the time of it's release it wasn't the best but it was peoples first and those graphics were absolutely spectacular. People therefore have a lot of fond memories of it and it's faults and flaws kind of get glossed over because of nostalgia and what it means to some people. For people used to 16-bit games the story was way deeper than anything that came before. You have to remember that before FFVII we didn't have earthbound, chrono trigger FFVI etc. and even in america they weren't wildly popular. We did have Phantasy Star 4 and Terranigma but again not wildly popular. In hindsight the story of FFVII is very derivative of anime and has lots of problems but for a lot of people there was nothing that compared in videogames for them. Myself included at the time.

However I think the people that think FFVII is a terrible game are just as wrong as the people that think it's the best thing ever. It's still a damn fine game but not as good as some people like to make out.

seraphimvc

i am still so impressed by the old Square, early1997-ff7, early1999-ff8, mid2000-ff9. they dominated my early high school life XD to me they are all equally great games. i have so many memories from 3 games. ps1's FFs are truly remarkable. I'm so going to let my children play them in future :pac:

RedXIV

seraphimvc wrote: »

I'm so going to let make my children play them in future :pac:

FYP

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

FFVII in the second disc just went too Evangelion for me just like everything else coming from japan at the time and in FFVII's case it failed. The battle system is by far the weakest of the whole series since FF2.

I actually tthink the 2nd disc was outstanding. My favourite 'disc' of any of the PS1 era FFs. Its like a reward after the slog of Disc 1.

1: FF7
2:FF9
3:FF8

FF7 is my favourite - and that is my opinion, uneffected by nostalgia despite what some bitter old Queens might tell you. No point getting into why

FF9: Its just amazing fun, I think it gets worse in the latter stages (like FF8 but NOT imo like FF7). The abilities system was great, the kindgoms and wars were great.


FF8: I loved the first disc and even the second but after that its tough to know what is going on. The character sprites in battles and in towns were sippointing because they had to be realistic. Drawing was an awful idea and at least two of the main 6 playable characters had no personality. Laguna and co were a great addition though - something I didn't really appreciate until I was older. I'd still give it 9/10 though but compared to the other two.


Can I just say, FFX would be up there with FF7 for me - what a game.

Retr0gamer

Just wait until you are older, wiser, bitterer and have better taste and realise some of the stuff you liked when you were younger wasn't all that great.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Just wait until you are older, wiser, bitterer and have better taste and realise some of the stuff you liked when you were younger wasn't all that great.

Stop your condescending drivel please - you are just wrong in this case.

Aurongroove

LOL, ah now, there's a difference between being condescending and being wrong.

condecending? maybe.
wrong? not IMO

(if you'll excuse the double negative of being "not wrong")

Retr0gamer

Noodler will realise in time and he'll also reject his favourite band N-Dubz :P

seraphimvc

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Just wait until you are older, wiser, bitterer and have better taste and realise some of the stuff you liked when you were younger wasn't all that great.

that's life, retro i am not sure what will my future children think of these FFs after they played them, maybe they will think they suck or they will love them to death - the important thing here is the experience. i was there and these FFs brought me so many unforgetable memories - i am going to at least let them try these FFs out!!

(and no, i will never let them touch 13)

noodler

martineatworld wrote: »

Why doesn't FF9 create the same nostalgic flustering of fanboys then, if it is clearly the best 32 bit title given that they were part of the same generation?

It's definitely aged the best of the three, in admittance. But to most it's just not the same rush as given by 7.

I've replayed both games since they came on PSN. 9 was better than I remembered. 7 was still more enjoyable for me though. That's basing them on my recent playthrough, not on memories of yonder. 9 may be better in terms of graphics, battle, story, whatever you want to argue, but 7 is greater as a sum of parts. IMO

Great point - read that Retr0.

Aurongroove wrote: »

LOL, ah now, there's a difference between being condescending and being wrong.

condecending? maybe.
wrong? not IMO

(if you'll excuse the double negative of being "not wrong")

What are you even talking about?

Retr0's thought system:

1) I have one opinion

2) Other people don't agree - in fact many don't)

3) There must be some logical way to dismiss their opinions as I can not be wrong

4) DING DING DING Nostalgia! That'll do it. Yous only like it because yous played it when you were young!

Retr0gamer

Aw noodler I was clearly joking. If you can't take some slagging then don't give any.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Aw noodler I was clearly joking. If you can't take some slagging then don't give any.

You aren't joking - don't lie. You have said the same thing for around 3 years everytime the topic comes up.

I know you've got Cloud Strife duvets and Barrett Wallace PJs.

Why do you persist with this charade?

Aurongroove

Sorry Noodler I wasn't trying to confuse you or make you angry.
at the very least it's no reason to spoil the thread.

Mindkiller

Only reason Retrogamer likes FFVI so much is because of nostalgia. There.

Anyway, I play these three games regularly today and VII still stands out as the better title. IX is a little cloying. VIII is like, the opposite of that.

IX also suffers from having a stupidly slow combat system. VII and VIII are quite zippy in comparison.

People say that VII's materia system is derivative but IX's equipment system thingy has far more in common with VI's esper system than any other game. Not that that's a bad thing or anything.

Aurongroove

noodler wrote: »

You aren't joking - don't lie. You have said the same thing for around 3 years everytime the topic comes up.

I know you've got Cloud Strife duvets and Barrett Wallace PJs.

Why do you persist with this charade?

:D you guys have a strange relationship. Retro knows how to goad you it seems.

:pac:<vomiting chocobos>

seraphimvc

lol i take that as retro is joking! (thats the way he jokes anyway)

Aurongroove

i played all the "previous to VII" ones on a sort of quick flurry when they were released for PSX.

I now have no idea:

which was the one I only started
which was the one I finished
which was the one I didn't get to play (III I think)
which was the one I got to the end of but didn't finish
which was the crushingly unfair one
which was the one I can't remember at all. (probably II)

noodler

Yeah, great joke by Retr0.

Except its his opinion EVERYTIME someone says a positive word bout VII.

So, it isn't really a joke.

People on this board must have really short memories.

noodler

Anyway, enough petty squables about the role of nostalgia in determining my favourite FF.

I have FF4 installing onto my PSP as we speak so I hope the small screen will help me through the fact the game is 20 years old.

Retr0gamer

Well my opinion is as valid as yours noodler, unfortunately for you.

Mindkiller wrote: »

People say that VII's materia system is derivative but IX's equipment system thingy has far more in common with VI's esper system than any other game. Not that that's a bad thing or anything.

Well VII's system is very similar to FFVI's and FFIX's. However the big difference is that FFVI gives unique abilities to it's characters and FFIX limits spells and abilities to each character making each character standout and making each character standout. In FFVII each character is a blank slate with pretty much the same stats. That on it's own is not a bad thing, FFV and FF Tactics used the same fully customisable characters. However there was a hell of a lot of strategy to creating characters in those two games. In FFVII it really doesn't matter what matter you put on a character they all end up pretty much the same other than their limit breakers. There's negative effects to putting some materia on characters but the game is so piss easy that the best route to take is just load up characters with as much materia as you can and you'll be fine. It's all a bit boring and simple really. Even FF1 and Dragon Quest 1 are more involving in terms of battle system. You haveto manage resources in those game whereas in FFVII you've so much MP that it's not a concern. It's all a bit simple. It never ruins the game at least since it ticks along nicely since it's easy enough and the game is well paced but it's a bit 'my first RPG'.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Well my opinion is as valid as yours noodler, unfortunately for you.

Now be fair, your opinion on which is better was never a problem - it was just the way you sought to lessen the importance of anyone with an opinion contary to your own.


About 2 hours into FF4 now, its beautiful. The sprites jump off the screen and the load times between battles and changing locations are non-existant (I would have enjoyed the PS1 FF6 alot more if it had recieved this kind of treatment).

The whole thing is moving at some pace, already been to around 4 towns and as many Dungeons. Dungeon crawling is a little much this early on but the aforementioned load times do help move it along.

Theres also an-autopilot opion in battles if you just push select which also helps for some of the battles you have no chance of losing.

Enjoying the story too - bit like 6 though where everything feels a little skindeep but thats just the limitations of the age I guess.

Mindkiller

I don't know about anyone else but I found FFVI to be one of the most patronisingly easy RPGs I've ever played.

The blank statement argument is a valid point, but with IX and VI I found that there were too many crappy characters whose individual unique skills didn't really do much. Gau in particular comes to mind. Edgar's tools are useless later on. Off the top of my head, Terra, Shadow, Locke, Sabin, whoever the blue mage was and Celes were the only 'good' characters. Everyone else was like filler. And in the end the only abilities that really matter are their magic skills.

IX is slightly better in that regard. Eiko and Amarant are the only ones that I found a waste of space.

noodler

Mindkiller wrote: »

I don't know about anyone else but I found FFVI to be one of the most patronisingly easy RPGs I've ever played.

The blank statement argument is a valid point, but with IX and VI I found that there were too many crappy characters whose individual unique skills didn't really do much. Gau in particular comes to mind. Edgar's tools are useless later on. Off the top of my head, Terra, Shadow, Locke, Sabin, whoever the blue mage was and Celes were the only 'good' characters. Everyone else was like filler. And in the end the only abilities that really matter are their magic skills.

IX is slightly better in that regard. Eiko and Amarant are the only ones that I found a waste of space.

Sure 8 only had 6 playable characters and two of them were redundant.

Aurongroove

Eiko and Amarant are both awesome!!.

9 did a great job of not making certain people suck. Even Quina, who let's face it, is most at risk of sucking, has some really deadly **** and is probably my favourite character. The most sucky person is Zidane really, and even he's not that bad. and he has the strongest trance abilities.

Actually speaking of trance. I feel a lot of FF9's job of not making certain people suck had to do with the toning down of the "limit break-y-overdrive-y" moves.

in FF7 (which I'm playing at the moment) especially RedXIII and Yuffie, but also Vincent, Cait-Sith and Tifa are laughing stocks because of their lv4 limit breaks compared to Barret, Cloud and Cid (and Aries).

I usually end up leaving Yuffie and RedXIII in lv3, for their "chain attack" style limitbreaks. Have Cait Sith use his defensive limits in-case he ends up killing the damn team, and for Tifa, just settling for a sensible "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, hit, hit, hit"

the final weapon "max damage game" dosn't really help balance things either and are further downers for Tifa and Vincent.

8 and 10 were stupid aswell,
especially 10, the best limit break in the game are Wakka's strength reels and Yuna's Overdrive summon and and no one else (especially not Kimari and Rikku) come anywhere near

seraphimvc

blue mage always sucks tbh (gau,quitis's ulti, quina, kimahri) their skills are very situational and thats what makes them unique. the ff7's enemy skill is prob the best presentation of 'blue mage' (such an irony, since anyone can use it -_-)

i totally agree that ff7's biggest flaw was all you need to use is 3 characters you like, and it is the only game in the ps1 FFs that suffers this problem because the leveled up materias are transferable. i used cloud+cid+tifa as my fulltime characters, the rest of the characters have like 20+ levels behind them in the end. such a pity that i still havent seen Aeries's limit 4 (who in the right mind would grind aeries to limit 4 when you hit world map???)

8 you have different GF suitablility to different characters and 9 the weapons skills are not transferable. while the ps2 era ffx suffers the same thing in the late game and 12 gets worse, you got all characters pretty early in the game and you can ignore most of them if you wish (which is why they get a remake battle system for international version).

noodler

seraphimvc wrote: »

such a pity that i still havent seen Aeries's limit 4 (who in the right mind would grind aeries to limit 4 when you hit world map???)

It takes a little bit of work but I think the criteria are to kill x number of people and perform the current limit break x numbers of times. So killing is easy enough with Aeris with her better magic and summons and then you just but her into angry mode (can't remember the status term but it lasts between battles and is the opposite of sad but it makes the limit bar fill faster).

seraphimvc wrote: »

8 you have different GF suitablility to different characters and 9 the weapons skills are not transferable. while the ps2 era ffx suffers the same thing in the late game and 12 gets worse, you got all characters pretty early in the game and you can ignore most of them if you wish (which is why they get a remake battle system for international version).

8 was crap for that as well I'd agree.

In X it didn't bother me, I think X made the greatest use of charcters in the modern era FF games

Tidus for the wolves and other agile creatures
Wakka for the flying ones
Auron for anything armoured
Lulu with her magic for elemental weaknesses
Kimhari..probably the weakest but decent physical strength
Rikku for mixing and she could also kill robots in one hit
Yuna was a one man army/white mage as well

I agree you could go wherever you wanted on the Sphere Grid late game but were talking pretty late.

RedXIV

noodler wrote: »

It takes a little bit of work but I think the criteria are to kill x number of people and perform the current limit break x numbers of times. So killing is easy enough with Aeris with her better magic and summons and then you just but her into angry mode (can't remember the status term but it lasts between battles and is the opposite of sad but it makes the limit bar fill faster).

Each limit 1 per level needs to have 80 monsters killed and you need to use that level's limit 1 8 times to get limit 2. Also, the "angry mode" is Hyper, which can be achieved by applying the item of the same name.

Also for Aeries lvl 4 limit, there is a bit of work around actually GETTING the level 4 limit, Can't remember it exactly now but you need to get it off the guy you get the keystone from for the temple of the ancients.

noodler wrote: »

8 was crap for that as well I'd agree.

In X it didn't bother me, I think X made the greatest use of charcters in the modern era FF games

Tidus for the wolves and other agile creatures
Wakka for the flying ones
Auron for anything armoured
Lulu with her magic for elemental weaknesses
Kimhari..probably the weakest but decent physical strength
Rikku for mixing and she could also kill robots in one hit
Yuna was a one man army/white mage as well

I agree you could go wherever you wanted on the Sphere Grid late game but were talking pretty late.

I'd have to agree here, when I got FFX (all those years ago ) it really was the first RPG to really drill the point home that strategy is important and picking the right person is crucial. I thought FFX was a little easy but a well designed game. Although I liked Legend of Dragoon so my taste is not to be trusted

seraphimvc

noodler wrote: »

It takes a little bit of work but I think the criteria are to kill x number of people and perform the current limit break x numbers of times. So killing is easy enough with Aeris with her better magic and summons and then you just but her into angry mode (can't remember the status term but it lasts between battles and is the opposite of sad but it makes the limit bar fill faster).

ohya the item trick makes the limit bar fills quicker!
i keep aeris most of the time in my team but i still havent seen her limit4 after so many times of gameplay Q_Q

noodler wrote: »

8 was crap for that as well I'd agree.

In X it didn't bother me, I think X made the greatest use of charcters in the modern era FF games

Tidus for the wolves and other agile creatures
Wakka for the flying ones
Auron for anything armoured
Lulu with her magic for elemental weaknesses
Kimhari..probably the weakest but decent physical strength
Rikku for mixing and she could also kill robots in one hit
Yuna was a one man army/white mage as well

I agree you could go wherever you wanted on the Sphere Grid late game but were talking pretty late.

ya, ffx is actually kinda perfect in early-mid game(the first 10hours, depends on whenever you get to Anima:pac:), the monsters are designed that you will need to switch between the designated charcaters (except kimahri..........). when i made my post all i remember was that my gamesave on tidus/auron/wakka completed the whole grid XD

Retr0gamer

As long as you know the exact criteria to getting to the next limit level then it's actually very easy to get all the way to limit level 4 with all characters before the end of disc one without grinding, I did it on my second playthrough.

noodler

I finally get the Spoony Bard reference in FF games

FF4 spoilert

After less than 5 hours of play yesterday (According to the in-game clock) I have already converted Cecil to a Paladin. Is that normal? Feels like I am flying through it -only positive about Paladin is that maybe Cecil will be a bit weaker now - his darkness attack was ripping through all and sundry until now and not leaving other characters much to do

seraphimvc

Retr0gamer wrote: »

As long as you know the exact criteria to getting to the next limit level then it's actually very easy to get all the way to limit level 4 with all characters before the end of disc one without grinding, I did it on my second playthrough.

i remember i did get the mytril thing to exchange for the limit4, but level2 and 3 limit are an a** to get to, there is no way anyone can get to see her all limits without purposely focus on grinding her. or maybe i did get to see limit4 in my last game play many years ago :P is the angel thingy right? can barely remember that lol

RedXIV

For your memory

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

FF4 spoilert

After less than 5 hours of play yesterday (According to the in-game clock) I have already converted Cecil to a Paladin. Is that normal? Feels like I am flying through it -only positive about Paladin is that maybe Cecil will be a bit weaker now - his darkness attack was ripping through all and sundry until now and not leaving other characters much to do

That's not all that far into the game really. FF4 is pretty short anyway and I heard the new version has been made easier.

seraphimvc wrote: »

i remember i did get the mytril thing to exchange for the limit4, but level2 and 3 limit are an a** to get to, there is no way anyone can get to see her all limits without purposely focus on grinding her. or maybe i did get to see limit4 in my last game play many years ago :P is the angel thingy right? can barely remember that lol

It's actually really easy to do with all the characters. If I remember correctly to get the second limit break you need to kill 8 enemies with your limit break. Then to upgrade to the next level of limit breaks that character has to kill 50 enemies by themselves. So if you are in battle with 5 enemies get the character you want to level up to kill them all with a summon and you are 1/10th of the way there. For aeris it's a bit different since some of her limits don't kill enemies soyou just have to cast them a certain number of times or kill enemies by herself. So if you know exactly what the criteria are for levelling up your limit breaks it's very easy to do. I had all my characters with the exception of vincent and Yuffie ready for level 4 limit breaks before the end of disc 1 on my second playthrough since I knew what the exact criteria were.

Aurongroove

there is a spot in the forest by fort condor where you can quickly get all limit break it's possible to have at that stage.

the capperwire enemies show up in teams of 5 and there flying dudes in teams of three. so you can quickly gain fast kill numbers, these guys also do amazing damage for that part of the game. so the limit breaks will keep coming with or without hyper (buy hyper makes it immeasurably faster).

Keep in mind:

if you have only the 1st limit break of a lv, then you need to do the limit break a few times to get the second one, if you have both and you want to move up a level, you need to kill enemies.

Aries 2nd lv2 limit break "fury brand" gives a limit break to each of her teammates, so lets say a flying dude hits cloud, tifa and aries and gives them all limit breaks, use cloud's & tifa's first, then Aries fury brand, which will grants cloud and tifa a 2nd limit break each.

also for Tifa's 1st level limit breaks to count, they must not "miss",
so if you need to do 6 "dolphin blows" to get "meteor strike" then any limit break where the actual move Dolphin blow misses, it dosn't count tword the six needed to gain meteor strike. To be on the safe side, you're better off just going for a hit rather then risking the miss on a"yeah!" when your looking to get her 2nd level limit breaks.


In a single day (not sure how many minutes/hours) with the help of fury brand and the item "Hyper". you can basically end up with all the limit breaks it;s possible to get (so cloud, tifa, barret, red and yuffie level 3 limit 2) and Aries lv4. you don't have Vincent, Cid or Cait Sith on your team yet.

but once you do, there's a spot for Vincent (Vincent has no 2nd level limit breaks; it's one transformation per level, so he just needs kills) the forest outside rocket town has enemy numbers of 6, 5 and 2 per encounter. you can quickly get his kill rating up.
Cat sith dosnt need to be worried about (kill a few get to lv 2, your're done!) and Cid can use the same forest to get the kill figures up, but other wise, you'll have to find strong enemy and get by with something like fury status and cover materia to keep the 1st level limits breaks coming.