Final Fantasy

ntlbell

So.

If at this point you had never played any of the FF's.

Where would you start today?

Would you use emulation and go back to the start? or be a lot more selective in what FF's you would play?

IrishZeus

If you had never played any, you would have no idea where to start.

Personally, having played them, I would start with 7 from a graphics/playability point of view.

ntlbell

IrishZeus wrote: »

If you had never played any, you would have no idea where to start.

The point of the thread

IrishZeus

Ah, I get you now...

I guess having never played any, I would begin at the beginning and work through....!

Retr0gamer

IrishZeus wrote: »

Ah, I get you now...

I guess having never played any, I would begin at the beginning and work through....!

I would highly advise not doing this. FF1 is a grind heavy game and very tough, FF2 is one of the worst games ever made and FF3 is a bit bland. They only really get great from FF4 onwards.

My advise would be to start with either 4, 6 or 9 since they are the best. FFVII is another good place to start but it's not aged great graphically and in terms of mechanics, it's very simple.

Kiith

I'd start with VI. It's probably the best (even with my VII nostalgia), and it's a fantastic game. Great soundtrack, and a superb villian. Plus, each game after VI is a fairly major graphical improvement.

animaX

Retr0gamer wrote: »

My advise would be to start with either 4, 6 or 9 since they are the best

Second this.

FFVII was the one which popularized the series but it's so hyped at this stage that you might be left wondering what the fuss is.

Each game is completely independent (save for a few sort-of-sequels) so you could even work back from the latest game

ancapailldorcha

I think FFX would be a great place start. It might be a bit weird playing the older titles after it though.

Memnoch

I strongly recommend starting with 7. I base this recommendation on one thing and one thing alone.

It is the ONLY game my Misses has started and finished. She enjoyed it a lot too. I think she'll probably finish 10 also when it comes out in remastered HD and she might have have played 9 but couldn't due to lack of free time in the past.

But yeah... I would start with 7. Also, pay no attention to retrogamer on this issue. As fantastic as he is he's got some kind of religious fanaticism when it comes to 7.

Motley Crue

I recommend starting with the first one. That's actually my favourite game of all time. It's available widely on Mobile, as is 2 and 3, and if you have the patience to play through them all then you'll love FF7, FF8 and FF9 (the last of which is the series creators favourite)

Motley Crue

Just to give you some idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9XvuKnN_50

Contains a few spoilers but a good review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF_9vXRNuFI

Retr0gamer

Memnoch wrote: »

But yeah... I would start with 7. Also, pay no attention to retrogamer on this issue. As fantastic as he is he's got some kind of religious fanaticism when it comes to 7.

It's a fantastic game it's just got fanboys that really over hype the game and don't accept criticism about it (not saying you're one now).

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's a fantastic game it's just got fanboys that really over hype the game and don't accept criticism about it (not saying you're one now).

Anything people say about 7, i.e. that people's opinions on it are coloured by the fact it was their first FF or by their youth etc can just as easily be said about FF6.

At this stage, I guarantee that the more casual gamer will (okay probably just to make it sound like I am giving an opinion!) prefer 7 to 6. Maybe the remake for the GBA was good but the difficulty spikes, loading times, frequency of the random battles, sometimes being unsure where to go etc etc all make 6 somewhat difficult to swallow now.


If I had to tell people to play one, it would be one of 7, 9 or 10.

bigdaddyliamo

On first thought I'd say go with 7, but after taking a nap and thinking it through properly I'd recommend starting with 9 as it is the best game overall and the style is just beautiful!:D

noodler

Motley Crue wrote: »

Just to give you some idea


Contains a few spoilers but a good review

The gameplay is worse than the holocaust - heh.

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

Anything people say about 7, i.e. that people's opinions on it are coloured by the fact it was their first FF or by their youth etc can just as easily be said about FF6.

At this stage, I guarantee that the more casual gamer will (okay probably just to make it sound like I am giving an opinion!) prefer 7 to 6. Maybe the remake for the GBA was good but the difficulty spikes, loading times, frequency of the random battles, sometimes being unsure where to go etc etc all make 6 somewhat difficult to swallow now.

Loading times? I think your problem with FF6 is you played the god awful PS1 version.

There's having an opinion that FFVII is your favourite game and it might be based on opinion but if you are going to really discuss the game and tell me the story isn't a bit cliche or that the materia system is excellent and full of depth without getting into intelligent debate about it then I've no time for it.

ancapailldorcha

That FF7 video is terrible. Just because several games have stories worse that FF7's doesn't make FF7's great. That chap makes no arguments whatsoever to back up his opinions. And the ATB system was in place in the series since FF4, maybe longer.

noodler wrote: »

Anything people say about 7, i.e. that people's opinions on it are coloured by the fact it was their first FF or by their youth etc can just as easily be said about FF6.

At this stage, I guarantee that the more casual gamer will (okay probably just to make it sound like I am giving an opinion!) prefer 7 to 6. Maybe the remake for the GBA was good but the difficulty spikes, loading times, frequency of the random battles, sometimes being unsure where to go etc etc all make 6 somewhat difficult to swallow now.


If I had to tell people to play one, it would be one of 7, 9 or 10.

Strongly disagree here. I've played both 7 and 6 and, for me FF6 is the superior game. With the espers and the frozen stats I feel like I truly have complete control on the development of my characters. It's not perfect as you can just stick an esper on just before a level up but it's a good system regardless. In FF7, I just gave Cloud my best materia because he couldn't be swapped out and allocated leftovers accordingly. Aside from limit breaks there was no real difference between the characters battlewise.
I don't know where people are getting this stuff about loading times from. I was able to save

Shadow

with over 30 seconds to spare. And it's nice that there are plenty of tough battles. I think I died once in FF7 because I accidentally flew into ruby weapon.

Retr0gamer

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I was able to save

Shadow

with over 30 seconds to spare. And it's nice that there are plenty of tough battles. I think I died once in FF7 because I accidentally flew into ruby weapon.

I had awful trouble trying to do that on the PS1 version, It's not just that though, the load times completely kill the pace of the game. It's just a much better experience on the SNES, I don't know why anyone would even go near the PS1 version.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I had awful trouble trying to do that on the PS1 version, It's not just that though, the load times completely kill the pace of the game. It's just a much better experience on the SNES, I don't know why anyone would even go near the PS1 version.

Lack of a SNES?

ancapailldorcha

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I had awful trouble trying to do that on the PS1 version, It's not just that though, the load times completely kill the pace of the game. It's just a much better experience on the SNES, I don't know why anyone would even go near the PS1 version.

I didn't know any better. Plus I don't need a SNES cluttering up my room. Is the translation different for the SNES version?

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

Lack of a SNES?

I'm pretty sure whatever you are posting that from is more than capable of playing the game through an emulator considering my old PC from 1997 could play it.

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I didn't know any better. Plus I don't need a SNES cluttering up my room. Is the translation different for the SNES version?

The SNES and PS1 translation is the same to my knowledge.

ancapailldorcha

So is it just the load times then? I think I asked you before and you mentioned the music being off and the aspect ratio as problems as well.

Retr0gamer

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

So is it just the load times then? I think I asked you before and you mentioned the music being off and the aspect ratio as problems as well.

The music sounds crapper as well. On the US version it's in the correct aspect ratio but on the EU store, like most of the games, it's the terrible PAL version which has borders that mess up the aspect ratio and it also runs about 20% slower.

Memnoch

Quite possibly, I am a fanboy, though not sure how you define that? I can only go by my opinion of the game in comparison to other games that I've played.

The thing about 7 is that it is a hell of a lot of fun on top of a game that really involves you emotionally in its characters.

Maybe my view is coloured by the fact that I was 16-17 when I first played it, but like I said, my Misses played it a few years ago and loved it.

Story wise, I think it has the best story after X in the ff series. I think 9 had a good story that was ruined by the ending which did not bring everything together for me.

In terms of gameplay. I don't care if the materia system is 'simplistic.' It's wonderful and a lot of fun. Again maybe because this was my first RPG but I'd love to have a game with a similar system again. I love the way the materia were weaved into the storyline, unlike say the main combat system of FF - 13.

I think just the way the game is laid out, the minigames etc. It's just fun from beginning to end.

But the most important thing in my view is that 7 has that great intangible. It has SOUL, you can tell it was made with a lot of love and passion and not simply produced, which is how the more recent FF's feel. Especially 13. And in terms of story, when you compare 7 to 13, it seems like a masterpiece.

Maybe there are fanboys who overhype it. I think equally there are detractors who simply hate it because of the fanbase and blow the negatives way out of proportion.

P.S. ntlbell, if you are looking for good JRPGs from that era. I also want to mention the much overlooked and under recognised Breath of Fire 3. A beautiful game in every way. And my 3rd favorite RPG of all time.

Memnoch

In terms of difficulty. Maybe it was because it was my first RPG, but I died a fair bit. I remember dying a couple of times to the scorpion boss at the beginning. Call me stupid.

Kept attacking when its tail was up

The other thing about 7 is how EPIC it felt. I remember running around in Midgard thinking about how big the city was.

I remember thinking okay we gotta blow up eight reactors and so on. And then all of a sudden you're out of the city and onto this sprawling world map. I think you could easily clock 10-15 hours in the game before you get out of midgard on your first playthrough

I mean every bit of the game, every quest, every new place, it just had that feel of epicness, of grand scale.

I remember chasing after Sephiroth, convinced for the longest time that he was going to join up with us and become a kick ass party member. Imagine my disappointment *grin*

Retr0gamer

Memnoch wrote: »

In terms of gameplay. I don't care if the materia system is 'simplistic.' It's wonderful and a lot of fun. Again maybe because this was my first RPG but I'd love to have a game with a similar system again. I love the way the materia were weaved into the storyline, unlike say the main combat system of FF - 13.

Actually the materia thing being woven into the storyline isn't a big deal considering that every FF game weaves it's battle mechanics into the story, it's one of the series defining characteristics. FFVII it's a bit more prominent but no more so than in FFVIII, FFV or FFVI.

Still think it's horribly simplistic with no depth to it. It's fun because the game is a walk in the park so even if you mess up your materia you can still breeze through it with little hinderance. A bit of depth though would have been nicer than just slapping materia on characters willy nilly.

In terms of difficulty. Maybe it was because it was my first RPG, but I died a fair bit. I remember dying a couple of times to the scorpion boss at the beginning. Call me stupid. Spoiler: Kept attacking when its tail was up

You weren't stupid. The translation is so god awful that it actually tells you to attack when its tail is up when it should have said attack when it's down

Andy!!

The great ones IMO are 4, 7, 8 and 9.

Make sure you don't skip 4 just cause its in 2D, its great. I would also reccomend playing the 2D version over the DS version...

ancapailldorcha

For me, any souls in FFVII died after Midgar. It set up the world quite well in an interesting sci-fi manner and then blew it by going down the standard stop the baddie road. The only times I was emotionally invested in the story were Cloud's scenes and worrying I wouldn't get my materia back when

Aerith

died.
I thought FFXIII had a much better story (not perfect, mind) and a better world. It was just a shame there was close to zero exploration.

Memnoch

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I thought FFXIII had a much better story (not perfect, mind) and a better world. It was just a shame there was close to zero exploration.

I think 13 had the potential for a decent overall story but it just twisted in on itself again and again and totally lost the point on the end.

But the characters in 13 were absolutely horrendously dull, made worse by some of the worst dialogue I've ever come across in any RPG. I had to fight the urge to turn of the console so many times in that game because of how lame the dialogue was.

ancapailldorcha

I thought FFXIII's characters were human, flawed and developed quite nicely (except Snow of course). In contrast, there's almost none of that in FFVII (except for Cloud of course). Maybe it was just the translation but VII had a much worse script that XIII (which was no masterpiece). Come to think of it, FFXII is the only entry I can think of offhand with an excellent script and story.

Retr0gamer

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I thought FFXIII's characters were human, flawed and developed quite nicely (except Snow of course). In contrast, there's almost none of that in FFVII (except for Cloud of course). Maybe it was just the translation but VII had a much worse script that XIII (which was no masterpiece). Come to think of it, FFXII is the only entry I can think of offhand with an excellent script and story.

FFXIII definitely had some great character writing and progression. Pity the main storyline was so poor but I really liked how the characters grew in that game, other than Snow again.

FFXII started great storywise but you can tell almost the exact point where Matsuno left because it just gets terrible and rushed after that point with only a few glimpses of what it could have been. All that's left that is actually well written is the judges stories and even they aren't as fleshed out as they could have been.

ancapailldorcha

I liked Snow though. It would have been so easy to make him yet another brooding, dull character. Anyone saying he's one dimensional and cheesy is more or less right.
I was on youtube a few days ago and I forgot some of the Judge's cutscenes even existed. What point in the story are you talking about? It's been about 4 or 5 years since I played it. I'm guessing Square Enix weren't happy with the interesting political storyline it was meant to be thinking people wouldn't be able to follow it and tinkered with it as well as chucking in Vaan and Penelo.

Retr0gamer

The point were it turned from an interesting political plot into a fetch quest while all the interesting stuff happened outside of what happened in the game.

ancapailldorcha

As I said, it's been quite a while. I've been meaning to start FFT soon on the subject of Matsuno's stories.

Memnoch

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I thought FFXIII's characters were human, flawed and developed quite nicely (except Snow of course). In contrast, there's almost none of that in FFVII (except for Cloud of course). Maybe it was just the translation but VII had a much worse script that XIII (which was no masterpiece). Come to think of it, FFXII is the only entry I can think of offhand with an excellent script and story.

I don't know what to say, except... I couldn't disagree with you more.

The characters in XIII were so stereotypically bland. Hope... Sazh. God. I cringed each time there was an 'emotional,' scene that was supposed to be deep. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

I never really played too much of XII, didn't like the gameplay system, so can't comment on it.

In terms of character depth and story telling, I played two games recently that demonstrate how good this kind of stuff can be when done right. Namely, Skyrim and Mass Effect 2.

XIII was just a combination of every cheese imaginable on top of more fermented cheese on top of cheese cake.

ancapailldorcha

Fair enough. I felt the same way when that racist Mr. T ripoff started swearing and firing his gun in nearly every scene at the start...

Anyway, I'm fed up of every FF thread going this way. I'll take your word on ME2 but I've heard bad things about Skyrim and I'm not forking out £40 to find out.

Retr0gamer

Memnoch wrote: »

In terms of character depth and story telling, I played two games recently that demonstrate how good this kind of stuff can be when done right. Namely, Skyrim and Mass Effect 2.

I'd be far pushed to call them the height of videogame storytelling.

noodler

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

For me, any souls in FFVII died after Midgar. It set up the world quite well in an interesting sci-fi manner and then blew it by going down the standard stop the baddie road. The only times I was emotionally invested in the story were Cloud's scenes and worrying I wouldn't get my materia back when

Aerith

died.
I thought FFXIII had a much better story (not perfect, mind) and a better world. It was just a shame there was close to zero exploration.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

FFXIII definitely had some great character writing and progression. Pity the main storyline was so poor but I really liked how the characters grew in that game, other than Snow again.

FFXII started great storywise but you can tell almost the exact point where Matsuno left because it just gets terrible and rushed after that point with only a few glimpses of what it could have been. All that's left that is actually well written is the judges stories and even they aren't as fleshed out as they could have been.

Guys, I gave up on FF13 when I got to Pulse. Up until that point the story had been awful, the characters had been awful, the plot was all over the place, the names were way to confusing (C'ei and Fal'Cei??) and the non-battle music was crap.

Now that I hear you both talk about character progression....would I have changed my mind from Pulse onwards? I have pumped overe 100 hours into FF6,7,8,9,10,10-2 and 12 but have absolutely no desire to go back to 13.

Memnoch wrote: »

I don't know what to say, except... I couldn't disagree with you more.

The characters in XIII were so stereotypically bland. Hope... Sazh. God. I cringed each time there was an 'emotional,' scene that was supposed to be deep. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

I never really played too much of XII, didn't like the gameplay system, so can't comment on it.

In terms of character depth and story telling, I played two games recently that demonstrate how good this kind of stuff can be when done right. Namely, Skyrim and Mass Effect 2.

XIII was just a combination of every cheese imaginable on top of more fermented cheese on top of cheese cake.

I have to agree, it was the angsty characters without any interesting plot or gameplay (outside of the battles system).

Retr0, you once said you'd feel embaressed if someone walked in on that Johnny/Meryl scene in MGS4 - I would literally mute any cutscene in 13 for fear someone else would hear it.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd be far pushed to call them the height of videogame storytelling.

No definitely not but at least ME keeps you constantly engaged - I spent 90 minutes playing ME3 on Tuesday evening and never left the Citadel - just did little quests and learned about what the current developments in the Universe were. It was genuinely interesting though.

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

Now that I hear you both talk about character progression....would I have changed my mind from Pulse onwards?

Probably not. A few character arcs aren't finished but if you didn't like the game up to that point I doubt you'd change your mind. However the game gets a lot better once you get to Gran Pulse.

noodler wrote: »

Retr0, you once said you'd feel embaressed if someone walked in on that Johnny/Meryl scene in MGS4 - I would literally mute any cutscene in 13 for fear someone else would hear it.

Nothing will ever beat how awful that scene from MGS4 was. Nothing!

noodler wrote: »

No definitely not but at least ME keeps you constantly engaged - I spent 90 minutes playing ME3 on Tuesday evening and never left the Citadel - just did little quests and learned about what the current developments in the Universe were. It was genuinely interesting though.

I don't like Biowares writing and the fact that characters make massive leaps in progression instead of being slowly being built up... and then there's Jack (although a friend tells me she is way better in 3). But definitely find their games compelling.

Memnoch

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Fair enough. I felt the same way when that racist Mr. T ripoff started swearing and firing his gun in nearly every scene at the start...

Anyway, I'm fed up of every FF thread going this way. I'll take your word on ME2 but I've heard bad things about Skyrim and I'm not forking out £40 to find out.

I put in somewhere in the region of 150-180 hours into Skyrim. Probably more than I've ever done on a single FF game. Though I did have a FFX save that was 120 hours (I think.) But a lot of that was just grinding in the monster arena etc.

Anyway... there was this one quest in skyrim. I was walking along this deserted road, ascending a cliff. Snow was falling in soft drifts and blanketing the trees. In the distance I saw a building rising up. When I got closer, I realised it was a light house. I don't know what attracted me to that place, there was just something about it. I think there might have been a dead horse outside or something.

The door was unlocked so I went in to investigate. Inside, the entire place had been torn apart. Blood stains splattered the walls, the floor and various surfaces. There was also the corpse of a large insect type creature. (A chaurus).

I eventually found a journal that told a very affecting tale of two people who had brought this lighthouse. The journal was written by the husband who's wife had already dreamed of owning a place like this and they had finally saved enough to buy the place together and had moved in with their two children. There was some interesting stuff about the children.

There was a building of tension because the wife was complaining about noises coming from the basement. The husband said it was just the kids playing pranks.

Anyway the final couple of entries were about how the husband had gone on some errand to town. When he returned he found the dead body of his wife and his children missing. He was attacked by the insect creature which he managed to kill off. He was going to go into the basement to investigate and lock the door behind him in case he didn't make it back.

I found the basement door and it was indeed locked. I managed to pick it and went down into the basement. In the back, I found a fresh trail of blood. There was a hole in the wall. The entire place was dark and creepy and I got this sense of foreboding that something bad was around the corner.

I stole through and was attacked by a large Chaurus. I killed it and forged ahead, entering a system of underground tunnels. I happened upon a Falmer settlement. Blind humanoid creatures that lived underground and that seemed to somehow subsist with the Chaurus, using the insect's bones and chitin to build their houses, fashion weapons from etc.

They were hostile and I worked through their encampment killing the few that were there. As I ventured deeper, there was another, much more extensive system of tunnels. They were illuminated by an eerie blue glow. The light came from clusters of Chaurus eggs, which i was able to gather for use in Alchemy later on.

I eventually reached a Chaurus lair where I found the body of the daughter inside a makeshift prison cell. There was a note there too about how they had been captured. Their father had come looking for them but he too had been taken prisoner. He had tried to escape but had been bitten.

I kept going, the tunnels progressing deeper and deeper. Finally I reached the main chamber and battled a monstrous insect creature. After slaying it, I was shocked to find the father's remains, inside. Only his skull was in any way intact. I don't know why but I decided to pick up these remains, maybe give the man a decent burial.

When I got back to the lighthouse, I decided to explore it a bit more and climbed all the way to the top. A flame was burning in a cauldron, providing the torch to warn ships of nearby rocks and cliffs. The game gave me the option of putting the mans remains into this. I did and his remains were consumed by the fire.

For completing the hidden quest I was given a reward of a permanent 10% boost to my healing magic.

I had another look around outside and found a small wooden cupbord filled with farming implements.

END.

===

This quest to me perfectly highlights what made Skyrim SO great and why I invested so much time in it. The story itself was quite simple but the way it was told, the atmosphere and the mood, I couldn't help but be affected by it. And the attention to detail, it's just insane. Imagine, this gigantic sprawling game world. And you have a light house out in the middle of nowhere, unrelated to any of the main quests, just a small side quest on its own. Yet it was so painstakingly constructed. The game was full of little nuggets like this.

Ironically, I never finished the main quest line. Though I did finish a couple of major quest lines like the Mage's guild and the civil war.

In the end I broke the game by overpowering my character to the point that nothing was really challenging anymore.

Still, a great game that I really got a lot of enjoyment from.

Maybe I haven't played as many games as you Retro, but I've read a lot. And I enjoyed the story telling in Skyrim and I'm currently enjoying it in Mass Effect 2. Much more so than many FF games (including 9 )

cloud493

Looking to start final fantasy... 6 or 7.

ancapailldorcha

noodler wrote: »

Now that I hear you both talk about character progression....would I have changed my mind from Pulse onwards? I have pumped overe 100 hours into FF6,7,8,9,10,10-2 and 12 but have absolutely no desire to go back to 13.

Why on earth would you spend 100 hours on X-2?
And Retr0, it was way worse than anything in MGS4.

Memnoch

cloud493 wrote: »

Looking to start final fantasy... 6 or 7.

Six is a good, but your better of starting with 7, unless you don't mind the graphics in 6. I played 7 through 10 before going back and playing the older final fantasies.

But I know quite a few people that simply can't abide the graphics of the pre-playstaytion era these days.

noodler

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Why on earth would you spend 100 hours on X-2?
And Retr0, it was way worse than anything in MGS4.

X-2 and 100 hours may have been an exaggeration but certainly the guts of 100 hours.

I thought it was a great game once you got past the (sorry for being immature but) 'gay' opening scene and music.

I loved the new factions, the dark undertones of the spheres showing Tidus might be alive and the battle system was good too.

There was some huge dungeon near the end (optional I believe) with 100 floors and I think thats where I spend a good chunk of time.

Two playthroughs I gave it, the second to get the 100% ending where Square copped out!

noodler

Memnoch wrote: »

Six is a good, but your better of starting with 7, unless you don't mind the graphics in 6. I played 7 through 10 before going back and playing the older final fantasies.

But I know quite a few people that simply can't abide the graphics of the pre-playstaytion era these days.

I second this.

If you can emulate the SNES version of 6 or play the update (GBA I believe??) then you might find it bearable but the PSX version is a chore due to loading times.

Overall though, even leaving aside the fact I prefer 7, I still think it would be infinitely more accessible in terms of graphics and gameplay for someone who is going back a couple of game generations.

Retr0gamer

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Why on earth would you spend 100 hours on X-2?
And Retr0, it was way worse than anything in MGS4.

MGS4 was much much worse. I can safely say that MGS4 has far and away the worst cutscenes in any videogame ever, including Twin Snakes. FFXIII might have one or two dodgy scenes but it's got a lot of great ones particularly the cahracter development towards the end. It's a far way off the absolute ineptitude and terrible writing of the MGS4 cutscenes.

noodler wrote: »

Overall though, even leaving aside the fact I prefer 7, I still think it would be infinitely more accessible in terms of graphics and gameplay for someone who is going back a couple of game generations.

I think FF6 has aged graphically far better than FF7 and it's very primitive polygons and awful framerate. Then again I just love 2D.

cloud493

I think 7 looks really dated these days... tis the beauty of 2D like that, still looks lovely even now.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

FFXIII might have one or two dodgy scenes but it's got a lot of great ones particularly the cahracter development towards the end.

The majority of the cut scenes in FF13 were cringe-inducing for me (up until Pulse anyway).

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I think FF6 has aged graphically far better than FF7 and it's very primitive polygons and awful framerate. Then again I just love 2D.

I can take the point about the 3D and FF7, but I don't recall any major/consistent framerte issues? Was it during summons?

ancapailldorcha

Retr0gamer wrote: »

MGS4 was much much worse. I can safely say that MGS4 has far and away the worst cutscenes in any videogame ever, including Twin Snakes. FFXIII might have one or two dodgy scenes but it's got a lot of great ones particularly the cahracter development towards the end. It's a far way off the absolute ineptitude and terrible writing of the MGS4 cutscenes.

I meant X-2 was way worse than MGS4. Should've been clearer. I lasted about 5 hours into X-2 until the Arsenic that is the story finally put me off it. I definitely agree with noodler on the Blitzball though. Awesome, awesome min-game.

Memnoch wrote: »

Six is a good, but your better of starting with 7, unless you don't mind the graphics in 6. I played 7 through 10 before going back and playing the older final fantasies.

Agreed. 6 is a lot harder. The GBA version has 4 new espers but a more censored translation as far as I know.

cloud493 wrote: »

I think 7 looks really dated these days... tis the beauty of 2D like that, still looks lovely even now.

Definitely, though to be fair, FF7 was Square's first attempt at a 3D game on a completely new system.

cloud493

That is true. And its a brilliant, brilliant game. But a lot of 3D games from that time look rubbish these days.

Retr0gamer

noodler wrote: »

I can take the point about the 3D and FF7, but I don't recall any major/consistent framerte issues? Was it during summons?

The battle engine maxes out at 15 FPS, for the PAL version it's an even lower 12 FPS.