What do you think?

I think that the abandonment of fantasy is leaving modern squeenix games less fantasy like and more sci fi.

I also think that modern squeenix games are becoming too centered on cutscenes to tell the story, rather than slowly unraveling it and immersing the player.Modern ff games simply don't feel immersive like the old games were.I may have hated on 7 in the past, but i think its far superior to FFXIII, and execution in 7 is better than x and XIII.X spends too much time sitting around talking about how much better the world would be without sin.It doesn't help the fact that FFX uses the same enemies over and over, and there is not much else to do early on except follow the story till you get to the open world.You can play blitzball later on, but won't have access to all characters.

In my opinion:The series started to seriously plummet with FFX.

Cutscenes:It seems like every japanese game designer wants to be a movie director, and forgets they are making videogames and not movies.Hideo kojima suffers from that issue.

FFXIII was far too centered on cutscenes, and seems to forget its a videogame.

I wouldn't say it's 'becoming' more sci-fi, it's always mixed elements of sci-fi with fantasy and that's something I think has always worked well for it. XIII is pretty sci-fi but XII certainly isn't, it's almost entirely fantasy. And you talk highly about VII which is one of the more sci-fi centric of the Final Fantasy games.

I agree about the cutscenes in XIII, but I don't think that was it's problem. In XIII the lack of gameplay choices meant that the excess of cutscenes dominated the game and made the player feel like they were not in control of anything. While it's true in X you weren't really in control either (and it had a great many cutscenes as well) the game gave the illusion that you were, just like all the games since VII have (I can't speak for those prior to that since I haven't played them). You could at pretty much any time return to places you have already been, but you couldn't visit anywhere new until you'd reached that part of the story. I feel like that's been the same for almost all Final Fantasy games and that's why XIII feels so much more forced, you can't go anywhere at all other than where the story points you.

I wouldn't say it's 'becoming' more sci-fi, it's always mixed elements of sci-fi with fantasy and that's something I think has always worked well for it. XIII is pretty sci-fi but XII certainly isn't, it's almost entirely fantasy. And you talk highly about VII which is one of the more sci-fi centric of the Final Fantasy games.

I agree about the cutscenes in XIII, but I don't think that was it's problem. In XIII the lack of gameplay choices meant that the excess of cutscenes dominated the game and made the player feel like they were not in control of anything. While it's true in X you weren't really in control either (and it had a great many cutscenes as well) the game gave the illusion that you were, just like all the games since VII have (I can't speak for those prior to that since I haven't played them). You could at pretty much any time return to places you have already been, but you couldn't visit anywhere new until you'd reached that part of the story. I feel like that's been the same for almost all Final Fantasy games and that's why XIII feels so much more forced, you can't go anywhere at all other than where the story points you.

In FFX the cutscenes were bad in my opinion.The game had too many cutscenes, and nothing happened.Most of the time, we hear talks about what if sin was finally rid of, and how much life would be better.The game is fairly linear no illusion actually covers it up.At least in ff7 it only took a few hours to reach the world map

In FFXIII its even worse.You don't reach the world map till the very end.Neither one of those games are good examples, because both abuse cutscenes.

At least XII gives you an open world to do hunts in, but XIII completely eliminates any options and lowers the reason to ever replay the game.


I defend ff7 on some things, and attack it on others.It is a flawed game that is decent, but some people simply overlook the good things and the bad things.I dislike people who blindly either hate or love things.That is why i made the post i encountered a hater:It was a reaction to encountering someone who blindly hates final fantasy series.I don't have much opinion on FFXII, but i've seen some lets plays.It has some pretty sci fi ish stuff in.
XII though is very sci fi.It has space ships and aliens and attacks and laser like weapons.

In FFX the cutscenes were bad in my opinion.The game had too many cutscenes, and nothing happened.Most of the time, we hear talks about what if sin was finally rid of, and how much life would be better.The game is fairly linear no illusion actually covers it up.At least in ff7 it only took a few hours to reach the world map

In FFXIII its even worse.You don't reach the world map till the very end.Neither one of those games are good examples, because both abuse cutscenes.

At least XII gives you an open world to do hunts in, but XIII completely eliminates any options and lowers the reason to ever replay the game.


I defend ff7 on some things, and attack it on others.It is a flawed game that is decent, but some people simply overlook the good things and the bad things.I dislike people who blindly either hate or love things.That is why i made the post i encountered a hater:It was a reaction to encountering someone who blindly hates final fantasy series.I don't have much opinion on FFXII, but i've seen some lets plays.It has some pretty sci fi ish stuff in.
XII though is very sci fi.It has space ships and aliens and attacks and laser like weapons.

Well I personally loved FFX, it's my second favourite Final Fantasy game (first being VIII). I wouldn't want there to be less cutscenes, because I thought every cutscene helped whether it was progressing the story or developing the characters. I really don't see the difference between the cutscenes in X and all the story scenes in previous games, just because they now had the graphics and capabilities to have the scene in a cutscene instead of having the characters stand in a circle while you flick through their conversation doesn't really mean it makes a difference in the pacing of the story.

In FFX there is no world map, but as soon as you leave Luca, you can go anywhere you've been (Besaid, Kilika or Luca) or continue with the story. That's the illusion of freedom, and it's no different from VII, when you reached the 'world map' where could you actually go other than where the story wanted? You couldn't even go back to Midgar at that stage. In all the FF games, your options are limited until you move forward with the story and open up new parts of the world.

XIII is different because that illusion is gone, you have no choice in anything, unlike in the previous games where you could turn around and go back and buy something or do something outwith the main storyline. In XIII you are forced to either stay in the same place and grind, or continue to the next part of the story.

It depends on what you'd class as sci-fi I guess. I can't honestly think of anything in XII that was sci-fi, it was nearly purely a fantasy game. X was also not very sci-fi, so saying that the series is becoming more sci-fi isn't something I can agree with. I think VII and VIII were two of the most sci-fi games the series has had.

Sheechiibii brought up some valid points, gamer. Most FF(s) were pretty limited when it came to... "non-linearity". Sure, you had World Maps, but what you ended up doing in these 'locations' was partaking in random battles/grinding, for the most part. VII has you go to Kalm, then a Chocobo Farm, a small piece of "land" guarded by a huge snake... And a cave. That's it. All you have to do is grinding at that stage; don't even get me started on the other locations, because you unlocked "segments" of the World Map, and while you did... You mostly ended up stuck where you were, with limited chances for backtracking. A problem shared by other chapters in the series, too. So much for first encounters with World Maps.... I still think to this day they botched it, really bad. Personally, the first non-linear FF which I've played was X-2; it actually became my favourite chapter because of its... Layout. It may have lacked a "traditional" World Map, it may have forced me to visit certain locations, from time to time, but for the most part I've been absolutely free to go wherever I wanted, and it didn't take long for such freedom to make itself known.

As for the sci-fi subject... I think the only chapter which overdid it a bit was VII.

Well, to be fair to SE, the rot didn't really start to set in til SE announced the whole stupid Fabula Nova Crystallis thing - FFX, XI and XII were effectively still Sakaguchi era (as he laid the groundwork for them before he 'retired' from Square), as FFXIII and it's ilk basically became the pet project of Motomu Toriyama and Tetsuya Nomura. Toriyama is becoming notorious for his fan-wank comments about Lightning, and Nomura is well known for admitting that he doesn't play games at all and instead is a film buff (which explains why FFXIII is little more than an 'interactive movie' with some fighting in it). One wonders whether the guy took the wrong career path and should have made films for a living.

In any event, despite being an absolute trainwreck at launch with the original version, FFXIV has completely gone the other direction with A Realm Reborn, as it is what has been missing with SE for so long - a game that appeals to the older fans, is fun to play, and, most importantly, has been a labour of love from a director and producer who is a gamer himself and is listening to what the fans want.

Even it's minor flaws are more just teething troubles and growing pains caused by it's sheer popularity taking SE completely by surprise (it's well eclipsed FFXI's subscription peak with over 1.5 million subscribers at launch), and the gamble seems to have paid off financially for SE with them reporting a projected profit for the next quarter for the first time in years, mostly helped by FFXIV's overwhelming success.

So, after seeing what Naoki Yoshida has done with FFXIV, I am quietly optimistic about whether this is signs of a Renaissance from SE, but then I hear more cringeworthy fanwanking from Toriyama about breast jiggling being an important part of Lightning Returns, and I shake my head...

QUO[TE=Enkidoh;2513796]Well, to be fair to SE, the rot didn't really start to set in til SE announced the whole stupid Fabula Nova Crystallis thing - FFX, XI and XII were effectively still Sakaguchi era (as he laid the groundwork for them before he 'retired' from Square), as FFXIII and it's ilk basically became the pet project of Motomu Toriyama and Tetsuya Nomura. Toriyama is becoming notorious for his fan-wank comments about Lightning, and Nomura is well known for admitting that he doesn't play games at all and instead is a film buff (which explains why FFXIII is little more than an 'interactive movie' with some fighting in it). One wonders whether the guy took the wrong career path and should have made films for a living.

In any event, despite being an absolute trainwreck at launch with the original version, FFXIV has completely gone the other direction with A Realm Reborn, as it is what has been missing with SE for so long - a game that appeals to the older fans, is fun to play, and, most importantly, has been a labour of love from a director and producer who is a gamer himself and is listening to what the fans want.

Even it's minor flaws are more just teething troubles and growing pains caused by it's sheer popularity taking SE completely by surprise (it's well eclipsed FFXI's subscription peak with over 1.5 million subscribers at launch), and the gamble seems to have paid off financially for SE with them reporting a projected profit for the next quarter for the first time in years, mostly helped by FFXIV's overwhelming success.

So, after seeing what Naoki Yoshida has done with FFXIV, I am quietly optimistic about whether this is signs of a Renaissance from SE, but then I hear more cringeworthy fanwanking from Toriyama about breast jiggling being an important part of Lightning Returns, and I shake my head...[/QUOTE]

QUO[TE=Leon scott kennedy
I'm still waiting for fabula nova cyrstalis enkidoh.Its been 7 years since its been announced, and i saw some cutscenes of it.


Sheechiibii brought up some valid points, gamer. Most FF(s) were pretty limited when it came to... "non-linearity". Sure, you had World Maps, but what you ended up doing in these 'locations' was partaking in random battles/grinding, for the most part. VII has you go to Kalm, then a Chocobo Farm, a small piece of "land" guarded by a huge snake... And a cave. That's it. All you have to do is grinding at that stage; don't even get me started on the other locations, because you unlocked "segments" of the World Map

In ff7, you had underwater segment to explore, and other bits.Sure you were prevented from exploration in some areas, but FFX isn't much better.In fact: There is no reason to return to old areas at all, because there is nothing much to do.It isn't until the very end when you have explored the whole game that you get much to do.In ffXII there is reasons to backtrack to each town and do quests and talk to people.I actually prefer american take on exploration:You can go anywhere you want even the hard areas, but you better be able to handle yourself, or you are dead.There really isn't much to even do in FFX till the very end.You got the butterfly quest, but i'm not sure if you can get the ultimate weapon before getting the airship.You have the lightning bolts, not sure though if you can get that.What about the arena? its one big grind fest, like you talked about meester kennedy.FFX is just one huge grind fest.Up until the end, you don't have to grind that much, but at the end, that is all there is.At least there is more flavor than FFXIII though, and i will give it that.FFX has arena, the epics and also getting all the slimes and secret areas.There is a ton more to do than in FFXIII, but i find the early FFX part to be painfully boring.Sorry, but it really is painful.The cutscenes don't make the game more interesting, because it feels like most of it is just filler that adds nothing.While it has its really good moments, it feels like a ton of flash bang, but delivers poorly.Couldn't the designers reduce the cutscenes and increase the variety of enemies? Maybe throw in a couple of new songs?

About X you're absolutely right, I mentioned its sequel: X-2, which is objectively the opposite kind of experience. :) At any rate, flaws within X are also shared by the PlayStation-Era chapters. Let's just agree to disagree, on the subject, we clearly don't see eye to eye. I personally think you weren't given many reasons to, uhm, bother to backtrack, until you had reached the final dungeon. Oh, sure, you could do subquests, there's no denying that, but there was no real "benefit" in completing them so soon or, better yet, starting such tasks when you could actually complete them way later in the game (= end).

FFX a huge grind fest until the end... It can be argued that every goddamn chapter in the series ultimately boils down to this. Most subquests can be tackled from "start to finish" before you move onto the final dungeon, I must admit I only recall IX and X-2 having subquests which required to be started as soon as they were available. Never actually played XII, personally, but I've been told it had so many subquests you could have easily lost track of the story... Something which I find horrible.

About X you're absolutely right, I mentioned its sequel: X-2, which is objectively the opposite kind of experience. :) At any rate, flaws within X are also shared by the PlayStation-Era chapters. Let's just agree to disagree, on the subject, we clearly don't see eye to eye. I personally think you weren't given many reasons to, uhm, bother to backtrack, until you had reached the final dungeon. Oh, sure, you could do subquests, there's no denying that, but there was no real "benefit" in completing them so soon or, better yet, starting such tasks when you could actually complete them way later in the game (= end).

FFX a huge grind fest until the end... It can be argued that every goddamn chapter in the series ultimately boils down to this. Most subquests can be tackled from "start to finish" before you move onto the final dungeon, I must admit I only recall IX and X-2 having subquests which required to be started as soon as they were available. Never actually played XII, personally, but I've been told it had so many subquests you could have easily lost track of the story... Something which I find horrible.

Try getting yojimbo early on.It is literally impossible unless you really grind a lot, because it costs a huge amount of gil the first time you go into the cave.Other than that, there is nothing to do literally and figuratively speaking.Blitzball is pointless until you get to the very end, because you will not have access to all the players, so what is the point in starting early? none.All there is to do, is advance the story and beat the game.You grind while you walk, so most of the time you are walking around, you are just grinding to pass on to the next part.The thing is:It is a little bit at a time.Its not until you decide to try to do the optional bosses where you are forced to grind a ridiculous amount.FF7 suffers from the same thing:Having stupidly low amount of ap, and taking an eternity to master abilities.You could spend the rest of your life grinding to max out everything.At least though in FFX you can exploit arena, but the other bits are just as long winded and annoying.Take for an example the mage slimes in arena:They take you 20 minutes to kill, because they are 100% resistant to all melee attacks, and have a bajillion hp.You kind of have to max out every area, because you will want to max out all the stats for the optional bosses, and get each character with gear that is optimized for the dark aeons if you have them.I think we agree on more than a couple stuff, but the older games although less content, give you a clearer illusion of freedom than FFX, because you can still explore towns in ff8 and FF7.Its just that in ff8 there is a brick wall preventing you from going further for at least the first half of the disk, and FFX although it allows you to go to towns, there is nothing to do in them.I remember in previous games going to town, and hearing news about how they feel about what is happening at the moment.Things haven't really changed that much since the snes era, except that the games have more linear corridors, and the games are dressed up to give you the illusion of a great world, but as we got into the more modern era, we got worlds that seemed shallower than the previous games.There is something about the lifelessness of these new games that is missing the essence of what ff series used to have.

I still really don't see the difference between cutscenes in X and the conversation scenes in earlier games. Just because it wasn't in a cutscene doesn't really change that you're still just watching the story progress. You might not like X's story or find it boring, but the actual cutscenes are not really different from previous games, neither is the linearity. Having a word map didn't mean you could go anywhere on it. The difference with XIII is you can't go anywhere other than forward period. It's totally different from the previous games, but I would not say that as a series it's been getting worse, because XIII is the first to be that way, and XII which came directly before it was I think the most open world of all the Final Fantasy games so far.

I still really don't see the difference between cutscenes in X and the conversation scenes in earlier games. Just because it wasn't in a cutscene doesn't really change that you're still just watching the story progress. You might not like X's story or find it boring, but the actual cutscenes are not really different from previous games, neither is the linearity. Having a word map didn't mean you could go anywhere on it. The difference with XIII is you can't go anywhere other than forward period. It's totally different from the previous games, but I would not say that as a series it's been getting worse, because XIII is the first to be that way, and XII which came directly before it was I think the most open world of all the Final Fantasy games so far.

The thing about X is:It had its backstory and events.You hear about how sin is destroying the world.The problem is:Nothing much else happens at all.Most of the events are about taking pilgrimages around the world, and people dying.I think sin is a good tool, but it just saddens me that nothing much else happens, and even that happens so slowly.Its just plain boring.Sorry if it offends you.The characters were not strong enough to keep me truly interested, and the story was not interesting enough to keep me caring.

The thing about X is:It had its backstory and events.You hear about how sin is destroying the world.The problem is:Nothing much else happens at all.Most of the events are about taking pilgrimages around the world, and people dying.I think sin is a good tool, but it just saddens me that nothing much else happens, and even that happens so slowly.Its just plain boring.Sorry if it offends you.The characters were not strong enough to keep me truly interested, and the story was not interesting enough to keep me caring.

Not offended :) though I kind of feel like you dislike the game because you didn't like the story etc not because it had necessarily changed much from previous games in terms of sci-fi content or having too many cutscenes or being more linear. So I think it's unfair to say the series as a whole is going downhill, especially since the only game that has really strayed in those terms has been XIII. All the stories are different, and not everyone will like them all.

The story is something i generally don't like, but i have a few problems with the gameplay.I think that the actual towns themselves and exploration wasn't something i found fun, and leaves much to desire in replayability.Perhaps i didn't specify enough on the gameplay, and i'm sorry then.The combat itself is another thing all together.It starts out good, but you do have to max out your stats to beat the bosses, so that means maxing out every nook and cranny.I suppose you could get those abilities and delete them, but why do that? Then you are eliminating that ability overall, making nobody in your team have it.If you do that then, the whole team is pretty much on par with each other, with the exception of limit breaks, and that is when the game starts to fall apart, because early on you really need lulu and kimahri and all the other characters.

I admit i have a big problem with the story.It started with ff7, and for me:FF8 and up really made the stories seem stupid and ridiculous.I couldn't get over how much i disliked the stories of newer ff games.

FF7 bothers me because the transition from good guy to villain for sephiroth seems unnatural, and makes the character seem fake as a villain, and the designers and fanboys keep saying:OH HE IS SO EVIL!! The relationship between cloud and aerith also really bothers me.Its not aerith, but rather that i actually don't believe that cloud and aerith have a relationship, and i never found cloud likeable or believable.

FF8:There are a ton of problems this game has, and its way worse than ff7.FF7 was good, but ff8 has too many stupid moments to count.The whole orphanage, the gfs erasing the memory, and squall's relationship with rinoa seemed also rushed.I also found ultimecia to be on par with rita repulsa from the power rangers of:MWAHAHAHA now i am going to conquer ze vold.FF8 had some good moments, and i do find that the actual events are executed better than ff7, but the story in ff7 is far far better.

FF9:I found that ff9 characters were most of the time comic relief, which is fine.The actual story had meaning, but some characters did fall flat.I think steiner was there mostly for comic relief, as was zidane, but some of the more memorable ones were vivi for a reason, and even find meaning from kuja, because he was serious.Sure his style of dressing was ridiculous, but kefka also dresses ridiculous, but he blows up the world.The dress style could leave a person surprised if the villain actually does something the player doesn't expect, and he does kill queen brahne and was using her, and leaves both alexandria in shambles, and destroys clayra.The cover though with the song is kind of sad with vivi, and ff9 has some extremely emotional songs that really give ff9 something that i felt was stronger.

FFX:The whole world being destroyed and watching people miserable was depressing, but the music was very upbeat most of the time, so you didn't really think about it.I think except for the actual world, nothing much else happens, and makes the world boring.In ff9, the world kept you interested, but it didn't feel like that in FFX.It felt like a lot of those talking events were just filler of going from place to place.

Well...I haven't played any games before VII, and VIII-X are my favourites, so I guess we have very different tastes. Well, I liked Sepheroth because he started out as a good guy, makes him more interesting to me. Aerith and Cloud don't have a relationship, so you don't have to believe that lol I loved VIII's characters and story and I found it to be a much, much better game than VII (unpopular opinion, I know) the junction system I found so fun, compared to material which I found boring as anything. I agree on the orphanage scene, I didn't mind that the GFs erased memory, since that was established at the begining of the game, but the chances of them all ending up saving the world together when they'd forgotten who each other were? I have to admit I didn't buy it. As far as maxing out the grid goes in X, I've never done it myself, but if I did I wouldn't use stats or abilities on a character I didn't want them on. I'm pretty sure it's optional. I've heard that IX is a lot more like the older games, maybe that's part of the reason why you liked it better out of the newer ones.

Well...I haven't played any games before VII, and VIII-X are my favourites, so I guess we have very different tastes. Well, I liked Sepheroth because he started out as a good guy, makes him more interesting to me. Aerith and Cloud don't have a relationship, so you don't have to believe that lol I loved VIII's characters and story and I found it to be a much, much better game than VII (unpopular opinion, I know) the junction system I found so fun, compared to material which I found boring as anything. I agree on the orphanage scene, I didn't mind that the GFs erased memory, since that was established at the begining of the game, but the chances of them all ending up saving the world together when they'd forgotten who each other were? I have to admit I didn't buy it. As far as maxing out the grid goes in X, I've never done it myself, but if I did I wouldn't use stats or abilities on a character I didn't want them on. I'm pretty sure it's optional. I've heard that IX is a lot more like the older games, maybe that's part of the reason why you liked it better out of the newer ones.

I don't know how old you are, but you really should play the other games.Because you started with the newer games, you won't have appreciation for older stuff as much, and will be more expecting of flashy cutscenes, which are nice but don't make something better necessarily.

FFX:I thought auron was an interesting character, but i felt he was under developed.The scenes from the spheres where you see his backstory was interesting.Tidus was hard to relate to, because i never been a sports star with daddy issues who was warped into the future.

FF7:Sephiroth and cloud are already very overrated, but in these days, we are hard pressed to find a decent ff game anymore, let alone an rpg with the over abundance of fps games.Sephiroth was supposed to be a villain, but we don't actually see him do much of anything at all, let alone be evil.being crazy and being evil are two distinct things.Kefka was crazy but evil, and we see him perform evil acts from the start, same with kuja.

FF8:Has ridiculous story, and i personally didn't like the rules at all.The rules really annoyed me, and i felt a little better when i didn't have to deal with it in FFX.

I'm 21 but I started late when it came to gaming (I'm a girl and my parents never thought I'd like it) so I didn't actually play games until PS2 era. I have tried to play older games, and I own FFVI but I just can't get into it when the characters don't feel like people to me. Its unfortunate and I've tried quite a few times.

Well see Tidus is my favourite character from any FF game I've played. I absolutely love him (I know, unpopular opinion) and I find him one of the most relate able of all the heroes. He comes from a world a lot like ours, where he doesn't have to worry about monsters or fantastical things happening and where a parent dying is pretty much the biggest deal for a kid. Then he gets thrown into a whole new world, and I can understand why he reacts the way he does and he has awesome development over the course of the game. He goes from a rich brat who only really cares about himself to someone willing to die for a world that isn't even his own. Auron's cool too though :)

I can't really say much in VII's defence because it's one of my lest favourite of the FF games. I agree about Sepheroth and Cloud (and the whole game) being overrated, but I do think Sepheroth showed he was evil when he killed Aerith. The bad guy actually killing a main party member mid-game kind of helps make you dislike him more (unless, like me, you could care less about Aerith). Not sure what you mean about the rules in VIII?

I'm 21 but I started late when it came to gaming (I'm a girl and my parents never thought I'd like it) so I didn't actually play games until PS2 era. I have tried to play older games, and I own FFVI but I just can't get into it when the characters don't feel like people to me. Its unfortunate and I've tried quite a few times.

Well see Tidus is my favourite character from any FF game I've played. I absolutely love him (I know, unpopular opinion) and I find him one of the most relate able of all the heroes. He comes from a world a lot like ours, where he doesn't have to worry about monsters or fantastical things happening and where a parent dying is pretty much the biggest deal for a kid. Then he gets thrown into a whole new world, and I can understand why he reacts the way he does and he has awesome development over the course of the game. He goes from a rich brat who only really cares about himself to someone willing to die for a world that isn't even his own. Auron's cool too though :)

I can't really say much in VII's defence because it's one of my lest favourite of the FF games. I agree about Sepheroth and Cloud (and the whole game) being overrated, but I do think Sepheroth showed he was evil when he killed Aerith. The bad guy actually killing a main party member mid-game kind of helps make you dislike him more (unless, like me, you could care less about Aerith). Not sure what you mean about the rules in VIII?

The death of aerith was one action, but nowhere near as evil as destroying alexandria or cleyra from ff9.Think of how many deaths he caused just for power of the summons.We don't actually even hear about him for a while, and all we hear about is shinra, and during most of the game, its jenova we hear about.

You aren't giving old games a chance, and being biased.Sure ff6 is old, and has limited cartridge space, but it does the best it can with its space by getting to the point and with execution.Doesn't mean you wont' find better games, but if you want to know the history and appreciate the series, you should start with the old, and end with the new, that way you learn to appreciate quality over quanitity.

Question:Did you play FFX-2? i hear its very girly and some are put off by it, but i hear the gameplay is one of the best in the series.

I have nothing against the old games at all, I wish I liked them. I have tried playing VI, but I can't connect to characters that do not look like people, I wish it wasn't so but it is. I've tried though, so I do think I gave it a chance. I would love to enjoy the older games the way I enjoy the newer ones, but sprites just aren't something I can take seriously. It's unfair to the games but there's not a lot I can do about it.

Yes I've played almost all the games VII upwards (other than the MMOs). X-2, it's not one of my favourites but it is good. The gameplay is supposedly a lot like some of the earlier games, you have a lot of roles the characters can use and you can switch between them during battle, so you can go from white mage to samurai or alchemest and get a whole new set of abilities to learn. And the story is set out in chapters, and you have a lot of freedom to go and do other things, you can go anywhere in Spira from pretty much the beginning of the game and do heaps of side quests. The story is pretty lacking though, I liked it though, it's very different to X.

I have nothing against the old games at all, I wish I liked them. I have tried playing VI, but I can't connect to characters that do not look like people, I wish it wasn't so but it is. I've tried though, so I do think I gave it a chance. I would love to enjoy the older games the way I enjoy the newer ones, but sprites just aren't something I can take seriously. It's unfair to the games but there's not a lot I can do about it.

Yes I've played almost all the games VII upwards (other than the MMOs). X-2, it's not one of my favourites but it is good. The gameplay is supposedly a lot like some of the earlier games, you have a lot of roles the characters can use and you can switch between them during battle, so you can go from white mage to samurai or alchemest and get a whole new set of abilities to learn. And the story is set out in chapters, and you have a lot of freedom to go and do other things, you can go anywhere in Spira from pretty much the beginning of the game and do heaps of side quests. The story is pretty lacking though, I liked it though, it's very different to X.

The problem with that kind of thing, is then you might have a biased view of what is better or not.Without fully beating it, you can't review something.I completely beat FFX even though it wasn't my favorite, and i liked some bits more than others.Same also with FFXIII.Example:there was a castlevania game i put off for many years:Castlevania the second one on 64.I beat it recently, and found i liked it more than the first game.How can you say what you like or dislike about something without completing it? Which reminds me:I have to complete both fallout new vegas and skyrim.

I swore to myself that i would try to beat every final fantasy game i got my hands on at least once, maybe twice if i wanted to review it.

The problem with that kind of thing, is then you might have a biased view of what is better or not.Without fully beating it, you can't review something.I completely beat FFX even though it wasn't my favorite, and i liked some bits more than others.Same also with FFXIII.Example:there was a castlevania game i put off for many years:Castlevania the second one on 64.I beat it recently, and found i liked it more than the first game.How can you say what you like or dislike about something without completing it? Which reminds me:I have to complete both fallout new vegas and skyrim.

I swore to myself that i would try to beat every final fantasy game i got my hands on at least once, maybe twice if i wanted to review it.

I haven't said that the newer games are better, but for me I can't get into the older ones, and for that reason haven't played them all the way through. I wouldn't say they're better or worse, because I don't judge things I haven't played (the whole reason I played XIII-2). I haven't said I dislike the older games, I just couldn't get into them, I couldn't care about the characters or the story because the connection wasn't there. They're just obviously not for me, so I don't think I'm being biased.

I'm kind of confused as to why people think that linear games are bad. Just because a game is linear does not mean it doesn't have good characters, storyline, and gameplay. Sure it limits you to exploration and that 'adventure' feeling, but it is still a journey. FFX may have had many cutscenes, but the gameplay was still amazing. I personally didn't feel like it was as bad as something like Crisis Core... which sort of felt like I was watching a movie. (Don't get me wrong though, I still quite enjoy the game)

It depends how linear we're talking. Most linear games still give an illusion of freedom. It's very important because it''s immersive, it gives the player a sense that they're in a world, they can communicate with that world, and it feels real. For example, in FFX which is a linear game, you are given the choice of returning to places you've already been, finding new things, talking to people who will speak about events going on in the game at different times. This makes it feel like you're part of a world, which makes you care about that world in terms of the story. In contrast in FFXIII you have none of that, the 'world' around you is literally just pictures in the background of hallways. You can't detour off the path, you can't communicate with the world, and that is bad for the story because there is no reason for the player to care about the world they're in. And in a game about saving the world, it's kind of a big deal to actually want to save it.

What about Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy I think and know that was a great failure awesome battle system but the story line is so...so.. emo-ish. Everyone has there place Semi-good was Cloud but him and squall, lighting and kain all freaking act like they are very distant and emotional. Lighthing is ok in most scenes but distant and thats cool but u have a pack of them the same way. Just like in a anime Someone is cheerful and misleading, the other is there to blend with the group but is up most annoying (Vaan) clueless almost. Squall fits in there but is sooo awesome at least he talks more on there, but anyways everyone as there whats the point or helpless moments or have to kiss there oss to get into there hearts.U help, u solve there problems like a good friend u are, u follow, u hear there damn pain and suffering and u go though this the whole game intill the end and might I add they do have some fun parts, but when u battle the other characters on chaos side they tell them about there past more like crushing there spirit on way they should not continue or in other words u fight, they lecture u on your past and everyone has a somewhat dieing pain problem that they would like someone else to feel. I understand there pawns and they fight for a endless cause but there problems are there own and matter in speaking u have to go through the same story plot on the first one and the second. Correct me if Im wrong please.