:eye: Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the same general story line to all the final fantasies? This is as follows: unassuming main character with dark past meets quirky people, they find out their world is doomed because of an ancient evil, tromp around the world fighting monsters, eventually coming to the lair of the evil, doing great battle with it the heroes win and the world is saved, YAY!, the end. now there is nothing really wrong with this, but to me it's just a little old after 5 or 6 games like this. anyone agree with me?

well.. id say they could be different... different character developments.... and all
id also say the story is different because ff7 is about an evil man running around and does evil stuff... this goes more into spiritual stuff and all....
now ff8... instead of being the resistance... the opposite is the good guys... youre the government... the militia sent to do mercenary missions... but then you get caught up in a larger plot where the evil person is trying to dominate the world...
in ff9... its kinda like the previous but it includes the non-human world and it can get all screwy... the princess thing also makes it interesting.... the story is different because the main evil person is using something special to dominate the world....
but yea.. i see what you mean my repetitiveness.... but theyre so good!!! XD

Not forgetting s lot of the early FF's were based around crystals being destroyed or stolen or somthing:P

Very many (no, make that 'almost all') RPGs follow this basic story line:
Hero meets friends, learns that their world is threatened by evil person, they set out and eventually defeat that evil person.

The hero does not generally need a dark past. I don�t think Butz�s merry times as a chocobo-riding traveller count as 'dark'.

Typical FF plot 1:
Oh my god the crystals!
A set of heroes goes on a quest to save the crystals.

Typical FF plot 2:
Summoning stuff!
Main character falls in love with girl who has some sort of powers (summoning powers are especially trendy). This girl gets used by some evil guy in his scheme to conquer and/or destroy the world.

Substract the love stuff and you got FF6 with Terra being the girl with special powers.
FF 8 fits in there, too. I am not sure about FF 7...

The "crystal" plot was that of FF1-5. They all had that same basic theme/idea, the "four warriors of light," so on, so on. I'd say that Final Fantasies 6, 8 and 10 fit Misao's second theme. FF9 I'd consider to be a mixture of both ideas. FFVII doesn't really have either the crystals or the thing with the girl being used. I'd actually consider it the least prototypical plot of all the FFs. It's still the same basic idea.

Oh, here's one other main theme that I've noticed:

The true villain of the game either isn't revealed or isn't revealed to be evil until at least a third of the way through. Like in Final Fantasy VII, you don't know about Sephiroth for quite a while and it's the Shinra who are all evil. FFVII: Ultimecia doesn't even come into the picture until the start of Disc 3. Final Fantasy IX: You don't even see Kuja at all until the end of Disc 1. So on, so on.

like agent said....
sure the games all fall into a range of plots that are really similar...
except for ff7....
but remember that you do know about shinra throughout the whole game and square wants you to feel that shinra is evil because of the connection with sephiroth....
but sephiroth... the real evil... isnt really inroduced until right before you escape midgar... and thats not that far into the game... where in ff9... kuja is introduced at the very end of disc 1 but his true self and his true evil was never introduced until halfway through disc 2....
the main evil in disc 1 and half of disc 2 was queen brahne... so yea..... :rolleyes:
in ff8 the evil at first was the garbadian soldiers and empire... but then the sorceress comes into play and thus introducing her as the new evil.....
and i see the trend in that there is an evil at the beginning... but then a more powerful villain arrives and so there goes another plot.....

You're right that Sephiroth is sort of revealed when you get to Kalm. But even then, you don't really learn anything about his master plan or anything until late Disc 1. Another interesting thing about this one is that even after you find out about Sephiroth, you still have to chase after the other evil (Shinra) too.

BTW, I just remembered that Final Fantasy V also fits my idea. You really don't have any idea who's behind anything until later on in the second World Map.

I think people should just leave the final fantasy series alone with all their complaining on how it all seems the same. I don't really like "new" I like original.

i didnt think of 1-5 when i posted this, they follow the same general line, though diff from 7-10. im not saying they should change the story lines majorly, but just enough that it seems different. thats what 9 was to me, it had been such a long time since jobs and learning skills was used it seemed new and inventive. im not saying square should just do this on future games, but at least include some new items, like the sphere grid, i loved it, anyone could learn anything.

Well, well... well, yes!
They were all different and all brought new stuff up, but also recycled some older ideas, which could bring a smile to the fans� faces... ;)
Every game has a different feeling about it... they all had unique elements, and told good stories.
There is not much for to ask for.

Let�s check out the villains...
Spoilers included.
FF4: If I remember correctly it took quite a while until the REAL villain was revealed, right?
FF5: You�re right, I actually expected the game to be over at the point when the main villain made his first appearance... o_o I guess I was wrong.
FF6: Kefka does show up quite in the beginning, and it is really quite clear that he is very very evil. But I was hoping he�d get killed by someone... more cool...
FF7: If my memory does not lie to me, Sephiroth is often referred to even before you learn he became evil. That was well done, it makes you wanna get to know him... and he does not show up until that long flashback. Yes... I mistook him for a woman in his first scene.
FF8: Disc 2, right? When you learn it�s not really Edea�s fault.
FF9: As often mentioned before, Kuja appeared really kind of late, and in my case, totally unexpected, at the end of Disc 1.
FF10: Seymour shows up early, but it�s a good deal later that you learn about his being evil... well, officially, that is, because his whole appearance screams: I�m evil! Evil! I�m the bad guy! Me! So... blame his voice.

Okay, most of them really took their time. And by the way... they are all quite different. So far there has not been any classic-evil-wizard since Exdeath, Kefka was the only total lunatic, Ultemecia the only female, and Sephiroth, Kuja and Seymour would be the 'evil masterminds', merrily scheming their clever schemes... and they, too, are three totally different personalities.