Final Fantasy

[Yoshi9]

Hey everyone, I need to ask for some help on something. I really want to start playing the Final Fantasy games, and I plan on asking for some for Christmas, but there's a problem. I don't know which one to start with. You should know that I have never played a single Final Fantasy game ever. Any infromation you can post will help me out. What I'd really like to know is which one I should start with, and which ones I should play after that. I'd also like to know, if someone would like to post it, the order in which they came out in the U.S.A. Graedius, you said that 1 - 6 were really good games, I think I might start with one of those. I'm still not sure though, the other one's look good too. I know each game also has its own story, so that's a factor I want to think about too. Please post as much as you know about the games that can help me decide, thanks everyone.

[Gene L.D. Ryoko]

x 1,x 2,cc,ta,chronlcles

[Moot]

Yoshi~* said:

. Please post as much as you know about the games that can help me decide, thanks everyone.

Its funny bcause you didn't bother reading this part

Also you picked most games there which are most unlike "Classic" FF

[Gene L.D. Ryoko]

so those are the only ones i played

[Kailing]

Final Fantasy. *_*

I've only ever played Tactics for the Advance, but gawd! I really wanna get my hands on the other games - The story lines, characters, everything is so drop dead hump worthy. TRIPLE BONUS MULTIPLIER ! !~

[Gene L.D. Ryoko]

i forgot 7,8,and 9

[Chaos]

Well. i really really really really enjoyed FF7. its one of the best, but it also depends on your kind of taste. but if i were you.. ff7 is a good one. but yet its also too short. if you want a longer on tA is a good one to choose... im still on that one.
hope that was enough and hope thats what you were looking fer.

[Lazo]

FF 6 (3 in the USA) is considered to be the best, or, one of them. Unless you're willing to shell out $80 for it, you will probably have to emulate it.

#7 is great too. Some people are down on it, but I like the heavy customization. #8 isn't as bad as some say, but avoid #9.

[Chaos]

hey hey hey.. now whats so bad about 9? sure it wasnt as good as previous but its still a good to play. i enjoyed it. actually it was the very first i have ever played. why be so down on 9?

[Gene L.D. Ryoko]

good q

[Darkmark]

I've only played the classic ones (FF, FFMQ, FF2, 3 and 5) so I can only tell you about those. The first FF is pretty sucky, IMO... it's really jerky and the battle system isn't very good, and I never liked it enough to play very far into the game.

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest is very strange in that it is completely unlike all the other FF games. Everything got changed, but it was still an okay game in the end.

FF2 I never liked. Bad dialogue, awful graphics, poor plot, too many people coming back from the dead all the time. Plus, unless you spent ages levelling up, your characters got slaughtered every few minutes.

FF3 was much better. Good graphics, a fairly good story, with an interesting plot twist halfway through. The three-parties thing at the end of the game was a nice little addition.

FF5 could have been much more. It had a lot of subsystems and a bunch of cool spells and spell categories, but the plot wasn't really up to much and it had too many monsters that could destroy party with a single attack, like Garkimasera, Sand Crawl, Kuzar, ExDeathSoul, and the like. Things you had to run from or die facing.

[Bry]

If I was to say, then 6 and 7 would be the best in my opinion.
I hold 7 in deep regard for several reasons.
One, the first real Final Fantasy game released in Europe (thus the first I ever played).
Two, for the very deep storyline which gets bonus points imo because it doesn't explain everything, leaving you to figure out chunks of it for yourself. And lots of hidden story parts which give you nothing special but to plug in some holes. The entire deal about Zack for example.
Three, the battle system is almost completely open. Since none of the characters have unique abilites apart from their limit breaks, you can play with your fav characters and they are interchangable with others. Materia is quick and easy to set up and very flexible to special combinations without spending hours in the menu screens.
It also has the best incarnation of Cid IMO. And he's playable.
Overall, I found the world rich and interesting. Locations like Cosmo Canyon, Midgar, Junon are all great sights and fun to explore chatting to people.
Lots of great chracters as well and they are all given a worthwhile (and sometime surprisingly deep) back story.
Finally, one of the best directed (and very simple) final showdowns of an RPG.

Graphically, 7 is quite dated now. Though if you can track down the PC version, that's a lot better. It has several translation errors fixed, more complete dialogue and much better graphics thanks to the high res. For example compared to the PSX game, all the characters now have mouths. Its a very subtle difference but manages to add a lot.


6 is a classic and I still enjoyed it even though I played 7 first. Again, the battle system is very flexible which is probably another reason why I enjoyed it. Its got an epic (if slightly more traditional) story line that keeps you playing as well as lots of very good characters.

[Graedius]

Let me handle this, boyz.

Please, start off this series right, the way it was meant to be.... Do NOT start with FF7, 8, 9, 10, or PARTICULARILY 10-2. I'd reccomend not trying any Tactics version or Crystal Chronicles yet, as those are kind of sub-Final Fantasys that do not follow the numbered stream, and are thus different in many, many ways.

I would reccomend startign from the basics... get a NES Emulator, and Final Fantasy. (The first one.) Or, try Final Fantasy 3 (NES, not the SNES one). If you wanna go higher quality, try FF4, 5, or 6. Although, I'd do 6 last of them all.

Please, start off with the way this series was meant to be... I'll even give you the ROMs and emulators if you want via PM.... just... don't start with 7, 8, 10, or 10-2 primarily. Those will destroy yourperception of how this series was originally.

[goldyoshi]

Yoshi~* said:

I don't know which one to start with

Well start with the 1st FF so you know what the game is all about ( I got the VIII one and i don't know abit a bout it)

[Bry]

That said consider that given the variety of the games, not everything will be for you.
I'll go against Graed here and say there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to play through the games.
They're supposed to be fun afterall, not a chore or tradition that should be done a certain way.
Sorry if you don't like that Graed but lighten up They're games, not an institution. I'm glad I started with 7 and it certaintly didn't make me think any less of the earlier games or 'destroy my perception' of them.
I don't even consider 7 a massive departure from the format established in FF6... It had 3D graphics and FMV but otherwise, pretty familiar. Less depth in some ways, more depth in some other ways.
FF7 has gone from being the bees knees best thing ever, to being written off as rubbish, partially due to its own success. Not an uncommon situation. A game can be targeted because of its popularity and it becomes cool to put it down.
Oh, that isn't aimed at you btw Graedius, just a general observation over the years, especially around Gfaqs.

That said, I would avoid 8 and onwards. Not because of anything to do with the series, but just because they were not particularly good games.

Its up to you though Yoshi~* You can read our observations and recommendations and take them into account, but don't take them as gospel truth.
In the end, play the games YOU want to, not the ones you're told to.

As a final note, all the games are independant from each other and in different worlds pretty much. Playing the NES games won't give you any insight other than to see where the series started off before it became a franchise. A good history lesson that is fun along the way
As the final game to be released by a company that was on the verge of going out of buisness only to be saved by that very game. (hence the name FINAL Fantasy. It was to be Squares very last game. But it was so successful it saved the company.)

Its like the Mario games. You might have played SMB3, SMW or even Super Mario 64 as you first Mario game, but its still easy to try out (and enjoy!) Super Mario Bros.
lol, well, there you go. You kinda got atleast 2 detailed different points of view on the matter I guess. XD

[Gene L.D. Ryoko]

i started with 10 and it doesn't which one you play. none of them follow each other except X-2 and 10

[Graedius]

I somehow knew you'd get in my way, lad.

While that is true, youm ust understand my view... Final Fantasy 7 this, FF7 that, Oh-my-god-cloud/sephiroth/whatever-is-so-cool Everywhere I turn and look. I can't go anywhere without hearing about one of those things.

As well, I have a peronsal vendetta with Final Fantasy 7... It seems that after it, a vast majority of people forgot everything that came before. "Shiva? She's from FF7!" "Hey look, the Highwind, that was from FF7!" "Sephiroth has the one and only Masamune!" Etc. etc. etc....

Well, see it as you will. It is true that the games have nothing to do with one another. That is a classic thing they try and retain, and did well until FFX-2.

While FF7's quote un-quote "utter greatness" may not have affected you, it's affected many and created a world of moronic fanboys, haha. I guess my ultimate point is that so few are like me, so many like everyone else... And as games continue, it will become only greater. *sigh* Losing battle, it is.

Do whatever you want. But it saddens me so when easily half of the people who've heard the name "Final Fantasy" associate it with FF7. And more than that with the games following.






And don't tell me the Fandom is slowing at all... it's not. The past 4 times GameFAQs has done a character battle thing, GUESS WHO WON EACH TIME? Final Fantasy 7 (as the game) or Cloud/Sephiroth (if it was for a specific character).

You know, it's kinda like the song, "In the end"... was a good song, but was so damn overplayed that I want to shoot every member of Linkin Park.

Yes, I'm very opinion-based, and likely biased, too.

[Gene L.D. Ryoko]

i have ff4 too that is also a good game. can you help me in it,i'm at hte part where you have to fight millena z.

[Bry]

lol, well now me laddo, that's probably because
1) I mentioned FF7.
2) I'm me. Ye olde trouble maker.
I know exactly what you mean but I won't mark a game down merely because of its fandom. If that was the case I would NEVER touch Halo with a mile long stick. As it is, I've reluctantly ordered Halo2 with hopes of some good multiplayer fun. OFFLINE I'll add.
(oh, and actually, Link beat Cloud a couple of years ago in the Gfaqs final as I recall. Though that was before the Wind Waker image had been revealed)

But the point is valid, Cloud and Sephiroth are always shoe in's that make it to the semi's and one of which usually in the final. Its annoying but many great games and characters get shoved asside by mass appeal.

The truth is for a lot of people, FF7 was the first game in the series they got to play. Japanese RPG's weren't always popular. Hence why the 6th game was only the 3rd to reach the US... no, correction, North America more like. And on top of that, 7 was the first one to even make it to Europe. (and even now most RPG's STILL fail to make it to Europe. Xenogears, Xenosaga, Parasite Eve, Star Ocean etc)

Yes, FF7 is overplayed. But that doesn't make it bad. As far as I was concerned, Zelda: Ocarina of Time was totally over-hyped. God it made my skin crawl, reading the magazines which added in brackets "Best game ever™" when ever the title was mentioned.
Don't get me wrong, brilliant game but overhyped in Nintendo magazines. Like Halo2 is now, though that game is overhyped to the nth degree.

All honesty, I still assosiate Final Fantasy with FF7 since it was the first I played. But I never had an option in that, blame Squaresoft for refusing to release the earlier games here.
But for me, having played FF7 and then 8, going back to play the earlier games, well, it enhanced it for me. To see how long these Final Fantasy traditions have gone on for. Hearing the various different incarnations of the music and seeing all the familiar monsters and names.
That might put me in the minority, but at least it can happen. I didn't think "That's from FF7" I thought. "Wow, so they've been using this monster design for over 10 years"

Anyway, I would actually say the FF7 fandom is slowing down slightly. Or atleast is not as verbal as it used to be. Though I wish the idea of Advent Children had never been conceived... But then again, Square-Enix have been in trouble for ages now. And anything to do with FF7 is just a delightful, huge cash cow just waiting to be milked, so that's just what they went and did. I'm no FF7 fan-boy moron, I just enjoyed it as an experience. And I'm not blind to know what Advent Children is really about. Not a desire to add to a story which was ALREADY FINISHED, but to just suck up as much easy cash as possible to fund increasingly poor titles sellings themselves on both the franchise name and the increasing number of female cast members with decreasing amounts of clothing.

I don't trust the Gfaqs polls. Half the time people just vote AGAINST the character they don't want to win. Some of the contests have been silly matches and yet really close for some amazing reason.
...nah, I go to Gfaqs for FAQs and try to avoid both the main site and forums where i can. It could be pretty fun 5 years ago, but these days its just depressing with the number of moronic individuals running around....

Anyways, back to the mad dash to try and finish Paper Mario before the sequel arrives in.... probably about 34 hours or so.

[little Mailtroid]

I like Final Fantasy at all. I started with FF X and I like it really. And than go on with FF X-2. I have never played anyone before. If you like roll-plays, and a really good gamestory you have to play FF. I think it is like Kingdom Hearts but much better and I also think if you dont play any FF game in your life you would miss a very good game. When I played FF X I was so suprised. I`ve never believed that FF games are so amazing. That is my opinion