So please tell me your favorite Final Fantasy game/series of games. EDIT; F*ck I hit enter too soon. Mods, just get rid of the poll and people can write their answers below.
I have only played XII, so I am probably not the best person to answer. ;c (but let's go with XII because fran is lovely)
XII Never finished it, but the aesthetics and politics of it immediately grabbed me and I fell in love with it.
The one where the main character has anime hair, an attitude problem, and some type of emotional baggage.
Final Fantasy IX is just such a culmination of the entire series while coming off as original and lovable in every aspect. Dat game man.
Same here. XII's characters can seem pretty bland and two dimensional at times (Vaan is even worse than Lightning IMO), but once you realize it's not about them, it becomes way better. It was a great narrative choice to make Dalmasca the main character rather than any individual person. I think that choice is what made the world feel so much more full and alive than any other open-world game I've played. Since the main character was a nation rather than a person, they had to emphasize the fact that it's a living "creature" that grows and changes with its population. Also, it has some of the best voice-acting in the whole series. I took a break from it to play FFXIII and was blown away when I got back to XII. The only game that might have better voice acting is the original FFVI back when it was still FFIII in the US.
While I'm aware it's not one of the more popular ones, I'm going with FFII (I only played Final Fantasies I-IV so far, plus the original Dissidia)
Aw man okay First I love Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, it's a hella underrated game that very few people have played. It's got lovely art and I adore the story & characters (though I know people have problems with the ending but imo they're missing the point). Final Fantasy X has the best story like ever. In terms of emotional attachment to the characters, only two other games/series have made me feel the same way. The gameplay/battle system isn't my thing but the story more than compensates. FFXII is basically all political intrigue and isn't the emotionally fueled story that a lot of people expect from FF titles, so I understand why it's pretty underrated, but I think it has my favorite art style of the games thus far. The battle system is a nice departure from the turn based but isn't anything to write home to mother about. It's crazy expansive too, I think I spent 120 hours on it, didn't finish the story or come close to finishing all the hunts.
Final Fantasy X will always have a place in my heart. It was the very first Final Fantasy game I was exposed to and just... loved every little bit of it. I think in that way, however, it was hard for me to go back and take in the experiences of the previous titles that came before it, which is unfortunate. Obviously the graphics and atmospheres don't match up to the way I feel about X, but in a weird way manages to have a nostalgic feeling to it. As for XII, I agree it was underwhelming in terms of living up to the expectations I had from playing X first, but it still had many moments where I felt that the difference in direction suited the world, gameplay, and characters well. andmygodbalthier'svoicehumunahumuna XIII was... an interesting experience. Out of the main titles I've played (which was everything 'cept for IV, V, VI, XI, and XIV), it was weak in terms of meeting expectation and delivering something that was completely satisfying. The conflicting effort of the development team definitely bled through its presentation. However, I do say that the voice acting was probably the best out of the ones I've played (despite mediocre script), which at least benefited my liking toward Lightning and the gang.
But it's one of the most popular ones in this thread. I actually think it's very emotionally fueled. It's not all that emotional in an obvious way, but after the plot really got going, I started to really care about what would happen with Dalmasca and Archadia. I only wish the Hetalia fanartists would get around to Hetaliafying Dalmasca so I can cosplay it. I thought it was just a "freer" version of FF's usual turn-based ATB system. Sure, you can run around a bit more and battles happen in the overworld, but it's still the same core system. I loved Gambits too. It's a shame they narrowed them down rather than expanding the whole system in XIII. Roles and Paradigms were great, but way too simple for my tastes. Same here. I found myself spending more time grinding for License Points than actually playing the game. I really need to get back to that.
I actually really didn't like Lightning's VA (Ali Hillis) when I played FFXIII, something about her bothered me. When I played Mass Effect though I thought Liara sounded fantastic (biased), and was shocked to learn that Ali Hillis voices her as well. So I really agree, the game probably had some other strong VAs that I overlooked, the script was just really awkward all the time. That doesn't mean it's not underrated. I didn't mean your emotional investment in the story (though that's a part of it), but the character's. At its core the story is really a power/political struggle, whereas other FF games have a lot more emotional development & interactions built into the characters. I'm not saying that FFXII has none of that of course, but compared to a game like FFX, it isn't an emotionally fueled title.
Well, remember that I consider the primary characters in FFXII to be the nations themselves rather than viewpoint characters through whom we view the story. See my first post in this thread for more details on that. Anyway, when looked at from that perspective, my emotional investment in Dalmasca and its struggle for independence from Archadia is roughly the same kind of emotional investment that I had for Riku when he was working to overcome and later accept the darkness in his heart. It's hard to describe because I'm pretty sure this is a pretty unique view, but that's how I see it.
