Now that I'm done playing Final Fantasy XIII-2, I just thought I'd say this.

So one game defines the whole series? I didn't like Zelda 2 but it didn't stop me from playing the rest of the games. And I didn't find Sonic 06 to be that good but oh look, I'm playing Sonic Generations and I'm liking it too! /gasp

Well I guess I'm going to be a child forever. Fuck yeah!

 

Dido. Guilty as charged.

I bought the game last night, but I have yet to play it. I've heard "issues" the predessessor had were slightly modified, but I guess I'll just have to play and see for myself.

 

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This isn't the only time I've been disappointed with a Final Fantasy game recently. I still enjoy the classics, but I haven't played one that has been up to that standard in a while. Even taking that standard out of it, they just haven't been doing well.

 

Final Fantasty ? That' s Final Fantastic ! :lolface:

I assume you quoted the wrong part of my post and are referring to my comment on FF XIII ?
I suppose FFXIII does qualify as a turn-based RPG in a way (my definition of turn-based seems less rigid than yours, mine is more like "once a character speed gauge is full I get to chose his action in a menu").

The FF gameplay had many constants from FF I to FF IX, only tweaking a few things in precise gameplay areas between episodes. That' s how I judge how much of a FF a game is, the number of constants it shares with its 9 oldest elders. Since FF X more and more of those constants were wildly tweaked or just discarded, which I think is a fairly objective observation. I suppose FF X, XII and XIII are all fairly departing from the original formula, each in their own way, XIII just happens to be the one that barely gave me a FF feeling. Boring explanation as to why :

Spoiler

You only control one character so it' s always your turn. Also, there are many informations you can only gather by actually watching the battle unfold. Combined this with the fact that entering a menu doesn' t pause the game (it cannot be turned on/off, which is a first in a FF) and that you can' t accurately predict what your companions will choose to do and you have a recipe that encourages the player, in many ways, to not use the menu and play in a A-RPG fashion instead (using the buttons and auto-battle). Plus the world is a straight line, there are no NPCs, no town, no airship etc ...

But yeah, that being said don' t worry, I did notice that each player has its own definition of what a FF is or can be, that some don' t even have a need for one, and that the FF designers themselves quite enjoy trolling about it : "Lulz, FF dozn' haz any definityn, it dozn' evyn haz 2 be RPGz !"

 

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Same, I don't remember the last time I actually brought my PSP or DS outside of my house. I only see them as another console with just a smaller screen.

 

GBA has some amazing games! One of my favourite systems.

 

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...really? Really? Did it ever occur to you that maybe I knew somebody who had Zelda 2 when I was younger? That maybe I picked up the game when I was young, played it, and found it annoying and decided it sucked. So yes, it was my first impression of the series. Then I was introduced to OoT and Link to the Past and well, the rest is history. Just because I was born after its release, it doesn't mean that I couldn’t have played it. And the way you worded that makes it sound like Zelda and Sonic aren’t established franchises. Which is like saying the Mario franchise is only recently coming out of its diapers.

You also completely missed the point. It's that a bad apple doesn't ruin the whole batch. Giving up on a series just because you didn’t like a few games and assuming that future ones are going to be bad is pretty childish in my opinion. Final Fantasy is still a strong franchise from what I’ve heard about Type-0 and The 4 Heroes of Light and even FFXIII sold well and is considered good by some people. Square’s just trying to do something new with the genre that they’ve been nailed to. But with such an unpleasable fanbase, they're doomed to fail.

Yeah I'm one of these people. Unless I'm traveling then most of the time, portable games usually stay at home. The only difference between them and console games for me is that I can walk around the house, screaming obscenities at annoying boss fights instead of just being restricted to my room. xD

 

I think he was suggesting giving on the continuation of the series rather than its past. He is trying to say that you can predict the quality of future games from past ones, which is not entirely true. Artistic entropy applies with sequels, but that is no reason to give up on a company.

 

How is it childish? I work full time, and have bills to pay, so the little extra money I do have goes towards video games. I'm not going to spend $60 of my hard earned money on another Final Fantasy game, when I keep spending it on Final Fantasy games and they all end up sucking. They used to have my business, they stopped putting out quality products, and now they don't have my business any more. There's nothing childish about that. Quite the opposite actually. I don't have a dad, and my mom doesn't buy me anything, so I have to spend my money on this stuff. Same reason why I won't buy Dragon Age 3. Dragon Age 2 was terrible and they lost my business.

 

Rent before buying if its such a waste of cash.

 

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I only think that it's childish that one would assume that future games are going to suck. The thing about Final Fantasy is that unless it's a direct sequel then almost every new game is something different and fresh in terms of story, atmosphere, characters, etc. and even if it is a direct sequel, at least they try to do something new. One can not like FFXIII and its sequels and decide that they won't buy any games set in that universe since they just don't like it for whatever reason. I'd be able to understand that. But why judge Versus XIII, FFXV or any of the other future FF games to come if they're most likely going to be different from the game you didn't like?

 

There aren't any rental places around here. They all went out of business.

Like I said before, I'd rather not spend money on a franchise that I spent money on five titles recently, three of them being main numbered titles, and I've been disappointed with all of them. I know I'm not entitled to anything, but when that happens, I'll just buy other games, from other franchises. I don't see anything wrong with that. If Bethesda, my favorite video game developer, kept putting out games that weren't very good, I'd stop buying their games. I don't see anything wrong with that, or what I'm doing now.

 

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