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RenCutypoison on 23 February 2014
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forevercloud3000 said:
RenCutypoison said:
gergroy said:


Why?  I have played vi and x and I thought vii was the best final fantasy ever made...

You are the exact reason why i would be disappointed. Even more than a decade later, the game is still overhyped and overrated. It is not, objectively, the best final fantasy ever made. Every Final Fantasy was directed with the same greatness, VII is just the one that suits the most your tastes.

VII like any Final Fantasy had flaws, like a storyline with a lot of fake twists, and I didn't find the protagonist in any way interesting. And the post game grinding was boring too.


Are you trying to say that FF games cannot be ranked? because I think they can objectively in a few things. I don't see the issue with guaging fan reception + sales as a reasonable means of quantifying each entry's popularity.

FFVII and X are the two highest selling(# of units) in the series, both highly rated. They have their issues such as translation flubs but over all they are seen as the creme of the crop. 

FFVIII is almost unversally panned as one of if not the WORST FF game, FFXIII is very close to it. They both have broken combat and leveling systems and are reviewed much lower than avg FF game. Sales wise they are competent but not as high as VII and X.

VI and IV are regarded very highly by fans but they don't really come close to sales of PS1 era FFs.Frequently are in top 10 jrpg lists.

With this info you can visibly see FFVII, X, VI and IV are of the better ones, leaving the rest to fight for the bottom. VII has the most fans(proven by sales) so yes, it is the defacto "most popular" FF game.

Of course they can be ranked, but with a high level of subjectivity. You say FFXIII has broken combat, to me it's one of the best gameplay I saw in a modern RPG. It is fluid and challenging even against mobs, you can't just go and press the attack command while doing something else against mobs. The leveling system was interesting and permitted a nice customization, depending on your playstyle. I hated FFVIII tough.

But any post IV FF have some common ground : 

Great OST (anyone saying One winged Angel never listened to Dancing Mad <3 (half joke))

Great design, especially on monsters and environement, while character design is subjective (I hate both amano and Yoshida, while I am a big fan of Nomura's work)

The game revolves around a good/great storyline in a complex universe, with elements of both Scifi and Fantasy (And some prefers the emphasis on fantasy (X), or scifi (XIII) )

Big budget and impressive tech in their time (FFVII = 3D, X = facial animation, ...)

So despite everyone having preferences, these game have a lot in common and the same staff behind them, wich makes them all at least good, objectively.

 

And popularity has nothing to do with being a great game or not. Most FFVII popularity came from the fact it was the first big 3D RPG. Impressive tech can sell a meh game.

A good example would be Rayman Legends. It is objectively better than Origins : Same gameplay, design but better Res, animations, and above all content. It didn't prevent Legends from a big fat flop, due to bad advertising and bad release date.