FFV - N/A

One of the two FF's I have yet to play (for some reason, I'm not even sure why). It really sounds like a game I'd enjoy.


FFVI - 7/10

To say I didn't enjoy FFVI would be a lie. It has an undeniable charm to it, as well as an awesome soundtrack that is probably my second favorite in the series. The problem with this game is the balance and the story. The progression in terms of gameplay is very sporadic until Espers are aquired. Once you have Espers, the whole game is pretty much broken (and the fact that most characters are pretty much useless in terms of special skills). Sure, fights can still be fun watching the fruits of your effort, but there is a point when a game is just too easy. I hate grinding, and I never have trouble beating this game without it.

Spam ultima with Terra, woot!

The overall world is also mostly forgettable. Nearly every town looks the same. Sure there are design and layout differences, but nothing significant enough for any of them to actually be interesting (that and the fact that most NPCs have nothing interesting to add either for the most part). The dungeons are nice on occasion, but still, everything remains very similar (with the exception of the halfway and final dungeons). The world map is also uninspired and becomes even worse halfway through.

As for the characters and the plot, a lot of the characters start off very promising, but they seem to lose their spark throughout the adventure. Terra always whining about herself and always asking about love got annoying... I got it the first time, I didn't need her reminding me and the rest of her friends all of the time. Other characters had similar problems, or they didn't have much depth beyond a stereotypical personality... although Mog was awesome despite a very lacking amount of dialogue and the animations of the characters adds a lot of depth to the characters where the dialogue tears it away, because FFVI has the WORST dialogue of any of the games. It is painfully bad, and no, Kefka's awful translations are not funny, they are irritating.

That reminds me, Kefka is not a good villain. The Emperor... now there is a good villain. The whole plot basically ending halfway through the game and the fact that the characters stop interacting with eachother for the most part after the halfway point are HUGE drawbacks too. The plot might of worked better if it had been stronger, but not a lot happens. The whole poisoning of an entire castle wasn't that shocking for me either... maybe if they had built into it more, gave me more reason to care. I felt bad for Cyan throughout the game, but the shock value was just totally absent.

Honestly, when I finished FFVI, it felt very mediocre... it had been recommended to me by a friend a 8 years ago whom I trusted for informed opinions, and for awhile I felt that maybe it was a love/hate game that had few followers until I had access to the internet and realized how many really love it.  I've played the game twice since then to see if I liked it any better, but my opinion of it remains unchanged. Personally, I see too many flaws in it to call it anything more than mediocre. A must play for a FF fan for sure, as it isn't a waste of time, that is certain, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. Strong music, character interaction (first half of game), and charm don't save this game.

IvorEvilen, knowing that your opinion of it is so far fro the norm, and that statistically speaking it's much more likely that a person to whom you recommend it will enjoy this game, how can you refrain from recommending it to people who are likely to enjoy it?

Normally I don't recommend games I don't really like, but I did recommend it to my older brother who loves every FF game he has played, and his opinion of it now is very similar to mine.  He wasn't really that impressed either.  I've tried to see why others like it, but I see too many flaws in it, and if I did recommend it to anybody else and they don't like it, and they ask me what I liked about it that made me recommend them spending such and such hours on it, I would feel guilty, because beyond the music, I wouldn't have much to say.  It's a good game for any FF fan to play, but in my opinion, nothing more.

Instead, I would recommend a game like Dragon Quest VI or Chrono Trigger, SNES rpgs I feel are vastly superior.

What I find really interesting is the CONSISTENCY in this one. Most are giving it between 9 - 10

In the FF8 thread it was like a freak cricus show....you had "10/10 ONE OF THE BEST FF EVA!" then the next post down "0.5/10 -- UNPLAYABLE MESS, WORST FF EVA!"

You hade more 9's, 10's....and 3's, even a  few 0's

I just can't understand how peoples opinions on 1 game can differ SO MUCH, the range for FF8 was like 0 - 10. The range for FF7 was lower it went from 4 (lowest) to 10

But with pre PS FF's it seems its pretty consistent in terms of ratings.

When did this huge divide occur, is FF7 the reason for dividing fans or do we blame it on FF8?

While I don't think it applies to everyone, I do believe some wanted to hate FFVII and VIII... even X... enough that it happened.  They just want to keep believing FF can never be better than the 2D years...

This to me is bizarre. I've gone out of my way to recommend games I don't particularly care for (like FFX) because I know they match the tastes of the person I'm talking to, and I've gone outo f my way to recommend against my favorite Final Fantasy (XII) because it's such an esoteric game compared to the rest of the series. I can't imagine basing one's recommendations on one's own tastes instead of trying to tailor them to the person to whom you are recommending a thing.

I mean, FF6's love is widespread enough I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Even if they didn't end up liking it - like you - I would say to them "I am surprised, your experiences are outside the norm, though now I have a better measure of you"

Well of course there is going to be an extent that I gauge what I know of the personal tastes of the person.  I also try to take into account that a person might play too much of one kind of game and might need some broadening (I know, I shouldn't tamper with this, but I can't help it), but there is a limit.  For example, I gave the game a 7/10 out of reasons beyond just personally not liking it, for me, the game is too low to really recommend, but with a game like Halo 3, which I don't like, I would still say it is a 8.5 or higher and recommend it to a shooter fan who has never played it.

Thats definetely happened, and now the same PS FF fans (not all of course a minority) are targetting the newer FF's in a similar way as they can "never be better than the PS1 FF's."

But thats the minority, a vocal one though.

BUT there's no doubt that the fan base is heavily divided though, each FF being different has something to do with it, its just interesting as I haven't seen any other fan base of a franchise this divided on different issues of what they want in a FF.

Then there are a few like me who love all of them :)

i didnt knw ff6 was loved this much. i thought ff7, 10, 9 wer most luvd. then 13, 8. then 12, 11. then 10-2 (frm wht i saw on forums). bt i never luked at pre ps ff threads recently so mayb thts why.

I would blame FF7.

Well more... 3D.

In 3D they couldn't get away with a lot of the series mainstrays.  You couldn't overexagerate movements for comedic effect and as such without voiceacting it was rather hard to get across these meanings in FF7.  Whch means the humor... a large part of the SNES final fantasies was replaced by cross dressing and swearing... the humor just wasn't there in the PS1 era games.

Additionally the early 3D characers just weren't as Atehstically pleasing as the spires of old.

They also made the stories more accessable and more personal driven then world driven.  The old Final Fantasy games were more about the world... and less about the people.  While FF7 was more about clouds journey. 

In genreal while FF games often had changes, the spirit was largely the same until the 3D transition.  It's also one reason why I think everybody dislikes FF12.  It somewhat goes back to that old spirit.

The divide is just bigger with FF8, because lots of people who liked FF7 didn't like FF8... and way more people played FF7 then FF6.