I know Sephiroth is the main villain of FFVII. I just think he's a poor villain. I won't derail the thread with my thoughts on FFVII's narrative too much. I'll just mentioned the first thing that bothered me. Tifa knew Cloud was lying about Nibelheim the whole time. She put all of Avalanche at risk for some kid she barely knew existed growing up. Makes no sense.

I can think of no fanbases outside of perhaps DBZ that are as zealous as FFVII... You could have Satan himself appear in the living room of the players and if he doesn't look like the effeminate, silver haired version of Arthas you'd elicit little more than a "meh" from them :p

I was mostly just kidding, but yes, I will concede that a real life satan appearing in one's own living room may indeed be considered the superior villain to Sephiroth by many FFVII fans.

I myself am a fan of FVII (though I prefer VI and IX), I'm just not a full fledged acolyte.

Well spoken.

As long as the villain is better than Barthendelus, they're on the right track. IMO, comfortably the series' worst antagonist. I've little hope for this game from a plot stance as though I love Kingdom Hearts, I really don't like the story of those games and I really didn't like the story of Advent Children (both directed by Nomura). This series is crying out for a return to it's roots. When I started playing the series I never imagine future titles would feature all male, teen casts who only wear black.

I think they were merely limited by technology in the earlier titles. I enjoyed final fantasy up to X which, I felt, was alright but far too short and linear with obnoxiously (and sometimes cringe-inducing) long cut scenes. With each installment (with occasional deviation) the games have gotten increasingly linear, narrative focused (nothing wrong with that so long as it doesn't dictate direction/pace), and "eastern" aesthetically. I have nothing against this given its a japanese dev team, but it certainly helps explain the decline of interest here in the west. With the ever decreasing console ownership in Japan it appears they may have to westernize a bit going forward.

I actually have a good deal of hope for XV though, specifically as they're attempting to win people back as opposed to resting on their laurels. It'll take a very bad aggregate review score to keep me away from this one. While still fairly linear, the play style of FF IX (my favorite post-nintendo title) was very much akin to earlier titles, so they've shown a willingness to return to what worked in the past at times. Of course that was one of the worst selling games... :

I must be the only person in the world who thought Vayne was a good antagonist. Kefka was good for his time, but not incredible. I loved Sephiroth. Will be hard to top him.

I suspect not enough people played XII... Doesn't have the mainstream awareness of FFVII.

Kefka is my favorite. Sephiroth is fun but always struck me as being the typical villain you'll find in japanese anime and manga; I've always wondered if he and cloud would be nearly so popular had this been released in the age of sprites as opposed to being the first FF in polygons. I know the novelty of it overwhelmed me at the time.

I've often thought about that point too. The only problem though is that that game was directed by Sakaguchi and that was the last game he directed before leaving the company. Unfortunately there is a clear parallel to the decline of the series and his departure from it.

One more recent sign of hope though actually is the way in which they've handled XIV. I only played a couple of weeks of it but the game clearly tries to appease to older fans of the series. Through some blatant fanservice yes like Magi-Tek mounts and Triple Triad, but also in the Tolkein style art and setting which was a core of the first 5 games and IX.

Ah cool, I never played FFXIV but I did play a lot of XI, was a fun game if a bit ridiculous as far as grind is concerned. Glad to hear they're responding to the input of the players!

I've actually always liked their mix of medieval and proto-steam tech, including the airships (always loved the airships lol). It's probably why I liked IX so much... XI actually had that setting as well.

Aren't they modern looking humans driving around in a car in XV though? That was the first disappointing reveal for me.