I know a few people are going to be upset by this but the series is just becoming more and more of a joke that sells on name and nothing else.  Every time a new a new FFVII or FFXIII spinoff is announced I just a cry a little more and more for the greatness that Square used to be.  Instead of an actual good original game, we get a spinoff and yet another whoring of a girly boy for all the Cloud fanboys.

Just look at all the recent FF games--

• Final Fantasy Dissidia-- The game is literally a fanboy joygasm.  I'm sure it could be one long movie with five minutes of gameplay but fanboys would still crap themselves all over it because they get to fap to Cloud and Sephiroth.
• Final Fantasy XIII - The game isn't even released yet and they already plan to whore it out for the next 10 years.  It also doesn't help that they describe the main character as Cloud but a girl.
• Final Fantasy XII - It was cool they tried to do something different with gameplay but the game itself was absolute crap.  The story was terrible, the characters had less character than Keanu Reeves, the license system gave you an excuse to make every character exactly the same, the gambit system was a cool idea but could not have been implemented more poorly and the list goes on.
• Final Fantasy XI - This was actually a great MMO, one of the better in recent years even, but the only reason the FF name was placed on it was so that people would buy it based on the FF name and not the fact it was a good MMO.  Don't get me wrong, it was a good idea since it made people actually buy the game but you still can't deny that they were just whoring out the FF name.
• Final Fantasy X - They really tried to do well but ended up with a boring story and unimpressive characters.  This was the last decent FF main FF game and likely will be the last.
• Final Fantasy IX - This was actually a good one.  Not the best, but it was good.
• Final Fanyasy VIII - God this game was so terrible.  It was cool again they tried a new system but failed.  Also, this game happens to feature one of the least likable main characters *ever*.
• Final Fantasy VII - And this is where the series fell off.  People for some reason hail this as the best game ever and I have no fucking clue why.  Since this game just about every main character has been a Cloud ripoff and just about every villain has been a Sephiroth ripoff.  I wouldn't be surprised if the villain in FFXIII gets described as Septhiroth but with a gun. 
  

I don't know if I really have a point for this mini rant, but I just watched the FF Dissidia opening cinematic and just hated the FF franchise more and more.  It's perfectly clear they just want to continue to whore out their properties and crap all over their fans and for some reason their fans continue to eat it up.

Stop buying Final Fantasy games!  Buy new and original games!  Take off your Final Fantasy XIII fanboy glasses and go buy new and original games.  Who knows, if people actually start to realize that the Final Fantasy franchise has gone to shit, SE will be forced to make actual good games again like Chrono Trigger or even start trying on Final Fantasy games again instead of just wowing easily entertained people with fancy cut scenes.

Call me anti-Sony and hating on anything Sony, I don't care, but the Final Fantasy franchise is as good as dead as far as quality goes (sadly it will stay alive because people will eat up the Cloud but a chick main character from FFXIII) and it just upsets me that people still get so worked up over it.

Mark my words-- FFXIII will sell amazingly well, reviewers will give it good scores because that's what reviewers do to FF games, but the game will be just as huge as piece of crap as FFXII was.

@twesterm

That's blasphemy ^_^ but the strange thing... I'm almost agree with you at every point.

agree but then I hated all FF games (and most other JRPGs)

I don't see the problem with SE myself.
They're in business to try make money.
If they're making money milking all their fans, good for them.
I notice you only mentioned FF's on most home console systems, yet left out most of the handheld ones, and the PC versions. Do you think the handheld versions are somehow immune from the point in your rant?

aaah i love this thread twesterm.....now i wish i could change my vote for moderator of the year

I haven't played the handheld ones (and I'm exclusing the Tactics because those are still good).

But yeah, Crisis Core is just another FFVII spinoff and I don't give a shit about it.  I would rather have them spend the time and effort into making something better.

And you're right, they're going to do what makes them money.  It's just sad all the Cloud fanboys will continue to eat this crap up because they are in fact tools.

Oh, and I stopped at FFVII because that's when the Final Fantasy franchise turned to shit.  They realized they could stop putting effort into story and character development and focus purely on making the game look good.  Well, that and somehow copying Cloud and Sephiroth.  Having anything that resembles Cloud or Sephiroth automatically adds 1 million to the sells.

thanks for the enlightenment

(goes back to play Dissidia and plans on buying FF XIII).

There's nothing particularly wrong with Dissidia that wasn't wrong with Smash Bros. Brawl. They've created a franchise more than just a series. This is not a bad thing.

Of course, Final Fantasy XII was still fantastic, either the best in the series or very close to it.

Too late. Your vote is mine!

@twesty-This thread seems really off. You start off talking about whoring out the franchise, but spend a good majority of the topic just bashing the main series' quality over the last 12 years. I was expecting some rants on the handheld spinoffs, mobile spinoffs, PS2 spinoffs, and less on why you think FF VIII's main character was the least likeable. What does that really have to do with anything? Different strokes for different folks. I'm sure there's plenty of emo kids that get their jollies wacking off to Squall Leonheart.

Hmm, you got me on the Brawl reference as far as Dissidia goes.

Still though, the FF series has turned to crap and it saddens me that you consider FFXII as one of the best.