gave a short comment on FF8 and FF9. I come back and see that the thread has doubled in size. Oooh...yeah, we must have some opinions. Personally, I thought Chrono Cross was okay. Don't tell me why it's bad. Not yet. Also, now that I think about it, it IS unexcusable to have Irvine know what he did and just forget to tell them. How stupid. I thought I could relate to Squall, though. Incredibly introverted, can't socialize. Hmm.

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I personally don't like Chrono Chross for the same reason. It's good, but when you think why they didn't even bother developing the characters further when it could so much more enhance the experience.

As for FF8, well...

I remember restarting over 10 times, always trying to have 100 of all basic spells before I fought Ifrit for the first time.
I remember playing it over and over trying to get all the magazines, trying to get the Lionheart, humming to the tunes of Fisherman's Horizon, painstakingly drawing 100 Ultimas for all of my characters, along with 100 Fulllifes, level 100, ultimate weapons all, I was going to beat that game. I played repeatedly trying to beat Omega weapon, cursing those who, IMHO, cheated with 100 or so Holy Wars, using only a single Hero and constant Lionhearts. Ultimecia was cake, the ending was superb. The ending was kind of mixed at first. I watched the first few minutes, thought it was going to be an extremely sad, tradgedy-type ending, and then it came around and suprised me. Eyes on Me is very good. I liked it when Zell choked on the hot dogs. A lot of it was repetitive, like the drawing of the 900 ultimas, but I had fun for some reason.

I am the FF8 fanboy. In pure bias mode, FF7 didn't look as good, Aeris shoulda stayed alive, I never really figured out the ending ("500 years later. Hmm. Wonder what actually happened."). FF9 was too superdeformed for me, although the character development is very nice, I may go back and finish it. FF10, well. I'm not sure what to say, as I haven't played it yet. I probably will get it anyway, but I won't like it as much as FF8 even though FFX is superior. I like FF8 simply because I can relate to Squall. I don't understand why, but then Squall and I don't understand ourselves either, hah. That's why I like Lunar and Grandia so much. You can relate to the characters, and there is excellent development in Lunar and Grandia, even if FF8 was lacking.

Not sure what conclusion I reached. So. Um. Yeah.

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Here is my FF8 rant.

As a game? AWESOME
As an FF? not so good.

If Square had named it SeeD, people would have complained because it was to much like Final Fantasy. Instead, tehy alled it FF8, and everyone complains because it's not FFish enough.

Anyway, I completly enjoyed the game. I thought the movies were great, and the character developement (yes..i'll explain why) great. I enjoyed teh bosses, the plot twists, the game play, the card game, even the little predictable jokes make me crack up (selphy flying the Ragnorok). The scene where Seifer claps for Squall, where a certain person (slight spoiler value) sadly explains to Seifer why she must leave, zell getting his hotdog, the boat scene at the end, the dance scene, and squall finally becoming truely happy..those are all priceless moments for me that have FF emblasioned across them.

Now, the things I don'tt like:
1)The draw system. square was expirimenting, and it failed. I believe that, with some refinement, it could work, but the way it ws was just to ...cheap.

2) time compression. Ok, that had potential. Why take over teh universe, when you can take over time. The problem is that in the game, it felt like you're just starting to get to the meet of the mater, finally begining to understand the story, everything is lining up just right....OOPS! DEADLINE! LETS PUT TEH END BOS RIGHT HERE!!! maby it didn't feel like that for you, but it did for me.

3) character developement. Ok, let me explain myself here. All the other FF games give you a character, and then tell you about their past. In this game, noone really had a past. They gave it all to you at once. Thats why Zell and Selphy and Quistice and them all seem flat. Lagoona and them have a heck of alot of character, that is developed more than theirs. However, squall is slightly different. I thought what square did with him was brilliant. you see someone that looks like a jerk to everyone, looks like he doesnt care about crap, looks like the typical teenage "punk". But you get to constantly see into his soul. You see what he's thinking. Through his thoughts, instead of his actions. You actually learn more about squalls motives than any other character in the series. and you get to watch him grow and change as the game. I emensly enjoyed it.

but the other characters were crap

4)the plot came and went like the wind. Youd catch it, ride it for a while, then it'd drop you somewhere..After a while, you might pick up traces of it again, etc

5)the enemys leveled up with you. I don't know about you, but I beat edia the first time at level 12. Piece of cake. I go through the game, leveling slowley because you don't really need to, then BAM i ahve to get myself up to level insain just to compete with Ultemecia

On the whole, I thought it was a brilliant game. i missed Amanos touch, and there were some elements that I didnt like, but for the most part it was "oh, that could have been better" and I forgot about it until after teh game. Certainly a worthy game.

now don't even get me started on how good 9 was...

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You think all FFs suck? Hmmm... I still consider FF7 to be one of the best games ever made. But then, I also consider Chrono Trigger to be one of the best games ever made. Both were groundbreaking, just in different ways. FF7 may have used the "same old formula", but it added materia to the mix, which was absolutely wonderful. Plus, the atmosphere was totally different from ANYTHING that had come before it, as was the plot (which is WHY I love FF7 so much... I think Cloud and Sephiroth, respectively, are the single best hero and villain ever to grace any video game -- though Cloud has been topped by the Popolocrois series's hero Pietoro now, but he still remains a close second).

But yeah... kinda odd that you would've liked FF9 if you hate all FFs due to their lack of innovation, since FF9 was 100% nostalgically non-innovative (which I liked, but I can't deny it). (:

And yeah, I'd love to see your plot summary sometime. Mine is available on the web (I figure, the more people who are willing to read it and critique it, the better the game will be!) at forgottenkings.tripod.com/fkplot.html... feel free to check it out and let me know what you think!

-Tom

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I actually was one of the anti-FF6ers for a while, during that period of time between the release of FF7 and the release of FF8, when FF7 bashing was in its prime. I used that very argument against FF6. But then I realized... that's just silly. FF6 didn't have fantastic character development by any means... but I still felt for the characters. I still got a feeling for their personalities (some of them, anyway -- of particular note, Shadow, Relm, Terra, and Locke). Even though the character development could've been better... it was still at least adequate in my book. There were no Clouds, no Zidanes or Vivis... but there were also no blatantly flat characters like Irvine or Zell, no characters that I couldn't feel for AT ALL. Kefka, while amusing, wasn't that great of a villain IMHO (he had no real motivation for his actions beyond insanity and a lust for power), but he was still effective. And the plot of FF6, while not amazing or groundbreaking, was really really cool nonetheless. I had a great time playing FF6 because the plot completely sucked me in (the first time through, anyway -- the World of Ruin was really annoying the second time through, and I was only carried by my desire to have Shadow alive at the end, which I neglected to do my first time through).

But yeah... FF6 was an enjoyable game, though I will readily admit it was very flawed. It just wasn't as BLATANTLY flawed as FF8 was. (:

As for FF9... you hated all the characters?! The ONLY character I hated, PERIOD, in that WHOLE GAME, was Quina... and I STILL hate Quina, 'cause s/he's useless and Jar-Jar like. (: But yeah... I loved Zidane, Garnet, Steiner, and Vivi especially throughout the whole game, and I ADORED Eiko from the moment I got her... and Amarant was friggin' awesome too. And as for Freya... well, she was cool, but she wasn't very well-developed IMHO. I didn't get a really good feeling for her... but I liked her nonetheless.

But yeah... I dunno about FF10. I SHOULD play it through to the end... but if a game turns me off THAT MUCH from the start, chances are it can't really do much of ANYTHING to redeem itself in my eyes.

-Tom

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http://142.59.97.186/designdoc/toc.html

Well I think I just liked the graphic realism in FF9... the part that really got me was when that cat dude and whomever_else were fencing infront of the audiance... Thats the kind of immersfulness and interactivity that I love in RPGs. However parts that fun didn't come around again, so eventually I got rather board, and stopped playing it.
FF7 I just didn't like because I thought the graphics were unbelivably terrible. As for other FF I've tried... I played 3, I thought it was good, but the dark color scheme couldn't hold my attention; and when I discovered that my spell casting character got amnesia and couldn't do squat I just gave up, shortly after meeting locke. I think the other one i played was 2... there was some demon in the cellar or something and was told not to go down there. So figuring its my first quest I wander down and get my ass kicked no problem. I just gave up in disgust.

Overall I think I have a problem with FF being to unrealistic. One of my major dislikes about the game is the summoning, I hate the aspect of calling up some defeated thing to fight for you. Also, the amount of damage you do towards the end of the game is sick. Its like a 1000% damage improvement, and that I don't see happening. Also I find I have trouble getting connected to 'cute' things. I didn't like the moogles, and I really didn't like the chocobos.

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I actually think the FF8 world is very interesting, but that's just me. Lunar 3 is coming someday. And, then there is Lunar for Gameboy Advance, so hey, it's not too bad for me. I really liked FF7, considering it was the first RPG I played that was not on Super Nintendo, which is to say, the only other one I played at that time was Super Mario RPG, amazing though it was. Kept a Super NES for six years, never got an N64 until 2000, never got a playstation till 2001. When I finally did get it, the first game I played was FF7. Blew me away.

My only problem with RPGs such as FF7 is when you do your best to uncover everything and still miss it, and there is no way to go back. I tell my friends, no one can ever really beat a Final Fantasy without a strategy guide, which is either a testament to Square's genious or their stupidity. Whatever. Which is why I usually buy guides for all square games :)

FF7's plot ending wasn't too bad, but I would like knowing what happened to everyone after the Lifestream covered the earth. When all you see at the end is RedXIII and his kids, well, that kinda leaves a whole lot of questions unanswered.

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All I said is I hope it's as cool as it looks... that's a compliment! I think it looks really friggin' cool!! Call off the hounds, Smithers!!! (:

As for Xenogears, that's a game that disproves a popular theory I had long ago. I used to believe that gameplay didn't even matter in RPGs, that story and characters were EVERYTHING... but, as it happens, I was turned off of Xenogears by its gameplay. The story and characters seemed REALLY REALLY cool, but the gameplay was... well... just kinda boring!! I eventually just stopped playing out of sheer boredom... not with the plot, but with the way the game was progressing. Everything just took too much time to upkeep, too much patience, etc. It was just... well... too much for me. I dunno... maybe I'm weird that way. (:

-Tom

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I almost felt that way during the Lunar 'find the four dragons' sequence which reminded me of some twisted spin on the 'four thingagummies of power' theme popular in Zelda and other RPGs. But I played through, even when it wasn't fun or completely boring, because I loved the characters and the story. Come to think of it, that Blue Dragon in Lunar 1 was pretty cool till he got zapped.

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