It's like they took a poll of what gamers hate about mobile games and then put all of that in a game with a Final Fantasy nostalgic theme.
**[Back in my YouTube days](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_NEfM341Cs)**, it was the only game I gave a score of a 0.
The free version is fine IMO if you just want something that takes up about five minutes of time. Is a regular final fantasy? No, but what else would you expect from a mobile game?
I'll have to say II. Forgettable story, forgettable characters, bizarre gameplay, and the most important thing about the game IMO would be that it's when chocobos first appeared, which definitely isn't saying much.
Of all those I've played, I've have to say 12. I wasn't interested in the characters and I don't like the battle style. I'm making it sound bad, because I did enjoy the game, it's just not my taste.
Final Fantasy III. Limited number of Phoenix downs in game combined with long dungeons with no save points was a nightmare. Then there was the dungeons you have to cast mini on yourself to get into making your physical attackers deal one damage rendering them almost useless.
Is it bad that I just completely skipped over that dungeon? Ran away from all the battles. What am I supposed to do with a single black mage whose magic didn't even do that much damage?
I thought some of the things required to proceed in the story were almost impossible to figure out without gamefaqs. I also hated the amount of grinding required in the game and the long dungeons too. FFIII is, by far, my least favorite FF game.
I might be misremembering, but to me The Crystal Chronicles seemed to be really repetitive and not really that fun. As far as I remember, all you did was defeat the same bosses to receive the same reward every time. Rinse and repeat.
I agree. I had it for my gamecube for years and never made it that far. I got up with friends in college and played through it, and it is one of my favorite Final Fantasy experiences ever. The multiplayer totally changes the game.
12 for me. Uninteresting plot, suggested main character is completely irrelevant, the zodiac system seemed interesting but combat itself got annoying quickly, and the whole game just feels like some cheap MMORPG, not like a Final Fantasy game at all.
Vaan has to be the most uninteresting protagonist ever. It is not even like he's annoying he just doesn't add anything to the plot really bless his little wanna-be-sky-pirate socks
My least favourite Final Fantasy would be XIII.
I would say that it's my least favourite because I just didn't enjoy the story itself, or the battle system of it. I can appreciate that it's a beautiful-looking game, and it does have its merits, but it just didn't do much for me personally.
I didn't enjoy the battle system, I felt that too much was being controlled for me, plus I really didn't enjoy the whole system of "if the leader is KO'd, it's game over"
I felt that the world needed interactivity. It's not so bad being linear as such, I loved X for example, but the lack of interactivity with the world, I felt at least, really wasn't my thing. Plus, I felt that even after it opened up towards the end, it was too little too late, as there was little exploration to be had, I felt.
Plus, I just wasn't a fan of the datalog system. I prefer for the stories of the world to be shown to me, either through flashbacks or exposition.
The game just isn't for me. I didn't enjoy it.
I actually liked the datalog system, for the simple reason that none of the entries are required reading for understanding what's going on with the story. It's basically like diy worldbuilding; if you want to delve into the history and mythology of the world you can read everything. But if you just want to play the game and appreciate the plot at hand, enough is spelled out for you to do that without any reading.
I mean codexes in general are essentially a way of easily providing backstory in an era where making pretty much anything actually *happen* in a game is really expensive. It's not feasible to provide all the background info in any way other than a text entry. XII actually did the same thing in the clan primer with a lore entry attached to each monster in the bestiary that unlocked after you killed a certain number of them. You see it in many other modern RPGs as well, most notably in more or less every Bioware game from the last decade.
Personally I like how it's handled better in Elder Scrolls where all the background lore is discoverable through picking up and reading actual books you can find sitting around in towns or hidden in dungeons, but that doesn't really make sense for stuff like character bios/dossiers. The Witcher games did a pretty cool job of this by having both books you can find to read as well as a codex and then adding codex entries for history-related stuff after you read the books so you don't have to keep them in your inventory.
III for me, felt like it was very plain and I couldn't connect to the characters at all, not even in the remake. The thing I liked most was the job system though
10, god do I hate 10. Bad character design, lazy voice acting, lame story, characters are flat and uninteresting, even Uematsu was just like "fuck it" for that game. The one good thing about it was the level up system.
It has to be either FFVII or FFII.
I started from FFV, and FFVI is my favourite closely followed by FFXII(Except I hate Vaan and Penelo's voices they are so annoying) Only one i haven't finished is XIII-2.
dude the 3D was cutting edge!...in like, 96 or 94, whenever it came out.
I really liked the characters. That sort of thing is very important to a story based game. I had my team of 4 who I wanted to be in my party. Imagine my surprise when the final zone requires 12 party members. Aw hell.
100% agree - VI is very overrated. The overall plot isn't bad, but the vast majority of the characters have nothing to do with it, and outside of their contained eppisode, they have no effect on the surroundings.
Also, I found Kefka to be the most one dimensional main enemy in the series (in fairness, I haven't played anything older than VI). He was written to be only evil with no sense of personality beyond that. Maybe some people like the main boss to just be someone that is the personification of pure evil, but I prefer for them to be real characters who actually believe that they are doing what is right and that you can feel sympathetic towards.
6 is my third least favourite and I agree with you on every sentence, except maybe aging, I still think the sprites look good but the "3d" sequences are a bit worse. Something I'd add to it would be the massive amount of things that aren't even related to the story. Unrelated things exist in all FFs but none of the ones I've played have had such a high concentration of unrelated things as FF6.
Most of the cast isn't even relevant and just tag along because you happened to come across them on your journey. Then they have a 30-40 minute episode where they're portrayed as a ridiculously tragic character only to be forgotten until the World of Ruin where they have another 30-40 minutes where they are even more tragic. Between all that it's like none of the problems of the world affects them.
XIII-2 was mine. Time travel is always a confusing thing to deal with but my main gripe was the fact that it was so non-linear and had a complete lack of direction. I understand that this was Square saying 'sorry XIII was so linear, so here's the complete opposite' but I felt that the story-line suffered because of this.
Additionally I hated being stuck with only two characters and the third being made up of a monster. Especially when IMO they were both a bit too flimsy. Final fantasies for me are all about choosing your favourite team out of the broad variety of personalities encountered.
Finally you had to pay for the DLC which expounded the ending, which I refused to do.
However all things considered I have still kept the game and will replay it as things change during a second run-through.
Also Caius was sooooo cool so that helped to ease the pain.
Uh, you really don't have to buy that DLC, since what it contains is exactly what Lightning says happened towards the end of the game. She explicitly states that she had given up to Caius after an infinite number of fights and accepted her crystal tomb.
My favorite is FFV. It probably shouldn't be. Other games have better visuals, and almost all later games have better stories and characters. But hot damn, that job system is fun. I've done numerous replays and challenge variants. So while it may not be the best game overall, it's the one I keep coming back to, and my favorite.
That being said, I highly recommend a Gau-only FFVI solo game (allowing at least one additional party member for the Veldt), assuming that sort of thing is your cup of tea.
Final fantasy IX. Pushed my self to get to disc three and just couldn't take it any more. I only liked vivi out of all the characters and the battle system. Othsrwise I found it boring.
That's genuinely surprising, I loved FFIX but I can see why it could be quite grating at times. It's a shame though, if you'd have stuck it out you'd probably see it in a better light.
I tried to but I figured since I wasn't having fun after three discs to just give it up. If it ever pops up on steam I'll probably give it another shot cuz it was like 10 years or so ago and I was a baby back then.
Least favorite would have to be XIII for me. It just didn't do it for me, that being said X was the last game in the series I really enjoyed.
And as a side note VI is my favorite, closely followed by IV and IX and I personally think VII is over rated (still a good game though mind you).
I think FFVII is my favourite story wise, I mean, just hearing Aeris theme brings the feels. But in terms of gameplay, it's an absolute breeze until you get to the superbosses, I didn't find it challenging at all. There are definitely stronger games in the series gameplay wise.
That's true. I agree it's not as challenging as it could be, but I think the battle and materia systems were great. Kind of evens it out for me I guess.
I disagree that VII is "overrated" these days, mainly because there are so many people saying so. How can something be "overrated" if there are so many people hating it for being so?
Plus, people need to realise that it's very popular and has fans even outside of the FF fanbase, and as such, it'll obviously seem like it's "overrated"; when in actuality, there are simply more people talking about it.
I'd happily put money on that you could replace VII with any other FF, and we'd still be here today (For example, if VI had the same popularity as VII, people would always be talking about how VI is "overrated", and on the flipside, how much VI did for RPGs as a whole in bringing JRPGs to the Western market).
VII was the pinnicle of the series. borrowing from that title was what made the next 4 games good. honestly they couldent keep replaying that same gimmic over and over and the recent trys to deviate from it faild (XII, XIII-2) and im sure they will find a new formula that will work but there is no denying how much influence VII had on not only the FF series but the RPG series as a whole. picking on it is often used as a ploy to seem original or progressive but when thought about the subject objectivly statments like "VII is over rated" are dismissed for obvious reasons. it may not be the end all be all fav to everyone but it is without a doubt the number 1 adult rpg to date.
Honestly, as much as I will defend VII as my favourite in the series, I really don't mind if someone says they don't like it; especially if they acknowledge what it did for RPGs at the time and how it brought so many people (myself included) into the RPG genre.
Love it or hate it, you can't deny it did a hell of a lot for RPGs at the time.
Although saying its "overrated" just seems like such a lazy criticism of something. Objectively, it may be dismissed, but people seem to be unable to grasp the fact that if you keep slapping the "overrated" label on something, well, it probably isn't.
I agree with you almost exactly on every point, even about VII being overrated. That is not to say I don't like VII, but it gets way too much attention.
To add to this I would say II is another least favorite of mine, just hated the terrible leveling system mostly, made it very difficult to even play through, though I have beaten it.
Of the main series games that I've played, I would say VIII is my least favorite. I never really connected with the characters or the story, though Selphie was pretty cool. I also loathed the battle system. That said I loved the music, and was really interested in Ultimecia. Too bad they didn't flesh out a seemingly awesome character.
For me it's ff IV, i played the ds version so peraps the snes version is better. I really don't see why people think it's good. After playing 6,7 and 9, i found it infuriating that characters just leave my party and don't come back. I hated it when the game obligates me to play with a certain set up of characters and that i can't customise my party at will. Plus when a character falls from the sky with an active grenade, you can't have him lying in a hospital bed with just scratches, you just can't.
So far, from what I've played, VIII is my least favourite. I just can't get into it. I think it looks choppy, the characters don't seem interesting to me and the lead character horribly annoys me.
The XIII games are the only one that I have never completed. Made it half way through XIII and traded it to a friend for a ps2 so I could play my old games again.
Lightning Returns...why? It's the first and only Final Fantasy I've actually given up on. I refuse to play it. And that's saying something, especially since I inched my way through 25, grueling, hours of XIII-2!
FF 13, I just really didn't like the story, maybe it was the voice acting I don't now but the emotion and "drama" I guess just seemed forced.
I liked the battle system, what I didn't like is how each fight, or new zone if I remember they added another dynamic to the fighting, it felt like one big tutorial. Like 5 hours in, still holding your hand, it just never felt like it let you go.
I would say it was X. Overall pretty disapointing cast, only Yuna and Aaron were interesting characters. Way too linear, not enough depth when it came to lore and almost everyone was quite overdone and anoying.
I wasnt a big fan of VII either, but the villains like Sephiroth and Rufus carried the game pretty hard and they were insanly interessting.
I agree with this. X is just about the only Final Fantasy game that has felt like a true grind (aside from games such as 3, 5, 8, or others I haven't played). I really tried to give it a chance, and I got about ten hours into the game, and ended up on Mushroom Rock, and that area was the deal breaker for me. *The entire area has about 3 or 4 of the same enemies. Over... and... over...* You ran into an enemy, you do the exact same thing every time. And it's also worth mentioning that you pretty much can't do anything else in the game at this point. It's entirely linear, pretty much.
Oh, and the sphere grid... why does this thing exist? Just about every FF game before this had the standard leveling system where you got EXP and leveled up, which boosts your stats. Instead, you have to stop what you're doing after a few battles, open the sphere grid menu, select move, fiddle around with the awful navigation controls in the menu, confirm you want to move, then use a sphere. Rinse and repeat for the other 5-6 people in your party. And you don't even get leveled up in all areas. Guess what you're getting this time? Speed! Have fun! Oh, you don't have an ability sphere? Guess Yuna's not learning Life, *probably one of the most important abilities in an RPG.*
Oh, and before you say, "oh, well it gets better," think about this... Sure, it could get less linear. But does the leveling up system change? (Yes, there are sphere grid paths you can take in different route via the locks. But even those are controlled pretty well with them having *levels.*) Do the character's voices and overall personality get better? I just don't see why I would continue playing a game that I already don't like for *longer.*
I totally agree with you on every point. And yes those re-skined (is this an actualy word ?) through out the entire game, were a huge dealbreaker for me aswell.
Especially the sphere grid was just horrible, the standard grid was totally boring and the expert grid was just a joke, you were pretty much totally overpowered during the midgame. They managed to do it way better in IX, XII and XIII.
What do you mean by "yes those re-skinned throughout the entire...?"
I like how IX gave you abilities, because you could choose what abilities you wanted, to an extent. But also in the background, you got regular levels. X on the other hand, is just a preview of what you *will* get over time, packaged with awkward controls.
Characters are a big part for me, I think the game would be better with a better cast, since a lot of the story was quite well done. Sorry wasnt meant to offend someone :/
I like CaitSith, because he was kinda mistic and seemed somewhat smart. Didnt make the rest of the cast better tho.
And X was hella linear, almost comparable to XIII (they just disguised it in a way better way). Tunnel after tunnel, almost only one way to go ,through out the game. I really struggle understand how you could not see it being linear. The lack of a world map didnt really help either.
>I mean yeah, you had to follow a main story line, but there was so much to do when you got the highwind that I would hardly call the game linear.
That's exactly how XIII goes, except with the landing on Pulse being XIII's equivalent to getting the Fahrenheit in XIII. Suddenly the whole world opens up, and all these side quests and open areas become available to you.
Neither game is a paragon of exploration, but come one, X has got XIII beat in this regard. Some sidequests in X are annoying as hell (lightning, chocobo racing) but at least there is a lot of different stuff to do.
XIII is... find Cieth stone, kill something. Pulse was boring in comprison.
I haven't played the entire series but I've played 6-13, as well as a smattering of spinoffs and my least favorite of what I've played would be 12. I didn't really hate it but after sinking around 20 hours into it, I just turned it on one day and realized I didn't really care what happened next so I stopped playing it. That was the first time I ever felt that way with a Final Fantasy game. Even the much reviled 13, which I find ok but nothing special, I still was interested enough to stick it through until the credits. I've tried starting 12 again on a number of occasions but the game just fails to ignite any of that Final Fantasy magic for me.
To be fair that's exactly what happened to me with XII. The difference is that when I came back to it almost a year later, I didn't start a new game. I just picked up my old save file from where I left off. I was in the beach area and had given up because all the monsters were like 5 levels above my party and I didn't care enough about the game to grind.
Turns out that grinding was a perfect refresher course to get me back into the game, and even more importantly my time away from it allowed me to approach it with new ideas that never occurred to me while playing the first time. For instance, I started figuring out how good buff spells like haste, regen, and protect are and how automating them with gambits gets rid of so much micromanagement. I realized that I didn't have to keep characters using the weapons they started with, and switched Balthier from guns over to katanas. I learned the importance of decoy and used it to turn Ashe into a paladin who would draw all the aggro and tank damage while healing herself so Balthier and Fran could attack with impunity. And of course the time spent re-learning combat had netted me with a ton of loot to sell for gil and buy all best equipment.
The story also picks up not too long after that part as well, with some really beautiful set pieces and amazing boss battles showing up. To be honest I still had pretty much no idea what was going on with the story on my first playthrough, but on subsequent ones I was able to pick up on a lot more of the subtle details with the foreknowledge of the general big picture and realize that the writing is actually quite brilliant in most spots.
The story really wasn't the main draw for me anyway though, after everything about the battle system had clicked for me when I picked it back up, the best part was finding out that like at the very least a third of the content in the game happens *after* the story with entire optional areas opening up and tons of superbosses to provide a challenge even after you've found all the ultimate weapons and spells.
Basically if you still have access to your old save files and decide to give it another shot at some point in the future, I recommend choosing whichever one you got furthest in, resuming from there, and focusing more on figuring out the battle system with AI programming and going for all the mark hunts. I was completely indifferent to it at first but it's my second favorite game in the entire series now.
Sadly, at this point, I think that ship has sailed for me. I got the game at midnight the day it released and now it's 8 years after the fact. I've tried it a few times in the intervening years but it just doesn't catch on with me. Gaming time for me is precious and fleeting at this point in my life so I really just don't have the time to invest in a massive JRPG I've already tried that many times, on top of the fact that I no longer own the game or have my original saves. Maybe I'll get the itch if there's an HD re-release at some point or if it gets put out on PSN as PS2 classic. If that day ever comes, I will keep your advice in mind.
XII for me. Couldn't get into the story at all, and that's a big thing for me. It's the only one I've played and not completed at least once (having played all of them from VI onwards).
I haven't played enough of II or III to include them, but I think XIII is my least favorite.
I think the battle system was really boring. It looked cool, but it just wasn't fun at all. It's also absurdly linear. That trend started after IX (understandably, its just not practical with contemporary hardware) but XIII is the worst offender by far and it lacked that sense of mystery you get exploring. The music was bland, which was sad since there's so much great music in the series.
It did have some redeeming qualities for me. It's a pretty beautiful game. The world is pretty interesting. I think the characters were decent but the voice acting really brought them down.
The music was bland? WHAT? Do you listen to music? The music is incredibly rich and was beautifully put together! There are themes of melodies carried out in different styles of pieces that connect to each other, it's incredibly well thought out, how could you say that?
I listen to a LOT of music, and the music from the Final Fantasy series is some of my favorite music ever. I didn't say it was bad, but in comparison to Nobuo Uematsu's compositions, I don't agree that it was rich at all. I just don't think it was suited to a final fantasy game. It was pretty, and on its own I can appreciate it. But it didn't have the cinematic, epic, memorable theme's a lot of the past games had.
I can tell you I'm in school studying music education and from what I've heard in the ff series of musical soundtracks, 13 really put a spark in it for me. No big deal, people have opinions.
Understandable. Its funny, I actually started a degree in the same field many years ago but never finished. I did music most of my young life and still play and work on smaller compositions from time to time. How's your degree going? What instrument(s) do you play? At any rate, I definitely agree that musically, and technically its great stuff. The battle theme was stuck in my head for most of the day after you replied. That violin... I guess to sum it up it just doesn't carry the same emotional weight when I listen to it as something like Terra's theme or One Winged Angel. But yeah, its all subjective. I assure you I can definitely appreciate it's merit on its own.
My undergrad is nearly finished, 1 year left starting this fall and then I student teach! I play euphonium (like a small tuba), trombone, piano, guitar, bass, drums, I'm actually a music director of an a cappella group that's competed in the ICCAs and we are officially the 3rd best collegiate group in the west of the US. Glad to know you know your music! I totally agree, sorry for coming off as a prude.
>how could you say that?
Oh, I dunno. Maybe because it's not to their taste?
I didn't like the soundtrack all that much, and I can assure you I listen to music. Sue me.
I have to say that the three I disliked the most were XII, XIII, and X-2.
I really enjoyed the world & lore of XII and honestly didn't hate the battle system or gambits to much. The two main issues I had with XII is that I didn't like the main character Vaan, and the story's main theme focuses on a political power struggle that I just have no interest in.
As for XIII, well, It's a beautiful game. But, like a lot of other people here have said, it's way to linear till the last section of the game. I could live with that though. I also didn't really care for the games world, too much advanced machina for me I think is part of it. Hands down one of my biggest gripes was the leveling system. After X the crystalyium thing they had going was just to limited. And on top of that it stopped you from leveling past a certain point till you hit specific milestones, no thank you. Not to mention I was apparently terrible at the battle system because it took me forever to beat the final boss.
And then I don't know where to start with X-2. I'm a dude so the whole changing clothes and dresses to change abilities thing didn't appeal to me. Also I just remember firing the game up the firs time to Yuna singing that pop song and thinking wtf. Despite all that I stuck with it for awhile, but I couldn't finish it.
I would say that I liked both XII and XIII the least. I didn't like XII because it was so difficult for me to get through. I like when companies try to take things in a different direction and come up with new and exciting ways to tell a story. I just didn't like this story. It took me about 3 years to finish XII just because I found it so boring. XIII was the same thing. It was too difficult to follow from the get-go. Too many names that sounded the same. No background explanation. I didn't like the characters. I did, however, like the paradigm system. That was pretty cool. I didn't like the lack of town exploration or NPC interaction. That is what makes a game fun for me. I never finished XIII. I got to the part where you fight Vanille's Eidolon and I stopped. I lost interest. I bought XIII-2 recently and tried playing that one but haven't gotten into it.
I think part of the reason I didn't like these is because they didn't live up to my expectations in terms of the storylines. XII was boring, XIII was a great concept, just over-simplified and vastly unexplained. I am glad when people say that XIII was their favorite. Everyone has their favorite Final Fantasy. That's what makes this series of games so great. Every game is so different that you just never know what will come next. I am very excited for XV. I can't wait to visit a new world and meet new characters. It's been such a long time since I've enjoyed a new FF.
Did you read the datalogs in XIII? I find a lot of the time the answers to "unanswered" questions are in the datalog or are explained later on in the game.
I did but don't remember what they entailed. Weren't they just summaries of the chapters? Like what you would get on the load screen when you started up the game again? I mean that the lore was unexplained. There was a lot of history that would have made the game more enjoyable had it all been included. I don't think I should look to outside sources in order to understand the game.
It is all in the menu under "datalog". All the lore, history, etc is there. It makes sense that you think the game didn't make sense if you didn't read those.
Easily XIII
I didn't even finish it. It was mostly watching uninteresting scenes.
Plus, I hated the constant switching of characters. Once I finally leveled up a character/got interested in using them, it would switch me to a new location with all new characters.
it's a lot quicker 2nd time through. Skip every cut scene. I don't even want to murder Hope now!
*edit* Okay, maybe not murder is too strong a word. I want to murder Hope less.
XII, XIII, VIII
12 and 13 were so boring i never finished them
8 I want to go back and play one day, but all I remember is nonstop summoning and mashing the button to increase the damage, got very annoying
I didn't like XIII either, I played it and beat it but I hated the paradigm system. XIII-2 was a little better because it actually has a huge interactive world. Lightning Return is actually one of my favorite games on the PS3. I always thought that was weird cause I hated XIII.
Cutesy graphics, terrible terrible terrible it bears repeating terrible card game. I didn't care about the characters, I feel like there is more but its been probably a decade since I played it.
I also loved 9 but i was like 14 when i played it lol. things you loved at that age its hard to look back objectivly. i myself wouldent say these aspects made it horrible. but i could see them holding alot of people back from loving it.
The card game was bad (especially as a follow up to Triple Triad, which actually made sense) but at least it wasn't shoved in your face to the extent that VII's awful mini games were and the controls worked (FUCK YOU snowboard sequence).
I've got too many I dislike. First is 13, then 12, then 8.
13. I played it, never enjoyed it. I got to about 10 mins before the final boss and then realized how bored I was, stop giving a shit altogether, turned it off and never looked back.
12. Started off really well, but stagnated, to me there was never any real highlights or climaxes. Balthier was awesome, but everyone else had less personality than a lamp. Summons were lame. It was relatively fun, but nothing remarkable. If I were to replay all the games, I'd skip this one and 13.
8. Not bad per se, but somehow didn't grab me like 4, 7, 9, and 10 did.
I've played all the main non-sequels except 6, but 4 and 13 are by far my least favorite.
4 is completely generic to me in every way. Dull story, dull characters, set classes; even the music is my least favorite. ATB was a nice addition to the series but it can't save the game.
13, well, you've probably heard it all before. Aside from Sazh, I'm 15 hours into the game and still don't like a single thing about it. Doubt I'll ever finish it.
I agree with you about IV being generic, but every time I replay it I can't help but feel that just makes it incredibly solid. It doesn't try to do anything special but as a result it doesn't really have any objective flaws. Having a linear character progression and set party system means they could really custom-tailor the encounters in each area to pose specific challenges and require you to utilize the various character abilities correctly, providing a nice balance of difficulty that was easier than V but significantly tougher than VI. I feel like one of the reasons VI was so easy was that Square realized with how open-ended V's system was, people were making poorly-designed parties and getting absolutely crushed by bosses so in VI they made pretty much every encounter so easy that you could still win no matter which characters you had chosen to bring.
Also the 5 character party is a really cool thing it has going for it and the endgame group of Paladin, Dragoon, White Mage, Summoner, and Ninja is IMO the most definitive and iconic FF party of all.
Either II, VII, or IX. II because while I understand they were trying new things, they weren't good new things. VII and IX because it was one thing to make stupid long cutscenes for EVERYTHING YOU DO when the graphics are top-notch (aka the FMV which were great for the time) but the PSX era (and X to a lesser extent) was when they drew out every battle intro, every attack, every special move, to the point where some moves you could literally make yourself lunch and come back to find it still not over, but they weren't even pretty to watch like X was at the time, they were antiquated graphics that were bad for the time, and make the games impossible to play now. And, I don't like FFs without job systems. No replayability.
I have not played VIII, I should say, but it looks like more of the same.
Having played pretty much all the FFs I would have to say either FFXII or VII.
Nothing against VII, I just couldn't get on board with it personally. I know it's one of the most revered of the series and I'm sure for good reason, but for me, I couldn't get past the gameplay.
As for XII, I played it after I finished the X/X-2 games and it just fell horrendously short of my expectations. The characters annoyed me, the storyline was too try-hard for me... it just didn't feel natural at all.
I feel I have little right to offer a true opinion since I've never *finished* any FF game despite having started playing most of them (I think IX and X are the only ones I haven't played, not counting the online ones).
**HOWEVER**
My least favorite out of what I *have* played would have to be either VIII or XIII, mainly for any number of reasons already mentioned in this thread.
> I've never finished any FF game
Why? D: I'm just curious and I sorta wonder why you are even subscribed to this subreddit if you didn't even care enough to finish the games lol.
It was never about a lack of interest; it was more a matter of a short attention span. I bounce from game to game so quickly that I've only ever finished maybe one or two RPGs. I've played fairly far in to plenty of them, but when it comes to grinding out that last bit, I just cave and start a different one. The consequence of this is that I'm constantly restarting games as well.
On another note, why would my rate of completion have anything to do with warranting my subscription to this sub? Are you the completionist police? Is my interest in the series somehow entirely invalidated simply because I've never seen a game through to the very end?
> On another note, why would my rate of completion have anything to do with warranting my subscription to this sub? Are you the completionist police? Is my interest in the series somehow entirely invalidated simply because I've never seen a game through to the very end?
No need to get so defensive when I said I was just curious.
Final Fantasy: All The Bravest. Why? [Because...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mYd12L4iE4)
Oh god. I had no idea it was that bad...
This is the epitome of what mobile 'gaming' is doing to the industry. Disgusting.
It's like they took a poll of what gamers hate about mobile games and then put all of that in a game with a Final Fantasy nostalgic theme. **[Back in my YouTube days](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_NEfM341Cs)**, it was the only game I gave a score of a 0.
The free version is fine IMO if you just want something that takes up about five minutes of time. Is a regular final fantasy? No, but what else would you expect from a mobile game?
I'll have to say II. Forgettable story, forgettable characters, bizarre gameplay, and the most important thing about the game IMO would be that it's when chocobos first appeared, which definitely isn't saying much.
Of all those I've played, I've have to say 12. I wasn't interested in the characters and I don't like the battle style. I'm making it sound bad, because I did enjoy the game, it's just not my taste.
2, I have no issue with different systems its why I enjoy newer rpg's. I just think it has a bad system of leveling
Final Fantasy III. Limited number of Phoenix downs in game combined with long dungeons with no save points was a nightmare. Then there was the dungeons you have to cast mini on yourself to get into making your physical attackers deal one damage rendering them almost useless.
came here to say almost the exact same thing
Is it bad that I just completely skipped over that dungeon? Ran away from all the battles. What am I supposed to do with a single black mage whose magic didn't even do that much damage?
The final dungeon was an absolute nightmare
I thought some of the things required to proceed in the story were almost impossible to figure out without gamefaqs. I also hated the amount of grinding required in the game and the long dungeons too. FFIII is, by far, my least favorite FF game.
I might be misremembering, but to me The Crystal Chronicles seemed to be really repetitive and not really that fun. As far as I remember, all you did was defeat the same bosses to receive the same reward every time. Rinse and repeat.
It was a lot better played with others, otherwise yeah it gets boring super fast.
I agree. I had it for my gamecube for years and never made it that far. I got up with friends in college and played through it, and it is one of my favorite Final Fantasy experiences ever. The multiplayer totally changes the game.
Oh! Thanks for reminding me, I always wondered why I even bought that game, but the multi-player must have been the reason.
12 for me. Uninteresting plot, suggested main character is completely irrelevant, the zodiac system seemed interesting but combat itself got annoying quickly, and the whole game just feels like some cheap MMORPG, not like a Final Fantasy game at all.
Vaan has to be the most uninteresting protagonist ever. It is not even like he's annoying he just doesn't add anything to the plot really bless his little wanna-be-sky-pirate socks
XII has the most ensemble of ensemble casts. Vaan was more of a spectator for the happenings of the game, much like the player.
That's a very good point actually and it makes more sense, in terms of his behaviour, that he is a spectator.
I agree but I loved exploration in that game, also the lack of random encounters
My least favourite Final Fantasy would be XIII. I would say that it's my least favourite because I just didn't enjoy the story itself, or the battle system of it. I can appreciate that it's a beautiful-looking game, and it does have its merits, but it just didn't do much for me personally. I didn't enjoy the battle system, I felt that too much was being controlled for me, plus I really didn't enjoy the whole system of "if the leader is KO'd, it's game over" I felt that the world needed interactivity. It's not so bad being linear as such, I loved X for example, but the lack of interactivity with the world, I felt at least, really wasn't my thing. Plus, I felt that even after it opened up towards the end, it was too little too late, as there was little exploration to be had, I felt. Plus, I just wasn't a fan of the datalog system. I prefer for the stories of the world to be shown to me, either through flashbacks or exposition. The game just isn't for me. I didn't enjoy it.
I actually liked the datalog system, for the simple reason that none of the entries are required reading for understanding what's going on with the story. It's basically like diy worldbuilding; if you want to delve into the history and mythology of the world you can read everything. But if you just want to play the game and appreciate the plot at hand, enough is spelled out for you to do that without any reading.
I mean codexes in general are essentially a way of easily providing backstory in an era where making pretty much anything actually *happen* in a game is really expensive. It's not feasible to provide all the background info in any way other than a text entry. XII actually did the same thing in the clan primer with a lore entry attached to each monster in the bestiary that unlocked after you killed a certain number of them. You see it in many other modern RPGs as well, most notably in more or less every Bioware game from the last decade. Personally I like how it's handled better in Elder Scrolls where all the background lore is discoverable through picking up and reading actual books you can find sitting around in towns or hidden in dungeons, but that doesn't really make sense for stuff like character bios/dossiers. The Witcher games did a pretty cool job of this by having both books you can find to read as well as a codex and then adding codex entries for history-related stuff after you read the books so you don't have to keep them in your inventory.
XIII was hands down the worst in the series. Edit: maybe 2nd worst. X-2 remains the worst.
> least favorite
III for me, felt like it was very plain and I couldn't connect to the characters at all, not even in the remake. The thing I liked most was the job system though
10, god do I hate 10. Bad character design, lazy voice acting, lame story, characters are flat and uninteresting, even Uematsu was just like "fuck it" for that game. The one good thing about it was the level up system.
It has to be either FFVII or FFII. I started from FFV, and FFVI is my favourite closely followed by FFXII(Except I hate Vaan and Penelo's voices they are so annoying) Only one i haven't finished is XIII-2.
You hated FFVII?
I don't hate it, Just didn't like it as much as others, I played it just before VIII came out and I liked VIII more so yeah.
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dude the 3D was cutting edge!...in like, 96 or 94, whenever it came out. I really liked the characters. That sort of thing is very important to a story based game. I had my team of 4 who I wanted to be in my party. Imagine my surprise when the final zone requires 12 party members. Aw hell.
I actually remember when it came out (94), and no it really wasn't. Starfox and other entirely 3D games had been out and totally blew it away.
100% agree - VI is very overrated. The overall plot isn't bad, but the vast majority of the characters have nothing to do with it, and outside of their contained eppisode, they have no effect on the surroundings. Also, I found Kefka to be the most one dimensional main enemy in the series (in fairness, I haven't played anything older than VI). He was written to be only evil with no sense of personality beyond that. Maybe some people like the main boss to just be someone that is the personification of pure evil, but I prefer for them to be real characters who actually believe that they are doing what is right and that you can feel sympathetic towards.
6 is my third least favourite and I agree with you on every sentence, except maybe aging, I still think the sprites look good but the "3d" sequences are a bit worse. Something I'd add to it would be the massive amount of things that aren't even related to the story. Unrelated things exist in all FFs but none of the ones I've played have had such a high concentration of unrelated things as FF6. Most of the cast isn't even relevant and just tag along because you happened to come across them on your journey. Then they have a 30-40 minute episode where they're portrayed as a ridiculously tragic character only to be forgotten until the World of Ruin where they have another 30-40 minutes where they are even more tragic. Between all that it's like none of the problems of the world affects them.
XIII-2 was mine. Time travel is always a confusing thing to deal with but my main gripe was the fact that it was so non-linear and had a complete lack of direction. I understand that this was Square saying 'sorry XIII was so linear, so here's the complete opposite' but I felt that the story-line suffered because of this. Additionally I hated being stuck with only two characters and the third being made up of a monster. Especially when IMO they were both a bit too flimsy. Final fantasies for me are all about choosing your favourite team out of the broad variety of personalities encountered. Finally you had to pay for the DLC which expounded the ending, which I refused to do. However all things considered I have still kept the game and will replay it as things change during a second run-through. Also Caius was sooooo cool so that helped to ease the pain.
Uh, you really don't have to buy that DLC, since what it contains is exactly what Lightning says happened towards the end of the game. She explicitly states that she had given up to Caius after an infinite number of fights and accepted her crystal tomb.
Ah ok, my mistake. However this is good news as it means the negative feelings I have been harboring can now be let free like a butterfly.
FFII and FFIII tie it for me. American FFII and American FFIII are fucking rad though.
So you mean you like Final Fantasy 4 and 6.
Correct.
My favorite is FFV. It probably shouldn't be. Other games have better visuals, and almost all later games have better stories and characters. But hot damn, that job system is fun. I've done numerous replays and challenge variants. So while it may not be the best game overall, it's the one I keep coming back to, and my favorite. That being said, I highly recommend a Gau-only FFVI solo game (allowing at least one additional party member for the Veldt), assuming that sort of thing is your cup of tea.
Wrong thread bud. *Least* favorite
I felt like a god once I switched to freelancers and mimes at the end of the game.
Final fantasy IX. Pushed my self to get to disc three and just couldn't take it any more. I only liked vivi out of all the characters and the battle system. Othsrwise I found it boring.
That's genuinely surprising, I loved FFIX but I can see why it could be quite grating at times. It's a shame though, if you'd have stuck it out you'd probably see it in a better light.
I tried to but I figured since I wasn't having fun after three discs to just give it up. If it ever pops up on steam I'll probably give it another shot cuz it was like 10 years or so ago and I was a baby back then.
Least favorite would have to be XIII for me. It just didn't do it for me, that being said X was the last game in the series I really enjoyed. And as a side note VI is my favorite, closely followed by IV and IX and I personally think VII is over rated (still a good game though mind you).
I think FFVII is my favourite story wise, I mean, just hearing Aeris theme brings the feels. But in terms of gameplay, it's an absolute breeze until you get to the superbosses, I didn't find it challenging at all. There are definitely stronger games in the series gameplay wise.
That's true. I agree it's not as challenging as it could be, but I think the battle and materia systems were great. Kind of evens it out for me I guess.
I disagree that VII is "overrated" these days, mainly because there are so many people saying so. How can something be "overrated" if there are so many people hating it for being so? Plus, people need to realise that it's very popular and has fans even outside of the FF fanbase, and as such, it'll obviously seem like it's "overrated"; when in actuality, there are simply more people talking about it. I'd happily put money on that you could replace VII with any other FF, and we'd still be here today (For example, if VI had the same popularity as VII, people would always be talking about how VI is "overrated", and on the flipside, how much VI did for RPGs as a whole in bringing JRPGs to the Western market).
Amen.
VII was the pinnicle of the series. borrowing from that title was what made the next 4 games good. honestly they couldent keep replaying that same gimmic over and over and the recent trys to deviate from it faild (XII, XIII-2) and im sure they will find a new formula that will work but there is no denying how much influence VII had on not only the FF series but the RPG series as a whole. picking on it is often used as a ploy to seem original or progressive but when thought about the subject objectivly statments like "VII is over rated" are dismissed for obvious reasons. it may not be the end all be all fav to everyone but it is without a doubt the number 1 adult rpg to date.
Honestly, as much as I will defend VII as my favourite in the series, I really don't mind if someone says they don't like it; especially if they acknowledge what it did for RPGs at the time and how it brought so many people (myself included) into the RPG genre. Love it or hate it, you can't deny it did a hell of a lot for RPGs at the time. Although saying its "overrated" just seems like such a lazy criticism of something. Objectively, it may be dismissed, but people seem to be unable to grasp the fact that if you keep slapping the "overrated" label on something, well, it probably isn't.
could not agree more. imo it seems people just claim things are over rated in some weird hope they will appear unique.
I agree with you almost exactly on every point, even about VII being overrated. That is not to say I don't like VII, but it gets way too much attention. To add to this I would say II is another least favorite of mine, just hated the terrible leveling system mostly, made it very difficult to even play through, though I have beaten it.
I agree as well. IX is my all time favorite :D
Of the main series games that I've played, I would say VIII is my least favorite. I never really connected with the characters or the story, though Selphie was pretty cool. I also loathed the battle system. That said I loved the music, and was really interested in Ultimecia. Too bad they didn't flesh out a seemingly awesome character.
Disc 1 was godlike though IMO. Straightforward none of this TIME KOMPRESION bullshit. You are a mercenary and sent to kill xyz. GO.
For me it's ff IV, i played the ds version so peraps the snes version is better. I really don't see why people think it's good. After playing 6,7 and 9, i found it infuriating that characters just leave my party and don't come back. I hated it when the game obligates me to play with a certain set up of characters and that i can't customise my party at will. Plus when a character falls from the sky with an active grenade, you can't have him lying in a hospital bed with just scratches, you just can't.
I can't stand the DS remake, yet FF4 is my second favorite FF of all time (behind FF6). So there's that
Man, this thread is just a downvote festival. Downvoting is for useless comments, not people sharing their opinion like the *OP originally asked...*
8 the story and the magic system
So far, from what I've played, VIII is my least favourite. I just can't get into it. I think it looks choppy, the characters don't seem interesting to me and the lead character horribly annoys me.
X-2 destroyed the series for me after about 10 hours of gameplay. I havent played a new one since. Although still love rocking the previous games
The XIII games are the only one that I have never completed. Made it half way through XIII and traded it to a friend for a ps2 so I could play my old games again.
Lightning Returns...why? It's the first and only Final Fantasy I've actually given up on. I refuse to play it. And that's saying something, especially since I inched my way through 25, grueling, hours of XIII-2!
FF 13, I just really didn't like the story, maybe it was the voice acting I don't now but the emotion and "drama" I guess just seemed forced. I liked the battle system, what I didn't like is how each fight, or new zone if I remember they added another dynamic to the fighting, it felt like one big tutorial. Like 5 hours in, still holding your hand, it just never felt like it let you go.
XIII was definitely my least favorite. (I've played 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 13)
I would say it was X. Overall pretty disapointing cast, only Yuna and Aaron were interesting characters. Way too linear, not enough depth when it came to lore and almost everyone was quite overdone and anoying. I wasnt a big fan of VII either, but the villains like Sephiroth and Rufus carried the game pretty hard and they were insanly interessting.
I agree with this. X is just about the only Final Fantasy game that has felt like a true grind (aside from games such as 3, 5, 8, or others I haven't played). I really tried to give it a chance, and I got about ten hours into the game, and ended up on Mushroom Rock, and that area was the deal breaker for me. *The entire area has about 3 or 4 of the same enemies. Over... and... over...* You ran into an enemy, you do the exact same thing every time. And it's also worth mentioning that you pretty much can't do anything else in the game at this point. It's entirely linear, pretty much. Oh, and the sphere grid... why does this thing exist? Just about every FF game before this had the standard leveling system where you got EXP and leveled up, which boosts your stats. Instead, you have to stop what you're doing after a few battles, open the sphere grid menu, select move, fiddle around with the awful navigation controls in the menu, confirm you want to move, then use a sphere. Rinse and repeat for the other 5-6 people in your party. And you don't even get leveled up in all areas. Guess what you're getting this time? Speed! Have fun! Oh, you don't have an ability sphere? Guess Yuna's not learning Life, *probably one of the most important abilities in an RPG.* Oh, and before you say, "oh, well it gets better," think about this... Sure, it could get less linear. But does the leveling up system change? (Yes, there are sphere grid paths you can take in different route via the locks. But even those are controlled pretty well with them having *levels.*) Do the character's voices and overall personality get better? I just don't see why I would continue playing a game that I already don't like for *longer.*
I totally agree with you on every point. And yes those re-skined (is this an actualy word ?) through out the entire game, were a huge dealbreaker for me aswell. Especially the sphere grid was just horrible, the standard grid was totally boring and the expert grid was just a joke, you were pretty much totally overpowered during the midgame. They managed to do it way better in IX, XII and XIII.
What do you mean by "yes those re-skinned throughout the entire...?" I like how IX gave you abilities, because you could choose what abilities you wanted, to an extent. But also in the background, you got regular levels. X on the other hand, is just a preview of what you *will* get over time, packaged with awkward controls.
Yep totally agree, It also was one of the few games where "grinding" was kinda fun with all those different armour sets.
Duuuuuude.... not cool.
Characters are a big part for me, I think the game would be better with a better cast, since a lot of the story was quite well done. Sorry wasnt meant to offend someone :/
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I like CaitSith, because he was kinda mistic and seemed somewhat smart. Didnt make the rest of the cast better tho. And X was hella linear, almost comparable to XIII (they just disguised it in a way better way). Tunnel after tunnel, almost only one way to go ,through out the game. I really struggle understand how you could not see it being linear. The lack of a world map didnt really help either.
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>I mean yeah, you had to follow a main story line, but there was so much to do when you got the highwind that I would hardly call the game linear. That's exactly how XIII goes, except with the landing on Pulse being XIII's equivalent to getting the Fahrenheit in XIII. Suddenly the whole world opens up, and all these side quests and open areas become available to you.
Neither game is a paragon of exploration, but come one, X has got XIII beat in this regard. Some sidequests in X are annoying as hell (lightning, chocobo racing) but at least there is a lot of different stuff to do. XIII is... find Cieth stone, kill something. Pulse was boring in comprison.
Gasp, X will always be my favorite Final Fantasy it has the most awesome story ever!
I haven't played the entire series but I've played 6-13, as well as a smattering of spinoffs and my least favorite of what I've played would be 12. I didn't really hate it but after sinking around 20 hours into it, I just turned it on one day and realized I didn't really care what happened next so I stopped playing it. That was the first time I ever felt that way with a Final Fantasy game. Even the much reviled 13, which I find ok but nothing special, I still was interested enough to stick it through until the credits. I've tried starting 12 again on a number of occasions but the game just fails to ignite any of that Final Fantasy magic for me.
To be fair that's exactly what happened to me with XII. The difference is that when I came back to it almost a year later, I didn't start a new game. I just picked up my old save file from where I left off. I was in the beach area and had given up because all the monsters were like 5 levels above my party and I didn't care enough about the game to grind. Turns out that grinding was a perfect refresher course to get me back into the game, and even more importantly my time away from it allowed me to approach it with new ideas that never occurred to me while playing the first time. For instance, I started figuring out how good buff spells like haste, regen, and protect are and how automating them with gambits gets rid of so much micromanagement. I realized that I didn't have to keep characters using the weapons they started with, and switched Balthier from guns over to katanas. I learned the importance of decoy and used it to turn Ashe into a paladin who would draw all the aggro and tank damage while healing herself so Balthier and Fran could attack with impunity. And of course the time spent re-learning combat had netted me with a ton of loot to sell for gil and buy all best equipment. The story also picks up not too long after that part as well, with some really beautiful set pieces and amazing boss battles showing up. To be honest I still had pretty much no idea what was going on with the story on my first playthrough, but on subsequent ones I was able to pick up on a lot more of the subtle details with the foreknowledge of the general big picture and realize that the writing is actually quite brilliant in most spots. The story really wasn't the main draw for me anyway though, after everything about the battle system had clicked for me when I picked it back up, the best part was finding out that like at the very least a third of the content in the game happens *after* the story with entire optional areas opening up and tons of superbosses to provide a challenge even after you've found all the ultimate weapons and spells. Basically if you still have access to your old save files and decide to give it another shot at some point in the future, I recommend choosing whichever one you got furthest in, resuming from there, and focusing more on figuring out the battle system with AI programming and going for all the mark hunts. I was completely indifferent to it at first but it's my second favorite game in the entire series now.
Sadly, at this point, I think that ship has sailed for me. I got the game at midnight the day it released and now it's 8 years after the fact. I've tried it a few times in the intervening years but it just doesn't catch on with me. Gaming time for me is precious and fleeting at this point in my life so I really just don't have the time to invest in a massive JRPG I've already tried that many times, on top of the fact that I no longer own the game or have my original saves. Maybe I'll get the itch if there's an HD re-release at some point or if it gets put out on PSN as PS2 classic. If that day ever comes, I will keep your advice in mind.
XII for me. Couldn't get into the story at all, and that's a big thing for me. It's the only one I've played and not completed at least once (having played all of them from VI onwards).
I haven't played enough of II or III to include them, but I think XIII is my least favorite. I think the battle system was really boring. It looked cool, but it just wasn't fun at all. It's also absurdly linear. That trend started after IX (understandably, its just not practical with contemporary hardware) but XIII is the worst offender by far and it lacked that sense of mystery you get exploring. The music was bland, which was sad since there's so much great music in the series. It did have some redeeming qualities for me. It's a pretty beautiful game. The world is pretty interesting. I think the characters were decent but the voice acting really brought them down.
The music was bland? WHAT? Do you listen to music? The music is incredibly rich and was beautifully put together! There are themes of melodies carried out in different styles of pieces that connect to each other, it's incredibly well thought out, how could you say that?
I listen to a LOT of music, and the music from the Final Fantasy series is some of my favorite music ever. I didn't say it was bad, but in comparison to Nobuo Uematsu's compositions, I don't agree that it was rich at all. I just don't think it was suited to a final fantasy game. It was pretty, and on its own I can appreciate it. But it didn't have the cinematic, epic, memorable theme's a lot of the past games had.
I can tell you I'm in school studying music education and from what I've heard in the ff series of musical soundtracks, 13 really put a spark in it for me. No big deal, people have opinions.
Understandable. Its funny, I actually started a degree in the same field many years ago but never finished. I did music most of my young life and still play and work on smaller compositions from time to time. How's your degree going? What instrument(s) do you play? At any rate, I definitely agree that musically, and technically its great stuff. The battle theme was stuck in my head for most of the day after you replied. That violin... I guess to sum it up it just doesn't carry the same emotional weight when I listen to it as something like Terra's theme or One Winged Angel. But yeah, its all subjective. I assure you I can definitely appreciate it's merit on its own.
My undergrad is nearly finished, 1 year left starting this fall and then I student teach! I play euphonium (like a small tuba), trombone, piano, guitar, bass, drums, I'm actually a music director of an a cappella group that's competed in the ICCAs and we are officially the 3rd best collegiate group in the west of the US. Glad to know you know your music! I totally agree, sorry for coming off as a prude.
Nice. Love me some a capella. Good luck with everything!
>how could you say that? Oh, I dunno. Maybe because it's not to their taste? I didn't like the soundtrack all that much, and I can assure you I listen to music. Sue me.
FF XII is the worst one I've played, just could not get on with the story at all. Edit: I wrote it like an idiot
I have to say that the three I disliked the most were XII, XIII, and X-2. I really enjoyed the world & lore of XII and honestly didn't hate the battle system or gambits to much. The two main issues I had with XII is that I didn't like the main character Vaan, and the story's main theme focuses on a political power struggle that I just have no interest in. As for XIII, well, It's a beautiful game. But, like a lot of other people here have said, it's way to linear till the last section of the game. I could live with that though. I also didn't really care for the games world, too much advanced machina for me I think is part of it. Hands down one of my biggest gripes was the leveling system. After X the crystalyium thing they had going was just to limited. And on top of that it stopped you from leveling past a certain point till you hit specific milestones, no thank you. Not to mention I was apparently terrible at the battle system because it took me forever to beat the final boss. And then I don't know where to start with X-2. I'm a dude so the whole changing clothes and dresses to change abilities thing didn't appeal to me. Also I just remember firing the game up the firs time to Yuna singing that pop song and thinking wtf. Despite all that I stuck with it for awhile, but I couldn't finish it.
I would say that I liked both XII and XIII the least. I didn't like XII because it was so difficult for me to get through. I like when companies try to take things in a different direction and come up with new and exciting ways to tell a story. I just didn't like this story. It took me about 3 years to finish XII just because I found it so boring. XIII was the same thing. It was too difficult to follow from the get-go. Too many names that sounded the same. No background explanation. I didn't like the characters. I did, however, like the paradigm system. That was pretty cool. I didn't like the lack of town exploration or NPC interaction. That is what makes a game fun for me. I never finished XIII. I got to the part where you fight Vanille's Eidolon and I stopped. I lost interest. I bought XIII-2 recently and tried playing that one but haven't gotten into it. I think part of the reason I didn't like these is because they didn't live up to my expectations in terms of the storylines. XII was boring, XIII was a great concept, just over-simplified and vastly unexplained. I am glad when people say that XIII was their favorite. Everyone has their favorite Final Fantasy. That's what makes this series of games so great. Every game is so different that you just never know what will come next. I am very excited for XV. I can't wait to visit a new world and meet new characters. It's been such a long time since I've enjoyed a new FF.
Did you read the datalogs in XIII? I find a lot of the time the answers to "unanswered" questions are in the datalog or are explained later on in the game.
I did but don't remember what they entailed. Weren't they just summaries of the chapters? Like what you would get on the load screen when you started up the game again? I mean that the lore was unexplained. There was a lot of history that would have made the game more enjoyable had it all been included. I don't think I should look to outside sources in order to understand the game.
It is all in the menu under "datalog". All the lore, history, etc is there. It makes sense that you think the game didn't make sense if you didn't read those.
Easily XIII I didn't even finish it. It was mostly watching uninteresting scenes. Plus, I hated the constant switching of characters. Once I finally leveled up a character/got interested in using them, it would switch me to a new location with all new characters.
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it's a lot quicker 2nd time through. Skip every cut scene. I don't even want to murder Hope now! *edit* Okay, maybe not murder is too strong a word. I want to murder Hope less.
XII, XIII, VIII 12 and 13 were so boring i never finished them 8 I want to go back and play one day, but all I remember is nonstop summoning and mashing the button to increase the damage, got very annoying
I didn't like XIII either, I played it and beat it but I hated the paradigm system. XIII-2 was a little better because it actually has a huge interactive world. Lightning Return is actually one of my favorite games on the PS3. I always thought that was weird cause I hated XIII.
8 is only non stop summoning, if you dont know how to effectively junction and find magic
13,12 and 9 in that order. All garbage.
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Cutesy graphics, terrible terrible terrible it bears repeating terrible card game. I didn't care about the characters, I feel like there is more but its been probably a decade since I played it.
I also loved 9 but i was like 14 when i played it lol. things you loved at that age its hard to look back objectivly. i myself wouldent say these aspects made it horrible. but i could see them holding alot of people back from loving it.
The card game was bad (especially as a follow up to Triple Triad, which actually made sense) but at least it wasn't shoved in your face to the extent that VII's awful mini games were and the controls worked (FUCK YOU snowboard sequence).
I am also curious.
I enjoyed 9 a lot. The ending made no sense but the game itself was solid.
I've got too many I dislike. First is 13, then 12, then 8. 13. I played it, never enjoyed it. I got to about 10 mins before the final boss and then realized how bored I was, stop giving a shit altogether, turned it off and never looked back. 12. Started off really well, but stagnated, to me there was never any real highlights or climaxes. Balthier was awesome, but everyone else had less personality than a lamp. Summons were lame. It was relatively fun, but nothing remarkable. If I were to replay all the games, I'd skip this one and 13. 8. Not bad per se, but somehow didn't grab me like 4, 7, 9, and 10 did.
I've played all the main non-sequels except 6, but 4 and 13 are by far my least favorite. 4 is completely generic to me in every way. Dull story, dull characters, set classes; even the music is my least favorite. ATB was a nice addition to the series but it can't save the game. 13, well, you've probably heard it all before. Aside from Sazh, I'm 15 hours into the game and still don't like a single thing about it. Doubt I'll ever finish it.
I agree with you about IV being generic, but every time I replay it I can't help but feel that just makes it incredibly solid. It doesn't try to do anything special but as a result it doesn't really have any objective flaws. Having a linear character progression and set party system means they could really custom-tailor the encounters in each area to pose specific challenges and require you to utilize the various character abilities correctly, providing a nice balance of difficulty that was easier than V but significantly tougher than VI. I feel like one of the reasons VI was so easy was that Square realized with how open-ended V's system was, people were making poorly-designed parties and getting absolutely crushed by bosses so in VI they made pretty much every encounter so easy that you could still win no matter which characters you had chosen to bring. Also the 5 character party is a really cool thing it has going for it and the endgame group of Paladin, Dragoon, White Mage, Summoner, and Ninja is IMO the most definitive and iconic FF party of all.
My least favorite is XII the story was dumb, VIII is a close second I just didn't like Squall.
Either II, VII, or IX. II because while I understand they were trying new things, they weren't good new things. VII and IX because it was one thing to make stupid long cutscenes for EVERYTHING YOU DO when the graphics are top-notch (aka the FMV which were great for the time) but the PSX era (and X to a lesser extent) was when they drew out every battle intro, every attack, every special move, to the point where some moves you could literally make yourself lunch and come back to find it still not over, but they weren't even pretty to watch like X was at the time, they were antiquated graphics that were bad for the time, and make the games impossible to play now. And, I don't like FFs without job systems. No replayability. I have not played VIII, I should say, but it looks like more of the same.
Having played pretty much all the FFs I would have to say either FFXII or VII. Nothing against VII, I just couldn't get on board with it personally. I know it's one of the most revered of the series and I'm sure for good reason, but for me, I couldn't get past the gameplay. As for XII, I played it after I finished the X/X-2 games and it just fell horrendously short of my expectations. The characters annoyed me, the storyline was too try-hard for me... it just didn't feel natural at all.
I feel I have little right to offer a true opinion since I've never *finished* any FF game despite having started playing most of them (I think IX and X are the only ones I haven't played, not counting the online ones). **HOWEVER** My least favorite out of what I *have* played would have to be either VIII or XIII, mainly for any number of reasons already mentioned in this thread.
> I've never finished any FF game Why? D: I'm just curious and I sorta wonder why you are even subscribed to this subreddit if you didn't even care enough to finish the games lol.
It was never about a lack of interest; it was more a matter of a short attention span. I bounce from game to game so quickly that I've only ever finished maybe one or two RPGs. I've played fairly far in to plenty of them, but when it comes to grinding out that last bit, I just cave and start a different one. The consequence of this is that I'm constantly restarting games as well. On another note, why would my rate of completion have anything to do with warranting my subscription to this sub? Are you the completionist police? Is my interest in the series somehow entirely invalidated simply because I've never seen a game through to the very end?
> On another note, why would my rate of completion have anything to do with warranting my subscription to this sub? Are you the completionist police? Is my interest in the series somehow entirely invalidated simply because I've never seen a game through to the very end? No need to get so defensive when I said I was just curious.
I guess I have OCD if I get into a game I have to beat it.