Why people are so crazy over Final Fantasy?

Hi, I am new here, and as a big fan of JRPGs and RPGs I'd like to ask a question that's bugging me for quite some time -- why do you guys like Final Fantasy so much?

I've played almost every game in the series, and I assure you, the series only managed to get promising with Final Fantasy XIII.

Final Fantasy I is tedious and boring.
Final Fantasy VI is tedious and boring.
Final Fantasy VII is tedious and boring and ugly as butts.
Final Fantasy VIII is tedious and boring and nicely-looking.
Final Fantasy X is tedious and boring and omg Tidus has a nice butt.
Final Fantasy XIII is… good. Seriously, it's good. It's gorgeous to look at, and I had a blast playing through the game. It's a shame that it got worse about 35 hours in, but it was worth it.

However, the series finally went downhill with XIII-2 and I never bothered to check Lightning Returns, and that leads to a question -- how Square Enix managed to cash in on these series if only Final Fantasy XIII is actually good?

Speaking as someone who very recently played the first six games for the very first time, and now I'm about 25 hours into the ninth game, I can tell you exactly why I'm playing these games…..they are tough and require effort to succeed in. If you found the first six boring, then I'd guess they aren't for you. I remember my son raving over them in the nineties but I was so into other things I never really paid attention to just how good and interesting they are. Now, I will say I skipped over the seventh and eighth games but the ones I did play I enjoyed a lot, and I'm having a blast with the ninth one. I've not seen or played any of the ones past the one I'm currently on, though.

Well as a biased JRPG player I loved them all except the Final Fantasy XIII series. Anyway in my opinion the series started declining after Hironobu Sakaguchi departed.

After he left the replacement Game Director's introduced changes, and forced their own views on what modern day JRPGs should be. Basically MMO systems & action combat.

Now Square Enix is hoping Final Fantasy XV will redeem the series, but after watching a few Let's Play videos, I doubt it will be a return to what made the older games classics.

As for Sakaguchi he went on to make a few good JRPGs after leaving.

2006 - Blue Dragon
2007 - Lost Odyssey
2008 - Blue Dragon Plus, & Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow
2011 - The Last Story

Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are also excellent games, in my opinion. They feature music by the original Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu, and Blue Dragon also features Chrono Trigger artist, Akira Toriyama.

Many of the Final Fantasy games are really good. Why? Because they generally have epic stories, the older ones had great turn-based combat with many tactical options, lots of character customization in the magic and item systems, great characters, interesting places to explore, lots of charm and more. Nothing really tedious or boring about any them to me and I'm sure millions of others.

Tastes are subjective.

Originally Posted by zwanzig_zwoelf
Hi, I am new here, and as a big fan of JRPGs and RPGs I'd like to ask a question that's bugging me for quite some time -- why do you guys like Final Fantasy so much?

I've played almost every game in the series, and I assure you, the series only managed to get promising with Final Fantasy XIII.

Thanks for letting us know.

However, the series finally went downhill with XIII-2 and I never bothered to check Lightning Returns, and that leads to a question -- how Square Enix managed to cash in on these series if only Final Fantasy XIII is actually good?

Because a lot of people liked them?

Welcome to the world of different opinions.

Pibbur who is not a fan of jrpgs.

You should do a play though of "The Last Story" Fluent, its but ugly but the gameplay was amazing.

Interesting premises in the first post.

I've finished 10 and 10-2, now I'm playing 9.
13? Good lord.
FF13 is one of the worst games I've ever seen. I can understand it being popular on phones, but on PC such thing is mediocre at best and I ragequit in the middle of playing it (when I came to huge open area).

I'm one of people not crazy about FF games. Of four mentioned that I actually play(ed), if someone asked me which one is great and mustbuy, I'd have to answer - none.
I just can't stand designs in those games, designs that are result of pathetic hardware those games were made for.
Just an example. We had fast and precise rotation with stunning graphics openworld around a character on PC in now ancient Gothic game. And the same design is present in many other games. FF games, to this day, are stuck in C64/ZXspectrum designs where such rotation is for whatever reason not possible.

This is like Brumbek or Fluent, but from opposite universe.
I only really love FFVIII ( though I only played a few). Great song ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNefNLOHVYk), though a bit too soft for men.

The Last Story is by a Final Fantasy maker? I would never be able to guess that. It's too good for Final Fantasy… guess that's another reason why Final Fantasy XIII is so good. I played TLS briefly for 20 minutes or so and it reminds me of Gears of War, one of my favorite games of all time.

From what I saw of Final Fantasy XV, I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'd really enjoy Final Fantasy series if they added more gay characters, made the vehicles available at any time and added an option to listen to Snoop Dogg's Riders on the Storm at any time…

But let's be honest, the reason I think why most Final Fantasy games are bad is because the tedious gameplay and inane stories are making me yawn. Final Fantasy XIII had the most compehensive story.

Originally Posted by zwanzig_zwoelf
From what I saw of Final Fantasy XV, I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'd really enjoy Final Fantasy series if they added more gay characters, made the vehicles available at any time and added an option to listen to Snoop Dogg's Riders on the Storm at any time…

Name me one jrpg with yaoi/yuri themes inside. And I mean real jrpg, not visual novels.
Sure, there are "hints" on some characters (I bet Oerba Yun Fang from FF13 is gay although that's never confirmed) and scenes that serve as brief comic relief, but Square Enix never risked it. I've written before, jRPGs constantly play safe and constantly repeat the same thing over and over. They don't want to risk and that's their biggest problem. And I'm not talking just about presence of gay characters, stories as whole tend to be irrelevant, seen numerous times and forgettable lemonades.

Vehicles? What vehicles? You mean damned chocobo? If chocobo were real world creatures I'd be on a crusade to extinct those species. I hate them with passion. Thanks to Square Enix.
Whoever designed chocobo races in FF10 should be banned from games industry. FF9 is not better, it's in fact even worse - chocobo gets Jesus power to walk on water.
If you mean "machines", just to say I've finished overhyped garbage named GTA5 which is not RPG but is different vehicles driving simulator. These are pretty much available at any time, but are IMO designed completely retarded. GTA5 is a waste of $, sadly noone told me that before I bought that game, all I've heard was praise from people (on PC!) who obviously care only for visuals and nothing else.
So no. IMO jRPGs wouldn't become better with accessible different means of transportation at any time.

Music shuffle on PC? Mod it in the game. That's what PC is used for. Trash the phone and buy PC.

Originally Posted by zwanzig_zwoelf
the reason I think why most Final Fantasy games are bad is because the tedious gameplay

You definetly got that part correct.
Avoid 200 lightning strikes in a row in FF10? QTE successfully towers in FF10-2? Jump over rope 100 times without a break in FF9?
Is that really a game or trying to turn humans into robots?
I will never understand how games with such idiotic designs get prased by critics. Honestly. Torture the player is considered - a good thing? Since when?

Originally Posted by joxer
Is that really a game or trying to turn humans into robots?
I will never understand how games with such idiotic designs get prased by critics. Honestly. Torture the player is considered - a good thing? Since when?

'cause it's hardcore and turns boys into MEN!

Before Final Fantasy/Dark Souls:



After:

You're not going to find a lot of fans of FF XIII here.

I love the character customization in the various iterations of the job system -- 5 introduced me to the series, and I think 12 was its best expression. But you're right, the combat often becomes a chore -- and I haven't bothered with the last few games for that reason.

I think the super-gay-but-not-actually-gay-we-swear tone and design have been such a big part of the series that I'd hate to see the joke end in western style literal-mindedness.

I bought FF7 on the recommendation of reviews constantly being posted on a website called RPGDot. What a mistake that was.

Yes, 7 was their breakout hit, but it has aged far, far worse than the earlier games in the series.

One of the JRPGs with yaoi stuff is Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and it's a good example of a good JRPG. Any JRPG with Hitler and yaoi packed together deserves a medal.

FFXIII is great despite its shortcomings and I really dig the corridor design in JRPGs because I won't get lost in all these big areas like Skyrim and Oblivion I wish older JRPGs had automaps so I could easily navigate in them instead of wandering around the same stupid areas over and over again.

Also, I don't get why people love Chrono Trigger so much, I played the game and it was just boring…

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
I bought FF7 on the recommendation of reviews constantly being posted on a website called RPGDot. What a mistake that was.

I should say. You should have gotten it a lot earlier than that! All those years without even knowing what a chocobo was… ouch.

Originally Posted by zwanzig_zwoelf
Final Fantasy I is tedious and boring.
Final Fantasy VI is tedious and boring.
Final Fantasy VII is tedious and boring and ugly as butts.
Final Fantasy VIII is tedious and boring and nicely-looking.
Final Fantasy X is tedious and boring and omg Tidus has a nice butt.

Maybe because people find tedious and boring fun and like it like that?

FF, at least the early series, probably just isn't for you. XIII did not sit really well with longtime series fans. The earlier ones did. IV - VII are generally listed as the best by long time series fans, with XIII as one of the worst. They've made a lot of changes and there's been a clear shift in their game design over the past few games.

Ok, guys, I lied, I enjoyed Final Fantasy VII, but I was drunk to the point I couldn't understand what I was doing…

I think your biggest problem is not being drunk, but playing games on something that isn't PC. Just my opinion.

Based on what you've said so far, I suggest you leave Final Fantasies to rot and play all three Mass Effect games. Hopefully, not on Wii U.