.::Final Fantasy::.

[Cross De Aubigne]

I like VII, but I love its spin-offs. Vincent is one of my favorite characters so when they made Dirge I lost it.
Also, Crisis Core made me cry. That doesn't happen. I have never cried because of any movie or game until I got to the end of that one. And its not that I didn't know what was going to happen, its that I did know the entire time.
And its different from seeing a movie because you're not just watching him; actually are Zack for however many hours it takes you to play.

But I like VIII too.  

[Tc Frorleivus Almus Ph]

thor1005

Shizu - To answer your question about FF XIII ... Although I have not played any of other Final Fantasy's yet,
it is my personal belief that XIII is awesome (: if you do wish me to, I will try to go into detail.

As for all of the others saying it is bad... I do believe they are judging it to harshly by comparing it to other FF games such as the legendary VII.
In other words..... "FF XIII was a wonderful game... just because it's not like all the other Final Fantasy's does not mean it's bad....."

You have made an excellent point. I haven't played XIII myself but for ten minutes, so I can't really say it's bad. That is precisely why I started this thread; of course I want you to go into detail. I said so in the first post! You shouldn't have to ask. Just do it.
Likewise, I know how you feel about people who compare and contrast harshly. For a lot of people, it's hard to find a happy medium between new and old. What you should really do from this point is play the older games as objectively as you can. And don't let other people tell you which ones you should play. You should do what a gamer does and look at the ones that genuinely catch your interest, then play those that do. You might like a few, or you might dislike them all. You have twelve to choose from. ;3 (Plus all those spin-offs too, of course.)
I think for some people who grew up with the whole "Final Fantasy" experience, like I have, find it hard to watch when XIII turns out with a system that isn't an upgraded, better version of what we liked in the older games, but an entirely new system. Not that this is truly bad. On the contrary, innovation can be a good thing. It's just not what I'm used to.
In all honesty, I really dislike it the most when people obtain tunnel vision and zoom in on one game in the entire series and just outright say that every other game sucks. I've played my fair share of Final Fantasy titles from about VI until XII and part of XIII. I touched the Crystal Chronicles as well. When I played through Dissidia, I played every single character's story mode. I wanted to know about every single character and every backstory the game could give. Naturally, I have a favorite, but there are many elements of the others that I like a lot too; I realize how annoying having tunnel vision is, so I try to remain as objective as I can. Thus, all that blabber said, tell me every little thing about XIII that you liked. Everything. Everything.  

[Vornwrath]

Final Fantasy VI. What could I say about this game that hasn't already been said? If you have played it, you know it is a masterpiece. If you haven't played it, what the hell are you waiting for? Snap to it! The game is AMAZING. The soundtrack is brilliant. It has the best bad guy in video game history,. The story is absolutely incredible, and it is full of memorable characters. When you are the best in a series like Final Fantasy, you know that is something special.

I, also, love Final Fantasy I, II, IV, V, IX, XII and Tactics.

I hate FVIII, FFX-2, Dirge of Cerberus and FFXIII

FFX, Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest and FFVII are decent games but not amazing.

Crisis core: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (The original. I have not played any of the others) are both fun,. Crisis Core is a great game. Crystal Chronicles is great if you are playing it with a friend

I own FFIII but cannot play it., My DS decided to break. I haven't played enough to form a good opinion on it  

[Vornwrath]

Shizuka Mizu

Metus Aquinas

Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2

In all seriousness, I can't choose any one out of the above as my favorite. I loved them all so much, it's hard to play favorites. gonk

Ah, that's alright. I've not played any of the Tactics series, so I would like to know more about them. Care to share? =o

The original Tactics (Rereleased and upgraded for the PSP as War of the Lions) is absolutely amazing in every single way that a tactical RPG can be amazing, and every person that calls themselves a Final Fantasy fan owes it to themselves to play it.  

[Tyy Tea]

Shizuka Mizu

Okay. Not only will I tell you what I liked but, I will tell you what I didn't like and try to give you a review of the game. To start off, the story. "The game takes place in the fictional floating world of Cocoon, whose government, the Sanctum, is ordering a purge of civilians who have supposedly come into contact with Pulse, the much-feared world below. The former soldier Lightning begins her fight against the government in order to save her sister who has been branded as an unwilling servant to a god-like being from Pulse, making her an enemy of Cocoon. Lightning is soon joined by a band of allies, and together the group also become marked by the same Pulse creature. They rally against the Sanctum while trying to discover their assigned task and whether they can avoid being turned into monsters or crystals at the completion." They are not exactly sure of their assigned task but, they believe that it is to save the people of cocoon from their own government. As you could imagine, it's extremely difficult to save the people of cocoon, when the government has forced them into believing that you are an evil being that is set out to destroy all. & that is where the Purge comes in because the people believe the government is helping them. In the process of all of this, there is an internal struggle between them all. They gain an emotional attachment to one another and to others, there is very harsh emotions. In the process of trying to save the people, they have a struggle on whether to do that or do what their own mind wants them to do. (NOTE: If they complete their focus or "task", they turn into crystal with the possibility of coming out one day. If they do not complete their task, they are turned into a mindless monster). Trust me, this is only a very minor explanation of the story. Of course, there is many things behind it and many things you find out. This is only what you know of towards the beginning of the game. Square Enix does a wonderful job of packing a full story into a 50-hour game. With wonderful cut-scenes, the game keeps you sticking around for the full 50 hours.

Now that the story is over with, gameplay and battle. Unlike many other Final Fantasy games, the world is for the most part straight-forward rather than free roam. Also, there is no side-mission and just a straight forward story (that is until Chapter 11 when you have 64 optional missions called the Cie'th Stone missions..... BTW there is 13 chapters). As for battle it has a turn-based style menu but, it is real time battle. You are allowed to have up to 3 members out at a time but, some battle are mandatory 2 or even 1 member battles. There are different roles and each player is good at a certain role type. The six roles are Commando, Ravager, Medic, Sentinel, Saboteur and Synergist. I would explain each role individually but, I do not believe it necessary. These roles along with different abilities make the combat challenging at times. Although some monsters you can simply spam attacks, others require very, very, very, specific tactics, abilities and ways of beating them. Many boss battles I would have never have beat without looking it up on the internet and some battles took me hours to beat. Although it can get repetitive at times, these boss battles along with many different creatures make it exciting enough to bare.

Many people say that the game has too many cut scenes and should be a movie instead but, with the "hardships" you face in battle along with countless hours of cut scenes, Square puts this wonderful story into a 50 hour shell. I will admit that at times, the game drags on and you may get bored. (Example-- I got to chapter 11 and after being many hours in, I did the worse possible thing you could ever do in a RPG... I started skipping monsters and all of the side-quests that were finally available to me. I ended up getting to a mini-boss and my party was to weak to defeat him. Although my impatience took a heavy toll on me, I plan on re-playing the game at some point; most likely when summer break starts.) But, All-in-all I would say it is a good game of it's own and worth the 50 hours plus the money (at the time I am typing this, it is $30). As of May 2010, the game sold 5.5 million copies worldwide and Square Enix has deemed it worthy enough for a FF XIII-2.

Well, that is FF XIII in a nutshell (I am not kidding about this... there is much more to the game.) I do recommend that you watch the FF XIII International Trailer because it will give you a decent glimpse of the games. Also, if you plan on playing Final Fantasy XIII, DO NOT watch the teaser trailer for FF XIII-2. Even though I have not beaten the game yet, I had already known how it would end. With my knowledge I watched The XIII-2 trailer and it does contain spoilers. Anyways, you asked for everything and I gave you everything. I do hope that I didn't type too much xD. (NOTE: this now holds the record for my longest-ever post in this guild. XD)
 

[Tc Frorleivus Almus Ph]

Excellent. Great post, really. I greatly appreciate it.
Based on your explanation, I might actually enjoy this game. I'll have to consider trying it out for real this time. ;3