Bahhh, I'm such a nerd.

[RavenSEAL]

Starting playing FFIX again and I'm loving every second of it

AHHHHHHHHHH, I love this game so much!

 

[Sulaco]

I despised every second of FFIX. The most overrated entry of the series, far and away.

Without question some of the worst characters (Quina....need I say more? Fucking Quina. Amarant, Queen Brahne, ugh..)), terrible dialogue, and awful "villains" I've seen in an RPG.

I don't remember the combat system very well, but honestly, it couldn't matter less if the plot and characters suck so much.

 

[viivo]

I didn't much like the tone of FFIX, too colorful and cutesy, with a boring world that seemed slapped together. Despite the unskippable summons and whiney character, I remember enjoying FFVIII the most out of the post-snes FFs. The tone was perfect, great plot pacing, interesting and varied locations, cool mechanics and minigames, and the world seemed alive. I only played it once when it was first released and remember more about it than anything that happened in VII or IX.

 

[Beev]

I despised every second of FFIX. The most overrated entry of the series, far and away.

Without question some of the worst characters (Quina....need I say more? Fucking Quina. Amarant, Queen Brahne, ugh..)), terrible dialogue, and awful "villains" I've seen in an RPG.

I don't remember the combat system very well, but honestly, it couldn't matter less if the plot and characters suck so much.

LOL, this is roughly what I was going to post, except I didn't despise the game, I just didn't care for it very much. As soon as I saw the thread title I thought "fucking Quina..." though. What a shit-terrible character. In fact, pretty much all of them except a handful were horrible.

 

[Cerb]

I didn't much like the tone of FFIX, too colorful and cutesy, with a boring world that seemed slapped together. Despite the unskippable summons and whiney character, I remember enjoying FFVIII the most out of the post-snes FFs. The tone was perfect, great plot pacing, interesting and varied locations, cool mechanics and minigames, and the world seemed alive. I only played it once when it was first released and remember more about it than anything that happened in VII or IX.

Different strokes, I guess. I never could get over the lack of challenge in FF VIII.

I wouldn't put FF IX in the same league as IV-VI, but I liked it. I considered the fairy tale aesthetic and adventure focus a welcome change, and I even liked the bad puns.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Haters

 

[Oil]

Different strokes, I guess. I never could get over the lack of challenge in FF VIII.

I wouldn't put FF IX in the same league as IV-VI, but I liked it. I considered the fairy tale aesthetic and adventure focus a welcome change, and I even liked the bad puns.

This and IMO the combat system in FF8 was the absolute worst in the whole series

 

[Anubis]

man i really liked 9, was worlds better then 8, because 8 fing sucked, hell TBH i enjoyed it more then the eternally overhyped FF7

 

[Cerb]

This and IMO the combat system in FF8 was the absolute worst in the whole series

The mechanics I thought were pretty neat, and allowed a lot of customization. The level scaling killed it, though, with no way to jack up the enemy toughness. With an intuitively balanced character config, even naked, I could mash X for almost anything but a boss fight, and even then I would just need some restorative magic or item use occasionally.

None of the FFs are up there with Fire Emblems, but if your party were powerful enough and you are experienced enough as a player, you would typically still need to concern yourself with resource usage and tactical choices, if you progressed through the game at the rate that you could survive doing so. Combined with battle settings, difficulty, "naturally," adjusts itself, at least to a point where you have to think about your near-future choices. In FF VIII, enemies stayed weak, relative to the party, instead.

 

[ApexBoost]

I've been contemplating downloading it, I really enjoyed IX despite all the hate. V is definitely still my all time favorite though.

 

[RavenSEAL]

I despised every second of FFIX. The most overrated entry of the series, far and away.

Without question some of the worst characters (Quina....need I say more? Fucking Quina. Amarant, Queen Brahne, ugh..)), terrible dialogue, and awful "villains" I've seen in an RPG.

I don't remember the combat system very well, but honestly, it couldn't matter less if the plot and characters suck so much.

 

[Sulaco]

Huh?

I never played FFX-2, and don't intend to, as I thought FFX was below mediocre.

 

[DigDog]

does not like FF.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I had fun playing it, but it was the first JRPG I played.

I was a PC-only gamer until around 2003 when I picked up a used PS1 in FS/FT that came with FF IX.

 

[Geosurface]

I've never understood the appeal of Final Fantasy games. I do not like jrpgs, I don't think I'm mentally capable of enjoying them.

The only FF game I really played significantly was FF8. I wasn't that impressed. Seemed like a movie where I was called upon to push a button from time to time.

I also played whichever one had the surfer looking kid on an island or something... but not much. Or was that Kingdom Hearts? I didn't like that much either, tried it a bit.

I'm not much of an RPG guy at all, but when I do play them... I play western ones fo sho. My first RPG ever was Daggerfall. I've remained a fan of Elder Scrolls though, to be honest... and despite being very *charmed* by Morrowind, it wasn't until Skyrim that I really felt they hit it out of the park. All the entries prior to that were sort of me trying to convince myself I loved it more than I did. They were good though. Oblivion kinda sucked. I realize I'm way off topic. Sue me

My first turn-based RPG I could stand was Fallout 1, now there's a game. Amazing... amazing story, feel... atmosphere... music. So haunting, so fantastic.

I recently bought FF7 on the PS3 network, at the strong urging of my roommate. Actually, it was a sort of exchange program. He had to buy Deus Ex 3, at my insistence, and I had to get FF7 at his. He played much more DX3 than I did FF7, but neither of us really liked the other person's game in the end.

Deus Ex is the shiznit.

As you can tell by my icon though, Thief: The Dark Project is better than any other game I've mentioned, or not mentioned... PERIOD

 

[RavenSEAL]

I've never understood the appeal of Final Fantasy games. I do not like jrpgs, I don't think I'm mentally capable of enjoying them.

The only FF game I really played significantly was FF8. I wasn't that impressed. Seemed like a movie where I was called upon to push a button from time to time.

I also played whichever one had the surfer looking kid on an island or something... but not much. Or was that Kingdom Hearts? I didn't like that much either, tried it a bit.

I'm not much of an RPG guy at all, but when I do play them... I play western ones fo sho. My first RPG ever was Daggerfall. I've remained a fan of Elder Scrolls though, to be honest... and despite being very *charmed* by Morrowind, it wasn't until Skyrim that I really felt they hit it out of the park. All the entries prior to that were sort of me trying to convince myself I loved it more than I did. They were good though. Oblivion kinda sucked. I realize I'm way off topic. Sue me

My first turn-based RPG I could stand was Fallout 1, now there's a game. Amazing... amazing story, feel... atmosphere... music. So haunting, so fantastic.

I recently bought FF7 on the PS3 network, at the strong urging of my roommate. Actually, it was a sort of exchange program. He had to buy Deus Ex 3, at my insistence, and I had to get FF7 at his. He played much more DX3 than I did FF7, but neither of us really liked the other person's game in the end.

Deus Ex is the shiznit.

As you can tell by my icon though, Thief: The Dark Project is better than any other game I've mentioned, or not mentioned... PERIOD

FFIX is an interesting one. It's considered by many fans as a throwback...Square went back on a couple of aspects and drove the game toward the more classic elements that defined 1-5. So at the end of the day, you get the best of both worlds. The game does however have a dark yet very lighthearted tone, which is what makes it so great in my opinion.

To each their own, but I think if you ever want to give JRPGs a shot, FFIX is the perfect place to start.

 

[Oyeve]

FFIX was the best FF since the originals I-IV. Everything after IX is complete and utter trash. VII was a POS and VIII was WTF???

 

[Pr0d1gy]

VII is widely heralded as the greatest pound for pound RPG ever made. I've been playing it again recently after it went on sale on PSN for plus members and it's still just as fun and engrossing as I remember.

I played IX on my PSP for awhile but never finished it, good to see other people don't need photo like graphics to enjoy a great game though.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Eh. That's one of those "YMMV" things, if ever there was. I remember FF7 as being the game where the series took a nosedive, with the stupidly long summons and the guide-dang-it sidequests, the insane poser protagonist and the plot that is literally completely dependent on the single most miraculous collapsing floor in the history of gaming.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

FFIX was the best FF since the originals I-IV. Everything after IX is complete and utter trash. VII was a POS and VIII was WTF???

I don't know about POS, but I feel VII was overrated and I basically lost interest in the entire series afterwards, but how could you not mention VI? Whenever you have those "best of" conversations like "Blue album or pinkerton, OK Computer or Kid A..." it's almost always FF IV or VI in my experience. Granted I lean more towards IV as a whole and in VI it's a much looser experience form the world of ruin on, but it's still a top 5 JRPG.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I liked IX. It's the only PSX FF I ever actually finished. FWIW I played much further into VIII than i ever did VII. Recently picked it back up, but got to around the same part (golden palace) and lost interest.

 

[Aikouka]

I've never understood the appeal of Final Fantasy games. I do not like jrpgs, I don't think I'm mentally capable of enjoying them.

The only FF game I really played significantly was FF8. I wasn't that impressed. Seemed like a movie where I was called upon to push a button from time to time.

The 2D Final Fantasy games are not the "interactive movie" type at all, and neither are the earlier 3D ones.

I tend to be a bit picky about jRPGs. I need a decent story. Blue Dragon was a decent RPG, but the story is downright terrible. I still played the hell out of the game, but I definitely said, "wow... whoever wrote this dialog needs to quit... now." quite a bit. If anyone has played the game, I think you'll understand what I mean. I also don't like when they try and go all philosophical in their stories like some animes try to do. It gives me this idea that they're trying to be too edgy with their crazy ideas that are just way out there.

I also need good music in my jRPGs. Even if I don't like parts of the game, I still like to listen to the music from it. I mentioned Blue Dragon earlier and how the story was bad, but the game does have good music. I actually own the OST, and here are a few songs that I like from it:

In Search of the Ruins - Plays in Baroy Town
Mechabots Army Charges! - Plays when you

Spoiler

are in the base where you have an hour to save Kluke

.
Eternity - Boss Battle theme (I actually used to really dislike this theme, but it grew on me).

Nobou Uematsu was the composer for the game, so it's not a surprise that it's a fairly good soundtrack. Since you haven't played many Final Fantasy games, he composed 1 through 10 as well as some other games. I think he left when Sakaguchi "left"? (After Final Fantasy The Spirits Within flopped).

I also played whichever one had the surfer looking kid on an island or something... but not much.

Sounds like Final Fantasy X.

EDIT:

Final Fantasy 8 was bad, but Triple Triad was awesome.

 

[Sulaco]

IMO, JRPGs are all about 2 major things:

Story
Characters

Everything else can be refined and honed to truly make the game exceptional, but without those two pillars, the game is nothing.

If I find myself groaning out loud, questioning what in God's name the rationale was for a particular plot path, or basically thinking to myself, "Why the $^#@ did THAT just happen?!?", that's a bad sign. That's essentially what happened with FF8, FF9, FF10, and many later, edgier JRPGs.
Also, if I find myself rolling my eyes at certain characters and their dialogue, and basically thinking, "STFU and get off the screen, already" (see FF8, FF9, FF10), that's another failure.

EDIT: (Note: Just to be clear, that's bound to happen a little bit with most Japanese games due to cultural differences. But to be specific, I meant that happens multiple times)

Battle systems are nice, balancing and difficulty/gameplay are important, and I love me some great JRPG music, but that's all secondary to the story and the characters.
I didn't even put graphics down. I honestly think it's the least important aspect of an RPG.

That's why the great, simple 16-bit RPGs of yesteryear blow the ever-living CRAP out of what's come out the last decade: Engaging stories, and characters you care about.

 

[RPD]

I'll add FF8 is/was horrible. I recently tried to dust it off and finish it... Just can't do it.

 

[RavenSEAL]

IMO, JRPGs are all about 2 major things:

Story
Characters

Everything else can be refined and honed to truly make the game exceptional, but without those two pillars, the game is nothing.

If I find myself groaning out loud, questioning what in God's name the rationale was for a particular plot path, or basically thinking to myself, "Why the $^#@ did THAT just happen?!?", that's a bad sign. That's essentially what happened with FF8, FF9, FF10, and many later, edgier JRPGs.
Also, if I find myself rolling my eyes at certain characters and their dialogue, and basically thinking, "STFU and get off the screen, already" (see FF8, FF9, FF10), that's another failure.

EDIT: (Note: Just to be clear, that's bound to happen a little bit with most Japanese games due to cultural differences. But to be specific, I meant that happens multiple times)

Battle systems are nice, balancing and difficulty/gameplay are important, and I love me some great JRPG music, but that's all secondary to the story and the characters.
I didn't even put graphics down. I honestly think it's the least important aspect of an RPG.

That's why the great, simple 16-bit RPGs of yesteryear blow the ever-living CRAP out of what's come out the last decade: Engaging stories, and characters you care about.

Boy, you are really blowing your hate for a game out of proportion...