30 Days of FF

[owlmoose]

Day 02 – Your least favourite Final Fantasy game

I am probably going to be drummed out of fandom for this, but this is an easy question for me, and the answer is Final Fantasy VII.

Maybe I came to it too late -- I didn't play it until 2004, by which time I had played the other PlayStation-era games as well as FFX and X-2. But I honestly don't think the early-generation graphics were the problem, although I'm sure it didn't help. I found the story confusing. Cloud was not particularly compelling as a lead character, nor Sephiroth as a villain. The mini-games didn't really hold my interest, and I was never able to figure out how to wake up Vincent. For whatever reason, the game didn't speak to me. I did finish it, and considering what a major piece of gaming history it represents, I'm glad I experienced it for myself. But I have no compulsion to revisit it, or to play any of the other games in the Compilation. (I might have made an exception for Crisis Core if I had a PSP, since Zack is one of the characters I actually do find interesting. But alas, I do not, or any particular plans to buy one.)

The other Final Fantasy game I didn't really care for was FFV, although I acknowledge it may not entirely be the game's fault; we played the PS1 port, and I understand that it's pretty wretched. If they ever do a DS remake on it, I might give it another whirl.


Day 03 – Your favourite Final Fantasy theme/song.
Day 04 – Your favourite Final Fantasy party from your favourite game.
Day 05 – Your favourite Final Fantasy City/Town.
Day 06 – Favourite part of your favourite Final Fantasy game.
Day 07 – Least favourite part of your favourite Final Fantasy game.
Day 08 – Favourite Chocobo Version.
Day 09 – Favourite Moogle Version.
Day 10 – Best Final Fantasy scene ever.
Day 11 – Final Fantasy game that disappointed you.
Day 12 – Final Fantasy game you’ve played more than 5 times.
Day 13 – Your favourite version of Cid.
Day 14 – Favourite Final Fantasy male character.
Day 15 – Favourite Final Fantasy female character.
Day 16 – Your favourite Final Fantasy limit break.
Day 17 – Favourite Final Fantasy mini game.
Day 18 – Favourite Final Fantasy opening sequence.
Day 19 – Best Final Fantasy outfit.
Day 20 – Best Final Fantasy hair.
Day 21 – Favourite Final Fantasy pairing/ship.
Day 22 – Favourite Final Fantasy summon.
Day 23 – Least Favourite Final Fantasy mini game.
Day 24 – Best Final Fantasy quote.
Day 25 – Final Fantasy game you plan on playing (old or new).
Day 26 – OMG WTF? Final Fantasy moment.
Day 27 – Best Final Fantasy storyline.
Day 28 – First Final Fantasy game obsession.
Day 29 – Current Final Fantasy game obsession.
Day 30 – Saddest Final Fantasy character death.

Comments

[lassarina]

V was a lot more fun on the GBA, I will give it that. If your local game store has a used copy of FF5 Advance for an acceptable price, and if your DS is of sufficiently ancient model to play it, you might give it a try--5 is still not my favourite by any means but I did really enjoy the GBA version.

The second time I played FF7 I tried to like it. I tried to convince myself I'd been a spoilt little brat the first time 'round and I was really going to see what everyone else loved this time. Alas, no dice.

[owlmoose]

I do have DS Lite that will play GBA games -- that's how I've been working on FFVI. So I will bear the recommendation in mind! Thanks. (I have a feeling I'm about to go on a Bioware binge, though, which might mean taking a bit of an FF break.)

re FF7... I dunno. I wish I "got it". Because so many other people love it SO MUCH, that it makes me feel as though I must be missing something. Then I remind myself that the world would be boring if everyone liked the same things. But still, I wonder.

[sarasa_cat]

I suspect FF7's place in fandom is a product of the state of gaming in 1997. FF7 radically boosted the sales of playstations and much of the game's wow factor was generated by the epic scope of the story (for 1997), the radically different and very pretty graphics (for 1997), and what happened in the plot the end of disk 1. FF7 was so visually different from Square's Nintendo offerings and when FF7 became a smash hit, Square pumped out oceans of playstation games that sold reasonably well. Thus, FF7 ísn't just epic-blockbuster FF7 but the gateway to what became a huge library of Square-on-Playstation games. Also, at that time, writing Cloud as a deconstruction of the Hero trope worked. Today Cloud is a bit bit ho-hum.

I downloaded the PSN rerelease of FF7 a few months ago and, honestly, replaying now almost 14 years (?!omg?!) later has been telling. Rather than feeling totally immersed in the story, I am instead seeing the game through the nostalgic lenses of old in-jokes and wow-factor and fangirling from 1997-8. I'm skeptical whether I would enjoy FF7 now if I didn't have these memories of it.


Random aside: I don't understand why Vincent and Yuffie are optional characters because they feel integral to the larger story, especially Vincent.

[owlmoose]

I don't understand why Vincent and Yuffie are optional characters because they feel integral to the larger story, especially Vincent.

Whereas I never even managed to unlock Vincent. (I did pick up Yuffie, at least.) This may explain a lot of why I had a hard time geting into the FF7 story, if Vincent ties so closely to the major plot.

I like your theory regarding the reasons that FF7 became so revered -- makes a lot of sense.

[sarasa_cat]

Without Vincent is it possible to get the gist of the Vincent & Lucrecia backstory (spoilerific) which has a huge piece of main plot backstory?

FF7 is really just a gigantic soap opera once you figure out how most of the characters are connected and why.

[owlmoose]

I think the answer is "no", because that wiki entry explains *a lot* that I didn't understand.

[sarasa_cat]

Which is why I am absolutely perplexed with Square's decision to make Vincent an optional character. Bad decision Square. Bad decision. (although, admittedly, after all of this time I cannot remember how much of Vincent's backstory was in FF7 vs how much was in DoC although a heck of a lot of the saga was inside the optional parts of FF7).

[lassarina]

I played with a guide and got Vincent, and there's a significant *enough* chunk of his backstory with Lucrecia in FF7 proper to make the whole game make a lot more sense, but the Complication canons do add a significant amount.

(Speaking of Complication: KJ, re: Crisis Core, it was a lot of fun, but knowing that the end is coming does not make it suck any less when you get there. In fact, it possibly sucks more.)

[lassarina]

I think to some extent with me, it's that I don't do post-apocalyptic, and also I prefer the more, well, fantastic FFs. Also I have noticed that there's a pretty big divide in FF playerbase (not even fandom) between those of us who got here pre-FF7 and started on the NES or SNES, and those who got here at FF7 or later. The categorization doesn't *always* work, obviously.

It might also have something to do with the "type" of game your first FF was (or your first RPG.) Mine were the early FFs, but the chances are better than 2 out of 3 that if you came to FF in the PSX-era (as opposed to PS2, where they're all of the fantasy mold) that you played one of the tech-heavy FFs, and that probably shaped opinion as well.

But yeah, I too wonder what on earth is buried in those pixels and that appallingly bad translation.

[owlmoose]

My first FF was either FFIX or FFX, depending on what you count, so I come from both better graphics and fantasy worlds, which helps support your theory.