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Final Fantasy question: where to begin?
I was chatting with a friend about my Final Fantasy X replay (about which more at another time), and she expressed an interest in the series but was wondering where to start -- which makes sense, it's a huge series with no clear starting point since so many of the games stand alone. I have my own thoughts on this subject, of course, but I wonder what the rest of you think.
So here's the question: if you were to rec one and only one Final Fantasy game to someone who has never played anything in the series, which game would it be and why?
On balance, I think I would lean toward FFX, because of the depth of its story, world, and characters, with the caveat that they shouldn't expect the graphics and voice acting to be up to current standards. Although if I knew the player was a big fan of epic fantasy, I might rec FFIX instead, or if they loved political intrigue, I might suggest FFXII. So those are my picks, but then I've never finished FFVI, and my meh-ness toward FFVII is well known.
Update, Tuesday evening: it turns out that my friend doesn't have access to most of the platforms that have FF games made for them, so this discussion is mostly theoretical, alas. But thanks, still, for weighing in, and feel free to keep commenting! It's still an interesting topic and I've enjoyed seeing what everyone has to say.
So here's the question: if you were to rec one and only one Final Fantasy game to someone who has never played anything in the series, which game would it be and why?
On balance, I think I would lean toward FFX, because of the depth of its story, world, and characters, with the caveat that they shouldn't expect the graphics and voice acting to be up to current standards. Although if I knew the player was a big fan of epic fantasy, I might rec FFIX instead, or if they loved political intrigue, I might suggest FFXII. So those are my picks, but then I've never finished FFVI, and my meh-ness toward FFVII is well known.
Update, Tuesday evening: it turns out that my friend doesn't have access to most of the platforms that have FF games made for them, so this discussion is mostly theoretical, alas. But thanks, still, for weighing in, and feel free to keep commenting! It's still an interesting topic and I've enjoyed seeing what everyone has to say.
no subject
Out of the newer games, I think FFX is a decently good choice -- it's very easy to figure out the gameplay at first (for newbies) but then can get as complicated as you want at the end via the Sphere Grid, the story's pretty compelling (good depth without being omfg overwhelming, IMO), and the characters are, as a general whole, likeable and interesting.
VII isn't a bad place to start either, but I'm so reluctant to suggest it because the fandom has kind of ruined the game for me. In its defense, however, it has some amazing characters and an excellently driven plot line (with only a few WTF plotholes, but let's face it - plotholes are as traditional to FFs as Chocobos and Cids), and Materia offers some really kick ass gameplay tweaking.
no subject
Although it turns out that platforms may be an issue in this particular case, I'm coming around to FFIV as a good starting point in general, since it is, as you say, there's less to juggle and the DS port might be more palatable to the modern gamer than the games that only exist in older versions.