William BagleyFinal Fantasy is overrated
September 17th 2006 18:08
Flame bait? Not at all. Am I trying to be cool? Whatever for? I’m a journalist, and I’m self-assured. If I let every comment about what I say get to me, then I shouldn’t be in this line of work.
People say it has become “cool” to hate Final Fantasy in the Internet, and you might think I’m just jumping at the bandwagon.
Let me ask you this: could it be possible that we’re just viewing Final Fantasy with rose-colored glasses? Could it be possible that we’ve glossed over the experience and just remember the good memories?
I remember first playing Final Fantasy in the NES during the 90s, at the time blackouts were widespread in our country. There were actually daily schedules for the power outages, so we had to fully enjoy the electricity while it was available. I had to play the game for long stretches because of this.
I vividly recall FFVII, and that it almost made me cry. It was the first time I played a Final Fantasy game in 3D, and my jaw was glued to the floor whenever I saw the awesome cinematics.
Sigh. Those were the days.
When I recently played a succession of Final Fantasy games (VII, VIII, X, X-2), it all came back to me.
How could a game that frustrated you with a random battle for every few steps be terrific? I also recall paper-thin gameplay, stereotypical characters, and restrictive paths. To talk with people, attack monsters, cast spells, select dialogue options, and pretty much do any other activity, you press one button. Of course, you do that in tandem with the directional pad, so don’t get smart.
It wasn’t so terrific after all.
Granted, Final Fantasy games are good (I actually consider Tactics as “great”). Remember though, that “overrated” does not mean it’s terrible. It’s just not in the same level as say, Zelda.
When I hear about Final Fantasy news like its craze in Japan, I felt that I just had to put in my $0.02. Then again, a lot of weird stuff happens there.
I’m not closing my doors to Final Fantasy, though. I look forward to part XII, which will be arriving later this year. The installment looks promising because it uses a different battle system, and random battles might be a thing of the past.
Here’s to change.
People say it has become “cool” to hate Final Fantasy in the Internet, and you might think I’m just jumping at the bandwagon.
Let me ask you this: could it be possible that we’re just viewing Final Fantasy with rose-colored glasses? Could it be possible that we’ve glossed over the experience and just remember the good memories?
I remember first playing Final Fantasy in the NES during the 90s, at the time blackouts were widespread in our country. There were actually daily schedules for the power outages, so we had to fully enjoy the electricity while it was available. I had to play the game for long stretches because of this.
I vividly recall FFVII, and that it almost made me cry. It was the first time I played a Final Fantasy game in 3D, and my jaw was glued to the floor whenever I saw the awesome cinematics.
Sigh. Those were the days.
When I recently played a succession of Final Fantasy games (VII, VIII, X, X-2), it all came back to me.
How could a game that frustrated you with a random battle for every few steps be terrific? I also recall paper-thin gameplay, stereotypical characters, and restrictive paths. To talk with people, attack monsters, cast spells, select dialogue options, and pretty much do any other activity, you press one button. Of course, you do that in tandem with the directional pad, so don’t get smart.
It wasn’t so terrific after all.
Granted, Final Fantasy games are good (I actually consider Tactics as “great”). Remember though, that “overrated” does not mean it’s terrible. It’s just not in the same level as say, Zelda.
When I hear about Final Fantasy news like its craze in Japan, I felt that I just had to put in my $0.02. Then again, a lot of weird stuff happens there.
I’m not closing my doors to Final Fantasy, though. I look forward to part XII, which will be arriving later this year. The installment looks promising because it uses a different battle system, and random battles might be a thing of the past.
Here’s to change.
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Comment by Joy
Comment by Threethumbs
Million Dollar Ideas
$1,000,000 ideas
naa zelda was cool. i borrowed a FF from a friend...but played it for like 5 minutes. not really my thang.
-threethumbs
Comment by Threethumbs
Million Dollar Ideas
$1,000,000 ideas
naa zelda was cool. i borrowed a FF from a friend...but played it for like 5 minutes. not really my thang.
-threethumbs
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Sword Serenity
A Female Gamer
What Final Fantasy has going for it is its rabid fanboys, as well as the hundreds of thousands of new players every year. They got something with having each game being separate from each other.
Where people who have gotten onto the FF games in the SNES days will have gotten mostly used to (and less impressed) with the newer games, there will be people who start playing at say, FF10. Without playing any of the others, it'll all be new to them and somewhat innovative.
Personally, I still buy each FF game that comes out here (though I haven't been that impressed with Square's work for a while now), but since the SNES, I've found other RPGs that impress me more than FF.
Also... I'm getting a bit annoyed at the lead male/female character models being almost the same, with a few colour changes here and there.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
(Granted there are a few bad apples. There always is)
Comment by Anonymous
I liked tactics but the main series...
all the love interest girls white mages.. really "sweet"(even rinoa and yuna look the same!)
yawn... main characters either surly or annoying...
can't they think of something else?
and the bosses had me playing the same part over... and over and over!!!!
and when you hear game mags raving about ff...
it makes me sick.