Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Thread -- Making people crazy since 1987, kupo!

[Aeolus]

So after almost seven years since the game was announced, we learn that the protagonist is not cool.  Meanwhile, there is still no game to show.

Swell.

Muthafuckas EYES change color htough!!!  FKUCING BADASS!!!

Fuck... If my eyes changed color to reflect my emotions, they'd be RED all work long.  No one would buy a warranty unlees I could scare them into it.  ...what color is "love"?  My eyes would change to that color every time this cute dude walks in-- giving it all away.

...my mind's gotten away from me

Somehow I suspect that some intrepid individual on the interwebs will photoshop a gif of Noctis with Dragon Tears from BoF2 for his eyes in the very near future if it hasn't happened already.

[Yggdrasil]

"I don't quite agree with this, because there's no inherent trait in the tone of earlier FFs that differentiates them all that much from the newer ones. What makes something like FFVI "more 25+ oriented" than FFXII? I kinda doubt the individuals who "grew out of FF" are gonna be found hanging out on some forum dedicated to the franchise.

I think the actual heart of the problem has much less to do with the age demographic itself and is really more a result of this exaggerated sense of nostalgia that mistakenly causes people like this to believe the quality of more recent titles can't be achieved, when in reality it's their own unique experiences they're failing to replicate. It may also partially have to do with a distaste for Nomura's character designs, and while I admittedly can't blame them for that, it's silly to extend that sort of dislike to the entire game."

– Originally posted by Carlov on NeoGAF

Also, Play Arts Kai stuff and FF titles now 50% off on NA PSN.

[Kevadu]

Right...character designs...that's my problem with recent FF games...

How can somebody be so oblivious to all the legitimate criticism these games have received?  I'm not going to repeat it here because what's the point.  It's been said a thousand times already.

[Yggdrasil]

I like more the part about the 'exaggerated sense of nostalgia', I've seen a bunch of that in the last few years. The entire thing of people discussing the state of the series is pretty boring to follow though since a part of all that mess is about different perspectives, how people over the years have experienced the games, where it can go from there and also how the expectations from players crashes with the vision of the team that worked on the game.

ヾ(*´ー`)ノ whatever...

[Agent D.]

The only issue the ff series has is that they're making the games sucky. If they stop doing this, everyone wins!

[Aeolus]

"I don't quite agree with this, because there's no inherent trait in the tone of earlier FFs that differentiates them all that much from the newer ones. What makes something like FFVI "more 25+ oriented" than FFXII? I kinda doubt the individuals who "grew out of FF" are gonna be found hanging out on some forum dedicated to the franchise.

I think the actual heart of the problem has much less to do with the age demographic itself and is really more a result of this exaggerated sense of nostalgia that mistakenly causes people like this to believe the quality of more recent titles can't be achieved, when in reality it's their own unique experiences they're failing to replicate. It may also partially have to do with a distaste for Nomura's character designs, and while I admittedly can't blame them for that, it's silly to extend that sort of dislike to the entire game."

– Originally posted by Carlov on NeoGAF

Also, Play Arts Kai stuff and FF titles now 50% off on NA PSN.

What I'm reading is: "Our games are totally better than those old relics, you just can't see it through all those rose tinted glasses you're all wearing. Also Nomura is totally a cool dude, stop hatin' on him guys!"

[Yggdrasil]

What I'm reading is: "Our games are totally better than those old relics, you just can't see it through all those rose tinted glasses you're all wearing. Also Nomura is totally a cool dude, stop hatin' on him guys!"

What I read is: "Stop being a dick about modern FF titles. We got the message."

[Taelus]

What I'm reading is: "Our games are totally better than those old relics, you just can't see it through all those rose tinted glasses you're all wearing. Also Nomura is totally a cool dude, stop hatin' on him guys!"

What I read is: "Stop being a dick about modern FF titles. We got the message."

What I heard is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss2hULhXf04

When they start making Final Fantasies with characters that are memorable again I will start liking them again.

[Yggdrasil]

If I recall correctly, the people working on Agni's Philosophy do not want the same kind of polarizing reaction that XIII had and I doubt Nomura being the director of Versus XIII wants that as well.

Lightning Returns is very much a game for the people that has enjoyed the XIII series so far even if Kitase and Toriyama have good intentions in doing a game that everyone can enjoy without preconceptions for whatever reason fans didn't like XIII and/or XIII-2.

[Taelus]

I really wanted to like XIII a lot more. I loved the art style and the music and the combat, but the linearity and the cutout characters just killed it for me. I liked a lot of their designs, but their character arcs were totally unrelatable (except maybe Sazh) for me.

I hope the next FF spends a little more time on making the characters likeable. Drama is more effective with some comedy and some likeability! Make me CARE about these characters, then I'll really buy into the melodrama.

[Aeolus]

What I'm reading is: "Our games are totally better than those old relics, you just can't see it through all those rose tinted glasses you're all wearing. Also Nomura is totally a cool dude, stop hatin' on him guys!"

What I read is: "Stop being a dick about modern FF titles. We got the message."

Hey now, I totally enjoyed FFXII (barring its flaws) back when it came out. Granted, if I wanted to play a JRPG that features wide open environments and encourages exploration today I'll play Xenoblade, but back then FFXII was almost the closest we got to that since the SuperNES era (DQVIII was better but I had already beaten it by then). I didn't have any problems with the Gambit system and I enjoyed the idea of not having to remember to steal from enemies when I fight them (except for the fights where you need to steal multiple times for good, one chance at them items) or having to keep an eye on my HP to know when to pop a potion (or to at least query up a potion that'll never be used as I'm cheaply stunlocked to death due to an exploit in the game's ATB (that FFX-2 also abused)). Plus I enjoyed what plot and characters were there (except for the parts and people that were either lifted straight out of Star Wars or the parts that existed solely to adhere to the Final Fantasy Formula).

And who knows, I might also enjoy some of the other modern FF titles like Type-0 and Bravely Default (should Squeenix ever decide to bother getting off their lazy asses and letting them see the light of day outside of Japan).

[Blace]

What I'm reading is: "Our games are totally better than those old relics, you just can't see it through all those rose tinted glasses you're all wearing. Also Nomura is totally a cool dude, stop hatin' on him guys!"

What I read is: "Stop being a dick about modern FF titles. We got the message."

Hey now, I totally enjoyed FFXII (barring its flaws) back when it came out. Granted, if I wanted to play a JRPG that features wide open environments and encourages exploration today I'll play Xenoblade, but back then FFXII was almost the closest we got to that since the SuperNES era (DQVIII was better but I had already beaten it by then). I didn't have any problems with the Gambit system and I enjoyed the idea of not having to remember to steal from enemies when I fight them (except for the fights where you need to steal multiple times for good, one chance at them items) or having to keep an eye on my HP to know when to pop a potion (or to at least query up a potion that'll never be used as I'm cheaply stunlocked to death due to an exploit in the game's ATB (that FFX-2 also abused)). Plus I enjoyed what plot and characters were there (except for the parts and people that were either lifted straight out of Star Wars or the parts that existed solely to adhere to the Final Fantasy Formula).

Balthier is boss. One of my favorite characters from any Final Fantasy. Heck, Basch was pretty sweet too. I'd reckon that was one of my favorite casts of the series. I would totally love an HD FF XII.

[Taelus]

What I'm reading is: "Our games are totally better than those old relics, you just can't see it through all those rose tinted glasses you're all wearing. Also Nomura is totally a cool dude, stop hatin' on him guys!"

What I read is: "Stop being a dick about modern FF titles. We got the message."

Hey now, I totally enjoyed FFXII (barring its flaws) back when it came out. Granted, if I wanted to play a JRPG that features wide open environments and encourages exploration today I'll play Xenoblade, but back then FFXII was almost the closest we got to that since the SuperNES era (DQVIII was better but I had already beaten it by then). I didn't have any problems with the Gambit system and I enjoyed the idea of not having to remember to steal from enemies when I fight them (except for the fights where you need to steal multiple times for good, one chance at them items) or having to keep an eye on my HP to know when to pop a potion (or to at least query up a potion that'll never be used as I'm cheaply stunlocked to death due to an exploit in the game's ATB (that FFX-2 also abused)). Plus I enjoyed what plot and characters were there (except for the parts and people that were either lifted straight out of Star Wars or the parts that existed solely to adhere to the Final Fantasy Formula).

Balthier is boss. One of my favorite characters from any Final Fantasy. Heck, Basch was pretty sweet too. I'd reckon that was one of my favorite casts of the series. I would totally love an HD FF XII.

I loved the whole FFXII cast, I just hated that they got barely any meaningful development outside of a tiny bit for Basch, Ashe, and Balthier. I also asked SQEX on Twitter the other day for an HD FFXIIIZJS. That would be awesome.

[Aeolus]

What I'm reading is: "Our games are totally better than those old relics, you just can't see it through all those rose tinted glasses you're all wearing. Also Nomura is totally a cool dude, stop hatin' on him guys!"

What I read is: "Stop being a dick about modern FF titles. We got the message."

Hey now, I totally enjoyed FFXII (barring its flaws) back when it came out. Granted, if I wanted to play a JRPG that features wide open environments and encourages exploration today I'll play Xenoblade, but back then FFXII was almost the closest we got to that since the SuperNES era (DQVIII was better but I had already beaten it by then). I didn't have any problems with the Gambit system and I enjoyed the idea of not having to remember to steal from enemies when I fight them (except for the fights where you need to steal multiple times for good, one chance at them items) or having to keep an eye on my HP to know when to pop a potion (or to at least query up a potion that'll never be used as I'm cheaply stunlocked to death due to an exploit in the game's ATB (that FFX-2 also abused)). Plus I enjoyed what plot and characters were there (except for the parts and people that were either lifted straight out of Star Wars or the parts that existed solely to adhere to the Final Fantasy Formula).

Balthier is boss. One of my favorite characters from any Final Fantasy. Heck, Basch was pretty sweet too. I'd reckon that was one of my favorite casts of the series. I would totally love an HD FF XII.

I loved the whole FFXII cast, I just hated that they got barely any meaningful development outside of a tiny bit for Basch, Ashe, and Balthier. I also asked SQEX on Twitter the other day for an HD FFXIIIZJS. That would be awesome.

I didn't know that FFXIII got an Zodiac Job System update as well?

As for cast, my only real beef is with Penelo who's entire role within the plot is to be Vaan's requisite childhood girl next door friend and kidnapped for that one time. Not that I would've preferred her to make a nuisance of herself like most JRPG childhood girl next door friends, but at least it would've been more than just 'being there'.

[Taelus]

What I'm reading is: "Our games are totally better than those old relics, you just can't see it through all those rose tinted glasses you're all wearing. Also Nomura is totally a cool dude, stop hatin' on him guys!"

What I read is: "Stop being a dick about modern FF titles. We got the message."

Hey now, I totally enjoyed FFXII (barring its flaws) back when it came out. Granted, if I wanted to play a JRPG that features wide open environments and encourages exploration today I'll play Xenoblade, but back then FFXII was almost the closest we got to that since the SuperNES era (DQVIII was better but I had already beaten it by then). I didn't have any problems with the Gambit system and I enjoyed the idea of not having to remember to steal from enemies when I fight them (except for the fights where you need to steal multiple times for good, one chance at them items) or having to keep an eye on my HP to know when to pop a potion (or to at least query up a potion that'll never be used as I'm cheaply stunlocked to death due to an exploit in the game's ATB (that FFX-2 also abused)). Plus I enjoyed what plot and characters were there (except for the parts and people that were either lifted straight out of Star Wars or the parts that existed solely to adhere to the Final Fantasy Formula).

Balthier is boss. One of my favorite characters from any Final Fantasy. Heck, Basch was pretty sweet too. I'd reckon that was one of my favorite casts of the series. I would totally love an HD FF XII.

I loved the whole FFXII cast, I just hated that they got barely any meaningful development outside of a tiny bit for Basch, Ashe, and Balthier. I also asked SQEX on Twitter the other day for an HD FFXIIIZJS. That would be awesome.

I didn't know that FFXIII got an Zodiac Job System update as well?

As for cast, my only real beef is with Penelo who's entire role within the plot is to be Vaan's requisite childhood girl next door friend and kidnapped for that one time. Not that I would've preferred her to make a nuisance of herself like most JRPG childhood girl next door friends, but at least it would've been more than just 'being there'.

That last I in the name is International :). And yeah, I get the feeling Penelo may have had more purpose (though who knows, given how badly that c ast was treated) but it was cut. If I recall, that game had a rather tumultuous path to release.