Final Fantasy Megathread

[Natsuyasumi]

That's fair enough. If you do find you like the system I still recommend checking out the saga series because they're great games and made by the same guy as FF2.

That’s what I’ve heard, thanks for the rec!

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Then don’t

 

[SpikeSlania]

Even back in the day during my younger years I never beat any Final Fantasy except for Tactics, mainly because I was more rushing through and trying to do the least amount of grinding as possible. Now that I'm older and enjoy taking more time to grind I have gone back and have beaten FF3 Pixel Remaster. That was a really enjoyable experience especially seeing the final areas being the inspiration for the Crystal Towers Raid in FF14, just no Dragoon floor tanking. I did start up FF5 shortly after I beat 3 for me to realize, I no longer like having to quickly choose my actions with the ATB system, I'm pretty there's an option to pause the battle while you're in menus but haven't gone back to look. I would love to add that I finally beat 4-9 and 12 to my life achievements, not too worried about 1, 2, 10, or 13.

 

[starseeker300]

I’m sure it is, but I’m more interested in playing FF2 for its particular take on those systems and the historical value of that iteration, warts and all.

Post automatically merged: Mar 14, 2025

Yeah I know how the system works, that’s why I’m curious to try it out.

if you have to skip any classic ff, make it be ff3, 5 perfects the job system, 1 has good replayability with its length and party setups, and 2,4, and 6 all have good stories. 3 kinda just exists as a worse version of 5, the job system is kinda dookie with many redunant and a few just objectively awful jobs

 

[Natsuyasumi]

if you have to skip any classic ff, make it be ff3, 5 perfects the job system, 1 has good replayability with its length and party setups, and 2,4, and 6 all have good stories. 3 kinda just exists as a worse version of 5, the job system is kinda dookie with many redunant and a few just objectively awful jobs

Yeah I have no real desire to play 3, to be honest. I might play 5 someday, I do love the characters (I’ve started it multiple times), but I think I’m going to move on after 2 for a while. I’ve been playing FF games non stop for a month or so now.

Post automatically merged: Mar 15, 2025

Even back in the day during my younger years I never beat any Final Fantasy except for Tactics, mainly because I was more rushing through and trying to do the least amount of grinding as possible. Now that I'm older and enjoy taking more time to grind I have gone back and have beaten FF3 Pixel Remaster. That was a really enjoyable experience especially seeing the final areas being the inspiration for the Crystal Towers Raid in FF14, just no Dragoon floor tanking. I did start up FF5 shortly after I beat 3 for me to realize, I no longer like having to quickly choose my actions with the ATB system, I'm pretty there's an option to pause the battle while you're in menus but haven't gone back to look. I would love to add that I finally beat 4-9 and 12 to my life achievements, not too worried about 1, 2, 10, or 13.

I’ve heard great things about 10, that the battle system is the best for turn based, really optimized and dynamic. But sounds like that might be the opposite of what you’re into now and I totally get that. My tastes have changed too, as I’ve gotten older.

I have a lot of nostalgic value for 10 because my best friend played it when I was young and I’d watch him play it but never did, myself. It reminds me of the good old days.

Post automatically merged: Mar 15, 2025

Then don’t

Thank you for that thought-provoking and and intelligent addition to the discussion!

 

[Yousef Yousef]

@Tonberry I stickied the thread.

 

[Tonberry]

@Tonberry I stickied the thread.

I love you(sef)!

Post automatically merged: Mar 17, 2025

That reminds me!

I don't play FF14 right now, but they recently showed off a bunch of new gear for the upcoming patch.
It's largely inspired by FF9 and I think it looks SO good. I kinda low key wish the whole game had this kind of style, instead of the hodgepodge it currently is.

 

[Tonberry]

Here’s an in-game pic of the new gear. I really like them. Love all the big-ass belt buckles!

 

[Deleted member 3099]

Hello all. I've been pretty interested in getting more into Final Fantasy after playing through FFVI, but the number of titles is a bit daunting from an outside perspective. Is there a place you would recommend someone who's only finished VI and VII to go from there?

 

[MasterEn]

Hello all. I've been pretty interested in getting more into Final Fantasy after playing through FFVI, but the number of titles is a bit daunting from an outside perspective. Is there a place you would recommend someone who's only finished VI and VII to go from there?

i would recommend 4, 5, 9, 10, and 12 alongside tactics 1, advance and advance 2. after that, 1,2, and 3. i haven't played much of 8 but most people play that one for the trading card game. it's very addictive from what i can tell.

 

[Deleted member 466]

Final Fantasy X is sooooo much better with Japanese voices.
*tips fedora*
ore wa weabo desu

 

[Tonberry]

Hello all. I've been pretty interested in getting more into Final Fantasy after playing through FFVI, but the number of titles is a bit daunting from an outside perspective. Is there a place you would recommend someone who's only finished VI and VII to go from there?

Do you like lots of party customization, or do you consider that a sort of afterthought?
That’s usually the divider I make between different Final Fantasies. I’d say 6 is falls on the ”less customization” (while still having its fair share) side while 7 falls on the ”more customization” side.

Then there’s also the question of how much you’d prefer it to be fantasy ad how much tech you want in it? Both 6 and 7 have lots of tech but it looks pretty different as you no doubt felt.

For straight up ”good for newcomers” games I’d recommend (apart from 7) 4, 9 and 10, but 9 is also elevated by how much you know the reoccurring themes from the series, but it’s not ”required reading” to enjoy 9.

I think 9 is the best, most pure distilled form of Final Fantasy, but my personal favorites are 5, 7 and 10.

 

[Deleted member 3099]

Do you like lots of party customization, or do you consider that a sort of afterthought?
That’s usually the divider I make between different Final Fantasies. I’d say 6 is falls on the ”less customization” (while still having its fair share) side while 7 falls on the ”more customization” side.

Then there’s also the question of how much you’d prefer it to be fantasy ad how much tech you want in it? Both 6 and 7 have lots of tech but it looks pretty different as you no doubt felt.

For straight up ”good for newcomers” games I’d recommend (apart from 7) 4, 9 and 10, but 9 is also elevated by how much you know the reoccurring themes from the series, but it’s not ”required reading” to enjoy 9.

I think 9 is the best, most pure distilled form of Final Fantasy, but my personal favorites are 5, 7 and 10.

I'm pretty open to either lots of tech or no tech, and I'd say I lean more towards wanting more party customization.

I'm leaning more towards either 4 or 5 right now, as I've enjoyed Square's SNES offerings a great deal so far.

 

[SageoThyme]

I'm pretty open to either lots of tech or no tech, and I'd say I lean more towards wanting more party customization.

I'm leaning more towards either 4 or 5 right now, as I've enjoyed Square's SNES offerings a great deal so far.

FF5 will definitely let you customize

 

[Tonberry]

I'm pretty open to either lots of tech or no tech, and I'd say I lean more towards wanting more party customization.

I'm leaning more towards either 4 or 5 right now, as I've enjoyed Square's SNES offerings a great deal so far.

I'm not a huge fan of FF4 myself (only due to having played it a billion times and sort of expanded from there) but it's a very good game to see the first time Final Fantasy really found its footing. It's a very seminal game, and for a console game from 1991 it's got a surprisingly deep/fleshed out plot with lots of themes that resonate well with people and became mainstays of the entire franchise. Love, sacrifice, honor, all that good stuff.
As far as party customization though, it has exactly 0. It's very much a story-first kind of game, and you have no control over which characters you have in your party, and you can't edit them aside from equipment. That also means that every fight is sort of designed around your party at all times though, so it's not all bad.

Final Fantasy 5 is very unique in that it has a story that is really light AND light-hearted compared to just about every other FF game. And it's the one that really defined the Job system, which lets you change classes on all characters and combine various abilities from different jobs once you get experience with them.
It having a light-hearted story doesn't mean it lacks impactful or emotional moments however, but it's a "different" FF in that it kind of feels like an episodic adventure where you adventure around the world solving one quest at a time which slowly inches you towards the greater plot.

 

[TechnologicalMF]

 

[BubblegumAthena]

Love Final Fantasy II, wish Square gave it more love these days though.

 

[Jediuser]

They gone crazy, ya?

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

(Art made and sold by MagicSheepArt on Etsy)
**CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR FFIX. CONTINUE WITH CAUTION.**

So, FFIX is my favorite PlayStation game and the RPG that stuck with me the most of the ones I’ve played in my life. The last hurrah for the Final Fantasies on the original PlayStation, FFIX distinguishes itself as very very fantasy, but more of the fun and varied kind than the kind seen in games like FFIV. It feels like the final culmination of the series before the new millennium, which fits considering it released at the very dawn of the 2000’s.

With a world of war, a character roster full of fanciful weirdos, and a lot of great side content, the game just really hit for me and has continued its long standing impact ever since I first played it. It’s like a storybook! A really dark… really messed up storybook.

But still fun! Which is something Final Fantasy has always been good about: having a mix of serious elements with silly ones.

I don’t know how popular this thread will be among people. Final Fantasy VII is by far the PlayStation’s most popular Final Fantasy, and I’m sure more seasoned RPG fans are tired of hearing how “underrated” Final Fantasy IX is. (it’s really not. It was praised like nothing else when it came out and sold very well. It’s just that it didn’t sell as well as Final Fantasy VII or X and a lot of people saw it as “kiddy” because it was the early 2000’s where everybody who played games had to be highly insecure.)

All I know is, is that I love it. I played the actual PS1 version, which is not the best one to play nowadays, as the PC release and modern system’s release has many quality of life features that do away with the slowness that IX has in its original form (it can sometimes be rather slow).

Happy Celebrations, Final Fantasy IX! And here’s to your 25th anniversary!

 

[Elwiwi]

Vivi and Steiner my beloved

 

[Strategist Strategist]

I don't think you'll find much argument from most Final Fantasy fans. FFIX is one of the consistently top rated games in the series and for good reason. It is lacking in some aspects (for example, a compelling antagonist), but it makes up for it in charm. The main cast of characters is kind of hit or miss, but the core 4 or Zidane, Garnet, Vivi and Steiner do a lot of heavy lifting for the game. Quina is a memorable comic relief side character frog person, Beatrix is a memorable double agent type character, but the rest of the cast is forgettable.

The thing I appreciate most about Final Fantasy IX is that it is refreshingly not ashamed to be a Final Fantasy game! The game is chockful of references to older games and goes back to the vibes of the SNES era of FF. There are dragoons, black mages, white mages, summoners, blue mages, thieves and knights in the game as playable characters. That was contrary to the trends that eventually would win out with the series with Nomura/Nojima turning Final Fantasy into scifi anime people with swords and guns.

It was also the sendoff of the great Hironobu Sakaguchi, the series creator. This would be the final game he would direct and it is incredibly appropriate that it would be a love letter to the whole series. The series lost a lot of its soul with his departure.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

Cool! Haven't played FF9 in a long while too. Wanna try the Moguri Mod and maybe finally get my hands on the Excalibur II.

 

[MemeAlert]

Too bad the battles are so slow, the speed up function they introduced in later ports doesn't count.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I opened up my heart to the whole cast, generally. Aside from Amarant, I love every one of them.

I THINK my final team comp ended up being Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and Eiko. Because they ended up being my favorite characters as a whole (design, story, theme, gameplay, team dynamic, etc.)

I have to admit that I found myself being very drawn to Freya. Just a character that came together very well, and I’ve always been drawn to the FF characters that are non-human simply for the novelty. Her little dynamic with Zidane is great, so is the section between her and Beatrice, and I just really loved the dragoon gameplay she had. I knew she would fall off in the story thanks to getting spoiled, but I refused to let her go from my party no matter what. Carried her with me to the end of the game. She ended up being the only character with a 9999 dealing move by the end of my first playthrough, thanks to me grinding out Dragon’s Crest like an insane person.

Post automatically merged: Mar 23, 2025

When I play the game next time, I would like to see if I can use some different cast members. I’m not too afraid to be experimental with a game like this, so I can see myself pouring a lot of resources into Quina.

My main issue is what it always is in a lot of RPG’s: you can’t remove the main hero. I love controlling Zidane in the overworld, but he wasn’t my favorite to use in battle compared to nearly everyone else.

I wonder what a team called “Zidane and the three magic people” would be like? Just Zidane, Vivi, Dagger, and Eiko.
You’d probably be burning through MP like nothing else!

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Quina is absolutely busted if you grind her up by eating enough frogs in the pond. Her frog spell starts dealing ludicrous amounts of damage.