Final Fantasy Megathread

[Strategist Strategist]

no. that's just some info that i read about explaining the appearance of the cup noodle thing. it's a very popular food item in japan, and japanese devs pretty much listen exclusively to their countries player base. and the company itself has a lot of fans of the noodle company too.

Sure, but they also got paid to place that ad in their game. It wasn't just their passion for instant noodles. Maybe the devs are really passionate about junk food, but it is more likely it is a cash grab. Japan seems like the country where they would rather eat fresh noodles from a ramen shop than instant junk anyway.

 

[MasterEn]

Sure, but they also got paid to place that ad in their game. It wasn't just their passion for instant noodles. Maybe the devs are really passionate about junk food, but it is more likely it is a cash grab. Japan seems like the country where they would rather eat fresh noodles from a ramen shop than instant junk anyway.

yeah, money is a factor too. but in the end, it doesn't particularly matter. if you like the game, you can ignore some bizarre choices; if not, then don't buy it or play it. i haven't found any of the games past 12 interesting, so i don't do much more than do a quick check to see if any more games are coming out and if they are interesting.
so far, only world of final fantasy was interesting, and it was basically pokemon with a final fantasy theme.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

yeah, money is a factor too. but in the end, it doesn't particularly matter. if you like the game, you can ignore some bizarre choices; if not, then don't buy it or play it. i haven't found any of the games past 12 interesting, so i don't do much more than do a quick check to see if any more games are coming out and if they are interesting.
so far, only world of final fantasy was interesting, and it was basically pokemon with a final fantasy theme.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but it is emblematic of a lot of problems with modern Square Enix.

And if we didn't complain about trivial things, what else would we talk about here? ;)

 

[Tonberry]

And if we didn't complain about trivial things, what else would we talk about here?

FAVORITE BATTLE THEME GO

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Honestly it would be cheaper to invest in an indie studio and produce a Final Fantasy-esque title and have a pure string of your own vision than try to get a piece of SE's pie, too many fingers in there already. Which is why I do try to keep eyes on indie projects.

Would it be legal tho? And I dunno man going from titles like 7 and 8 to 2d would feel like a downgrade with all the awesome camera angles in 7 and 8 , indie is generally 2d and I think 3d is much better for story oriented games allowing greater character expression and much better animation work and a more alive and breathing world well ff6 square did manage to create worlds that felt alive and immersive in 5/6 but I would still prefer a 3d remake for those game making full use of today technology and voice acting , cuz voice acting is and my only major criticism of this franchise is its lack of voice acting in the first 9 games I heard 10 has voice acting , I think why they didn't do it earlier until the ps2 era has to be size like FF games were multiple CDs and quite heavy on size without voice acting imagine if they included it in? Probably double the size they are at and pre PS1 games well those ancient gaming devices were really limited so you can't fit FF6 in its entirety with voice acting they didn't even try to get a fully voice acted FF6 in the ps1 version even tho it did weight around 100 MBs which is pretty good (it also included that masterpiece of an intro with the piano and all) I heard FF8 remaster doesn't have voice acting which feels like a letdown but I seen a mod or 2 to solve this problem one for original FF7 and another one for FF8.

And that's usually my gripe with indie games they lack voice acting.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Would it be legal tho? And I dunno man going from titles like 7 and 8 to 2d would feel like a downgrade with all the awesome camera angles in 7 and 8 , indie is generally 2d and I think 3d is much better for story oriented games allowing greater character expression and much better animation work and a more alive and breathing world well ff6 square did manage to create worlds that felt alive and immersive in 5/6 but I would still prefer a 3d remake for those game making full use of today technology and voice acting , cuz voice acting is and my only major criticism of this franchise is its lack of voice acting in the first 9 games I heard 10 has voice acting , I think why they didn't do it earlier until the ps2 era has to be size like FF games were multiple CDs and quite heavy on size without voice acting imagine if they included it in? Probably double the size they are at and pre PS1 games well those ancient gaming devices were really limited so you can't fit FF6 in its entirety with voice acting they didn't even try to get a fully voice acted FF6 in the ps1 version even tho it did weight around 100 MBs which is pretty good (it also included that masterpiece of an intro with the piano and all) I heard FF8 remaster doesn't have voice acting which feels like a letdown but I seen a mod or 2 to solve this problem one for original FF7 and another one for FF8.

And that's usually my gripe with indie games they lack voice acting.

An indie final fantasy would never work as many of the things that make Final Fantasy cool cost way too much money. Like CG cutscenes, voice acting and great graphics. The best they can do is 16 bit Chrono Trigger/FFVI clones.

 

[MasterEn]

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but it is emblematic of a lot of problems with modern Square Enix.

And if we didn't complain about trivial things, what else would we talk about here? ;)

a lot of cmpanies have these same problems. nintendo showed that with botw/totk. game is open world, but the story sucks. good character moments, good gameplay [i have spent hours collecting meat and spicy peppers, i like those in real life.] bad story.
there's plenty of things to talk about besides the trivial. story analysis, character design and aesthetics, how good is the chocobo theme, sound design, presentation, and much more. trivial stuff is just easier to talk about since most people tend to agree on some stuff and they tend to be minor for the most part.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

FAVORITE BATTLE THEME GO

Easy:

or maybe

although

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

Translated from redditor KotomiPapa
Q:カップヌードルとのコラボは衝撃的で、CMでも大きな反響を呼びましたが、そもそもカップヌードルが登場することになった経緯を教えてください。

The Collaboration with (Nissin) Cup Noodles was very impactful and the TV commercial also caused quite a stir. Could you tell us what led to Cup Noodles appearing in the game?

Tabata:

『FFXV』の開発をスタートさせる段階で“旅”という体験テーマを決めました。我々自身がカップヌードルが好きなこともあって、旅する中でキャンプするなら、やっぱりカップヌードルが必要だろうという思いが募りました。その後、日清食品さんとお話しする機会があり、我々のゲームにカップヌードルを登場させたいという思いを伝えさせてもらい、実現しました。

When the game was to be developed as FFXV, it was decided that the "Road Trip / Journey" would be a major theme. I personally love cup noodles, and I thought that if there is a road trip that involves camping outdoors, cup noodles would be an indispensible sustenance. After that, I had the opportunity to speak with Nissin to ask if they would like their cup noodles to appear in FFXV, and it became a reality. (Own notes: The love of cup noodles is also shared by most of the development team and not limited to Tabata. I think the whole team was generally happy to be able to include this in the game in an unusual and unique way).

Also found another redditor comment about cultural differences of cupnoddle being a cultural icon that it doesn't look as off putting as it would overseas. Which reminded me again about cultural mmo norms and customs which I can't remember but snippets of.

 

[MasterEn]

FAVORITE BATTLE THEME GO

ff4 normal and boss theme
ff8 the man with the machine gun
ff9 battle theme and festival of the hunt
ff10 battle theme, blitzball, lady yunalesca's theme, otherworld
ff12, esper theme
tactics advance 2 determination
ff1 normal battle theme
that's it for now for final fantasy battle theme's.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Translated from redditor KotomiPapa
Q:カップヌードルとのコラボは衝撃的で、CMでも大きな反響を呼びましたが、そもそもカップヌードルが登場することになった経緯を教えてください。

The Collaboration with (Nissin) Cup Noodles was very impactful and the TV commercial also caused quite a stir. Could you tell us what led to Cup Noodles appearing in the game?

Tabata:

『FFXV』の開発をスタートさせる段階で“旅”という体験テーマを決めました。我々自身がカップヌードルが好きなこともあって、旅する中でキャンプするなら、やっぱりカップヌードルが必要だろうという思いが募りました。その後、日清食品さんとお話しする機会があり、我々のゲームにカップヌードルを登場させたいという思いを伝えさせてもらい、実現しました。

When the game was to be developed as FFXV, it was decided that the "Road Trip / Journey" would be a major theme. I personally love cup noodles, and I thought that if there is a road trip that involves camping outdoors, cup noodles would be an indispensible sustenance. After that, I had the opportunity to speak with Nissin to ask if they would like their cup noodles to appear in FFXV, and it became a reality. (Own notes: The love of cup noodles is also shared by most of the development team and not limited to Tabata. I think the whole team was generally happy to be able to include this in the game in an unusual and unique way).

Also found another redditor comment about cultural differences of cupnoddle being a cultural icon that it doesn't look as off putting as it would overseas. Which reminded me again about cultural mmo norms and customs which I can't remember but snippets of.

That's like saying McDonalds is a cultural icon in the United States. While that is technically true, I still don't want it in my video game.

That's just more proof that the current devs making Final Fantasy are horribly out of touch with the roots of the genre. They think Final Fantasy is a vehicle for their own personal fandoms and not a fantasy immersive media product for the public.

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

FAVORITE BATTLE THEME GO

Chocobo's freakin Dungeon Leviathan Battle AKA Battle with the Four Fiends (The Dreadful Battle) from Final Fantasy IV

Clash on the big Bridge (FFXII Original OST)

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire Of The Rift OST - Beating Heart also known as Mosphoran Highwaste from FFXII

Final Fantasy XII Clash Swords

FFXV OMNIS LACRIMA also known as Oh F***

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Chocobo's freakin Dungeon Leviathan Battle AKA Battle with the Four Fiends (The Dreadful Battle) from Final Fantasy IV

Clash on the big Bridge (FFXII Original OST)

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire Of The Rift OST - Beating Heart also known as Mosphoran Highwaste from FFXII

Final Fantasy XII Clash Swords

FFXV OMNIS LACRIMA also known as Oh F***

When it comes to FFXII I love the Giza Plains. Something about it feels so Star Wars: John Williams to me.

And yeah Clash on the Big Bridge is a classic

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

When it comes to FFXII I love the Giza Plains. Something about it feels so Star Wars: John Williams to me.

It's the horns I love the horns. The strings were also a big part in a New Hope. I hope he Hitoshi didn't get too much flack for it, it really fits for fantasy to go big and pull back when appropriate. Of course John also got flack for his soundtrack taking some inspiration from Holst's Planets.

 

[Tonberry]

Here are my top 3, I think.

Never noticed it until now but it seems like I dig when Nobuo goes hard on the electric organ.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Here are my top 3, I think.

Never noticed it until now but it seems like I dig when Nobuo goes hard on the electric organ.

Decisive battle goes so hard. I love his battle themes in that era. I'd say Uematsu was really good at the synth and base as well. That SNES crystalline synth hits me right in the nostalgia bone.

 

[Tonberry]

Decisive battle goes so hard. I love his battle themes in that era. I'd say Uematsu was really good at the synth and base as well. That kind of SNES crystalline synth hits me right in the nostalgia bone.

Yeah he's amazing at everything. Literally a genius at scoring videogames.

I have a gigantic admiration for those old video game composers who all started out as prog-rockers, because video game music is like the ultimate realm for prog, because you can make anything. Uematsu, Tim Follin, Motoi Sakuraba. All those guys just get it.

Uematsu makes incredible arrangement albums too.
In this one for FF5, parts of Home Sweet Home (my favorite song from the game) is sung in Sámi, a national minority language of an indigenous people from where I live. It's just mind-blowing and incredibly touching that he wanted to represent that language in an arrangement, and this was in 1993.

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

I know not FF strictly but... Kenji Ito's work makes me drool sometimes. Nobuo might have written the original score for SaGa and gave Ito approval to take the reigns but I think Kenji really made that series his own. Just any SaGa soundtrack can fire you up for the mundane, especially when there's an electric guitar.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Yeah he's amazing at everything. Literally a genius at scoring videogames.

I have a gigantic admiration for those old video game composers who all started out as prog-rockers, because video game music is like the ultimate realm for prog, because you can make anything. Uematsu, Tim Follin, Motoi Sakuraba. All those guys just get it.

Uematsu makes incredible arrangement albums too.
In this one for FF5, parts of Home Sweet Home (my favorite song from the game) is sung in Sámi, a national minority language of an indigenous people from where I live. It's just mind-blowing and incredibly touching that he wanted to represent that language in an arrangement, and this was in 1993.

Ah, I read about this tribute album in my research for my Final Fantasy V article, but I didn't think much of it. The songs are absolutely incredible with instruments and vocals. I'm listening to the whole thing right now. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Lena CE]

Obligatory Ultros Boogie plug and shoutouts to my friend Jeremy back in high school. We had this whole thing memorized and we'd frequently belt it out lol.

I admire your lack of cynicism, I truly wish I could see things the way you do. All it indicates to me is that Final Fantasy is behind the ball in their trend chasing. They are now starting to adopt gaming paradigms from those Ubisoft/Zelda popularized such as the open world and exploration towers a decade after those features felt fresh. Maybe in 2035 they'll reflect what is popular nowadays.

I'm certainly not lacking in cynicism when it comes to modern Square Enix. The company has made enough boneheaded or outright malicious decisions in the past 10 years to make them one of the publishers I dislike the most within the industry. It is a constant feeling of two steps forward and two steps back where we have a hot streak of projects that maybe don't review or sell well but feel like they're coming from a genuine place followed by insane pushes to implement AI or NFT stuff in their ecosystem. Not to mention the mobile games or just about every decision that Square Enix Europe has ever made with some of my favorite IPs and studios.

I could probably fill the character count about how much I dislike some of the higher ups there, but it is also consistently clear that there are still people with pull at that company that do give a damn so I can't quite quit the company outright like I can with an Ubisoft or an EA (though even they have their moments of positivity for me).

So long as folks like Akitoshi Kawazu and Tetsuya Nomura are allowed to do their thing I don't think I'll ever fully give up on the company even if I'm not always a personal fan of everything they're apart of.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

I'm certainly not lacking in cynicism when it comes to modern Square Enix. The company has made enough boneheaded or outright malicious decisions in the past 10 years to make them one of the publishers I dislike the most within the industry. It is a constant feeling of two steps forward and two steps back where we have a hot streak of projects that maybe don't review or sell well but feel like they're coming from a genuine place followed by insane pushes to implement AI or NFT stuff in their ecosystem. Not to mention the mobile games or just about every decision that Square Enix Europe has ever made with some of my favorite IPs and studios.

I could probably fill the character count about how much I dislike some of the higher ups there, but it is also consistently clear that there are still people with pull at that company that do give a damn so I can't quite quit the company outright like I can with an Ubisoft or an EA (though even they have their moments of positivity for me).

So long as folks like Akitoshi Kawazu and Tetsuya Nomura are allowed to do their thing I don't think I'll ever fully give up on the company even if I'm not always a personal fan of everything they're apart of.

That is exactly how I feel, you pretty much echo my thoughts. I view the higher ups with incredible cynicism and unfortunately the devs are forced to parrot the company line. But I still believe that the creators still have greatness in them even if they are forced to conform to anti-consumer business practices. I believe the company still might have a great future if they allow Tomoya Asano to take the reins of the creative team. He seems to understand what Square Enix should be at its core.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Hey so what did square do in the last few years that were controversial? Is it as scummy as EA or Activision? Hmm?

Post automatically merged: Feb 9, 2025

I think world theme , battle 1 and boss music always relate to the main character/protagonist in a way.

Terra for example isn't the most confident of all people and battle music isn't this sort of exciting and filled with "LETS GOOOO" vibe instead what I get when I hear the battle music is more of a battle of cunning and outsmarting the opponent which feels appropriate for terra since she is high intelligence character or magic anyway.

Same for squall the battle music is less energetic and more heroic knowing that he is into comics its appropriate.

FF4 main theme is less adventurous and gives me off vibes of correcting what you have done wrong a story of redemption and one that has the protagonist having some heavy weight on his shoulders.

I mean same for FF5 the outgoing and adventurous bartz sets off to do some adventure well depicted in the world music for the first part of the game followed by a bit more bitter or sad tone in the second part of the game cuz well....your town got sucked into the X zone I don't think you will be having a good time knowing the enemy can throw things out of existence.

FF1 world music is filled with adventurous vibes too and while you are on a task to save the world and the crystals the music reeks of a world to explore.

That's my thesis about some themes in FF games , oh and how did you guys forget the rebel army theme from FF2? And the chaos shrine from FF1? Those are memorable too.

 

[Tonberry]

oh and how did you guys forget the rebel army theme from FF2? And the chaos shrine from FF1? Those are memorable too.

We were just talking about battle themes back there.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Oh my bad yeah ff7 has the best energy and it feels like ff7 battle music borrows from ff5 battle music in terms of build up and all that.

If boss music doesn't get me to adjust the way im sitting and lock then it sucks.

Honorable mention must go to FF2 boss music as it feels less energetic and leans more into facing something evil and horrible im talking about the theme under name of "battle scene B".

But a damn shame bosses are weak as heck in FF2 save for few first ones even the emperor is underwhelming.

 

[Lilianon]

Does the physical PAL version of FFVI come with multilanguages or is it regional languages? (Like, if I buy a spanish copy do I get the game only in spanish or can I pick the language)?
Or is it english only?