What is Final Fantasy all about?

[CarlZog]

I've never played any of these games, and I really have no idea what it's all about.

Are these games all chapters in some grander story arc? Or are they just tied together by some other common element(s)?

What else is this franchise into? I seem to remember an anime movie a while back....

The series seems to foster serious fanaticism. Without getting in a war of pros and cons, what's the appeal of Final Fantasy?

Carl

 

[mojo1701]

I've never played any of these games, and I really have no idea what it's all about.

Are these games all chapters in some grander story arc? Or are they just tied together by some other common element(s)?

What else is this franchise into? I seem to remember an anime movie a while back....

The series seems to foster serious fanaticism. Without getting in a war of pros and cons, what's the appeal of Final Fantasy?

Carl

They're all stand-alone games (with the exception of Final Fanasy X-2, which is a sequel of Final Fantasy X, and there's also Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, which is a take-off of the Final Fantasy Tactics for PS, but I'm not gonna get into that).

The appeal is that they're such well-done games. Each of them has something different, but they all have the same good feel.

Basically, it's because they started off as classics, and they (the creators) know how to make a good game, because they've done it before.

 

[Zulithe]

I'm glad to see someone new taking interest in the series. I've been a fan for a long time. I was 11ish when I first played Final Fantasy 2 (IV, actually, but you'll learn all of this in due time...) on the Super Nintendo. I've now played all the previous games and all that followed, along with most everything else Squaresoft released.

I could talk for hours on end about this series... but wikipedia does a mighty good job and I'd be saving myself some time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_fantasy

You will find that to be a very good primer on the series.

If you're looking to jump into the series, you can really start anywhere, since they are loosely related at best (in most cases) and even the ones that are related don't necessarily need to be played in any specific order (FFX and FFX-2 an exception!). If you own a PS2, you may want to try Final Fantasy X first. Or, perhaps an even better suggestion (depending on who you ask), pick up a copy of Final Fantasy VII (released for the original Playstation) and play that first. You can buy it new for around $20--maybe less.

I'm rather biased in favor of Final Fantasy VI, but if you're spoiled by the graphics of today's games, you might find it visually underwhelming (they were groundbreaking for console graphics at the time of its original release, which stands true for most all Final Fantasy games) the story and emotion it contains, however, should not disappoint!

 

[Mercule]

Something that I'll throw in is that, dispite me absolutely loathing anime/manga and a lot of the convensions, I actually rather enjoy this vaguely anime-like games.

 

[Henry]

My fondest memories are of the first Final Fantasy on the original Nintendo, where a friend of mine and I played it for a WEEK STRAIGHT during a college Christmas break - there's nothing like a group of high school or college guys staying in the same house and going without shaving and minimal hygiene for a week straight because you CAN'T FIGURE OUT THE DARNED SOLUTION!@!!!! Ah, good times.

That one was probably the closest straight fantasy version of them ever produced; the rest have technological themes in them, to varying degrees by game.

 

[CarlZog]

The wikipedia link was interesting. Thanks.

I was under the apparently mistaken impression that this franchise's primary claim to fame was some immersive, cohesive world/setting with all kinds of recurring characters. But it sounds like there is very little in terms of setting elements actually connecting this series of games.

Carl

 

[Skrit]

With the Exception of the first few (Some of the best Final Fantasy games) most of them are about watching stories/CG/and droning on throgh Text conversations. FF7 was where I turned the channel on FF games and never throught twice about looking back. I have played/seen a bit of FF8, FF9, and FFX2 and not much has changed. They all boast 80hrs of "play" but when you have hours and hours of CG scenes and just clicking through text you end up with 20hrs game play.

The CG scenes are well done and some of them are even Cool (Parade in FF8, and the Motorcycle scene in FF7 comes to mind). Still they're non interactive eye candy.

The various mini games can be fun also. I always loved raising chocobo's (Spelling) in the Final Fantasy Series. The card game in final fantasy 8 was also cool and I enjoyed collecting cards and playing games to win cards.

FFx2 was strange in my mind. While most people say it's better then FF10, it seemed more of a way to just show off scantally clad women then anything else. I know with few family members (age's 10 to 14) defend this game to the death when I'm around and mention it's just a way to look at CG boobs. So some people like it...

Still it's each to his own. I tend to like the earlier final fantasy games before the big change (FF7). However FF7 was a good game and had a good story to back it up and it is my fav modern day FF game. If you'd like some back ground I did play Xenosage (another long drawn out no action parts) which I was sort of neutral to. Star ocean(PSX) and Xenogears are two of my favorite RPGS from japan. Morrowind. and anything from Bioware are my favorite Western RPGS.

 

[Jdvn1]

My fondest memories are of the first Final Fantasy on the original Nintendo, where a friend of mine and I played it for a WEEK STRAIGHT during a college Christmas break - there's nothing like a group of high school or college guys staying in the same house and going without shaving and minimal hygiene for a week straight because you CAN'T FIGURE OUT THE DARNED SOLUTION!@!!!! Ah, good times.

That one was probably the closest straight fantasy version of them ever produced; the rest have technological themes in them, to varying degrees by game.

Yes! I still own it and it is still enjoyable. Then again, I've liked all of the older Final Fantasies.

 

[Jdvn1]

With the Exception of the first few (Some of the best Final Fantasy games) most of them are about watching stories/CG/and droning on throgh Text conversations. FF7 was where I turned the channel on FF games and never throught twice about looking back...

By "first few" do you mean "more than half"?

 

[Dark Jezter]

In response to the original question, most of the Final Fantasy games have no connection to one another apart from sharing some common themes. Each Final Fantasy games (with the rare exceptions of ones that are direct sequels, such as Final Fantasy X-2) takes place in an entirely new world with new characters.

On a whole, I've enjoyed most of the Final Fantasy games I've played. However, as some of the above posters have mentioned, it seems like as time goes on the series is reducing actual play time and inserting more CG cutscenes and long conversations between characters. It's getting to the point where I feel like I'm watching a movie occasionally broken up with simplistic RPG-style combat sequences.

Plus, it seems like the storylines between each game are almost always the same: An evil villian has plans to achieve levels of god-like power and take over the world, and it's up to a ragtag group of pretty, angst-ridden teenagers to stop him (or her). Along the way, there will be much soul-searching, personal growth, and maybe a romance or two.