aliensex said:
Really?
I felt that FF10 was the worst in that regard. You could only go so far on the grid before you were basically forced to jump onto someone else's path. If you race through the game (doing the minimum of side quests, leveling up, etc.) and just concentrate on doing the story, then yes, each is unique. But that is not what most RPGers will do now is it
Personal rant follows, everything is IMO:
I've played through all ten Final Fantasy games. I do my best to rush through the battles because you know what? The battle system has barely changed since FF2. ATB in FF4 and Desperation Attacks in FF6 were the last innovations, IMO. Even those weren't grand. ATB would matter more if there was strategy involved, but there really isn't. And Desperation Attacks add very little to the battles overall besides another ability to use. I enjoyed the battle system the first few times, but after over ten years of it, it's just gotten stale. I pretty much ONLY play FF for story nowadays.
FF10 nailed it because it caters to both crowds. People like me who want a little individuality in their battles benefit from going through the game fast. People who want to build uber-characters also benefit, by being able to go more slowly. Plus, it made an active attempt to include all the characters in battle, and made it easy to do so. Do I think it was perfect? No. Was it a step in the right direction? Definitely.
Now... I wouldn't mind doing side-quests and stuff. But what FF lately has been putting in their games is not side-quests, but tedious pointless tasks to fill out the game, because they know it's basically an interactive movie otherwise. Often these are pointless - dodging butterflies and lightning (to use FF10 for an example) is not a side-quest. It's a pointless obstacle. A side-quest should establish or expand a side-story or character.
Note I think this is different than a mini-game. Blitzball is a mini-game, though not a very fun one IMO. I liked the card games and the races (in FF7) a lot more. These are meant to be diversions from the story (though work best when meshed with it) and are pretty much expected in RPGs now - again IMO because they need to pad out the linearity as best they can.
Which brings me to the last "side-quest" - optional bosses. Now, I was watching my brother play FF10 and fighting at the monster arena. There was no strategy involved at all in this - you
needed Auto-Phoenix for most most of the battles, you
needed Break HP Limit for some of them, and so on. This is not strategy, this is mindless button mashing. I liked FF7's bosses (*gasp*) because they DID require a lot of strategy, assuming you weren't using Knights of the Round.
*big breath*
Sorry for the rant!
I actually think FFX-2 will be the best in this regard, since the dress sphere's do the leveling up and gain the abilities, and you can only equip one at any time.
Which is the same exact system they used in FF5. I fondly remember building up my job levels in the basement of that castle in the third world, fighting the tombstones and using softs on them repeatedly.
Was it my favorite? Eh... but I think it's the one they
should be using in their tactical games (FFT, FFTA), at least.
I'll save my discussion on what my optimal system would be for another day.
