Square...*cringe*....Enix!!!

[Seth Ventril]

<rant>Maybe I'm just a stereotypical Fanboi...

But is anyone else disappointed in the direction of the Final Fantasy series and the merger of RPG moguls Enix and Squaresoft?

I noticed the decline somewhere around FF8...Sure FF8 wasn't ATROCIOUS...But the draw system was terrible, and the characters were like bland remakes of old, greater characters. The GF system was great though.

FF9 was pretty good...Better than 8 in my opinion, with alot of homage to the FF's of old (Especially with the black mages, and who can forget Garnet's white mage cloak?).

FF10...This is where things...I dunno....Too much change all at once...Talking characters, linear storyline...I know they were trying to advance the series and bring it to nextgen (at the time) platforms...but...If it ain't broke....



FF11...Blech. No comment needed...Very hard to immerse myself into a story when morons are "wil ju gib me free moniez" and "lolz".

FF10-2...Wow! An entire Final Fantasy game devoted to teeny bopper 13 year old girls! Just what I always wanted...Not.

And now the finale...

FF7 mobile Phone Games, Advent Children (While it may have been a good movie, I have every doubt that it isn't good solely because it's attached to S/E), Dirge of Cerberus...

OMG...I cried...I weeped...They took the once beautifully preserved corpse of FF7 which was so pristinely displayed in it's glass coffin for everyone to glance on and remember...And they raped and desecrated in the name of $$$.

Now...I'm not trying to say a corporation shouldn't make it's money. I fully understand the need for that...But when you're trying to sell a product (Especially in a market as competitive as video games), you should never take only the prophet into consideration....Cause sure enough with a label like Final Fantasy slapped on it, it's going to sell well...But in a long line of good games...It only takes one game to truely ruin the series...I've seen it before.

Meh...I'm just disappointed because it was final fantasy that nurtured my interest in gaming from the time I was a tyke to the time I was 15...And continued enjoying them even to this day (I still love popping FF7 in, if only to hear intro music.)</rant>

Anyone else agree?
_________________
Victim: Well, what is the creed?
Assassin: It's very secret, passed down for hundreds of generations. If I told you, I'd have to kill you.
Victim: Aren't you already killing me anyway?
Assassin: That's a good point...The creed is..."Stick them with the pointy end." - Ctrl+Alt+Del parody of Assassin's Creed.
---
TELEPATHY [close]:  Yaru Dex - "Great now you made Mickey cry. Thanks a lot, Seth."
---
Korell Ventril exclaims, "Choo ain no guard! Choo a crackhead!"

[HR-Arden]

I put two years into Final Fantasy XI and don't get me started on what's wrong with that game. The biggest problem, however, is that the developers rarely/never listen to the suggestions of the people who waste hours of their lives and 15 bucks a month.

I've enjoyed every game in the series so far otherwise.
_________________
Arden [hr-arden@haelrahv.com]

I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. -- Bilbo Baggins

[Tao]

[Seth Ventril]

I'm with Tao on this one...

I joined HR shortly before you left, about 2-3 months, but I remember a coupla conversations. Great to see you back!
_________________
Victim: Well, what is the creed?
Assassin: It's very secret, passed down for hundreds of generations. If I told you, I'd have to kill you.
Victim: Aren't you already killing me anyway?
Assassin: That's a good point...The creed is..."Stick them with the pointy end." - Ctrl+Alt+Del parody of Assassin's Creed.
---
TELEPATHY [close]:  Yaru Dex - "Great now you made Mickey cry. Thanks a lot, Seth."
---
Korell Ventril exclaims, "Choo ain no guard! Choo a crackhead!"

[HR-Arden]

It was part of it, unfortunately. Among other things, but I'd like to think my life is finally on track and I'm excited to start my involvement in HR again. It's awesome for me to come back and see so many familiar faces from years ago.
_________________
Arden [hr-arden@haelrahv.com]

I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. -- Bilbo Baggins

[HR-Morrigan]

I agree, FF8 was good for the card game, FF9 I couldn't make it all the way through, couldn't make it through Pretty Princess Dressup, er FFX-2, either. Never even tried FFXI, had enough online crack fix with HR. I still play the early games, like 1 and 2, just cause they were what started me in the whole video game RPG genre and I love their 8-bit goodness.

Despite all that, I'll probably still get the new one. I played a demo of it and the graphics were awesome. Took a bit for me to figure out how to shoot cause I'm slow like that but otherwise it was pretty fun. Actually, I'm more looking forward to playing Xenosaga III.

And side note - yay Arden's back!
_________________
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
--Superintendent Chalmers

Morrigan Blackfury

[ZANQUINRAKEL]

I started with the NES, and the old Dragon Quest series, and of course, Final Fantasy. After that, my brother got me playing Magic, then one day after I had been eliminated from one of the games and was sitting there bored, I watched a group roleplaying D&D. My RPG experiences kept growing from there, until I reached DR, and thus, HR. I have Armande to thank for my introduction to Haelrahv, and I'm very happy now.

Back to the subject... I have played FFIV (2 in the US), VI (3 on the SNES) which is still probably my favorite, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2... but not 11. I am hoping to get 12, and though I can see the changes, I accept that change is inevitable. As players change, the companies will adjust to try and change too.

That is one of the things that makes Haelrahv great. The companies either can't or won't know what their players like and dislike. The GMs of Haelrahv can. They talk to us, they hear us talking to each other, they see how we react, sort of like a lab experiment. Maybe not the best example, but I am rather fond of cheese, so I don't mind.



P.S. I am looking forward to Xenosaga III too, I want to kick more Gnosis ass!
_________________
Zanquin Firestarter, Performer of many talents, alchemy addict, stratohunter addict and all-around crazy harlot

"You watched it, you can't UN-watch it!"

[Haidee]

You forgot Final Fantasy : Crystal Chronicles.
_________________
>l in corset
Inside an intricately beaded twilight black suede corset with hot pink lacings you see a buttery nipple, a buttery nipple, a steaming pile of gamojab poop, a speckled red crab, a chocolate chip brownie, a map of Haelrahv, a huge blonde hair ball, a severed Haidee head, and your boobs.

[Seth Ventril]

While I whole heartedly agree change is inevitable, and I love change...If it's change for the better, and not change for the pocketbook...I used to be able to count on that every Final Fantasy was going to be good and entertaining....But from the point of 8, all I saw was a rapid shift in the balance between Player Appreciation ------ Monetary Profit.

It's like...If you're a hardcore underground music fan....And your favorite band sells out and starts producing radio safe music, and mass produced lyrics...I feel the same way with Square Enix...Especially since the Merger...
_________________
Victim: Well, what is the creed?
Assassin: It's very secret, passed down for hundreds of generations. If I told you, I'd have to kill you.
Victim: Aren't you already killing me anyway?
Assassin: That's a good point...The creed is..."Stick them with the pointy end." - Ctrl+Alt+Del parody of Assassin's Creed.
---
TELEPATHY [close]:  Yaru Dex - "Great now you made Mickey cry. Thanks a lot, Seth."
---
Korell Ventril exclaims, "Choo ain no guard! Choo a crackhead!"

[soundless]

Everyone knows the best Final Fantasy was Mystic Quest.
_________________
A bright-eyed Thekko Ku Kalla dressed in a dapper sailor suit takes to flight and careers through the air toward the Modan Kucho and slams into him!
With a high-pitched cry, The Modan Kucho collapses in death.

[Seth Ventril]

While certainly not the best *chuckle* It was my 1st FF I ever played on my own, and beat.

I was like...6 or 7...And used to watch my dad play all the good final fantasies...Then they got me FF For Dummies...Oops, I mean Mystic Quests...And I was thrilled with it...

While definitely not one of the best, I still get a kick from playing it for nostalgia's sake.
_________________
Victim: Well, what is the creed?
Assassin: It's very secret, passed down for hundreds of generations. If I told you, I'd have to kill you.
Victim: Aren't you already killing me anyway?
Assassin: That's a good point...The creed is..."Stick them with the pointy end." - Ctrl+Alt+Del parody of Assassin's Creed.
---
TELEPATHY [close]:  Yaru Dex - "Great now you made Mickey cry. Thanks a lot, Seth."
---
Korell Ventril exclaims, "Choo ain no guard! Choo a crackhead!"

[Cadoc]

As per Final Fantasy's, I have played most of them ranging from NES, the orginal Gameboy uptil FFX-2 and Derge of Ceberus. As for Crystal Cronicles I thought it sucked. I couldnt stand having to have one guy carry around that stupid pot. And FFXI, I wasnt in the mood to play another game online to pay and play. I even made it through teeny bopper FFX-2.

As for my favorite, it would be the FF2 (the US 2 on SNES). Well thats my love for the Final Fantasy Series.


PS: Mystic Quest was pretty cool. I loved the Dragon claw that you shot out on a rope.

[HR-Trevor]

Sorry, I fully disagree.

FF8 is my favorite FF title, period. I think because it's mature, the characters aren't cartoonish or childish, though I'd like it if all the characters were at least 20 years of age for once. I wasn't a fan of the draw system but I didn't hate it. It was a new challenge and I used it well.

FF9 was good (great music, good FMVs, good game mechanics) but it suffered the cartoony/childish character syndrome. Still, I really enjoyed some of those characters nonetheless and I think FF9 was very solid.

FFX showed us the future of RPG's - voice acting, motion capture characters, more FMV's thanks to DVD technology. They invested a lot of time into character and story development and made the most of it with the new technology the PS2 offered over the PS1. I thought FFX only lacked in that its music was nowhere near that of previous titles (FF6 still has the best music overall probably, FF9 is close)

FFX-2 was fun, but hard to take seriously in some respects. The whole girl-power thing made a lot of male players cringe. But the game had fun mechanics. I didn't care for the 70's disco style music.

FFXI blew hard. Horrible game, horrible representation of the FF world. The designers were masochists and seemed to think people would enjoy pointless time sinks and filler content, and would also enjoy challenges that proved more frustrating than fun. FFXI would have flopped and probably no longer exist if not for the fact it has "Final Fantasy" in the title.

FFXII - We'll see. The changed dynamics that make it play like a MMO (unlocked encounters, real-time combat, automated party members) have me nervous, but I'll see come 10/31. The storyline looks REALLY cinematic and tight, so I think I'll like that.

FFXIII - Who knows. The eye candy will be abundant, but it won't be able to make up for a lack of game mechanics, storyline, etc if those falter.

I haven't played the portable system versions of FF, only the FF's from NES, SNES, PS1 & PS2 (including the anthology etc.) and FF MQ. I also didn't complete some of the FF titles because I put it down and didn't pick it back up. I've completed (US version ##s): FF1, FF2, FFMQ, FF3, FFVII, FFT, FFVIII, FFIX, FFX, FFX-2. I've played but not completed FFIV (chron), FFV (anth). I played FFXI maybe six months at most but probably much less.

I also completed and enjoyed DoC.
_________________
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." -- Plato

-- Trevor Rage / Rich Mondy

[HR-Trevor]

I realized after I posted I had more to say and ask, so.

[soundless]

i liked FFX and FFX2 was good enough. the only thing i disliked in both of them is that it feels like Square goes charging out the gate in terms of "look at how many strands of hair we can have move independently!" graphics, but as the game progresses it slowly starts to sputter down. i noticed this in Kingdom Hearts I/II, also. i'd rather they just keep the level of awesome at a steady level as opposed to the rising and falling it normally has.

my favorite FF was 3, which i think was 6 in japan. the one with terra, celeste, locke, and all that.

i played half of FF7, but only because i didn't have a playstation and i lost a CD for the PC version. i also never played 8 or 9 for the same "no PS" reason.

i look forward to playing Dirge because i'm having a big shooter craze right now and i just don't have the time to play 50hr+ FF storylines anymore (sadly).
_________________
A bright-eyed Thekko Ku Kalla dressed in a dapper sailor suit takes to flight and careers through the air toward the Modan Kucho and slams into him!
With a high-pitched cry, The Modan Kucho collapses in death.