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Final Fantasy Turns 20
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Dec 07, 2007 04:41 PM
from the big-swords-girly-men dept.
from the big-swords-girly-men dept.
1up has a massive quartet of features up this week, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series. Starting with 'Origins', the site looks at the beginning of the series, an event that was supposed to spell 'the end' for Square. The company lived on, of course, and in 'Everyone's Fantasies' series author Nadia Oxford looks at the rise of the Final Fantasy dynasty going from 8-bit obscurity to the 'mega-fame' of FFVII. Her final piece in the set 'Fertile Fantasy', examines how Square/Enix is now franchising the heck out of the name. To wrap up with 'Future Fantasy', Jeremy Parish looks at the staggering fifteen games with the FF brand due out in the next year. "Even if all of Fabula Nova Crystalis slips to 2009, that's still one title per month -- and we haven't even seen what's on the roster in the way of announcements for the new year. Clearly, Final Fantasy is going strong, but Square Enix's franchising efforts may be doing as much harm as good; of those 15 titles, only one is a new 'true' Final Fantasy game. True, the series has always supported its share of spin-offs -- even blatant name-whoring back in the Game Boy days. Still, we can't help but worry that the Final Fantasy name is being spread a bit too thin; if Square Enix really hopes to keep the series alive for another 20 years or more, they'll need to reconsider what the name Final Fantasy really means."
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Four white mages... (Score:3, Funny)
Four BlackBelts (Score:2)
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Nearly as awesome was three black belts and fighter, which allowed you to actually use the really good equipment you got later on, and made the first eight levels a bit more bearable.
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I liked three black belts and one Yuna summoner, with the princess outfit collection that you can change to make her match the environment in a most PRETTY way!!!!
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Oh yeah? (Score:2)
(I've never tried this. 4 black mages was hardcore enough for me.)
Re:Four white mages... (Score:4, Informative)
Here's a breakdown:
- Run away. The dungeons are hard. (especially the marsh cave - the first real dungeon, the ice cave, the fiend of wind's dungeon(s) and the final castle) There are a small handful of really efficient places to level up. When you aren't actively leveling up, you should run from just about everything. Once you have protection from death effects and reusable healing items, you can be more lax with this, but in general run away. This, by the way, is what the much-maligned Thief is useful for; he's got the best chance of getting away. But in practice, the fighter, red mage, and black belt get away about as often.
- Starting right after you get your first orb lit up, keep 99 heal potions at all time. The game lacks effective healing (except for 3 vital items you find in the late game) so you'll want to have access to the at most 2970 points of healing the potions offer. However, white magic isn't all that great. It's pretty viable to not have any healing except potions.
- Here's where to level up: until level 8 or so, walk around outside towns. After level 8, make sure you have Fire 2 and ideally Harm 2, and go to the tip of a little peninsula east of the second town. There's hard but not too hard monsters that will give you 600-1000 XP per encounter; just be sure to nuke the frost wolves a.s.a.p. Later, there's recurring undead on a square in the waterfall, and once you have ProRings, the Eye at the end of the Ice cave can be fought again and again. Much much later, the vampires on the penultimate floor of the final level are the fastest way to reach levels 30-50.
- Though it lacks flavor, the party of 2 fighters and 2 red mages is so good as to be something of an easy mode. Black and white magic are both kind of underpowered, and having a team that can all take punches makes up for not getting Harm, Heal, and Nuke. Make sure you don't skip Fast, Invs2, Exit, all the Cures, all the Fires (for undead, the other attack spells aren't nearly as important). Life and the aElement defense spells are pretty good. Everything else is either useless or good only in a specific fight (e.g. sleep against the pirates) or is available too late (aRub). Really black magic sucks in the game. It's useful against a handful of obnoxious encounters with massed enemies, but not so much against any of the bosses. Red mages much better than black mages.
- If you do want a black and white mage instead, I'd still put a second fighter in as #2. The first two positions absorb the lion's share of attacks, and having both get to wear full armor is amazingly useful. The upgraded thief gets almost as good of armor as the knight and he can cast Fast, so a thief is a pretty viable option. Black belts only get better than fighters at the very highest levels, and they have the most boring upgrade. Red mages aren't really strong enough to stand in position #2; it'll be hard to keep a second-in-command red wizard alive in the final dungeon.
- Use the floater in the desert southeast of the volcano. If there's a clue to do this that's placed in the game, I've missed it. I think everything else can be figured out by talking to people.
- Use attack magic to kill enemies that have ugly mass attacks or instant death effects. Hit bosses with swords.
- Don't throw away magic items just to keep lousy helmets and shields on non-knight/ninja characters. You want a fire item, a harm item, a lit item, 2 or (much better) 3 heal items, and the white shirt.
- Speaking of items, the swords and armor that are extra strong against certain elements or types of enemies don't actually have any effect. There's a patch out there for the ROM that will enable this feature. It's worth seeking out, as Square *did* intend the Dragon sword to be good against Dragons etc. But if you don't use it, don't hold on to any weapons or armor for specific encounters.
- Once you beat the game, there's a rare challenge enemy on the walk up to the fourth fiend.
Ok, that's enough. I love that game.
Parent
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!Final (Score:2)
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FF2 and FF3 (US) were just as good if not better then FF1. FF1 was a total grindfest with no story, it was amazing for the time (NES days), but let's not pretend it was the best. FF3 (US) is the best in the series with FF2 (US) and perhaps FF7 near tied.
People are just graphics hoes these days.
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The graphics sucked, the characters are nameless and have almost zero character development. The plot DOES exist, but it's all based on uncovering what happened (in a very linear manner), and solving the problems of the world.
.. I've enjoyed playing it more than almost any other (except 6, mostly). The simplicity of its sandbox meant that it was
FF1 is far from perfect, and yet
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(I still know at a near-instinctive level how to get through almost the entire game,
That sounds like nostalgia, and familiarity, much more than good game design to me. Not that FF1 was bad by any means, of course.
Moreover, it allowed you to try very different party setups, and play a "meta-game".
EVERY Final Fantasy lets you do this (well, all the ones I've played). Just go to gamefaqs and look at the "challenge faqs" if you don't believe me.
FF1 was a good game for its time, and is worth playing for historical reasons alone (if you're a series fan), but the new FFs have everything FF1 has, and more. None of what you like about FF1 went away.
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Look at FF12. All the characters are identical. Ok, some base stats are a little different, but all of the characters can buy the same licenses, use the same gear, etc. There's really no reason for there to even be 6 people in the party (except as "extra lives") since only 3 can be on screen at once.
I much prefer the FF1 system. I've tried and beaten the
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Look at FF1. All the characters are identical. All of the characters can choose the same class at the beginning of the game, use the same gear based on that choice, etc.
Most Final Fantasies (IX was a notable exception) have characters who can be the same or different depending on how you build them. If you choose to do so, you can strictly pick licenses and equipment for your characters in FF12. Most people prefer greater flexibility, so the system lets that do. I really don't see how
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It is indeed nostalgia. =) I didn't mean to imply that it was due to good game design. That said, it WAS well done, each dungeon was unique -- more than I can say for portions of some games (Halo...).
... for the poster that mentioned how to beat the game with white mages ... wow. I couldn
Also
Upcoming Final Fantasy DS Games (Score:1)
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For an example of a storyline that can be about kids without being only for kids, look at Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. I won't open the can of worms that is the gameplay, but the plot its
Amazing Series (Score:1, Informative)
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*Final Fantasy I
*Final Fantasy II
*Final Fantasy III
*Final Fantasy II
*Final Fantasy V
*Final Fantasy III
*Final Fantasy VII
*Final Fantasy LiveJournal
*Final Fantasy IX
*Final Fantasy X
*Final Fantasy XII
*Final Fantasy XIII
HOWTO: Final Fantasy Fan (Score:5, Funny)
1) Pick a FF game between 1-12 - This is your BEST FF EVAR!!! title. Make a note of it.
2) Pick a DIFFERENT FF game between 1-12 - This is your WORST FF EVAR!!!. Make a note of it.
3) Pick one or more random reasons why your random choice from 1) is the ONLY TRUE CHOICE. Best battle system, greatest story, best characters are good picks.
4) Pick one or more random reasons why your random choice from 2) is the COMPLETE GARBAGE. Worst battle system, worst story, worst characters are good picks.
You are now ready to jump into any FF thread on any message board on the net.
Have fun!
PS. Don't hold back! Never be afraid you are 'going too far' or are being a bit 'over the top' with your FF comments. Feel free to savage mercilessly anyone who dares to not hold your exact same, randomly, picked FF favorites choices...
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FF5 was obviously the best Final Fantasy evar. And you only need one look at FFXI to see that there is an absolute worst to the series. FF5's pause menu completely changed and redefined an entire era of video games, while FFXI's boot screen was a disgrace that should have every copy burned and the ashes buried with all the remaining copies of "ET".
Damn I'm old... (Score:2)
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Oh well, it did make for finding all of the extra items in PE more fun! However, us
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Great Memories (Score:4, Interesting)
I hold that first NES FF game responsible for the direction my whole life took, so there's some serious gravity to this series for a person like myself. The series has undergone many changes, but I don't know if there will ever be a point in my life where I can't appreciate it on some, purely nostalgic level for that reason.
Still the best (Score:1)
Yeah, there's nothing hugely revolutionary in this post. Just thought I'd offer it before the "OMFG JRPGS SUCK PLAY MASS EFFECT" starts.
Final Fantasy series (Score:2)
8 bit obscurity? (Score:3, Interesting)
Pass it on (Score:3)
Fantasy of Finality (Score:1)
Contrary to the mods' opinions, this is actually a good point.
The title "Final Fantasy" is another example of Engrish. The Japanese meaning of the title is "Fantasy of Finality," as in, each game is a story about the end of the world being thwarted by a small band of misfits.
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Re:Fantasy of Finality (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
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I like many others read this and think, Square actually made games other/before FF? Damn, I've played FF 1,3 7,8,9,10,& 12 and an GBA of FF2. I know now that they make 4-5 different RPG, the whole Secret of Mana games, Dragon Quest, and those Saga games. I just never heard of Square making anything other than FF way back then.
Dude, Rad Racer? (Score:2)
All three were pretty sophisticated for the time period (mid to late 80s) and (IMHO) lots of fun.
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But more to the point, look up "the death trap", which was basically an illustrated text game. I loved that game. That's where Square actually started.
Re:Fantasy of Finality (Score:5, Interesting)
OK, you've intrigued me. How can the title have a Japanese meaning when *it's not in Japanese!* (Yes, the game has the same English title in Japan. No, it's never had a Japanese title).
Chris Mattern
Parent
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Read how the Japanese title is written out here. [wikipedia.org] It's been written that way since day one. In katakana, using loaned English words. It never meant anything but "Final Fantasy".
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"Square Enix's rescue from oblivion does seem like the stuff of legends, so it's no surprise that fantasy is what the company does best. The Final Fantasy series acquired its ironic name 20 years ago when SquareSoft employee Sakaguchi put together an RPG that was supposed to be the teetering game company's swan song, but turned out to be its savior instead. Sakaguchi probably never imagined that he'd see an age where fans, reviewers and the world in general jok
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In all seriousness, I disagree. The FF series is still damn good, and in fact, I consider the post-VI entries to be far stronger than the pre-VI entries.
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These are known good games. That's a valuable thing. The only thing they have to do is clean up the graphics and interface, and they have a hit.
On a related note: I'm playing Fire Emblem on the Wii. Best Wii game out so far, in my opinion; it caught m
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