G4TV: The Innovation of Final Fantasy - Hits and Misses

No one doubts that the Final Fantasy series changed the world of gaming, for better of for worse through their innovations. Their approaches to gameplay and cinematics have not only transformed the RPG genre, but have held a great deal of influence on many other titles across numerous genres.

[Ranma1]

I dont get why Square Enix thinks an auto battle feature where the game plays itself is an innovation.

Am i a hypocrite becauase

I loved Persona 3 & 4 auto battle feature but hated FF13's.

People who played persona will know why am not a hypocrite. Its because SE compeltely f*cked the feature up !

[Metamorph93]

I agree. I think FF games just went down hill after X. I hate all the others after that game including X-2. The creators are lacking originality and creativity now. They just keep using the same stuff over and over. Bad plot lines don't help either and neither does boring battles.

[Godmars290]

Thing is, though I've only played P3 and its been a while, pretty sure its auto battle was largely optional. Could be actively turned on and off without feeling like a penalty.

And I'm going to say FF started going downhill with Seven.

Where Six showed integration of mini-games with the main story, in Seven they were in excess. Sakaguchi stepped back from them while failing to further story development to make up for it, then when S/E took the concept of "final" was lost.

[Godmars290]

@Disagrees:
Not calling FF7 and on bad particularly, rather that Seven was the start of the slippery slope that lead to XIII & XIV. Square relying more on the franchises history and fandom than anything resembling innovation.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"Square relying more on the franchises history and fandom than anything resembling innovation."

Funny... A lot of people's first FF game was 7 so I don't get how Square was relying on FF's history...

Just because FF games after 6 didn't top 6 doesn't mean everything after that went downhill. For example FF7 is my favorite FF game, but just because in my opinion, FF8, 9, and 10 didn't top it doesn't mean that I felt the series went downhill.

While I enjoyed FF12 that is where I felt FF games took a step back and it took a nose dive with FF13 and is now in life support with the releases of FF14 and 13-2... Hopefully Versus13 brings things back on track.

[iamtehpwn]

I dislike 13's and 13-2's autobattle feature as well, but thankfully, you don't have to use it. There is setting to set the cursor to abilities instead of auto battle, and I manually input every command. You'd be surprised how much better the battle system feels when you do that.

[Nerdmaster]

It should be possible to give specific commands to every party member instead of just one of them while the others fight by themselves, usually attacking monsters that are not the one I want them to, or wasting time giving wrong buffs or healing the wrong person.

[KeybladeMaster]

Put simply my favorites are:

Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy X

after those games the series lost a lot of flare to me. I am still holding out for Final Fantasy Versus XIII (or, if Square has any sense in them and rename the game, Final Fantasy XV).

[Pokemon_Master]

FF has been so great this gen. The main games and the side games

FF is so amazing. This has been one of the best gens ever for it

Main games and side games...............

13
13-2
type zero
crisis core
3
4 complete edition
tactics advance 2
12
12: revant wings
crystal chronicles 3,4,5
4 heroes of light

and more

Best gen ever for FF

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

BWAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!!

Your comment is a complete and utter joke to any real Final Fantasy fan.

[Pokemon_Master]

i am a real ff fan. i actually play the games, unlike 99.9 percent of this board and keep an open mind

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Nobody ever mentions FFIX
>_<

[Dasteru]

IMO:

FFI - Hit
FFII - Miss
FFIII - Miss (Never Came out in North America in its original form) DS remake is a 50/50 IMO.)

FFIV - Hit
FFV - Hit
FFVI - Hit
FFVII - Hit
FFVIII - Miss
FFIX - Hit (My personal favorite)
FFX - Hit
FFX-2 - Miss
FFXII - Hit
FFXIII - Miss

And for everyone wondering, Yes i have played (And beaten) all of them.

[KeybladeMaster]

I personally liked VIII and hated IX. For Final Fantasy games (for me) story is everything. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

You have it completely correct except for FFVIII. That is a Hit IMO.

Add:

FFXIII-2 - Miss

[slaton24]

FF13-2 really wasnt all that bad it was a whole lot better than FF13...versus13 hopefully will be great but of course people will try to compare it to FF7 and say it was a waste of money because it wasnt good enough but me i liked 5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,13-2,crisis core and dirge of cerberus

[Wintersun616]

People always forget how awesome XII was and put it in the same category with XIII. Sure, it was quite lacking in the side quests too, but the level of customization and freedom in character development was the thing that made it so great. And even though it had a sort of auto battle too, it required you to be smart with your gambits and set ups, which is why it's nothing like XIII.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Thank you. That is exactly how I feel about 12.

[Dasteru]

Finally, Thought i was the only one that liked FFXII.

I find most of the complaints about it are related to either the political aspect of the story, or the complexity of the Gambit system. IMO anyone who complains about the Gambit system is just too stupid to figure it out. Once you get used to it the level of freedom it provides is second to none. No other game i have ever played has given even half as much control over secondary party members.

[Knightofelemia]

Only FFVS13 can save the franchise if Square can ever make it see the light. But if the game turns out to be another flop like FF13 I think the franchise has ran its course. I don't mind the older games but revamoing the older series and adding a few new vids and putting the games on different consoles is getting kinda lame now. I look forward to the FFX HD remake it was one of my favorite games. But I also want to get my hands on FFVS13 before PS4 and Xbox720 come to store shelves.

[slaton24]

U and me both man....i cant wait for FFX HD remake(even though now it has been said not to be a remake but a remastered version, being like the rest just updated HD where at first it was rumored to be a remake to look like FF13 graphica) Also FFV13 needs to hurry up and get released for the ps3 most systems had 3-6 games on release....ps1 7,8,9,tactics,mythologies, anthologies,chronicles, ps2- FFx, x-2, 12, dirge of cerberus, ff11, ps3-ff13,13-2,FFXremake, ffv13 and ff14