What makes a good Final Fantasy game

Most would agree that FF4-10 were good Final Fantasy games, and the pinnacle of the series was FF6-10.

But what do most of them games have in common that FF11-14 dont (or lack)? Discluding the online games we can observe that FF6-10 all have the following (in order of least importance):

[TheSuperior]

I love FF!

[belac09]

best series ever, in my opinion, im starting to get VERY into the tales games more than ever now though. FF will always be my number 1 favorite series though.

[Drummerdude41]

I love Final Fantasy to death and have played most. But i Would disagree about 12. Not to say your wrong but in my HO i believe it had the biggest and most open world with the insane graphics for it's time period on the ps2. Actually questionably the best looking game on the ps2. The music i enjoyed and that comes down to personal opinion. The story was actually decent, had plot twists, and the characters were split for me. Some i loved some were meh. But than again i hated almost all the characters from 10 except arron and riku. In terms of customization well that wasn't about your gear but how you fought. interesting concept but i get where some can find it hard to see. By now im just rambling and i guess i just shoulda said that 12 is on the list for me. And although i liked 13, it was def not in a ff calibur status but a decent rpg status.

[Ranma1]

I said FF12 was lacking in 1, 3, 6 & 7. FF13 & 13-2 was lacking in everything except 9 & possibly 8. Today Square Enix has turned this list upside down and they think good graphics is most important, which is just wrong ! The newer FF games now have mediocre or average stories, and the story is the most important ingredient for an FF game, and one may argue its most important for JRPG's in general.

[Drummerdude41]

Yah i see where your coming from. At the end of the day your probably like me wishing that the ff franchise can come out with another hit to produce the memories and experiences we all love instead of it becoming nothing more than a nostalgic series.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

1, 3 & 7 you mean. FF12 had a huge world.

FF12 still had 6 out of the 9 thing you mentioned which would make it a satisfactory FF game at least.

I enjoyed 12, not as much as the ones from 10 and before, but I didn't find it bad like 13 and 13-2 which both games just piss me off like hell. Especially 13-2 because SE freaking made that POS instead of V13.

[A-Glorious-Dawn]

@Box

instead of V13?? The game is still in development you know...

BTW I really enjoyed 13

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

^^^
SE put priority on 13-2 over V13.

[Godmars290]

ATB isn't necessary for a good FF title, it just that Square hasn't done it right.

Besides Type-0, Crisis Core and the remakes - which don't really count - they haven't done anything right.

[aDDicteD]

nice FF Blog, yup...the old FF games rocks, ff 12's story and vaan made it short, ff 13 was pretty close to the old one's but still lacks the recipe of the old FF

it's true that FF 6,7,8,9,10 were the highest peaks of ff and it's starting to decline though I'm still hoping they could give us another great FF game in the future. I'm still waiting...

[SageHonor]

Memorable characters. I'm surprised you didnt mention Yuna.

[GamingTruth]

loved all of them from 7 to 13-2

[IonutPitigoi]

Great game!I saw a trailer of this game.Impressive

[Capt-FuzzyPants]

What game?

[IonutPitigoi]

The story is important ,but the graphics, are more important

[Capt-FuzzyPants]

You couldn't be more wrong.

[IonutPitigoi]

It`s a pity i could n`t play this game even if I searched for a demo on the internet.All I `ve found were some viruses

[Ingram]

Nice blog entry Ranma, but I have to tell you, regardless of being a very different style, the games that continued the legacy of good JRPG's are Persona 3 & 4, Disgaea, etc.

FF nowadays is just... made by marketing executives trying to be hip.

[DragonKnight]

I wouldn't say FF6-10 were the pinnacle. I'd say FF4 and then 6-10 were. FF4 is just an amazing game that paved the way for the best themes of the rest of the series.

[Eamon]

Agreed. Before the legacy of FF6-FF10 began, FF4 was seen as the best Final Fantasy game in the series.

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

As a child it seemed as though Final Fantasy was untouchable and just a cut above the rest. The games had a larger than life feel. Obviously my age at the time is part of the reason, but when Final Fantasy 12 was released the "magic" just seemed absent.

Sidequests are what made it a brilliant experience for me mixed in with exploration. Only World of Warcraft (which I don't play any more) and Skyrim have given me a sense of "magic" recently. I need to get Xenoblade. I live in the UK and it has been here for a while. No excuses.

[Hicken]

9. Well, pretty much all of the games have this, at the time. It's right that it should be as low on the list as it is, though, as it's the least important thing. Games lacking: none

8. This should be more like 3. The soundtrack of an FF should always be memorable, and it should always fit the mood of the game. When I think of any given FF, the soundtrack should pop into my mind right along with the characters and the story, if not before. For example, I've forgotten a lot of FFIX, but the music is still with me. Games lacking: none

7. There weren't "loads" of minigames in any game after VII. VIII, IX, X and X-2 all had just one minigame. I didn't play XI, but I doubt it completely lacked for minigames; XII and XIII have them missing. Games lacking: XII, XIII

6. More important than the world map, itself, is the ability to return to previously explored places. Only XIII lacks this, though it's somewhat dictated by the story, imp. Games lacking: XIII (X, XII and XIII-2 if you wanna count exploring the world map)

5. I've never played an FF that didn't have this. Seems like you leave out the games you don't want to mention, as XII, for example, had plenty(how could anybody forget Yiazmat?). Games lacking: none

4. Again, none of the FFs lacked this, though I would argue that XII's use took away from the individuality of each character. Games lacking: none

3. This should be number two. A good, memorable cast of characters should be second only to the story itself. I remember the characters in IX better than I remember the story; while the story in VII is memorable, I like the characters more. XII has a great story, but Vaan and Penelo in particular are almost extras; Basch could have been a lot more than he was; Ashe, Balthier and Fran were the most memorable here. Games lacking: for me, none

2. Perhaps because of my experience with so many games outside of FF, this doesn't mean so much to me. I would move this down to number five. You mention XIII not having it, as if this makes battle less strategic, but you'd be wrong there. And you interestingly skip over XII- which wasn't all that different from XIII- to bring attention to one of the games you hate. Games lacking: XII, XIII

1. Rightfully at the top. But also somewhat subjective. While most praise the story in VII, I found too many issues with it(which later found themselves explained in subsequent games and other related media... though other questions were brought up: wtf happened to Cissnei?). IX, to me, also had a somewhat forgettable story: playing through it again now, I find that if it were X, VIII, XII, XIII, or pretty much any other FF, I would remember each and every battle and scene; somehow, though, the details in IX elude me. On the other hand, I feel the story in XII is superb. Games lacking: VII, IX (in my opinion)

Your criteria, my judgement:
VII, IX, X, and XIII-2 are 8/9
XII and XIII are 6/9
Only VI and VIII wind up being 9/9, and as I haven't finished VI, I can't even honestly count it.

For me, though, only story, characters, and music matter. A few have lacked or fallen behind in one category, and been mediocre in another, but none of them were so poorly done as to be called a "bad" FF.

If you REALLY wanted this list to matter, you probably should have gone more in-depth about the FEEL that each thing brings to making a game an FF(i.e. XII has an amazing story, imo, but it doesn't have the FEEL of an FF story). Then your saying a game does or doesn't meet the criteria makes sense. As it stands, it just seems like you WANT some games to not have things.

[HeavenlySnipes]

How the hell is FFXII lacking in explorable areas. EVERY place you go to has its own secrets to it. Whether its a side story or a hidden esper. Heck, the friggin giant crystal you go into during the story is re-visitable and has like 99 floors in its own.

The story of FFXII is worth remembering. FF7, 9, 10 all had the same damn plot. Main character (male) is different from someone else and is tasked with taking someone out that is related to them. (Cloud and Septhiroth, Zidane and that guy that rides the white dragon [can't remember his name], and Zidane and Jecht). I actually enjoyed the deviation from this and the somewhat original story produced for FF12

How the characters are perceived is all opinion so I'll skip that.

Minigames. Instead of that, you should have wrote side missions. FF12 had a lot. From the hunts to finding the hidden espers scattered around the game world. Surely the aforementioned are more exciting to play than a minigame...

[mechlord]

ive liked alot of things in several ffs...but nothing beats going after the sunflower, the masamune and the zodiac spear to face off against yiazmat in the japanese version. also, i tend not to like 13 bcause it had the worst cid ever and no gilgamesh.

[Eamon]

This blog piece is very good and speaks almost entirely the truth.

[Pyscho_Mantis]

I agree 100% the stories and characters is why I play a jrpg.

Wrpgs is just for free roam.