Whats wrong with the newer FF games?

To be frank, the last good FF game I played is FF10. Lets be honest, FF10 was the last FF that most FF fans would agree is a good game.

But everything after that FF12, FF13 & FF13-2 all had a very mixed reception, and I doubt the majority of the old FF fans, liked those games.

Heres some things I identified which are wrong with these games according to many people:

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Haha this has been a long time coming Ranma!
I have to disagree with you about FFXII though.
I thought it was a good game it just lacked the story
telling of the old games and it should of had the old summons from previous Final Fantasys, also Balthier is an absolute legend and one of the best FF characters ever.
I think it would of been better received by the FF fans if it was a spin-off.
I do miss the old games though I remember being so excited for a new FF game and you just knew it was going to be brilliant.
Now I worry about the voice acting,DLC choices and whether or not the game will actually be any good.
FFXIII and FFXIII-2 are probably the most disappointing games I've ever played and the only thing I can do now is play the old games over and over again and try to relive that exciting magical feeling of the squaresoft games.

Just to add FFIX is a damn masterpiece.

[LightofDarkness]

TBH, I don't really care about the mini-games that much. Very seldom are they worthwhile or even fun, with the worst example I can think of being that horrid card game from FFVIII that kept changing the rules. Their lack of mini-games does not bother me in the slightest, they're very tertiary and just minor distractions.

Story has been a huge problem with the latest FF games, and that includes X. There's not much that separates X and XIII, they both lack a number of the trappings you mentioned above, and X has a very silly story with numerous plot-holes and suffers from the same "wrong protagonist" problem as XII. If anyone should have been the protagonist it was probably Yuna, and Auron would've been far more interesting as the main. But they just had to shoe-horn in a blonde pretty boy somewhere...

XIII's story isn't nonsensical (I hear XIII-2's is, though), it's just dumb and poorly paced, with not enough of it being exposed through gameplay and cutscenes (you have to read some bits to get the full picture). Fang and Sazh were the only likeable characters in the bunch, sadly.

Many people like to think that the series was going downhill since the merger and Toriyama took over, but honestly, it's been going down since X for me. X was a pretty big let-down, and even though I enjoyed VIII when it came out, playing it again recently shows that they REALLY dropped the ball with that game. Kitase had really run out of steam on VIII, and IX was really just a return to form rather than a progression for the series. It had begun to stagnate almost immediately after VII, long before the majority of people seem to think. IX was the last great FF for me.

I think people need to keep the nostalgia in check; most of what they complain about with XIII is almost as much of a problem in X as well, as it shares all the hall marks of a Toriyama game itself.

I also don't know if Nomura can turn things around like people think he can. I wasn't a fan of Kingdom Hearts and I'm not big on his character designs either, they're often pointlessly ornate (Seymour, lol) and just silly looking at times, and his main characters all seem to have the same haircut for some reason. While Versus XIII looks miles beyond XIII, does that really make it great?

Plus, XII marked some nice gameplay changes for the series that unfortunately didn't stick because the fanboys all cried "make it like X and Advent Children". And that's why we have XIII.

I don't care about turn-based battles, they can't simply go right back to systems as basic as those found in IV-IX because gaming's evolved too much since then. They'd be heavily criticized for playing it safe by everyone who isn't a Final Fantasy die-hard.

Anyway, I've been playing the Tales series recently, and if you want to see the genre moving in a good direction while still being decidedly "J", you should really play these games. They've replaced FF for me as the premier JRPG series going forward.

[Ranma1]

Most people would disagree with you when you say FF10 had a bad story.

I think FF6 and FF10 had the best stories of all FF games

[gaffyh]

I agree, of the newer Final Fantasy's, FFX definitely had the best story. In fact, since then, every Final Fantasy game, with the exception of FF7 Crisis Core, has kinda sucked.

Although I don't mind FF13 and FF13-2, I don't like the fact that it created too much urgency during the combat. For example FF8 had the ATB, but it still went at a speed that allowed you to figure out some sort of strategy. In FF13 and 2, your strategy basically revolves around, Paradigm Shift -> Auto-Battle -> Paradigm Shift -> Auto-Battle. That ruins what it means to be a turn-based RPG, because you aren't thinking when you play the game.

[PhantomTommy]

Aw man I loved that card game! I spent the majority of my time with VIII just pressing square on all the npcs in the hope of finding a game.

I personally think that XII was a terrific game and a huge step up from X. But I guess it just didn't have enough angry teens and poor hairstyle choices to appeal to the fans.

[LightofDarkness]

Yeah, I was quite delighted to find the game featured a slightly more mature story with some likeable characters and virtually no central love story. The only big problem with it was Vaan. It was almost like they were going to take the series into a much needed new direction and then *BAM* whiny emo kid with stupid blonde haircut that isn't necessarily relevant to the plot. I personally wanted Basch to be the protagonist. A tale of redemption is much better than a tale of being needlessly involved and an idiot.

But yeah, I believe that if you examine X's story objectively it's just bad. Nothing with that many plot-holes and terribly over-used plot devices can be considered good, let alone great or amazing. And don't even get me started on VIII.

XII's problem, really, is that it unfortunately had to be released after X. The kids wanted another fluffy love story with silly metaphysical elements and turn-based combat. And while I can understand the combat criticism, it was unwarranted: XII's combat was pretty damn good. In fact, Xenoblade receives almost universal praise for having a similar system, but it benefits from not being called Final Fantasy.

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

I don't think FF13 was as bad as people make it out to be, but it isn't the amazing game it was anticipated to be.

1. I liked the combat system once I embraced the change.
2. The music was a very strong point for me. I don't know why, but it really sticks out in my mind.
3. I liked the leveling up system and Paradigm system.

Unfortunately a huge chunk of what I enjoyed from previous FF games were absent. Towns, side quests, mini games and just an overall lack of magic. It took a long time to get the training wheels off too.

At it's core I think FF13 is a good game. 7.8 - 8.0 range for me. The bad thing is it is just a good game and doesn't do much to shoot itself up into the 9's for me. The core mechanics are there, though (from a gameplay perspective).

FFX-2... I semi liked it, but was a decline in quality in comparison to FFX. As for 12... I hated it and didn't play much. Instantly hated it. FF13 was good, but not great. Didn't finish because my HDD wiped and I didn't want to do the gameplay previous to Pulse again. FF13-2... I skipped because of FF13.

Great blog... thumbs up :-)

[DW74]

I didn't really start getting into rpg's until the PS1. Wild Arms and 7 sucked me in for good. Therefore, 6 and earlier don't really hold the sway that they do for many. I have even played 6 recently in an emulator and just wasn't all that impressed. I found other 16-bitters more enthralling, and technically competent.

7: The classic. The legend.

8: Initially didn't like it as much as 7, turned off a bit by the "love" story at that age (25 at that time). Grew to like the game much more as I got older. Story is still a bit convoluted even now; not clearly told with the limited dialog used at the time. Excellent music.

9: Was not interested at all in the regression in setting. Was too cutesy for me at the time. I liked the modern-ish settings of 7 and 8. Bought it on PSN when it came out. Still have yet to get past Lindblum. I *want* to like it. I guess. Hehe.

10: Loved it. Related to the father/son dynamic in it very much. Auron: Japanese Clint Eastwood. Laughing and whistling scenes: dear Lord. Imported the soundtrack from Japan.

10-2: Snicker if you want to, but it had the best battle system of all the games in my opinion. Girl power vibe was omnipresent, but bearable (am sure the insecure males in gaming could not take it). Obviously rides on the coattails of 10 with the characters. People bought because they wanted to know what happened to the characters of 10, not because they wanted 10-2 itself.

12: First FF I ever bought that I got about 25ish hours into it, and ended up putting it back on the shelf. Came back to finish it the following year. Uninteresting story. Shallow, vapid characters. Had to go look up who the bad guy was just now. Vayne was terrible. No depth. 1-dimensional. No complexity. Blech. Automated combat: ehhhh. Was there music?

13: Technically brilliant. Gorgeous in many areas. Clearly worked on for a long time. Story was only alright. Snow and Hope: DEEEAAATH. Sazh: believable, and genuine. Saving grace of the characters. Music was better than 12 by a mile.

13-2: not played

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

I applaud this comment. I respectfully disagree, but it is cool to see such an out of the box view on the series.

10-2 having the best combat, not liking FF9, disliking FF9's setting... wow! nice to see opinions that are soooo different to mine. I hope you do grow to like FF9. FF7 will always be my fave, but after going back and playing it I realize FF9 is the better game and hasn't aged as horribly as FF7.

[DW74]

Yeah, I didn't expect my thoughts to be popular. But that's ok. I'll admit that 9 is also technically brilliant for the platform it was running on. Zidane and Steiner just annoy me greatly. It's entirely possible that I am viewing the game through too serious an eye. Time will tell. It's a really different scenario to have experienced a 6, or a 9, in it's heyday, and then come back to it later, versus playing it for the first time in the here and now. Tried to get my youngest brother to try Xenogears, but he couldn't get past the "SUCKY GRAFIX YO". Oh well.

I will also admit that 7 has *not* aged gracefully. But when I think back to how it made me feel in 97.....well....I see a parallel, to a lesser extent, to one's first love. You never quite love that way again. I was just blown away by it's quality at that point in time. So, I have it in a place of high respect in my heart and mind.

[poolsharky27]

Wow, I feel the exact same on all these games as yourself. (But I started before PS1, and played 13-2)

The only thing is pointing out the Whistle+Laughing scenes in X. Contextually they were supposed to seem forced, or that's how I interpreted it. If you see it like that the scenes make more sense, and don't seem nearly as bad.

for comparison(I'll be brief on Pre PS1):

1: Great for it's time, though very bland.

2: Story got better, job+level system a little odd but fun

3: Didnt particularly enjoy anymore than 1/2

4: One of my favorites, Cecil was a boss.

5: Mediocre

6: Dear lord I hated Kefka as a boss, made the game extremely annoying to me. Would have enjoyed it much more without him, but this is one of my least favorites simply because of him.

7: Great game, really nothing to complain about.
First FF to cry to, at the you know what scene.

8: Loved the story, Best card game, Best music. Great connection to Squall : "..."

9: First FF I could not play-through twice. I disliked the return of cutesy sprite characters, and really hated the monkey-tail. I always get bored around the start of disk3. Only thing I liked here was Vivi(who doesn't?) and some of the music.

10: One of my favorites, Though Tidus was whiny, he was relate-able and believable to me. Loved the story, loved the characters. Extremely fun blitzball. Second FF to cry manly tears, that ending. This probably has my longest played save-file.

10-2: Definitely the best battle system, pretty much disconnect from the original X until you get 100% completion(of course I had to). Didnt really like the new characters added or the music side-story, but it was enjoyable.

12: First FF I couldn't finish on the first play-through. It was dreadfully boring, and due to my obsessive need to finish the side-quests before moving on, the story was extremely disconnect. Hated all of the characters except Fran+Balthier. Nothing memorable here for me. Eventually finished it on a no side-quest play-through and still thought it was bad.

13: Beautiful environments, decent music. Poor story, poor characters, lack of side quests(lol just missions), lack of some series staples, silly summons, terrible upgrade system(no-choice crystarium, equip upgrades were pretty meaningless).

13-2: Slight upgrade over 13 in customization, but worse story(time travel?!) and worse music. Also very disconnected from 13, barely see 13s cast, and they arent playable.

Honorable mentions:

7-CC: The prequel of the great 7... Very very good, One of my favorite PSP games, Cried manly tears at the end, even though I knew it was going to happen.

Tactics: Awesome gameplay, Best Story, likable characters, tons of side content, and oodles of customization. My favorite FF.

[DragonKnight]

I like these lists. I've been playing FF since the NES and I own all of the main ones except for FF3 and FF11.

FF1: This game was amazing for its time, especially the music. I'm still floored by how good the music is in this game.

FF2: I absolutely hate this game. I have nothing good to say about it, especially the levelling and gil/item system. Just awful.

FF4: My absolute favorite FF game. It is the pinnacle in my opinion. This game has been said to be responsible for how good FF7 is. Excellent cast of characters, excellent music, excellent gameplay, and excellent story. Kain FTW.

FF5: Pretty average really. Kinda like FF3 but with a little more personality. Gilgamesh is the best part of the game.

FF6: Amazing game, and a truly open FF. Best villain in the series, largest cast of playable characters even though a few of them are utterly useless. The music didn't impress me much though, except the boss battle music and Dancing Mad.

FF7: Overrated in my opinion. The Materia system is ok to play around with and is good if you want to purposely handicap yourself to make some boss fights challenging, but I really don't see this as the epic game most do.

FF8: Another of my faves. Loved everything about this game. Story was great, even if the orphanage thing was kind of cheesy. Characters were great, especially Laguna. Everything was great. I find that people look for problems with this game simply because it came after FF7 and they ignore how great it is.

FF9: I've played and beat it, but I can't get into it as a game. I find it uninteresting and bland. Again though, some excellent music. My faves are the Black Mages Village theme and You're Not Alone.

FFX: Like 4 and 8 it is one of my faves. This game is just brilliant. Beautiful in every way. Best soundtrack to date in my opinion, amazing scenery, NPC's are the most lively, Blitzball is the absolute best mini-game, Jecht is the best character in the game, I could go on and on about how good this game is. Can't wait for the remaster.

FFX-2: Meh. I would have preferred a prequel than this. It's ok. The class system isn't as good as it could have been and it's too Charlie's Angels for me, but it's not terrible either. Some good tracks in it too. Hate what they did to Blitzball.

FF12: Underrated in my opinion. Sure, Vaan is a horrible protagonist, the story needs some work (though I do like it's darker, more adult tone), this is the game they should have used a class system on, and the gambit system takes getting used too, but man do I have a hell of a lot of fun on those hunts. I mean, the hunts really make this game. Nothing like facing uber tough enemies the whole game instead of towards the end. I think this game deserves better.

FF13: TERRIBLE IN EVERY WAY! A plague on the franchise. It's ONLY redeeming quality is the theme of O'erba, and Titan's Trials. That's it. I'm not going to bother going on about how bad this game is.

FF13-2: They took a turd and sprayed it with perfume so it wouldn't smell so bad. It took Enchanted Arms and Chrono Trigger and put the FF name on them but butchered Chrono Trigger's theme severely.

Honorable Mention: FFTactics: Best spinoff ever made. You won't find a larger, deeper FF game than this. Plot twists everywhere, permanently losing allies, amazing music, and the toughest A.I. you'll ever come up against in a game, even by today's standards. This game deserves a remake and it should play like Valkyria Chronicles. Imagine using T.G. Cid on a 3D field and unleashing Lightning Stab. Damn.

[Kratoscar2008]

Yoichi Wada wont recognized a gem even if you put it in his nose.

I liked FFXII but it lacked everything that made previous FFs epic but it was a fun game.

I want turn based gameplay too, and everything the blogger points too.

I hope that the next FF is directed by kitase.

[Donnywho]

At least you're a real FF fan. It's easier to just accept someone's opinion when they're not BS'n. I personally loved FF13, not my favorite FF, not even close, but I loved it.I've also been playing since the NES days and I know I'm not the only FF O.G. that feels this way.

Personally I'd take 4,6,7 or 9 over any of them but that's just me.

[SilentNegotiator]

A good overview of the problems plaguing the last few FF games.

[Megaton]

I'm an old FF fan who liked FF12. Never bothered to play XIII, though.

[MacDonagh]

I liked 12 as well. Do not understand why FF 12 gets so much hate while FF 10 has it's fans despite it's poor plot. It does have a good fighting system that was improved upon in their sequel believe it or not.

[SageHonor]

What's wrong with Lightning as a character?

[Capt-FuzzyPants]

She's in FF13. And Ranma doesnt like that.

[Godmars290]

There's no real rationale for her personality. Before and during game events she doesn't question or act against her situation or culture. She just seemingly has an attitude because she has an attitude.

Nevermind the MacGuffin a low level if special ops member starts off that makes her a superwoman at the start of the opening cutscne which gets casually broken never to be used again or turn up again with someone else using it.

[goldwyncq]

You forgot the part where she had to stand as a parent and take care of Serah at an early age.

[mxkite]

Im a an olf FF fan and i strongly disagree about that FF12 is bad, for me is the last final fantasy that was good, tough FF13 and FF13-2 are not bad games that is a missconception it is just that old gamers want the same experience they enjoyed when played FF for the first time i guess some old gamers cant keep up with the new tendencies.

On the other hand there squarenix wich in order to keep old gamers happy needs to evolve the next FF hand by hand with the old gamers, is like companies (squarenix) do not know that the kids that played FF 15 years ago have grown and
they need

So in one corner we've got the old gamers that praise to feel the same experience from 15 years ago

In the other corner is a companie that do not understand old players anymore

My grain of salt

[SeekDev]

Honestly, when I found out that the summons of FFXIII were going to turn into vehicles/bikes, it was the most off-putting thing ever. It just made no sense when you looked at all the previous games. I can understand change in the summons, but motorbikes? Leave those as the inanimate objects that the main characters ride.

[Skateboard]

FF XII is the best FF and I have played them all. The story was very good to me and I liked that the main character wasn't a stereotypical save the world type.

[belac09]

everyone likes what they like. ff is the best franchise in gaming history and i have faith they will find themselves again.