My first exposure to the Final Fantasy series was in 1997 shortly after the release of FF7. I got swept up by all the hype about the game and bought it without really knowing anything about it (or the series).
I clearly remember launching the game, being impressed with the music and the cinematic feel (for the time) of the game. But then the combat started. Much to my shame I had a visceral, disgusted reaction when the menus popped up. I was thinking, “WTF is this???”
In 1997 I was a 30-year old father of 3 early in the stages of a very busy and demanding career. My limited gaming time was for blowing off steam and blowing things up - not reading menus and “taking turns” during combat.
Now, almost 30 years later, turn-based games are probably my favorite genre, and I have played quite a few jrpgs - including a handful of Final Fantasy games (IV, X, XVI, and the new VII remake/rebirth). Obviously, I still have a lot of FF entries to explore, but I plan on getting to many of them “soon.”
Looking forward to playing as many as I can on Xbox going forward.
Finally, Final Fantasy XVI and VII Remake are coming to Xbox! The wait was really long. Been enjoying my time with XVI so far, it seems Game of Thrones-inspired until now.
I’ve now played I, VII, IX, X, XII, XIII, XIII-2, XIV (ARR) and XV. Definitely a lot to catch up on still with the Pixel Remasters and the new ports.
25 hours into FF16 and while the background lore is there it’s not interesting enough for me to want to ask about it.
But the more personal stuff going on with Clive and friends is definitely the highlight of the story. With the showing of the state of the world through their eyes helping fkesh out the least interesting(to me) movement of each nation.
Yeah I think people need to remember just how hyped Final Fantasy VII was. The cinematic tv commercial was unlike anything we had ever seen before. But the reality of the game was disappointing to many of us based on the hype surrounding it. Thankfully the N64 had a bigger game just around the corner with Zelda Ocarina of Time which fulfilled the real promise for what an RPG could be (for that time period).
All that said I grew to appreciate Final Fantasy a few years later once some of the dust had settled. Even the Dreamcast was 1999. Followed shortly after GTA3 and the PS2. Revolutions were happening every few months back then.
FF 7 was so over hyped and rated, but at that time, many people in the USA seemed to love FMV in games. I always felt Grandia was a better game and RPG that fully captured the sense and spirt of adventure ,I also liked Vagrant Story more on my brother’s PS1, but nothing equalled the magic of Panzer Dragon Saga such a shame so few ever got to play it at the time.
I think I have reached the 1/3 of the game for FF16, as I had a series of quest that were mostly about the team building. With a good amount of side quest for leveling a bit, some items and upgrades.
I only bough the $50 version, so not really, but that’s kind of crap. I’m guessing since they add the dlc for the $70 version, the costumes will be added later as an add on to buy.
The combination system used in FF16 switch between 3 different powers and being able to equip one power from a different element once mastered in any location. Works really well! Of course, Bahamut seems to have the strongest attack, throw in lightning rod, will o wisp and Clive can hit 50k plus damage every time we stagger an enemy which makes most fight much shorter.
Once I get better gear or make it to a high enough level (38-9 right now) that damage should be much higher.
Losing a fight because cinema, is always the worst. I think Sekiro had the best version of this though, where we could win the fight before cinema kicks us in the butt.
Well, it didn’t sell as well as Square wanted it to, and I guess they wanted to see if now that it’s out on Xbox people on PlayStation would be willing to spend the money. Like some sort of, hey why don’t you out buy Xbox and show us how much you love our games? Is it going to work? probably not and probably gets them less sales on Xbox.
Seeing some of you guys (and a few people that I follow on Twitter) playing FF XVI, it makes me want to replay the game on PS5 since I own the complete edition but still need to play through both expansions. Really wish developers/publishers would allow you to start the expansions without needing a save file for the base game or to reach a certain point in order to access them.
Since my next new game release isn’t until RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business in four weeks, I will probably replay the base game starting Sunday and try to get through it as well as both expansions by then so I can start eliminating the minimal backlog that I do have.
I think I’m close to the end of FF16, at least 80% to 90% of the way there. The current area I’m in is pretty much an open field and I’m going to ignore it.
Just run by everything to the destination, because I don’t want to have to fight everything I see.
While cleaning up the side stories, I managed to do the up my stagger damage combo from 84k to 102k.
This a probably a pitiful amount of damage compaired to what minmaxers can achieve. But it’s a good enough amount to cut fights that would be longer down.
I’m replaying Final Fantasy XVI base game since I don’t have my save file from when I completed the game two years ago. About 45% through the main story in 18+ hours. Looking to complete the game (again) by Sunday so I can start the Echoes of the Fallen expansion next week followed by The Rising Tide expansion.