Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Final Fantasy: Gotta Beat Em' All! (part 1)


For a while now, Dizzi and I have been trying to beat all the Final Fantasy games. I thought I'd give our viewers an overview of what we've done so far. But first, why the hell are we doing this?

One day, Dizzi and I were fighting over Final Fantasy XIII. I thought it wasn't great at all while he thought it was one of the best Final Fantasy games. Then we both realized -- we haven't even played all of the Final Fantasy games! I think before I had played some of VII...and that was it. Sure I might have beat IV a while back but I really can't recall anything that happened. So that began our quest. I remember a few times we said back and forth, "Imagine we actually beat all of the games?!" Basically, it was one of those things that you say you're going to do...and then never do it. Yep...that's us. Anyway, onto our journey.

Final Fantasy I and II


We first started by playing FFI and II in their remake versions for GBA. We both felt that FFI was mostly 'figure it out yourself' than actually being told what needs to be done. No matter...we both finished it fairly fast. I'm pretty sure my level 75 characters were over leveled though. FFII wasn't as bad as it's usually made out to be. I enjoyed the new leveling style. Yeah, maybe a boss was a little tough here and there, but it wasn't too bad. Dizzi blazed through these two like no problems here.

Final Fantasy III


This...pissed me off. I didn't actually get to play at all. There wasn't a decent remake and the NES version was horrible. Hopefully someone will make a fan version eventually. Dizzi played the remake on the Nintendo DS. The DS version contained the same storyline although the Onion Knights were replaced for Luneth. They also added in a lot more side quests to make the game seem even longer than it already was.

Final Fantasy IV, V and VI


Probably the best set of Final Fantasy games. Best stories and gameplay for it's time. FFIV had a great storyline although characters seemed to leave and come back multiple times resetting your levels a LOT. I really enjoyed FFV. Dizzi, not so much. I remember him yelling out 'fucking tree' multiple times (referring to Ex Death being that giant tree shit). The new job system was a great idea and allowed you to customize your characters to their full extent. Both of us really enjoyed VI. If you're planning to play it though, prepare for multiple deaths. There's a lot of fun missions between different characters and the battles with Ultros provided some comic relief. Overall, these three games were awesome. They can definitely be found on a lot of top 10 SNES games lists. I played these three on the SNES while Dizzi played the GBA remakes.

Final Fantasy VII and VIII


FFVII was very popular among those who had a Playstation back in it's time. Even if you didn't have one, I'm sure it was one of those games kids talked about at school. Even now, people are purchasing it on the PSN Store. About the actual game itself, this was definitely my favorite in terms of gameplay, story, enemies and heroes. The main character Cloud definitely portrayed the tragic hero archetype perfectly and the rest of the characters were unique in their own ways. The different missions and quests that the heroes triumph through are amazing and well done. If you haven't played this game yet, do so. This game has also become one of Dizzi's favorites. His only gripe is the beginning of the game which he tends to call 'slum runners: the game'. FFVIII was definitely a step down from it's predecessor, but it's not that bad a game. The story tries to relate to a college student in some way, eventually allowing the main character to break away from school and go on their own journey. The main rivarly between the main character and his classmate is also very interesting. Dizzi found the level scaling to be difficult at times, almost hindering you rather than helping the player. If you're going to play the Final Fantasy series, you shouldn't miss out on this one.

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That's all I have for now. Dizzi will most likely be writing the second part to this article. Look forward to the second half around this Friday or so.

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