Topic: Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts Fan Thread

Finished up Final Fantasy IV! Just some thoughts:

• The characters were really the star of this adventure. Your party was always evolving (people added, subtracted, or both), giving you exposure to all sorts of personalities, and forcing you to re-evaluate your battle strategy after each shake up. What's even better is that there's not a bad character among them. Sure, there are a few that are just average (like Palom & Porom, who are just your typical "Tagalong Kid" types), but none are bad, and most are likeable (I especially liked Cecil, Yang, Tellah, Rydia, & Edge).
• The story, while nothing spectacular, gets the job done. The villain for most of the story never steps beyond just being an "Evil McBadGuy", just being evil for the sake of being evil. It does have one really cool twist regarding the villain, but that ultimately leads to another antagonist that isn't even as well developed as the one you've been chasing. I wouldn't say the story is bad, I just won't be remembering the game for it's villain(s).
• As for the game world, it has some really cool, ambitious ideas (with three worlds to explore), though despite the graphical updates, didn't quite live up to it's potential. The most disappointing aspect being the disparity between the medieval & sci-fi elements of the world. Other than the airships (which very much looked like something thought up by an industrialising civilization), everything was either very medieval, or very sci-fi. While the inclusion of tech was well explained story wise, they didn't do much to meld the two from a world design perspective, and I think just one town/dungeon that was a clear combination of the two would have helped a lot. By the way it stands, I almost felt like I was playing a different game by the time I was closing towards the end. There's a lot of good to be had in the world design too, though. The graphical update made even the most mundane of caves more fun to explore, and even some of the later dungeons (& optional ones) looked really cool (the bonus you got for fully completing a dungeon floor map certainly helped to fuel my desire to explore as well). I did manage to find enough interest to tackle multiple optional dungeons (which is something I usually don't do, at least not recently), so it definitely has something going for it.
• As for the gameplay, it actually works quite well. Being a menu based turn based battle system, fighting enemies works perfectly on a touch screen, and I never once felt it was holding me back. When you're walking around outside of battle, the virtual joystick only appears wherever you lay your finger, meaning it's never in the way (and it never misreads where you're intending to go). An exclamation point appears over your head whenever you come across something you can interact with (Chests, Buttons, NPC's), and you simply touch anywhere on the screen to interact with it.
• Graphically, while it's not fancy, I'll say I liked it. It may sound shallow, but I found it much more fun to explore everything in 3D than in 2D (the Android version is a port of the DS remake). The castles in particular were pretty cool in scope. Again, it may not be too fancy compared to the best looking mobile games, but I never had to worry about whether or not my tablet could run it, so that's a plus.
• The music, as expected was quite good as well. I particularly liked the boss battle theme(s), and the theme of the Chocobo!

Overall it was a fun experience, and I definitely want to try out The After Years (though I don't know whether to play it or DQIV next). Still not quite sure where this'll fit on my list of favorite RPGs yet, though.

Let's try to kickstart this thread, shall we?

Who are your favorite mage class characters in the series? (Black, White, Summomer, it doesn't matter.) Here's mine:

7. Fusoya (FFIV) - It was nice having an extra healer along for the ride during the short portion of the game he joined you, but the character himself wasn't too interesting, and his usefulness was limited as his level was locked (you could level him up, but his stats don't change).

6. Palom/Porom (FFIV) - A tie here. Both were quite useful, and they provided a tad bit of comedy relief, but they weren't standout, and they weren't with you long enough to leave a real lasting impression, IMO. I'd maybe give Porom the edge because I made good use of her "Cry" ability.

5. Rosa (FFIV) - The character herself didn't do anything really standout, but she was instrumental to your success in the game. Usually I'm not much of a magic user (especially White magic, which I normally use to spam cure magic), but this game makes well sure that you make good use of Slow, Protect, Shell, and more, and no one is more useful than Rosa when it comes to such magic. Her "Pray" ability was a huge boon as well.

4. Lulu (FFX) - To be honest, I don't remember much of Lulu as a character, but I still think she deserves to be relatively high on my list. I almost always had her in my party when I was able due to the reasoning of my 13 year old self. Because of that however, I got used to using magic when it was necessary, which I really think helped me out with the genré as a whole.

3. Tellah (FFIV) - Now Tellah has quite the fiery personality, that really made him a favorite of mine (and he made one of the biggest decisions in the game). In addition to that he was incredibly useful, being a master of both White & Black magic, making him very versatile. He could be quite fragile though, especially as you leveled him "up", so you needed to take special care of him.

2. Yuna (FFX) - Character wise, she's about as interesting as Rosa, but I love the Japanese priestess motif of her design, and she's seriously useful with her summons. Especially a certain optional summon, that's powerful enough to best even the final boss blow to blow (at least until the part where you can't use summons).

1. Rydia (FFIV) - Rydia may just be the most interesting character overall (and not just mage classes). Early in the game she's very useful with her ability to use both White & Black magic, she returns to your party later on in one of the biggest bombshell twists of the game, and when she does, she's a much, much more powerful summoner. She's as hard as steel in her resolve to make sure no one dies again in her presence, and while her most powerful summon isn't quite as useful as Yuna's (likely due to the fact that they're one off attacks compared to Yuna's, which replace your party until they fall), but they're still highly useful, and a great asset against bosses. Oh, and with her whips, she's like the only mage class character that can be usefull in terms of physical attacks as well.

Blue Mage in Final Fantasy V ("Gotta collect 'em all" spells class) is my fave, though Geomancer was also pretty neat. Not sure if the Time Mage was FFV, too? Or just Bravely Default?

Most of the Magical classes in FFXI are amazing. I hardly ever play as a Melee class.

Archanist in FFXIV is always good fun. It's mostly the generic "Pet" class, but that's why its so good - you just have your little furry friend take all the damage for you while you sit back and provide minor support safely out of range. Of course, I'm sure the Summoner class is better in every regard.

Vivi is the best mage of all time, all times.

Terra, Celes, Rydia, and the twins are also pretty rad.

Final Fantasy is a series I've wanted to play for a long time, but haven't made much of an effort to do so. I've only beaten I, III, and just recently started playing IV (PSP version). Very early in the game, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Man, I really need play IV ....
Right after I've sat down and finished I.

Um...Kairi is my favorite character in Kingdom hearts.

Yeah, sorry I haven't updated this thread in awhile. I've been busy playing Dragon Quest IV (Which I just beat!).

You get a Keyblade, and you get a Keyblade, and you get a Keyblade, and not to mention you get a Keyblade-
Axel: "I got Charkrams."
No. You called Lea now and you get a Keyblade.

I've put about 12 hours into Theatrhythm: Curtain Call so far and I just can't get enough of it. Fantastic game.

Making decent progress in FFIV, and still enjoying it. I really like how the party changes so often. It keeps things interesting, and doesn't get annoying because most of the characters are useful in battle.

So my bro finally gave me the go-ahead to play Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae without him. I've been playing for about an hour and a half, and I'm a little overwhelmed - I expected a 3 hour tour, but there's quite a bit to do! 8 objectives at least, post-tutorial. Guess I should've followed it more closely.

Also, did they update this already? Because I'm really liking the combat. I'm not quite sure how to switch weapons (it seems to involve the directionals, but so far I've only been able to use 3 weapons when the list showed 5 at least), but it was exactly what I hoped for: movement has a bit of weight to it, each wepon has a different feel, and there's a decent emphasis on utilizing your environment as well as the usual dodge and parry you'd expect from a modern action-RPG. Plus using all the different skills, etc. I'm a bit sad I was so late to the party if this is still the original build.

EDIT: Nvm, was closer to the end than I thought. I still haven't fought the Behemoth a second time (stopped because it's getting late), but I'm having a great time so far. I love the interactions between characters, and everyone except Noctis seems to have a lot of personality (Noctis isn't too bad, either, just doesn't say much). The camera could be better, though, but maybe I just need to get used to it? I've certainly dealt with worse, at least. I'll finish this off in the morning, then I'll go back to waiting for the full game, now with renewed enthusiasm.

EDIT Again: Beat it. Also did some of the extra quests, though I couldn't find the lake magicite...I did find the marsh one, though. Was that the same thing? EDIT Thrice: Got the Magicite, but apparently I gotta get a few more frogs for one more quest.

Anyways, that was a fun ride. Still not sure if this is 2.0 since they said it would release in "the first week of June", and it's June 2nd in a short week, but I didn't see any dodge rolling or party actions. Maybe I'll be in for a treat later this week?

Now do you see why I want a Legend of Zelda game with FF XV's combat and animations? FF XV is very impressive

So I guess it's safe to assume that I'm the only person here who prefers VIII as far as the main series goes

Yep!
It never seems to do too well nowadays. I've seen plenty of polls for the series and I don't I've ever seen one that wasn't won by 6,7,9 or 10.
8 was a great game in many ways but personally I just have no love for those characters at all. I think that's what keeps you going back. I replay FF9 every year or so cos I just love that cast. Whereas replaying FF8 is like going to hang around with some teenagers for a week. Big no.

Yeah, but... 10...

What about it? You're saying that's also like hanging around with a bunch of teenagers? There are no doubt plenty of criticisms you could level at that game (too linear, tidus is annoying for the first half, they dress like idiots, the final boss is a tick, laughing....) but that's not one I would've thought of.

FF8 isn't my favorite, but I enjoyed its gameplay at least. The story is terribly structured and fairly nonsensicle, though, so I agree with most of its criticisms. It's also way too easy to overpower or underpower yourself, but if you know what you're doing, you can still have a good time when approaching it as just a game.

A very hefty portion of the story does center on Tidus and Yuna's romance, which I don't think could be reasonably argued as a mature, adult relationship. I also found Wakka to be quite childish for his age for most of the game. Lulu and Auron are fine. It's definitely not as bad as FF8, where the entire cast are teens doing teen stuff, but I think it's present and noticeable in FF10 as well.

Edit: spelled Lulu wrong twice, somehow...

FF8 enemy difficulty scales, doesn't it? Enemies get more powerful as you do.

But yeah, very interesting battle system that I would have enjoyed seeing refined at some point. It's fun and I like the idea of equipping magic to increase your battle parameters and add status effects and elemental attacks/resistance, but grinding magic was just way too much of a chore. And the anguishing pace of using Guardian Forces in battle greatly discouraged me from ever using them.

I actually think the whole "junction makes you overpowered" gives the game it's charm. Part of me just enjoys overpowering your characters to the point where your pretty much a god

Plus Triple Triad, that game was awesome with some great benefits

I agree that the characters aren't the best compared to other games, though tbh I actually liked Squall, I loved Edea and wanted to see more of her, and Laguna is one of my favorite characters in the series(seriously I want to play a game starring him Kiros and Ward! Xp)