Topic: Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, X-2 and XII - Now with 80% more FF VIII

The 1st games have very little story or, really, characters, @RR529 .... The main 'mixed things' about VIII really relate to it's weird junctioning system that never got used again! Let us know how you get on with IX

In FFIX i've finally got a full party (Zidane, Vivi, Garnet, and the knight), and am in the Ice Cave.

Most recently beat a boss that you have to fight solo as Zidane, though I was disappointed to learn I missed the nearby save point beforehand (in the room before there are two doors, the left one leads you to a save point, the right to the boss). Though I got through on my first try without much issue, it's something that newer JRPGs have gotten better at, and I hope future save points are more easily signposted.

Playing that for the 1st time, then, @RR529 .... ? Please keep me posted!

I'll just say that outside of briefly playing it once as a kid, I've never played IX. And yet just based on a Let's Play I watched of it, I think it might be the best game in the series.

If nothing else, it has the most endearing main cast, that I'm confident of. Like super confident about.

You should play it then, @kkslider5552000 ....

@RR529 Hint for a first time FFIX player, try stealing items from bosses. They normally have some decent stuff to steal.

I'm brand new to the Final Fantasy series and I'd like some help. I've never much enjoyed turn-based battles, but from what I understand, some of the more recent games have a different battle system. Which game with this new style would you all recommend to play first?

@Matthew010
For beginner, try FF IX with ATB system.
The abilities for each characters can be learned from specific equipments and have to be equipped until the abilities from each equipments already learned by gaining AP after battle (imagine installing programs on PC)

For serious political theme like Fire Emblem, try FF XII TZA for Gambit system. Gambit system is like Auto Command set up when your characters are not being controlled 100%. They will do with specific commands exactly as you set up. Some warnings, there were some tough enemies that can KOed you with one hit if you get too near with them. Use Libra to scan their HP, Level and weakness.

Wanna have some Slumber Party with Charlie's Angels ?
Try FF X-2. 😂
Pretty easy for beginner since you will get exactly 3 girls for the entire story. And don't forget with some fanservice by the Job changes scenes. Some jobs have very sensual outfits (Lady Luck, Gunner, Thief) while the other jobs have very cool looking outfits (Psycho soldier, Dark Knight, Special outfits, Songstress)
Don't mind with the cringey story.
That was the humor side of FF X-2.

@Matthew010 If you don't like turn based, I would recommend the complete edition of Final Fantasy XV first. That game is the perfect game for people that don't typically have interest in the franchise. The gameplay in that one is much more action-oriented. The recent FF7 remake is like a marriage between turn based and FFXV's free action(feels more refined), if that sounds good too.

@kkslider5552000
FF IX's characters are amazing, and it's pretty much the only FF where the main character is actually my favorite character, let alone a character I can stand listening to.

Main characters of pretty much any RPG/JRPG are either moody and brooding or boastful and vain. Zidane SEEMS like he's gonna fit one of those archetypes from the beginning, but man, his story arch is so freaking cool. So relatable, and his relationship with Vivi just brings it to another level.

Honestly I think IX's story ruined all other JRPG stories for me. Even stuff like Lost Odyssey I just couldn't get into because I wasn't getting that amazing character-driven plot to keep me hooked. Other games feel like they try to go over the deep end with plot to engage you, and they seem so hyper-aware of the emotions they want you to feel, whereas IX just kind of showed it to you with pretty simple dialogue and graphics and let you be the judge.

I wanted to like IX, but the pacing of the story is terrible. By the time I reached the end of the first disc and was still bored to tears, I figured it was better to just cut my losses and drop it. Also not a fan of most of the cast, or the character designs, or the bland, foggy overworld, or ANY of the annoying mechanics/mini-games related to Quina.

@Matthew010 If you have a PS4, I HIGHLY recommend Final Fantasy VII Remake. The fusion of action-based and turn-based combat is incredibly fun, and it's actually a modern game with high production values.

On Switch, they're pretty much all turn-based except for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.

I generally agree, but I actually liked Lost Odyssey and some of its characters a lot. Not as much as FFIX, but FFIX didn't have...random short stories of events that have nothing to do with anything! (I'm serious though, those extra stories are absolutely great and are way, way better than a lot of the tedious extra lore you'd find in certain RPGs)

Uh, no thank you. The best part of JRPGs are the story elements, that's why I play them, but there's a million other games with either more focus on gameplay I want to experience or a story I haven't seen in its entirety. At least now I'll have the time and money for other JRPGs (one of which is a mainline FF game at least).

Tragically this is also why I also probably won't play Skies of Arcadia or Suikoden 2. Trust me, I'm also actually upset by this, but at least I got to experience those games in some form (Suikoden 2 was one of the best LPs ever btw).

@BruceCM thanks for the recommendation on cosmic star heroine. Just finished it, and it was solid.

Cool, @NintendoByNature .... Which FF are you going to play, then, @kkslider5552000?

XII. It just seems like a game I'd probably really enjoy for various reasons and is definitely above other FF games for me in terms of what I'd want to try next. It and the original Tactics game anyway.

Cool, let us know how those go, then, @kkslider5552000 ....

@kkslider5552000
Lost Odyssey's little stories were definitely far better than all the "extra lore" in rpgs and other games. Every game feels like it needs to have some sort of compendium and a world on the scale of Tolkien's these days. It's exhausting. Soon we'll have a 2D Mario platformer with some sort of journal with paragraphs detailing the inner emotional workings of a goomba. Gag me. (Please Nintendo, I joke, but don't prove me right lol)

I'm just not in for the heavier stuff when I game, I guess. I'm a big reader, always have been, so when I want melodrama and really heavy stuff, I gravitate toward my books and maybe a movie every now and then. I like the lighter fare when I play games, so FF IX was absolutely perfect. I still go back to play it every now and then on my PS2. Maybe I'll even buy it for Switch one day.

I don't understand why this whole paragraph wasn't caught by the profanity filter? Lol.

"bland, foggy overworld". Lol, the continent you start on is called the Mist Continent. The Mist is part of the story. It only exists on that one continent. And later in the story, they find out how to stop it appearing. It's all part of the story.

@NintendoByNature I started playing it today. Its fun. Nice little linear game. Only like an hour in.

@komodo182 yea it's not too long. Think my play through was 11hrs. It's a great little time