Final Fantasy Series

Okay, we all knew that this was going to pop up in here at some point...

SO answer a few questions for me! (And I'll post mine up after a while.)

Which one is you favorite?
Least favorite?
Top Five Favorite Characters?
Bottom Five Least Favorite?
Best Villains, In Your Opinion?
Best Heroes, In Your Opinion?
Best plot?
Worst plot?
Best memories?
Additional Info?

Which one is you favorite?
FF6 (snes FF3) although FF7 was my first FF game and I didn't play 6 until the PS1 release, I grew to appreciate FF6 more in the long run.

Least favorite?
I don't find any of the FF games unlikable, but I have to say that 9 was probably my least fav.

Top Five Favorite Characters?
In no particular order (because that would be hard)
Lightning
Celes
Rydia
Auron
Locke

Bottom Five Least Favorite?
Dreadlocks guy from 9, for being so unimportant that I don't remember his name.
Seymour (I feel bad to say that since I know my friends like him very much)
Wakka (I don't hate him as much as some do, though)
Palam and Porom it's like jesus you guys are annoying then you turn into rocks.

Best Villains, In Your Opinion?
Kefka
Golbez
Sephiroth
Sin (like, the actual blobby thing that kills folks)
Edea (who turned out not to actually be bad but still she was cool)

Best Heroes, In Your Opinion?
As much as I hate to admit it, I think the FF13 cast did the most growing and overcoming their inner demons.  Too bad the external plot was like "wut."

I love Yuna too because she was willing to sacrifice her own life, but in the end, when it came to sacrificing others, she would not do it despite all of her friends being willing to go with her.

Best plot?
Final fantasy 6 had my favorite plot because the story was presented very well without bogging down the game.  Characters you recruit may not be important to the long-term plot, but you come back to their sub-plots here and there throughout the game.  It isn't just like "well, I'm going with you now" and you never hear from them again.  The fact that the villain actually takes over the world, and the second part of the game is spent exploring the ruined world is so awesome.

Worst plot?
I don't even know where to start.  A lot of them were pretty bad.  And it isn't that they didn't have something good there, but it seems that somewhere along the way they had too many cooks making the stew, or they didn't know how to edit, or they had no idea how to resolve plot issues so shit just happens.  I think my most "WTF are you serious" moment was in FF8 when you find out that the whole gang knows each other, and they all just lost their memories of knowing each other, sand Rinoa.  And she didn't say anything because she thought she would sound crazy.  Why did they lose their memories?  because that's what happens when you use a GF.  But none of them noticed.  Nobody told them maybe they should keep a journal when they start using the GFs so they don't forget important shit.  No Garden school counselor was like "maybe we shouldn't submit 17 year olds to memory-wiping mind trauma."

Best memories?
The opera house scene in FF6 is so great for me because not only am I a lockexceles shipper, but also I love Ultros.
Every time Hope holds his knife aggressively in FF13.  Kid has problems.
When Laguna finds Raine's grave in FF8's ending sequence.
Aeris dying.  SHUT UP OK.
FFX-2 special ending, when Yuna pushes Tidus off the thing.

Additional Info?
I also ship EdgexRydia and kind of like everybody in FF13.

GlanceReviver wrote:Bottom Five Least Favorite?
Dreadlocks guy from 9, for being so unimportant that I don't remember his name.
Seymour (I feel bad to say that since I know my friends like him very much)
Wakka (I don't hate him as much as some do, though)
Palam and Porom it's like jesus you guys are annoying then you turn into rocks.

Best Villains, In Your Opinion?
Sin (like, the actual blobby thing that kills folks)

Worst plot?
I think my most "WTF are you serious" moment was in FF8 when you find out that the whole gang knows each other, and they all just lost their memories of knowing each other, sand Rinoa.  And she didn't say anything because she thought she would sound crazy.  Why did they lose their memories?  because that's what happens when you use a GF.  But none of them noticed.  Nobody told them maybe they should keep a journal when they start using the GFs so they don't forget important shit.  No Garden school counselor was like "maybe we shouldn't submit 17 year olds to memory-wiping mind trauma."

Best memories?
Aeris dying.  SHUT UP OK.
FFX-2 special ending, when Yuna pushes Tidus off the thing.

All of this made me lol.  xD  

I have to admit that your comments over the losing memories due to the GF....I never even THOUGHT of that.  Seriously, these characters are not the only people (or creatures) to use GF, so it really is a good point that someone wouldn't have noticed that by now.  Having every single one of them, except for Rinoa, being from the same place when they were little always seemed a little to coincidental to me, however.

I also have to say that the way Wakka talked and his HAIR always bugged the shit outta me.  Not a little, a LOT.  I could never, ever stand it!  And when his KID gets that hair in the game after....I just wanted to cry for that poor child.  And I can agree completely with you on every single one of your other character dislikes.  

I am indifferent on Aeris' death, but the way you put that was definitely hilarious.  Sometimes, people have to die and I think we should appreciate that death.  I also loved this particular special ending for FFX-2, despite not liking the game overall.

Okay, first of all, I've only fully played the FF games from FFVI and onwards (except for FFXI, not into MMORPGs). I have tried playing each of the older NES/SNES ones, but I just couldn't get into them. With that said, here we go (SPOILERS will be included!);

Which one is you favorite?
FFVIII; I love the story, setting and characters. Almost shockingly, it's the only FF game (possibly even the only RPG) in which I like the entire playable cast!

Least favorite?
As a whole, FFIX doesn't do much for me anymore (I liked it when I was younger).
FFXII gets a mention too for most boring FF story I've ever witnessed, but the large open-world exploration makes up for it.

Top Five Favorite Characters?
Uhm... okay... I'll list one of each game, which will be more than 5. Annoying limit! =P
Celes (FFVI)
Hmm, no-one really stands out as favorite in FFVII... *skip*
Squall (FFVIII - I can associate myself best with him, I'm not very social myself)
Zidane
Paine (FFX/FFX-2 - what did you expect, she's a female Squall)
Balthier is the only (playable) FFXII character who doesn't bore me to tears
Lightning (FFXIII/FFXIII-2)

Bottom Five Least Favorite?
Vanille - Stop giggling, stop hopping around, stop forcing hugs on people who are feeling down, stop lying, stop it all!!! I don't like her at all. >.>

Quina
Cait Sith
Rikku
Yuffie
(While it's true that the girls on this list are all the same character-type, I'd like to point out I absolutely adore Selphie)

Best Villains, In Your Opinion?
Hojo (FFVII)
FFVIII is a bit lacking in having a truly memorable villain, Adel and Ultimecia are both underdeveloped, but pretty cool regardless.
Kuja (FFIX)
Seymour (FFX) If Seymour wasn't in the game, I don't think I would like it all that much, because Sin is the kind of "villain" I find terribly boring.
Dr. Cid (FFXII) "Mhm-hm-hm! Nhahaha! No pity from me!" *pulls giant gattling gun out of thin air* RATATATA!!!! <= he's awesome xD
Barthandelus (FFXIII) Now this guy is just awesome as well, one of my absolute favorites above the regular favorites.

Best Heroes, In Your Opinion?
Well, as I said, FFVIII is the only FF game in which I like the entire playable cast. And hey, SeeD members are generally quite badass.
Btw, FFXIII is runner-up for having a mostly likeable cast;

Vanille is the only one I dislike. (And I'll be one of the few Vanille-haters who will admit even she has some good moments, mostly her interaction with Sazh)

Best plot?
FFVIII again. While I agree with GlanceReviver's mentioning of FFVIII's orphanage scene being a big WTF moment, I just kinda shrugged it off. But as a whole, I basically like the general plot of the game.

Worst plot?
Well, uh, did you read that bit up above where I mentioned FFXII's story is the most awfully boring FF story I've ever witnessed?
FFXIII-2 gets a mention as well for being a poorly executed time travel plot which was a major dissapointment for me.

Best memories?
FFVI - Most scenes which have Kefka going batshit crazy and doing stuff just for the "evulz".

FFVII - Gotta love Hojo going nuts at the end when he's charging the cannon and then you fight him with the J-E-N-O-V-A theme playing while he goes through ridiculous transformations.

FFVIII - Adel! Every FMV which has her in it is wicked cool (and she smiles so nicely *cough*).
Also, there's this part where Squall gets thrown off Balamb Garden on a hovering platform-thingie together with a soldier, and then they're hanging on a rope and you have to punch the soldier off. I thought that was quite epic. xD

FFIX - Kuja destroying Terra all by himself.

FFX - Yunalesca. Hello there, lady with the giant demonic Medusa head underneath you! o.o

FFXII - I repeat; Dr. Cid: "Mhm-hm-hm! Nhahaha! No pity from me!" *pulls giant gattling gun out of thin air* RATATATA!!!! Awesome battle event is awesome!

FFXIII - Every scene which has Barthandelus in it prior to fighting him; "Either way, the end is at hand! MWUHAHAHAHA~! <added dramatic effect when the Fighting Fate theme starts playing while he laughs>

I love his evil laugh, props to his voice actor. :]

Additional Info?
Uuhmm... lemme think... oh yeah; FFXIII-2 => adult Hope is a hottie. :3

...What'? That's additional info!
Anyways, that's about it.

I just realize that by putting Aeris's death under "best memories" it insinuated that I dislike her.  The reason I put that there is because I remember 14-year-old me being so sad and trying to bring her back to no avail, so it holds nostalgic value.  Later in life I don't really care either way and find her death a bit useless in the plot (not the fact that she died, but the reasons for her going off by herself seem so contrived).  But it still makes me sad because of feels.  That's why I put the "shut up ok" because it is embarrassing for me. XD

Leave it to Leah to ask a lot of us...    I haven't said much of anything on Final Fantasy for years, but here goes.

Where to start...? I've only played a small number of them. VII, X, X-2, and XII are the only games I own, so if I answer any questions or voice any type of input, I'll only be considering the ones I listed.

Which one is your favorite?
Final Fantasy XII. I actually 'liked' the story it was telling and got into it quickly. To top it all off, all the exploration sealed the deal. Traveling back and forth so often did become redundant at times, but I just didn't care. If it had to be done, it had to be done. This is also a great game for me to play if I really need to kill time. The game keeps me busy even in the post-game where my main objective is to just clear as many Hunts as I can and do other sidequests.

Least Favorite?
X-2. Bet you saw that coming? I wouldn't say I downright hate it, because I really don't. But the sheer stupidity it holds at times gave me plenty of 'facepalm' moments. The battle system was quite enjoyable though, best part of the game by far.

Top 5 Favorite Characters
If I can even make a top 5... And I cannot, so...
Cloud Strife - The one character I can relate to the most. He and I are so similar in many ways. I don't have his emotional problems though. (And an interesting note, he has been a victim of motion sickness. As have I, especially when I was young.   )

Yuna - Soft spoken, brave... I'd say more, but I went in a bit more detail with Yuna later in this post.

Balthier - My favorite of FFXII. He was just awesome and is very easy to take a liking to.

Yuffie - Didn't see this one coming? I've been guilty for this one for a long time. She had no impact on the plot of FFVII, but a character really doesn't need to for me at times. I've always liked the 'rebellious' ones with bad attitudes, and that's what Yuffie is in a nutshell to me. At least I'm honest.

I don't have 5 least favorite characters, but here are a couple:
Cait Sith - Worst. Character. EVER.

Vaan - Not that I outright hate him, but the kid has as much personality as a paper bag. Half the time if he wasn't on the screen, you'd forget that Vaan is even there. At least he isn't so useless when fighting though.

Everyone else I'm largely indifferent towards.

Best Villains?
This one is tough, being that I played so few of the games that I should probably play it safe and say Sephiroth. Sure, the "god-complex/destroy the world" thing is so overused its ridiculous, but his methods were a heck of a lot better than what the other villains in my other games were trying to do. Hojo is a very close second however. He turned out to be really insane, but what do you expect out of someone who immerses himself in research with little regard for others, let alone himself?

Best Heroes?
Yuna was already mentioned by GlanceReviver here, and I'm doing so also for the same reason. I can't help but give Yuna a serious amount of credit for her bravery considering what she was going to face in the long run and knew what she had to do, ready to give up her life for the sake of others. Not many folks would be willing to do this, especially against a foe like Sin.

Best memories?
Aeris's death, and I feel bad for even mentioning it. This scene however is extremely powerful and made a big impression on me, to the point that I will never ever forget it no matter what comes along in the future. Out of ALL the games I played, nothing really affected me like this one.

Additional Info?
Nothing at the moment. I had to really dig in deep for some of this, as the last FF I actively played was VII and that was a while ago.

Wow, that took forever...    But that's my take on it all.

Which one is you favorite?
--Final Fantasy VIII with Final Fantasy VI as a close second!

Least favorite?
--Final Fantasy X-2, because it the gameplay was more of a fashion show than a game to me.  I didn't enjoy that aspect of it.  "Oh, please, let me put on my heavenly clothes, because only then I can heal you!" and "Wait!  I must wear these skimpy goth-styled clothing in order to deal more damage!" don't really work for me.  Just sayin'.

Top Five Favorite Characters?
--Sorceress Edea, Zell Dincht, Yuna, Balthier, and Kimahri Ronso.

Bottom Five Least Favorite?
--Steiner, Vaan, Cloud Strife, Garnet, and Leblanc.  

Best Villains, In Your Opinion?
--KEFKA.  All the way!

Best Heroes, In Your Opinion?
--Yuna, in my opinion.

Best plot?
--Final Fantasy VI

Worst plot?
--Final Fantasy XIII

Best memories?
--Playing side plots to get GFs on FFVIII, especially the annoying ones like the Tonberry King, when I was supposed to be doing homework was a lot of fun.   I'd always get flustered when I had to start over and when I got mad, I'd nag my mom to help me in exchange for actually doing my homework.

Additional Info?
--I don't think I like where the Final Fantasy series is going.  It seems to be declining more and more as we continue in the series and this disappoints me.  Perhaps they should end this series and start another.

On decline of the Final Fantasy series:

I think that the main problem is that their ability to tell stories has not evolved as far as their ability to produce cinematic FMV. Older Final Fantasy games such as 4 and 6 had similar issues with random plot threads, nonsensical characters, etc. But because the format was exploring a vast world and stumbling upon things, it worked very well. 7-9 was sort of a transitional phase where stories were still voiceless, and only the most important cutscenes were fully animated. Character development had to take place via in-game events, and there was still a lot of exploration. Ever since FFX, Final Fantasy's story has been more of a passive experience, like watching a movie. The problem is that their story-telling skills haven't evolved to keep up. An active experience and a passive one are very different things to write. You need a more focused conflict, and less random elements.

It's almost like the Star Wars prequels thing. Somebody gets their hands on a bunch of shiny graphics and they don't know what to do with them, everything goes to hell.

I personally consider FFXIII an improvement over FFXII, so I don't fully agree with the series declining.

I think the main problem with FFXIII was its extreme linear locations which had pretty much zero options for exploration (the only exception being Gran Pulse) and of course, no towns/cities to explore either. But storywise I really enjoyed the game;

it's among my favorite ones in that regard. I also considered it an improvement over FFXII because story is the most important thing for me in an RPG. And as I've said before, FFXII's story completely failed to catch my interest in any way whatsoever.

[I'm aware a lot of people think of FFXIII as a miserable failure, but as I explained above, I very much enjoyed it for its story and characters - minus Vanille]

FFXIII-2 improved the gameplay aspect; more exploration, an attempt at including a large city [size=85](which I personally still found boring to explore, lol)[/size], minigames, improved battle system, more customization... I thought gameplay was greatly improved.

But the story, omg, massive disappointment! It really seems to me like FFXIII-2's story is the weirdest, random nonsense they could have come up with because of its random time travel plot [size=85](read: it seems to me as if the script writer couldn't think of a proper way to continue the story, so just pulled a poor random idea out of his ass)[/size]. Because of this, despite the improved gameplay, I don't like FFXIII-2 nearly as much as FFXIII. I've already replayed FFXIII fully once, but I cancelled my attempt at replaying FFXIII-2 after only an hour into the story. >.>

For me, a combination of FFXIII's story/characters with FFXIII-2's gameplay would be the ideal "FFXIII game". It doesn't look like Lightning Returns will offer this experience, though. At least, from what I've seen so far I've got only average expectations of Lightning Returns. Hopefully I'm wrong, but then again, with lower expectations comes less disappointment. =p

Anyway, that's just my thoughts on where the series currently stands, i.e. since I enjoyed FFXIII, but not FFXIII-2, I've got mixed feelings at the moment.

Well, spoiler time

Spoiler:

I actually really like IX XD

Which one is your favorite? FF IX, also in my opinion has the best songs in the whole series overall. After a bit of a disappointing VIII (for me anyway), IX is like a throwback to the older FFs which I really love.

Least favorite? It's hard to choose because after FF X-2 every FF is always a letdown for me, every.single.one. I actually tried really hard to like them again but for some reason I just couldn't. To this day I have no idea why. I've tried to play XII, XIII, and even XIV the MMO lol XD

Top Five Favorite Characters? It's hard to choose (again) cause I have several categories for this XD for example, I can like a character based on his/her design but absolutely dislike that character's development, etc. Anyway, in no particular order:
- Garnet
- Beatrix
- Rikku
- Selphie
- Rydia

Bottom Five Least Favorite? Similar like my favorite characters above XD
- Quina
- Squall
- Cait Sith
- Vanille
- Edward

Best Villains, In Your Opinion? Kefka!

Best Heroes, In Your Opinion? Zidane is my favorite, but that's mostly because IX is my favorite lol.

Best plot? I really like VI, also IX (minus Necron because... seriously, wth?)

Worst plot? I don't think I can choose, since I don't think I found any FF's plot to be that bad to be ranked worst (although I disliked all FFs after X-2 lol)

Best memories?
The Maria and Draco opera scene in FFVI is too good not to be mentioned. Absolutely love it.
I want to be your canary!'s first play, with Vivi trying to get in
I want to be your canary!'s ending sequence with melodies of life : ]
(apparently I love plays.... lol..)
FFVIII's Ragnarok first appearance
First time getting into village of Dali and absolutely fell in love with the song...

Additional Info?
uhhh well... I've never played XI? XD

I always find it interesting how people differ on the FF9 issue.

For me, I never did feel the throwback to older games. The older FF games always had some aspect of weird Amano-inspired technology, usually the characters were adults (Cecil, Bartz, Terra), and the designs were more wispy and ethereal. There were humorous parts, but overall the story was kinda mature, with lots of adult-oriented drama. Lots of tragedy and loss in those stories. Even in the pre-FF4 age when there was very little plot to speak of, and the characters were interchangeable onion kids, there were always dark turns.

FF9 didn't really invoke either of those time periods for me. But it is totally up to personal experience. I think this is why that particular title is so divisive in the fandom. Some people remember the older games in different ways, and maybe that is why.

But I will agree, FF9 has the best song by far, and one of the best OST's of the franchise overall. I think I'd only place FF6 over it on my personal list.

I would love to see a new Final Fantasy game where Amano could be the actual designer, and not just a name they tag on for tradition's sake. Maybe it would look something like the FMV sequences from Anthology (the port of 5 and 6 to PS1) which I thought were really great for the time.

FFIX was the first FF game I ever played. I originally liked it back then, but as I started playing other FF games, FFIX soon became one of my lesser favorites (it's my least favorite one of the PS1-era).

I pretty much played them backwards;

FFIX => FFVIII => FFVII => FFVI and then FFX and onwards (as I said in my first reply, I couldn't get into the older ones; I tried, but just couldn't get into them).

FFIX' OST, however, ain't for me either. I just find that FFIX' OST generally has a sad feel to it. And by "sad" I don't mean the music is bad, but just that the tone of a lot of FFIX' music has kind of a depressing feel to it. At least to me. Or let's put it this way; I definitely wouldn't listen to FFIX' music when I'm feeling down, because it would just depress me even more then.
You can compare it to Xenogears' "The Treasure Which Cannot Be Stolen" music track; as I've said before, while I like that theme, I don't listen to it when I'm feeling down for the same reason. Slow, sad-sounding music tends to have that kind of effect on me.
PS: My favorite FF OST happens to belong to my favorite FF game as well; FFVIII.

Heh, it's kinda funny; I've noticed my least favorite OSTs are usually the ones the composers themselves consider some of their best works. Iirc Nobuo Uematsu once said the FFIX OST is one of his favorite FF works, yet one of my least favorites. And Yasunori Mitsuda I think also listed some Xenosaga I tracks as his favorite works, while the XSI OST is pretty much my least favorite of his works (out of the ones I've heard). Kinda weird, I guess... xD

Xernova wrote:FFIX was the first FF game I ever played. I originally liked it back then, but as I started playing other FF games, FFIX soon became one of my lesser favorites (it's my least favorite one of the PS1-era).

It's funny because I went through a phase like that (kinda reminds me of when I lost my love for anything Disney when I discovered Ghibli and anime in general... my love for Disney also came back those last few years). FF9 was also my first FF (and RPG). However, after I decided to rewatch the game on Youtube for nostalgia reasons, my love for it came back full force. Maybe I like it more than ever before actually. Rewatching FF8 after it was the total opposite. I liked it back in the days but now it's my least favorite of the PS1 era.

Which one is you favorite?

Easy.

FF9 : First love. I love the humor, the colorful/creative world, the music (I won't go in detail but it was wonderful, except maybe for the battle songs which are not Uematsu's bests *FF7 might have the best ones I think, FF8/6 also have good ones... 12/13 as well but they're not by Uematsu*), the many references to previous FFs, the touching and/or amusing characters (save maybe Amarant who felt like an afterthought... Beatrix would have been better to get), the mini-games, the moogles, the perfect cutscenes (DAT orchestral music), the story (which appears to be whimsical at first but have actually serious dark themes explored, death being the major one)... Only complaints I have is that the game is pretty slow and we should have control over trance (apparently, it was a deliberate choice not to allow us to control it but I don't like it). Gameplay wasn't the most original but I really liked it (especially being able to learn abilities with the equipment, having various pieces of equipment, each character being unique, party of 4... maybe the game could have done more with the concept of co-op between 2 characters because Vivi/Steiner was a nice idea, the only jRPGs I know that did the co-op thing were Chrono Trigger, Wild Arms and Xenosaga 2). And think whatever you want about the SD look but at least, it looked original. I really liked how the game looked like a cartoon. I miss unique artstyles for the FF series. Why does everything have to look now like Advent Children or even be in full 3D ?

FF6 : While I do recognize that FF6 didn't develop its characters as much as in the Ps1 era, they were all pretty memorable and likable (save of course for obvious additional party members like Gogo or Umaro... and arguably Mog but moogles are cute and iconic and Mog from the FF6 commercial was HILARIOUS). The music is probably Uematsu's best. Battles, much like FF9, are nothing too groundbreaking but they were still nice. The story is good and sad (I dig the steampunk/operaish flavor). World of ruins was genius stuff (storywise and gameplaywise). Amano designs are AMAZING ! If this game was remade or turned into a movie, I want the characters to be in Amano style, in cellshading/2D too because pure 3D kinda ruins Amano uniqueness to me. To me, it was clearly the first FF to be genuinely emotional (FF4 tried but I wasn't feeling it).

FF7 : this one bothered me for a while but now, it's clearly in my Top 3. The story is clearly the most daring and rich of the series. Characters are overall pretty likable (I just couldn't care less about Sephiroth and Cait Sith is my least favorite but that's it) and I wish Cloud wasn't the imposed leader in battle for this reason (that's why I enjoyed this one time when he wasn't). They're more developped than in previous games (and FF8/12)... Cloud especially is pretty complex. My complaint would be that you can completely forget about some of them by not having them in your party, taking part of the adventure (maybe it's great for replay value but it bothered me not to see all of them having back and forth during some scenes... the next FF games developped the "team of friends" feeling better overall). The music is good (it has a few masterpieces *basically : Main/Cloud's theme, Aerith's theme and One Winged Angel* and some good other pieces of music too... however, the midi quality is horrible). Gameplay is one the most amusing of the series (materias... I still feel like the system isn't as complex as somes make it out to be *sometimes, I just end up placing materias at random really*). Sidequests... some are good, but overall, I'd say they just have the potential to be great and very enjoyable but the game makes them either a bit boring or painful to play (on the other hand, winning feels so good and rewarding after the suffering... Gold Saucer shooting game anyone ?).

Least favorite?

FF4 : the storyline isn't that great. Gameplay isn't too bad but not mindblowing either. I don't care about the characters... except for Rydia maybe. Music was nice but I don't remember all of it.

FF8 : underexplored characters except for the hero and heroine. Ultimecia was lame (Edea seemed better... plus, her design is less messy and still very effective *she looks like the Queen from Snow White, that's awesome*). I CAN'T with Triple Triad. The soundtrack has a few nice pieces but it's my least favorite soundtrack of the Ps1 overall. I didn't understood junction for the longest time. In the end, it's not too complicated but this system has a big flaw : you can go from 9999 HP to 1500 HP (or something lower) during battle if the enemy blocks the magic you associated (don't remember if it's Heal... something like that). It happened to me during the last fight. I honestly think Laguna is the only reason to play this game. This game would be better if it was more about the Raine/Laguna/Ellone/Squall family drama than Squall/Rinoa and that one random evil witch (of course, I'm not saying the game should have erased the Squall/Rinoa romance but it should have made it less of a focus and more some sort of "hey, your girlfriend is my first love's daughter ! Life is funny, son."

... I would have done without Ultimecia, Seifer and the rest of the main party... basically, I only enjoy the stuff that reminds me of the movie Big Fish in this game lol).

The FF13 fake trilogy : because, except for the music (which was always good), it ruined the things I liked about FF13. Sure, the next games were more gamey... but at what cost. Terrible mess.

Top Five Favorite Characters?

Ugh... I will have a hard time with this one. I like a lot of characters at the same level.

- Aerith : the original one, the one who was streetsmart, bold, independant, fun and still flawed. Her compassion and bravery too. And her design. She was useful and storywise, she saved the planet. I spent quite some time defending her back in the days, her and FF9's worth. I still think it's sad to hate her just because of ship wars (she was a good friend of Tifa, so what gives) or because she wears pink or whatever. And I find it even sadder when some people remember her as the sweet dumb docile girl of FF7 (Crisis Core, I hate you).

- Balthier : Han Solo... of Final Fantasy. I can't dislike. I CAN'T.

- Sazh : People who say he's your "stereotype black guy" ... he's my favorite type of male character. A funny guy who can be serious too, a good father figure, a guy who could be tempted by vengeance but has still ethics. He's like a black Spike Spiegel (except maybe for the father figure thing). I just loved this dude. His part with Vanille was so heartwarming... and tense when he discovered the truth. Sad thing he belongs to the most hated (and screwed over) game of the franchise.

- Zidane : most fun/enjoyable main character of the PS1 era... and PS2 while we're at it. To me, he's like a flirty version of Edward Elric from FMA (physically, they're sort of similar and they have the same japanese voice actress too now). He's just a lovable flirty dork.

- Laguna : His personal story was great to follow, he was a dork, fun, he has a nice weapon and battle theme too... and I felt so much for him at the end.

Bonus ones : the entire FF7 party except Cait, the Turks, Vivi, Freya, Beatrix, Yuna, Auron, Terra, Celes, Edgar, Setzer, Ashe, Fran, Fang, Vanille, Faris, Rydia...

Bottom Five Least Favorite?

- Snow : most irritating and stupid character of the game. Near the end of the game, I had warmed up to every party members except him (I couldn't care less about Serah either because of him... yeah, worst romance of the saga maybe).

- Seifer : Same as above ? He was just insufferable (in a more douchebag kind of way). And siding with the bad side for most of the game on top of it (the advantage is that I could beat the crap outta him lol).

- Sephiroth : "Look at meeeee ! I'm the villain ! I'm so cool. I'm darrrrkk with a long coat and long hair and a longgggg sword and a long noseeeeeee..."

Yeah, no. The guy is bland as hell and is passed as the coolest badass dude ever. The worst thing is... he's technically more developped than Kefka !

- Wakka : ugh... he looks dumb, he's racist, he sounds annoying, he cursed his child with the worst haircut ever... To me, he's pretty much like Reyn from Xenoblade... except he's racist on top of it. Only good thing about him is that he's pretty strong so I used him a lot during battles.

- Seymour : He has Sephiroth's mama issues with the worst voice acting and chara design ever. Plus, he kissed Yuna and he's annoying to boot after his death.

Bonus ones : Lenna, Cait Sith, Gau, Edward, Genesis (most of the Compil new villains I guess), every FF13 villains (such a failure... and yet their design looked nice), Snow's stupid gang, Branet (okay, it was intentional but she's still unlikable so), Jecht.

Best Villains, In Your Opinion?

Kuja : He was great. Egotistical (which could be quite funny... I loved what Hilda had to say about him, seems like she enjoyed her captivity lol), poetic, screwed over by Zidane's existence (leading him to complete madness at the end)... The thong never shocked me  :zimlol: .

Kefka : Underdevelopped villain, true but he belongs to a SNES game and most characters weren't deep at that time (and at least, he's most memorable than the previous villains). But his design is awesome. He's completely crual and mad... and hilarious too. I think that's what makes him impressive... his colorful design and funny lines contrast with the sadism and utter madness. He's like the Joker, kinda. Also, I like the theory surrounding his past (it would make him an old friend of Shadow I think). He also managed to destroy the world. Period. Also, I'm quite fascinated by the puppeteer/puppet relationship he had with Terra. If there was a remake, I wish this (among other things) was developped further.

Hojo : he was kinda the main villain if you look at it closely. He's responsible for almost everyone's suffering (even Sephiroth).

Cid : He was cool. He was Balthier's dad so it runs in the family. Not the best villain of the series for sure but nice villain for a game that didn't develop the story and characters too much.

JENOVA : because I love creepy monster villain. Think Deus/Miang. JENOVA's theme is quite nice too.

Best Heroes, In Your Opinion?

Cloud for the twists/complexity. Terra for the emotion. Zidane for the fun. And Balthier is the leading man.

Best plot?

FF7, I think.

Worst plot?

FF4. Or maybe FF8. But because the FF13 "saga" is such an embarrassing mess, I will go for that one. I don't think the first FF games were too interesting storywise but I didn't play them so I won't judge those.

Best memories?

FF6 :

- choosing which team/character we want to follow the story for
- getting Celes
- the ghost train
- the opera
- Esper Terra
- world of ruins.

FF7 :

- the opening
- Midgar. This city is awesome.
- Cloud freaking out at Wall Market (this missable scene took me by surprise and spooked me). The crossdressing also.
- Shinra tower stuff
- Cloud telling Aerith he will take her flying some day (oh the feels, it's sadder if the picture of Aerith watching the Highwind appears at the end of the Disk).
- The observatory.
- Aerith dying and Cloud being heartbroken.
- Getting saved by the old man in the mountains (I can imagine the party drinking hot chocolate to recover and listening to the old guy's stories by the fire or something).
- Tifa escaping her cell/slap fight.
- Tifa crying over "losing" Cloud (in Mideel)
- Comatose Cloud advertizing Xenogears.
- Cloud's "memories" of kidTifa (I felt so much for her losing her mom)
- the ending (I like it, the almost hand holding, the lifestream coming out is so beautiful... and the music ahhhhhh and I like how the game ends on Aerith's face... it kind of goes full circle since the first thing we see during the opening is her face).

FF8 :

- Squall's dreams of Laguna.
- Selphie's blog
- Fisherman Horizon.
- The concert ( :zimlol: ).
- Rinoa being all spooky in space. Oh, and Laguna's cameo lol.
- I also liked the ending because fighting Ultimecia was always so long, it felt rewarding.

FF9 :

I played the game so much that I almost ended up knowing the first Disk by heart. But really :
- Garnet jumping and Zidane and Steiner going after her  :zimlol: .
- the cutscene from Dali to Lindblum.
- Lindblum.
- Garnet singing.
- Playing hot and cold.
- Burmecia (sad place).
- Playing Garnet (and aww, little Garnet flachback).
- Cleyra tree and the dance.
- this sweet place we crash into after saving Garnet (and parting with friends)
- NEW CONTINENT
- Eiko's village (and Garnet/Zidane sweet moment on the boat... followed by a pretty cutscene)
- Ifa tree (creepy place, I love the music)
- the night at Black Mage village
- Branet's demise (cool but very sad at the same time)
- the end of Disk 2 (Garnet, you're breaking my heart, seriously, this disk ending is so sad and solemn)
- getting the Eidolons back
- the love letter (ahah)
- Vivi coming home for a while
- EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS AT ALEXANDRIA (magical, tragic, epic... beautiful stuff)
- trying to fix Cid's body ( :zimlol: )
- Oeilvert : weird weird place and I felt so vulnerable/lonely during this part. I remember struggling against the boss... and having a miraculous Phoenix saving the day. I didn't know what the hell happened back then
- anytime I got a new chocobo
- Kuja's palace
- Esto Gaza
- Hilda
- Garnet cutting her hair
- AIRSHIP
- Terra
- "You're not alone"
- Kuja getting nuts
- entering Memoria
- Memoria itself
- Zidane's matrix move (wtf lol)
- the entire ending (never a FF got such a rich ending imo).

Yeah, this is a lot but this game screams "NOSTALGIA" to me.

FF10 : "3D ? Voice acting ? This game is weird."

- Sin destroying Kilika (plus, it reminded me of the tsunami in asia back in the day).
- Yuna's dance.
- Tidus and Yuna moment watching the sunset.
- Sin killing everyone (it always shocks me when one the dudes from Besaid dies).
- Selenos (pretty)
- visiting the dead in Guadosalam
- under Macalania
- Tidus learning the truth
- Yuna jumping
- Yuna's trial
- the Tidus/Yuna talk and kiss at Macalania (especially the talk, it had me in tears)
- Tidus learning the truth about himself (the scene is soooooo creepy, omg, the music is eerie and everything is melting)
- getting to Zanarkand/Yuna's sphere (so sad)
- fighting Yunalesca
- AIRSHIP (yeah, freedom)
- dark aeons (creepy creepy creepy and much too powerful for me)
- Magus Sisters (they're my favorite aeons)
- a cactuar committing suicide at the top on the airship
- the ending.

I will stop here because it's too long... and FF12 wasn't very impactful to me in the end anyway.

Additional Info?

I don't care much about the future of the series since FF12 and I didn't hate FF13 (the "Lightning saga" is another thing entirely). I still hope FF15 will be good. And I don't think the series should return to old style gameplay (EXCEPT if they also give us back pretty 2D painted backgrounds).

I just realised I never replied to this thread, for whatever reason. XD I'd like to preface my answers by stating which ones I've played: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, XIII, Tactics, Tactics Advance, Tactics Advance 2. (italicized ones are unfinished)

Which one is you favorite?
Totally IX! Runners up would be IV, V, VI, VII, X.

Least favorite?
VIII. The other ones I never finished are ones I plan on going back to, and I might get back to this one someday, but only for Laguna's parts. Runner up would be II (because I rage quit it lol).

Top Five Favorite Characters?
Kain, Bartz, Edgar, Zidane, Cloud. Runners up: Rydia, Celes, Locke, Sabin, Setzer, Faris, Tifa, Laguna, Yuna, Tidus, Vanille, Ashe, the Turks, Vivi, Steiner, Beatrix, Ramza, etc.

Bottom Five Least Favorite?
I can't say there are any characters that I don't like, there are just a lot that I'm neutral toward. I'm not particularly fond of Squall, but that might be it.

Best Villains, In Your Opinion?
Kefka! And Kuja too.

Best Heroes, In Your Opinion?
Zidane, Yuna, Cloud.

Best plot?
VI, VII, IX, X.

Worst plot?
To me, VIII. I's plot was pretty non-existent, though I suppose that's 'cause it's an old game. I don't remember III's plot being that super either, but it's been a long time since I played it.

Best memories?
-The summer I played VII with my sister watching. I'd play it for hours each night and we just had a lot of fun.
-I love the opening of IX.
-Playing around on V at my aunt's house.

Additional Info?
I got into the Final Fantasy series by watching Advent Children. XD I got my friend to watch it and she went and bought VII, and after she finished it I borrowed it from her. I think after that I borrowed IV Advance from her, then bought IX on my own.

Well then, looks like I never replied to this either.  Here goes!

Which one is your favorite?
I reluctantly say 7 for the hours I've put in fandom-wise, but if not for 7, it's 4.  FF4 was the first video game that had left handed characters in it, and being a left-handed 11 year old when I got my hands on it, it felt like the best thing in the world, and I think the rest just followed through.  This was the US "Final Fantasy II" port to the SNES, though, which was nowhere near its actual difficulty level, and none of the extra floonfing Squeenix did to it was there yet.  After IV is VI, V, II and X for me.  

Least favorite?
I don't say I actually actively hate any of them, but the rest of them sort of muddle together in the "yeah, okay, Final Fantasy, that means I'm playing it" category.  This excludes the MMOs because I had dialup when 11 came out and I don't have a PC of my own at home for 14, though I did get to create characters for both and never really played.  I bought Final Fantasy 3 when they made the DS port for it, but I never really got into it and never finished it.  FFXIII isn't the straw that broke the camel's back for me with Square, but it's definitely the one that's signified, "oh, you guys really aren't catering to my age group anymore, are you?"

I generally leap at Final Fantasy sequels, (yes, even X-2) but I had no desire to return to FFXIII's world.  At least not for money.

Top Five Favorite Characters? Changing this to player characters because the villains will be repeated in the villains section anyway.
Kain [IV]
Terra [VI]
Cecil [IV]
Tifa [VII]
Yuna [X]

Bottom Five Least Favorite? Opening this back up to NPCs because they're not going to be repeated.  These are just based on personal spite, though.
Snow [XIII]
Vincent Valentine [VII]
Genesis [VII]
Jenova [VII]
Can't decide on the 5th.

Best Villains, In Your Opinion?
Kefka [VI]
Hojo [VII]
Golbez [IV]
Seymour [X]
X-Death [V]

Best Heroes, In Your Opinion?
Tidus [X]
Cecil [IV]
Tifa [VII]
Faris [V]
Cid [VII]

Best plot?
Gunna have to vote for FF7 again on this, even though it's a love-hate relationship that is just as bad for me as it is for it.  I've been obsessed with it since 1998.  It's doing something right.  With that out of the way, I'm tempted to say FF6 and FFX.  FF6 was the darkest FF had gotten before 7, and X had a ridiculously immerse world that I was glad to be lost in.

Worst plot?
Since I don't remember a single thing that happened in it, gunna vote FF9.  I enjoyed playing the game itself, but the fact that I don't remember anything about what happened in it kinda speaks for itself.  This is also probably due to user error, but a lot of FF8 escaped me as well, but I didn't actually dislike it.

Best memories?
I got the player's guide for FF6 about a week before it came out.  My little 13 year old self was so excite.
Talking about Kefka with my dad
Talking about Hojo with my dad
Bonding with my first girlfriend over FFX-2
Totally making all of my characters ridiculously overpowered in FF8
Totally making all of my characters ridiculously overpowered in FF2
MATERIA, MATERIA, MATERIA, MATERIA
Break Damage Limit in FFX

Additional Info?
As much as I loved the series, I think I'm done with it.  There was a lot of mud I was dragged through in regards to FF7 that I'm just really tired of.  There's also all these expectations that were raised for it as I was growing up that they've just failed to maintain as the franchise has gotten more big budget.  The art is always nice, but they're going less gritty and more pretty since Yoshitaka Amano started to move off anything but the logo design.  FF used to be dirty and organic, but it seems to be more and more just sparkle and polish these days, trying to draw in people for looks and feels, but it doesn't have the depth it used to have, and I am disappoint.  They seem to be afraid to go as dark as FF7, and everything they're doing to create sort of a safe dark feel to it is coming up fake to me.

I'm replaying FF8 and 9 these days.
The stuff that I still discover in them...
And one of them drew my attention in particular, as a Xeno fan. Did you notice that Tetsuya Takahashi is credited in the beginning credits of FF8 ? I didn't know he worked on it at all. I thought he was entirely focused on Xenogears ! Or that he left Square already (I guess he left the FF8 team early or something ?) !
Oh yeah, and I finally understood Triple Triad ! After more than 10 years ! \o/

Speaking of FF characters, I found this funny little thing:



That got a laugh out of me.

RadicalDreamer wrote:I'm replaying FF8 and 9 these days.
The stuff that I still discover in them...
And one of them drew my attention in particular, as a Xeno fan. Did you notice that Tetsuya Takahashi is credited in the beginning credits of FF8 ? I didn't know he worked on it at all. I thought he was entirely focused on Xenogears ! Or that he left Square already (I guess he left the FF8 team early or something ?) !
Oh yeah, and I finally understood Triple Triad ! After more than 10 years ! \o/

now you must master tetra master

F. Card Stats:
--------------

 Cards will have a few stats below the picture.  Here's what they mean:

 PTDM
 ----
 P : the power of the card in hexadecimal.
 T : the card type, P, M, X, or A.
 D : the card's physical defense in hexadecimal.
 M : the card's magical defense in hexadecimal.

 Example: 1P40

what the f****************

Which one is you favorite? ffx
Least favorite? everything else some down right sucked.
Top Five Favorite Characters? seymour,auron,tidus,yuna, i dunno hard to pick only one more..... wakka.
Bottom Five Least Favorite? i dont really have a least fave most characters i loved or hated not a i love to hate them way cuz their bad guys i just down right hated them xd like vanille & fang i hated & leblanc.
Best Villains, In Your Opinion? seymour. great voiceover. he sounded like he wanted to lure you in to be evil w/ his attractiveness. hes kinda sexy.
Best Heroes, In Your Opinion? auron. wise, powerful, ok not that wise but just one of those cool as hell types with huge story behind him.
Best plot? FFX
Worst plot? i dunno theres been several.....
Best memories? off the top of my head i used to play the sound thingy in the game when u visit that place &

buy w/ gil the stuff to watch. i got into vg music then. that was my first time.
Additional Info? tidus best main hero ever in any game.

/fistbump re:Seymour.  He gets a lot of flak, and I totally don't ship him with Yuna, but Seymour's been the most interesting non-MMO FF villain in a long time.  I think the only one who really stands up to him for me is Judge Drace from XII, but she only had about 15 minutes of screentime.  I don't buy into Seymour's nihilistic attitude, but I really find him attractive and interesting.  It's the "Oh no, he's hot, but I really hope he doesn't win" scenario.  I really also liked FFX's attitude toward pre-ordained stuff as well.  Usually the only JRPG to go off the rails and say scREW YOU DESTINY has been Chrono Trigger/Cross and Xenosaga/gears/ and blade.

To justify FFXII it was done by a very different visionary and follows to the themes of Ivalice games which tend to look at life a little differently than Sakaguchi-led Final Fantasies. Seymour was definitely fascinating though, especially after what felt like a long drought for interesting villains that weren't entirely sympathetic. He had a great downfall and even if he may have been a good kid he grew up into a complete monster. It's what makes him great. X unfortunately has dropped in favor for me as of late, probably because of its terribly constructed dialogue even in more accurate translations XD.

Forgot to note that FF5 is very steadily becoming extremely high up on my list for noting a lot of firsts and just being hysterical from beginning to end. Also pirate queen.

yeah i dig both aspects of seymour that you both mentioned. its like "Oh no, he's hot, but I really hope he doesn't win" *please makke love to me before the world is destroyed xd lol. *  :zimlol:

ff12 thats on ps2 i never got that far in it the battle system was wierd it was active i didnt like it & fighting was hard. i tried to kill dogs to build up but i dunno how ppl play past that i couldnt really leave the castle place you start in. i killed a tomato xd. walking across land is hard.