Final Fantasy is an old series, and the sixth installment is one of the very first games that I ever completed. It’s fair to say that I have a lot of fond memories of it, and the single-player turn based JRPG is certainly my favorite genre of gaming. After playing through the first 6 games, I naturally moved on (despite my devotion to Nintendo) to play the 7th game on the Playstation. Unfortunately, I can’t even express my disappointment in this game, and it completely turned me away from 3-D RPGs in general. I remember being enthralled by the visuals, and disgusted at how little of it I could actually access. Although Final Fantasy 9, which I found out later was designed to be a throwback to the older games, was an enjoyable experience, I still thought that the generation of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6 was sadly over. I thought that Final Fantasy 6 was going to be, at least to me, the pinnacle of turn based RPGs, or at least the pinnacle of Final Fantasy.
However, after years of releasing what I thought to be average games, Square released a new successor to the series on the 3DS. The game had an odd name- Bravely Default- and I knew that I would get the game, but I had no idea what to expect. The game was phenomenal, and completely revived my faith in the genre as a whole. After playing through the game a couple of times, I can confidently say that this is the best Final Fantasy game that I have ever played.
Comments about your favorite Final Fantasy games? I’d love to know which one(s) and your reasons, and I am glad to discuss why I find FF6, FF9, and Bravely Default to be so undisputed as my top 3!
Hey, thanks for the comment! I definitely have to agree with you that FF1-5s stories are relatively basic (although, in the case of FF2, I think it’s more of a case of bad story-TELLING, but whatever).
Also, regarding FF13, I’m actually really glad to hear you mention that! My best friend has said similar things, and I feel the same way- I have always enjoyed linear games, and as long as it has a good story, I don’t understand why it should be criticized. I would say that I have yet to find almost any truly non-linear games that I find to be well crafted. I look forward to playing FF13, 13-2, and 13-3 this summer!
As far as the older Final Fantasies go, if we are talking bout purely story (and not necessarily characters), I don’t think that even FF6 is among the top tier of games. Especially if it seems like you enjoy actually reading about and understanding in-game mythology and world history, FF6’s history is explored, but only in fairly limited ways. In general, I think this is something that is improved as games get newer, companies get bigger, and memory gets cheaper. If I had to pick another Final Fantasy with a fairly well explained out-of-game story, I’d say 9 is you best bet (although I definitely think 6 is the best game because of its characters, music, and they story certainly is grand).
Actually, on that note, I would definitely recommend Bravely Default for ALL of the above reasons if you can get your hands on a 3ds. The storytelling in that game is also pretty well done, and there’s some fun in-game history and scenarios to play with!
I’ve played Final Fantasy 1 through 5 as well as Final Fantasy 13 and 13-2. From the Final Fantasy games I’ve played, I actually like Final Fantasy 13 the most. Lots of people complain that the game is extremely linear, but I didn’t mind it that much. I found the game’s linear storyline to be as enjoyable as watching a good movie or reading a good book. I also liked the mysterious and godlike nature of the main villains in the game, the fal’Cie, and I found it really enjoyable to read about the history of the game world and how the fal’Cie helped create it.
When I look for a good RPG, I mainly look for games with interesting storylines that will keep me entertained. Since many of the earlier Final Fantasy games don’t have very immersive storylines, I didn’t like them as much as Final Fantasy 13. However, I keep hearing lots of good things about some of the Final Fantasy games between 6 and 12. Maybe I should give those games a try. Final Fantasy 6 has been available on iOS for a while now, so I guess I will try that one first.