FF 7, 8 & 9 Thread

[Anonymous No.960016]

I generally get the urge to play one, and this leads to me playing all three.

They all have their faults (some more than others <cough>8<cough>)but I love them nonetheless.

Which is your favorite? What makes you so angry you want to throw your controller out the window? Is the Gilgamesh in each the same guy on zany dimension travelling adventures?

[Anonymous No.960024]

I'm playing through 9 atm. Have to say it's my favorite but 8 is next...7 I have a hard time going back to

[Anonymous No.960025]

VII is alright, VIII and IX are equally shitty, but VIII is kinda underrated an IX is kinda overrated.

And I take Chrono Cross, SaGa Frontier, Vagrant Story and Xenogears over PS1 FF every day. And Tactics doesn't count. And while we're at it, fuck this rooftop battle in Tactics. Ruined my childhood.

[Anonymous No.960026]

>>960025
>but VIII is kinda underrated

I have to agree. Retarded theories aside, the story actually does make sense if you read between the lines & the wiki pages (I'm sure the writers wanted the story to be subtle and the player have to figure it out, but they went just a little bit too obtuse and it just came out confusing).

[Anonymous No.960027]

>they all have their faults
I hate it when people say this. The very reason people get "ass pained" when a game gets a 10/10 is because the implication of
>perfection
which is nonsense. Every game has flaws, and if your game is a million seller+critically received, its not like critiquing say, big rigs or superman 64. Every Final Fantasy has "flaws", no need to state the obvious.
That said,
>basically, your favorite PS1 FF
No Tactics and half of them were re-released on the PS1, you must be new, but its still 7 for me.
>what makes you angry?
Wiegraf, Omega Weapon in 8 is a bitch without cheating (Selphie/hero drinks etc), and the overall load times of battles post 7 got ridiculous, probably my least favorite thing about the PS1 3d entries.

Also, in related news, Square stuck its dick up the kickstarter for the FFVII webseries today. I was looking forward to having a non-gackt washed interpretation of VII, but looks like I'll never get my wish.

[Anonymous No.960035]

>>960027
>A Final Fantasy VII fan project aiming to produce a live-action web series based on the game has had its Kickstarter suspended over copyright infringement claims by developer Square Enix.

>The project was requesting $400,000 (£261,000) to finance 5-6 episodes lasting around 15 minutes each and was positioned as a "tribute" to the series. Square Enix has responded stating "The project itself is in infringement of our copyrights and should be removed in its entirety from Kickstarter."

Weak.

How come they never took action against Dead Fantasy?

[Anonymous No.960036]

I used to really enjoy IX a lot when I was younger, but as the years go by, I seem to dislike it more and more. The battles are painfully slow, the visuals don't have as much charm as VI or VIII. The setting, story, and characters aren't really all that appealing to me. Kinda feels like it's trying to imitate that certain feeling that the earlier FF titles gave off, except it doesn't really work out and you're just left with this awkward pseudo fantasy deal that I can't really get myself to like.

VIII is really enjoyable. There are some really great moments and stuff there, but the overall package is pretty inconsistent. It feels like VIII could've been amazing if they had more time to work it all out properly. And Squall is actually a good MC, despite what most people will say.

[Anonymous No.960037]

>>960026
Eh, I was talking about how retards praising IX and at the same time shitting on VIII, when they both had similar problems with writing, narrative, story, plot, characters, basic gameplay mechanics and etc.

I replayed all main FF games in 2010 after the disaster called XIII and fuck me, but IX is probably even worse than VIII. It's like VIII is barely 5/10 game, but IX is a 4-4.5/10 garbage with its ridiculous storytelling and god awful combat.

[Anonymous No.960039]

>>960037
>Eh, I was talking about how retards praising IX and at the same time shitting on VIII,

I haven't even seen that since /v/ in 2007.

[Anonymous No.960040]

>>960035
>how come they never took action?
Because the webseries flat out had "Final Fantasy VII" in its name, and that caused Square's collective financial anus to prolapse so hard it had no option but to shut it down, especially seeing a 400k request. I -believed- they got the blessing of Sakuguchi, maybe I'm thinking of the wrong product.

I secretly believe a deal can be worked out so long as they agree to photoshop Gackt onto every model except Barret, Nomura will personally ok it.

[Anonymous No.960042]

>>960035
God I miss Dead Fantasy.

[Anonymous No.960043]

>>960037

I wouldn't say either game is that low on the rating. I'd give 8 a solid 8 and 9 a 7. Really the thing that bothers me most about 8 and 9 is how much time you spend in the menus (junctioning in 8 and setting up abilities/equipment to learn from in 9) and the fucking awful loading time that is 9. 8 loads the fastest of the 3 mainline PS1 FFs, and for that I am eternally thankful

[Anonymous No.960047]

>>960039
Every FF thread ever?
>>960043
Well, I'm a whiny bitch.

[Anonymous No.960048]

>>960043
Why were the load times so bad in 9? It can't have been machine limitations.

[Anonymous No.960053]

>>960048

No idea. I remember being pissed off at 9 too because your timers still count down during load times, black screens and post battle screen, meaning each battle takes off another 20 seconds and you can't do shit about it

[Anonymous No.960054]

[Anonymous No.960056]

>>960043
>8 loads the fastest
Not really

VII-8.5 seconds till ATB starts
VIII - 12 seconds till ATB starts
IX - 13 seconds till ATB starts

It's a second faster than IX on average, and a whole 3.5 seconds slower than VII.

[Anonymous No.960061]

>>960054
>Cloud will never be happy again

[Anonymous No.960091]

>>960054
>black text box
My nigga, blue can suck dick

[Anonymous No.960094]

>>960091
>implying anyone ever didn't change it to either black or rainbow

[Anonymous No.960106]

>>960094
>>960094
My sister did a playthrough using red, talk about an eye strain.

[Anonymous No.960124]

>>960106
i ended up using dark green, with a slight spectrum effect. looks nice.

[Anonymous No.960129]

I probably had the most fun with VII, stuff like the Honey Bee Inn and Goldsaucer really made the game for me. Honestly I can barely remember IX and virtually all I remember of VIII is the completely awful story

[Anonymous No.960136]

IX has to be my all time favorite. The story is simple, but extremely charming. You really end up caring for Vivi and Freya the most out of the bunch, and while it's slow, I find the combat mechanics fun. The main character isn't some over powered mage/warrior/healer hybrid. But probably the most important thing, and why I'm studying classical music in college, is the music. That soundtrack has stuck with me for over half of my life now, and has really shaped where my life is headed now. "Cross Those Hills", the overworld theme, contained the first melody I ever taught myself on guitar, and "Vamo' Alla Flamenco" marked the first fingerstyle, classical imitation song I ever learned and then I learned the rest of the soundtrack. Nobuo Uematsu's best work, in my mind., and there may be a possibility to meet him here in South Florida when the Final Fantasy orchestra comes down. I'll be sure to thank him if I get the chance.

[Anonymous No.960137]

>>960129
Honey Bee Inn is why FF7 will never get a HD re-release.

[Anonymous No.960165]

>>960136
>You really end up caring for Vivi and Freya the most out of the bunch

I cared about Freya in spite of the game treating her like shit. That's a bug, not a feature.

>greatest fear is being forgotten
>get forgotten by the writers
>being Freya Crescent is suffering

[Anonymous No.960226]

Quina > anyone else

[Anonymous No.960230]

7 my problem is mostly the localization is utter shit. I almost forgot how bad it was until I saw my friend streaming 7 after he got it for the PC. And the PC was suppose to have fix the major engrish. Also I feel 7 is the Final Fantasy equivalent to San Andreas. It tried to have a more realistic approach but also had a lot of goofy moments that only really worked with sprites on the SNES. Like the snowboarding a little bit a little bit after Aerith death.

8 problem is a lack of real balance to me. The idea of "equipping" spells to stats sounds really amazing. But you had to either draw it which takes hours. Or play the card game and get some end game spells near the start of the game. Also since the enemies strength is based on your levels if you just do the cards you never really get past level 8 or so (since you might want to get the AP for the GF). Outside that I personally find 8 alright. Nothing major but not that bad.

Now 9 is my favorite. But I grew up on the first FF and played 4 and 6 so 9 being a throwback to the older games brought me joy. The major problem with 9 however is that around disk 3 whomever was doing the pacing seem to have died of a heart attack because the plot just stopped. With you doing fetch quest after fetch quest.

[Anonymous No.960239]

>>960230
Who cares about anything on FF9 disk 3 except Pandemonium and the final battle with Kuja; both of which are elder god tier.

[Anonymous No.960254]

>>960239
I mostly mean that the game seem to just grind to a halt for some fetch quests when up until then they were doing great moving from A to B at a fairly constant pace. Also it's kind of sad that a few characters story lines seem to just drop off the face of the Earth. >>960165
Like Freya here.

[Anonymous No.960271]

>>960254
Yeah, Freya, Eiko & amarant definitely die in Disk 3, but at least you have some memorable badassery to replace them.

[Anonymous No.960294]

>>960025
>fuck this rooftop battle in Tactics. Ruined my childhood.
What happened in it? I played it so long ago.

[Anonymous No.960426]

>>960035
Saw it coming honestly. Like Crimson Tears for Chrono Trigger getting stopped by them right before the DS remake solely for their shitty new ending.

[Anonymous No.960429]

>>960426
*Crimson Echoes
Derp.

[Anonymous No.960439]

>>960429
>>960426
Actually after a nice haitus, it's coming back and we should be seeing the final release from the metronome project.... quite a while from now. Only one member's working on it at all.

[Anonymous No.960471]

>>960035
>How come they never took action against Dead Fantasy?

I'm not that familiar with Dead Fantasy, but did the creator ever try to make money with it? Because that's pretty much the clear line between fan-tribute and copyright infringement.

[Anonymous No.960519]

9 is my favorite and probably the best 3d final fantasy cause reasons.

reason being there's this bitch that's crazy and she'll kill me if I don't agree halfheardedly at the least.

Sorry Sirii, ;_;

Otherwise I enjoy the first disc of FF7 because fuck this place.

[Anonymous No.960747]

>>960035
>$400,000
>For a fanmade FF miniseries
This is hilarious. Reminds me of the Lore kickstarter.

[Anonymous No.962147]

I finished VII for the first time a couple nights ago.

It was a good game, but not amazing. I've played better scifi-ish RPG's.

Playing VIII now. The music is an improvement, but I'm not really liking having to equip magic (and drawing a shit load of it to make any difference) to boost my stats.

The high price of not having to grind I suppose.

[Anonymous No.962156]

>>962147
Learn to use the refine abilities and you won't have to draw nearly as much. Also play cards a lot.

[Anonymous No.962162]

>>962156
ok

I'm gradually getting the hang of it. It's a lot to take in for an early part of a game.

[Anonymous No.962197]

>VII
Beaten two or three times, one No Materia run. Materia is probably my favorite magic/skill system in any game besides Grandia's.
>VIII
Quit on second disc
>IX
Quit on first disc

[Anonymous No.962204]

>>962147
Grinding won't help you.

[Anonymous No.962323]

>>962197
And then there's this asshole.

[Anonymous No.962423]

>>962197
And this is why people hate Final Fantasy 7's fanbase.

I've played all three games multiple times, and this is how I break them down:

FF7: An alright game. Liked the Materia system, though it was a bit grindy trying to get that Master Materia. I had more fun during the sections of the game that were Avalanche vs. Shinra than the ones about Sephiroth. I felt that Sephiroth's motivation for turning into the villain was somewhat weak and needed better fleshing out. It's mostly just small hickups here or there in the game that make me believe the game is over-hyped more than it should by some of it's fanbase. I originally played the PC version of the game, so some of the translation problems I didn't run into as much. All the sequels/prequels to this game need to die in a fire, though. It stands on it's own and doesn't need Squeenix fucking it up.

FF8: This is what I like to call a "salvageable" game. It had a lot of good ideas but the execution of it was bad. I liked the GF system and equipping magic to stats, but yes like everyone else I have a problem with the drawing magic part of it. Other than the magic drawing, I really don't have any complaints about the gameplay. I actually kinda liked the whole getting payed by your SeeD rank though it could have been done better. In disc 1 the plot started out fine, but then the seams start getting stressed by disc 2 and the whole thing falls apart by the end of disc 3. The whole time kompression thing is just stupid.

FF9: Easily my favorite game of the PSX Final Fantasies. I think the biggest reason why this is my favorite comes down to one thing; the game isn't as serious as the previous two. Because of it's more lightheartedness coming from being an homage to older Final Fantasies, the flaws don't detract from it as badly. I liked the system of using items to learn skills, I like having 4 characters in battle again, I felt the villains had much better motivation for what they were doing.

[Anonymous No.962595]

>>962204
I know

[Anonymous No.962608]

>>962423
That is some tasty rum in that pic

[Anonymous No.962647]

>>962423
My thoughts exactly. I played the shit out of 7 and 8 growing up, never owned 9 sadly. Emulated 9 now and about to finish it for the first time. I've had a lot of fun with it.

9 > 8 = 7 for me.

7 has a lot of nostalgia value, but I wouldn't say its that good today. Some of the characters were nice and had backstories that gave me feels (Red, Barret). Cid was awesome too.

8 had the nicest and comfiest locations & best music of the three. Characters were quite boring, and there was almost no focus on anyone but Squall & Rinoa, which sucked. Drawing was chore, but nothing else annoyed me really. Everyone knows the plot is balls to the wall retarded.

Since I played 9 for the first time last year and again recently, I don't have nostalgia for it, but I really enjoy it more than either of the previous ones. I like the class-based characters, ability learning trough equipment and all that. Again, some characters (the main 4) get too much development, and the rest (Quina, Amarant especially) are just there and have little to no impact to the story. Freya's story is also forgotten after disc 2 which sucked, I didn't care for any other character except her and Vivi.

[Anonymous No.962652]

>>962647
>best music of the three
That's something I forgot to mention. I actually love the soundtracks of all three games, and FF8 definitely has some songs that stick out in the good way. Then again, the soundtracks are the one thing I can say I do like from every Final Fantasy game that Uematsu scored for.

[Anonymous No.962660]

>>962423

When I was a kid, I borrowed 7 and 9 from a friend. I played 7 first, then 9. I only had the chance to play FF8 when I borrowed it this year. After playing them all, I can safely say that FF9 is the worst of the three. Not a bad game, mind you, but just the worst. The battles are so mindnumbingly slow it made me fall asleep several times while playing. The ability system was awful as well because I was constantly in the menu changing my equipments every time someone learned a new ability. With Guardian Forces and Materia I did not spend nearly as much time in the menu.

As for stories what you call lighthearted I call, frankly, lazy. There are a few moments like in the Black Mage Village that are really good, but the fact is that not a lot happens in FF9. It's kind of dull. In FF7 and 8, everyone had a reason to be there. In FF9, you get Quina who's along for the ride just because, and Amarant because wow he's a loner he needs to learn what it means to be part of a team. He has no stake against Kuja. The game could've been absent them entirely and the story would not have suffered much at all. Even Yuffie has a bigger stake and she's completely optional.

Even the graphics of 9 are worse than 8. I just don't see how it can be so many people's favourite PS1 FF, let alone their favourite FF. It came third in the PS1 series and it comes third in ranking too.

[Anonymous No.962675]

I would say that Final Fantasy IX's only real glaring flaw is its slower battle system, which does indeed grate on one's nerves after awhile. It has the best story, characters, locations, sidequests, and general mechanics by far.

Final Fantasy VII is all right. It's not fucking awful like some people like to revise it into being, but it's really nothing amazing.

Final Fantasy VIII is broken and sucks

[Anonymous No.962678]

>tfw never completed a final fantasy game, ever
>never played the earlier FF's
>only got to the part where balamb gets invaded by that other school, still go back to it occasionally for the music, locations, school feel, love it
>only played parts of 7, 9 and 13 and got bored with them all
>loved ff10 too, got near the end and got stuck on a puzzle as a kid, still have the game too

thinking about buying ff12 since I hear it's good. thoughts?

[Anonymous No.962682]

>tfw never completed a final fantasy game, ever
>never played the earlier FF's
>in ff8, only got to the part where balamb gets invaded by that other school, still go back to it occasionally for the music, locations, school feel, love it, definitely my favorite
>only played parts of 7, 9 and 13 and got bored with them all, though I liked parts of 9
>loved ff10 , got near the end and got stuck on a puzzle as a kid, still have the game too and will replay it at some point, might wait for HD remake

Thinking about buying ff12 since I hear it's good. thoughts?

[Anonymous No.962685]

>>962682

ff12 is garbage, everyone in the game has zero personality and the combat system is boring

[Anonymous No.962687]

>>962685
The same could be said for ff8s characters and combat but the game world and music just immerses me that it doesn't matter.

[Anonymous No.962693]

>>962660
>The battles are so mindnumbingly slow it made me fall asleep several times while playing
I've never had a problem with that. And I'm someone who complains about FF6's PSX load times.

>With Guardian Forces and Materia I did not spend nearly as much time in the menu
I was exactly the opposite. I spent way more time messing with Materia and GF/Magic equips than I ever did with equipment in FF9.

> In FF7 and 8, everyone had a reason to be there
No, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Cid, and Vincent were barely relevant in 7. I'll give it to you, though, that all of 8's PC's belonged.

>Even Yuffie has a bigger stake and she's completely optional.
Plenty of Final Fantasy games have PC's that don't seem to really belong. Porom, Palom, Mog, Umaro, Gogo, Cait Sith, Yuffie, Vaan, Penelo. It's not that big of a deal if a game has a few of them.

>Even the graphics of 9 are worse than 8
The graphical engine is exactly the same. The only difference between 8 and 9 graphically is the art style, somewhat realistic vs. cartoony. Each style worked for the game it was used in. If you have a problem with the cartoony art direction, just come out and say it.

>>962682
I though 12 was ok. Still was a bland game, though.

[Anonymous No.962694]

>>962687

i wouldnt say that all the characters in ff8 have zero personality, they have some. the problem with them is that they're infuriating.

in ff12, half the casts' motivation and behavior just sort of bleeds together at a certain point and it becomes hard to distinguish them the majority of the time.

[Anonymous No.962697]

I've played 7 and 9 so many times. I know all the little secrets and tricks, no matter how long I go in between playthroughs

I've played 8 three times, completing it twice. It's a fun game but for some reason I never took to it as much as 7 and 9

[Anonymous No.962712]

8>9>12>13>7
Prove me wrong. You can'

[Anonymous No.962725]

>>962712
At least you have enough common sense to put 13 below 8.

[Anonymous No.962730]

>>962693

Cait Sith, Cid and Vincent were all affected by the Shinra corporation. Also, Vaan has a reason to be there, he wants revenge on the imperials for killing his brother, they say it in like the first hour of the game. Penelo, I'll grant you, but I hate when people say Vaan is there for no reason. It's just not true.

I don't have a problem with cartoony art direction, but compare the visual effects of 8 and 9 and you'll see the difference. Also, backgrounds and area design looked better in 8 than 9. It has nothing to do with character models

[Anonymous No.962736]

>>962693
>Cait Sith
>Cid
>irrelevant
Yeah, because a double agent working for the enemy and the guy providing your sole means of transportation are way less important to the team than lab-rat dog and tits.

[Anonymous No.962740]

Why are western rpgs so inferior to japanese ones?

[Anonymous No.962747]

>>962740
A lack of heart. Then again, the JRPG genre does a lot of things wrong. Like, really wrong.

[Anonymous No.962751]

>>962747
This, they both have flaws. I mean really, there's no such thing as a 100% undeniably perfect game.

[Anonymous No.962783]

>>962740
Because if there's one thing the nips know, it's how to make a damn fine waifu. Isn't that why we even stick to these 40 hour long snoozefests?

[Anonymous No.962801]

Not trying to troll anyone here, but I found FF7 to be kind of boring.

I got to the end of Golden Saucer on disc 1 and I realised how little I cared about anything that was going on.

Also I love Uematsu's music but I honestly think he was off his game in this one at times. Probably what drove me off the game more than anything else was the god damn Gold Saucer theme playing over and over again when running around that place not knowing where to go.

It is not a bad game, I think I just spent way too much time around early 2000s Gamefaqs where people would never shut up about how perfect the game was in every single way.

[Anonymous No.962817]

Logically VIII is the one I should enjoy most now since it's the most out of the box abusable, lets you skip random battles, has the best minigame, and after all this time who cares if the plot is shit.

But it's not. Those character models hurt my eyes - they add so much detail over VII but with less smoothness than IX, and the downside of breaking the game early on is that you break it in the optimal way then spend the rest of the game sleeping. With VII there are a whole bunch of lolsome exploits (hypers, grenades/smines, enemyskill, addedeffect, powersoul, all lucky 7s) to toy with. IX you can only break hard by grinding (e.g. for steals, dragon kills, levels) - it's best played naively.

So it's IX for first playthrough plot joy, VII for dicking around, VIII only for nostalgia.

[OATMEAL SANDWICHES No.962820]

I'm just getting into the series, and I've just beat ffiv. I loved it. One of my favorite games of all time. I want to play one of the psx era games. Which order should I play them in?

[Anonymous No.962848]

>>962820
Play 9 if you like old-school FF mechanics and stuff.

Play 7 just to know what all the fuss is about. But don't except it to be the GOTYAY many people make it out to be. Its good, but not perfect.

Play 8 if you want something completely different.

[OATMEAL SANDWICHES No.962858]

>>962848
9 it is then, thanks