Damaged – Is The Fantasy Finally Over?

• Matthewtylert

  i lost faith after 13. 12 blew my mind, the only thing it lacked was the story. i found myself lost in that world, to me, it almost rivals ff7. but 13 was effin terrible, i lost faith in the series after that

• Shadow Jester

  Final Fantasy 7 was my introduction to the series, which got me hooked, then got better with 8 and 9. however With X and titles afterward, it became too linier, i prefered to be able to go anywhere in the World (once opened)

• idofgrahf

  I think you need to spell check your article first before asking these questions. “a blind purchase from the game story.” Really?

  Smart ass comments aside, I have disliked every FF since X which in my opinion was the last one worthed playing. FF games were never sandbox type rpg’s and thats fine, I can forgive just about anything in a rpg from bad graphics to bad gameplay. The only thing I cannot stand is bad story and bad character, and every FF since X has had both these present in the game. The story in XII gave me a wtf feeling. Really, its not that great of a story if the main opponent turns out to be a more competent ruler than you are and the characters were more 2D than the TV that displayed them. XIII’s story was even worse and I actually hated every single playable character in it. Square simply threw these people in and expect you to give a crap about them…

  • http://3godkings.com Greg Dragon

    Caught that little bit of confusion in the text and fixed it – thanks for highlighting it and commenting.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Mateus-Prado-Sousa/100000343727632 Mateus Prado Sousa

  YOUR opinion, because the most people love XIII, just take a look at Metacritic and see the overall scores from critic and users

  • http://twitter.com/jeffoconnor Jeff Zero O’Connor

    XIII definitely received a worse shaking overall than the preceding titles, and XII definitely had it worse than X.

  • Pyrose17

    Yeah, I totally agree, Mateus. I watched videos of FFX through FFXII and thought they didn’t look very good at all. But I absolutely love XIII. It’s easily one of the best games I’ve ever played, and a lot of the characters grow (I hated Hope in the beginning, but he was my favorite character by the end) as the story progresses. Basically, XIII has a bad rap for unfair reasons.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Mateus-Prado-Sousa/100000343727632 Mateus Prado Sousa

  See prints from Metacritic on my article about this: http://gamesreflexoes.blogspot.com/2011/10/final-fantasy-xiii-foi-um-grande.html

• Raidonlear

  I’ve begun to hate the ff series since Lightning and her crew showed up on the scene. I never played 7 (was young at the time and never noticed it) but i played the earlier titles. I think it’s just gone industrial, neon hell hole filled with mecha bots everywhere. I just don’t like what the gameplay mechanics have ‘evolved’ into. 

  • Amarise

    Personally I like Lightning. Having a GIRL as the main character for one was nice, y’know.

    Also, there are a lot of parallels between FF7 and FFXIII.

    Though I do agree on the battle system; it wasn’t the greatest (though I prefer an action style system anyway, otherwise it gets tedious)

• http://zerocchi.blogspot.com Zerocchi

  Even though it’s sad I’m kind of glad that I’m not alone, feeling like this…

• FFAGITO_11231

  Final Fantasy isn’t going down. In fact it released a new game “Final Fantasy Type-0″. I’m a bit upset that they didn’t or may not release it for American use. The reason being, the American Fan-Base is more focused on [pointless] games such as C.O.D. They don’t appreciate well put games in the making such as Final Fantasy. Even if they loose the American fan base, Square Enix is still growing strong in Japan and Final Fantasy will not go down.

  • http://twitter.com/ManiacxMansion Maniac Mansion

    Final Fantasy has never–and will never tap into the COD fanbase.  They need to get over that.

• shane savage

  FF well i have played them all even ff14 and yes it was a real bad mess but a AVID DEDICATED fan would never print this sort of crap so you who did is useless artical and ur not even a real fan of the game so stop reviwing on sumthing ur brains r dead on to me u sound like a person thats played 2 game think he know it all u know nothing of this seire of games im 31 iv playd every singel FF game made on all system and it by far beat everything iv never player world of warcraft a rip off american hack and slash of 100 of differnt game already out there FF is uniqe in it own sence its perfect ot the futrue of all gameing and u wait the remake will toss every singel MMO on the net to the side 10/10 for me pn every game made eveb ff14 with out the bigs the to early realse the game got what its needed to compete just to early trying to be rift and wow on there next relases waited 1 more year on ff14 and BOOM would have top the record chars for all ff game made to date.. so dont u ever condem or say anything bad about a game u have no fuking idead about ur a nobody but a useless american fool get lost and shut your face . thanks and GL u pleb..

  • HailSephiroth

    you, Mister, are a winy wannabe. FF1 – FF7 awesome. FF8 Bull****. FF9 and FF10 oki doki. FF11 – FF13: Boooooooring. FF died with removement of ATB-System and “openworld” (well…its just “openanimated..cause its liniar). So: Taking away Fanfares, Summons and the need of taking Potions or Either is bad….full HP after every fight???? COME ON!!! Thats nearly as bad as the Transformerespers…..

    • Blee

      I agree with everything, except the ffVIII part. It was actually a brilliant game- as long as story, music,, atmosphere and battle mechanics (including summons and junctioning magic) are concerned. I guess it’s the ”feel” of the game that made some fans dislike it- but still, it wasn’t nearly as crap as ”walk in a line-fight-watch cutscenes-talk to some stones-the end” ffXIII…

• Imaginerockband3

  13 isn’t that bad once you get to chapter 11. Yes for most of the game I never felt like playing it but the story was good and after just playing the XIII-2 demo it feels like it will be better than the original 13. 14 was a disaster yes but maybe if they make 15 they could fix the summons and bring back classes and that will be just fine for me. I actually like the fact that the worlds are different in each game like how 13 has future technology and 1 was a more medieval I mean it’s called Final FANTASY it’s nice when they change things up a bit and make the next game a world with less technology (ff8 and ff9) I guess my point is the Final fantasy series isn’t dead it’s just a lot of fans prefer the older stuff. And why does everyone hate ff8? ff8 was my favorite final fantasy the only thing I didn’t like was the Draw system but loved the story and characters and all that good stuff. X3   

• Fu

  All Final Fantasy games have always sucked.  You don’t agree Kupo?  Or whatever the hell the little annying rabbit-squirrels call you.  Any adult should be ashamed to play even one of these games, which are obviously designed for 14 year old girls.  You guys might also like Maple Story or Hello Kitty Online.

  • HailSephiroth

     let me guess….call of duty? Need for speed? If you want to use A brain…you need something more than bang bang and bruuuum.

    • Fu

      I do have a brain, which is why the infantile storyline and condescending, cutesy NPCs with no point are irritating.  Hopefully, I have not distracted you from your Twilight fan-fic you are currently working on whilst simultaneously tweaking your Strawberry Shortcake collection

    • HaliSephiroth

       lol. I hate Twilight. Btw, youre talking to a male. I do my martial Arts and go to college, thats why i dont like shooting around random guys that always come back and getting points to buy another weapon, to just kill that guy again. FF is an offlinegame that used to entertain you. Like a good Movie. The points you are reffering to is just the problem with newer parts. But i hope i have not distracted you from your Feel-like-a-man-while-im-online-project. Keep shooting em, when youre goldarmed, you still can drive in circles.

    • Fu

      I am surprised that you were admitted kupo! Moogle U has really let their standards drop.  They’ll let any girl in now! 

      Incidentally, I have a single FPS game that I’ve played maybe a handful of times because, as an adult with two degrees, two jobs, and two kids, I do not have the time to become lost in an asinine story surrounded by cutesy characters designed for small children.

      Silence yourself kupo, or I may have to slap you around.

    • HailSephiroth

       lol…but time to reply couple of times…….say it…say it again…but still i dont belive u =D You care to much for beeing that growen….lol. 2 Degrees? why two jobs than??? Get one good payed job…Dr Adult.

  • Amarise

    Comparing Hello Kitty online to Final Fantasy is like comparing World of Warcraft to Runescape. No… Just no…

    And you probably play games with no plot and where the entire purpose of the game is to shoot things. That really shows how big your brain (OR LACK THEREOF) is.

    • Fu

       See my reply to LadySephiroth, the same goes for you.

• http://profile.yahoo.com/T5AQDGH6W6QMTKJ5LKYNCKXBNU Joe Bond

   if you didnt play XIII your not a real fan and need to sit down, also dont say US like we agree with you because we dont. XIII was a shit ton better then XII or shall i call it “we are trying to be XI offline”

  • Kermit

    He can say US because the large majority of FF fans disliked XIII the ones that didn’t like yourself are FFXIII fans not FF fans since FFXIII could pass off for a new IP it has such a poor writing with a boring and linear story. It’s too small and you know a game is bad when it’s fans biggest selling point is to say it gets good after chapter 11 a game should be good from the get go examples- Halo, Most Final Fantasy, Kotor, Mass Effect ect games that get you immersion from the start not at the ending which was bad as well. Square enix need to look back at what made previous final fantasy opular then make a modern version of that with strong story, characters, battle system and have a decent length if they don’t do something like that for the next final fantasy i see them becoming rather irevant games.

  • HailSephiroth

     why should we care if you think WE aint real fans? The game made US fans. Not its making US disappointed.

  • Amarise

    I actually liked FFXII, and in particular the battle system, which took a few minutes to get used too but otherwise was simple and versatile, keeping the turn-based elements and combining them with action, and also the customization system, which reminded me of FFX.

• Linaseishinsei

  The problem is Enix itself. Square made their games limitless, beautiful, and epic. The story was the most important part!!! It always is! People seem to forget that graphics are not the thing that’s going to keep you playing for much longer. Who knows what would happen if it had just stayed square.. I’ve completely lost faith in this franchise.

  • Amarise

    The PS1 was perfect for making such games; the graphics and disc were fairly advanced for their time; surpassing the SNES, but the graphics weren’t TOO over-the-top, which made it easy to create huge sprawling worlds full of content.

    Nowadays, graphics are very advanced and take a lot of time.

    Also, there is a lot of things that can’t be used in todays gaming world for fear it might ‘offend’ people. Like you can’t have cigarette or mention drugs. Its just stupid. If a game has things like that, give it an approriate rating and let it go.

    Sell it in adult stores if you have too.

• HailSephiroth

  Well, most seem to forget that there is no reason to play a game or agameseries if you dont like it. I personaly think that the game lost its “special something”. For example the Theme….Can some of you agree that there was a real thrilling when the theme appeared? Or Think about Aeris theme in FF7….everytime i hear it, i have to think back to this Scene and to my childhood. Or Sephiroths theme…and no, i dont mean One winged Angel, i mean his theme. There are so many points bout FF that made it big…and i feel nearly all of em are gone. Story needs to be Epic. Chars to be lovly or awesome. Fighting system???? An Advanced ATB would fit for me. Espers…keep em Espers…if i want Robots that transforms into cars…well i buy Transformersgame….THE FANFARE!!!! I need it!!!! Than bring back those nice minigames…cardgame in FF8 or Blitzball in FF10…..I NEED THAT!!! Ether and Potions!!! Make em necessary!

  All in one: Dont fix something that isnt broken!

  P.S: ALL HAIL SEPHIROTH!!!

• Amarise

  I liked FFXII. And XIII was decent enough. I’ll buy FFXIII-2. But what I am really holding out for is Versus and Type-0.

  • http://3godkings.com/ Greg Dragon

     Thanks for your comments Amarise, its good to get both sides in on this discussion and I know that a lot of gamers actually liked XIII.

  • HailSephiroth

     Amarise, i really like your comments. Dont get me wrong, i played Xll and Xlll aswell and i cant say theyre bad or terrible. But just not as awesome as Vll or X. But i think youre right, i like Xll except the end of the story. Kinda same with Xlll, but Xlll got an excuse because they planned a sequel. But one thing to keep in mind: I think some FF games are more focused on female players than other titels. For example X-2 was complete Girlfocused (not saying it was succesfull in that). So the things that you might like about some newer titles, could in fact the reason some Male players dont like (dressing system, Yuna a Popstar whos looking for the Man she loves with her 2 best friends wich are kinda bountyhunter).

    But anyway, i hope FF can take its place on Top again. (please!! bring back the fanfare!!! =D )

    greetz

    P.S: HAIL SEPHIROTH!!!!!

• http://twitter.com/ManiacxMansion Maniac Mansion

  I hated anything after Final Fantasy IX because it became an anime, and the voice acting was fucking PITIFUL and embarrassing.  Not to mention lack of overworld maps is silly.

• kingnate

       The sad thing about video games is that for the most part people don’t know who is making them they only know brand names. It’s very easy to see What happened to the magic of Square, and that is that the people who made the games you love left around the time Square and Enix merged. Hironobu Sakaguchi is like the Shigeru Miyamoto(the guy who made mario and zelda) of Square he worked on every final fantasy up to 9 and other games like Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve and Kingdom Hearts. Sakaguchi left Square and started a new company named Mistwalker which has made some great games like lost odyssey and the Last story(has not yet been released in US ). the man behind xenogears is no longer at Square along with the people who made chrono trigger and ff tactics even many of the Enix people who made all the Dragon Quest games have left. 
     
       SquareEnix is just a name if you loved the old Squaresoft you should support the people who made those games and not the company who just uses there legacy to make money. People make games not companys. 

  • http://3godkings.com/ Greg Dragon

    This is an EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT point and one that should be driven home in our heads (I will have to write about this). It’s sad that many of us don’t realize when these people move on and then fans are left wondering “wtf happened” when a sequel gets released that is nothing like the set we loved. Thanks for this comment and I wholeheartedly agree.

  • Honorius

     I agree, I knew things had to have changed internally when the names changed from Squaresoft to Square-Enix. We need to petition this company and get Sakaguchi, and the developers of Xenogears and Chrono Trigger back. I haven’t been happy with Final Fantasy series since FFIX ( a good on that always gets overlooked) I know what kingnate has stated is true because there is a quote from Yoshinori Kitase and he had  the following to say in regards to a FFVII remake:”Graphically they [Final Fantasy games]
    weren’t as advanced as they are now, but there were lots of towns and
    worlds and cities and whatever. So if we were to recreate the same kind
    of game – sequel or not – with the same volume, but give it a much
    higher level of graphical quality, it would us take three times, four
    times, even ten times longer to make such a game. So making a sequel for
    an old game would be a lot more challenging.”
    We know this is bullcrap it wouldn’t take nearly anywhere as long because FF7 already has a storyline established, they already know and have an idea what the towns look like I would understand if they had to come up with all this from scratch but they don’t have to!
    It’s as much bullcrap as the greedy quote from Square Enix Senior Vice President Shinji Hashimoto states the reason there hasn’t been a Chrono sequel because it being adored by fans isn’t reflected in sales and we should buy more.Well maybe if they didn’t waste their time making the crappy games they have been putting out lately like FFXIII maybe they wouldn’t have to care too much about low sales? If they made better games that could live up to the ones we are requesting sequels for I don’t think Square-Enix would have that much stress over sales.We need to find a way to get the original designers before the Square-Enix merge back or find a way to break up the merger and make them realize  it was a mistake to merge.

• Robert Bedwell

  the first game on the ps1 i played was ff7 which and loved it then went on to ff8 which is the best game i have ever played the story was amazing, but for some reason possibly becoming a teenager and discovering girls didn’t play another ff game until Xlll which so, the many problem i think it has is the fact that they speak, sounds odd but go with a sec, ff7 and ff8 you play the story see the story but mainly for me read the story, you get a better understanding of the story because of this, its like the best book ever made. it may be a long shot but if they made the next one into a readable story like ff7 ff8 people may get fully into them you never know.

• http://twitter.com/Vizune Sasha Richardson

  I was really disinterested in the MMORPG element of Final Fantasy when 11 was announced. I enjoyed a lot of elements of 12. I liked the espers and reading their stories, the environments, the music and really liked the quickenings and concurrences. However, the storyline was INCREDIBLY dull, I found myself skipping the cutscenes explaining the situation with the empires. I didn’t like Vaan at all, he was very boring and typical but I liked everyone else especially Balthier and Fran. I gave up after 12. When 13 released, it had the theme by Leona Lewis and I was yelling “What?!” at the TV. It looked futuristic, loads of sparkling graphics all over the place but it was missing something for me. There was no heart behind all the spiffy graphics. My favourite is X personally, I adored the story it even made me and my brother cry. 

• http://twitter.com/GamerDude2088 GamerDude

  The first Final Fantasy I played was VII. When the demo of VIII came out in the Pizza Hut pack I was hook, line and sinker. I like IX even though most people I know do not like it. X showed how the games to come had more potential to get better. X-2 was not as good as X. Something I figure was more of a girls RPG. I still got into it. XI is what I call (out of the numbered series) the start of FFF or Final Fantasy Failure. Square show us that they do not care about the games they make long as they are getting money. The last thing we as FF fans need is FFMMORPG. WTF are you guys thinking? And it is not free to play. This gave them a smaller budget for XII, witch I will not go into descriptive detail, because I will need my own blog, but XII could of came out a lot better and I like the crappy game. Before XIII, XIV is when they finalized it by saying F*ck the fans all we want is money now. NO MORE MMOPRG’s Square! NO!!! Bad Enix! XIII is when they just said F*ck it let’s just throw anything together and make it look good. XIII’s graphics A++, game play C, story D-, and open world F- -. Then they want to make a XIII-2. Kill me now… Please. I have faith in Verse XIII. I find that Type 0 is something they should look into for the future of the Final Fantasy Hp bar. The fans are now taking of 9′s to how bad the games are coming out. Do they even care about us anymore? Finally I will say Type 0 showed me that they still have it, but they are putting it in the wrong place.