Your favorite Final Fantasy game and why.

[Cupcake]

So, I've been lurking 'round these parts for a few years now, but never really posted too often, and now I'm not so sure why.  In the past few weeks that I've been posting consistently, I've realized that while this is a Final Fantasy VII forum, VII isn't everybody's favorite game in the series.  So, while reading the great FF VII vs. FF X argument, I got to wondering what everybody's favorite FF game is, and why.

For me, it's VII.  Personally, I love the overall tone of the music.  Very emotional and heartfelt, a fine example of this is Aerith's Theme.  As opposed to what Hermaphrodite thinks, the music doesn't have to sound bright and cheery to be bright and cheery.  Once again, Aerith's Theme is a perfect example.  As I see it, that piece is tightly linked to her love, not just for Cloud, for for the party as a whole, but for humanity as a whole.  Remember, she did, in a way, know she was going to die.  She willingly sacrificed herself, to save the world.  Thusly, the piece sets the perfect mood for the scenes it's used in.  Another example of a piece that sets the mood well is "One Winged Angel" the fanboy's favorite.  It has a very dark and foreboding tone to it, especially when the Latin vocals come in.  Especially, if you know the origins of the lyrics.  They were all pieced together from the Carl Orff cantata "Carmina Burana".  Specifically the pieces "Estuans Interius", "O Fortuna", "Veni, Veni, Venias" and "Ave Formosissima" (another interesting note, the beginning of "One Winged Angel" is modeled after Jimi Hendix's "Purple Haze").

(Sorry about the long music rant, my brother was a music major, and is now a music teacher, and I would kill to be one, but I lack the skill to play an instrument well enough to do such a thing, nor do I have the patience to practice as much as I'd have to =(  )

As far as the story goes, I love a good, complex story.  It's also incredible, how extensive the FF VII universe is, when you know everything about the game, read the short stores, watched Advent Children a disturbing number of times.  It just amazes me every single time.  It can be oversimplified, to a point where it looks retarded, but so can every story.  I just love how FF VII's story can send me off into deep thinking about the nature of the world, EVERY TIME.

The art style is also appealing to me.  I love both cyberpunk and steampunk, and FF VII has a huge helping of both.  So that right there grabs me.

There's probably a few things I forgot to mention, but you all get the gist of it.

I would also like to ensure that everyone on this forum hates me, by saying that I can not stand, Final Fantasy IX.  I find it so f'ing boring.

[Bosola]

And on that note: I say IX. As I said somewhere else:

Final Fantasy 9 doesn't do anything different. It just does everything better.

Everything is a more refined variant on ideas from Final Fantasies gone past; everything is more polished - it's like Square sat back, looked at every previous game, reflected on what worked, what didn't - and then used this knowledge to create the ideal RPG. Personally, I'd like to see more of this iterative style of development - not copypasting ideas from prior games, but collating and considering previous ideas that took to water well. Hey, it works for Valve, so why not for SE?

[Kudistos Megistos]

As far as the story goes, I love a good, complex story.  It's also incredible, how extensive the FF VII universe is, when you know everything about the game, read the short stores, watched Advent Children a disturbing number of times.  It just amazes me every single time.  It can be oversimplified, to a point where it looks retarded, but so can every story.  I just love how FF VII's story can send me off into deep thinking about the nature of the world, EVERY TIME.

The thing about FF7's storyline is that it gets better every time you play the game, since you start to notice more and more things that you didn't notice before. As cactusjack901 said, it can be oversimplified, and very often is, by people who don't understand it or who have a grudge against the game for some reason (there are a lot of them; Hermoor is an interesting example). However, if one digs deep enough, there's some very good storytelling in there, and I don't just mean "good by videogame standards"; it says a lot about the storytelling in FF7 that people still cry about Aeris 12 years on (of course, that part of the storyline is the most easy to oversimplify, and people who dismiss it as "just some flowergirl getting killed" make me want to rape their faces; it's like saying Hamlet is a story about "some Danish bloke who can't make up his mind"). Whenever I think about how that part of the story was told, I realise more and more of the hidden meanings behind what happened, and respect the storytelling and dramatic skills of the writers even more.

I might make a tl;dr post about the significance of Aeris' death later; I can't be bothered right now.

[Covarr]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. It was an immensely flawed game, but behind the dumbass ideas like having one player delegated to doing nothing, requiring GBAs for multiplayer, and forcing you to do a stupid memorization quest that SEEMS like a sidequest but is necessary to beat the game (which you don't find out until it's too late), there's actually a fairly deep combat system that I just adore. I wish they'd create a proper Wii (or PS3, but probably not) sequel that expands on this concept, rather than a bunch of vaguely related games that focus on dumbing it down or adding crappy minigames.

[Opine]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. It was an immensely flawed game, but behind the dumbass ideas like having one player delegated to doing nothing, requiring GBAs for multiplayer, and forcing you to do a stupid memorization quest that SEEMS like a sidequest but is necessary to beat the game (which you don't find out until it's too late), there's actually a fairly deep combat system that I just adore. I wish they'd create a proper Wii (or PS3, but probably not) sequel that expands on this concept, rather than a bunch of vaguely related games that focus on dumbing it down or adding crappy minigames.

Rats, I was considering getting Crystal Bearers. Maybe I won't bother. 

[squaling_cloud]

My fav is VIII simply because it was the first real rpg game i ever played... Im playing xIII right now and its actually pretty good...just takes a while to get a good thick game play system going.

I realy want to go back and play VIII but i cant seem to get my Launcher 1.31 to display properly...i had a question in
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=7248.0 for a few days but haven't gotten a reply...hopefully this will help get it noticed!

and for my quick FFVII input...i want to play it again...got to disk3 n quit because summer break was over...how far has the community gotten with the graphic modding? ...whats a good thread to catch up on that?

[titeguy3]

FFVII. I don't worry about being called a "fanboy" or a "goth emo fanboy gay fag cosplaying fanboy troll" [we all love you hermaphrodite] because I actually enjoyed FFVII the most out of all of the games. I felt it had the best plot and battle mechanics. I also admired the simplicity of the leveling system and the intriguing, diverse personalities of each and every one of the characters.

Although "FF Versus XIII" sounds like it's going to have a lot of potential. I'm getting my hopes up for that. I'm hoping for Dissidia style Kingdom Hearts.

[idl12]

My favourites were 4, 6 and 7and 7 crisis core, i loved 4 and 6 because not only were they great but because those were the games i was stuck playing when everyone was boasting about there gta's and kingdomhearts and what not and 7 because you get a huge sword( gotta love those huge swords) and the fact that it's a long game with a lot of sad twists also crisis core for the same reason as well as the fact that it's in reel time and for some reason i can't help but love those corny english voices.

[Xelane]

My favorite final fantasy has to be 7 (of course). 6 however definately earns its place as 7's rival (and in some opinions, better.)

My reason isn't just that it was my first game ever, or that sephiroth/cloud is UBER KEWL. No my reason for loving FF7 was because of its compelling and very complex storyline, fresh and well implemented ideas, and its amazing battle system.

I also came to love the omnipotent point of view instead of a 3rd person 'follow them from behind' perspective.

FF7 for me was (in my opinion) the very reason that my good friends and peers find me creative because it taught me to think outside of the box....

and also because it was my first game and sephiroth and cloud are UBER KEWL 

[obesebear]

7, then Crisis Core.  Simply for the fact that Crisis Core wouldn't have been nearly as good without having already played 7 and knowing all the back....."forestory"

I finished 6, and it was quite good, just never really felt it pulled me in

Never could bring myself to finish 8.  Or 9. Or 12.

Beat 10 out of sheer willpower.

Versus XIII better be as good as I hope it will be.

[Prince Lex]

VII, definitely. Storyline, yadda yadda. Most of you get it. I'll never forget the feeling it gave me the first time I played it. The music is fantastic also. I really think that the music in Final Fantasy is phenomenal (at least Nobuo Uematsu's, anyone else pales in comparison).

I think VII, VIII and IX are the strongest musically. He was definitely at his peak here (in my opinion).

I don't understand people that give up on a Final Fantasy while they're playing it. The only time I've ever been tempted to is during XII (because the storyline is baws) but I peresevered. I do have a life, it's just that when a new FF game comes out the life disappears until I've completed it.

I finished XIII about an hour ago. Not as bad as I thought it would be but definitely shaky in some areas. Music sucks a bit. Like XII.

[squaling_cloud]

VII, definitely. Storyline, yadda yadda. Most of you get it. I'll never forget the feeling it gave me the first time I played it. The music is fantastic also. I really think that the music in Final Fantasy is phenomenal (at least Nobuo Uematsu's, anyone else pales in comparison).

I think VII, VIII and IX are the strongest musically. He was definitely at his peak here (in my opinion).

I don't understand people that give up on a Final Fantasy while they're playing it. The only time I've ever been tempted to is during XII (because the storyline is baws) but I persevered. I do have a life, it's just that when a new FF game comes out the life disappears until I've completed it.

I finished XIII about an hour ago. Not as bad as I thought it would be but definitely shaky in some areas. Music sucks a bit. Like XII.

oookay...so bout the music in XIII ...there is this one theme ...its either just before or right at chapter 4...it has a jungle core beat and some female vocals singing over top...its such a good song man!..definitely saved the overall score of music in the game for me...i was like you thinking it sucked at first...does anyone know what its called or where i can get a copy of the music in the game?

[Prince Lex]

Was it maybe "the vestige"? I bought the deluxe edition so I got a CD with some of the songs on it. I didn't say that every song sucked, I just think there were only a few good ones. And some felt like they weren't placed properly. If Nobuo had been scoring, the opposite would be true (in my opinion). The battle theme is OK, and there are 3 others that I like. Thats about it, out of a lot of tracks.

[Kudistos Megistos]

I don't understand people that give up on a Final Fantasy while they're playing it. The only time I've ever been tempted to is during XII (because the storyline is baws) but I peresevered. I do have a life, it's just that when a new FF game comes out the life disappears until I've completed it.

I've pretty much given up on 12. I haven't sold or thrown away my copy or anything, but I don't think I'll ever play it again.

I also stopped playing 2 and 3, but I like to think that I put them on hold; I plan to get back to them some time.

[nfitc1]

My favorite is IX. It always will be. I think the enforced classes are done well and it really makes me think out my strategy before going into certain battles. I can't just throw people into a party and tell them to attack all the time like I can with VII and VIII and expect to win.

I like the way that abilities are gained independent of levels. It was a neat touch to gain more power as you progress through the game naturally rather than being able to get all the way up to, say, level 50 in the demon forest and get all the abilities or level up some initial materia and all others you get later are weaker. I just feel the AP system was better balanced than materia or GFs. There are, in some cases, no way to get higher level magic abilities until reaching a certain point in the game unlike FFVI where Celes could learn Meteor at level 98 and Terra could learn Ultima at 99. Granted, that would require lots of grinding, but it's still available at any time. Then its use breaks the game.

I also think the music is one of Uematsu-san's best. Some of them make me cry. Very few others do too, but not as consistently as IX.

The characters are also very animated. This is a highly anime trait. VIII was more realistic with character movements, but IX really felt alive because of what they did.

The ONLY thing I'd change about it is the high encounter rates. They aren't impossibly high or anything, but when you can't buy ethers your magic users tend to lose some power between boss battles. There usually are plenty of places to restore this, but the whole Kuja's fortress and Oeilvert section almost always has me rationing out my MP and stretching it a little thin.

[Timu Sumisu]

Hard to pick favorites, they're all good and all have significant faults. I'm largely gonna skip the first 6, except for a return on 5 latorz.

7. I love the art style, i love the music, I find that the storytelling is most unneven though. The midgar arc is wonderful, then they send you on the "chasing the black caped man" segment, which largely just has you run around and delve into all the characters backstories, which isnt bad, but is a bit drawn out. and after that, the characters arent very significant to the story. Cloud and tifa still have a front row part in the story, but the others are mostly just swapped in if you want them for different mission (aka huge materia). On that note, I find the huge materia part kinda random. Please someone correct my, its been years since i went through the game... why stop the materia rocket...? other than "its shinra they're bad, must foil their plans" why do we have to snatch the huge materia... Finally, the story related part i loved about this game... It didnt all make that much sense. A lot of things were kind of vague, which i really appreciated. It left some mystery. what happens at the end? why are that guy sick? random things that keep me wondering after its all said and done.

8. Drawing sux, almost as much as soap operas.

...

I also found the animation weak... mocap with 1k poly models isnt that exciting, though the animations for renzokuken etc, which were more customized were nice.

9. I think this is the quintessential Final Fantasy. It incorporates all varieties of creatures, settings, etc into a very unified setting, along with plot ideas, like the elemental crystals, and summons very nicely. Musics great, art is great, it feels like a retro ff game, but up to the standards of the time, and still feels new. Btw, AP system was incredibly executed in this game.

10. I think this is one of the stronger FFs. The battle system is both slow and fast paced at once. It'll wait for you, yet when you know what you're doing, it moves quite quickly. Leveling was kool. You had implied job classes at the beginning, that all had their strengths and were needed, while later allowing you to diversify and mix up abilities between characters. I enjoyed the celestial weapon quests. By enjoyed i mean i liked the concept. getting 0:00 time on chocobo race is a bitch... I've done it 3 times Monster arena was a good way to get you going back to the old areas. Above all, i liked that all the characters are significant for the entire game... except rikku... she rly doesnt need to b there, and has very little use in the plot. I found the story flowed well, and didnt really lag on any part for too long.

12 doesnt exist in my book

As for the game i probably enjoy the most? I havnt even beaten it, or gotten that far, only the second world... is Final Fantasy 5. I think it has the best incarnation of the old job system. I also find the script entertaining to no end.... yea... I find ff5 fun