I'm not a big gamer anymore but is anyone else a huge fan of the PS1 era Final Fantasy games? The first six are great as well but didn't quite reach the gripping level of storytelling that the series achieved with Final Fantasy VII. I also liked Final Fantasy X when I played it years ago but my memory of the game is too hazy to elaborate much. I'll try to avoid spoilers as much as possible but here's my take on each game.
I'm going to get it right out of the way by admitting that I'm a rabid fan of Final Fantasy VII. It is quite easily the most ambitious narrative to ever be implemented into a video game and I find the accusations of its convolution to be mostly unfounded. It's undoubtedly a complex story but every so-called "hole" in the plot has an answer hidden inside the game (through side quests and such). The translation is iffy in places but never in such a way that majorly obscures the plot. If anything, the unexplained segments seem intentionally left open for interpretation which is only a perk in my book. Materia is an engrossing system but not overly complicated to the point of finding yourself backtracking to grind a certain spell or summon. The characters all go through a significant amount of development throughout the course of the game, including the two side characters Yuffie and Vincent. Despite the antagonist's flashy character design and FMV sequences (which have since gotten updated with fancier graphics, I might add), Sephiroth is unfair to dismiss as merely a villain for mindless fanboys. For those who've played the game, the character is someone easily sympathized with (or pitiable, at the very least) and like the game's protagonists, he develops his personality (or in this case, insanity) throughout the course of the game. He is the most compelling villain out of the entire series and easily my favorite as well (sorry Kefka). I do not care the slightest bit about shallow details like graphics but if anything, the dated blocky character designs add a sense of much needed quirkiness to what is an atmospherically bleak and tragic story.
I hated Final Fantasy VIII at first. So much, in fact, that I didn't even muster up the patience to finish it until a few years ago. Upon doing so, however, I've come to love it for its perk and there's a lot of them if you can get past its many flaws. Firstly, despite the sappy and cliched love story being what it was (aka sappy and cliched), it did a lot to develop Rinoa and Squall as characters. Squall is a bit whiney but I found his penchant for being antisocial easy to relate to and Rinoa's presence had an interesting effect on his attitude. Unfortunately, most of the other characters were weak with the exception of Laguna. Zell was obnoxious, Irvine was forgettable, and Selphie was ditsy. Quistis seemed to have potential but became downplayed by the time the plot started to really take off. Junction was a clever, in-depth form of customization but required a tedious amount of grinding. The concept of time compression was unique and several aspects during the story were compelling (like the dream sequences from the viewpoint of Laguna and co., for example). Ultimecia was underrepresented as a villain and her motives were only briefly explained. Even so, the final battle was epic and challenging. In summation, it's a great game with a lot of flaws making it my least favorite Final Fantasy of the PS1 era.
Final Fantasy IX is almost as good as VII. It was so engrossing for me during my first play through that I'm almost positive that I at least flirted with the idea that it was better than VII at one point or another (blasphemy in retrospect, but still). Either way, I can confidently admit that it has what is quite easily the most likable cast of characters in the entire series (aside from Quina I guess who was only a side character anyway). If I had to complain about anything when it comes to the characters, it's that Amarant appeared pretty late in the game which gave him too little time to develop his otherwise outstanding traits. The plot was less complex than the previous two games but is still equally involved and captivating. It falls into the trap of cliches at times but that was sort of the point to begin with (seeing as it's a tribute to the older games). The battle system was simplistic but fun. It's also probably the least challenging out of the three but had its tough bosses here and there. Kuja was a smarmy, self-absorbed prince-like antagonist but unfortunately lost his edge when he finds out certain things about himself. Nothing but a spoiled brat.
My boredom at work and my itch to play through these games again inspired me to create this mammoth of a post. Discuss.
. Anyway I decided it was time for me to go buy it for myself and went to the game store where I could only find FF7. I bought it anyway and was pissed off when I got home because it looked like shit compared to FF8 graphics-wise. I only played for a little bit, got stuck on a boss and went and bought FF8 a month later hah. It wasn't until a year or so later that I revisited FF7 and realized just how good it was.
