What does Final Fantasy mean to you?

[Da_Cloud]

Lately the Final Fantasy games have gotten more and more critics regarding the way there going. And more often I'm starting to read more and more comments saying the newer games aren't Final Fantasy at all.

Now Final Fantasy is an franchise which has been evolving since 1987 and over the years the staff of Final Fantasy has seen many new faces. In fact from the original crew 7 men crew only two people are currently still active within Square Enix. One is the now infamous producer Hiromichi Tanaka (FFXI, FFXIV) and the other is head of Square Enix's spinn-off division Akitoshi Kawazu (Crystal Chronicles, SaGa series).

This all has lead Final Fantasy to become an evolving series who've instead of copying the original always tried to evolve the series to the next level.

Lately (mainly after the merge of Squareosft and Enix) more an more comments have raised around the series not being as it was. So was FFX-2 to much girl power for a Final Fantasy, FFXI shouldn't received a Roman numeral for being an MMO, FFXII to open for its own good and FFXIII the exact opposite.

This all just shows that fans around the globe have different ideas when they think of a Final Fantasy. So my question to you guys is what do you think off when you hear the name Final Fantasy, what are your expectations and where do you draw the line of calling the game another Final Fantasy?

[wee187]

To me, a Final Fantasy honestly needs one underlying thing for me to appreciate it: charm. If there's no heart in it, it bugs me. Maybe that's ironic, since many people believe FFXII is the least heart-felt game in the series, but to me, there is plenty.

I just beat FFTactics the other day, and I think it should definitely have had a roman numeral to call its own. Yes, it was different, but it was superior in its own right. In any case, I've enjoyed all of the main series and most of the spinoffs of the franchise. The only day I'll ever call a main FF game not worthy of being an FF game is if for one, it lacks charm and soul in the story, and two, it's not an RPG of some sort. None of them have caused me doubt yet, so I'm not too worried myself. Square, in my opinion, just needs to go rediscover its roots and make a more classic-themed game, however, to regain popularity amongst the more critical fans.

[jake1456]

to me all it needs is a good story and battle system

[stuart]

i agree with you on that point jake, it needs a good plot and a decent battle system (as much as i like the game FF XII didnt really have the classic ATB style battle that other have had (also who loves a bit of random battles every no and then). I think to get the story and battle system right square needs to move away from concentrating on the high end graphics like they did for XIII and XIII-2, ect as this obviously uses up too much money. Anyway i am hoping the next installment of the FF franchise is gonna be a good one

[Kerochancaptor]

For me the most important is the story and the poetry. I'm not a big fan of RPG to be honest. The only FF I liked for the Battle System is FF12    I liked all FF I did except of FF13. I don't find that the story was good, I didn't like the characters mentality. But they was two things I really liked in this game: Graphism and Character Design. For me it's not a bad FF, that's just that it didn't correspond to me For me the best FF was FF9 (story, poetry, humour), and I really liked the secondary quests. I liked FF10 for the story and secondary quests. And I liked FF12 for the game, the world, and the battle system (I'm not a big fan of the story of this one). I played FF3, FF4, FF7 too, they are really good, but did't correspond to me. I liked the Battle System of FFX-2. And I really liked FF12 Revenent Wings (for the gamplay) and FF Crystal Chronicle Ring of Fates (for the story).

To summerize, I think that all FF are good games, but they can correspond, or not to the people who plays to them. It's just a matter of taste 

Just one thing to add: I didn't play FF1, FF2, FF5, FF6, FF8, FF Tactics, FF Tactics A2, Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core (I have them but I didn't have the time to do them now. I'll do FF6 and FF8 as soon as I have time). So I can't speak about them.

[stuart]

dear god  Dirge of Cerberus in my eyes wasn't an FF just some shooter, liked the story (well... some of it) as it dug deep into Vincent's past, other than that it was terrible to play controls where sluggish even when sensitivity was set to maximum

[Da_Cloud]

That's because Dirge of Cerberus wasn't meant to be the next shooter, but was meant as a step up for the Japanese people who never even played a shooter in there life. And if you keep that in mind the game actually isn't even so bad, at least that's what this guy, who hardly plays shooters, thinks

Not that you'll hear me complain about an FF game that fast though. Did had my complains against FFXI being a game that could only be played if you had a credit card. Which until recently was the only way to pay the monthly bills and with FFXIV now being up I think FFXI will be the only ff game which I'll never have played or will play

For me Final Fantasy is just a series which should continue to evolve. From the moment I stepped into the series (which was around FFX) I've loved every single release and I've been backtracking the older games with great fun. I basically just love the fact that not 1 final fantasy game is the same. So what I want to see in the series is the constant changes. The new worlds that are open to explore, not just in the meanings of running around in the game itself, but the mythologies they've drawn there inspiration from, the "hidden" connection's between linked games or just digging into the story in general.

[stuart]

I think what would be great is a world that the player can fully explore such as a mountain in the background you can just simply walk up to the top, a fully exploreable world, where you could go anywhere in that world, but still follow the story

[jake1456]

Dirge of Cerberus is the only shooter i still like and i would hate it if it was fully exploreable and still follow the story as it would remind too much of LoZ

[KainCrow]

I liked FF series for it's good story line. Frankly speaking, FF series was what got me hooked to RPGs. Usually I am more strategy/time management oriented person like warcraft/Age of Empire and all.. *sigh, ah, first love,*

...All joking aside, when I hear name Final Fantasy, I expect great story line and a challenging- or perhaps not when you play too many times?- game. I also sometimes expect wonderful theme songs.. ..From the 'Great General' Sephiroth to annoying 'Seifer', or the two best friends' battle between 'Kain Highwind' and 'Cecil'... I also like variety of the personalities given to each main characters and sometimes unexpected turn of events (which is rare for me, considering how quick I am in catching up the foreshadowings, which makes me rarely surprised for any supposedly surprising events)..

Though recently I did hear a lot of complains, I still find that I am quite helpless against many of the Final Fantasy Series characters' charms. They have individuality, character- and undeniably charming own their own rights, making them hard to resist. Another thing I find interesting is that most individual characters in Final Fantasy series has their own stories to tell.. A lot of other games do as well, but I somehow find Final Fantasy's approach of explaining things and disclosing the plots. Each series have their own characteristics, while they share a lot of similarities.. It was amazing to me when I first started to play games seriously, and it still does sometimes.

[NikolasvanitasX]

For me Final Fantasy is exploration of new lands and worlds,memorable characters,battles to decide the fate of the world and heroes born in a world of strife against the odds they choose to fight(Dunbans line from Xenoblade)