Beware: This blogpost is on NOTHING BUT GAMES and is FRICKING LONG. This is not for the faint of heart (Actually it's for the faint of heart in regards to games so >_>) Oh well, it's just a wall of text to those who don't get it.
I have come to a realization that there are still many rather uninformed RPG gamers of what games are good and what aren't. For example we have Kevin Wong over here who decided to borrow FFXII instead of DQVIII (Which for non-gamers is pretty much paramount to 1. Bad taste in games 2. Lack of knowledge in regards to good games 3. FF Fanboyism 4. An unforgivable sin.)
I hath taken it upon myself to tell the readers of my blog of the games out there less appreciated by AHEM certain people, played but never completed by AHEM certain people, stopped playing due to an incapability to deliver curry like AHEM some people, or just an incapability of finding such a rare game (I had to borrow a number of games from Cleon just because he went to Johor quite often and had good taste in games too)
Firstly I must begin by saying why FF is mediocre.
Fanboy/Myth No.1: ZOMG FF HAS TEH GUD GARPHICZ LOLOL!!!!shiftoneoneone11!!
FF indeed has good graphics, but to buy a game due to good graphics is very superficial and Sidhant-like. >_> Also, graphics are far from making a game good (Disgaea owns the FF series easily. Heck, Chrono Trigger and a number of other SNES games own the FF series easily). Rather, they are eye candy so you can see that pwetty tree and pwetty FMV sequence involving being underwater and unable to breathe for 10 minutes all while kissing another person. No, graphics aren't going to save FF from mediocrity.
Fanboy/Myth No.2: EH THE CHARACTERS ROCK OK THEY HAVE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
No they aren't developed one bit. For each game of FF there are as many bad characters as good characters (This is PS only, since FF6 had way more awesome characters). To be exact, the characters get worse and worse as the games go on.
FF7: I didn't play, the characters were somewhat decent I believe except for ALL UR MATERIA R BELONGZORZ TO YUFFI MUAHAHA
FF8: LAWL TRAINS TRAINS TRAINS/ LAWL I LIKE A GIRL WHO LIKES TRAINS TRAINS TRAINS/ Angstangstangst (Admittedly, Squall is far better a character than Cloud)/ Rinoa who was decent but then she started liking Squall. >_> What character do we have that is awesome? Laguna. Anyone else? Arguably Squall. Anyone else? Uhh Zell/Quistis? Hmm
FF9: Save Vivi, Zidane, and Kuja most other characters were rather mediocre and not very original. That said Vivi is ownage, so I guess it makes up for it.
FF10: Auron Rikku Lulu vs Wakka Tidus Yuna Kimahri. Close, but the bad characters still triumph over the good ones
FFX2 is not a game so I'm not including it. But if I have to, the only character close to good was Paine. X2 Yuna contrary to SZ belief reeks of phail.
Fanboy/Myth No.3: FF has en amayzeeng storlylaine ohkay
While I would admit that originally FF did bear amazing storylines (4,5,6,7 and arguably 8 are testament to that), it gets worse. And worse. And worse. I have no idea what FFXII's storyline will be like but I'm not having high expectations to it.
FF6: LOOKIE I PUSH A STATUE AND WORLD GOES KABLEWIE
*World goes kablewie*
FF7: My main issue is with Shinra just disappearing after Disc 1, but apart from that I can't say much about FF7. Like I said, I didn't play it.
FF8: HAY GUYZ WE ALL CAME FRUM TEH SAYM ORPHANAGE LAWLZ
O RLY I CUN REMEMBAH
YA RLY I REMEMBAH BUT I DIDN'T SAY TIL DISC TOO COZ I DIDN'T FEEL LIKE IT LAWL
FF9: I can't remember much bad about this one, but they wasted alot of character potential with it. Oh well, was more of a tribute to old gamers anyway.
FFX: "I AM UR FATHER" "NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" "I'M GONNA DIE" "NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" "I'M NOT HUMAN" "NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"
FFX2 doesn't have a storyline so I shan't get to that.
I don't remember any people saying that FF had good replayability so I need not talk about that.
Now given all that, I must add that it's not wrong to like a mediocre series; it's wrong to have a mediocre series and say that it's perfect while dissing other gems.
And yes I like FF as well I just don't see it in a fanboyish way like SZ and KW do.
All that said, let me get down to my rating of FF:
Story: 6/10 Decent stories ruined by bad segments. FFVI and FFVII should deserve a 9/10 though, and FFX2 a 1/10.
Graphics: 10/10 graphics are something FF is known for, usually superior to most other games. To say that FF's graphics stink is, to say the least, quite far from the truth (As far as RPGs on PS2 go anyway. Xbox has better graphics but less good games, nonetheless Jade Empire's graphics are amazing)
Character: 7/10 There's usually a really good character per game, a number decent characters and an equivalent amount of bad characters, but there's almost never a character that you would hate to the core unless intended.
Gameplay: Meh I can't judge this one FF's gameplay changes way too often.
Replayability: 3/10 Hardly any post-game things to do, if any at all. A secret boss or two at best, not much of post-game dungeons. FF4A has replayability, but that was like at best released less than a month ago. Prior to that? Nope.
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Now to start on other series:
Mana series (Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, Legend of Mana, Sword of Mana, *Children of Mana*, *World of Mana*)
Note: *'d games mean they're not out yet.
The Mana series was an additional side FF-gaiden-esque game when the first Seiken Densetsu came out. After that, Square decided to split it into a new series of its own, the Mana series. Probably a few people here have played it (Mel, SZ, Jarrel *Who doesn't read this blog*, Me) and appreciate its value. A very original series, it's hard not to like its novelty unless you're KW.
Story: SD3 and LoM do not bear a single linear storyline but rather, you decide how it turns out (SD3 by choosing your party, LoM by the missions you select and your map layout) whereas both SoMs have a single storyline. N/A
Grapihcs: It caters less towards a realistic view that FF bears and more towards a fantasy-like feel. Just look at all of the Mana games up till now, and World of Mana. It's a style you either hate or love. Either way, the graphics are by no means bad given timeline (So don't tell me SoM and SD3 graphics stink). 7/10.
Characters: While I cannot vouch for Sword of Mana, Secret of Mana and Legend of Mana's main characters are for the most of it, silent. This gives you the ability to actually 'personalize' your characters. This works for some, this doesn't work for others. Personally I'm fine with it. 'sides, the silent character's what Link's all about. For SD3, the characters weren't particularly deep, but their character persoanlities were solid enough given that point of time. While I will admit that Duran and Angela aren't what one would call original, Riesz and Hawk are where it's it. =) N/A as well overall for the series
Gameplay: Characters walk around and battle on the same screen with all the enemies on it, unlike FF where battles start in an independent screen. Kingdom Hearts is the most similar one to the Mana series' method of fighting, just in 3D instead. This method of playing IMO is more engaging than FF's method of fighting and more action-based. Though it does kind of end up into a slash-slash-slash-POWERATTACK game, but hey, better than KH's 1-hit KO at high levels right. Admittedly this kind of fighting will get boring, but nonetheless it's still quite more fun than FF's fighting methods. Yet another for-or-against thing. 8/10.
Replayability: SoM1 had no replayability, and I don't know about Sword of Mana's replayability. For SD3 and Legend of Mana, though, the fact that the storyline wasn't linear meant that you could enjoy the game all over again with changes. Cleared SD3 once? You only played 3 of the 6 characters, and 1 of the 3 storylines, and 3 of the 24 final classes. Go do it again you. LoM's new game plus lets you keep whatever you had from the previous game so you can play Nightmare mode without uber death, and still enjoy playing with different side characters and different story quests. 8/10.
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Ok, that's one down. What's up next? Suikoden!
Suikoden series: (Suiko I, II, III, IV, Tactics, *V*)
Suikoden's Namco's go at making a story based upon - what's that - Suikoden. You don't get it, I assume. Suikoden's kanji is Sui2 Hu3 Zhuan4. There, now you get it. The series unlike FF and the Mana series is all based in one single world. A story based highly on the theme of war, it requires more than overlevelling to save the day; you need -ZOMG- brains and strategy.
Definitely, Cleon is a better critique of the series than I am, since he's played all 4 Suikos and is currently playing Tactics. In comparison I've only played II and III, and haven't actually completed either (I got to the last scene in both but didn't beat the boss for various reasons >_>), but well Cleon ain't the blogger so here I am.
Graphics: It has gotten progressively better. However, that doesn't change the fact that Suiko 1 and 3's graphics were considerably bad, whereas 2 and 4 are decent. 6/10 overall.
Story: Good. The story development is very solid, and the fact that all games take place in the same world make the overall story stronger. However, from what I see the story is progressively getting worse. Suiko 2 was a definite gem, but I can't say that about 3 and 4 didn't seem too good according to Cleon. I hope Suiko V changes that. 9/10 for Suiko II, 7/10 for the rest.
Characters: You have a hundred and eight of them each game. 'nuff said. Character development is usually only strong for the main characters though, and little to no effort is made towards further developing any other characters save those closely associated with the main characters. That said, each character has their backstory and personality, which is pretty good IMO considering there's 108 of them. 7/10.
Gameplay: Oh, where do I get started. There are 3 forms of battles: Duels, Battles between two parties (IOW a typical fight), and wars. The differences you can kinda tell easily. Duels and wars are rare, but wars are an important part of the story, and a difficult one too. They require much thought (Suiko 2 at least, Suiko 3 needed pure overlevelling) and strategy. Battles had been carried out with 6 characters in the party (2 rows of 3), but that's been changed in Suiko 4 where you have 4 in the party. Though you have 108 characters, about 1/2 of them don't fight (They're like blacksmiths, chefs, etc of your castle/cave/mansion), but among those who do, certain characters get special skills with each other so as to make battles more interesting and give each character something more unique. That, and the main character never fights with the 2-hand sword like so many typical heroes do = INSTANT WIN! 9/10.
Replayability: Unfortunately none at all. 0/10.
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SO series (Star Ocean, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Star Ocean: Blue Sphere, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time)
Star Ocean is yet another series worth of nothing but good games. Between the classic SO1, the ever-so-popular SO2 and its sequel, and the ever-so-controversial SO3. SO3 may be one of those love-it-or-hate-it games, but none can deny the fact that the entire series has been amazing. Admittedly I hadn't played what some consider the best of the series (SO2), but hey, my loss.
Graphics: Has improved tremendously. SO1 graphics were good for its time, same with SO2. SO3's graphics are nothing short of amazing. In terms of detail, it is far better than FF (Just look at the final tower in SO3. Absolute beauty.) The style is not the most realistic one, but it is just as well appreciated by everyone. 9/10 for SO3, 7/10 for SO1, SO2.
Story: Definitely a plus. It dares to go into areas that many RPG's don't. When SO1 was created, few other RPGs involved space and time travel (FFIV *space*, ToP *time*, CT *time*), and the story turned out great (Though I have to say ToP was better in terms of story >_>). In SO3, there came the biggest plot twist around, and many either hated it or loved it. Either way one had to admit that this plot twist while seemingly cliched, had never been seen in a game before. It was brave in doing new things, and it's turned out good. 9/10.
Characters: Similarly with FF, there is a range of good characters and a range of bad characters. However, due to the PA (Private Action) system where you get to talk with fellow characters while in towns, it gives far more depth to the character outside the main plotline than can be achieved normally (Hardly in other games do you get many chances to talk with other party members except during story sequences), and is a nice touch towards the game. 8/10
Gameplay: It's a cross between the Mana series' way of battling and the typical way. The best reflection of this would be the battle system found in Tales of Symphonia (But no one has a Gamecube nor played the JP-only version on the PS2 so >_>). Essentially battles are on an independent screen, but you fight in an 'arena' of sorts, so you can run around and attack using melee weaponry, spells, or AoE skills. It makes the battle overall more fun IMO. 10/10
Replayability: Star Ocean always had a system of having more characters than you can have in your party (8 of 12 can be recruited per game), so you have to play more than once to get all the character's endings (Star Ocean 2 had 87 character endings, and you get 8 per game. Har har good luck >_> Well, not that anyone bothered getting all of them anyway.) Add in the number of post-game dungeons and bosses and you have quite a bit to do. 8/10.
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And finally the last series. I would've wrote on Nippon Ichi and the Tales series, but I've only play 2 of each series compared to the many out there.
Xenosaga (Ep 1: Der Wille Zur Macht, Ep 2: Jenseits Von Gut Und Bose, Pied Piper, Ep *3: Thus Sprach Zarathustra*)
Xenosaga began with the roots of Xenogears, a game made concurrently with Final Fantasy VII. Square decided at that point that more budget should be given to FFVII instead of Xenogears, and hence XG ended up with a very very long and beautifully-done Disc 1 and a very very short and disappointing Disc 2. Ended up that the makers of Xenogears left Square because of that, and joined Namco. The series-of-6 known as Xenogears (XG was Ep 5) was restarted all over again, and the result is the Xenosaga trilogy. (Would've been 6 but Ep 2 didn't sell too well so they cut it down)
Story: Xenosaga is a sci-fi story with religious undertones. The story itself is highly complex on its own, and that's without considering any symbolism involved. Due to its story being somewhat based on Nietzsche's philosophies (The Xenosaga titles save Pied Piper are all the names of Nietzsche's books), Jungian philosophy and also Gnostic Christianity, much allusions are made in regards to these three aspects, granting the story more depth than your usual RPG storyline. The storyline evolves and each stage of development is pulled of flawlessly. The only issue I had with the story is that it is too long and complex to fit into 3 games, and that's probably going to end up with a very rushed episode 3. Damn you Namco. >_> 10/10
Graphics: Xenosaga Episode 1 had taken on a rather queer ideea of chibitizing all the main characters while leaving all side characters as normal realistic people. While I found no problem with that contrast, I also didn't realize that Shion was 22 years old until Ep. 2 came out and made the characters realistic so as not to have a jarring contrast. The graphics are decent but not the kind of aweing sceneries in the FF series. Well, then again, I've seen the Ep. 3 gameplay trailer and the graphics there are nothing short of superb so =) 7/10 for graphics.
Characters: Characters in Xenosaga are far better developed than those in any of the games above, but that's quite obvious given the fact that the games above don't have the same cast for multiple games (No X-2 did nothing to make Yuna or Rikku seem better. In fact I would go as far as saying that X-2 ruined the two, particularly Rikku. =\ Oh well there went my favourite FFX char. >_>) Due to this, characters will only seem as developed if you play 1 and 2, and not either. While there are one or two hated characters, there are far more liked ones against that (They can make you like Albedo, and the only other two villains who've done that is Kefka and Luca Blight. Magus doesn't count since he's not really a villain). Far more development is also given to side characters than in other games, and that can't be much of a fault because it isn't compromising on the main party's development. 9/10.
Gameplay: Battles involve pressing a sequence of attacks to do a certain attack, but isn't like SO or Mana's fighting. This would be more of a cross between SO and FF, but more towards FF since it takes out SO's defining battle element. While in Xeno 1 the battle was simple and mainly involved doing strong attacks, Xeno 2 took that out the window and made it extremely complex what with zones positions and all. Essentially that made it hell to anyone who didn't get the system and made battles extremely easy to anyone who did. Serious imbalance if you ask me. In addition, Xeno Ep 2 dungeons mainly consist of nothing but mindless puzzles. Which idiot member of the world's biggest high-tech corporation would use a huge glass platform and blocks below it as a security measure? 7/10 for Ep 1, 6/10 for Ep. 2.
Replayability: Meh, decent with its bosses and dungeons and all. Nothing great like SO though. 7/10.
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I'm just one person, but if graphics are all that FF's about, then what's so great about it? You all need new games yo, view your games from way more PoVs than the FF-fanboy.
Of course, I'm somewhat of a Xeno-fanboy myself, >_> Oh well >_>
All that said, there's a lot of games I didn't say that are absolutely great and worth trying out, including but not limited to
Arc the Lad series
Castlevania series
Tales series
Nippon Ichi games (DISGAEA <3)
Lunar series
Breath of Fire series
Fire Emblem series =)
Any others I missed out? Hmm.
Now you know why I took two days to write this out >_>
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