Board 8 > Nook's FF Topic [FF16 hype] [Series Ranking]

(+) Yeah! (+)

X-2 has two issues imo

A) The sheer amount of missables is fuckin stupid. The game is pain to 100% and really demands a walkthrough. Shit's bad yo

B) The music is trash outside 1000 Words and a couple other tracks. FFX baseline had a very spotty soundtrack (the major tracks are great! And then it has a loooooot of chaff), but X-2 is just, completely substandard for what FF delivers normally. It really makes it show its B-team sequel colors which is a crying shame. Really tanks the experience for me. :(

FFX ost doesn't have chaff, the field themes and characters themes and battle themes all slap

pjbasis posted...

FFX ost doesn't have chaff, the field themes and characters themes and battle themes all slap

Hard disagree. Like take this for an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJe7olfEcRs

This is very weak compared to even FF9's climax battle themes. Not even fit to be in the same room as Dark Messenger or Beatrix's combat theme, it never goes anywhere. And it plays during some of the most major fights! Same for Challenge (the normal boss theme IIRC?). And you have things like the Al Bhed stronghold theme which is just irritating, too. I could go on. FFX still has a ton of bangers too, of course -- Auron's Theme, Suteki da Ne, Otherworld, Seymour Battle, every To Zanarkand variant, etc., but you can tell Nobuo Uematsu was exhausted and not quite at his top level for this game. Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano were not up to the task of covering for him either, I'm not even sure if they have a single standout great track between them. It's all Uematsu carrying the show.

I think it's just different because he was experimenting. I would probably say that's a "low tier" FFX song but I still vibe with it.

pjbasis posted...

I think it's just different because he was experimenting. I would probably say that's a "low tier" FFX song but I still vibe with it.

This. That song is more about player introspection and taking in the moment. They were going for an overall more cinematic experience with FFX, and it worked.

pjbasis posted...

I think it's just different because he was experimenting. I would probably say that's a "low tier" FFX song but I still vibe with it.

Yeah that's a fair take I think. It was a very experimental period for Uematsu and some of it backfired or didn't work out as well as it could I think. Notably I think he got the hang of whatever it is he was trying to do just a few years later, as his output became his usual masterclass level performances once again soon after.

FFX is the last soundtrack with multiple great Uematsu songs.

MacArrowny posted...

FFX is the last soundtrack with multiple great Uematsu songs.

XIV 1.0 would like a word. Desert Moon Defied, Quicksand, Tempest, Twilight Over Thanalan, Imperial Will...XIV 1.0 was Uematsu's last truly top tier soundtrack, and possibly his second peak after FF8 IMO. This doesn't count Answers and Dragonsong since they were loose tracks made for given expacs of XIV 2.0, but 1.0 was mostly him and it showed with how sick the music was.

*Shrug* I went and listened to the entire XIV 1.0 soundtrack and there was nothing I cared about in there. Even Answers is nothing special.

My FF craze continues:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/6/AAK53VAAEbRU.jpg

I sold Dirge and picked up this bad boy. Got 4 GC to GBA cables too. Told my friends to bring their GBAs over and we're gonna play Saturday night

KanzarisKelshen posted...

X-2 has two issues imo

A) The sheer amount of missables is fuckin stupid. The game is pain to 100% and really demands a walkthrough. Shit's bad yo

B) The music is trash outside 1000 Words and a couple other tracks. FFX baseline had a very spotty soundtrack (the major tracks are great! And then it has a loooooot of chaff), but X-2 is just, completely substandard for what FF delivers normally. It really makes it show its B-team sequel colors which is a crying shame. Really tanks the experience for me. :(

this is a good post

also, hell yeah to the Crystal Chronicles post

Local four player CC with actual GBAs in 2023 sounds totally awesome

Made it past my old point of no return in ff5

I always vaguely remembered a talking turtle

and now i finally found the talking turtle

I had the pleasure of playing 4 player CC back in the day. It was quite fun! Not really spectacular though.

I remember hating it back then, but i also hated ffx-2, so whatd i know? Cant wait to give it a second chance tonight. Crazy that its been 20 years

Aight I'm just gonna go ahead and add Realm Reborn and Heavensward to the ranking. I haven't played the others yet (just wanted to put that out there before anyone gets their hopes up about Shadowbringers being on the ranking. But definitely look forward to me playing more FF14 in the future. But for now-)

#10. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/9/AAK53VAAEbdP.jpg

This game is so novel now that everyone's accustomed to the later expansions. But I think it's important to remember ARR was originally a Ps3 game from 2013. And not only did ARR miraculously fix FF14 1.0, but it's also crazy how well it works on console. The HUD customization is so great.

And even looking back at vanilla ARR without all today's improvements, people were still impressed with its visuals, combat, music, and overall mmo design. Shit, it was one of my first games when I got my Ps4 in 2014. And as someone who played FF11 in 2002, I thought ARR was pretty exceptional.

The story is well written, but poorly paced, so it can definitely feel like a giant wordy slog to get through at times. And the characters are generally underwhelming, but the worldbuilding and lore are top notch. Its definitely the most fully realized FF world. And it all culminates into a truly amazing cliff hanger by the end.

Back in 2013, the general audience seemed to give ARR around a 9, but the hardcore mmo people gave it around an 8.5, saying while it could hold its own against WoW and Guild Wars 2, it's late game experience was pretty lacking.

So for it's time, 8.6 for ARR seems right.

The ranking so far
#10. FF14 ARR - 8.6
#11. FFX-2 - 8.5
#12. FF12 - 8.5
#13. FF11 - 8.4
#14. FF7R - 8.4
#15. FF1 - 8.3
#16. FF15 - 8.0
#17. DoC FF7 - 6.0
#18. FF2 - 3.5
#19. FF13 - 3.0

And if you're like me, and you're not into MMOs (my wife had to force me to get into FF14), but you're curious about FF14 - I'd say just be patient and open minded and take your time with it. At first I was daunted by the hundreds of hours it would take to get through all this, but now that I'm in - it's actually kind of exciting that there's hundreds of hours more for me to play.

I feel like you must be pretty generous with your scores, because I quite liked ARR, and would definitely not give it an 8.6...

I beat the base game back in 2019 and while I did enjoy it the game was exhausting, both mentally and financially.

So I took a break and haven't been back since. Which is a shame, I'd like to go through and play the expansions, but I totally agree with Ulti on MMO practices.

Like the game is 60 bucks, plus the expansions, plus the 12.99 a month. Then on top of that the game has really slow pacing to drag out those subscriptions. I shouldn't have to dread purchasing a game I enjoy playing.

Worth noting that you can get the game on good sale pretty often, so you shouldn't be paying 60. The MMO subscription thing is bad, I agree. I only got around that because I went all out on the game, so for the base game and Shadowbringers combined I only had to pay for one month (I didn't use the free trial).

Like the game is 60 bucks, plus the expansions, plus the 12.99 a month. Then on top of that the game has really slow pacing to drag out those subscriptions. I shouldn't have to dread purchasing a game I enjoy playing.

The slow parts are free these days. Like, pay absolutely nothing, not one red cent free. I concur that paying for ARR is a scam but thankfully it's not necessary anymore.

KanzarisKelshen posted...

The slow parts are free these days. Like, pay absolutely nothing, not one red cent free. I concur that paying for ARR is a scam but thankfully it's not necessary anymore.

That's a scam too - if you played ARR in the past and want to go back to your old account, you can't use the the free trial, so Tangy would have to subscribe for all of Heavensward, despite it being free for new players.

MacArrowny posted...

That's a scam too - if you played ARR in the past and want to go back to your old account, you can't use the the free trial, so Tangy would have to subscribe for all of Heavensward, despite it being free for new players.

Yeah it is IMO, no disagreements there. At least paying for Heavensward is 100% worth it.

Ackshully there's something going on right now where if you have the starter edition you get up to Stormblood free. Let me find the details.

I know Heavensward is free for sure and I'm pretty sure I bought both Stormblood and Shadowbringers already. I've mostly just been putting off the subscription service, but it looks like it might be cheaper than when I first played?

So like in ff5 when i have two jobs maxed out, am i just good for the rest of the game? I have lenna maxed as white mage / summoner, and krile maxed as black mage / time mage. Do you eventually get extra slots for abilities or what? If so, whats another good class to train them up in?

BetrayedTangy posted...

I know Heavensward is free for sure and I'm pretty sure I bought both Stormblood and Shadowbringers already. I've mostly just been putting off the subscription service, but it looks like it might be cheaper than when I first played?

Edit: So I looked into the free trial and honestly this might work out pretty well. My old account was on PS4 and I kinda want to switch to PC anyway. Plus it looks like it's 60 dollars for the game + expansions which isn't too bad. Especially since I still need Endwalker anyway

Thanks for the heads up everyone!

Once again: the free trial can only be used on new accounts. You'll have to create a new account and start over from the beginning if you want to use it.

TomNook7 posted...

So like in ff5 when i have two jobs maxed out, am i just good for the rest of the game? I have lenna maxed as white mage / summoner, and krile maxed as black mage / time mage. Do you eventually get extra slots for abilities or what? If so, whats another good class to train them up in?

So when you master a job, the Bare job inherits all the passive abilities of that job, as well as inheriting the base stats of that job (if they would be an improvement). So each job mastered makes Bare more and more uber.

MacArrowny posted...

Once again: the free trial can only be used on new accounts. You'll have to create a new account and start over from the beginning if you want to use it.

Yeah, I'm gonna use it to reacquaint myself with the game. Then I can go PS4 or PC depending on where I'm at/what I want to pay for.

UltimaterializerX posted...

MAX OUT EVERYTHING KILLING MOVERS LIKE A REAL MAN

I've been using Objet d'Art in the basement of Galuf's castle on Advance. It's been fun mindless grinding (thank you Level 5 Death). Each character's mastered a few jobs so far:

Bartz - Knight, Monk, Dragoon, Berserker, Mystic Knight, Geomancer, Dancer
Lenna - White Mage, Black Mage, Time Mage, Blue Mage, Beastmaster, Chemist, Geomancer, Bard, Dancer
Galuf - Knight, Monk, Ninja, Samurai, Berserker
Faris - Thief, Ranger, Summoner, Blue Mage, Beastmaster, Geomancer, Bard, Dancer

redrocket posted...

So when you master a job, the Bare job inherits all the passive abilities of that job, as well as inheriting the base stats of that job (if they would be an improvement). So each job mastered makes Bare more and more uber.

Not just the Bare job

TomNook7 posted...

Aight I'm just gonna go ahead and add Realm Reborn and Heavensward to the ranking. I haven't played the others yet (just wanted to put that out there before anyone gets their hopes up about Shadowbringers being on the ranking.

Hilarious to me that you mention playing ARR and HW and then apologize for not having Shadowbringers.

Stormblood gets such a bad wrap even for people who haven't played it yet!

Which, fair, it's deserved for some of the story in both the MSQ and side content, but the gameplay presentation and trial/dungeon/raid design is a pretty huge jump in quality.

I'd argue that Stormblood has better story dungeons than Shadowbringers (because good lord did I get sick of Dohn Mehg and Malikah's Well during both ShB and EW) but ShB has better post-patch dungeons than StB.

Stormblood has better dungeons in the middle, but the first and last dungeon of the pre-patch releases are WAYYYYY stronger in Shadowbringers, and that's what people are gonna remember more.

SB is underrated (also it has the best normal + alliance raid series imo)

Definitely. I know the Ivalice raid is notorious for it's shit story, but it's not like the Nier raid story is any good either. Even as a big Nier Stan the Ivalice Raid just crushes it. The last raid in the set still has me pumped whenever it pops in roulette.

And Omega is definitely better than Nomura's Queerbait Emporium.

Though it just goes to show how good Shadowbringers MSQ story is compared to Stormblood's that I still think it blows Stormblood out of the water.

And Omega is definitely better than Nomura's Queerbait Emporium.

Strongly disagree on this point. The first tier of Omega is atrocious at the savage level (just a total pile of bad gimmicks save for Halicarnassus, and then an outrageously lopsided fight in terms of responsibilities for NED), the second tier is good but Eden's is equally solid, has Shiva which might be the greatest Savage fight of all time and has actual plot significance, and then third tier has Omega absolutely beat storywise and while they're evenly matched in gameplay up until the final savage fight, E12sp2 blows the doors off Final Omega in every way. Music, story, gameplay, challenge, just flat superior tbqh.

To clarify I'm basing that statement off of normal mode; I've barely done any savage on-content (I have done O4S, O8S, and O12S unsynced at 80 and enjoyed them but obviously that's not the same experience as doing it back in SB)

Yeah I can only speak to normal play as well. 1300+ hours does not mean I have ever touched Savage lol.

Yeah I think I can see some arguments in norms for saying Omega>Eden. I don't agree, because I think concluding the story of the relevant characters and the sheer impact it has on the world is more valuable than a tournament arc that was super full of filler to the point they actively said 'we won't be doing this again' in response, but the payoff for Omega is worthy and it does lead into some extra MSQ quests that are super valuable. I almost feel Omega is more important for what it sets up after than for itself, really.

Sorry guys, we were way too drunk last night to play Crystal Chronicles. It's going on the backburner for now.

#9. Final Fantasy V

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/6/6/AAK53VAAEbom.png

I'm currently right in the middle of revisiting this game, so I reserve the right to change it's score and ranking.

In fact, don't hate me if I change any of the games on the ranking, as I'm still trying to get a feel for the overall series. Like I don't know how I feel about ARR being in the top ten, but not X-2. But then again, both those games are kind of a mess in their own way, and ARR is definitely an overall better crafted experience than X-2. I'd have to think about it.

ANYWAY, FF5 - I originally played this on Ps1, but I definitely didn't fully appreciate it back then. The job system is so awesome, and man there's so many jobs. The best part of this game is just experimenting and figuring out how to break it. We already talked about Ninja / Ranger / Mystic Knight, but man, even stuff like the Blue Mage is cool. Let's just Lv 5 Death a boss fight, why not? And right now I'm working on figuring out Chemist, and I'm really starting to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

And is it just me, or is this game kinda tough? And I actually love it for that. Like some of these bosses like Atomos and the Crystal Guardians just WRECKED me. Even random mobs will sometimes just beat the shit out of me. Haste and Slow are a MUST in this game. You gotta pay attention at all times. It's just great.

People hate on the story, and yeah, it's pretty much silly nonsense. It's basically a Saturday morning cartoon. But where FF5 lacks in story, it more than makes up with it's personality and charm. I just love how expressive these little pseudo 8 bit sprites are, and the game can be genuinely pretty funny or emotional at times.

Faris is an all time favorite, but I really gotta hand it to Gilgamesh. The joke battle with Gilgamesh is one of the greatest moments in FF history.

8.6 for now; we'll see where it goes.

The ranking so far
#9. FF5 - 8.6
#10. FF14 ARR - 8.6
#11. FFX-2 - 8.5
#12. FF12 - 8.5
#13. FF11 - 8.4
#14. FF7R - 8.4
#15. FF1 - 8.3
#16. FF15 - 8.0
#17. DoC FF7 - 6.0
#18. FF2 - 3.5
#19. FF13 - 3.0

TomNook7 posted...

And is it just me, or is this game kinda tough? And I actually love it for that.

Big agree on this, the difficulty balances out with the flexibility of the Job System incredibly well.

Also we all forgot about the real best death: Syldra

BetrayedTangy posted...

Big agree on this, the difficulty balances out with the flexibility of the Job System incredibly well.

Also we all forgot about the real best death: Syldra

I know right. That last little dragon roar ;-;

It's a personal favorite, and it improved on the foundations 3 laid so well. It almost makes me wish that XIV had sub-perks available like it/FFT/FFXI did but then I'm reminded that basically everyone had to spec to slot in Lucid Dreaming or Raging Strikes or something when XIV actually had such a system.

Concur on that death being very moving. FF5 gud game

Also yeah, it's legitimately hard, particularly on max ATB speed! Bosses really don't fuck around. The game gives you all the tools you could ever want to be OP, but it also like, expects you to use em. Dark Spark for example can make every boss much easier to beat, but you have to, like, land it. It's like the one FF game from its era (meaning 'every nintendo system FF') where you can say you actually get gud at it as you go and it's worth doing so. All the other ones mostly solve themselves overall.

Just finished FF3 Pixel. Got the plat. Honestly better than I remember. The DS version was awful and played the NES one like 2 decades ago in a bad translation.

Pixel Remasters are 3/3 so far on best version of the game.

Doubt it will be better for 4/5/6 as the GBA version had more stuff but we'll see. Also the PSP version of 4

I remember really enjoying the bonus content for FF1 and 2 on GBA; are the other changes for the pixel remasters worth losing that?

Whiskey_Nick posted...

Just finished FF3 Pixel. Got the plat. Honestly better than I remember. The DS version was awful and played the NES one like 2 decades ago in a bad translation.

Pixel Remasters are 3/3 so far on best version of the game.

Doubt it will be better for 4/5/6 as the GBA version had more stuff but we'll see. Also the PSP version of 4

4 and 5 have legit arguments for being the best versions IMO, for different reasons. 4 is much more thematically cohesive (getting the lost party members back is fun gameplaywise, but it really doesn't fit the story), and 5's musical upgrade is incredible, and the gameplay tweaks help eliminate a lot of bad grinding and general wonkiness of the systems. The lost content isn't great but given that the games have modding support, it's a matter of time until someone ports the GBA content into them. I think 6 is the only one that has true arguments to make for going with its GBA version, since its endgame content is very lacking without those additions in a way that 5's isn't.

Every Final Fantasy has some way to break it in half. FF5 has more than some, and that's what I love about it.

Isquen posted...

Every Final Fantasy has some way to break it in half. FF5 has more than some, and that's what I love about it.

Absolutely, yeah. When I say PR tightens up the systems I don't mean that it makes FF5 less broken so much as less grindy and reliant on stopping for a while to power up. It's one of the big charm points of the PR releases IMO. There was a lot of work done under the hood to ensure that just playing the game normally would actually leave you adequately powered up for everything.