Controversial opinions about Final Fantasy

[Necrosis]

You've probably seen a similar topic to this in other forums but about music or movies, where people state controversial/unpopular opinions about the subject and others engage in discussion about it if they want or post their own opinions. Not just any opinion of course, but one you actually stand by

For example:

- Yunalesca is the main villain of FFX
- Lighting Returns is better than FF XIII

Discuss or post yours

 

[TheTrainerRed]

- Lighting Returns is better than FF XIII

Final Fantasy XIII sucked pretty bad, so I think despite not having played Lightning Returns it's safe to say thats a fact.

As for my controversial opinion: Final Fantasy X-2 was almost as good as X.
Granted, X-2 was my first Final Fantasy game, so my nostalgia could be clouding my judgement.

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

The only actual good Final Fantasy games are 6-9, and to an extent 10

 

[Ilyena]

I never finished FFVI because I found it to be quite boring.

I also thought Vayne from XII was a good villain.

 

[Galadín]

- Yunalesca is the main villain of FFX

Pretty much agree with this. Seymour, who's morbid thoughts of granting death to everyone seemed more like a minor inconvenience throughout the game. He didn't achieve anything and hardly featured at all in the latter part of the "grand scheme".
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• The Crystarium is a better system than the Sphere Grid
• Crisis Core is better than Final Fantasy VII
• Final Fantasy XIII is better than X
• Sephiroth is a better villain than Kefka
• Moogles are better than Cactuars
• Dissidia/ 012 has a brilliant battle system

 

[Ilyena]

• Moogles are better than Cactuars

This is not an opinion. It is a fact of life.

And Seymour seemed more like that roadblock side villain that you see in a lot of the series (Gilgamesh, The Turks, etc). He was just a pest. That Seymour Flux battle though. >.>

 

[Necrosis]

Final Fantasy XIII sucked pretty bad, so I think despite not having played Lightning Returns it's safe to say thats a fact.

Quite frankly, I really can't point to anything in XIII that I actually liked. I practically forced myself to finish it. XIII-2 was an improvement as was Lighting Returns, not that it says much tho.

As for my controversial opinion: Final Fantasy X-2 was almost as good as X.

Well, X-2 shared quite a lot of things with X as far as characters, locations and monsters goes. I personally felt that there was a lot of potential for it storywise, the material was there but sadly they went the Charlie's Angels/Sailor Moon route with it.

The only actual good Final Fantasy games are 6-9, and to an extent 10

I think that is definitely when the series reached it's height. I mean, IV was a nice step up for the series as it brought the great characters/story driven narrative that FF has been known for to the table, but it was very limited in the combat/customisation department and also the game didn't give much freedom when it came to who you had in your party. V did a good thing with the job system but it still felt a bit rigid, I think things really came together starting with VI.

I never finished FFVI because I found it to be quite boring.

Did it turn boring for you after you began the World of Ruin? The game does loses something as far as storytelling goes by that point.

Pretty much agree with this. Seymour, who's morbid thoughts of granting death to everyone seemed more like a minor inconvenience throughout the game. He didn't achieve anything and hardly featured at all in the latter part of the "grand scheme".

Yep, very much. Seymour was just a nuance that got in the way of the real goal a couple of times. His plan to become Sin and wreck havoc in Spira would have left things very much the same as they were, he would just be another one in the line of Aeons who become Sin by defeating it. Yunalesca on the other hand is the one who started the final summoning/Yevon religion and is the one keeping up the cycle of death. Once she is defeated, the whole thing collapses and there is no more final summoning or Yevon religion proper for that matter. Also the whole party arc comes to it's resolution when they confront her, Yuna drops her beliefs as do her guardians and Auron finally reaches the moment he was building everything for. Even the game recognizes her as the main villian, consider how after you defeat her, you are given the airship and can now go whenever you want, Sin can very much "wait".

Sephiroth is a better villain than Kefka

I am not sure that's really controversial ...how about: Caius > Kefka

 

[TheTrainerRed]

Necrosis: Check that last quote...

• The Crystarium is a better system than the Sphere Grid
• Final Fantasy XIII is better than X

Woah, Woah. SLOW DOWN! I wanna know what redeemed Final Fantasy XIII for you enough to put it over X.

 

[Galadín]

Woah, Woah. SLOW DOWN! I wanna know what redeemed Final Fantasy XIII for you enough to put it over X.

The game play and battle system seems more smooth in Final Fantasy XIII. Although both games are pretty linear (particularly in the early stages) Final Fantasy XIII flowed better as opposed to Final Fantasy X's sometimes needless and random cutscenes. In X, there were times when you came out of a cutscene only to walk two steps to progress to the next cutscene (surely Tidus could have walked himself and not wasted your time!) . That stilted kind of progression didn't happen as much with Final Fantasy XIII.

Also, I hated the Sphere Grid system. It seemed a pointlessly involved process just to level up the character. I'm not a huge fan of the Crystarium either but it seemed a better solution to me than the Sphere Grid. Since there are a number of aspects in strengthening your party (Aeons, weapons, etc) I felt the Sphere Grid was OTT, especially if you want to 100% the game filling in a Sphere Grid for seven characters can be tiresome.

Don't get me wrong, I like both games, it's just the little things that made XIII stand out more to me. I also prefer XIII's music!

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• Most of the soundtrack for Final Fantasy VI truly sucked (particularly the music in Narshe). The only good pieces were Terra's Theme, Dancing Mad and Fanfare.

 

[SquallKefka17]

• Sephiroth was never the main villain of FF7 he was the Seifer of FF7 corrupted into being bad by Jenova crashing into the planet and Hojo manipulating him he was a hero up until he realised the truth and snapped. In much same fashion Seifer was a promising student in balamb garden until ultimecia corrupted him.
• For said reason above Sephiroth feels like he is a good guy almost to me in Dissidia its why in the Kefka versus Sephiroth debate Kefka wins hands down for me he's out and out evil psychopath who has lost his mind with no remorse in him. Sephiroth on the other hand has a good side to him just like Golbez did in FF4.
• Final Fantasy 10-2's battle system was very best Active Time Battle battle system it just missed limit breaks.
• Final Fantasy 8's draw magic system was much cleverer than MP for magic the idea was just executed sloppily.
• Kuja was never undefeated in FF9 like some claim he was. he says exact words to Zidane "after you guys beat me I had nothing left to lose" when dying in his arms in Iifa Tree.
• Final Fantasy 13-2 and 10-2 were both as linear as their predessors.
• Ultimecia was the best and most challenging final boss in a FF game really worked you hard and looked cool as much as I love Kefka he was embarassingly easy to beat the final battle didn't do his character justice at all ugh.

 

[Shaissa]

• Moogles are better than Cactuars

And Chocobos are the best!

Final Fantasy IX and Tactics are the "true" Final Fantasy's in my mind.

Cloud is actually a boring character: all his personality is from Zack, on top of that he gets easily manipulated by Sephiroth and even Tifa and Zack....

Anything FFVII related outside the main game is terrible.

Kefka is actually a very bad villain. He had no reason for destroying the world... Wasn't apart his plans... He just destroyed it...

Cecil and Rosa have the best FF relationship.

 

[Linnaete]

+ I concur with the posts criticising Seymour. He's a frequent presence, but he's still a tertiary villain in my opinion. His ultimate goal is merely tangential, and everything about the truth of Yevon, Yunalesca, and Yu Yevon eclipses whatever clout Seymour attempted to build in overall importance. Although I concede that if a villain's job is also to annoy the audience, Seymour has perfected it. No one wants to constantly reload the Seymour Flux fight, because sitting through the unskippable cutscene is just as much of a fight as the actual fight itself.

+ FFX is generally considered a much better game than FFX-2. Really? If I were to replay one of them now, I would pick the latter any day. I'm not about to rant about FFX being a bad game (of course it's not), but I thoroughly enjoy FFX-2's battle system and its nonlinear approach to missions and when you want to tackle them. The game is filled with a good number of silly moments that create a jarring dissonance between it and the tone FFX established, and Chapter 4 is fiendish with its dull Commsphere gameplay, BUT I still think it's much more fun a game than FFX. At the very least, assuming I would still be sane enough not to bother for 100%, I can skip cutscenes.

+ I think FFXII is a better game than FFX. That alone across the entirety of the JRPG community should be enough sacrilege in of itself to have me nailed to a cross. But if it means my long, torturous death has to come slightly faster, I will equivocally say that FFXII's soundtrack is not as good, or as memorable. And that character interactions in FFXII fall flat next to FFX's lot.

+ I like FFXIII-2's clock arm puzzles. These sections are easily the best bits of the overall game.

+ While on the subject of FFXIII-2, it is only better than FFXIII in that it actually believes in greater player agency. Even then, it's two steps forward and one step back, because combat in the sequel is noticeably simpler and less challenging than FFXIII's when you finally open up all the mechanics. Other than that, the game manages to be worse than FFXIII in so many ways of its own, because rather than actually explore more of the lore set up by the previous game, and rather than construct a logical narrative that follows on from the fall of Cocoon (socio-political effects? How do survivors tame a planet they've grown up fearing?), it goes further up the anime tunnel AND decides to screw around with nonsensical time travelling. Is this even controversial?

+ Vayne is a perfectly good villain. So what if his presence isn't anywhere near as felt compared to the likes of Kuja or Seymour? The guy's not overly fussed about six fugitives globetrotting around collecting MacGuffins. He's got political scheming and machinations to do, and a grand goal in mind that is arguably justifiable.

+ Crisis Core isn't worth it. It's a mediocre, linear-as-humanly-possible, barebones action-RPG that thinks wrestling away player agency for slot wheels - even if there are hidden mechanics to affect your chances of executing a Limit Break or Summon - is a good idea. It isn't.

+ Type-0 HD doesn't look that enticing to me. It is certainly NOT worth the full price tag in my opinion, even if I am speaking as someone who hasn't played the game. I know it's an unlocalised game, but it is still a single remastered game, and Square are still charging full price for a single remastered game. It is simply because they've nothing else within immediate reach to release (aside from FFXIV patches and the expansion) that they can slap in a FFXV demo of unknown quality with it and expect it to soar up pre-order charts. So far? It's worked. Cynical, but logical as a business practice, I suppose...

+ FFXV's Cidney/Cindy's design is stupid, and for some reason this has been a controversial topic among FF communities. I refuse to believe there are actual, regular mechanics in America's Deep South who dress like that in their line of work. I know trying to apply real-life logic to a FF game is ludicrous, so I won't bother saying any more.

 

[Necrosis]

Ultimecia was the best and most challenging final boss in a FF game really worked you hard and looked cool as much as I love Kefka he was embarassingly easy to beat the final battle didn't do his character justice at all ugh.

Having played through VIII recently I actually found her rather easy, specially her last form. The entire fight besides her first form basically boiled down to Squall with Aura doing his limit break over and over while the two other characters played a supporting role. It was a rather smooth and safe ride all way through.

+ I like FFXIII-2's clock arm puzzles. These sections are easily the best bits of the overall game..

I found the two puzzle types alright but my problem with them is that they overstay their welcome. One or two of those puzzles in a row is fine but when it is four or five it becomes a chore.

 

[SquallKefka17]

Having played through VIII recently I actually found her rather easy, specially her last form. The entire fight besides her first form basically boiled down to Squall with Aura doing his limit break over and over while the two other characters played a supporting role. It was a rather smooth and safe ride all way through.

As much as I love FF8 a lot of FF8 boiled down to aura,meltdown and renzokuken I'll admit. At very least the battle lasts longer than any other final boss I remember in Final Fantasy games I found unless you get lucky and squall uses lionheart a few times in a row but it was so random you couldn't predict it. Against Ultimecia myself I usually went Aura on Squall and Rinoa, Meltdown on Ultimecia/Griever and then Renzokuken and hope for Angelo the dog to use wishing star with Rinoa and Squall to use Lionheart as a finisher.

 

[Necrosis]

FVIII has probably the worst intro to any FF. I am referring to the opening cinematic which instead of leading you into the setting and the story like in IV, VI, VII and XII for example, it plays more like a trailer for the overall game. By looking at it you'd think that the whole world hangs in the balance in the fight between Squall and Seifer, specially with the dramatic music they use, yet it is only a "training" session at school. The other scenes they include in it offer no context whatsoever, Rinoa and Edea figure in it for no reason at all considering that you don't meet either until much later.

It is nice as a visual fest but as an opening to the game it really doesn't works.

 

[Dionysos]

It might be a push to call some of these controversial, but still.


FFIX's Necron was a decent final boss and did actually make sense. Although he was quite easy to defeat, if I judge him in terms of his relevance to the plot and character design, he wasn't that bad. The game needed some other entity beyond Kuja. He should have been more powerful, however.

Crisis Core detracted from, rather than added to, the dramatic impact of FFVII.

The Cait Sith level is the most enjoyable part of Dirge of Cerberus.

The Lunar Whale (a technologically enhanced whale carcass that can sail the cosmos) is the most creative airship to be designed for Final Fantasy. It gets overlooked because it is so odd.

In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance you play the villain. This is based on a convincing theory I once read which argues that Marche is essentially doing many of the things that villains tend to do in Final Fantasy games (i.e destroying crystals, and seeking to destroy the game's world and its inhabitants).

 

[TheTrainerRed]

In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance you play the villain. This is based on a convincing theory I once read which argues that Marche is essentially doing many of the things that villains tend to do in Final Fantasy games (i.e destroying crystals, and seeking to destroy the game's world and its inhabitants).

Marche does do Final Fantasy's version of villainous actions, but the world itself was evil in the sense that it was showing his friend, Mewt, his dead mother and some other stuff that Mewt wanted that could not actually happen in real life. Thus, the world was driving Mewt closer to insanity. And, since the inhabitants of Ivalice were not real in a sense, Marche was not really doing any harm to the inhabitants.

 

[ff1-10]

Crisis Core detracted from, rather than added to, the dramatic impact of FFVII.

I agree with this, although I don't really know if my opinion really counts because I didn't play too much of it. But from what I played and the feeling that I got, in comparison to FF7, Crisis Core wasn't that serious. And it's basically showing/telling us things that we already knew and could picture in our head ourselves from what we found out in FF7. And there was that voice acting...*shivers*

This is one of the reasons why I liked Cloud over Zack as a protagonist/hero of the game; Cloud gave/added the serious tone to the/his/FF7's story. I want humor in a story, too, of course, but when there's too much humor and/or flashiness, it just takes away from me taking the game seriously. And FF7 had it's lighthearted moments, while keeping to the point. And to me, when a game keeps the serious tone like that, I am engrossed and really do consider it as a video game. I don't know how to really explain it...

Plus, wth is this Genesis guy? Makes no sense to me, and no point in adding him to the story. They just wanted an excuse to add another cool, Sephiroth-like character in. Maybe he was always a part of the script, but the only script I care about, that I think is the main script everyone should just focus on, is FF7. In FF7, we get Cloud & friends, Sephiroth, Shinra, the Cetra, and saving the planet. No flying shit; no wings shit; just a straight-up, shoot-from-the-hip story that actually (somehow) makes sense. Flying shit and a guy named Genesis who flys away with black wings makes no sense to me, and Idc about who he is. And in FF7, we're told what we need to know, and left to the imagination what should be left to it, and that's all anyone really needs.

Crisis Core was a way to milk the game. That's why I don't like it, and it wasn't done right either. If it was more serious and less flashy like FF7, and didn't include unnecessary story tellings, I wouldn't think that. Just...just leave FF7 alone, lol.

 

[Sheechiibii]

The most controversial opinion I have is probably that the only FF game I've played that's worse than VII is XIII.

 

[Galadín]

The only controversial aspect of that statement was the putting down of Final Fantasy VII. XIII is already beaten over the head and neck with a broken bottle by fans of the series in general.
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• The story lines for every Final Fantasy to date are nice but not particularly great. They can be inconsistent, A Typical, become weak in certain areas and often lack in depth character analysis (particularly for supporting characters).