Just Finished FFX! Now what?

[ConfuzzledPhoenix]

I am fairly new to the Final Fantasy series and Final Fantasy X is the first of the series that I played. To be completely honest, I became really frustrated towards the end of the game because of how draggy it was. In fact, I was so frustrated that I ended up watching the remaining cutscenes on YouTube. I don't really wish to play the sequel because the ending was satisfying for me at least. I'm considering playing Final Fantasy IV next. I'm just afraid the same thing will happen to me again. Is FFIV just as frustrating as FFX?

 

[Linnaete]

I don't think FFIV is packed with cutscenes you cannot skip, so that will likely address a major concern you have with FFX. Other than that, I'm not too sure what I can say in response to your question because your complaint about FFX dragging is left nebulous and vague. Was it the entirety of the time inside Sin? Was it the whole sequence of having to fight your own Aeons before confronting Yu Yevon? What exactly did you find frustrating about FFX's late game stage?

FFIV sounds like a good option though, because it eschews a lot of questionable game designs that the first three games are left with while being a remarkably strong narrative-driven game for its time. By contrast, FFII for example, would deliberately design dungeons to waste as much of the player's time as possible, with empty rooms that usually waylay the player with ridiculously high encounter rates, and useless dead ends that go on for miles and across floors. Let's not even go into FFII's stats progression system they have in lieu of a proper level system and why that's awful. FFIII on the other hand forces you to go through ALL THREE long final dungeons and their myriad of very challenging boss encounters (there's technically a fourth dungeon too where you fight even more bosses to get legendary weapons and equipment) without a single healing spot and where the only save spot is between the first and second of these dungeons. FFIV doesn't do any of that nonsense, thank goodness.

 

[ConfuzzledPhoenix]

Thanks for your response! To be more specific, the end of Final Fantasy X upset me because it felt like a never-ending battle against difficult bosses such as The Spectral Keeper, Yunalesca, and Seymour. I felt like the battle against Sin could have and should have been much sooner. Does FFIV have a long line of difficult bosses towards the end like FFX?

 

[greenyxi]

Thanks for your response! To be more specific, the end of Final Fantasy X upset me because it felt like a never-ending battle against difficult bosses such as The Spectral Keeper, Yunalesca, and Seymour. I felt like the battle against Sin could have and should have been much sooner. Does FFIV have a long line of difficult bosses towards the end like FFX?

FF4 has the odd tricky boss but it it depends on which version you're playing. The PSP version is probably the easiest since it's really speedy and you can level grind quickly (if you fancy that). The DS version is the hardest and will be a challenge most of the way through (it was for me at least).

As for the final section of the game, I think there's only 1 mandatory boss in the final dungeon?

 

[Linnaete]

Thanks for your response! To be more specific, the end of Final Fantasy X upset me because it felt like a never-ending battle against difficult bosses such as The Spectral Keeper, Yunalesca, and Seymour. I felt like the battle against Sin could have and should have been much sooner. Does FFIV have a long line of difficult bosses towards the end like FFX?

I can't say if they're difficult or not, because as greeny above me points out, different versions of the game mean a varying level of difficulty. The differences between the difficulties are likely very trivial, because you can easily surmount the challenge by grinding out your party members, but generally speaking the DS version of the game is considered to be slightly more challenging than other versions.

But yes, FFIV does indeed go down that usual route of the last dungeon being a rather lengthy affair where they throw a bunch of bosses at you the further you explore it. It's a common element of the franchise. Fortunately I do believe you will be able to heal up and save while you're down there. It doesn't decide to torment players in the way that Final Fantasy III inexplicably does.