One of the things in Final Fantasy that everybody loves is how the developement systems changes with each game. Of course, though each may have his or her favorite, I think it'd be good to talk about what aspects you like.
Since everyone will want to have a say in this, try to keep it as short as possible. But I get to talk as much as I want, becauseI started the thread
But seriously, I'll post my comments and you can add yours freely. But I'd like to emphasize how it's important that this is actually a discussion and that we should comment on each other's posts. Otherwise, it'll just be a free-for-all-"My fav ff is". And we really don't want that.
I would start with FF5, but the system itself was largely improved on in Tactics. Though in FF5 the abilities were limited and the system was primitvely executed, the idea itself was great, and I think ahead of its time, and allowed for some very nice non-linear growth.
Tactics have a few extra jobs and the abilities were more numerous, and far more customizable. My only real problem is that it lacked the "Master class" reward in FF5. By mastering a class in FF5, the "innate" ability in that class would be activated in the "traveller" (or normal) class. Such as two swords, throw-item, bare-hands, etc. I think that was really worth adding. Of course, they would need to be careful so that it wasn't abused.
Tactics advance tried the job system again, but personally, I found it quite horrible. There were way too many jobs. Many were similiar and were just "fodder". When I was playing, I actually found THREE archer classes (not sure if there were more). My main problem was that sometimes, too many jobs can be overwhelming for some. I'm the kind of guy who tries to explore everything, and it was really frustrating. Of course, for many others, they could've ditched many jobs and never touched them and beat the game as is. If something like that in a game is expendable, then it's failing.
Not much to say about FF6. I think FF8 was inspired by that system. It was similiar to the Job system, only replace "job" with "Esper". Not really bad. I haven't completed this game so I can't run my mouth about it. No spoilers, please. It's on my to do list. =)
Ah, FF7. The first for me and many others. In general I was blown away by the complex system, since it was my first RPG. There was alot of Materia and alot of room for choices. Towards the end, the thing I didn't like about it was that it was way too customizable. Though there was a considerable difference in stats, you could've overlooked them. Many just chose 3 specific characters and stuck with them to the end. Red XIII, Yuffie, and Cid are popular choices. Too much customization wasn't a problem in FF5, since you only had 4 characters, and you would usually assign a couple of jobs to each one.
FF8 again. At first I thought it was really nice how the system offered me some new-looking freedom in regards to customization. But the thought didn't last long. The system became tedious, boring, and just plain punishment. I don't know if everyone else went through this or not, but after about 1/8th or 1/6th of the game I just stuck with the auto-customization feature and didn't look back. It was really boring and, to be honest, somewhat cold and impersonal. And for someone who tried to use every character -the ones that seemed useless- I was caused alot of trouble because of how the compatibility weakens whenever the Esper- I mean GF, was away from the character.
FF9's system was by far my absolute favorite. Each character was unique and had a number of abilities open to him/her. Not to mention some defensive abilities that were universal. I would guess some would complain that some of the characters weren't that strong, but I for one enjoyed the diversity.
FF10 seemed to me, as I'm sure it did to others, quite boring with the entire sphere idea, but it grew on me. I really don't have much to say about this, really. The system was, in truth, equally customizable by the characters. But the idea of spheres starting in different places was a good one, giving some characters an edge over others in certain areas. Of course, this isn't exactly the same in the international version, since I hear that you can actually choose for every character to start at the middle of the system.
Haven't played XI and I'm still playing through XII.
If you all don't mind, I think the limit system is worth mentioning. I disliked 9's. I liked 8's since it was different for each character, though I didn't like the idea of needing to be in critical form. 7 I really liked since the limits were considered incredibly useful (far more than in the other games). But the one to top them all was FFX. Each character's limit (Overdrive) was executed differently, giving a fresh feel. It's also nice to know that you can actually carry your limit into another fight, just like in FF7.
On a last note, I'd like to apologize if this thread seemed as if it were about me. I just felt I need to get the ball rolling. Like I said, I'd hate to see this thread go into free-for-all mode, so I would like it if we could all start by commenting on each other's idea.
Do you agree with me? Or disagree? On what points? Why? Have anything to add?
Since everyone will want to have a say in this, try to keep it as short as possible. But I get to talk as much as I want, becauseI started the thread
But seriously, I'll post my comments and you can add yours freely. But I'd like to emphasize how it's important that this is actually a discussion and that we should comment on each other's posts. Otherwise, it'll just be a free-for-all-"My fav ff is". And we really don't want that.
I would start with FF5, but the system itself was largely improved on in Tactics. Though in FF5 the abilities were limited and the system was primitvely executed, the idea itself was great, and I think ahead of its time, and allowed for some very nice non-linear growth.
Tactics have a few extra jobs and the abilities were more numerous, and far more customizable. My only real problem is that it lacked the "Master class" reward in FF5. By mastering a class in FF5, the "innate" ability in that class would be activated in the "traveller" (or normal) class. Such as two swords, throw-item, bare-hands, etc. I think that was really worth adding. Of course, they would need to be careful so that it wasn't abused.
Tactics advance tried the job system again, but personally, I found it quite horrible. There were way too many jobs. Many were similiar and were just "fodder". When I was playing, I actually found THREE archer classes (not sure if there were more). My main problem was that sometimes, too many jobs can be overwhelming for some. I'm the kind of guy who tries to explore everything, and it was really frustrating. Of course, for many others, they could've ditched many jobs and never touched them and beat the game as is. If something like that in a game is expendable, then it's failing.
Not much to say about FF6. I think FF8 was inspired by that system. It was similiar to the Job system, only replace "job" with "Esper". Not really bad. I haven't completed this game so I can't run my mouth about it. No spoilers, please. It's on my to do list. =)
Ah, FF7. The first for me and many others. In general I was blown away by the complex system, since it was my first RPG. There was alot of Materia and alot of room for choices. Towards the end, the thing I didn't like about it was that it was way too customizable. Though there was a considerable difference in stats, you could've overlooked them. Many just chose 3 specific characters and stuck with them to the end. Red XIII, Yuffie, and Cid are popular choices. Too much customization wasn't a problem in FF5, since you only had 4 characters, and you would usually assign a couple of jobs to each one.
FF8 again. At first I thought it was really nice how the system offered me some new-looking freedom in regards to customization. But the thought didn't last long. The system became tedious, boring, and just plain punishment. I don't know if everyone else went through this or not, but after about 1/8th or 1/6th of the game I just stuck with the auto-customization feature and didn't look back. It was really boring and, to be honest, somewhat cold and impersonal. And for someone who tried to use every character -the ones that seemed useless- I was caused alot of trouble because of how the compatibility weakens whenever the Esper- I mean GF, was away from the character.
FF9's system was by far my absolute favorite. Each character was unique and had a number of abilities open to him/her. Not to mention some defensive abilities that were universal. I would guess some would complain that some of the characters weren't that strong, but I for one enjoyed the diversity.
FF10 seemed to me, as I'm sure it did to others, quite boring with the entire sphere idea, but it grew on me. I really don't have much to say about this, really. The system was, in truth, equally customizable by the characters. But the idea of spheres starting in different places was a good one, giving some characters an edge over others in certain areas. Of course, this isn't exactly the same in the international version, since I hear that you can actually choose for every character to start at the middle of the system.
Haven't played XI and I'm still playing through XII.
If you all don't mind, I think the limit system is worth mentioning. I disliked 9's. I liked 8's since it was different for each character, though I didn't like the idea of needing to be in critical form. 7 I really liked since the limits were considered incredibly useful (far more than in the other games). But the one to top them all was FFX. Each character's limit (Overdrive) was executed differently, giving a fresh feel. It's also nice to know that you can actually carry your limit into another fight, just like in FF7.
On a last note, I'd like to apologize if this thread seemed as if it were about me. I just felt I need to get the ball rolling. Like I said, I'd hate to see this thread go into free-for-all mode, so I would like it if we could all start by commenting on each other's idea.
Do you agree with me? Or disagree? On what points? Why? Have anything to add?
