What happened to the magic?

Shion

Shion

Shion Kupozuki
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Since the actuall 3D games of FF (7-12) the look of magic got better and better. FFIX had the best look spells of the series and when 10 came along they like, died or something. I mean, Flare and Holy went from these cool explosions to like, nothing. What happened? Did they get lazy?
 
I completely agree.

Each game seemed to top itself in the spell aesthetics department (even before full on 3-D in my opinion). Then, starting with X, they just went downhill. You no longer had really cool looking summon mini-FMV's, the spells themselves really lacked luster, even the abilities just seemed to become less and less aesthetically pleasing.

I don't know if I'd go as far as calling it lazy though. I would imagine that a large part of the problem that SquareEnix encountered was when the replaced a large portion of the pre-rendered backgrounds and what not. Once things starting playing out in more and more real time rendering (especially FFXII) they started having difficulties getting the graphics card and what not (insert technical mumbo-jumbo here) to cooperate completely with what they wanted to do with them. Ultimately I guess they obviously chose to go with a game that flowed more smoothly and ultimately looked more realistic throughout than one that had a couple of flashy, gimmicky, spells here and there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about "flashy, gimmicky" spells. I just think that Square Enix had a choice to make and that they chose the smoother game play. But, that is all just conjecture seeing as how I don't keep up on these sort of things. I just play the games. For all I know, SE just said "fuck it" and decided not to waste their time with the cool looking spells.

Is there anyone who can point out a source that would tell us exactly what the reasoning is? I'm sure someone asked this question somewhere... E3 perhaps?
 
Well I was hoping with their new high tech graphics and stuff the spells would look super bad ass. the only spell in FFX that actually looks cool is Ultima. I've seen some of the spells in XIII like Firaga and it looks pretty bad ass. So maybe they got a little better.
 
i thought that Holy looked pretty awesome in FFX and Ultima and most of the other spells - except flare.

But XII is where it REALLY dissapoints - spells like Blizzara just rediced to a flying ball - urgh dissapointing - if anything they could have had icy spikes rise up from the ground or something......

But i think that the problem is trying to make them look flashy - but realistic - X managed that in the Aeon overdrives, XII managed that in like the Espers...i guess.....

We can only hope that XIII doesnt dissapoint ^_^
 
I think it's similar in FF12. I'm not a big spellcaster, but most of the magics I've seen have not been very impressive.

But I agree with what you're saying. The magics should stay very impressive.
 
I know. I mean, its magic for ctying out loud. Its supposed to be flashy and explosive! ^^

I mean, bio in FFXII is just, blah. Flare looks okay, but it could have been bigger. The Esper attacks are pretty awesome but I did kinda expect a little more.
 
Designs change over time, and they've adapted to the surroundings of XII. Not all magic is meant to be flashy and explosive. If the magic looks nice enough and does the damage, what's there to complain about?

I've yet to see any spells cast in FFXIII, anyone care to show me them? Then I'll give an opinion of them.
 
I don't think the magic visualizations have dropped that much. With XII for example, the basic magic just gets to the point. You summon ice... what, do you want a wave of ice-icles or something? Come on...
I really like the visual effects of the Espers and a couple of the aga's. Mainly Blizzaga and Thundaga though... Firaga never does much for me. I really get a feel for the impact of the former spells.

IX, like mentioned previously, had a pretty good design for the spells. Flare in particular, along with Ultima. I was disappointed greatly with Ultima on X, and only liked it for the sheer power and its ability to hit all opponents.

I haven't got a whole load of spells on XII as I haven't got far enough to see the bigger hitters, but the curative spells don't really have anything much going for them. Don't know why, but I expected something nice and exaggerated for Curaja...
 
I have to say that i liked the magick in FFX, just not as much for FFXII.


I hope that FFXIII, does better....but dont get me wrong FFXII was a GREAT game...i honestly keep playing every now and then...but the Magick could have done a better touch up...when i play Final Fantasy...i normally keep the summoner and a MAGE...-they are my favorites-.so i always look for cool magicks to use.
 
Judge Rulia said:
Designs change over time, and they've adapted to the surroundings of XII. Not all magic is meant to be flashy and explosive. If the magic looks nice enough and does the damage, what's there to complain about?

I've yet to see any spells cast in FFXIII, anyone care to show me them? Then I'll give an opinion of them.
Click to expand...
They actually have a scan where it talks about how the magic workds and the scan has Firaga and its this huge explosion. I like lots ^^
 
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