Page 1 of 1
FFX - Awesome to incomprehensible in 0.6 cutscenes
PostPosted:Sun Jul 10, 2005 7:24 pm
by Nev
Okay, I've noticed a disturbing trend in FF games, which is that ever since 7 the plot seems to start out completely awesome and then begins to blow goats about halfway through the game. I'm up to...um...what's that forest, right past the Thunder Plains...and the Jecht storyline has lost whatever realism it might have had...meeting Rikku was incredibly unrealistic as well...
The gameplay mechanics seem to be starting to blow too. The enemies attack about every tenth step, but Wakka's TKO ball that I picked up kills almost anything in one hit. The two bad gameplay mechanics cancel each other out...but I dunno that I feel like they ought to have to...
This happened with 8 as well - I got to the end of disc III and stopped playing the damn thing because I couldn't understand what the shit the whole Ultimecia thing was all about. I never did finish it. For all that 9 sucked, in my opinion, at least it consistently sucked the whole way through. I'd rather have a game be mediocre the whole way through than take me to gaming nirvana and then dump me right back out again...it's too disappointing...
At this point you may consider me uncaring of spoilers. The plot's no longer maintaining enough suspense for me to care.
PostPosted:Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:38 pm
by SineSwiper
The storyline is actually good as long as you go all the way through. FF8 was really damn confusing, but a very good story once you actually piece it together. (Sort like Xenogears/Xenosaga.)
PostPosted:Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:58 pm
by Julius Seeker
If you liked Final Fantasy 7, there is almost no reason why you shouldn't like 9; the two are VERY similar games running on the same formula for the plot; plus 9 has a lot of treats for longtime fans of the series.
Final Fantasy 10, I won't spoil anything for you, but for me it was the opposite, I felt the most interesting parts of the game were in the last 30-40% of it. The story to that point is fairly unspectacular, but the character development I do like all the way through the game; the great characters make up for the plot. If you are complaining about battles being easy now, you won't be in the very near future. I also really like Rikku, she's my second favourite character in the game next to Wakka. Another one of my favourite RPG's, Earthbound, doesn't have a spectacular story either. I tend to look at different elements in different games. As far as characters go, I feel that FF10 is among the best of any game made yet so far. It's not just that element either, it is the adventure which occurs throughout the game. A lot of people were hard on the games music as well, but I felt that some of the best songs in the Final Fantasy series were in that game. The piano song at the beginning "To Zanarkand" is in my opinion, one of the best songs ever composed for the series.
Anyways, if you stop playing right now, you will not understand why Rikku is there at all, it is revealed in the game. You just haven't played long enough.
Also, for Final Fantasy 8, it's not too difficult to figure out. There are a lot more plot details that you have to pay attention to in Final Fantasy 8 than other FF games, that is why it is my favourite. In short: Ultimecia is trying to get ahold of two people, Ellone and Adel. Ultimecia is able to absorb the power of sorceresses into her, she does not yet have the power of Adel, this is why she wants Adel. Adel was lost from history during Laguna's time. A time machine was created using data extracted from Ellone which allowed Ultimecia's consciousness to travel to the past back to the time of the machines creation, which was before Squall's story begins, she had possessed Edea (which is found out on disc 3). Edea, a sorceress, created SeeD, an elite military organization which uses GF's, to defeat the Sorceress from the future (Ultimecia); in the game's ending, it is revealed as to why she did this. Anyways, Ultimecia still had not travelled back far enough in time, Adel had already vanished by this time. Ultimecia required Ellone in order to go back even further in time to the period which Adel was still alive, Ellone herself has the powers to send peoples' consciousness' back in time. If Ultimecia was able to locate Adel, and take control of her, she could unite the two's power into one, essentially making her God.
Think of the movie Highlander, the world began with a ton of immortals, each time one is slain, his/her power is absorbed by the slayer. It is the same with the Sorceress lineage. It began when Humans defeated the God Hyne. Hyne split his powers up among chosen ones, most were female. The chosen ones, upon death, passed their power onto a successor; by Adel's time, there were only two sorceresses left. Adel dissappeared from history, leaving only one, and there was a large missing chunk of sorceress power lost from the world.
As far as the plot for FF games go, they were never realistic, that's what I enjoy about them. None of the Final Fantasy games are even close to realistic. About some games being at their best towards the beginning, I felt that for Final Fantasy 7 and 9 only; the rest of the games I felt were reasonably solid all the way through, FF8's best part is clearly disk #4 though, but you really need an understanding of the rest of the game to get the full impact of it. The ending of 8 is absolutely amazing, I think many will agree that it is at the very least, one of the top 3 best RPG endings of all time to this date; it is easily by far my favourite. There is no other ending in the FF series which carries so much significance as that one.
My favourite FF games are FFIII, FF8, and FF10. I asolutely love those three games. I do not think you should judge a game until you finish it, because from what you played of Final Fantasy 8 and 10, you are complaining about story sections lacking in the game which exist in the portions that you did not even play.
PostPosted:Sun Jul 10, 2005 9:03 pm
by Nev
Well, given my Episode III post, you might have something there. But I still have trouble seeing how Rikku's reintroduction could feel anything other than just tacked-on...
Andrew "way too high standards man" Seidman
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:22 am
by Tortolia
I rather liked how FFX's plot went along. They really nailed the pilgramage aspect, and it certainly flowed better than the general FF manner of "Hmm, maybe there will be plot relevant events in the next town, we should go see!".
Just keep going, there's some really good stuff coming up.
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:57 am
by Don
I don't find anything about FFX inconsistent. However there are things your party knows about that you, through the point of view of Tidus, do not know about. Maybe you're referring to that? It will make sense when you find out what is supposed to happen at Zanarkand.
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:19 am
by Nev
No...what I was talking about is the whole "Hey! Random person lying by the side of the road! Tidus remembers her! Great! We always pick up random people lying unconscious by the side of the road and then act like we've known each other for years..." "Hey Yuna! I just met you yesterday but I need to have a girls-only talk with you!" "Okay!" thing...
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:47 am
by Tortolia
Give it time.
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:48 am
by Don
Yuna and Rikku already knows each other.
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:10 am
by Kupek
Every time Seeker explains FF8's plot, take a shot.
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:34 pm
by Imakeholesinu
Of what? 151?
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:03 pm
by Nev
Oh, there could be some great Shrine-specific drinking games...
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:13 pm
by Julius Seeker
How about everytime Eric mentions Naruto. Between the two of us, we'd send you all to the hospital =)
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 3:05 pm
by Derithian
everytime mental complains about seeker, everytime I rant about comic books, everytime Don Wang writes a 20 page post about MMORPG stuff, any time Zeus says something retarded about a movie, every time barret shows us the insanely hot asian tummy bunny rabbit dealie, every time Tort goes all MMO's suck, that's why I'm playing _____, every time someone makes a comment about seraphina being a girl, every time ish and lox get locked in a clost. I could easily go on for days
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 5:49 pm
by Nev
At least we "know" each other to a certain extent.
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:18 pm
by Tortolia
Derithian wrote:every time Tort goes all MMO's suck, that's why I'm playing _____,
I like MMOGs, god damn it.
PostPosted:Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:50 pm
by Julius Seeker
I'm the one who says I dislike all online RPGs
PostPosted:Tue Jul 12, 2005 1:37 pm
by Derithian
Tortolia wrote:Derithian wrote:every time Tort goes all MMO's suck, that's why I'm playing _____,
I like MMOGs, god damn it.
I meant to type Everytime tort says ______ MMO sucks but then continues to play _____ MMO
PostPosted:Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:24 pm
by Tortolia
Well, true. That's why I lean strongly towards MMOs with good, solid soloing options - so I can stop playing when I get tired of the game, as opposed to having some level of peer pressure to stick it through for the benefit of the group (or to stay at a point where I can even play with them).