Esperiffic!

December 9, 2006 2:41 PM

Final Fantasy Summon Magic! Final Fantasy 7 Summons (Part One). Final Fantasy 7 Summons (Part Two). Final Fantasy 8 Summons and limit breaks. Final Fantasy 9 Summons and trances. Final Fantasy 10 Summons and limit breaks. And lastly, the DVD retrospective of Final Fantasy that shipped with the collector's edition of 12.
posted by BlackLeotardFront (34 comments total)

Encyclopaedic! Though, honestly, I never need to watch an FF8 summon again for as long as I live. Goddam non-skippable GF animations.
posted by cortex at 2:44 PM on December 9, 2006

I see your bluff and raise you with CPU Bach.
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:49 PM on December 9, 2006

I wanted to have the espers from ff6 in there too but they're not on any video site. I didn't include ff12 because I haven't finished it, ff10-2 because it suuuuucked, and ff11 because it was ... not really a final fantasy. But personally I'm glad I made this post cause now I can always come back to it. You're right about those GFs though, cortex.... god!!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 3:01 PM on December 9, 2006

cortex, you're not including the Tonberry King GF in that statement, I hope.

*DOINK!*
posted by brain cloud at 3:18 PM on December 9, 2006

Hmm... the FF7 summons missed out Choco-Mog alternate Fat Mog.

(if that doesn't earn me Gold Membership at the Nerd Bar, I don't know what will...)
posted by RokkitNite at 3:33 PM on December 9, 2006

Dang! It was Fat Choco. I'm now officially barred for life.
posted by RokkitNite at 3:36 PM on December 9, 2006

I'm guessing there's no Crystal Chronicles because it came out Gamecube and the retrospective was released with the PS2 FFXII. Still dunno about Tactics, though (also my favorite).
posted by zsazsa at 3:50 PM on December 9, 2006

Watching all these reminds me how completely forgettable IX was in the series. XII is currently kicking my ass and loving it.
posted by Mach3avelli at 4:13 PM on December 9, 2006

I work at a game developer, and we have the debate all the time: Where should we be spending our time? On elements that are extremely cool-looking but aren't interactive, or elements that are banal but interactive (given that the latter, when combined, may accomplish a gestalt that transcends the banal).

Unfortunately, these debates generally end with everyone agreeing that different people play games for different reasons, and want different things from their games. Hrm.
posted by Robson at 4:32 PM on December 9, 2006

Mach3avelli

*Confessor nods*

In addition to coming near the end of the Playstation's lifespan, Final Fantasy IX was a step back on many levels.

The Tetra Master minigame was an overly complex, poorly executed mess which provided very few tangible benefits to gameplay. This wouldn't have been as noticeable if IX hadn't immediately followed VIII's well-integrated Triple Triad card game.

The game's characters (Steiner & Quina) and scenarios were humorous in a way that I had not seen in a Final Fantasy game thus far, and did not enjoy.

The Active Time Events were unnecessary; most of the characters weren't complex enough to require additional background beyond that seen in the main story.

---

I would rather have seen active time events in Final Fantasy XII; certain events and characters in that game could have used much more development.
posted by The Confessor at 4:44 PM on December 9, 2006

Yeah, I'm playing FFXII now and it's pretty awesome. I don't know why Tactics and CC aren't in the retrospective, though. And did anyone else think that the narrator was totally clueless about the whole series?
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:49 PM on December 9, 2006

OMG this is nerdy. Please feel free to add the NerdPorn tag.
posted by loquacious at 6:26 PM on December 9, 2006

Where do this fit into the geek hierarchy?
posted by neuron at 6:28 PM on December 9, 2006

I don't care much for FF12. Neat combat system, but you have to grind to get anywhere. Booorrring.

Grinding means there's not enough content in the game. It works for MMORPGs, I guess, but I refuse to grind pointless kills in a single player game.
posted by Malor at 6:47 PM on December 9, 2006

Malor - I can see what you're saying, but since the combat can be so simple for the player, grinding can actually be kind of fun. Chaining dudes, getting good loot, working out a system for stealing, whupping ass, then poaching, it's better than just going from guy to guy. I can definitely understand where you're coming from though. My main complaint is that the bosses are freaking HARD as HELL, just like some random dudes you encounter.

I just went into a cave to kill some zombie unicorn-type guys (Zertinan caverns I think) and ran into a fellow by the name of Arramalech I think? Uh, he and his 5 zombie buddies broke me in about 10 seconds. Same with those goddamn elementals. "Hi, I have 40,000 hit points, I'm immune to all your shit and I like to mess with you just because."
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:14 PM on December 9, 2006

(The Entites, which are the really strong elementals, just don't like you using magic. I think that fact would have been better delineated if they also went hostile on spellcasting enemies. I would also have liked it if they randomly casted buffing spells on your characters as well. Just two of a multitude of things I would have changed if I'd produced the game.)
posted by The Confessor at 7:57 PM on December 9, 2006

My main complaint is that the bosses are freaking HARD as HELL

I would say that's what I like the most about the game. The Gambit system is too tedious to continue modifying for me, but I'm in love with the Mist ability (Oh really, Mr. Boss-man? How bout I 15-combo your ass for 23k damage, then switch to my other 3 dudes and hit you for another 20k?). The espers/summons are completely useless.
posted by Mach3avelli at 8:35 PM on December 9, 2006

Glad to hear of other negative impressions of FFIX. After VIII, I thought it was a big letdown.

But grinding? The only FF I can remember where grinding wasn't an issue is FF(I). Even in VIII, it helps (enormously) to have a lot of stored power to link to attributes.

Haven't played anything past IX, though, so can't comment. From the sound of it, I'm going to have to check out XII.
posted by dreamsign at 9:58 PM on December 9, 2006

Sadly, my Gamer Endurance was exhausted by Wizardry II I think. As a wanna-be game dev these links are much-appreciated, however. FF 8 made one heck of a cultural impact in Tokyo that winter in 1999, I can tell.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 12:16 AM on December 10, 2006

It's been all downhill since 6 (7 wasn't very far down).
posted by JZig at 12:31 AM on December 10, 2006

Eurogamer did a nice retrospective on the series in October (Part 1, Part 2) culminating in an interview with Akitoshi Kawazu and a review of XII. Being in the UK means it's not out until next year though.

X is okay but the side quests are really annoying. I still can't finish the butterfly catching or chocobo racing. These make dodging 200 lightning bolts look like a breeze.
posted by drill_here_fore_seismics at 3:44 AM on December 10, 2006

*Confessor nods*

If I want my sidequests to require extraordinary feats of finger dexterity, I'll play Sky Odyssey or somesuch...
posted by The Confessor at 6:54 AM on December 10, 2006

The only FF I can remember where grinding wasn't an issue is FF(I).

You're a young but confident party, bolstered by recent success ridding a port town of pirates and netting a sailing ship in the process. You sail down to the south-central port off an Elven town and are told a tale of woe involving a nasty cave.

And then, if you know what's good for you, you kill about 200 ogres and crawlers, to boost hitpoints and finance Silver equipment and potions.
posted by cortex at 7:32 AM on December 10, 2006

I've gotta jump in to defend FFIX. I'm not sure why everyone hates on it, besides maybe it not having as grandly absurd a plot as 7 and 8. What's wrong with it being humorous? It had its serious moments too. The plot overall felt more natural, with highs and lows, rather than other FF games where the plot was really heavy and then there was forced humor inserted. (Cloud in drag, anyone?) And I love the character *interactions.* The banter between the characters is far better than in any other FF.

But, more importantly, *its plot makes sense*. I have a lot of issues with 8, but the biggest is that the plot reads like they were making it up as it goes along. That moment where everyone realizes they'd completely forgotten their pasts was one of the worst, most forced plot twists in history. And why is that the bad guy is never given *any* motivation whatsoever?

What drives me nuts is that there's a really cool plot buried in 8, but half the time, they totally botched its execution. Every time I was really getting into it and ignoring the gameplay weirdness (who thought spell farming was a quality alternative to level grinding?) some really awful storytelling would wrench me back out. (why, oh why, did they have the lame Alien ripoff sequence to make sure I went back to hating them after the incredible hour preceeding it?)

So yeah, 9 is fun, well-executed, and consistant. It may not have the epic grandeur of 7 or 8, but it never hits any of the silly lows of those either. And that counts for a lot.
posted by InnocentBystander at 7:38 AM on December 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

I'm enjoying XII way more than I thought I would. Final Fantasy X felt like they were just remaking VII and I didn't bother to finish it. Before playing XII I thought the Final Fantasy franchise was getting tired and that companies like Mistwalker and Level 5 were the future, but XII has made a radical departure and renewed my interest in the series.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII (same setting as FFXIII but different characters or something) looks interesting, it's just a CG trailer but the bored Doc Marten wearing protagonist and modern setting makes it look like a darker game like VIII.
posted by bobo123 at 8:07 AM on December 10, 2006

Crystal Chronicles had the best music of any FF game, ever.

Just wanted to... you know... throw that out there.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:04 AM on December 10, 2006

And the worst Irishesque voiceover level intros of any.
posted by cortex at 11:55 AM on December 10, 2006

Did you guys hear about this Confessor? Ladies say he loves to nod.
posted by jimmy at 3:46 PM on December 10, 2006

*Confessor shakes his head*
posted by The Confessor at 3:50 PM on December 10, 2006

But, more importantly, *its plot makes sense*. I have a lot of issues with 8, but the biggest is that the plot reads like they were making it up as it goes along. That moment where everyone realizes they'd completely forgotten their pasts was one of the worst, most forced plot twists in history. And why is that the bad guy is never given *any* motivation whatsoever?

Hmm... Yes, the GF amnesia 'twist' is super-lame, and made me stop playing out of sheer disgust, (came back later, natch) but the Sipher story is pretty cool and the time-loop stuff is actually handled pretty well, given the mangled chronophysics endemic to most game plots.

However, much as I love the side-plot of the Black Mage village and their weird journey into self-awareness (the bit where they report that some of them have 'stopped moving' and had to be buried is really sad) FFIX was really clumsily pasted over a pre-determined framework. If I remember rightly, you get to the end of the game and, out of nowhere this bizarre Classical Roman robo thing appears and declares 'I am the God of Life and Death' and you have to fight it, this battle totally unmotivated by anything that's come before.
posted by RokkitNite at 4:08 PM on December 10, 2006

I guess I was the only one who thought the GF thing was cool, if a little bungled. I thought the idea that they were all using GFs, and the price for that was their childhood was standardized to save space for the GFs was great. Of course, that wasn't exactly the case. But the idea is great, a bunch of people realizing that their memories have been falsified and such.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:21 AM on December 11, 2006

FF9 was a collection of some pretty awesome homages to FF of olde. Beyond Dagger in the White Mage robe and, well, actually explaining Black Mages, Bahamut vs. Alexander was, by far, one of the coolest scenes in any Final Fantasy ever. In fact, every time I saw Sin in FF10, all I could think was -- man, all the summons in 9 were so much cooler.

Also: The white dragon flood. Seriously.
posted by effugas at 1:16 AM on December 11, 2006

Final Fantasy 9 was an old-school Final Fantasy game in both spirit and design. That is to say, it was purposely modeled on the atmosphere of the games on the Nintendo and Super Nintendo, and particularly on the height of the series, FF6. I really, really can't see where you can play Final Fantasy and then complain about the humorous characters (sure, FF never did light-hearted humor before -- the Moogles, the Chocobos, Gau, Umaro, Tellah, Palom & Porom... need I go on?)

To me, Final Fantasy 9 was the only game from the Playstation era worth beans, because it was the only one that was anything like Final Fantasy. Sorry, but I don't see much value in the gothic-emo-cyber-cool take-the-blue-pill bullshit Square has been putting out for the last few years, and it was really nice to see a Playstation game that went back to the things that made SNES-era Final Fantasy so great. From the initial music to the very last fight (and that's another thing -- the bizarre end boss that randomly transforms from the bad guy or otherwise comes out of nowhere is a fucking Final Fantasy tradition stretching all the way back to Final Fantasy I! What do you mean it doesn't fit the plot of an FF game?!) this game really revived the Final Fantasy feeling for me. Hell, I think I'll start up a new game tonight, just to give the finger to all you haters.
posted by vorfeed at 1:52 PM on December 11, 2006

FF IX sucked because the you character is a furry.

Glad to see some love for FFVIII and a surprising lack of the drooling FF VII Fanbois that usually roam the Internet in packs. Yes, it was fantastic when you were 8, I'm sure, but it's 10 years later... They had no fingers and mouths in non-battle mode. The plot sucked and the endings made no sense. And Aeris was a boring character, it's much more fun hooking Cloud up with Tifa.
posted by davros42 at 2:49 PM on December 11, 2006