Favorite FF

For the rest of your otaku life.

Whats your favorite FF?

FF II/IV
1
2%
FF III/VI
14
25%
FF V
3
5%
FF VII
19
33%
FF VIII
9
16%
FF IX
4
7%
FF X
4
7%
FF XI
2
4%
FF X-2
1
2%
 
Total votes: 57

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V2Blast
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Re: Favorite FF

#46 Post by V2Blast »

Ah. Well, FF XII is PS2-only, so there goes that.

I actually don't mind turn-based combat, as long as it's in a strategy game (like Fire Emblem).
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Re: Favorite FF

#47 Post by dstarsboy »

I liked the gunblade one (squall?) but I liked the Tidus one better (XI?). That game was awesome except the fact that the main char was, like, a 12 year old snot face.

Fran is the best character ever! She should have her own game.
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Re: Favorite FF

#48 Post by LVUER »

The one with gunblades = FFVIII (PSX)
Tidus = FFX (PS2)

One I don't like from nowadays video games is that the protagonist is so young! Come on, the world hasn't degraded so much that we need regulary saved by some snooby teenagers! Look at Silent Hill 1,2,4 and origins! They are an oldman. Look at Snake, a war veteran. At least make them over 20, please?

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Re: Favorite FF

#49 Post by dott.Piergiorgio »

LVUER wrote:The one with gunblades = FFVIII (PSX)
Tidus = FFX (PS2)

One I don't like from nowadays video games is that the protagonist is so young! Come on, the world hasn't degraded so much that we need regulary saved by some snooby teenagers! Look at Silent Hill 1,2,4 and origins! They are an oldman. Look at Snake, a war veteran. At least make them over 20, please?
prolly because I'm just awake, prolly because I don't get well your english, but the Snake of MGS4 is definitively on the "veteran" side, so I don't get what you mean.....

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Re: Favorite FF

#50 Post by LVUER »

LVUER wrote:Look at Silent Hill 1,2,4 and origins! They are an oldman. Look at Snake, a war veteran. At least make them over 20, please?
These guys I mentioned are the "proper" age for protagonist. Of course I mean Snake is an adult and war veteran (though Snake in MGS4 is a little too old, if you know what I mean ^_^ ) so he has apropriate age.
Silent Hill = already has child and married. About mid 30-40?
Silent Hill 2 = married too, about mid 20-30?
Silent Hill 3 = not good, a teenager. Perhaps since the protagonist is a girl, Konami want more sex appeal?
Silent Hill 4 = an adult, about late 20 or early 30?
Silent Hill Origin = definitely an old man, about late 30-40?
Metal Gear Solid (from 1 to 4) = all of them about 20-30.
Snake in MGS4 is about mid 40, but due to certain things, he's aged too fast.
Resident Evil = well, all of them has proper age. Though Leon and Claire in RE2 is a bit too young... but it's understandable too since they are still a rookie at that time. Exception for Rebecca (she is a rookie in STARS).
FF1-6 = most of them are early 20 to late 20, with several mid 30-40 characters.
FF7-14 = WTF, most of them are mid 10 or early 20, with several mid 20-30 characters?
Wild Arms 1-5 = most of them are mid 10-20? There's even some juvenile in the party!

Ugh! It could be too long if I list them all, so that's all for now...

See what I mean? Older = more realistic. Younger = more sex appeal = more sales?

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Re: Favorite FF

#51 Post by MaiMai »

That's not necessarily true LVUER. It's not so much sex appeal as it is appealing to the target audience which I would like to point out are mostly teens or people in their early 20's. I like Silent Hill 3 because of the teen protagonist who is the same age as me and in a way I can relate to her more. Not that the other characters are bad because of being older protagonists. They're awesome characters in their own right of course. I guess the FF series could stand to have more grown up protagonists though since it's a long-running franchise.

Man I must be more tired than I thought, I had to reword my post a few times x.x
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Re: Favorite FF

#52 Post by blankd »

The age of the character is irrelevant if they are badly written. The reason why most games make the MCs under 20 or around 20 is because they are typically more easy to relate to. (Slight tangent) In almost every single FPS game the MC is definitely over 20 or simply faceless; and despite looking older they are often bland cookies in terms of character and appearance. Also none of the SH protagonists were saving the world. Snake and Raiden were saving the world though so that'll work. Action games like DMC or God of War are definately over 20 MCs.

Uhm, another thing to consider is the difference in genres. In most RPGs they have all sorts of silly things running about, talking rodents, a really liberal weapons market, money in pots, monsters with universal currency on their persons, magical runes, silly mystically named elements and metals, etc.

But if you were talking about RPGs where the characters merely behave like brats then uh, try stuff from the Shin Megami Tensei series? They have good story and game variety and rather rewarding battle systems. But uh, most of their games are on the PS2, PSP and DS now. 8D

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Re: Favorite FF

#53 Post by dott.Piergiorgio »

mmmhhhhh......

A series in which the MC (or MCs) grow as the players... an interesting idea, only problem, how to apply it in a context of homebrew VN/Ren'ai production ? :idea:

(pls no knocking on woods or touching iron, I'm only meaning that there's a point in which, well, people & characters reach a sentimental stability.... :mrgreen: )

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Re: Favorite FF

#54 Post by LVUER »

So, it has to do with immersion for the player? Still I think most RPG have too young party members, it seems unrealistic. I mean a bunch of teenagers saving the world... Old FF has older party member, has it something to do with target audience age? But isn't target audience for current games generation is older than it used to be?

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Re: Favorite FF

#55 Post by Aleema »

LVUER wrote:So, it has to do with immersion for the player? Still I think most RPG have too young party members, it seems unrealistic. I mean a bunch of teenagers saving the world... Old FF has older party member, has it something to do with target audience age? But isn't target audience for current games generation is older than it used to be?
Frankly, Square-Enix is trying to catch a new generation with each game. Old fans will continue to buy and play their games regardless of their age, but nine-year-old boys picking their nose at the game shop will be attracted to a main character their age. Bam. New lifetime buyer. Ages for the characters are indeed a marketing decision, which is why there are more mature characters in indie games (just look at our selection here).

Just look at FF12 and FF13. The main character for FF12 is Vaan. Why? Because he's a boy and is "kickass" (thieves and pirates are "cool"). Does he have ANYTHING to do with the story? Did he really do anything or contribute at all? No. This was a glaring flaw in the game because no one, outside of the preteen male, cared about him or Penelo. The real characters of the story were 20-30 years old, but I can assume some bigwig said that there was no way Ashe could be the main character, and to rip two guys from FFT:A2. This could not be more painfully obvious than in this game.

In FF13, the main characters are appropriately aged. But how did they solve this marketing problem? There's a newly revealed player-character called Hope, which is a preteen boy. Looks like Vaan, who looks like Zidane, etc. Then the protagonists for both Tactics Advance games are preteen boys because that's who was going to buy the game (it's on the DS, so it was designed for kids anyway). As a mature woman who bought both games, sure, I don't fit that demographic, but we can assume that in Japan, things might be a little more predictable than elsewhere.

It is a little disappointing as we get older to see that a series still isn't tailored exactly for us, but sometimes we have to admit when we outgrow something or just learn to appreciate it in a new way.

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Re: Favorite FF

#56 Post by LVUER »

Aleema wrote:...It is a little disappointing as we get older to see that a series still isn't tailored exactly for us, but sometimes we have to admit when we outgrow something or just learn to appreciate it in a new way.
I remember that there is one manga that has been running for more than 30 years. A manga about a Japanese Salaryman. The interesting thing is that the character is aging and advancing in career just like a real person. So the age is also advancing along with fans and the author age. The theme is also always up-to-date.

The MC began as an ordinary salaryman, head-section, manager, and so on, until finally now he is a president/director of his company. His personality is also maturing from hot-headed brash young man to calm and composed old man.

Too bad I don't have a chance to read it. If anyone know about the manga, has it been localized into English? Or at least fan-subbed (manga-scanned), heheheh ^_^

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Re: Favorite FF

#57 Post by Aleema »

That actually sounds like a really, really boring manga. xD

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Re: Favorite FF

#58 Post by Ramidel »

Well, the problem is that, A, the U.S. is the big market that the video game companies want to feed, and B, anime (and thus Japanese video games) in the U.S. is overwhelmingly targeted at the shonen market. So you get kiddy, angsty ore heroes rather than adults.

Cecil, Terra, and Celes were adults, after all. Cloud and every FF hero after them were kids, and only in the cases of Ramza and Squall was this necessary or helpful to the story. FF8 is a coming-of-age story, while Ramza is in the unenviable position of a young man who's in so far over his head that a bathyscape couldn't find him. FF9, 10 and especially 12 suffered on account of a stupid kid hero. (FF7? Cloud sucks as a character. Nobody cares, the story's awesome enough that even Cloud absorbs some of the awesome by osmosis.)

I'll note that kid heroes are much -less- common in games that come from the West. Commander Shepard is as old as a veteran Marine should be (a bit young, maybe, but we know why ze's had hir accelerated promotion). Fallout's character is a default age of 25. Neither of these is an AFGNCAAP by any means. Maybe this is a sign that seinen just needs to start breaking across the pond more before we see more adult heroes in JRPGs.

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Re: Favorite FF

#59 Post by blankd »

Well another reason why I think they make the characters young is because of possible writing reasons. Usually, adults tend to take (typically) a really slow but sure route to solving problems. If they don't then they get docked for being immature. But 20s or younger characters can be immature (relative to age) without getting shunned by society, yet can also behave maturely to appeal to audiences that like level-headed characters. Adult characters are also typically portrayed as lacking a certain amount of zeal in life or being too cynical to pursue most courses of action. There is also the benefit of children not having much to tie them down so they are "freer" to participate in the story (the idling child vs the married, working adult) as well as show off the world to the player.

>THIS IS NOT MEANT TO OFFEND<
Once again, I honestly see the "age" thing as a picky aesthetic on par with demanding a female character show off more of her body or a male character to be toned. Especially since some of the games you guys have listed were back when characters in-game were no taller than 8 pixels and the basis for leaving home was because X invaded/burned down Y. *If you are talking about games with more complex plots then the ages of the characters are the least of your issues, its the story itself that's the problem.

Medieval games which get this complaint puzzle me, as in the old days people got married at 14 and were lucky to live past, what, 30? One could almost say they're accurate in some twisted way. However modern RPGs I'm not so sure about, but then again, consider that in older times, basic literacy and writing were rare and now it's taught almost anyone.

tl;dr Age doesn't make the character, the writer/designer does.

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Re: Favorite FF

#60 Post by LVUER »

@Aleema
Well, it's not for everyone. But it's very popular in Japan. And another interesting thing is that the manga actually teach us a lot of things such as economic situation of Japan at that time. And most of the time, it's "prediction" of future economic situation is quite accurate... scary 0_0

@Ramidel
Cloud... do you realize that 3/4 of FF7 situation is all because of you? And FF7 adventure is basically only a story about a group of people chasing a long haired bad guy (no, not Mugen) from one corner of the world to the another tip of the world...

But since Cloud is sometimes cool, and because he is a star in FF7 Advent Children... I forgive him... Why you dump Tifa? Idiot x10!

@blankd
That's why age is an important factor. Ramza has the right age to star FFT, I mean he is a cadet and the youngest in his family. If he is older, he will take things differently and the story will progress to different routes.

Young people tend to be more brash, act based on instincts, and will try to keep their ideal. While adult is... well the opposite; calm, cool, composed, with lots of experience.

I don't mind with some young people in the party, or if the protagonist a young man. But make the party balanced and think over the most appropriate age for all the characters.

Really, I hardly believe some 17 years old teenager would really care about fate of the world. They still in the age of seeking adventure, fun, and love. See those teenager in war zone? Most of them snap the moments they're there. It's normal and acceptable (even adult could snap). The older people are, usually they have more responsibility, consciously or not.

Well, if the story really support the age despite the MC is 7 years old, I will shut my mouth.

BTW, Pokemon is also very strange about the age. I mean c'mon! How could parents let their young children go venture circling the world by themselves, to catch some obscure or dangerous pokemon? But then again... since Pokemon is for children, it would be strange if the MC is 40 years old -_-

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