Agreed, it gets kinda silly when the guy claims to love the first games, which I personally found tedious and extremely shallow, but didn’t bother to finish (?) anything beyond VI.

Atlhough I have played and enjoyed some of the post FF VI titles (FF VII and IX), I still have to say my favorites of the entire series are IV and VI.

Nothing beats the feeling of buckling down and hammering away at the originals. I can remember rushing home from school so I could fire up the SNES and throw down against Golbez, Zemus, and Kefka.

While the newer installments of the series are all pretty solid RPG’s, I just don’t get that same feeling I get when I play the classics.

I also think it was awesome that you included Final Fantasy Legends series to the list. I completely forgot about those until just now. Excellent games. Keep up the good work.

I respect your opinion. Everyone has a certain standard and expectation of what a good game should be. Yours might be a bit different from other people and it is understandable. However, I will have to vehemently disagree with your statement that FFI-VI are “all practically the same story”. Honestly, I find that a bit offensive. (Yeah, I know. I am a fanatics.)

If you truly believe that, then there isn’t much I can say. However, I just feel that perhaps you didn’t give these games a fair chance or maybe you didn’t play through them completely. (I apologize if my assumption is wrong.) I can understand that there are prevailing themes that might seem “similar”, but you can’t just blatantly say that they are all the “same”. This is the same as saying that everyone is the “same” because everyone is a homo sapien. Yes, we are all homo sapiens, but we have certain attributes that are unique only to ourselves.

In video games, like in life and in the movies, there are only a few universal themes. As a result, they tend to be recycled. All of us are well aware of such themes such as love and tragedy, good versus evil, and saving the world from total annihilation. These themes are stilled and often used in today’s video games and in modern FF. The only difference is in how these themes are presented to the audience or gamer. And there lies the uniqueness of each game.

Some people of this generation might consider these relics as “unenjoyable” and might go as far as saying that they are “unplayable”. Perhaps some of the earlier FF might not be as enjoyable when compared to some of the current FF, but I wouldn’t say that they are unplayable. I agree that the first few FF were a bit archaic, but you must understand that these were made at a time when video game was still in its infancy. In my opinion, these FF’s were more experimental games then they were actual games. However, each one was an improvement over the previous one and laid the foundations for the modern Final Fantasies. Personally, I just feel that FFVI was when SquareSoft finally got everything right. The topic of whether it is the best game of the series or not is still debatable.

Anyway, one of the reason that some people feel that FFI-VI are great is because these games were created during a time when games don’t have flashy life-like graphics and awesome musical score, thus forcing the player’s imagination to fill in the rest. And there in lies the daydreaming for many young players. Most of the time, the player’s imagination beats out what was on the screen, resulting in a more personal experience. Well, at least that’s what I think.

I just feel that many games nowaday are a bit shallow. It is all flash and no bang. Many broken games are often hidden behind beautiful graphics and sounds. For me, I demand more than just a pretty face, like all my cars and women. With my women, I want a nice personality. With my cars, I want some power and reliability. With my games, I want something interesting and fun. I think that sometimes graphics need to take a step back to other methods of making a good game. What I am saying is that sometimes, LESS IS MORE. For example, it is often more exciting to watch a preview or a teaser video than playing the actual game. I am gonna go X-rated on you so if you are are under 18, skip this next sentence and go to the next paragraph. Sometimes the foreplay is better than the actual act.

So, if you make an argument that FFI-VI are all the same, then you must also make the argument that they are all different as well. As I have learned, everything is the same and different at some level. It is all a matter of perspective. I just hope you look both ways like you do when you cross the street. No hate from me man. Just love for my Final Fantasy, thats all. Peace out.