WARNING, topic shift is approaching fast!
I was a big FF fan until 7, which dissapointed me greatly. It pains me that it is hyped so bad. I don't mind that people enjoy the game when I don't. It's the fact that it is the game that really made the series take a huge turn for the worse for me, and it's probably the most acclaimed game of all time. So of course, it's basically the standard for so many other games. ugh.
I tried FF8 after 7, found it was even worse.. I mean. After 7, I was getting kinda BORED SHITLESS of the whole "I DONT KNOW WHO I AM" storyline. I mean. I didn't particularly enjoy it with Terra in FF3/6, but it was the first time, ok. Then they do it again in FF7, wonderful. They did it again with Xenogears (in a different way which pulled off much better at least). Apparently they liked this technique for developing a plot so much that they decide to do it to the entire fucking cast of FF8, YAY.
Don't even get me started on the horribad draw system. Oh joy, a new enemy, let's sit here using one command over and over 99 times.
so yeah, after FF8, I pretty much gave up on Final fantasy... I was convinced to try FFX after much time by a friend letting me borrow his copy, I did, and it wasn't too shabby. It had its flaws, the worst of which was that battle strategy was a no brainer. Oh look flying enemy, use wakka, oh, slime, Yuyu time (was that her name? I forget), turtle=auron, etc. It really felt like playing rocks paper scissors where you could see what the other player was, with pretty graphics...But despite that, the game was still good.
Because of that, I decided to actually purchase ff12.
FF12...It's really hard to believe it's a FF at all. It feels like an MMORPG almost, only better (I'm not a big MMORPG fan). I do indeed like it, but it sure does eat up time, in addition, the whole 3d movement grid combat system is just LOADED with potential. But the fact is it's really just any other traditional rpg with the illusion that movement is involved, when in reality it's just a seamless method of making combat transition to not-combat..Kinda. It's a bit more than that, but the amount of strategic value in terms of positioning and whatnot was really kinda lame. In addition, I don't like how the game totally plays favorites. For example the main character is a beast, he is excellent at every stat and weapon. Then there's Fran, who is a total piece of shit compared to everyone else. I mean, IIRC she's among the top 3 worst characters for EVERY weapon, yay..not. I enjoy the game, but..well. I discovered Touhou during my playthru, so I kinda not touched it for like a year now. Last thing I remember was pwning some fire elemental boss in some room full of magic stuff that Fran could smell or something, who featured rather unique and good music. Pretty sure I got further than that but that was the most recent highlight (I liked the music what can I say).
so, anyway, a part of me is wondering about FF13...
1: FF12 reeked of potential, that if improved upon, will make FF13 truly amazing...Square almost never improves upon previous games however, they tend to just rework them like new completely, for better or for worse.
2: Main character doesn't look like a 12 year old, yay, but a certain part of me is nervous about being female. Sounds silly saying this considering I think Touhou's estrogen overload is actually a good thing, but...A FF game having a female lead is risky. Either Square will be like every other major game company, and try to boost sales by cheap sex appeal, or they'll try and treat her seriously. Here's the problem, I haven't liked the lead character in a square game since Xenogears, and even then I didn't like Fei more than the rest of the cast really. She DOES look a bit older than your typical modern FF lead character, so I HOPE she'll not only be more mature than previous leads, but she wont just be some sex appeal excuse. Looking at the picture on the box, seems like hotness is not a goal square has in mind (I mean she's not ugly, but I don't really see anything that says "I'm supposed to be hot" on it)...Mind you I'm not easily turned on, maybe she is "hot", I dunno. The fact that her name is "lightning" (really dumb name lol) doesn't help, square sure likes their air-related names for some reason (I wonder if Terra was intentionally an elemental-esque name as well...)
