You disappoint me, Squaresoft...bad FF experience?

[Jessie-the-Foodie]

So, a while ago I discovered a Final Fantasy game that totally blew my mind (I mean it). Crystal Chronicles, Ring of Fates. From my experience and opinion, the game seemed to play a lot like some of the Zelda games, such as the ones for the N64, yet with an essence of Final Fantasy, and something that still made it seem---not Final Fantasy. It was so weird that I had to look up online to see if the game was even real, or if it was made by some goofs online. I finally began to accept the fact that it is a real Final Fantasy game, and as I began to play it-I sort of liked it---except...

It was way too short, and I found myself on like, the second to last, or third to last dungeon way too soon. Also, all that jumping that needed to be done made me dizzy, especially before I realized that I needed Gnash to reach some of those higher places. (I've been trying not to use walkthroughs unless necessary, but gave in after a while and used a walkthrough for most of the game, because it got nearly impossible for me to figure out.)

Anyway, so I get to the second to last or third to last dungeon and discover that I can't get any farther in the game, because I needed to use a trick that I skipped/failed to learn toward the beginning of the magic lessons, and had no idea how to do it. I even tried looking it up online, but couldn't figure it out. I even asked for help, but when people got to helping me, it was too late.

I started to play the other one-but I honestly prefer Final Fantasy games that have main characters and storylines to go along with them. I don't care much for the ones that you customize yourself (or rather, select, since there's not a lot of customization to be done).

That one was even more difficult, and a little boring (because of the reason stated above, partially). I abandoned both games for good, and will probably never attempt them again. I just---couldn't take it.

I don't mind challenges, but I hate games that are impossible for me to beat if I happen to skip a dialogue or two at the beginning. I don't mind restarting a game when I found I didn't level up enough to beat the final boss, or when I realized I missed almost all the sidequests, but I just can't stand games that I literally can't beat, and even worse are the ones that I need a walkthrough for almost every level (it's mostly because of the graphics and the jumping thing, which drove me nuts).

Crystal Chronicles looked really cool when it first came out on gamecube, but out of all the Final Fantasy games I've played so far, it's one that I don't even want to play again (even though I haven't beaten it), and so far it's the only one that really turned me away completely.

What was your worst Final Fantasy experience?  

[ContrabassClarinetist]

Crystal Chronicles for the game cube was an okay game for me because I could do multiplayer with my brothers. The puzzles were solvable if you were like my brothers and good at abstract logic. A lot of the hints were written down in the journal the game automatically gives you after seemingly random occurences that you find while traveling. Let me put it this way, it's good to be nice to the NPCs. The chalice system fits the game well but is still annoying if you are doing multiplayer.

Thanks for the warning about Ring of Fates, you may have saved me a few bucks there.  

[Jessie-the-Foodie]

I never played the gamecube game. I don't mind puzzles. I can figure a lot out, but the jumping and falling and jumping and falling made me dizzy and light headed and gave me headaches. The pace of the game was way too ridiculously fast as well.  

[Ravenwolf]

I was actually going to mention the original Crystal Chronicles as my "bad experience." I definitely agree that the games with more developed stories are just better. The lack of a story in this game just... made any redeeming gameplay qualities negligible. Of course, I didn't actually have anyone to play with, either, so I'm sure I could have enjoyed it a bit more than I did.... And after that, I really just ignored the Crystal Chronicles series altogether, so I know nothing of Ring of Fates, alas. Actually, I was kind of excited when I was first hearing about The Crystal Bearers because it's got a real storyline, but... just never ended up getting that, either.

And also, what with the moogle painting? It was... kind of a cool idea, but really weird, and it always came out looking incredibly stupid. confused  

[ContrabassClarinetist]

There is a story there but you kind of have to piece it all together from random scraps you pick up around the game.  

[Jessie-the-Foodie]

I used the moogle painting to make a blue moogle. You could just click on a color you wanted and certain options or whatever to make a certain whole part of the moogle colorable.

Oh, FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus also disappointed me. Why? I recall zooming past that game in about 7 hours or so, without even a walkthrough. It might have taken longer-but still.

I'm also not into shooting games. Vincent is one of my favorite FFVII characters, and the storyline was interesting-but it was also too sad, I went through it too quickly, and I couldn't find any sidequests. I didn't bother even checking a walthrough to see if there was. It also seemed like there was no actual map, but it was based on levels, and while games that are based on levels (like Fire Emblem) are okay, a shooting game based on levels that doesn't seem like Final Fantasy at all is not.

The game was also scarey. During that one part with that quick creepy lady as a boss, I screamed when she came at me, because it startled me-and horror movies don't even scare me!

I played thorugh that game once and then sold it back. The worst part was the price. It was 40 dollars or so even for a used version! Yuck...

That disappointed me big time.  

[Ravenwolf]

I'll be honest; I own Dirge and haven't even played it. Just my brother has. I do plan to at some point, but when it first came out, I was scared to death of shooters. I'm still not a big fan of them, but I'm willing to give it a shot for Final Fantasy. And really, I think that's why it's so easy. xd They were catering to people who never play anything but RPGs, eheh. I guess they were a little overboard, though?

I've gotta say, though, I've never heard it described as scary.... I'm kind of excited, kind of nervous to get to that part now!  

[Jessie-the-Foodie]

In a way it's kind of like Crystal Chronicles. It's so fast paced and unlike Final Fantasy, and there's so much turning and spinning and so many things zipping at you that---well, it may have given me a headache too, or at least got my heart pumping a little too fast. To be honest, I don't care for games that I can play through in seven hours or less. I like a lot of story, especially sidequests that add even more story or connect to the story somehow) in my games. That's why the older Final Fantasy games that have world maps and lots of side dungeons like FFVII (which, unfortunatelly, I loaned to someone and will never get back, because someone ELSE threw it out, I guess), FFVIII, and definately FFIX will probably always be at the top of my favorits' list.  

[Ravenwolf]

Oh, yes, me too. heart But I figure, if it's a good story, seven hours is still seven hours of good story. It's repetitive gameplay with no real progression that bothers me; that's why I really didn't like 358/2 Days, too.  

[Lore_Maester]

Well I really think that XII epitomizes the sidequest/extra dungeon type game. It was one of those games that I hated when I first played it because I didn't understand it, but now I'm banking on 100 hours just doing all the hunts and sidequests. The world is just so expansive and I love the fact that you can literally walk from one end of the world to the other. To me, it just seems like a 3D rendering of the old world maps that was so painstakenly taken away in XIII.  

[Jessie-the-Foodie]

I like FFXII, although the near impossibility of beating the final boss in Revenant Wings (I gave up and watched the ending on youtube instead), and on top of that, FFA2, Grimoire (spelling?) of the Rift kind of ruined the game for me. I'm still trying to replay just the FFXII for the PS2, but I'm haunted by the memory of those two games when I do, and it's kind of a disappointment. Revenant Wings wouldn't have been so bad if I had been able to beat it, but there's just something about the way the game worked that made it so hard (I find almost EVERY NDS game impossible for me to beat for some reason), and FFTA2 just---just---yuck.

I'm really not into timetravel/alternate universe travel to begin with, but that it had to seem almost as though it could be a sequel to Revenant Wings, suggesting that Vaan, Penelo, and the gang at some point met someone from another world just...kind of ruined it...

It was horrible.

And the FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus storyline actually wasn't that great. It wasn't one of the better sequels, but it was a sequel to FFVII, and that was probably its ONLY redeeming quality (well, that and Vincent was the main character and it did have the others in it).  

[Ravenwolf]

I did love that aspect of XII, all the exploration and sidequests, but my dislike of the battle system and general ambivalence toward the storyline made me considerably less interested in actually doing all of it, unfortunately.

Revenant Wings is one of those games on my list of I-own-but-just-haven't-had-time-for. Again, I wasn't really into the battle system, but at least it was pretty interesting from what little I did play. I know next to nothing of A2, except that Vaan's wardrobe has been considerably improved.

As for Dirge of Cerberus... Okay, so maybe "good" was a little strong wording. But from what I've seen of the cutscenes, I did find it very interesting. I mean, I hated the addition of Genesis in Crisis Core, but I still thought it was fun to find out about all that retconning backstory.  

[Jessie-the-Foodie]

Yeah, I guess it improved a little. I just don't understand the whole vest, but no shirt thing. I think Penelo's outfit for all those games was absolutely terrible, personally. Her one piece suit which looked like a rubber/spandex suit or something was pretty lousy (in my opinion), but that puffy pants outfit is far worse. I can't stand puffy pants.  

[Ravenwolf]

xd I actually really liked Penelo's new outfit, but it didn't seem right on her at all. I didn't fit with everyone else, and she just looked so different from before. I was really amazed, though, by how much that shirt did for Vaan.  

[Lore_Maester]

Yeah I kinda came up with a theory about that. Apparently when you become a sky pirate you have to aquire a puffy white shirt. *thinks back to Balthier*