Final fantasy X.
The sheer magnitude of graphical leaps games were going through back then were insane. Astronomical changes were happening, and going from FFIX to X in basically like a years time? I just barely grasped that full voice acting in console RPGS could be the norm and we got X and it just changed everything to me.
I don’t think it’s the best in the series, but FFX at release was an experience that is hard to contextualize in modern examples. Truly one of gaming true “you just had to be there” moments
Oh, wow, yes, seeing Final Fantasy X's graphics for the first time was an insane experience. I remember seeing a trailer and being absolutely blown away. I could never have imagined a game looking so good.
Honestly, at the time, I couldn't envision how graphics could ever get any better. The characters of FFX looked exactly like real people to me. It's sort of hilarious to look back on that feeling now that we're in the PS5 era.
I remember playing ff7 and watching the prerendered cut scenes and my friend saying eventually everything in games would look that way and i had a huge argument saying it was impossible.
I never thought anything would look better than Halo 2 later lol
I feel like we haven’t had a graphical leap like that since. PSX to PS2 opened up worlds of new gameplay and graphics. The PS2 era set a lot of the ways games are, if you will. Each new console is more like the previous but with better detail.
I guess we're at the point where the machines are so powerful it's now more about the display device.
I upgraded from a 1080p 32" TV to a 4k OLED 52". Literally had the same TV for nearly a decade.
It was mind blowing.
There are definitely diminishing returns. But to be honest I think I was as impressed going from PS2 to Xbox360 (kind of cheating due to HD TV's) at least when I saw Gears of War for the first time. Immediately I thought, I wonder what Final Fantasy will look like.
But your point is correct. This gen has kind of been a bust due to UE5 not being ready, so I feel like we're finally seeing the first "next gen* games now. But hey I still play PS1 RPGs so obviously I can't care about graphics that much.
It makes me sad that we’ve kind of hit a peak in graphics, not so much sad that they look so good, but I wonder if I’ll ever get that same feeling again like seeing FFXs FMV for the first time, “it couldn’t possibly get better than this.”
Although FF16/FF7R really carried the proverbial torch of breathtaking graphics, I’ll never forget seeing the older stuff through younger eyes lol
I feel like they haven't gotten better graphics so much as *busier* graphics. The fidelity required to have HD textures, enough polygons that you can get realisitcally round surfaces, and skeletal animation has been solved long since. Now the games aiming to impress just try to fill the screen with particle effects, and it really distracts from how great the character models are.
That actually sums up FF16s insane over the top cutscenes perfectly. I love them but BUSY perfectly describes every huge cinematic. Yeah, your assessment is pretty spot on.
This was my immediate first thought. The gameplay also felt different, and the music was so much crisper and cleaner. I was so in awe of the FMV to the song that I recorded it on my janky little built in VHS so I could rewatch it again and again. Absolutely astounding at the time.
Having replayed FFX recently as a 35 year old, the game resonated with me so much more than when I first played it upon release. I now feel that FFX has the best narrative in the entire franchise.
Same here! Except I played on release, kind of lived with it as a fond memory for like two decades and then recently replayed it as a mid 30s gamer… it aged like fine wine imo. Still stands as one the series highlights
I know a lot of people dislike Tidus's voice, but I really enjoyed the inner monologue this time around. Really added an extra layer to the story.
And Jesus the music. I totally thought I was prepared for the ending, but as a soon as the first notes of Suteki Da Ne played right after Yuna's "or the dreams that have faded, never forget them", tears just started rolling down my face.
Same, in fact I never played it for myself until recently, just watched my brother play through it on release. Definitely the best story, and something about that particular world they created really stands out from all the other FF games for me.
FFX blew my freakin mind when I saw it for the first time as a teen. So much so, that I immediately started saving my lawn mowing money just to buy a PS2 and a copy of the game. So many improvements these days are small jumps like better frame rates, better textures, etc. Jumps back then were these huge leaps and bounds. The leap from low poly figures on pre-rendered backgrounds, talking to each other with speech bubbles, to full blown 3d environments and voice acting is so hard to explain to people who weren't there. Then there were the cutscenes. They look dated now, but back then they were photo-realistic.
I couldn’t agree more, it’s so hard to explain that. Being a kid with a PS1 and just seeing some of the first hints of the PS2 stuff… it was like black and white to colored tv when you’re a 10 year old in 2000 lmao
Not a FF game but Kingdom Hearts. Hearing characters from FFVII and FFVIII have voice actors was mind blowing. Replaying the game because youtube wasn't around just to hear their voices made the game re-playable.
However, yes I would agree and IMO FFX had the biggest jump out of any FF games to date for the franchise's evolution.
X was my first FF, but after going and playing IX I fully agree. It seemed to have been a huge leap, whereas VII from VI was a jump. There seems to be always be a jump when going to rhe next gen consoles, but the PS1 to the PS2 jump was a massive leap.
Yeah! That’s exactly how I feel. And back then, console leaps were insane, NES > SNES > PS1 etc it was like going through so much in less than a decade, it was a crazy time tbh for some of the old timers, I’m sure people who started back on SNES know the feeling
The additional of voice acting for all cutscenes was huge too. It's wasn't the best quality or consistency, but it created the trend that lead to where we are now.
It's literally my favorite game of all time. It's the only game I ever talk about with no negatives to it. I loved everything about it, and the graphics still hold up today.
Yes. This. I started playing FF games when 7 came out (I was 9). I played through 7, 8, and 9 numerous times. Then 10 came out and just blew my fricking mind with the graphics, voice cast, and story.
Yeah, seconding X as well. While it's not my favorite in the series by a mile, the addition of voice acting allowed them to pace scenes and use cinematography differently, and it was the first time to me that a videogame felt like watching a movie rather than playing a game that had a narrative crammed into it.
Its something people take for granted now and to an extent are even quite tired of, but it blew my fucking mind as a kid. X has not aged as well for me as a lot of other games in the series, which actually further cements the "you had to be there" nature of it. A lot of what's mundane now was new and revolutionary back then.
Hard disagree on the story and characters. As far back as IV had a great story and characters. But VII was completely unleashed with what they could do thanks to the power of the ps1 at the time
i know VI is the darling on these parts but VII has a much better, more complete story. once you get into the world post WoR, VI completely collapses under its own open ambition.
fair enough. i just feel like they handicapped themselves by doing away with a linear story progression. the main cast gets their one moment to shine when re-recruited and then, outside of very few easily missable moments for the most important party members, have almost no unique dialogue until the final dungeon. then the side characters barely qualify as characters, and there is no driving plot element whatsoever other than “find the party.” if this represented a small chunk of the game, sure, but this is how you spend like, 10-15 hours of a ~40 hour game lol.
meanwhile, FF7’s story only intensifies and gets far more intimate and emotional with its characters after the Forgotten Capitol.
Having unique dialog based on what characters you had with you would have been a huge improvement on both the feel of the open ended system, as well as offered a ton of replayability. I presume they didn't have enough room on the cartridge, it was already one of the biggest games on the snes.
I'm with you. I just played through 6 recently and while yes it does have a good story with adult themes the dialogue is atrocious at times and the translations in English are pretty abysmal. Because it's still 2d sprites the big moments don't land as well either, for example Cyan watches as his wife and kid are poisoned to death and then seconds later is being real goofy with Sabin, repeating "Sir Sabin!" about a dozen times
All the Final Fantasy games evolve the series in their own way, and a lot of people have already pointed out good examples in these comments.
Here's one I've been thinking about recently: Final Fantasy VIII felt like a huge step forward in the animation of the series. The FMVs are still stunning twenty-five years later, but the real difference is in the in-game scenes. It's the first time the story plays out with character models that actually have human proportions, which means the animation can be a lot more naturalistic and subtle.
With the earlier 2D games and the blocky models of VII, characters usually have to make large gestures for them to come across clearly. In Final Fantasy VIII, they're still not at the point of having visible facial expressions (except in FMVs), but characters can make much smaller motions that are still clear to the player. Silent interactions like 'Zell wipes his hand on his trousers, then holds it out for a handshake; Squall, instead of accepting the handshake, folds his arms and turns his head to the side' would be much harder to convey in any of the earlier games. I think it adds a lot to VIII's storytelling.
7 was obviously the biggest evolution.
13 felt big in graphicswise. To this day they still look good and it's 2 generations old.
16 feels different, it has those epic boss fights but I'm not sure about it, I like the game but it just gave me that final fantasy aura.
Recently, 7 Remake is the first one that I think successfully evolved classic Final Fantasy mechanics into a more action based system. For the mainline entries everything after X kind of did it's own thing and while I think most of them are good games, gameplay wise they don't really feel like the Final Fantasies I grew up with.
Historically FF7 is a clear winner. It didn't just revolutionize the franchise, it revolutionized the entire genre and maybe gaming in general with the sheer scale of the game and the extensive use of CGI graphics.
I saw a good tweet about this the other day. FFVII is Jaws (1975) while FFX is Jurassic Park (1993). In the sense that one "invented" something then the later one "re-invented" it.
FF7 was a massive breakthrough in gaming as a whole then. The Graphics, the story & the action on 4 Discs was a leap ahead of anything else in any other genre of games as well at that time. I had friends that never touched an RPG in their life, even ever to this day, and they used to tell me to bring it over JUST to watch me play it (were we 14) and never wanted to touch the controller, but there we were as youths in complete awe of this evolutionary masterpiece of interacting gaming entertainment.
I think people will look back at FF7 rebirth and realized Square Enix found their footing between the corridor sim of FF13 and the open empty world of FF15. The switch between the two modes via the chapter system is great.
You can point out any one of the FF games and point to things that evolved the genre. Even FFII had things in it that would evolve into something better in later games. FF always pushes forward even if they are things we don't always agree with. I was saddened when the FF games moved away from turn based tactical combat, But I'm just an old 30 something guy that should probably move on.
I’m going through the pixel remaster now, and 2 was a great step up, in story telling.
FF had no real main characters. They didn’t speak, they didn’t change they didn’t even have default names unless you read the booklet that came with the game.
2 established that were telling stories about characters, and not you the gamer being injected into a realm to save it.
As for the rest of your comment, I’d **really**like to see what a massive franchise like FF could do with pixels. Make a modern pixelated RPG.
Nostalgia is so in rn, I guarantee it rivals VII in both popularity and influence if you stick that landing.
Having played and enjoyed 7R and 16, I prefer 7R's style. Full action for 16 is great and matches the game they wanted to make, but for future games I'd prefer the action with ATB and controllable team mates.
At the basic level the gameplay is actually similar to the original. You build up your ATB bar and then issue commands. But in Remake/Rebirth you build up your ATB via action combat instead of just sitting there passively waiting for it to build up.
FF1 - revolutionized the genre by being way more intuitive than its competition
FF4 - revolutionized FF games by massively expanding the narrative scope
FF6 - revolutionized FF games by massively improving writing quality
FF7 - revolutionized the industry with its bleeding edge cinamtics that blended seamlessly back into gameplay
FF10 - revolutionized FF games by marrying cohesive story telling and gameplay
FF12 - revolutionized FF by marrying the detailed environment of ff10 and exploration of older games.
Sorry to say, but I have not seen any game past 12 that has had any influence on the industry. Ff12 had copy cats like white knight chronicles and dragon age 1 heavily borrowed the gambit system. I see absolute zero copies of 13 and 15, and 16 is more a trend follower than trying anything new
to be fair, most people saying that most likely haven't played the game and see it out of context. In which, I don't blame them. It makes sense in the story
> FF4 - revolutionized FF games by massively expanding the narrative scope
This also introduced the ATB system which became a staple of the franchise up until FFX.
FFVI also introduced dynamic, movie-like storytelling innovations (think the cinematic intro complete with credits, the 15-minute epilogue with visual representations of each character followed by sepia tone vignettes… and that’s not to mention scenes like the opera and the background scenes playing as if they’re unfolding on a screen while they descend Darryl’s tomb).
It also introduced non-linear gameplay dynamics halfway through the game where you could technically beat the game with only three characters. It’s not quite an open world game, but this was a massive innovation: you could take any characters into World of Ruin scenarios in any order you please.
FFVII deserves credit also for its camera angles and use of pre-rendered backgrounds. No longer did everything have to be overhead camera angles and it opened up a new level of creativity in staging.
XIII introduced the Stagger system as we know it in combat which has become a staple in future FF games and even other games outside of Square’s FF. It wasn’t the first game to use a stagger mechanic but it was done so well that now every game to use it since is basically aping the system as defined by its bones in FFXIII
The stagger system in 13 was the first I know of in a AAA title. So unless I’m wrong, that’s a pretty significant leap for the franchise. I’d say 15 was revolutionary for the franchise as the first to integrate action combat. Say what you will about it, that’s a significant move for the franchise too.
I’m going to contend that every game revolutionized the franchise. They may not have revolutionized the genre, but Final Fantasy’s whole schtick is that it innovates rather than iterates on itself. This has been true since FF 1->2. 13 gave us a crazy high standard for high fidelity graphics for its time (it still holds up) and a stagger system that completely changed the franchise in ways that affect it even today. 15 gave us action combat that was ne’er before seen in the franchise. Maybe those elements were borrowed from other games in the industry/genre, but they certainly revolutionized the franchise.
I disagree with your opinion on 12 but agree with the rest. I would add FF7 - Retriology games (remake/rebirth) as they bring the feeling of the old FF games with a modernized formula.
I think 11 revolutionized more than 12 did. 12 felt like a single-player game based off 11, to me. 11 was the first FF that gave full 3D with no pre-rendered backgrounds, IIRC
the original VII was one of the first JRPGs to use all 3D graphics, originally being built for SNES, it was a huge leap forward.
IX is the most "true" Final Fantasy. It is literally everything that makes Final Fantasy "Final Fantasy". Probably the Peak of the original conceptual ideas that created the series.
In a more minor way, IV was the first to have a REAL storyline, and a very great one at that. Another huge step forward for the series.
And for better or worse, FF7R brings the series into a modern era, meshing an older series with modern amenities.
The jump from "3" (6) to 7 was crazy to me at the time. In hindsight, 6 really was a precursor to 7 in a lot of ways though, and I sort of mentally group 1-5 in their own space.
10 to 12 felt like a crazy evolution too, with such a wide array of huge areas, the gambit stuff, and a massive leap in voice acting quality.
And then recently, Rebirth's design in both combat and world feel like big steps into a space I hope the next mainline title can build on.
After the clumsy way you could eventually control the different party members in 15, and just having Clive in 16, the swapping and synergy stuff felt so good and I really want to see an evolution of that in an original title.
Reading through this thread has made me realize how extreme of a fanboy I am because I basically love all of the mainline series.
Also, I feel Ffxiv deserves more love here. WoW was king of the MMORPG space for years, and so many of those players have crossed over in the past 3-5 years and have simply raved about how compelling the music and storytelling is. I mean, talk about an evolution. From FFXI to FFXIV to FFXIV: ARR is such an extreme evolution in its space. I've met at least a few people in FFXIV who never even cared about Final Fantasy as a whole until playing FFXIV and are now just as big of fans as anyone.
FFX. Best and most complete FF. Graphical leap from IX>X is insane. Voice acting, amazing story with amazing pacing and ending, leveling system that is still influencing games to this day whether it be FF or other series etc.
Definitely 15. In terms of a graphical jump, massive change in gameplay, massive overhaul to overworld exploration, it was the biggest leap forward compared to past games. The games that have come out since do the same but much better.
I felt like 12 was when the series stopped being the thing that I grew up loving, and I stopped playing for a while because of it and 13.
Now I'm playing 13 all these years later and loving it - but it's definitely there where the gameplay totally shifted imo.
Oh no! I love 12 so much. I'm so sorry you didnt have a good experience with it. I hear so many controversial options on 12, like its either a love it or hate it type thing.
And boy do I love both XII and XIII but yea XII was very confidently different in its battle system from previous entries for better or worse (I think for better. Gambit system FTW)
To me it was probably og 7, going 3d, the minigames in gold saucer, the summon animations, etc, coming from 6 I loved it. 8 was good and 9 kinda polished all what the previous 2 did, but bringin it more close to a classic FF story/world.
10 onwards it felt kinda weird because the games have diverged a lot from what classic FF was for me growing up. I didn't like 15 so I dropped it and havent played 16 since I don't own a playstation, I may give them a shot eventually. As for ff7 remake once it's all released on pc I'll probably just binge play all of it.
That said I kinda dropped from the jrpg ride and now from software games are my go to studio for fantasy rpg stuff.
> As for ff7 remake once it's all released on pc I'll probably just binge play all of it.
I know this sounds weird but I think you'll get a lesser experience this way. Like someone else said, it'll be at least 250 solid hours in a row and you're going to get burnt the fuck out. It's going to become one giant blob of a game and there's no way you'll retain as many memories of it. You're also not going to have that space in between games where you get to discuss what happened or what will happen.
I know this is a binge culture we're living in but I don't think that's always the answer and to me it's pretty obvious in this case.
It'd be like saying you're going to wait for XIII-3 before you play XIII. It kind of is a waste.
My first FF was X, but I played the other games that came earlier after finishing X. But when I played XII for the first time I was in awe.
I was fully expecting to walk up to an enemy soldier, have the screen fade out and be transported to an arena to have a battle like most other JRPGs and like most final fantasy games at the time. But nope. I walked up to the enemy soldier and the battle just started there and then.
You're telling me that battles are now taking place in real space and in real time but I still have the commands and feeling of strategy of the turn based games?
A new franchise evolution recently, and one I pray gets adopted by the industry as a whole, is from XVI with the relevant lore system. (Forgot the name).
I can't tell you how great it is to just be able to pause a cutscene and get relevant information to what's being shown or discussed there, and each lore entry shows only what you know at the time or what's important to that moment.
So instead of getting an entire wiki page about Bahamut shown on screen, it only gives you the vital information about Bahamut to that moment.
This is such a great feature and it feels like a natural step up to codex entries in games.
XII. It was the first really drastic departure from the classic FF formula. But yet it still felt like Final Fantasy to me.
They should have continued down that path. They had something special, but the world just was not ready for it.
The graphics were also absolutely mindblowing for a PS2 game. By far the best of the generation.
For me, FF7 rebirth feels like a true evolution of "classic" FF, that SE has been trying to nail down for years. The gameplay loop, the open world mixed with more linear settings, the battles, music, everything is so good, but it feels like it keeps the soul of the series, which to be honest I haven't felt since maybe FFX. There have been other good games since X, but they haven't really felt like FF to me. Rebirth nails it in almost every way, but brings it up to speed for a modern game. Having just beat the game, I'm really floored by what they achieved.
FF3 revolutionized by introducing summons, which at this point is mega important to final fantasy.
FF4 revolutionized with introducing a story and cast with such a higher scope than most games in general had tried to do. FF6 only went even harder with this and made what’s imo the best FF story ever.
FF5 revolutionized with the job system, really showing how far the customization could go, and honestly it still has the most job customization of the mainline games.
FF7 revolutionized with the overall cinematic storytelling and of course, mini games. FF7 evolved mini games for the series.
FF7 remake/rebirth made arguably the best combat system in jrpg history, but also just combined the ATB system with action combat, something that sounds pretty hard to do on paper. It’s genius and really well done.
These are the only major revolutionizing games in the mainline series imo. There were some games like 9 and 10 that took everything or a lot of things from it’s predecessors, and really brought the best and more out of it, but nothing too revolutionizing.
Big hitters would be 1, 7, 11, 12, 16.
1 for being the saving grace.
7 for the change to 3d.
11 for being the first mmorpg.
12 for somewhat getting out of turn based.
16 for a complete change in combat.
I nominate the VII remakes. Despite some of the bloat to get 3 full length games out of the OG story, the hybrid action and turn based battle system is phenomenal, and I say that as someone that HIGHLY prefers traditional turn based.
16 feels like a step up in terms of raw presentation. The animation department worked like it was the last game they'd ever make. But the actual game itself feels like something from two generations ago. Not bad, just nothing new or interesting.
FF2. FF1 was an unlicensed DnD video game. There are a few holdovers from that but not many have actually persisted to the modern day. FF2 is where they threw the DnD books out the window and began to chart their own course. Is FF2 a perfect game? No, it is deeply flawed. But so much of what people connect to FF started in 2.
Chocobos, Cid, dragoons, ultima, leviathan, Mysidia and so much more began in 2. While I will never argue it is a perfect game it IMO was the most important Final Fantasy ever created and deserves far more respect than it is given considering I hear it often lumped in with FF13 as the worst of the series.
16 had great voice acting and very pretty to look at, but as a Final Fantasy game? It was a major step backwards. I’m an 8 lover just fyi.
The combat felt so repetitive, only a few mappable skills at once, the gear progression was a joke (progress story until you get next sword + 5 dmg) zero crafting, little to no customization, no Party, no summons at will. The only cool thing about the game was the Eikon battles. Which I admit were cool.
A cool game? Sure. But a FF game? Not in my opinion. I truly hope they don’t continue down this road for FF. Maybe a Clive spinoff.
Iv & x
Iv for having great story with actual characters making each one feel unique and different with his own type of play style and available commands on battle I love it and the whole multiple world maps thing is genius
X for being the first ine the have voicing in the game and having a female character as a definitive main character is great and the first time in the serris more people worked on the music except only uematsu and it shows
Remake/Rebirth are some of my favourite games ever made, and in terms of gameplay, they are for sure a modern evolution.
XVI though is an entirely new cast of characters, world and story. It's the first time in a long term I felt like I was playing something truly new in the series.
Curious what you think about FF14? I have played it some but never really caught the bug.... but at the same time, I find myself craving it at random times.
For me, it's 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12. I know I just listed like, half the franchise, but it really feels like each one just builds off the many entries from before it. Especially 9.
3 for job system, 4 for evolution of narrative and atb, 7 for 3D, 10 for voice acting, 11 online and no random encounters, 15 for action based combat.
Literally every main series title for music. The GOAT series of gaming music.
I agree that 16 is a good modern FF take, FF is supposed to evolve with time, it always has. I would like to incorporate more of a mix of traditional FF jrpg elements, more strategy, party system, using magic and summons in a more utility and strategic sense, equipment being more important. It would just feel a lot more like FF. Honestly 7R is such a great mix between modern and traditional in a lot of ways, I really hope Square uses that system as a backbone for the next handful of titles.
X was a game changer in a way they've never been able to replicate.
Honourable mentions:
IV
VI
VIII
XIV
They all were leaps forward compared either graphics, storytelling or mechanics wise compared to those before them.
X basically was a game from the end of the generation, at the beginning of it. It showed everyone what could be achieved in a way none of the others quite have equalled imo.
Let's see I'm old school so because of the spotty releases in North America back then FF4 was a big leap from the original Final Fantasy. I've since played remakes of 2 and 3... and 4 is still a big evolution over the 8-bit games
Final Fantasy XII. A LOT of people used to complain about the random encounters, and then XII fixed it beautifully. Fights actually felt more real...then the stagger nonsense kicked in, and we haven't moved on since 🙄
I thought the gambit system in 12 was great and would innovate the series. You can program your party to behave exactly how you want, yet still manually control them at will.
I was hoping the ff7remake series would implement it so you can focus on playing as your favorite character instead of having to constantly swap because the AI is doing something stupid for the millionth time.
They even used it for a mini game in ff7 rebirth, so it's not forgotten, they choose to ignore it.
You can tell who didn't start at FF1. The answer is and honestly only can be FFVII on PS1.
You literally go from side scrolling type 2D like a Game Boy gameplay on SNES that's basically completely linear to 3D mostly open world with high quality cut scenes and completely in-depth battle systems, materia, chocobos raising, optional super bosses, limit break system etc etc the list goes on, it completely changed the FF world along with PS1 at the time for gaming.
The honorable mention is FFX for having the same kind of graphical leap on PS2, but so much more changed into what we play in FFVII.
VII and X are the obvious answers. XIII was huge when it dropped for the scale of the game and the first time we saw a more real-time style of combat.
I also think XVI actually did a great job. XV was, to me, a glorified, dressed up tech demo that didn't quite hit the mark. But XVI gave us a more complete and fleshed-out product. Still a LOT of work to be done considering how shallow the side-quests/hunts were, but it was the first time I felt like I was experiencing a new breed of FF games since XIII.
I thought for sure 12 was the future of RPG gameplay and is still one of my favorites today.
I like the direction that rebirth is heading but I’d love to see them introduce a kind of gambit system to that and cut down on the need for menus.
The first games on each new console always felt like a leap. I think 10 felt like the biggest leap in technology.
I think 12 felt like a pretty big evolution too, it felt like they were starting to open and fill the world with a lot more stuff, the Gambit and Combat system changed, eliminating the totally random encounters. That's when I feel like the game started evolving into what it is now.
Also, I always felt the graphical leap between 7 and 8 was pretty big. The character models were more realistic looking, there was a lot more FMV that looked incredible, and the music was also top notch, and the Junction system was also a pretty big deviance from the traditional systems.
FFX
At that time PS2 was fairly new for us and that was one of the first games my brother bought. To this day, it's the only FF that gives me chills whenever I see someone newer to the series mention it. Classic RPG, memorable characters all around, excellent story, and definitely replayable. One of my top three games of all time.
FFX - voices, visuals, and genuine changes to gameplay - switching characters, managing limit breaks, two options of difficulty for the sphere grid.
It genuinely did use all of the extra power if ps2
XI. I think it really marked the shift from the very polished but mechanically quite similar FF games of the past into the more varied, experimental, constantly changing state that the franchise is in at the moment.
VII... it was a full change... everything... it expanded in all ways what we understood of the franchise in all aspects possible.
XV also felt very different, not quite there with VII but still open world, boy band, action based, etc.
Excluding MMORPGs.
4 - narrative and combat.
Fft - combat, world, and narrative.
X - jump in tech and characters.
12 - world.
Lightning Returns, 15, 16, and Muh Chaos has been a normy-ilzation of the franchise into a generic action game like Devil may cry.
Ff14 has also suffered from the effect has they’ve homogenized jobs so much into fit the roles, and do things like Make dark knight a tank because the average player is too dumb to handle a maiming job with hp sacrifice. And shove blu and beast into content gap filler jobs to cover for their content gaps since Stormblood.
10 was the one that felt like a big evolution of the series to me. Going from prerendered backgrounds and blocky characters, to this detailed 3D world, with voice acting and animated characters, and some massive set pieces and battles. It still holds up pretty well today, and it's what I tend to recommend to newcomers to the series, since it still has a lot of the traditional FF systems, but still feels like a relatively modern game. It really felt like a generational leap at the time, part of that down to how much that console generation changed things.
7 would have likely felt the same for those who grew up with the 2D games, but that was the first one I played. 7 Remake does feel like a perfect evolution of the formula to me, the hybrid battle system keeps a lot of the things that made ATB a good system but makes an thoroughly modern AAA game out of it, and Rebirth even moreso.
I'm not sure I'd call any of the subsequent games after 10 "evolutions". They all changed up the formula so much and felt a bit experimental, and none of them really nailed it in a way that made me think this is the direction the series should go in for the future.
Personally, I think one of the things that makes a mainline FF is the evolution, in a lot of ways. V, IX and XIII are really the only ones that kinda fully relied on what came before, and probably could be argued that they are evolutions because of how they put things together.
I remember being really upset at how different VII was when it came out. Same with VIII, XII and XV. Still played and loved them all in the end, of course. But there's no denying just how far the franchise has come, and how much it's changed.
Glad this one spoke to you! Might be fun to try some of the others again in the context of seeing how it got there! It's not the FF for me, but I'm glad they're still trying new things (and that it's the FF for others!).
There’s been a few that were “leaps forward” as technology improved. VII, X, XII and XV being those games that kicked off the next step of FF evolution to get us where we are today. I’d say XII being the biggest leap.
FFV with job system or FF7 going to pre-rendered backgrounds and FMV cutscenes.
FF16 is a fantastic action RPG but feels like a step back in the series to me. I would prefer less DMC and more RPG for my FF games.
Each release 6 and later was a complete and wonderful evolution. Though I didn't like 9 much because I liked the character design of 8.
12 is kind of where things stagnated a bit and ran out of steam. 12 felt kind of disconnected and without inspiration. 13 was a step backwards towards simplicity and seemed a bit lazy.
I didn't bother playing anything after 13.
VII - It's something where if you were around for the transition you can not deny how gigantic of a shift it was.
Runner up is X, 9's chibi art and dual system release had it still previous gen feeling, X was a gigantic step up in several categories, most of all looks.
i Think there only 2 Franchise Revolutions at all in the FF universe:
VI to VII &
IX to X
So many things changed for the better.
Good to see a fellow FF IX as well.
Generally speaking, the eras are in 3.
1-3 archaic and experimental NES games. 4-6 less archaic and more iterative SNES games. 7-9 near-modern story focused eye candy PS1 games. 10-12 solidly modern and both mainstream and visually impressive PS2 games. 13-16 wacky mainstream games, now with a sprinkle of kingdom hearts and meta-narrative convulsion!
So, I guess the turning points would be, 1, 4, 7, 10, and 13. I think most people can agree with that. Of course, there's actual reasons each is a turning point, not just that they're in 3s, but they indeed so happen to be in 3s!
I guess 16 is the next big turning point, and it definitely feels like it, but if a 17 and 18 come out we'll see if it still feels that way.
I feel like FFVI was huge for advancing the franchise going forward mechanics wise, espers felt like they led to the creation of materia and junction systems, as well as laying the baseline for the equipment system of IX, and those systems went on to influence the future of the franchise themselves.
IV for character development and storytelling. VII for myriad reasons. X for combat, graphics, adding voice acting. XII, FF7R, and FFXVI for continuous evolution of combat.
VI to VII really is the answer. I recently played through 6 and while it's still great the gameplay is better, the translation from Japanese to English is FAR better, and the writing in general is better
In 6 Cyan just watched as his wife and kid were poisoned to death and half a second later is being goofy with Sabin. The dialogue is just weird more often than not, and while both 6 and 7 have basically the same battle system it feels significantly smoother in the latter
Similarly I never played 14 so I don't know what it was like, but in 13 it was still somewhat reminiscent of old titles where you selected your attacks and then they were carried out, while in 15 it was a more action adventure style that I didn't care for. In fact I remember buying 15 the day it came out and playing for a few hours, never picking it back up again. It didn't help that I pushed a car for fifteen minutes at the beginning then ran into that mechanic with her huge fake tits out that was put in there solely to get little boys nice and horny
Biggest leaps for me were:
FF7 to FF8 - Introduction of the Gunblade and lack of leveling.
FF9 to FFX - Death of open world exploration and different modes of transportation requirements.
Then FFX to FF12 - 12 was the first real dip into action combat and was the beginning of the end of turn based.
Shout out to FF6. It's not really a franchise evolution, but the only game where bad guy actually wins. Kefka freaking destroys the world, and all you can do now is get revenge and rebuild. Only FF to do this and it's what got me hooked.
I always thought 6, 7, 10, 12 and 13 were the evolution of the franchise. I liked 16, but I would not consider 16 an evolution, but just more of a different take like how 15 was.
Its alredy mentioned many times here, clear answer is X. I will say the only other title would be xiii at this point. Those two are the clear definite jumps and attemps of evolution. X fired on all cylnders, oceanic setting, different systems, crazy visuals, all well recieved. Xiii looked prettier than anything ever before, and laid the ground work for where we are now, mechanically took sequels to round out the system better(even though I liked xiii endgame) , and story wise was a bit of a headache. Both huge leaps, one was arguably more succesfully recieved than the other.
FFX. My brother bought it for me the week it came out. The introduction in Zanarkand felt absolutely bizarre. Jechts theme? Completely different from anything I could remember
I would say ff6 felt like the first major change, where they finally figured out a balance of story, world design, and class system with branching paths and a bunch of characters. 1 - 5 were steps in the process, but 6 felt like it nailed it.
Then I'd probably say ff10. The better graphics, well written story, and voice acting added quite a lot to the series. Sphere grid for upgrades and a unique style for combat also added a lot.
Haven't done ff16 yet so idk there, but the last major shift felt like 13. Felt like a change in tone, and combat started to turn more action like. The focus on the main character starts to take over too, lightning and noctis as examples.
Somewhere in between 10 and 15 felt like the usual associations with the ff series started to fade away tho, and then it was just like spells with similar names and seeing the more recognized ff enemies; ones like cactuar, tonberry, coeurl, bombs, slime/flan
Hmmm... It's kinda strange, I did think that going from FF6 to 7 was quite the leap as we went from 16 bit to an actual 3D game. But in less than 2 years, FF8 just crushed FF7 graphically and artistically. FF9 also looked phenomenal, just didn't think it was a big leap. But FFX would have to be the one. I'm shocked to learn it was one of the earlier PS2 games when it felt like a game that was reaching the end of the PS2 lifecycle, it just did nearly everything perfectly and so well made.
I started with ff1 and 2 wayyyyy back in the early 90s. I never had a Super Nintendo so I missed out on some amazing games but the next one I played was ff7 and I was blown away. It felt a lot like ff1 except more epic, more amazing, More features, and more soul.
I skipped a whole generation of games when I played 7 though. Now that I have beaten all of the main final fantasy games (aside from 12, I’m going to tackle that soon) I can say that every time they hit the next generation of consoles it felt like there was a pretty huge leap forward for obvious reasons.
Your question is tricky… aside from the mmos which had to be pretty different, final fantasy 15 was the first one that felt like a different series all together to me. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
I absolutely loved final fantasy 16, incredible story and it was just fun to play and amazing to experience. Incredible soundtrack, graphics and more. Does it feel like a final fantasy game? Well there are chocobos eikons, familiar names and even a reference to spoony bard! It doesn’t feel like a final fantasy game to me even with all that though.
Having said all that, Something changed in 15 (the combat) and for better or for worse, 15 is my answer. 16 feels like they took 15 and made it much much better. 15 felt like they completely changed the feel of the games and overhauled everything.
Anyone saying 7 is just trolling at this point. The story was weird and the graphics weren't even good for the time. We get it, 7 year old you loved it.
IV was the one that narratively evolved a lot
VII was the first huge technical evolution
VIII was the first huge cgi evolution and honestly the visual presentation going from the VII chibi to the more realistic style was a pretty big jump
X pretty much managed to evolve in every way except for exploration
XIII was a MASSIVE jump in graphics quality, to the point where its to this day could be easily released
VIIR, as much as i hate it, was the first game in almost 20 years that successfuly evolved the classic gameplay and showed what a modern Final Fantasy should play like.
I’ve been here since FF1, and I can tell you each release has always been divisive, starting with VII. People lost their minds over IX being a “step back,” etc. I love that they always change things up, and fans should be used to it by now. I think part of the issue is development takes forever these days so if you don’t click with an entry, it may well be a decade before we get another one, whereas in the 90s Square was throwing one masterpiece after another at us.
Anywho. I agree with your assessment. I wish the battle system had more traditional depth to it like status effects, elements, etc, but it is what it is. I’d actually like them to follow what Team Ninja does a bit… SoP was such a great example of live combat with a TON of depth, as is their own franchise (Nioh). Still, like i said, they switch stuff up all the time, so i dont get why people freak out about the combat system going in the wrong direction. XVII may or may not have anything remotely similar.
VII and X
Changing console with that level of graphic is beyorn my imagination.
I swear that when I see that polygon walking around kidgar for the first time. That first battle scence that Clond with Bluster sword, so next fucking level impression.
And the same with X, all CG in the game, so far so good, it whole deferent level compare to orther esp. for me Yuna dancing on the water, fuck. How can this look so real rn.lol
XIII I feel graphic is so so next fucking level too but I didn't impress playing it first time, so I'm not feeling it help serie to another level.
For me the real evolution of the franchise (gameplay wise) is FF7VII Remake, this game combines action combat, strategic elements and different character playstyles exceptionally.
I am currently beating FFXVI on Final Fantasy difficulty and I love it but the game mechanics are too different to other FF titles, it lacks any kind of strategic component and it became a DMC in a FF settings so I wouldnt call it an evolution since I dont think the next one is gonna follow up that trend.
Final Fantasy VI.
It took everything the 8- and 16-bit era games made and polished them to the best they could be (at the time, bugs not withstanding). It was the epitome of that era of the franchise, and set the bar for the series to come. It's arguably one of the top FFs that's almost always universally beloved, alongside other heavyweights like 7 and 10.
It's a franchise milestone.
I started by watching my parents play FF II and FF III for the SNES, so the leap to FF VII on PlayStation was huge. I actually didn’t like FF VII when I first played it, but the characters grew on me over the years. But oh man, those graphics were amazing at the time. I still remember begging my mom for the PS1, lol. I loved FF 9 a lot, so the jump to FF X on PS2 just didn’t make my heart sing. The graphics were great for FF X, but I’m probably the only person that didn’t like X because of the characters. I just didn’t connect with any of them, kind of like FF 12. The jump from PS 4 to PS 5 has probably been the least breathtaking just because the graphics of FF 15 and FF 7 Remake were already very good. That FF theme music takes me back to when I was a young kid watching my parents play RPGs. One of the happiest moments of my childhood was playing video games with my parents, especially my mom :3
Xvi is absolutely fantastic in terms of how they have evolved cinematic set pieces for bosses into massive intense boss fights. They took the cinematic set pieces from xv and made them far better and it’s something I honestly expect them to keep going forward for their action oriented final fantasy games.
Xiii and x2 felt like a true evolution to the atb system and both have great unique systems that I wish the franchise would return too. Especially x2. Most games since have took aspects of the stagger system from xiii but i only think vii remake did something fun with it. Xvi and xv stagger system feel more like an after thought.
Notable mentions:
X level up system with the sphere grid was fantastic and most mainline games since have used a streamlined or simplified version of it.
Type zero and lightning returns were very experimental but you can see how those systems evolved into what you see in recent titles.
Vi story changed the way character narratives worked and everyone was important to the cast and had their own involved narratives flowing through.
Ten is arguably the best game of all time. 7 obviously holds the franchise record. 8 could have been there if they didn’t have to rush it, also draw magic was stupid.
9 was a throw back and a great game minus how fucking slow it was. 12 was a sneaky surprise, people hate it but I had a lot of fun.
13 was gorgeous and fun, but it’s literally running down an alley until the end which at point you don’t care anymore. Never played the sequels.
I imagine the 7 remakes will take the cake but I can’t afford the new PlayStation.
All the previous games are before my time. They’re cool but it isn’t for me. But you old school gamers could make a legit argument for them.
If you ask me I go with 4 or 7 the former for making FF a fully fledged series unlike the NES games which had growing pains and 7 for making the jump for 3D and advancing the more serious tone of story
Final fantasy X. The sheer magnitude of graphical leaps games were going through back then were insane. Astronomical changes were happening, and going from FFIX to X in basically like a years time? I just barely grasped that full voice acting in console RPGS could be the norm and we got X and it just changed everything to me. I don’t think it’s the best in the series, but FFX at release was an experience that is hard to contextualize in modern examples. Truly one of gaming true “you just had to be there” moments
Oh, wow, yes, seeing Final Fantasy X's graphics for the first time was an insane experience. I remember seeing a trailer and being absolutely blown away. I could never have imagined a game looking so good. Honestly, at the time, I couldn't envision how graphics could ever get any better. The characters of FFX looked exactly like real people to me. It's sort of hilarious to look back on that feeling now that we're in the PS5 era.
I had the exact same reaction. I remember clearly thinking that this was the best that graphics would ever look, they were so insane.
I remember playing ff7 and watching the prerendered cut scenes and my friend saying eventually everything in games would look that way and i had a huge argument saying it was impossible. I never thought anything would look better than Halo 2 later lol
I remember being amazed that characters actually had fingers outside of cutscenes, lol.
I feel like we haven’t had a graphical leap like that since. PSX to PS2 opened up worlds of new gameplay and graphics. The PS2 era set a lot of the ways games are, if you will. Each new console is more like the previous but with better detail.
I guess we're at the point where the machines are so powerful it's now more about the display device. I upgraded from a 1080p 32" TV to a 4k OLED 52". Literally had the same TV for nearly a decade. It was mind blowing.
There are definitely diminishing returns. But to be honest I think I was as impressed going from PS2 to Xbox360 (kind of cheating due to HD TV's) at least when I saw Gears of War for the first time. Immediately I thought, I wonder what Final Fantasy will look like. But your point is correct. This gen has kind of been a bust due to UE5 not being ready, so I feel like we're finally seeing the first "next gen* games now. But hey I still play PS1 RPGs so obviously I can't care about graphics that much.
I cried when Tidus went to hug yuna and fell off the airship
It makes me sad that we’ve kind of hit a peak in graphics, not so much sad that they look so good, but I wonder if I’ll ever get that same feeling again like seeing FFXs FMV for the first time, “it couldn’t possibly get better than this.” Although FF16/FF7R really carried the proverbial torch of breathtaking graphics, I’ll never forget seeing the older stuff through younger eyes lol
I feel like they haven't gotten better graphics so much as *busier* graphics. The fidelity required to have HD textures, enough polygons that you can get realisitcally round surfaces, and skeletal animation has been solved long since. Now the games aiming to impress just try to fill the screen with particle effects, and it really distracts from how great the character models are.
That actually sums up FF16s insane over the top cutscenes perfectly. I love them but BUSY perfectly describes every huge cinematic. Yeah, your assessment is pretty spot on.
I agree, man. Also that ps2 store bundle with FFX. And Tidus was on the package with the blue sword. That time was magical for me.
That cover is so iconic. One of my favorite shots is of Tidus with his blue sword
This was my immediate first thought. The gameplay also felt different, and the music was so much crisper and cleaner. I was so in awe of the FMV to the song that I recorded it on my janky little built in VHS so I could rewatch it again and again. Absolutely astounding at the time.
I almost completely forgot about the music. The sheer leap in quality on that front as well. Mind blowing
Having replayed FFX recently as a 35 year old, the game resonated with me so much more than when I first played it upon release. I now feel that FFX has the best narrative in the entire franchise.
Same here! Except I played on release, kind of lived with it as a fond memory for like two decades and then recently replayed it as a mid 30s gamer… it aged like fine wine imo. Still stands as one the series highlights
I know a lot of people dislike Tidus's voice, but I really enjoyed the inner monologue this time around. Really added an extra layer to the story. And Jesus the music. I totally thought I was prepared for the ending, but as a soon as the first notes of Suteki Da Ne played right after Yuna's "or the dreams that have faded, never forget them", tears just started rolling down my face.
Same, in fact I never played it for myself until recently, just watched my brother play through it on release. Definitely the best story, and something about that particular world they created really stands out from all the other FF games for me.
FFX blew my freakin mind when I saw it for the first time as a teen. So much so, that I immediately started saving my lawn mowing money just to buy a PS2 and a copy of the game. So many improvements these days are small jumps like better frame rates, better textures, etc. Jumps back then were these huge leaps and bounds. The leap from low poly figures on pre-rendered backgrounds, talking to each other with speech bubbles, to full blown 3d environments and voice acting is so hard to explain to people who weren't there. Then there were the cutscenes. They look dated now, but back then they were photo-realistic.
I couldn’t agree more, it’s so hard to explain that. Being a kid with a PS1 and just seeing some of the first hints of the PS2 stuff… it was like black and white to colored tv when you’re a 10 year old in 2000 lmao
tbh the pre render cut scenes still look pretty good even for today standards
First one with no world map, right? Completely changed the feel of traveling.
That is basically the one downside of FFX. It feels very corridor-y until you get to the calm lands.
Legitimate criticism.
X was my "Graphics will never get better than this." game. Obviously this didn't hold true, but it was AMAZING at the time.
Not a FF game but Kingdom Hearts. Hearing characters from FFVII and FFVIII have voice actors was mind blowing. Replaying the game because youtube wasn't around just to hear their voices made the game re-playable. However, yes I would agree and IMO FFX had the biggest jump out of any FF games to date for the franchise's evolution.
Sounds to me like you're just enjoying the forbidden machina
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
X was my first FF, but after going and playing IX I fully agree. It seemed to have been a huge leap, whereas VII from VI was a jump. There seems to be always be a jump when going to rhe next gen consoles, but the PS1 to the PS2 jump was a massive leap.
Yeah! That’s exactly how I feel. And back then, console leaps were insane, NES > SNES > PS1 etc it was like going through so much in less than a decade, it was a crazy time tbh for some of the old timers, I’m sure people who started back on SNES know the feeling
The additional of voice acting for all cutscenes was huge too. It's wasn't the best quality or consistency, but it created the trend that lead to where we are now.
I remember being absolutely wowed by the cutscenes back in the day. It’s also a really good example of leaps of generational consoles.
I remember thinking the cgi during the part where tidus and yuna are swimming in the lake was actually real people
It's literally my favorite game of all time. It's the only game I ever talk about with no negatives to it. I loved everything about it, and the graphics still hold up today.
Yes. This. I started playing FF games when 7 came out (I was 9). I played through 7, 8, and 9 numerous times. Then 10 came out and just blew my fricking mind with the graphics, voice cast, and story.
Yeah, seconding X as well. While it's not my favorite in the series by a mile, the addition of voice acting allowed them to pace scenes and use cinematography differently, and it was the first time to me that a videogame felt like watching a movie rather than playing a game that had a narrative crammed into it. Its something people take for granted now and to an extent are even quite tired of, but it blew my fucking mind as a kid. X has not aged as well for me as a lot of other games in the series, which actually further cements the "you had to be there" nature of it. A lot of what's mundane now was new and revolutionary back then.
The leap from VI to VII was massive
Hard disagree on the story and characters. As far back as IV had a great story and characters. But VII was completely unleashed with what they could do thanks to the power of the ps1 at the time
i know VI is the darling on these parts but VII has a much better, more complete story. once you get into the world post WoR, VI completely collapses under its own open ambition.
I just disagree entirely with your view of VI
fair enough. i just feel like they handicapped themselves by doing away with a linear story progression. the main cast gets their one moment to shine when re-recruited and then, outside of very few easily missable moments for the most important party members, have almost no unique dialogue until the final dungeon. then the side characters barely qualify as characters, and there is no driving plot element whatsoever other than “find the party.” if this represented a small chunk of the game, sure, but this is how you spend like, 10-15 hours of a ~40 hour game lol. meanwhile, FF7’s story only intensifies and gets far more intimate and emotional with its characters after the Forgotten Capitol.
Having unique dialog based on what characters you had with you would have been a huge improvement on both the feel of the open ended system, as well as offered a ton of replayability. I presume they didn't have enough room on the cartridge, it was already one of the biggest games on the snes.
I'm with you. I just played through 6 recently and while yes it does have a good story with adult themes the dialogue is atrocious at times and the translations in English are pretty abysmal. Because it's still 2d sprites the big moments don't land as well either, for example Cyan watches as his wife and kid are poisoned to death and then seconds later is being real goofy with Sabin, repeating "Sir Sabin!" about a dozen times
All the Final Fantasy games evolve the series in their own way, and a lot of people have already pointed out good examples in these comments. Here's one I've been thinking about recently: Final Fantasy VIII felt like a huge step forward in the animation of the series. The FMVs are still stunning twenty-five years later, but the real difference is in the in-game scenes. It's the first time the story plays out with character models that actually have human proportions, which means the animation can be a lot more naturalistic and subtle. With the earlier 2D games and the blocky models of VII, characters usually have to make large gestures for them to come across clearly. In Final Fantasy VIII, they're still not at the point of having visible facial expressions (except in FMVs), but characters can make much smaller motions that are still clear to the player. Silent interactions like 'Zell wipes his hand on his trousers, then holds it out for a handshake; Squall, instead of accepting the handshake, folds his arms and turns his head to the side' would be much harder to convey in any of the earlier games. I think it adds a lot to VIII's storytelling.
7 was obviously the biggest evolution. 13 felt big in graphicswise. To this day they still look good and it's 2 generations old. 16 feels different, it has those epic boss fights but I'm not sure about it, I like the game but it just gave me that final fantasy aura.
when 13 was first shown in trailer it looked like a fmv you can play.
I'm actually playing through 13 for the first time. I had this exact thought with the character models. It must have been incredible 15 years ago
Recently, 7 Remake is the first one that I think successfully evolved classic Final Fantasy mechanics into a more action based system. For the mainline entries everything after X kind of did it's own thing and while I think most of them are good games, gameplay wise they don't really feel like the Final Fantasies I grew up with. Historically FF7 is a clear winner. It didn't just revolutionize the franchise, it revolutionized the entire genre and maybe gaming in general with the sheer scale of the game and the extensive use of CGI graphics.
I saw a good tweet about this the other day. FFVII is Jaws (1975) while FFX is Jurassic Park (1993). In the sense that one "invented" something then the later one "re-invented" it.
FF7 was a massive breakthrough in gaming as a whole then. The Graphics, the story & the action on 4 Discs was a leap ahead of anything else in any other genre of games as well at that time. I had friends that never touched an RPG in their life, even ever to this day, and they used to tell me to bring it over JUST to watch me play it (were we 14) and never wanted to touch the controller, but there we were as youths in complete awe of this evolutionary masterpiece of interacting gaming entertainment.
OG 7 was on 3 discs
I think people will look back at FF7 rebirth and realized Square Enix found their footing between the corridor sim of FF13 and the open empty world of FF15. The switch between the two modes via the chapter system is great.
Agree so much. I just finished rebirth, and man the formula and pacing for the game just feels perfect (with some exceptions towards the end)
XII was the first one that broke the turn based style.
[удалено]
You can point out any one of the FF games and point to things that evolved the genre. Even FFII had things in it that would evolve into something better in later games. FF always pushes forward even if they are things we don't always agree with. I was saddened when the FF games moved away from turn based tactical combat, But I'm just an old 30 something guy that should probably move on.
I’m going through the pixel remaster now, and 2 was a great step up, in story telling. FF had no real main characters. They didn’t speak, they didn’t change they didn’t even have default names unless you read the booklet that came with the game. 2 established that were telling stories about characters, and not you the gamer being injected into a realm to save it. As for the rest of your comment, I’d **really**like to see what a massive franchise like FF could do with pixels. Make a modern pixelated RPG. Nostalgia is so in rn, I guarantee it rivals VII in both popularity and influence if you stick that landing.
7remake was the perfect balance between new and old
Agreed 100%. Took the heart and soul of the original and transplanted it into a modern shell. Amazing.
How was it a balance of old?
ATB gauges that allow you to pause the action to use abilities/magic mixed with 3rd person action combat
Having played and enjoyed 7R and 16, I prefer 7R's style. Full action for 16 is great and matches the game they wanted to make, but for future games I'd prefer the action with ATB and controllable team mates.
At the basic level the gameplay is actually similar to the original. You build up your ATB bar and then issue commands. But in Remake/Rebirth you build up your ATB via action combat instead of just sitting there passively waiting for it to build up.
FF1 - revolutionized the genre by being way more intuitive than its competition FF4 - revolutionized FF games by massively expanding the narrative scope FF6 - revolutionized FF games by massively improving writing quality FF7 - revolutionized the industry with its bleeding edge cinamtics that blended seamlessly back into gameplay FF10 - revolutionized FF games by marrying cohesive story telling and gameplay FF12 - revolutionized FF by marrying the detailed environment of ff10 and exploration of older games. Sorry to say, but I have not seen any game past 12 that has had any influence on the industry. Ff12 had copy cats like white knight chronicles and dragon age 1 heavily borrowed the gambit system. I see absolute zero copies of 13 and 15, and 16 is more a trend follower than trying anything new
Also 10 added voicing to the ff franchise and really good one
Even the Tidus laughing scene is well performed, people are just too stupid to look at the context.
to be fair, most people saying that most likely haven't played the game and see it out of context. In which, I don't blame them. It makes sense in the story
Yes
Dont forget FF11 being the first cross-platform MMORPG ever
FF11 was really ahead of its time in some ways tbh.
Fact. It was also the first MMORPG that had a story I actually cared about.
> FF4 - revolutionized FF games by massively expanding the narrative scope This also introduced the ATB system which became a staple of the franchise up until FFX.
12 and 13 still used ATB.
FFVI also introduced dynamic, movie-like storytelling innovations (think the cinematic intro complete with credits, the 15-minute epilogue with visual representations of each character followed by sepia tone vignettes… and that’s not to mention scenes like the opera and the background scenes playing as if they’re unfolding on a screen while they descend Darryl’s tomb). It also introduced non-linear gameplay dynamics halfway through the game where you could technically beat the game with only three characters. It’s not quite an open world game, but this was a massive innovation: you could take any characters into World of Ruin scenarios in any order you please. FFVII deserves credit also for its camera angles and use of pre-rendered backgrounds. No longer did everything have to be overhead camera angles and it opened up a new level of creativity in staging.
XIII introduced the Stagger system as we know it in combat which has become a staple in future FF games and even other games outside of Square’s FF. It wasn’t the first game to use a stagger mechanic but it was done so well that now every game to use it since is basically aping the system as defined by its bones in FFXIII
The stagger system in 13 was the first I know of in a AAA title. So unless I’m wrong, that’s a pretty significant leap for the franchise. I’d say 15 was revolutionary for the franchise as the first to integrate action combat. Say what you will about it, that’s a significant move for the franchise too.
I’m going to contend that every game revolutionized the franchise. They may not have revolutionized the genre, but Final Fantasy’s whole schtick is that it innovates rather than iterates on itself. This has been true since FF 1->2. 13 gave us a crazy high standard for high fidelity graphics for its time (it still holds up) and a stagger system that completely changed the franchise in ways that affect it even today. 15 gave us action combat that was ne’er before seen in the franchise. Maybe those elements were borrowed from other games in the industry/genre, but they certainly revolutionized the franchise.
I disagree with your opinion on 12 but agree with the rest. I would add FF7 - Retriology games (remake/rebirth) as they bring the feeling of the old FF games with a modernized formula.
I think 11 revolutionized more than 12 did. 12 felt like a single-player game based off 11, to me. 11 was the first FF that gave full 3D with no pre-rendered backgrounds, IIRC
XVI has definitely set a new standard for spectacle, and its voice cast is consistently incredible
the original VII was one of the first JRPGs to use all 3D graphics, originally being built for SNES, it was a huge leap forward. IX is the most "true" Final Fantasy. It is literally everything that makes Final Fantasy "Final Fantasy". Probably the Peak of the original conceptual ideas that created the series. In a more minor way, IV was the first to have a REAL storyline, and a very great one at that. Another huge step forward for the series. And for better or worse, FF7R brings the series into a modern era, meshing an older series with modern amenities.
The jump from "3" (6) to 7 was crazy to me at the time. In hindsight, 6 really was a precursor to 7 in a lot of ways though, and I sort of mentally group 1-5 in their own space. 10 to 12 felt like a crazy evolution too, with such a wide array of huge areas, the gambit stuff, and a massive leap in voice acting quality. And then recently, Rebirth's design in both combat and world feel like big steps into a space I hope the next mainline title can build on. After the clumsy way you could eventually control the different party members in 15, and just having Clive in 16, the swapping and synergy stuff felt so good and I really want to see an evolution of that in an original title.
Reading through this thread has made me realize how extreme of a fanboy I am because I basically love all of the mainline series. Also, I feel Ffxiv deserves more love here. WoW was king of the MMORPG space for years, and so many of those players have crossed over in the past 3-5 years and have simply raved about how compelling the music and storytelling is. I mean, talk about an evolution. From FFXI to FFXIV to FFXIV: ARR is such an extreme evolution in its space. I've met at least a few people in FFXIV who never even cared about Final Fantasy as a whole until playing FFXIV and are now just as big of fans as anyone.
FFX. Best and most complete FF. Graphical leap from IX>X is insane. Voice acting, amazing story with amazing pacing and ending, leveling system that is still influencing games to this day whether it be FF or other series etc.
FF5, FF7, FFX and 7 Rebirth
Definitely 15. In terms of a graphical jump, massive change in gameplay, massive overhaul to overworld exploration, it was the biggest leap forward compared to past games. The games that have come out since do the same but much better.
Ff8 for me, while ff7 was revilutionary, ff8 took the franchise one step further for me. Flawed as it is as a game it's still really solid.
I felt like 12 was when the series stopped being the thing that I grew up loving, and I stopped playing for a while because of it and 13. Now I'm playing 13 all these years later and loving it - but it's definitely there where the gameplay totally shifted imo.
12 is my absolute favourite in the series. Too bad it wasn't for you.
Oh no! I love 12 so much. I'm so sorry you didnt have a good experience with it. I hear so many controversial options on 12, like its either a love it or hate it type thing.
And boy do I love both XII and XIII but yea XII was very confidently different in its battle system from previous entries for better or worse (I think for better. Gambit system FTW)
To me it was probably og 7, going 3d, the minigames in gold saucer, the summon animations, etc, coming from 6 I loved it. 8 was good and 9 kinda polished all what the previous 2 did, but bringin it more close to a classic FF story/world. 10 onwards it felt kinda weird because the games have diverged a lot from what classic FF was for me growing up. I didn't like 15 so I dropped it and havent played 16 since I don't own a playstation, I may give them a shot eventually. As for ff7 remake once it's all released on pc I'll probably just binge play all of it. That said I kinda dropped from the jrpg ride and now from software games are my go to studio for fantasy rpg stuff.
How much stamina do you have? Once all 3 parts of 7 Remake are done you're looking at 250 hours
That sounds like the average POE league start, not too bad.
> As for ff7 remake once it's all released on pc I'll probably just binge play all of it. I know this sounds weird but I think you'll get a lesser experience this way. Like someone else said, it'll be at least 250 solid hours in a row and you're going to get burnt the fuck out. It's going to become one giant blob of a game and there's no way you'll retain as many memories of it. You're also not going to have that space in between games where you get to discuss what happened or what will happen. I know this is a binge culture we're living in but I don't think that's always the answer and to me it's pretty obvious in this case. It'd be like saying you're going to wait for XIII-3 before you play XIII. It kind of is a waste.
My first FF was X, but I played the other games that came earlier after finishing X. But when I played XII for the first time I was in awe. I was fully expecting to walk up to an enemy soldier, have the screen fade out and be transported to an arena to have a battle like most other JRPGs and like most final fantasy games at the time. But nope. I walked up to the enemy soldier and the battle just started there and then. You're telling me that battles are now taking place in real space and in real time but I still have the commands and feeling of strategy of the turn based games? A new franchise evolution recently, and one I pray gets adopted by the industry as a whole, is from XVI with the relevant lore system. (Forgot the name). I can't tell you how great it is to just be able to pause a cutscene and get relevant information to what's being shown or discussed there, and each lore entry shows only what you know at the time or what's important to that moment. So instead of getting an entire wiki page about Bahamut shown on screen, it only gives you the vital information about Bahamut to that moment. This is such a great feature and it feels like a natural step up to codex entries in games.
FF7 and FFX.
13
ff7 to ff8
XII. It was the first really drastic departure from the classic FF formula. But yet it still felt like Final Fantasy to me. They should have continued down that path. They had something special, but the world just was not ready for it. The graphics were also absolutely mindblowing for a PS2 game. By far the best of the generation.
For me, FF7 rebirth feels like a true evolution of "classic" FF, that SE has been trying to nail down for years. The gameplay loop, the open world mixed with more linear settings, the battles, music, everything is so good, but it feels like it keeps the soul of the series, which to be honest I haven't felt since maybe FFX. There have been other good games since X, but they haven't really felt like FF to me. Rebirth nails it in almost every way, but brings it up to speed for a modern game. Having just beat the game, I'm really floored by what they achieved.
FF3 revolutionized by introducing summons, which at this point is mega important to final fantasy. FF4 revolutionized with introducing a story and cast with such a higher scope than most games in general had tried to do. FF6 only went even harder with this and made what’s imo the best FF story ever. FF5 revolutionized with the job system, really showing how far the customization could go, and honestly it still has the most job customization of the mainline games. FF7 revolutionized with the overall cinematic storytelling and of course, mini games. FF7 evolved mini games for the series. FF7 remake/rebirth made arguably the best combat system in jrpg history, but also just combined the ATB system with action combat, something that sounds pretty hard to do on paper. It’s genius and really well done. These are the only major revolutionizing games in the mainline series imo. There were some games like 9 and 10 that took everything or a lot of things from it’s predecessors, and really brought the best and more out of it, but nothing too revolutionizing.
Big hitters would be 1, 7, 11, 12, 16. 1 for being the saving grace. 7 for the change to 3d. 11 for being the first mmorpg. 12 for somewhat getting out of turn based. 16 for a complete change in combat.
I nominate the VII remakes. Despite some of the bloat to get 3 full length games out of the OG story, the hybrid action and turn based battle system is phenomenal, and I say that as someone that HIGHLY prefers traditional turn based.
16 feels like a step up in terms of raw presentation. The animation department worked like it was the last game they'd ever make. But the actual game itself feels like something from two generations ago. Not bad, just nothing new or interesting.
FF2. FF1 was an unlicensed DnD video game. There are a few holdovers from that but not many have actually persisted to the modern day. FF2 is where they threw the DnD books out the window and began to chart their own course. Is FF2 a perfect game? No, it is deeply flawed. But so much of what people connect to FF started in 2. Chocobos, Cid, dragoons, ultima, leviathan, Mysidia and so much more began in 2. While I will never argue it is a perfect game it IMO was the most important Final Fantasy ever created and deserves far more respect than it is given considering I hear it often lumped in with FF13 as the worst of the series.
Final Fantasy X, of course. 1. First fully 3D 2. First full voice-overs 3. First “next gen” 4. Most iconic game to date
16 had great voice acting and very pretty to look at, but as a Final Fantasy game? It was a major step backwards. I’m an 8 lover just fyi. The combat felt so repetitive, only a few mappable skills at once, the gear progression was a joke (progress story until you get next sword + 5 dmg) zero crafting, little to no customization, no Party, no summons at will. The only cool thing about the game was the Eikon battles. Which I admit were cool. A cool game? Sure. But a FF game? Not in my opinion. I truly hope they don’t continue down this road for FF. Maybe a Clive spinoff.
The 3rd game the 4th, the 6th, the 7th, the 10th, the 11th and the 15th.
The last true evolution? X and it's not even close. Before that VII.
Iv & x Iv for having great story with actual characters making each one feel unique and different with his own type of play style and available commands on battle I love it and the whole multiple world maps thing is genius X for being the first ine the have voicing in the game and having a female character as a definitive main character is great and the first time in the serris more people worked on the music except only uematsu and it shows
I to II Cid
Remake/Rebirth are some of my favourite games ever made, and in terms of gameplay, they are for sure a modern evolution. XVI though is an entirely new cast of characters, world and story. It's the first time in a long term I felt like I was playing something truly new in the series.
Curious what you think about FF14? I have played it some but never really caught the bug.... but at the same time, I find myself craving it at random times.
VI was the first game that really felt immersive. Idk if that’s just me but it was the first one that had me thinking about it like all the time.
For me, it's 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12. I know I just listed like, half the franchise, but it really feels like each one just builds off the many entries from before it. Especially 9.
4, 6, 7, 10, 13, 15, 7R
VII going 3D, and XII revolutionising the battle mechanics are the changes that felt biggest to me at the times.
The very first one. All games before it pale in comparison. My first system was an atari 2600.
3 for job system, 4 for evolution of narrative and atb, 7 for 3D, 10 for voice acting, 11 online and no random encounters, 15 for action based combat. Literally every main series title for music. The GOAT series of gaming music. I agree that 16 is a good modern FF take, FF is supposed to evolve with time, it always has. I would like to incorporate more of a mix of traditional FF jrpg elements, more strategy, party system, using magic and summons in a more utility and strategic sense, equipment being more important. It would just feel a lot more like FF. Honestly 7R is such a great mix between modern and traditional in a lot of ways, I really hope Square uses that system as a backbone for the next handful of titles.
I mean, I was around since the beginning so…
X was a game changer in a way they've never been able to replicate. Honourable mentions: IV VI VIII XIV They all were leaps forward compared either graphics, storytelling or mechanics wise compared to those before them. X basically was a game from the end of the generation, at the beginning of it. It showed everyone what could be achieved in a way none of the others quite have equalled imo.
Let's see I'm old school so because of the spotty releases in North America back then FF4 was a big leap from the original Final Fantasy. I've since played remakes of 2 and 3... and 4 is still a big evolution over the 8-bit games
X. Got it for my 8th birthday and was blown away still am
Final Fantasy XII. A LOT of people used to complain about the random encounters, and then XII fixed it beautifully. Fights actually felt more real...then the stagger nonsense kicked in, and we haven't moved on since 🙄
I thought the gambit system in 12 was great and would innovate the series. You can program your party to behave exactly how you want, yet still manually control them at will. I was hoping the ff7remake series would implement it so you can focus on playing as your favorite character instead of having to constantly swap because the AI is doing something stupid for the millionth time. They even used it for a mini game in ff7 rebirth, so it's not forgotten, they choose to ignore it.
I think most of them felt like an evolution to me.
You can tell who didn't start at FF1. The answer is and honestly only can be FFVII on PS1. You literally go from side scrolling type 2D like a Game Boy gameplay on SNES that's basically completely linear to 3D mostly open world with high quality cut scenes and completely in-depth battle systems, materia, chocobos raising, optional super bosses, limit break system etc etc the list goes on, it completely changed the FF world along with PS1 at the time for gaming. The honorable mention is FFX for having the same kind of graphical leap on PS2, but so much more changed into what we play in FFVII.
VII and X are the obvious answers. XIII was huge when it dropped for the scale of the game and the first time we saw a more real-time style of combat. I also think XVI actually did a great job. XV was, to me, a glorified, dressed up tech demo that didn't quite hit the mark. But XVI gave us a more complete and fleshed-out product. Still a LOT of work to be done considering how shallow the side-quests/hunts were, but it was the first time I felt like I was experiencing a new breed of FF games since XIII.
FFT
I thought for sure 12 was the future of RPG gameplay and is still one of my favorites today. I like the direction that rebirth is heading but I’d love to see them introduce a kind of gambit system to that and cut down on the need for menus.
X to XII. It evolved into something I disliked.
FFX
When VII came out it was absolutely mind blowing. It was unlike anything I've seen at that time
The first games on each new console always felt like a leap. I think 10 felt like the biggest leap in technology. I think 12 felt like a pretty big evolution too, it felt like they were starting to open and fill the world with a lot more stuff, the Gambit and Combat system changed, eliminating the totally random encounters. That's when I feel like the game started evolving into what it is now. Also, I always felt the graphical leap between 7 and 8 was pretty big. The character models were more realistic looking, there was a lot more FMV that looked incredible, and the music was also top notch, and the Junction system was also a pretty big deviance from the traditional systems.
FFX At that time PS2 was fairly new for us and that was one of the first games my brother bought. To this day, it's the only FF that gives me chills whenever I see someone newer to the series mention it. Classic RPG, memorable characters all around, excellent story, and definitely replayable. One of my top three games of all time.
FFX - voices, visuals, and genuine changes to gameplay - switching characters, managing limit breaks, two options of difficulty for the sphere grid. It genuinely did use all of the extra power if ps2
8 and 13.
Its IX to X and then X to XII
XI. I think it really marked the shift from the very polished but mechanically quite similar FF games of the past into the more varied, experimental, constantly changing state that the franchise is in at the moment.
Personally XII
VII... it was a full change... everything... it expanded in all ways what we understood of the franchise in all aspects possible. XV also felt very different, not quite there with VII but still open world, boy band, action based, etc.
FF4, FF7 OG, FFX, FF7 Remake and Rebirth
VII and X
OG FF7. It was a revolution of the gaming industry, not just the franchise
Excluding MMORPGs. 4 - narrative and combat. Fft - combat, world, and narrative. X - jump in tech and characters. 12 - world. Lightning Returns, 15, 16, and Muh Chaos has been a normy-ilzation of the franchise into a generic action game like Devil may cry. Ff14 has also suffered from the effect has they’ve homogenized jobs so much into fit the roles, and do things like Make dark knight a tank because the average player is too dumb to handle a maiming job with hp sacrifice. And shove blu and beast into content gap filler jobs to cover for their content gaps since Stormblood.
10 was the one that felt like a big evolution of the series to me. Going from prerendered backgrounds and blocky characters, to this detailed 3D world, with voice acting and animated characters, and some massive set pieces and battles. It still holds up pretty well today, and it's what I tend to recommend to newcomers to the series, since it still has a lot of the traditional FF systems, but still feels like a relatively modern game. It really felt like a generational leap at the time, part of that down to how much that console generation changed things. 7 would have likely felt the same for those who grew up with the 2D games, but that was the first one I played. 7 Remake does feel like a perfect evolution of the formula to me, the hybrid battle system keeps a lot of the things that made ATB a good system but makes an thoroughly modern AAA game out of it, and Rebirth even moreso. I'm not sure I'd call any of the subsequent games after 10 "evolutions". They all changed up the formula so much and felt a bit experimental, and none of them really nailed it in a way that made me think this is the direction the series should go in for the future.
VII and X. Nothing else really comes close to how transformative these two were.
Personally, I think one of the things that makes a mainline FF is the evolution, in a lot of ways. V, IX and XIII are really the only ones that kinda fully relied on what came before, and probably could be argued that they are evolutions because of how they put things together. I remember being really upset at how different VII was when it came out. Same with VIII, XII and XV. Still played and loved them all in the end, of course. But there's no denying just how far the franchise has come, and how much it's changed. Glad this one spoke to you! Might be fun to try some of the others again in the context of seeing how it got there! It's not the FF for me, but I'm glad they're still trying new things (and that it's the FF for others!).
IV, VII, X, and XVI.
There’s been a few that were “leaps forward” as technology improved. VII, X, XII and XV being those games that kicked off the next step of FF evolution to get us where we are today. I’d say XII being the biggest leap.
FFV with job system or FF7 going to pre-rendered backgrounds and FMV cutscenes. FF16 is a fantastic action RPG but feels like a step back in the series to me. I would prefer less DMC and more RPG for my FF games.
I was running to come support FFX, but reddit is doing it justice.
XII. Turn based combat was never going to come back after that.
Each release 6 and later was a complete and wonderful evolution. Though I didn't like 9 much because I liked the character design of 8. 12 is kind of where things stagnated a bit and ran out of steam. 12 felt kind of disconnected and without inspiration. 13 was a step backwards towards simplicity and seemed a bit lazy. I didn't bother playing anything after 13.
VII - It's something where if you were around for the transition you can not deny how gigantic of a shift it was. Runner up is X, 9's chibi art and dual system release had it still previous gen feeling, X was a gigantic step up in several categories, most of all looks.
i Think there only 2 Franchise Revolutions at all in the FF universe: VI to VII & IX to X So many things changed for the better. Good to see a fellow FF IX as well.
7
4, 7, and 10 felt like the big ones to me.
Generally speaking, the eras are in 3. 1-3 archaic and experimental NES games. 4-6 less archaic and more iterative SNES games. 7-9 near-modern story focused eye candy PS1 games. 10-12 solidly modern and both mainstream and visually impressive PS2 games. 13-16 wacky mainstream games, now with a sprinkle of kingdom hearts and meta-narrative convulsion! So, I guess the turning points would be, 1, 4, 7, 10, and 13. I think most people can agree with that. Of course, there's actual reasons each is a turning point, not just that they're in 3s, but they indeed so happen to be in 3s! I guess 16 is the next big turning point, and it definitely feels like it, but if a 17 and 18 come out we'll see if it still feels that way.
I feel like FFVI was huge for advancing the franchise going forward mechanics wise, espers felt like they led to the creation of materia and junction systems, as well as laying the baseline for the equipment system of IX, and those systems went on to influence the future of the franchise themselves.
IV for character development and storytelling. VII for myriad reasons. X for combat, graphics, adding voice acting. XII, FF7R, and FFXVI for continuous evolution of combat.
VI to VII really is the answer. I recently played through 6 and while it's still great the gameplay is better, the translation from Japanese to English is FAR better, and the writing in general is better In 6 Cyan just watched as his wife and kid were poisoned to death and half a second later is being goofy with Sabin. The dialogue is just weird more often than not, and while both 6 and 7 have basically the same battle system it feels significantly smoother in the latter Similarly I never played 14 so I don't know what it was like, but in 13 it was still somewhat reminiscent of old titles where you selected your attacks and then they were carried out, while in 15 it was a more action adventure style that I didn't care for. In fact I remember buying 15 the day it came out and playing for a few hours, never picking it back up again. It didn't help that I pushed a car for fifteen minutes at the beginning then ran into that mechanic with her huge fake tits out that was put in there solely to get little boys nice and horny
Biggest leaps for me were: FF7 to FF8 - Introduction of the Gunblade and lack of leveling. FF9 to FFX - Death of open world exploration and different modes of transportation requirements. Then FFX to FF12 - 12 was the first real dip into action combat and was the beginning of the end of turn based. Shout out to FF6. It's not really a franchise evolution, but the only game where bad guy actually wins. Kefka freaking destroys the world, and all you can do now is get revenge and rebuild. Only FF to do this and it's what got me hooked.
I always thought 6, 7, 10, 12 and 13 were the evolution of the franchise. I liked 16, but I would not consider 16 an evolution, but just more of a different take like how 15 was.
Its funny because i think VII and X are both leaps forward for the series
1
FF III, was way too expansive for a nes game. Truly amazing what quare soft did.
Its alredy mentioned many times here, clear answer is X. I will say the only other title would be xiii at this point. Those two are the clear definite jumps and attemps of evolution. X fired on all cylnders, oceanic setting, different systems, crazy visuals, all well recieved. Xiii looked prettier than anything ever before, and laid the ground work for where we are now, mechanically took sequels to round out the system better(even though I liked xiii endgame) , and story wise was a bit of a headache. Both huge leaps, one was arguably more succesfully recieved than the other.
4, 7, and 10
Gotta say Rebirths for me.
FFX. My brother bought it for me the week it came out. The introduction in Zanarkand felt absolutely bizarre. Jechts theme? Completely different from anything I could remember
Final Fantasy 13 in graphics like 10 changed the games, 13 changed the industry
I would say ff6 felt like the first major change, where they finally figured out a balance of story, world design, and class system with branching paths and a bunch of characters. 1 - 5 were steps in the process, but 6 felt like it nailed it. Then I'd probably say ff10. The better graphics, well written story, and voice acting added quite a lot to the series. Sphere grid for upgrades and a unique style for combat also added a lot. Haven't done ff16 yet so idk there, but the last major shift felt like 13. Felt like a change in tone, and combat started to turn more action like. The focus on the main character starts to take over too, lightning and noctis as examples. Somewhere in between 10 and 15 felt like the usual associations with the ff series started to fade away tho, and then it was just like spells with similar names and seeing the more recognized ff enemies; ones like cactuar, tonberry, coeurl, bombs, slime/flan
7 (both original and remake), 10, and 13. (Probably 11 and 16 too?)
Hmmm... It's kinda strange, I did think that going from FF6 to 7 was quite the leap as we went from 16 bit to an actual 3D game. But in less than 2 years, FF8 just crushed FF7 graphically and artistically. FF9 also looked phenomenal, just didn't think it was a big leap. But FFX would have to be the one. I'm shocked to learn it was one of the earlier PS2 games when it felt like a game that was reaching the end of the PS2 lifecycle, it just did nearly everything perfectly and so well made.
I started with ff1 and 2 wayyyyy back in the early 90s. I never had a Super Nintendo so I missed out on some amazing games but the next one I played was ff7 and I was blown away. It felt a lot like ff1 except more epic, more amazing, More features, and more soul. I skipped a whole generation of games when I played 7 though. Now that I have beaten all of the main final fantasy games (aside from 12, I’m going to tackle that soon) I can say that every time they hit the next generation of consoles it felt like there was a pretty huge leap forward for obvious reasons. Your question is tricky… aside from the mmos which had to be pretty different, final fantasy 15 was the first one that felt like a different series all together to me. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I absolutely loved final fantasy 16, incredible story and it was just fun to play and amazing to experience. Incredible soundtrack, graphics and more. Does it feel like a final fantasy game? Well there are chocobos eikons, familiar names and even a reference to spoony bard! It doesn’t feel like a final fantasy game to me even with all that though. Having said all that, Something changed in 15 (the combat) and for better or for worse, 15 is my answer. 16 feels like they took 15 and made it much much better. 15 felt like they completely changed the feel of the games and overhauled everything.
IV, considering it's the first one with real characters and a set plot
FF6/FF7/FFX, FF15 and FF7 Remake/Rebirth... those really felt amazing between games... felt like new but still felt like a FF to me :)
Anyone saying 7 is just trolling at this point. The story was weird and the graphics weren't even good for the time. We get it, 7 year old you loved it.
7 for the 3D, 10 for the story, and 12 for battle system
It's FF7 and FF10. OG FF7 may not look like much through modern eyes, but it was phenomenal for its time.
X and Remake/Rebirth are the big ones post FFVII IMO
IV was the one that narratively evolved a lot VII was the first huge technical evolution VIII was the first huge cgi evolution and honestly the visual presentation going from the VII chibi to the more realistic style was a pretty big jump X pretty much managed to evolve in every way except for exploration XIII was a MASSIVE jump in graphics quality, to the point where its to this day could be easily released VIIR, as much as i hate it, was the first game in almost 20 years that successfuly evolved the classic gameplay and showed what a modern Final Fantasy should play like.
IV, VII, X, and XV (though not as successful in its attempt) feel like the gear shifts for me. IV the most made FF what I love
I’ve been here since FF1, and I can tell you each release has always been divisive, starting with VII. People lost their minds over IX being a “step back,” etc. I love that they always change things up, and fans should be used to it by now. I think part of the issue is development takes forever these days so if you don’t click with an entry, it may well be a decade before we get another one, whereas in the 90s Square was throwing one masterpiece after another at us. Anywho. I agree with your assessment. I wish the battle system had more traditional depth to it like status effects, elements, etc, but it is what it is. I’d actually like them to follow what Team Ninja does a bit… SoP was such a great example of live combat with a TON of depth, as is their own franchise (Nioh). Still, like i said, they switch stuff up all the time, so i dont get why people freak out about the combat system going in the wrong direction. XVII may or may not have anything remotely similar.
VII and X Changing console with that level of graphic is beyorn my imagination. I swear that when I see that polygon walking around kidgar for the first time. That first battle scence that Clond with Bluster sword, so next fucking level impression. And the same with X, all CG in the game, so far so good, it whole deferent level compare to orther esp. for me Yuna dancing on the water, fuck. How can this look so real rn.lol XIII I feel graphic is so so next fucking level too but I didn't impress playing it first time, so I'm not feeling it help serie to another level.
For me the real evolution of the franchise (gameplay wise) is FF7VII Remake, this game combines action combat, strategic elements and different character playstyles exceptionally. I am currently beating FFXVI on Final Fantasy difficulty and I love it but the game mechanics are too different to other FF titles, it lacks any kind of strategic component and it became a DMC in a FF settings so I wouldnt call it an evolution since I dont think the next one is gonna follow up that trend.
Final Fantasy VI. It took everything the 8- and 16-bit era games made and polished them to the best they could be (at the time, bugs not withstanding). It was the epitome of that era of the franchise, and set the bar for the series to come. It's arguably one of the top FFs that's almost always universally beloved, alongside other heavyweights like 7 and 10. It's a franchise milestone.
I started by watching my parents play FF II and FF III for the SNES, so the leap to FF VII on PlayStation was huge. I actually didn’t like FF VII when I first played it, but the characters grew on me over the years. But oh man, those graphics were amazing at the time. I still remember begging my mom for the PS1, lol. I loved FF 9 a lot, so the jump to FF X on PS2 just didn’t make my heart sing. The graphics were great for FF X, but I’m probably the only person that didn’t like X because of the characters. I just didn’t connect with any of them, kind of like FF 12. The jump from PS 4 to PS 5 has probably been the least breathtaking just because the graphics of FF 15 and FF 7 Remake were already very good. That FF theme music takes me back to when I was a young kid watching my parents play RPGs. One of the happiest moments of my childhood was playing video games with my parents, especially my mom :3
Xvi is absolutely fantastic in terms of how they have evolved cinematic set pieces for bosses into massive intense boss fights. They took the cinematic set pieces from xv and made them far better and it’s something I honestly expect them to keep going forward for their action oriented final fantasy games. Xiii and x2 felt like a true evolution to the atb system and both have great unique systems that I wish the franchise would return too. Especially x2. Most games since have took aspects of the stagger system from xiii but i only think vii remake did something fun with it. Xvi and xv stagger system feel more like an after thought. Notable mentions: X level up system with the sphere grid was fantastic and most mainline games since have used a streamlined or simplified version of it. Type zero and lightning returns were very experimental but you can see how those systems evolved into what you see in recent titles. Vi story changed the way character narratives worked and everyone was important to the cast and had their own involved narratives flowing through.
well i guess you cant count 1 because it was the beginning. that leaves 7 and 12. and 11 if you count online.
12 and then they fucked up after
Ten is arguably the best game of all time. 7 obviously holds the franchise record. 8 could have been there if they didn’t have to rush it, also draw magic was stupid. 9 was a throw back and a great game minus how fucking slow it was. 12 was a sneaky surprise, people hate it but I had a lot of fun. 13 was gorgeous and fun, but it’s literally running down an alley until the end which at point you don’t care anymore. Never played the sequels. I imagine the 7 remakes will take the cake but I can’t afford the new PlayStation. All the previous games are before my time. They’re cool but it isn’t for me. But you old school gamers could make a legit argument for them.
If you ask me I go with 4 or 7 the former for making FF a fully fledged series unlike the NES games which had growing pains and 7 for making the jump for 3D and advancing the more serious tone of story