S1E30 - The Final Fantasy Series Part 2 - “Because he was a Ninja!”

The Final Fantasy Series, Part 2


In this episode:


The Final Fantasy series has lots of sequels and spinoffs
that aren’t part of the mainline, numbered series. There are some
sequels, some movies, and some mashups like Kingdom Hearts that
just take the FF characters and give them a new world to explore
together. Some are good and some (like the new Justice Monsters
5) are total garbage. But which are which? (Hint: The new
Kingsglaive movie is awesome.)

We discuss our thoughts on Final Fantasy MMOs, and the gist
of it is that both of us wish they had called them Final Fantasy
Online instead of mainline numbered games. We have played both
FFXI and FFXIV, and XIV felt more like a Final Fantasy game, even
though it being an MMORPG made it so that the story couldn’t be
anywhere near as compelling as the single-player installments.

Do the old-school Final Fantasy games (I-VI) hold up to
modern standards? Some of them really do! But which ones?
Bwahahahah, listen to find out!

We both love love love the remasters and re-releases of the
series. More people get to play the amazing games on whatever
system they want, either on a new console like the Playstation
Vita, iOS or Android, or even PC through services like Steam.
Plus, we’re fans of all the HD textures and new
sprites/animations. It’s a win-win for us (and for you folks
who’ve never played them before!)

Our Least Favorite Final Fantasy? III all the way. Not the
Final Fantasy III that was released on the SNES (that was
actually VI, but III with the poorly paced story, the crippled
job system, and the terrible player messaging that kept you
unable to progress. Avoid it at all costs (unless you’re a
completionist like Void)

Our Favorite Final Fantasy, though? IX all the way. But we
also have fondness for VIII for the best opening scene of any FF
(link below) and V because it wasn’t translated into English for
so long that it took effort and dedication to play.

Favorite Villain for us? This is a tough one. You’ll hear
about it when you listen! But just so you know...Exdeath from
FFV, well, he’s a tree. For serious.

Favorite characters? Again, a totally tough question, but it
has changed over the years. Vivi is a constant from FFIX, but
there are others we talk about, too.

Favorite Scenes? The opera FFVI ‘Maria and Draco’ (Aria di
Mezzo Carattere), The Ending to FFIX when Garnet is Queen and
they do “I Want to Be Your Canary” again and then Zidane and
Garnet are reunited, and The Opening to FFVIII (Liberi Fatali).

Where is the best place to start for newbies to FF series?
(asked by @chrisevans17 and @DestenLee on Twitter). Probably FFX
for the overall experience, but we go into lots of others for
various reasons, all depending on your tastes in gaming. But the
biggest surprise? Not Final Fantasy VII. Never FFVII first. And
we’ll tell you why.



Weekly Geekery


Beej - Mr. Robot

Void - More Gamefly Games (Persona 4 Dancing All Night /
Uncharted Collection) / Battlefield 1 Beta / Captain America:
Civil War



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