What a great series, I love reading these!

Please do FFIX (9)!

Well then...it certainly has been a while since I responded to the criticism on this blog series, and it is nakedly apparent that I may have ruffled some feathers with my last comment. If there is one thing that I hope is clear and precise for all of my audience to understand it is that I kid because I care. Now with that aside let's address some of these comments that I have parlayed for a couple of days now!

@cloudymusic: VI is certainly on the list, but I have to warn you that I would be playing the Steam version of VI which looks like this:

I also seem to recall Final Fantasy VI being the game that @mikelemmer has requested that I play as soon as possible. Alas, the winds of fate have other plans for now.

Well boy howdy do I have news for you! My first impressions of Final Fantasy IX are mostly negative thus far! The first disc in that game is fucking booooooring!

Also, isn't there some endgame boss battle that happens for no good reason in particular in IX?

Huh that sounds promising. Let's ask Kasaioni, a user that has completed the XIII franchise recently, as to how long it took them to beat the series!

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

First off, I have heard nice things about X to the point where I feel confident in saying that it will be the game that I play after I have completed IX. Secondly, This community honestly cannot give me a clear answer on whether or not playing Crisis Core should or should not be on my itinerary at any point. Just as no one can agree on any of my questions about the story in VII or VIII.

My original plan was the alternate between game franchises that I have never played before, but I think we have seen where that has gone. Grandia II was originally proposed by @arbitrarywater...or at least I think. One of my great fears is that I am essentially creating a JRPG bottleneck for myself which will create an unsustainable view on the entire genre. It is important to remind all of my viewers that had I not started this blog series the list of turn-based RPGs that I have played is beyond pitiful.

How you are making light of what actually happens in VII and VIII is a bit shocking to me. VII's ending is a deflating and otherwise disappointing conclusion to an otherwise spectacular climax and falling action. The game actually smash cuts to black before the credits roll.

Final Fantasy VIII's ending, and story for that matter, is a horrible trash fire that I honestly felt was an assault of my senses. I do not wish to think back to Squall having a fever dream while navigating the abyss of time before he find Rinoa...that's not something I ever wish to think about.

It's just...I kind of do not see the appeal of having to play three games just to get the ultimate payoff of a story. It's crazy that I have to sink in over a hundred hours into three games to finally see the ultimate impact of my actions in the story. I'll still play it at some point...but that doesn't mean I wont be grousing.

But I swear to God...if I end up playing 150+ hours of the Final Fantasy XIII franchise, and it turns out that you have been lying or spewing histrionics...I'm going to flip over every table in my city.

Mark my words....

Every table

I never really felt that was the intent of any of those scenes. Jenova felt like an afterthought given how little she talks or how often the characters discuss her/it. Spehiroth is always the one who is grandstanding on a podium in an attempt to bring great destruction to the universe. There's also the fact that you battle Jenova before you battle Sephiroth which I believe is a sign that Sephiroth and Jenova are two distinct characters with Sephiroth being the more dominant of the two.

There's no real "hidden" commentary in my opinion regarding this matter. If there was then I feel as if such a revelatory concept should have been front-loaded or surfaced better to the audience. There are a few science journals here and there, but even then what my ultimate argument is that both of these stories are needlessly complicated and place an undue burden on an otherwise simple story of saving the environment from a maniacal corporation. Sure that's simple, but at least it doesn't blend in an entirely different genre into the story.

My early impressions of IX have been less than positive. I basically hate 90% of the cast and find the setting to be saccharine at best. I have so many strong opinions about Adelbert Steiner and Zidane Tribal...but I wont spoil you right now. Just rest assured that I have plenty to say about this game, and if it doesn't get better than I am going to do bad things to @thatpinguino.

Vivi is the only character worth a bucket of spit in the entire game. Zidane is gross, Steiner is annoying, and every scene with Garnet is just the most cringe worthy shit I have ever seen in a video game.

PLUS, and I haven't told any of you this before, but I have a disdain for traditional high fantasy settings.

@zombiepie: I genuinely think you should play Crisis Core. It's different (more like Kingdom Hearts gameplay-wise, though still something else), but it has a fairly emotionally resonant story. And its ending actually is quite good. I remember it being my favorite FFVII product, though it's been a few years since I have played it. Dirge of Cerberus on the other hand...that thing sucks.

@zombiepie: For the record, now that I have a functioning computer again, I'd be willing to do something with Grandia II... at some point. Of course, I'd much rather you play X-2 because it might melt your brain, and I'd be also be willing to do something with that.

@zombiepie:

First off, I have heard nice things about X to the point where I feel confident in saying that it will be the game that I play after I have completed IX. Secondly, This community honestly cannot give me a clear answer on whether or not playing Crisis Core should or should not be on my itinerary at any point. Just as no one can agree on any of my questions about the story in VII or VIII.

If you're playing all of these games on PC, then I can settle that pretty easily for you - Crisis Core is only available on PSP (and maybe Vita, if it's available digitally).

After reading many a Final Fantasy thread, I have realized that no large group - such as a forum with a lot of posters - will ever come to a widely-accepted conclusion on anything Final Fantasy. There will always be that handful of people who despise a certain game and another handful that adores everything about that same game.

Which is probably the most interesting thing about the whole series, really - trying to discern what you, personally, think is good and bad about each game.

VI is fucking amazing, for the record. The PC version's sprites don't look all that great but they also don't bother me all that much and they're preferable to the SNES's bad translation, the PS1 version's long load times, and the GBA version's unfortunate audio compression (seriously, the music is like half of what I like about FFVI). There is a project out there to mod the old SNES/PS1 sprites back into the PC version but I don't know where it is now, or if it even finished.

@zombiepie: I don't think you have to commit yourself to playing all three games from the start. The first game has a self contained story with a clearly identifiable conclusion at the end; and it seems obvious that XIII's story was written without the sequels in mind. For the original XIII "trilogy" wasn't XIII/2/LR, but was to consist of XIII, Versus XIII (which is now XV), and Agito XIII (which became Type-0, followed by another game in the same universe simply called "Agito"). All of those games were to have their own self contained story. But the releasing of those games didn't go apparently as planned, so the release of XIII-2 as a sequel to XIII seemed a tad tacked on. It's not a bad game, in my opinion, but the story doesn't exactly transition smoothly from XIII to XIII-2; therefore, the story within XIII alone feels much more succinct than the trilogy as a whole. (I say "seems obvious" and "apparently", because I'm not deeply familiar with the behind-the-scenes development story of the XIII games.) So while you won't get the "ultimate payoff" unless you play the trilogy all the way through, you'll still get a conclusion with XIII by itself; because the "ultimate impact of [your] actions in the story" wasn't written until after XIII was already released.

I'd just recommend thinking about whether you want to dive into XIII next, versus some other Final Fantasy game you have yet to enjoy. But of course, if you do play XIII, you'll probably want to play the sequels afterward at some point; just as if I ever decide to play X, I'll probably play X-2 as well. So I can understand your concern.

Luckily the XIII series doesn't have some bullshit RTS mini-game. I just recruited Yuffie today, and had only been playing for less than an hour when I discovered Fort Condor. But I had to quit, because I just don't want to deal with that today (or ever, really).

@zombiepie: I kind of like that they don't give definitely answers on what happened to the characters (except maybe RedXIII) and just had that 'this is the state of the world' kind of shot.

Needless to say all the stuff they made about FFVII after it does not count and is not canon. '_'

Look, I tried to tell you about the Chocobo Breeding shortcuts because I knew doing the actual legwork the way the game wants you to would be damaging to your soul. Would you listen? NOooooooooo! You could have avoided giving any fucks about the racing, because it's not required. The hardest part about the way most people get the golden chocobo now is catching the right two chocobos to begin with. Could have saved you 2 hours and a lot of Enya.

Damnit, Chris. I care! :)

But, I'm so glad you played and finished FFVII. I picked it up for my PC in 1999 when i was a year away from finishing high school and it was so incredible. I had that high definition image of Cloud and Tifa on top of the Nibelheim water tower on my PC background for a long ass time. That said, I didn't beat it until this earlier this year. Years and years of losing saves, and stopping and restarting on different platforms (I own 3 versions of it for PS1, PC-CDrom, and Steam). It was the last game I beat before my son was born in July and it was great! So, congrats on beating that and VIII. Enjoy IX, another FF game that i have played through some of, but not beaten... yet.

A while back, I think during your FF8 run, I told you that all the 2D FF games were shit and that you shouldn't listen to anyone who says otherwise because they are fucking liars. FF9 is the closest 3D relative to those games and, while I like it a lot, if you dislike 9 I believe you will agree with me if you ever play 6. Just a heads up to make sure YOU DO NOT LISTEN TO ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU 6 IS THE BEST THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND.

Congratulations on completing the game.

I definitely think VII is the best of the PS1 games. It has its warts in form of stupid mini games, but it also has the best characters. I played it as a preteen and it kindled my love of RPGs. Btw, I happen to think VIII is the worst game in the series (not familiar with the Japan-only games though).

Final Fantasy X should not be skipped, as it is something special. It's ambitious, it gets a ton of milage from it's voice actors and it's more memorable than any Final Fantasy since. I also think that's where the traditional FF combat system reaches its peak, which I guess is why they abandoned it in FFXII.

I wish you all the best on your journey through the world of Final Fantasy.

So glad you finally made it ZombiePie. Congratulations! Really fantastic blog series, historically relevant some might say.

FFVIIs ending is one of my favourites in the series. I wish I could explain why in detail but I just don't have the words right now. For me FINAL FANTASY games should never end with so much resolution, or wind-down. I wondered for weeks and weeks when I was a kid about "what did I miss" at the end of every one of these games. They are a short snapshot of old, lived-in worlds where we get a small glimpse of life during an important time, like 6 months or 1 week or however long the game is in "Narrative Time". It should be fragmented. Something about that just is FINAL FANTASY for me. Or should I say is... the spirit within it. :D

It's why I always felt sequels to FF games are just thematically insulting, but, I got over that change a long time ago.

If I had to suggest a JRPG for you to play next it would be something outside this franchise. I feel it's time for you to sail different seas. I don't remember what you've played by why not a modern setting? or a turn-based game? Get your feet wet with Banner Saga then go play FFT or something. Go big!

@zombiepie I actually just remembered how the XIII trilogy wraps up and you absolutely need to see those games through some day. You'll have caps lock on for a while, recapping that ending.

@planetfunksquad: It is going to be a long...LONG time before I would be able to even consider playing any of the 2D Final Fantasy games. My current itinerary is stacked as it is.

@kasaioni: Wait a minute...Type-0 ISN'T some inconsequential spin-off game? Well whatever...everything you are saying makes the entire Final Fantasy XIII series seem like this hot mess that no one really knew how to stop.

Great...now I am committed towards completing all of the Final Fantasy spin-off games. This only means that I have to play Final Fantasy Tactics, The Final Fantasy Legend, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, and all of those bullshit mobile games Square released....

I'm never going to be free of this franchise.

We live in a sick world where my misery for everyone's entertainment is an inevitability. If this isn't schadenfreude then I do not know what is.

@thatpinguino is confident that the second disc will convince me otherwise. I don't know...IX lacks any grit and just seems like a typical fantasy story ticking away the boxes that you would find in a middle-schooler writing Lord of the Rings fan-fiction.

Plus I hate 90% of the cast.

The actual racing of the Chocobos wasn't that bad. It was the soul crushing randomness of actually breeding the Chocobos that just broke me. All of the other side business that you have to commit to was equally painful.

Either way I'm glad that I'm done...I just wished that I had a longer break from Final Fantasy games.

I don't know, part of what spoils me is the fact that I already know that the ending for VII has been entirely ret-conned so is that Square could create a multi-million dollar empire. That, and personally I have anear fanatical hatred to endings that feature smash-cuts. To me that always feels like a bit of a cop-out.

In terms of playing games that are not Final Fantasy...I'm never going to be free. @thatpinguino will never allow me to be free.

Well fantastic...there goes 200 hours of my life down the drain. How has my life come to this?

Anyways, for those of you reading this I want to put it out there that I am changing the format for these blogs. I cannot continue writing these thirty page dissertations. Not only are they slowly killing me, but they are increasingly becoming difficult to edit and produce. For the Final Fantasy IX blog series expect smaller and more straightforward blogs that share my thoughts about two to three set-pieces at most. This will be beneficial on multiple counts. The reading experience will be better, and it will allow me to solicit community support more often.

Also, I promise that the IX blog series will be updated on a more consistent basis...for realzies this time.

@zombiepie: No, Type-0 might as well be some inconsequential spin-off game, don't worry about it. I don't think anyone cared about it that much even when it was considered part of the XIII trilogy. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure what made those games (XIII/Versus/Agito) part of a trilogy other than that they had "XIII" in their names. They seemed like totally different games when they were announced.

The XIII to XIV to XV era of Square Enix has so far seemed like a series of hot messes that they've constantly been trying to fix. Re-thinking the XIII series; re-building XIV; and re-structuring XV or whatever they had to do to Versus XIII. Luckily the outcome of the first two cases weren't horrendous; and, certainly for XIV, successful.

- IX. I love high fantasy so IX really filled that itch for me. At first, I disliked Zidane as much as you did. He wasn't a boring character like Squall, but by the end I liked him more than I thought I would. IX became my favorite FF game mainly because of Vivi. His overall arc was great and he's a good foil to Zidane.

- VII ending is pretty simple to me. The planet/lifestream ends up saving the planet and its inhabitants. The people of the planet finally decide to stop using mako, living a more eco friendly life. Which leads to the final scene of RedXIII overseeing Midgar being overgrown with vegetation.

- Do NOT play Crisis Core. I love Zack and every scene that happens with him and Sephiroth, but everything else in that game is boring as shit. Especially Gackt. With him spouting all his poetry bullshit throughout the entire game. Just watch an edited movie version of it on youtube or something. I knew what was coming for Zack and I still enjoyed his character.

- You should DEFINITELY jump into a different JRPG series of the PSONE era. Maybe go with the crazy mind boggling Chrono Cross. Or go with another fan favorite. The Legend of Dragoon. Which is probably my favorite childhood game. Or you can just continue this final fantasy wrecking train and go onto FFX.

hey @zombiepie

sorry for the late reply, been out of town lately and I had to refresh myself on a lot of these endings. Some I haven't rewatched in over 20 years.

I guess it depends on what you consider a "good ending" to be.

Judging by your reaction to Vii's I'd say most of the 2d endings would be probably alright in your book although they probably haven't aged great. They often have a straightforward an Animal House "here's what happened to the gang" quality. Some do it better than others. Although FF 1's involves resolving time travel paradoxes so it's errr interesting. Yeah you would not like 1's. It was odd back in the day, I'm sure it hasn't aged that well.

Some other notable ones...

FF X has a pretty solid allaround ending, probably the best. I bet you'd like at least comparatively to what you've seen. Fwiw I think X was the high water mark of the series for most fans, and if I had to guess might be the one you end up liking the best if you play it. Vi and Xii are my personal faves in the series, but Vi probably hasn't aged as well and Xii is justifiably divisive. Still if you only ever play one other Final Fantasy game in your life, this is probably the one to play.

Let's pretend X-2 doesn't exist.

I personally think Xiii had one of the worst ending in the series to date for a lot of reasons. Based on the questions you asked, I think you would hate it. Fwiw I think the Fabula Nova Crystallis games are a ton better than most American gamers give them credit for, but the ending is a definite glaring flaw in Xiii for me.

Xiii-2's was good I guess in the sense in that it was effective, but I found it to be genuinely upsetting. YMMV

No point in worrying about LR's ending unless you are willing to commit to the previous two.

You know, now I think about it @thatpinguino's fave FFIX might have the best ending in the series. But if you aren't liking the game now, it's likely going to resonate for you. A lot of FF IX's appeal at least for me at the time was dependent on being able to appreciate all the references, callbacks and tropes to the Amano era Final Fantasies (1-6). A couple of the characters grabbed me too, but it doesn't sound like they are working on you.

p.s. Don't play Crisis Core. Not because it's bad, it's just that it is only available on PSP which will probably needlessly complicate your life trying to get all that's required to make that work (fwiw Square Enix's web store actually still has inventory last I looked if you really want to go down that route). That and Valkyrie Profile never came to PSN despite fans begging for years.

p.p.s I like your proposed format change. I'll definitely comment more often if you do that. Not sure if that's a good thing in your book or not as that gives you more to respond to. I love your blogs but TBH there is so much content, it's a bit overwhelming.

@zombiepie Quick question out of curiosity but have you played the Lunar franchise. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is probably my all time favorite JRPG. I've played through just about every version imaginable of that game except the original Sega CD Version as I was never cool enough to own one. That's a game from beginning to end that is just great. Granted it has just about every JRPG trope thrown in that you can imagine but it will always have a soft spot in my heart.

Or maybe even other Sega RPG's like Phantasy Star? I think 2 and 4 are the best in the series and 3 is okay but it has The 7th Saga issue of just being overly complicated due to too many characters.

In the non-traditional route have you thought about trying something like Secret of Mana?

Do you want to know what the funny thing about this is? I had to ask a couple of friends on Steam what the "average" length of a blog was, and I thought that ten to fifteen pages would be normal...just today I found out that five pages would be more along the lines of being the normal length.

I am not a normal person.

Sorry for the delayed response, but if you wanted to know I have never played any of these games that you have mentioned. All I know about Lunar is that it has anime cutscenes. The name "Phantasy Star" conjurs up a series of console MMOs for me. Finally, I have never heard of Secret of Mana and The 7th Saga until you mentioned them.