A Look At Final Fantasy

It’s fun to watch the melt down over the FF series, like oh the last “real” FF was X or XII depending where they sit. Um no? FF was turn based we get that and it did turn based better than most. After all in the older generations every RPG was compared against FF.

Here’s the thing FF has always evolved, always changed, no two games were ever the same AND YES THATS A GOOD THING! You can play them in any order and not worry about lore and those before/after. Unless it’s addressed as being in the same world. X-2 for example, XIII-2 and XIII-3.

But some things have and always will remain consistent. Great characters, great worlds, and ALWAYS an engaging story! This is why FF and Square have the place they have. Sure they’ve made missteps, 13 was fairly linear, the lack of “open world” since XII has kinda been and adjustment.

So what do they have in common, the thread that makes them a Final Fantasy game? Story telling. Without doubt some of the very best. Final Fantasy was a great entry and for the time 1983, reset the direction a small developer was going, lets not forget Square were all but bankrupt before Final Fantasy turn the companies fortunes around. So it’s so it’s spun upward of 40 titles with the name Final Fantasy. 16 mainline entries and various spin offs.

The fact is Final Fantasy’s story telling has always remained top notch. They always draw you in and always make you want to play. I started my journey with Final Fantasy VII, back in 1999 (I was late to the PlayStation era).

I fell in love with the way they tell stories, and it’s the first game I played I can remember wanting to play again. This hadn’t happened since Zelda Link to the Past. I was a Sega boy through and through but I did enjoy Zelda. I borrowed my Uncles SNES so I could play it. But the way the world of FF7 draws you in is amazing. So much so I replayed it on the PS4 after it was re-released, I think this may be the only game I’ve bought on every platform.

So admittedly was very nervous for the Final Fantasy VII Remake, because it was admittedly my golden game. I was never worried about them changing the game play style, or how it looks. It was only ever gonna look better but the games heart, it’s story, that’s what I wanted them to protect. And they did and then made it better. I was not prepared for the ending!

But of course as time passes, stances will often soften, for example Final Fantasy X-2 was widely hated upon release yet now its a lovable nostalgia trip. I think the game that got most hate was Final Fantasy XIII for it’s step away from the traditional norms of Final Fantasy, it was a very linear progression, a relatively straight run through the game. Sure you could hop around but progression was very linear. I personally enjoyed the story from thirteen and love Lightening as a character. It also of course spun off twice with FFXIII – 2 and FFXIII – 3. The only Final Fantasy Trilogy I remember.

Of course then came the horridly troubled development of Final Fantasy XV and that sadly it does show, it feels like a road trip with a boy band but the writing was still great. My biggest gripe was no central female character, something traditionally Final fantasy has does and does better than any other franchise.

Speaking of troubled development was Final Fantasy XIV 1.0, the disaster was so bad they literally blew up the game world to begin again, and a couple of years later rose as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. In my opinion the very best writing of any Final Fantasy game. A gamed that has only gotten better with every update over the last decade. I only really ever intended to play until I got the Platinum trophy, yea I’m still here a decade later!
If you haven’t played this why not? I’ve literally been playing for a decade and anyone reading this blog has been here every step of the way! I mean I started with the Beta of ARR. If you haven’t played it you have no excuse the first three expansions are FREE to play. It’s currently on PlayStation and PC, and will next year finally arrive on XBOX.

The latest arrival of course is Final Fantasy 16, first of all this is done by Creative Business Unit III, the same team responsible for Final Fantasy XIV. So I was never worried about this game. It’s writing is hammered, well OK maybe the side quests can be a little lack lustre the story itself is great. The game play is simple, maybe too simple if you use the rings, though switch to Final Fantasy Mode, believe me it comes a whole other game!
It’s still a fantastic game, I’ve loved every second though admittedly I’ll be glad to see the back of Final Fantasy Mode, I’ve had to work to survive this. The last thing I need to do for this now will be the new DLC and the final one in January.

So I guess the point of this is the Final Fantasy purists are kinda focused on the wrong things, instead of looking what’s different on the surface look at the heart of Final Fantasy’s it’s always about the journey our heroes take. Because that has ALWAYS been consistent, their story has always been the very heart of the games they create.

Avengers Assemble!

OK so not quite the snappy headline but still, this is my review of Marvel Angers, the new game released September 4th 2020. As always these are my own views and based solely on my own experience with the game which I’ve had since September 3rd. Yup I had early access too, in the end that counted for nothing as yesterday my game crashed and 30+ hours of data corrupted. I was not amused, luckily I enjoy the story a whole lot so starting again isn’t a big deal. And once I have my PC back up and running I’ll probably do the same so I can get some footage for YouTube. I’ll also try to keep this spoiler free as best I can as always.

So the most jarring thing is being a Marvel fan, and of course a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, new voice to our heroes was a little it of a throw. But I’ll get over that, I get it. The second was Iron Mans entrance without ACDC that one felt  little a weird. Alas here we are, Square Enix and Marvel hand in hand. Probably because Square Enix has the Disney license and Marvel is owned by DIsney?

So anyway its been a good experience minus the corrupt data snafu. but Khamala Khan’s origins as Ms. Marvel have been enlightening and fun, I suspect the plucky teen thrust into the light of hero formula was stolen from MCU’s Spiderman. It has that same comedic cluelessness. and I’d loved every second.  But using those super stretchy arms to batter mountains of AIM forces has been both fun and hilarious. I’m left with questions like how in the world did the Chimera get from the bottom of San Francisco Bay, to Utah? That one has been bugging me.

The combat is fun, easy to pick up, and unique in its look per character while not throwing out the control system overall.  I’ll admit I’ve been overkill with Iron Man, who has always been my favourite, the whole lost soul, good guy with priorities not always in the right place, kind of sums me up in some ways. I may not make the right choices, lord knows I haven’t in the last year, but they were usually for the right reasons. Today we see that come full circle as The Avengers set out to clear their name after the disaster that was A-Day. And of course dragging our polymorph along for the ride.

The loading sucks, on a grand scale, while I get it’s a power hungry game, just listen to the fans on the PS4 power up as it’s starting to pull frame rates. Stunning visually for sure, but those loading times are horrendous. Lets hope the PS5 lowers those. And yes there’s an amount of slow down with lots on screen, that’s just gaming today on PS4 a sacrifice we seem to make. However Avengers bought on PS4 are auto upgraded to the PS5 version for free, allowing us to continue for years to come, I seem to gravitate towards these games as service types of late, maybe that’s just how I am as a gamer, wanting to experience games for years rather than simply the time it takes me to finish them.

I’ve had a bast and the story as mentioned is awesomely written, a sweet touching tribute, a reminder that no matter how bleak there’s good in all of us, that humans are heroes. Or something to that effect, of course the story ends with a cliff hanger, which we already know will be picked up in future ‘Operations Content Drops’ the first coming in October with Kate Bishop, which o course sets up the return the most underrated Avenger in MCU Hawkeye.

The villain of course MODOK is a fun encounter, with his own agenda, or as the story eludes, is he? That’s the grand question. But overall the game is beautiful, visually, well written from a story stand point, and the main story is far from the end of the content. Even after finishing the game I had only done 42% in terms of progress, that’s huge really. It’s going to be interesting to see where we go next, and I have alot to do in the meantime.

So as we move along I’d like to see them add the likes of Quake, Ant Man, Wasp, Star Lord, Rocket, Groot, Deadpool, Loki, Wolverine, Venom, Mockingbird, the SHIELD team from Agents of SHIELD, Gemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Melinda May and Phil Coulson, to name just a few.

Final Fantasy X HD – First Thoughts

So having finally got my hands on the HD Remaster of Final Fantasy X (3 attempts and 3 failings by Amazon or circumstance) it finally dropped through my door Thursday and needless to say found itself immediately in my PS3. My first thoughts are that in truth it doesn’t look all that different from the FFX I remember, of course though this sin’t true, considering I have it running on HDMI I think sometimes my eyes just cant be bothered finding the smaller details.

Of course you can see them beautifully during FMV sequences, which is where Square-Enix has always had the true beauty of capturing a systems capabilities, now as I powered up I head into FFX, I plan to chase both games Plats and so will start with Final Fantasy X, it also gives the advantage of having the Al Bhed language learned before one starts playing X-2. So into FFX we go, as always I start with the Advanced Sphere Grid, the first noted change was this sphere grid looks better, cleaner, more fitting of the Remaster.

As always I headed into the game settling in pretty quick, like riding a bike, getting through the first portion of the game I forget how heavy the beginning is on FMV, and of course the first battles barely cause a stress, then head into the first boss battle. The of course we meet the Al Bhed, man this part used to drive me nuts, they’re shouting at you and you have no clue what they are saying, but that’s cool it doesn’t matter as long as you carry the story through.

So I’m now just heading across the Moonflow and the game still plays as beautiful as it ever did, still immerses you in the story (Not been able to skip FMV will undoubtedly irk some folks but I never cared). it’s a fantastic love story wrapped up in a fantastic all round game, characters have their own personalties that you love or hate, I never cared for Seymour Guado cos he annoys the hell out of me. And the best thing is the Cloister of Trials I still remember and can fly through with little need to look things up.

I always enjoyed the Cloister of Trails, always hunted that Destruction Sphere for the sweet hidden treasure each contained. Always worth that extra effort. So I head on trough currently in the possession of Valefor, Ifrit and Ixion.

Also oddly I havent swapped from the weapon Wakka gives you in Besaid, which is rare because I always played via stats before. I work well when I’m making it up as I go along, there’s along way to go in this game but for some reason I welcome the challenge, of course the Monster Arena was always a nightmare, but I’m along from there right now.

So my concluding thoughts or I’ll be rambling on and boring you all, overall the game looks as good as it ever did. It still looks and plays well, they didn’t tamper with the battle system which I must admit I am very glad of, infact as far as I know they haven’t tampered with any aspect of the game at all. Though I swear there are a few new scenes popping up. It is still the game I remember and loved from back in 2002, and subsequently played the holy hell out of for many years afterwards. I suspect this will keep me occupied for quite sometime and so results in me shelving most of my other projects for now. (I did however finish Borderlands 2!). So on we go!