Why don't I hate the old Final Fantasies?

[Ptazza]

So you didn't even make it out of the first cutscene?

Well it doesn't get better beyond that.

[Rozovian]

My input into this thread:

Annoying elements. It's not like the old games didn't have them, or didn't force them on us. We've got slow and silly cutscenes, bad "acting", and all kinds of things. The new games haven't really improved (albeit with some interesting attempts) on the FF formula, so a lot of it it still just a nicer looking version of the same.

It's not like I have a nostalgia bias either. I didn't really play the old FFs until the snes emulation era, and I've barely even looked at the nes ones. So that's where I'm coming from, a jump from snes ffs to ps2 ffs.

You're still grinding to the next area and the next cutscene, you're still juggling a gazillion items, you're still playing the same elemental rock paper scissors, you're still working with a mix of cool and stupid characters. So what's changed? The pacing.

That's the most tangible difference. The old games had a faster pace. They loaded things faster, their cutscenes didn't bog down the game as much or break immersion by changing perspective, they didn't have long fight animations, and they weren't showing off huge environments. They were tighter.

I don't principally mind cutscenes, but I dowhen there's a gazillion small ones breaking up the gameplay. The gameplay is a "press a button, watch something happen". Sure, there's still the same strategic choices you make, you just have to wait longer between choices. I can read faster than I can listen, so talking to npcs is slow and annoying. The menus are slow and clunky. Actually....

TL;DR: Rozo say new ffs are slow and clunky.

[Thalzon]

I personally take FF6 as my favourite, followed by 5 and 8. The more recent FFs (ie, 11, 13, and 14) didn't appeal to me, and I'm starting to think Square-Enix is a victim of their own success. They've got this enormous fanbase of new and old gamers who all have a different favourite game, a different least-favourite, and everything else, and they seem torn between appealing to everyone, appealing to two demographics whose tastes have split hard recently, and trying something fresh.

Back in the PS1 days, Squaresoft was lauded as having the best graphics around. Today, that seems almost absurd, but damn if they don't try to retake that crown. They seem obsessed with it in FF13, to the point where everything else suffers. It was gorgeous, but it wasn't a living, breathing world. It was a facade of propped-up setpieces that were strung together with as little logical string as was feasible. Now FF13-3 is announced and there's barely a single squeal of excitement. People are tired of Lightning's grim seriousness and her world's lack of wonder.

Hopefully once this whole FF13 business is sorted Square-Enix gets a director at the helm of the series who cares more about creating an enriched world to explore and less about how feathery everyones' hair is.

[yangfeili]

So what's changed? The pacing.

That's the most tangible difference. The old games had a faster pace. They loaded things faster, their cutscenes didn't bog down the game as much or break immersion by changing perspective, they didn't have long fight animations, and they weren't showing off huge environments. They were tighter.

Bingo. This doesn't just go for FF specifically, but older generations of games VS newer generations of games in general. I find myself more and more playing old stuff I missed or indie games based on old design principles rather than the new big flashy hits for precisely the reason you described.

[Final Kingdom]

Awkward moment when you're the minority that liked XIII and XIII-2...

While the XIII saga isn't the best in the FF series overall, I appreciated the games for what they were. (Admittedly, XIII-2 threw me for a loop with the time traveling but I didn't mind it really.) XIII was essentially a movie, but you have to take into account that these games are mostly meant to tell us a story. Actual gameplay and open-world exploration are important to keep us interested and to keep things moving along, yes, but the main thing is the story. (Some people thought the story for XIII was dumb, but I enjoyed it :/ oh well I suppose!)

I've played every main entry FF game, and the only ones that I didn't like at all were 2 and 12. I tried so hard to like 12, but it just didn't work out for me. I thought 2 had a stupid 'leveling' system. You mean to tell me that instead of only kill monsters to raise ALL my stats, I have to hit my party members in order to make my weapons stronger AND raise my HP consistently? Nonsense.

[relyanCe]

Awkward moment when you're the minority that liked XIII and XIII-2...

you learn to deal with it

[Bleck]

being a story oriented game doesn't mean that you're not responsible for having good gameplay

[MaxFrost]

I'm another one who's managed to put significant time into just about all of them. I'll even specify which one's I've played.

FF - NES - BRUTAL. Period. If you think about when this was released, nothing was quite like it. You had to play way ahead for battling, especially in dungeons, because even if you leveled on goblins for a while, there were still fights that would gib a max level party out of nowhere. It took experimentation and perserveance to clean it out, and to learn where stuff was. Lots of artifical locking to slow the game down. There is a reason the game is liked, because it a challenge.

FF - GBA port - easy, but a fun romp. Much clearer on direction, and the switch to MP instead of spells per rest made casting far more attractive. However, far, far too easy.

FF2 - GBA port - didn't put much time into it, didn't care for the skill system.

FF3 - DS port - didn't care for the battle sequences. All FFs after 9 suffer this fate, where battling even minions takes too damn long. Quit playing it by the time I hit the 2nd crystal.

FF4 - SNES(US) - Super easy for me to play as a 10 year old. I loved the story, and even though I realize it's pretty hammy now, had some good sequences. Game had a significant exploration portion, but it suffered in the dungeon department, which started getting pretty linear.

FF4 - DS - Difficulty cranked up, and the battles are fairly well done. I don't care for the whole new game+ thing, seems like a mcguffin to get people to replay it over. Best 3d conversion of FF to date.

FF5 - PS2 - honestly haven't put enough time into this one to comment, never owned it.

FF6(3) - SNES(US) - Loved this game to death, still do. Epic plot, combat is extremely fluid, lots of neat treasures hiding everywhere, lots of easter eggs. My personal favorite. Major game bug though, in that Evade didn't work at ALL in the manufactured rom, but most people didn't really notice.

FF7 - PC - Yup, PC port player, played it on my dads laptop that would overheat after 20 minutes of play. Put it on an Ice pack. Overall, I liked the game, especially once I got out of Midgar. Never beat it, mostly because I reached 2nd form Seph, died, and never bothered trying again. Didn't both getting any of the Master Materia, so I basically just played the straight game.

FF8 - PS2 - looked neat, however, didn't put in enough time to make a judgement.

FF9 - PS2 - I feel this is a low point in FFs. While the game is accessible, this is when the design side of things started getting weird. I really couldn't get attached to characters. Combat was AWESOME though, definitely improved on FF7's system. I could tell I was being railroaded though, even with the world map. I was playing under a time crunch on this one, didn't give me a chance to properly explore.

FF10 - PS2 - didn't play much, can't comment on story. Looked pretty, grid system was alright. Didn't like the railroading.

FF11 - PC - yes! I've played this one. Has a great story, and while it is an mmo, it's one of the few that really pushes party play from early on, which is what kicked me off of it. Because of how long it's been running (it's still going!) development continues to improve the game.

FF12 - didn't play this one

FF13 - Railroading hoooo! Battle system was different, but not bad. However, you couldn't choose your fights. You had a set of fights you had to do, every time, until about 25 hours into the game. It's like predetermined, _until_ you reach the end. Hate Hate Hate. Graphically pretty, plot was cliche, but not horrid.

overall - I personally favor gameplay over plot, so things that reward exploration of both the combat system and map make me happier. A good plot is a bonus.

I have a soft spot for FF NES, mostly as a respect of when it was designed and what it was doing. It's still a brutal game, where any fight can take you out if you're not prepared, and if you burn your magic early, it costs you big time. Or running into a pack of 9 cocktrices that petrify your entire party after you just killed off the vampire and realized you had to fight your way back out of the earth dungeon because you were blocked and had no remedy spells. There was no "exit" spell back then to just get out. Or encountering the hall of giants for the first time. Or finding one of several trapped monster chests, with ultra hard monsters. Or crossing the bridge in the sky tower and encountering War Machine (00.001% spawn chance), who just nukes your entire party in one shot if he feels like it, and is tougher than the final boss.

And the final boss himself gets special mention. Because he has all your level 9 spells. And he doesn't have a limit on how often he can cast. So you're basically playing the lottery and racing against time before your own spells run out.

[alrubedo]

I'm not going to lie and say I've enjoyed every Final Fantasy that's released to date. I've enjoyed them in various degrees, some less than others, and some not at all.

FF1 - The challenge alone pushed me through the game, and I didn't use a team of white mages like I've heard other people doing. I set out to have a well rounded team and, despite my arse being handed to me on and off again, I enjoyed it UP UNTIL I could freely explore the game. This didn't really take the wind from my sails until I just stopped caring about the outcome of the game. I wasn't invested above grinding and overcoming all obstacles, which I know is the point for RPGs to a large extent, but this one just bored me after so long. I also want to note I played the Anniversary Edition on the PSP and the Final Fantasy Origins version, too.

FF2 - I didn't get very far into this game for reason large reason and that was the Saga Frontier like status gains. I found loopholes that made it manageable but I largely felt like I had to carefully mold my characters into what I wanted them to be, and even then, I had no real knowledge of their capabilities overall. The story? Well, I'm a man that enjoys political intrigue as much as the next but this story didn't have it out for me. Like with FFI, I played both the PSP and the Origin versions.

FF3 - Dear god, what to say about this. I rather enjoyed the way you could completely overpower your classes, and the story, well...like the next game I'll talk about, just took a large hit in the villain department. Most of the game felt like I was trekking for some greater purpose only to fight...the goddess of darkness, or some nonsense? Okay, sure. I'll bite. But when a game PUNISHES YOU for not taking out four crystals that maintain her power, what the hell? Either way, I enjoyed it slightly more so than the first two.

FF4 - I managed to snag the Complete Collection version for my PSP and relieved what I had played from the Playstation version, and oddly enough, I liked Cecil and Kain's story, but felt that overall, the 'cast' that were my party members just outright sucked. Rydia and Edge where useful, if trained, and Rosa? Well, she was largely useless except for healing, and even then, I wish that I had option on who to use for healing. I never made it through the After Years or the middle bit, because it felt rushed and was unnecessarily hard. But I did appreciate them letting me see their lives after the main game, so kudos on that.

FF5 - The grind. THE. GRIND. I was over leveled and under classed much of the time because of the steep cost it required to rank up one class, and even then, some of the abilities weren't worth the effort. I've yet to finish this game, and I probably never will because upon entering the second world, I stopped caring.

I'd like to point out that I enjoyed FF4 and FF5's music, as well as FF2. Side note.

FF6 - This game started me on the FF franchise. I played it on the SNES and thoroughly enjoyed it, even if I didn't understand much of what I was doing then. When I replayed it on the Playstation, loading times be damned, I still enjoyed it. It was mainly for the music and the world itself, but more over...Kefka. Unlike other villains from the franchise, he actually MANAGED to do what he said he'd do, and that was to reshape the world to his likeness. I won't go on to be a fanboy, though, because they could've used more character back story, a little more than polish on some parts of the game, such as explaining why we needed to do something other than, "just because".

FF7 - I liked the music, the combat, and the overall presentation. The Materia AP grind eventually grew weary but despite that, I couldn't get into this game all too much even though I finished it because of Seperioth. I know, I know, he's the baddest of bad asses...if you like momma's boys crying about their mother and doing their dead mother's bidding. He often times just came off a pest that threw stuff at you and then squawked about how much he disliked you for some odd reason, and the 'final' battle was fixed and almost a slap in the face to people like me who truly invested in trying to power up. So, flame on me for hating Seph, but he's nothing compared to Kefka. He might be more rational, but he's so...infantile.

FF8 - The music and the Junction/GF system really sucked me into this one. To strike a balance between magic use and physical combat as well as the array of useful GF Abilities that could be used made me feel like this was perhaps one of the more customizable Final Fantasy games. Sure, the characters eventually grew dull, and some parts of the game seemed poorly writ, and the final fight was just...lack luster. But all in all, it's not so bad, as many people say. It has it's weak points.

FF9 - Okay, maybe this is just me, but I really enjoyed this one. From the music, to the abilities (who's grind wasn't nearly as tedious as FF5, or FF7) to the characters (except Quina...), I sunk into it and followed along. Until the final boss. Who, what, why, and for why the hell should I even CARE about what that thing is!? They not once really mentioned it, and I could've swore Kuja was final baddy, but no, they proved me wrong. And yeah, sometimes the humor and writing felt campy and cartoonish, but it's presentation was a little more well paced than other games.

FF10 - I think people have already said what I want to say about the Blitzball, the traveling, the voice acting, and that...GOD AWFUL spheregrid. But, despite it being clunky, it allowed you to over power all your characters which made me use all of them in turn at some point. The story...by way of FF10 and 10-2...Some of the weakest writing, but not the absolute worst. And the music was one of the games better points but I felt it was just too different for it's own good.

FF12 - Never finished it because I became too wrapped up in hunting, but I loved the music and the world itself, and only a few characters ever truly irked me. The combat took some getting used to, and I never saw where the Gambit system worked like it should've, even when I set up my characters how I wanted them to work. Eventually I was handling the restoration and attacking, too, while they mainly helped kill off enemies.

FF13 - This game can go die in a fire. I bought it when it was only $20 and told myself to 'try' and like the game in some way, but here's what happened:

1 - The Upgrading: For the love of me, I could not understand why Square decided to LIMIT me on how strong I could be. Even after I trained in Gran Pulse (yes, I made it that far despite several rage quits), and the equipment felt so...unimportant.

2 - The Characters: Stoic soldier? Check. Token black fellow? Check. Optimistic pugilist? Check. Whinny child? Check. Amy Winehouse? Check. Amy's slightly special younger sister? Check. And to wrap it up? The baby chocobo. In the grand scheme of things, I didn't care ONE IOTA about these people. I especially cared less for Hope and Lightning, and Fang, like I said, reminded me of Winehouse. The game required you to read a compendium of information to figure things out, and that's just poor story telling.

3 - The story: There was one? From what I saw, it was a group of misfits who couldn't work together to save much of anything, and they fought against...gods like beings who control aspects of life? Pass.

And I'd like to point that I spent a week grinding in Gran Pulse, getting the best equipment I could, and tweaking my abilities to maximum (that they'd allow) and when I progressed to the final area of the game I was FLOORED by almost every Behemoth I faced. At that point I stopped caring, stopped playing, and quit the franchise.

And the music was too new age for me.

But on a whole - the franchise's different entries offer something new in each one, sometimes less exciting than the last, sometimes more. It's all in the approach, I suppose. I tackled each game wanting to enjoy it's entirety, but wound up finding something I didn't like. I guess that's why I favored games like Chrono Trigger and Legend of Mana after awhile - I enjoyed them to no end.

Edited May 16, 2013 by alrubedo

[Sixto]

i dont hate the older ff games but it is harder for me to like them. been playing ff1 on my vita (from ff origins) and its pretty hard but i am enjoying it. didnt enjoy the nes rom, though. felt like the same difficulty but the origins version has way better graphics and music.

ff2 i havent gotten to yet.

i played ff3 for a bit on ds, which i assume is the same version i now have in my vita, and it was pretty fun but obviously not the original version. i prefer updated remakes anyway.

i played ff4 on vita for about 30 minutes and it was okay, i guess. i will give it another go eventually, but i dont enjoy it (or any older ff game) as much as i enjoy dragon quest games.

ff5, i think i remember playing a rom of it when i was in high school. i had a member in my party that had some kind of sea dragon? i got as far as the dragon dying or somewhere around there. it was ok.

ff6 i actually JUST started on my vita and it seems promising, but we'll see.

ff7 i never played but i remember watching my friend playing it when it came out way back when. even then i remember asking him why the sound effects sounded so dated. anyway, i know everyone loves ff7 but i'll never touch it unless there's some kind of awesome remake.

i know nothing about ff8 or ff9.

ff10 i did own on ps2 and remember enjoying it for the most part except for some really strange voice acting moments. i got as far as uhhh...well, i had to climb this snow mountain or something and fight a boss at the top. lost the boss fight and was kicked all the way down to the bottom of the mountain. f that. never played it again. but i probably will get the hd remake for vita.

ff10-2 i didnt play but i watched a friend play it and it looked pretty enjoyable. will be getting that hd remake as well.

ff11 i loooooved playing. so much. and i really miss it. i started playing when it was released and played for maybe 5 or 6 years then decided to quit. obviously i kept going back after new expansions and whatnot, but it was never really the same. it got too easy, especially now, and most of the great people i met early on were gone by now.

ff12 i never tried and dont know much about it.

ff13 i really loved. battle system was pretty cool and i really liked the music. big giant bosses, incredible cutscenes, a guy with a fro that houses a chocobo chick...so good.

ff13-2, same thing. loved it. especially going through time and changing things. definitely going to get the new lightning game.

ff14, well...let's hope the new version is good.

[Wiesty]

FF7>FF6>FF8>FF4>FFXI

Those are my top 5. Then again, its all personal.

[nOkbient]

FF9 in my opinion is the closest to being perfect. The music is the best in the series, even being claimed to be his best work by composer Nobuo Uematsu. Story is fantastic. Weird dialog is nearly nonexistant. Pre-rendered cutscenes are few, and only happen occasionally, making you exited to see a new one as opposed to them being the majority of the game. Characters have life and you actually get attatched to them. And to top it all off, the game is just beautiful: hand painted backgrounds, clever sound design, fantastic atmosphere... Seriously, if you havn't played it, DO!

Now, many people, sadly, haven't played this game. That's because that it came out just as the PS2 came in to existance. Much like Okami and the PS3. Occasionally people say they don't like this game either, which I don't really think is justified. From what I've heard, the reasons why people don't like the game are few: they didn't like the random bosses (such as the last boss, which was admittedly a bit strange), they hated the old combat style (which I don't have a problem with unless you're in a hurry), OR they didn't like the art style. I can't understand why. Some people say the game isn't as serious, but that's totally wrong; the beginning isn't (on purpose), to make the conflict seem much less serious and big as it really is. Once you get into the game though, and learn more about the story, the game takes a really serious turn. The game also used textures for the characters, which look pixelated at a distance, but look great up close. I just can't understand why people don't like it. Way better than 7 if you ask me...

[Mirby]

FF9 in my opinion is the closest to being perfect. The music is the best in the series, even being claimed to be his best work by composer Nobuo Uematsu. Story is fantastic. Weird dialog is nearly nonexistant. Pre-rendered cutscenes are few, and only happen occasionally, making you exited to see a new one as opposed to them being the majority of the game. Characters have life and you actually get attatched to them. And to top it all off, the game is just beautiful: hand painted backgrounds, clever sound design, fantastic atmosphere... Seriously, if you havn't played it, DO!

Now, many people, sadly, haven't played this game. That's because that it came out just as the PS2 came in to existance. Much like Okami and the PS3. Occasionally people say they don't like this game either, which I don't really think is justified. From what I've heard, the reasons why people don't like the game are few: they didn't like the random bosses (such as the last boss, which was admittedly a bit strange), they hated the old combat style (which I don't have a problem with unless you're in a hurry), OR they didn't like the art style. I can't understand why. Some people say the game isn't as serious, but that's totally wrong; the beginning isn't (on purpose), to make the conflict seem much less serious and big as it really is. Once you get into the game though, and learn more about the story, the game takes a really serious turn. The game also used textures for the characters, which look pixelated at a distance, but look great up close. I just can't understand why people don't like it. Way better than 7 if you ask me...

You forgot to mention the part where Hironobu Sakaguchi said "Final Fantasy IX is closest to my ideal view of Final Fantasy."

[Salluz]

I should get crucified because I haven't played barely through any Final Fantasy game. 7 was choppy but I enjoyed it.

[Cash]

ff13 i really loved. battle system was pretty cool and i really liked the music. big giant bosses, incredible cutscenes, a guy with a fro that houses a chocobo chick...so good.

Take it from here, Luke.

In all seriousness, I did actually enjoy the battles once the game progressed enough. Still didn't like the game though.

[Calpis]

I will say that while I did enjoy FFIX up until the end. The last boss made no sense and kinda turned me off to the whole game. I finished the game once with no play-throughs. Might go back to it some day.

Regarding FFXIII, I'm glad that my friend brought it over before I was about to buy it. The characters were annoying and I didn't like the lack of open areas to explore. I've been kinda off the FF bandwagon ever since they removed world maps in FFX. I played XII a bit. Liked it but lost interest a little more than halfway through.

[Faustt]

In all seriousness, I did actually enjoy the battles once the game progressed enough. Still didn't like the game though.

The battle system is pretty much the only reason I finished this game. It takes around 20 hours until the fighting feels good though.

[Ptazza]

The battle system is pretty much the only reason I finished this game. It takes around 20 hours until the fighting feels good though.

I don't get where all the praise for the battle system comes from. There's nothing worth grinding for equipment-wise to justify the fights, the battle system is repetitively choosing auto-battle for most of it.

It's especially apparent in Eidoleon battles, the battle is decided before you even begin based on what paradigms you use. The most control I ever felt I had over the battle was when I manually chose buffs because the synergist autobattle applies needless buffs in the wrong order. Everything else....is X

[relyanCe]

I don't get where all the praise for the battle system comes from. There's nothing worth grinding for equipment-wise to justify the fights, the battle system is repetitively choosing auto-battle for most of it.

It's especially apparent in Eidoleon battles, the battle is decided before you even begin based on what paradigms you use. The most control I ever felt I had over the battle was when I manually chose buffs because the synergist autobattle applies needless buffs in the wrong order. Everything else....is X

I really don't mean this to sound offensive or pejorative but it really sounds to me like you were just really bad at the game

seriously no hate

[Ptazza]

I really don't mean this to sound offensive or pejorative but it really sounds to me like you were just really bad at the game

seriously no hate

Hahaha no worries because I found the game easy because it was just pressing X.

I think I had trouble with......well aside from the things you aren't meant to fight till post game like Longhui....the one fight with the Adamanchild you are forced into and maybe Proud Clod.

It was real easy. Just L1 and X and you are sorted.

It's like....mashing 'Attack' in a game is something I'd expect late-game for grinding or sidequesting, revisiting areas where I was more powerful. Like in FFIV on DS I used the auto-attack function to grind once I was comfortable.

An that's ok for grinding, it gets what is otherwise a repetitive task over with quickly, it makes a mockery of any kind of 'combat' since you pay little to no attention to it but it's not important because it's not a challenge at that point.

That's what XIII felt like all the time to me. A battle system I didn't really have to engage with.

[EC2151]

No, that's pretty spot-on as to why the battle system in XIII is lousy.

[Faustt]

Eh, I thought it was fun at least. I liked being able to change your roles instantly to suit the situation. See a big swing coming that's going to hit your whole party? Pop everyone into sentinel and shrug it off. If you missed your chance you can switch into sentinel/medic/medic party and heal up quickly.

I would usually control a ravager and pick my spells according to weaknesses to drive up the enemies break bar quickly (forgot what that thing is called honestly) then switch to commando to launch them into the air and do massive damage while they are stunned. I would execute moves before the ATB bar is full if I know it'll send the enemy over the edge of a break too. I never felt bored with it after all the roles were opened up.

That said I'm pretty sure you could always just auto battle and be fine the majority of the time. However the game gives you all the tools to make the fighting fast paced, dynamic, and challenging if you push the system. Just my two cents.

Anyway, back on topic. Not a lot of people have mentioned any spin off series. For some reason I liked Mystic Quest. It's terribly easy and fairly short, but has some great tracks in it. I don't think I ever legitimately took down the final boss without cheesing him down with heal.

[alrubedo]

I've played Mystic Quest! I bought it (or namely, my parents did) when a video store nearby went out of business when I was young. All I knew is it had "Final Fantasy" attached to it so I started playing it...

And dear god was I disappointed in some ways but in other ways somehow overjoyed at how different it was from FF3(6). The game was dreadfully easy, though. Right true, that.

What about those grind happy gameboy titles?? Did anyone happen to pick those buggers up? I played Final Fantasy II on the gameboy (at least I think that's what it was - it's all a blur) but I died...so hard...so fast..

Eh, I thought it was fun at least. I liked being able to change your roles instantly to suit the situation. See a big swing coming that's going to hit your whole party? Pop everyone into sentinel and shrug it off. If you missed your chance you can switch into sentinel/medic/medic party and heal up quickly.

I would usually control a ravager and pick my spells according to weaknesses to drive up the enemies break bar quickly (forgot what that thing is called honestly) then switch to commando to launch them into the air and do massive damage while they are stunned. I would execute moves before the ATB bar is full if I know it'll send the enemy over the edge of a break too. I never felt bored with it after all the roles were opened up.

That said I'm pretty sure you could always just auto battle and be fine the majority of the time. However the game gives you all the tools to make the fighting fast paced, dynamic, and challenging if you push the system. Just my two cents.

Anyway, back on topic. Not a lot of people have mentioned any spin off series. For some reason I liked Mystic Quest. It's terribly easy and fairly short, but has some great tracks in it. I don't think I ever legitimately took down the final boss without cheesing him down with heal.

[Thornquist]

"Nostalgic glasses" are an overused term IMO.

There might be a strong possibility that some persons (even the majority) prefer the old, because they get more enjoyment out of them.

I played FF7 for the first time 2 years ago, and i prefered it much more than the newest games. My newphew prefered Ocarina of Time over Skyward Sword.

Point beeing, maybe the old games are simply better.

Not that I've been playing that much Final Fantasy. I've only completed VI, VII & X. Still, Ive learned most of the plots, and stories of all of them.

Still, nothing beats FFVI in my eyes, I just love everything about that game to bits. Someone said something about Chrono Trigger having better pacing, and I agree. Still though, once you get sucked into the world and characters of FFVI it really sticks with you.

Still though, I would recommend people playing the Chrono games before trying most of Final Fantasy games - with the exception of FFVI.