never played FF games before. how is it in relation 2 DD? i know it's turn-based & definitely the skill systems as well as stats are totally different. what else? make me impressed, people. make me wanna buy them all!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />
ok, so that was overblown. i like the CGs as well as the soundtrack of FF series & i happen 2 collect them as i find them on the net. they're ultra cool. & unique! that's number one in FF series, i guess.
First, if you don't have a console and only a PC, the only FFs available to you are FFVII and FFVIII -- sans emulators. I've only played these two, and will limit my analysis to them.
1. Adventure/action -- it doesn't play like a RPG. You don't have much say in how your characters develop. They are all on a set path. Neither VII nor VIII has an explicit "class," but it's fairly obvious which characters excel at melee or magic.
2. Godawful translation -- something - make that
a lot of things - is lost between the transition from Japanese to English. I know that an Asian language usually translates horribly to English, but there is no excuse for the sub-literature level of the language in FFVII-VIII. The vocabulary looks like that of a ten-years-old, and the grammar and punctuation are pitiful. Thus, most of the dialogue sounds absolutely trite and corny. Don't go in expecting something even half-decent, here. It's not. It's simply poor.
3. VII -- there are very few sub-quests. Most of the quests are part of the main storyline, so the game is very, very linear.
VIII -- I haven't finished it, and am losing interest fast. Nevertheless, there doesn't seem to be any sub-quest so far.
4. Godawful graphics -- it seems very obvious that there was very little thought or effort put into converting the games to PC versions. There are pixels -- large, obvious ones -- everywhere. And that, on
pre-rendered backgrounds. To note, though, the graphics in VII's combat mode is tolerable and, oddly enough, better than that of VIII's. VIII's cutscenes/CG are excellent, though. Right up there with Blizzard, believe it or not.
5. Gameplay -- again, it's obvious that little was done. Neither VII nor VIII supports a mouse. It's all about keyboard, and the interface still looks like it is in the PS. There are still "memory slots" for saving, for peanut's sake. Can we say, lazy programmers?
6. Combat -- is what Squaresoft elects to call "real-time turn-based" (oxymoron, eh?). It works. Of sorts. Each of your character takes turn doing his/her assigned command, and all the while, so do your opponents. They don't care if you've completed your turn or not. They do their things and you do yours. Not much strategy is needed. In FFVII, I just let my characters melee the common monsters and use big spells/summoned creatures against the bigger monsters. In FFVIII, well, I draw/cast spells and summon Guardian Force. The melee attack is, simply put, laughable. This applies for every character. Magic is always stronger in VIII.
Now, despite my long list of complaints, you'll be surprised that I actually like FFVII (VIII is another animal entirely). The story isn't particularly original, nor are the characters the likes of which you will see in literature. But it is enjoyable and cute. Shallow, but entertaining. Like junkfood, or pulp fictions such as Harry Potter, or comic books. It also has a... very interesting ending. Oh, and atmosphere. I find it to be immersive despite its horrible graphics. The combination of slightly corny midi's and a number of other things seems to have a special alchemy for me. FFVII isn't something I'll play twice, but I had a lot of fun while doing it for the first and only time.
FFVIII has a lot of pretty CGs. That's about the only good thing I'll say about it.
![[Linked Image from i3.photobucket.com]](https://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/tingtongtiaw/jang_sig.png)
