Man, despite the absolute whoring of the Final Fantasy name since IX, I absolutely cannot wait for this. By the time its released it will have been three years since a normal, proper game in the main series has been released. Just hearing The Prelude and seeing the art is enough to make jump on the bed and kick my feet in the air with glee, or go running around in circles. Of course, seeing as how its named Final Fantasy, they had me at hello, but that’s NOT THE POINT! :p
FFX ranked up there with the original and FFIV as one of my favorites in the series. From the many places that reminded me of home (Besaido, Luca, Gagazett) to the beautiful soundtrack and the very touching story (minus Tidus) to the great kind of “Wizard of Oz” odd sense of fantasy tale around Yuna and her pilgrimage with a yellow-brick road style journey, I really enjoyed it. It is, easily, the best of the modern FFs and the one to integrate the cinematic movie flair the best. The trigger commands in battle, the totally revamped sphere grid, the extremely lovely ending (well, after the retarded confrontation with Jecht). The battle with the guardian of Yunalesca’s shrine, not to mention Yunalesca herself and the beast on Gagazett mountain, as well as the many battles with Shin and his offspring were some of the best boss battles ever in the series and did what Final Fantasy does best: offer some exciting, thrilling, mildly intelligent puzzley RPG design. The sphere grid and Blitzball took me hours and hours of good fun to get bored of. Seeing as how the uberlinearity didn’t bother me and the sidequest parts were more goofy typical Square design awkwardness, they were but small flaws (well that and Tidus). Good stuff. Very, very good stuff. Yuna’s story really appeals to me on a personal level (which is another reason while I’ll never buy the godawful FFX-2.)
But this, this, is just in another league. First of all, no Tidus (YAY!) and second, headed by Yasumi Matsuno, AKA The Man. This will be his second straight RPG since the sublime masterpiece Vagrant Story, but he’s no stranger to tactics, what with the fact that he headed the teams that produced Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and the Final Fantasy Tactics games. He’s known for his great sense of balance in each part of game design, for challenging and greatly advanced gameplay systems and extremely deep games.
Yeah, yeah, Dragon Quest is the better series, but FF’s definitely got its charms. Neither one is ever very far from my gaming heart.
Does anyone here like Final Fantasy games?
-Kitsune