Are the Final Fantasy Series games Beginner RPGs?

[Falksi]

As the topic says, do you think that the Final Fantasy Series of games are beginner RPGs?

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Most JRPGs are mechanically simple and would be good beginner RPGs (excluding stuff like SaGA), but FF has high enough production values to appeal to normies (aesthetics, presentation, music, etc).

 

[Hobo Elf]

Yes.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

More like the AAA garbage of the genre, always style over substance. I have never finished a game of the series and have finished a lot of garbage from Compile Heart that you never heard about but that company at least has interesting ideas they just fail in the execution. Sometimes they also make shit convoluted for the sake of it, see FFXIII. A much better beginner JRPG would be Dragon Quest which are relatively simple game but everything is executed masterfully and even the first one still holds up today even if it pre dates FF by a year.

I guess if they are used to play Soyny cinematic garbage you should introduce them to FF, it worked with FF VII which is a shit game but it had 3d and high production values so normalfags latched into the genre then.

 

[Disciple]

The series got progressively easier with time, at least up to FFX. If you don't look up any guides, use save states or grind like a madman, the three NES games are definitely not easy, especially the third one with its long dungeons toward the end devoid of any save points.

 

[flyingjohn]

I have never finished a game of the series and have finished a lot of garbage from Compile Heart that you never heard about but that company at least has interesting ideas they just fail in the execution.

I am interested in these "interesting" ideas.
To me Compile was always just mediocre to bad minus the Neptunia series.

 

[Lemming42]

They're jRPGs, you just walk forward until the screen blurs and then you're assigned one of the area's random battles. You beat it and walk forward another step and do it again. Sometimes you have to drink a mana potion or use a tent, and sometimes you open a chest that has a slightly better sword in it. Toddlers can and do play these games. If you ever get stuck at any point, the solution is to walk one tile to the left and one tile to the right until more enemies show up, and do that until numbers go up on the screen and render you unstoppable.

I used to be a big fan of the whole series up to and including IX, but these days you couldn't pay me to play them. Honestly I think the best ones might be the first three, since they don't stall you every three seconds to force a nonsensical plot on you. It's just walking around dungeons getting into fights and listening to the soundtracks, which is what all of them are about anyway, the later ones just have a hell of a lot of window dressing.

Don't play any of them without a good fast-forward button, of course.

 

[S.torch]

Most of the answers in this threads are useless. But on the other hand, I find the question strange. It gives little information on what it wants.

If what you want is a introduction to RPGs in general, yes.
If what you want is a introduction to JRPGs, the answer is still yes.
If you're talking about showing these games to a kid, that depends on the FF you're going for.

In any case, FF is a great series and you hardly can go wrong with it.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

I have never finished a game of the series and have finished a lot of garbage from Compile Heart that you never heard about but that company at least has interesting ideas they just fail in the execution.

I aim interested in these "interesting" ideas.
To me Compile was always just mediocre to bad minus the Neptunia series.

Have you played Breath Of Fire IV? I think that was the one that had a really cool combo system, the problem is that the game is too fucking easy to exploit it, that's every fucking compile heart game. One of the obscure ones that had interesting gameplay mechanics is Fairy Fencer F, it also has multiple endings which are really cool and there's not a lot of JRPG that let you go with the evil route or is not treated like a joke, the only one i can think of right now is soul nomad. Heard that Hyperdimension Neptunia 2 does something similar but haven't played the series yet, doesn't really appeal to me but it's probably the series that the company is more well known for.

 

[Machocruz]

I remember reading somewhere that those games, and JRPGs generally, are intended for kids in Japan. Adults don't get into games like this, it's almost a taboo.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

I remember reading somewhere that those games, and JRPGs generally, are intended for kids in Japan. Adults don't get into games like this, it's almost a taboo.

Adults play gacha and women play puyo puyo style of games. Also Dragon Quest when they come out that's why the law says they have to release on friday so people don't skip work.

 

[Thac0]

Depends on the game, FF I-IV are highly likely to filter a modern "gamer". VIII, XII, XIII have a good chance of not making said person wanna play another jrpg ever again. XV is more generic ubisoft game than rpg.
V-X, excluding VIII, however are good beginner rpgs.

 

[Paper]

Also Dragon Quest when they come out that's why the law says they have to release on friday so people don't skip work.

I don't know who made this shit up, it just keeps getting repeated, but that law doesn't exist

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Dragonquest 1 is considerably easier than FF1. DQ 2 is a bit of a pain but doable. DQ 3 was easier than 2. They seem simple enough imho. I place them up there with Phantsy Star or Lunar.

Things I liked to do in said games was see how far a party could go before they had to trigger some event. How open is it? What's locked up? Lunar has a huge fuckup where you can keep grinding on the first isle with Alex and go well beyond when he should be picking up dragonmaster spells. I can't recall what level i got him up to on the first isle but he got crap. I was still backhanding mobs to deth though, alone. I didn't pick up the other losers (or i left them dead).

 

[Jasede]

In the sense that they give a good general idea of a jrpg, sure. But the thing about the Final Fantasy series is that each tries to be very different from the others. That means they all have very different mechanics and difficulties so just because you've played one doesn't mean you have played a quintessential jrpg. That would probably be more of a dragon quest thing.

Look...

1 has you create a party, D&D style
2 has you using the TES use to get better system
3 gives you a job system
4 is a linear story driven game but the characters are unique
5 gives you a way more involved job system
6 gives you a huge array of characters but you can't customize them too much (but more than 4)
7 uses the materia system that you love or hate
8 has you suck spells from enemies and link them to your stats
9 has you learn skills based on the items you equip
10 uses a weird grid advancement board thing ...

The point is, since they all use different mechanics in their advancement they all feel pretty different. And they vary wildly in difficulty as well. For example, 4 in the original and especially in the DS remake are very challenging, 1-3 have brutal final dungeons (though the games themselves aren't a slouch either), and starting with 5 they all come with optional challenges.

If you'd want to pick a "intro to jrpg" just pick 6, it's the most quintessential (IMO).

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

In the sense that they give a good general idea of a jrpg, sure. But the thing about the Final Fantasy series is that each tries to be very different from the others. That means they all have very different mechanics and difficulties so just because you've played one doesn't mean you have played a quintessential jrpg.

Final Fantasy is the series where every entry from IV through IX used the same "Active-Time Battle System" (and the turn-based combat in X and the first three wasn't much different), where every game from IV onwards has had a narrative focus on pre-generated characters, and where certain concepts such as chocobos make an appearance in almost every game after their creation.

There have been diverse, varied settings from VI onwards, but the game mechanics only "tried to be very different" in XII, XIII, and XV with disastrous results.

 

[Duraframe300]

In the sense that they give a good general idea of a jrpg, sure. But the thing about the Final Fantasy series is that each tries to be very different from the others. That means they all have very different mechanics and difficulties so just because you've played one doesn't mean you have played a quintessential jrpg.

Final Fantasy is the series where every entry from IV through IX used the same "Active-Time Battle System" (and the turn-based combat in X and the first three wasn't much different), where every game from IV onwards has had a narrative focus on pre-generated characters, and where certain concepts such as chocobos make an appearance in almost every game after their creation.

There have been diverse, varied settings from VI onwards, but the game mechanics only "tried to be very different" in XII, XIII, and XV with disastrous results.

XIII's basic game mechanics were a decent enough evolution of the ATB system tbh. Had more to do with how horrible it was executed/presented.

Unless you went for full stars every fight, the first potentially difficult fight was tens of hours in, in chapter 9.
At its best in end/postgame it was pretty fun, needing you to utilize jobs/status effects and ATB Management in an efficient manner.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Do your characters dance after each battle in each game? This seems to be a remnant of the Phantasie series where they dance jumped for joy after a battle (jap version phantasie IV I have no clue).

 

[Falksi]

To me all FF games are just recycled variants on the same formula - both in terms of gameplay and story - in one way or another. Not that there's anything wrong with that in isolation.

Only when the action elements came in at 15 do I consider the formula getting a big shake up.

 

[Doktor Best]

The jrpg genre was invented with the specific design purpose to make Wizardry accessible to kids (which is commendable).

So yeah.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

And now Japs own Wizardry I guess. Ubi owns MM, and EA has Ultima locked in a crypt.

Japanese company Drecom has acquired the copyrights, as well as the domestic and foreign trademark rights to the “Wizardry” intellectual property and will develop a new title in the series, the company announced.

I wouldn't have an issue if companies would recognize a good portion of the market isn't interested in moonspeak jap hieroglyphs and would appreciate readily available translations/versions.

Just about every translated game seems rushed. The worse offense is voice acting and never getting any english voice acting. "Oh look.... dubbing.... huzzah..... -.-! "

 

[Falksi]

And now Japs own Wizardry I guess. Ubi owns MM, and EA has Ultima locked in a crypt.

If only they could see the bigger picture. But they can't.

Because of their squinty eyes.

 

[Bigg Boss]

More like the AAA garbage of the genre, always style over substance. I have never finished a game of the series and have finished a lot of garbage from Compile Heart that you never heard about but that company at least has interesting ideas they just fail in the execution. Sometimes they also make shit convoluted for the sake of it, see FFXIII. A much better beginner JRPG would be Dragon Quest which are relatively simple game but everything is executed masterfully and even the first one still holds up today even if it pre dates FF by a year.

I guess if they are used to play Soyny cinematic garbage you should introduce them to FF, it worked with FF VII which is a shit game but it had 3d and high production values so normalfags latched into the genre then.

Person with Dragon Quest avatar prefers Dragon Quest! Autism! I'm not even mad I am impressed you can finish a Dragon Quest grindy game but somehow never finished one of the better Final Fantasy games like 5, 6, or Tactics. That being said should I play DQ 7?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Everyone should finish DQ2 on a NES.

 

[Bigg Boss]

I played the first one on a NES before I could even read. I have memories of asking my mom to translate and her eventually telling me I am too young to play it.