Tag Archives: Final Fantasy

13. Breaking Celes Out

A trend I’ve noticed with my entries so far is that I can’t help but compare Final Fantasy VI to previous games in the genre. But today, it’s in a good way. Dragon Warrior was the first I played, and you went the quest alone. You never faced more than one enemy per battle, and that eventually got stale. But Dragon Warrior II improved upon this, only having you start the game alone, forcing you to find allies. Sometimes you did run into multiple enemies, and the increase in strategy was welcome. Dragon Warrior IV played around with this as well, sometimes having you fight alone, sometimes with groups of 2, 3, or 4.

Final Fantasy VI plays around with this constantly, which is one of the reason the game doesn’t get stale for a long time. You begin the game with just a couple of people in your party, and it steadily grows. But there are several times where your group is forced to split up. The first time is after you go to the Returner’s Hideout. When I learned I’d be going to South Figaro alone with Locke, I was excited.

While there’s no battles you have to fight while alone, you certainly can. And you will almost certainly lose. The best strategy is to pull an Indiana Jones and find an enemy to help you blend in.

Continue reading 13. Breaking Celes Out

2. Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy III SNES Front Cover

Developer: Square
Publisher: Square
Year: 1994
Platform: SNES, GBA, Playstation, PS3, PSP, Wii, Android

I got this for Christmas shortly after it came out, but didn’t play it for two months as I also received Link to the Past. I think that easily qualifies as the most bang for buck Christmas ever as a child. Other than Tecmo Super Bowl, I have never spent more time playing a video game. While this no doubt  influenced the ranking, I can’t help but feel nothing but love for this game despite all of its obvious problems.

Continue reading 2. Final Fantasy VI

5. Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX PlayStation Front Cover

Developer: Square
Publisher: Square
Year: 2000
Platform: Playstation, PS3, PSP

The last RPG I played, I consumed it during a one-month period in 2011 when I was unemployed. I rejoined the workforce completely satisfied. Getting away from the futuristic, steampunk atmospheres from the previous two games, Square returned to its roots with classic characters and a classic battle system that is the most user-friendly since Final Fantasy IV.

Continue reading 5. Final Fantasy IX

7. Final Fantasy Legend II

Final Fantasy Legend II Game Boy Front Cover

Developer: Square
Publisher: Square
Year: 1991
Platform: Game Boy

It’s hard to say a game with a Final Fantasy name is unheralded, but in 1991, there had only been two games released in North America with the name.   Those two were the original game for the NES, and the dreadfully dull, long, and difficult first game in the Legend series. Square had yet to release Final Fantasy II in America (also, not much of a loss).  So the name in 1991 wasn’t an automatic gold mine. It wasn’t until IV and VI came out that RPGs became a huge thing in America, and then of course with VII things really exploded.

Despite hating the first game in the series, I loved RPGs and asked for this game anyway. And I’m very glad I did.

Continue reading 7. Final Fantasy Legend II

9. Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII PlayStation Front Cover

Developer: Square
Publisher: Square
Year: 1997
Platform: Playstation, PS3, PSP, Windows

I got this game for Windows shortly after it came out, but my computer wasn’t strong enough to handle it. So I returned it and bough a bunch of You Don’t Know Jack games. Yeah.

Anyway, I eventually borrowed this game from a friend and the Playstation from my brother and fell completely in love with the game. I’m a sucker for anti-heroes, and Cloud was a perfect character to express my teen angst. I’ve fallen out of love with it a little bit over the years due to the poor graphics and the poor final chapter of the game. Continue reading 9. Final Fantasy VII