I like all sorts of battle systems. There’s some nice perks to the battle systems they used in the likes of 15 and 16, but I really do love turn based combat and perhaps what I absolutely miss the most is control over my party members. Heck, I wish we could even just have a gambit system like 12 so that I can at least control my party member’s strategy, even if not them (though 12 also did let you take control of anyone – just it was too tedious to do for anything other than infrequent moments).
Most specifically, I’d love to see a battle system like 10 return. It was one of my favourite for battle systems. Sure, ATB is nice and perhaps the most Final Fantasy, but the dynamic turns of 10 was very cool. I also really liked that it let me take time to think and plan out my moves. I could take a look at how each possible move would affect the upcoming turns. The whole turn order was super strategic. Being able to see when your enemies would attack was a big part of that (I don’t recall any variant of ATB allowing that), because I could do stuff like “I have 3 turns before the enemy, so I can just press the attack instead of healing”. Actually, I dunno why 10’s battle system has never been used in any other game I’ve played (if you know any, lemme know!).
Personally, I don’t recommend this one (which is FF1). It’s a very old, fairly simple game. The characters and story aren’t much at all. It’s not like it’s bad in a vacuum, but there’s simply better games you can play, especially to start with.
FF10 is perhaps my favourite and a very popular fan favourite. If you want something a bit older (which can be useful for mobile support), FF6 is hands down the most popular of the 2D Final Fantasy games (and some would call it the best FF game).
Pretty much all the older main series games have been remastered in some form or another, some multiple times, and are available at a fair price. Most are available on PC and several have mobile versions (plus the older games emulate very well).
As an aside, I hate when games have limited save files and don’t miss how the PS1 memory cards could only store what felt like a dozen saves. I like to make a new save every few hours, just in case of any bullshit.
On the topic of such bullshit, the original Final Fantasy Tactics is the worst for that. Multiple places that can soft lock you due to unexpectedly difficulty battles. Difficulty level of that game was whack. It had some ludicrously overpowered characters that were basically not fun to use because they felt like cheating, but then it would also do stuff like throw you solo into difficult battles that required careful strategizing and a suitably strong build.
And I hate blizball.
Too far!
Naw, I get it. While it’s personally my favourite mini game in all the Final Fantasy games (triple triad has nothing on it), I can totally get it. It starts off really rough and it’s quite time consuming.
Ugh, ARR is horrible for that. It really is a good game after all that bullshit, but it doesn’t excuse the bullshit existing in the first place. Plus it’s so weird for Final Fantasy, a story driven RPG, to have so many low quality quests in the first place (both story and side quests). I can’t fault anyone not wanting to deal with that.
Best thing it has going for it is that the dungeons are really fun even when the story quests suck. But it’s been years since I’ve played and my knowledge may be stale. Someday I’ll go back, but no way I’ll start with a new character lol.
Story is really what I care about the most from RPGs, though I’m also a sucker for old school RPG battle systems. I’ve never heard of this or the studio, but reviews liken it to Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy, which is a very good look in my book.
It seems like an especially great year for gaming. I can’t remember the last time there was so many highly rated games coming out (and there’s still more to come – I’m most excited for Starfield).
Myself, I still see reddit when I’m googling for something (e.g., I used it yesterday to find where to go next in a game I was playing, as I was stuck and it seems many people got stuck in the same spot). Reddit is useful as an archive of information in that way and Lemmy isn’t active or searchable enough for that yet (plus I didn’t want to ask a question and wait – I wanted to get my answer immediately).
As well as to read discussions of stuff like the ending of a video game or movie. Again mostly because reddit has dozens of threads for basically every single video game, movie, TV, etc (including those that predate Lemmy). I love reading user discussion after I finish something. But I am trying to start conversations about that here, too. If anyone wants to discuss Horizon Burning Shores or Final Fantasy XVI, I made threads about them (which… I was gonna link to, but I can’t find – the posts section of my profile is empty and I can’t easily find them when searching…).
EDIT: the FFXVI post is https://lemm.ee/post/930728
While I’m a huge fangirl of the series, they are blatantly “JPRGy” and are always very full of the numerous JRPG tropes, which can definitely give a cliched feeling.
Admittedly, overly complicated isn’t a way I’d describe most of the games, but that definitely fits many of the more recent entries (especially 16). IMO, 7-10 and 12 are the peak Final Fantasy games. My personal favourites being 9 and 10. And even they have some cringe moments that I pretend don’t exist lol (for 9, everything involving Quina or Eiko; for 10, stuff like most of the outfits and the utterly bizarre laughing scene).