Best FF story/Worst FF story (spoilers)

[Clint]

I thought the story in XIII was pretty good. I never understood the criticism that game got. The story is very intriguing. Essentially God creates humans, and then creates creatures known as fal'Cie, in order to experiment with control and influence over humans. Limited by their nature, the fal'Cie choose humans to carry out missions for them, and those missions are pretty much a death sentence. If you don't complete your mission, you turn into a monster.

Then there's the whole thing about Fang and Vanille being weapons of Ragnarok, with the mission of destroying Cocoon. They end up doing that while at the same time, saving everybody on Cocoon, and saving Grand Pulse from being obliterated in the process. The story is confusing as shit, but if you can follow most of it, it's really cool by the end of the game.

The problems I had with XIII had nothing to do with either the characters or the story. I thought those two aspects of the game were well done.

I think the best plot in the series is VIII. It had interesting characters that were well developed, it had a mysterious time travel element, and there was even a part that took place in outer space. Time travel and outer space seals the deal. Those are two of the greatest story elements of all time. Also, you can fly a school.

The worst plots would have to be from the first two Final Fantasy games. They aren't bad games by any means, and their stories aren't very engrossing due to the era in video gaming that they were made, but era doesn't take away the fact that both have lackluster stories and characters. Final Fantasy III was also lackluster due to the same reasons, but it was an improvement from the previous two.

[Rowan]

I think the best plot in the series is VIII. It had interesting characters that were well developed, it had a mysterious time travel element, and there was even a part that took place in outer space. Time travel and outer space seals the deal. Those are two of the greatest story elements of all time. Also, you can fly a school.

You see, VIII would have had my vote but I couldn't reconcile the orphanage scene and ultimecia's motives. The rinoa time travel theory makes sense, but people dont like to acknowledge it.

[Clint]

You see, VIII would have had my vote but I couldn't reconcile the orphanage scene and ultimecia's motives. The rinoa time travel theory makes sense, but people dont like to acknowledge it.

I always figured Ultimecia had no motives. She's just out of her mind. She wants power, so she took control of the world and killed everybody. As for Ultimecia being Rinoa, it's not stated in the game, but it's strongly hinted, just as it's strongly hinted yet not stated that Laguna is Squall's father. There are clues to indicate that Ultimecia is Rinoa, and I figured this wouldn't even be disputed, because the clues aren't even subtle. They're obvious.

Ultimecia's castle is built at the site of the orphanage, where Squall said that she would be able to find him. Her summon is Griever, and is based after the pendant that Squall gave to Rinoa earlier in the story. When Squall first meets her, Ultimecia refers to him as her knight, and only becomes aggressive when Squall chooses to oppose her.

The one thing that always bothered me about FFVIII is that with all this time travel, is Squall truly changing the fate of the future, or just doing what he's done time and time again? If Ultimecia is a future version of Rinoa, what's to stop Rinoa from eventually becoming Rinoa and destroying the world? Killing her in the future changes nothing. I don't see the ending of FFVIII to be a very happy one. Sure, Rinoa finds Squall alive, and it seems like they're going to live happily ever after, but what happens if the sorceress powers re-emerge within Rinoa?

And the only ending that would have prevented the destruction of the world would have resulted in Rinoa's death in the present, which also wouldn't have been a happy ending. It's an interesting concept, and just proves how time travel is perplexing as all hell.