Best FF story/Worst FF story (spoilers)

[Rowan]

This needs to come from a technical point of view, not your personal feelings. You also need to explain why you like/dislike the storyline in whatever FF you think is the best/worst. Lets see how we do.

Best FF story; Final Fantasy X
No FF is without its flaws, but Final Fantasy X did a good job at keeping those to a minimum whilst maintaining an engrossing story with believable characters that I think a lot of us could relate to. Religion was used in this game in the very way its used in the real world; to manipulate and control people. Its theme of religion being used as a tool for evil was so heavily entwined in this story that I would even say the enemy in this case was 'god' itself. Defeating 'sin' was the only way people could reach salvation, but sin was something created by yevon itself, and most certainly not a burden to be carried by the population. teaching them this only lead to the sacrifice of summoners at the end of their pilgramage. Becuase of this religion, it even lead Yuna's closest friends to accept her death for a 'greater good'. This is how I relate to Tidus's feelings. It seems only an outsider could give true insite to the doctrinated population of Spira, that what was happening was wrong and had to stop. His feelings of frustrations from being the only person who saw things differently and being singled out for his thoughts and feelings towards what everyone considered normal, is something you should all be able to relate to on some level. People refer to him as a wimp etc, but I think a lot of people miss the point. He was a wimp as a kid, and he grows throughout the duration of the story. He shows great character development and deals with so many issues along the way its mind boggling how people ignore that. In summary, Killing god(yu-yevon) and living without fear of 'sin', is a beautiful concept.


Worst FF story; Final Fantasy XIII series
What a mess... Ill just start with the characters being very one dimensional and shallow. No growth whatsoever. The story also manages to somehow be oversimplified and overcomplicated at the same time. I know they are opposing ideas, but you'd know what I mean if you played through a story about trying to save lightnings sister and then 'everything else' along the way. I cannot even describe this to you. Ill let someone else since I doubt im the only one that feels this way.

[OutlawTorn]

FFX's story was weakest piece of shit in franchise history. It's flaws run from characters, combat, storyline, world size, secrets/easter eggs (almost non-existent), to lenth (shortest), and difficulty (easiest by a HUGE margin).

X is the mark the death of the Golden Era for FF.

[OutlawTorn]

That may have sounded harsh, but I harbor an epic disdain for 9&10. Those games ended me as a gamer. I haven't ANY Square games since I completed 10, at which point I thought I was getting to the good half, with real plot and possibly a time displacement I was SURE had to be coming.

I had a more compelling story than X.

X's characters were so dry, boring and forgettable I couldn't tell you half of their names. The mage could've not existed and the game would be no different. The goofy baller was a plot device with remarkably bland character. And Yuna had all the personality of a heroin junkie with a fresh poke mark.

[Rowan]

That may have sounded harsh, but I harbor an epic disdain for 9&10. Those games ended me as a gamer.

In all my years, I've never even heard anything like this before. You are a rare breed, bro. Lol.

[Kurt Zisa]

Not including FF's I - III (which were pretty light on story) and FFXIII (which I haven't looked more into since playing) I would say XII has the least impressive story. It's not that it's bad, I just don't feel that it was really present throughout the game. There are parts where you get a little bit of exposition in the form of a cutscene sandwiched between some really big dungeons or areas. I rememeber getting to Arcadia in my first playthrough and not really knowing why I was there or what was at the Draklor Laboratory.

In X the story is drilled into you pretty much from the get go but I feel XII's story is its weakest point. There's still lots that I love about it though.

It's hard to say which Final Fantasy has the best story imo. There are some great ones but none really have blown me away like other games have. Metal Gear Solid 3, for example.

[Coff9]

I think we can all agree that XIII's is the worst in the series. But if we don't count that... When I was younger, I didn't like X's very much, but it's grown on me since and I really like Yuna as a character. The music is nice and some of the cutscenes are very well done. The Al-Bhed language was a neat idea.

I wasn't a big fan of XII's very much. The only character I liked was Balthier and he didn't get a whole lot of screentime. The story was forgettable. Uh... what happens in it? Magicite? Something... I don't remember, haha.

I think the one with the best story would be 4 because it's stuck with me and I think about it often. I always thought that Cecil was a compelling character. Kain as well. 6 is a very close second, but it's very bleak. It's pretty wild though and also very memorable. The Opera scene is one of my favorites across the series.

[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.

[Rowan]

Thats where time compression is an important to understand. When we think of time in our dimension, it can only go forward, not back. If time is viewed from outside our dimension, it may be possible to manipulate past events and navigate through the timeline. Think of time as a physical realm that can be manipulated. I think this is what the point of time compression was, it allowed them to go into the future, then back to the past. Ultimecia controlled people from the past, from the future. This cycle was also shown after her defeat, by her giving her powers to Edea (matron). Its a very complex subject, but it can make sense if you try to connect the dots that are presented.

Unlike this psycho. She makes the dots, then connects them.

[Nyne11tyme]

I would have to say that VII is my personal favorite story. The heavy undertones of religion and political corruption were well infused into the story. The death of Aeris/Aerith is still one of the most memorable and saddening I've experienced to date. At the same time the game never took itself too seriously. I'm looking at you wall market and the Don The music is also quite memorable, I would maybe say IX is the pinnacle of the series imo. There were also some epic plot twists and plot peaks to keep you engaged throughout. Never truly knowing if Shinra or Sephiroth was the worst evil until after the assault on Midgar was fun. Losing cloud while Ultimate Weapon was terrorizing the planet was awesome. Tifa and Cloud...or Aeris and Cloud? I still can't decide how I would have wanted that to work out. Epic, climatic finale as well.

Toss up for worst story on my end. XII or yup..you guessed it XIII for me. XIII was just a largely different FF game, while not neccesarily a bad thing, it failed to engage me like previous entries. I also thought he protagonist, Vaan, to be among the weakest. I don't feel XIII needs much explanation....just a convoluted, poorly written mess.

[GoldieRPBoslem]

I think we can all agree that XIII's is the worst in the series. But if we don't count that... When I was younger, I didn't like X's very much, but it's grown on me since and I really like Yuna as a character. The music is nice and some of the cutscenes are very well done. The Al-Bhed language was a neat idea.

I wasn't a big fan of XII's very much. The only character I liked was Balthier and he didn't get a whole lot of screentime. The story was forgettable. Uh... what happens in it? Magicite? Something... I don't remember, haha.

I think the one with the best story would be 4 because it's stuck with me and I think about it often. I always thought that Cecil was a compelling character. Kain as well. 6 is a very close second, but it's very bleak. It's pretty wild though and also very memorable. The Opera scene is one of my favorites across the series.

I agree on 4 & 6, they were two of the absolute best. And 7 borrowed so heavily from 6, I'd say it's up there in the top two.
I would say XIII-2 had the worst story, or possibly X-2, but they were probably the two worst games overall.
Personally 9 is my favourite story, because it's the one I grew up playing. But I would say 6 is a close second, followed by 8 then 7.