CoN 25th Anniversary: 1997-2022
Favorite Final Fantasy Era

 
From which era do you most enjoy playing?
The NES era (I,II,III) [ 0 ]  [0.00%]
The SNES era (IV,V,VI) [ 7 ]  [58.33%]
The early 3D era (VII, VIII, IX) [ 5 ]  [41.67%]
The realism era (X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, etc.) [ 0 ]  [0.00%]
Whichever one is newest [ 0 ]  [0.00%]
Total Votes: 12
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Posted: 6th April 2015 04:16

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Engineer
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It's no secret that not everyone always prefers the latest games. But how many people will choose FF3 over FF7, or FF5 over FF10? And why do you prefer the era you do? Some just like the latest games for the graphics; other might happen to prefer the gameplay. Some like the story focus of the later games, but would rather the more classy stories in IV and V. Some don't like where later games have gone, while others find the older games dull. Some, too, are just nostalgic for the classics.

My favorite is definitely the SNES era. It was in these games that Final Fantasy began to focus more on story. I don't dislike the stories of later games, but I prefer the 16-bit games for how much is left to the player to imagine. The early 3D era is probably my least favorite; too little is left to interpretation to feel like a book, but the graphics were not yet advanced enough to feel like a movie. The stories themselves were good, but the presentation was not my preference.

The gameplay, too-- the Materia system in FF7 is a nice one, but I preferred the older games. I understand that VIII and IX used different game tactics, but I will always prefer the class-based system of magics and skills, where every class has a set role; where the strengths and weaknesses are so great that a caster can't fight and a fighter can't cast, and more careful tactics must be applied.

Others have different preferences, too, and I always love to hear what my fellow Cavers have to say. flag-red.gif
Post #208467
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Posted: 6th April 2015 23:50
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Behemoth
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Sniggity sniggity SNES 4 LIEF YO!!!

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Posted: 7th April 2015 01:47

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Dude on a Walrus
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I think it's a little unfair or reductive to have FFX through FF XV (roughly 15 years across 3 generations of consoles) as a single era, but whatever. I'd pick the PS1 era anyhow. FF Tactics is tied for my favorite FF with FF VI, and I think that VII and IX are stronger than IV and V.

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Posted: 7th April 2015 04:25

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Behemoth
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I think you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who's a bigger fan of FFVI. With that being said, I think it's obviously the PS1 era that's the best, even if you just look at the main series and not Tactics. My second and third favorite main series titles are IX and VII, respectively, and I think that VIII is underrated (at least once you get past Squall as a main character, and I use "character" lightly, ugh, anyways). What more can you ask for from an era? You have in VII an ambitious, groundbreaking game that stumbled at times but provided the 3D blueprint as well as many memorable moments. In VIII you had a flawed "middle child" with a lot of rough, but with a little bit of diamond at its center. And in IX, you had a grand adventure with the production team working with mastered late-PS1 technology.

I personally view VI-X to be FF's golden age, so the center of that golden age was the PS1 era.

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Posted: 7th April 2015 06:17
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Behemoth
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Quote (laszlow @ 6th April 2015 18:47)
I think it's a little unfair or reductive to have FFX through FF XV (roughly 15 years across 3 generations of consoles) as a single era, but whatever.

It's not the least bit unfair, but calling it the 'realism' era is absolutely hilarious.

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Posted: 7th April 2015 06:42

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Quote (Narratorway @ 7th April 2015 01:17)
Quote (laszlow @ 6th April 2015 18:47)
I think it's a little unfair or reductive to have FFX through FF XV (roughly 15 years across 3 generations of consoles) as a single era, but whatever.

It's not the least bit unfair, but calling it the 'realism' era is absolutely hilarious.

I think I agree with both of these statements...

I really didn't know how to differentiate the PS2 and PS3 eras, and the PS3 and PS4 seem even more similar. I also had no idea what to call the whole thing... I mean, what, the mind-blowing graphics era? That was kind of every game, at least for the time. So I was like "WHATEVER IT'S THE REALISM ERA" and went with that. It was late.
Post #208473
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Posted: 7th April 2015 19:04

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Quote (RavenLalonde @ 7th April 2015 02:42)
Quote (Narratorway @ 7th April 2015 01:17)
Quote (laszlow @ 6th April 2015 18:47)
I think it's a little unfair or reductive to have FFX through FF XV (roughly 15 years across 3 generations of consoles) as a single era, but whatever.

It's not the least bit unfair, but calling it the 'realism' era is absolutely hilarious.

I think I agree with both of these statements...

I really didn't know how to differentiate the PS2 and PS3 eras, and the PS3 and PS4 seem even more similar. I also had no idea what to call the whole thing... I mean, what, the mind-blowing graphics era? That was kind of every game, at least for the time. So I was like "WHATEVER IT'S THE REALISM ERA" and went with that. It was late.

I think that FF works out well to just judge it by system or console generation:

I - III NES
IV - VI SNES
VII - IX PS1
X - XII PS2
XIII - XIV PS3/360

It works pretty well through that set-up.

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Posted: 8th April 2015 02:27

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That definitely would have made the most sense, but it was late. rolleyes-straight.gif
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Posted: 8th April 2015 11:23

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Maniacal Clown
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My favorite aesthetic is the sprite-based look used in the 2D SNES, PS1, GBA, and DS games. As such, I voted for the SNES era.

Also, you're asking this on a message board named after an FFVI location, so you'll get a somewhat biased answer. tongue.gif

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 8th April 2015 11:23

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Posted: 8th April 2015 12:28

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With FFIV and FFVI being not only my favorite games in the series, but of all time, it's obvious which one I was going to pick.

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Post #208482
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Posted: 8th April 2015 17:27

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Totes Adorbs
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The debate over what games fall into what era, what the eras should be called, etc. etc. just reminds me of why explicitly defining genres and polls is so often an exercise in frustration, heh. It also messes a bit with the idea of any of the remakes, of course - I kind of like the "GBA Era" because it has fun versions of FF1, FF5, and FF6, for instance.

But, these things are what they are, you can nitpick for ages. Just like most folks, I would probably have to go for the SNES era, because regardless of what this site is called or what people think of me running it, I consider those games to be the best. I'd actually follow it closely with the modern era, though, because I still love the 13 series and am pretty interested in 15's potential.



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Posted: 9th April 2015 04:52

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I'll have to say the PS1 era of Final Fantasy games is my favorite because before Final Fantasy X and PS2 came out those were the games that introduced me to the series and definitely played the most growing up. IX is my favorite Final Fantasy game hands down so I didn't even need to think twice.

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Posted: 9th April 2015 22:27

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I voted with the PSX era myself -- though it pained me to not vote for the era including FFX, which is my favorite title in the series. That said, I do really enjoy all three of the PSX titles.

Though that last era is, as people have pointed out, super long, it does have some accuracy involved. FFXI and FFXIV, for almost everyone on this site, are irrelevant to the vote just because we tend not to play them here. FFX and FFXII were on the same system, so that's logical enough; that just leaves FFXIII, which of all the games, feels closest to FFX in structure of narrative/geographic progression. I enjoyed all three of those titles as well, which made me considering throwing my vote there. On average, though, I probably like the PSX titles just a bit better.

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Posted: 15th April 2015 21:07

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I think XIII was the first one I played that I didn't like, so this poll was a tricky decision for me, but I have always appreciated innovation. I played the SNES titlesasachild and loved them, but when I saw VII in its demo version in 1997 I was in stupified awe at it I remember how much depth it had to it and how different it was from the previous titles. So my vote went there. Though I really loved IV and X near equally for their own reasons I had to give this one to the early 3D era.

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