A Green Mushroom

Final Fantasy IX is so good.  It easily takes the top spot in my list out of the Final Fantasy games I've played so far.  Based on my past playthroughs of the later entries in the series I'm fairly sure Final Fantasy IX will stay right near the top from this point forward.  Final Fantasy X may give it a run for it's money, but I don't think Final Fantasy XII or Final Fantasy XIII will top it. What makes it so good?  Lots. Final Fantasy IX has a fantastic character driven story.  The characters organically grow throughout the game and their growth directly impacts the story.  Every single playable character ends up a different person because of their actions and experiences in the course of the game.  This is a first for the series. Not only is the story character driven, but it unfolds in an organic manner that doesn't feel forced.  Characters come together and split apart for understandable reasons and the big "save the world" quest is...

Awesome Art from Abysswolf I love this game.  I usually find some things worth criticism by this point in my playthrough, but I barely have any complaints.  I have one, but it's minor.  I'll get to that in a bit. The story is so much more developed in Final Fantasy IX compared to the other games up to this point.  I'm fully invested in all the main characters.  I'm constantly interested in seeing what happens next.  There is real character growth and development.  The party splits up and comes back together organically and it gives the characters interesting plot points that diverge from each other.  I don't want to go into all the story details right now, but this is definitely my favorite Final Fantasy story up to this point in the series. My only complaint is the battle speed.  It's slow.  I talked about it in my initial impressions but the more I play through the game the more it bugs me.  In the first 10 minutes of pl...

Final Fantasy IX my first replay that is actually holding up to my nostalgia for it.  I definitely had rose colored glasses on for Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII , but they immediately came off when I started playing those games.  On the other hand, Final Fantasy IX is pretty much just the way I remembered it. It may be my favorite Final Fantasy game out of them all.  Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy X have always been the two at the top of my mind, but playing the whole series is giving me a new perspective.  I'm about 3 hours into this game and already it's my favorite out of the nine I've played for my Final Fantasy Project .  I'm sure I'll find more flaws in the game as I progress, but I doubt it will get any less than first place when I write my wrap-up for this game.  We shall see. Starting the game up I was immediately hit by the stylized design of the world and characters.  By this point in the series the creators had figu...

I'm nervous to start Final Fantasy IX.  I've always considered Final Fantasy IX and X to be my favorites in the series.  I'm afraid that they won't hold up to my favorable memories of them. I had nostalgia for Final Fantasy VII and VIII, but not to this extent.  When they didn't hold up quite as well as I thought they would I was disappointed, but not crushed. Now that I'm on the verge of starting Final Fantasy IX I'm finally realizing how much I've built it up in my mind.  I sincerely hope that these next two games hold up well.  In my memories, Final Fantasy IX has the best characters and character development in the entire Final Fantasy series and Final Fantasy X has the best complete package of a game. I just needed to get this out there so that I can psych myself up to start Final Fantasy IX.  That's it for my ramblings... time to start. Final Fantasy Project Article List

I've been thinking about buying a PS3 lately.  I think it is mostly because they finally have a backlog of interesting console exclusives.  I would love to try Uncharted 2 and Little Big Planet especially.  On top of this, the recent announcement of Playstation Move and the poor video quality of FFXIII on my Xbox 360 have all pointed me towards getting a PS3.  I think I'll lay out my thinking. Reasons to buy: -Finally has enough console exclusives to warrant attention -PSN has FFVII, FFVIII, and soon FFIX -Blue ray player -Playstation Move -It has come down in price Reasons to not buy: -I have a Xbox 360 -Most games are not console exclusive -All of my friends play on Xbox Live or PC, not PSN -PS3 still costs a lot of money Looking at my lists I'm thinking no PS3 for now.  I don't want to spend the money.  But, if the console were to drop in price or come in an awesome bundle I might have to change my mind.

There are many ways in which games try to tell a story.  Most MMOs use text and quest logs to tell their story.  I think this is a disservice to players.  MMOs are almost all MMORPGs but many have had the RPG elements taken out.  Without the concentration on storytelling there is simply the leveling game left over.  Text is becoming antiquated in video games as the medium grows up.  We should move beyond this A step up from using text is the use of cutscenes.  Older RPGs would use text for most of the story and then reward players with the occasional cutscene.  Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX are all good examples of this trend.  MMOs are finally adding cutscenes, but they aren't widely used.  They usually show up at the very beginning to introduce the world and your character's place in it.  With Wrath of the Lich King Blizzard also injected a cutscene half way through Northrend. Moving up to a higher level of storytelling lea...