After enjoyingFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, I decided to go back and play more games in the series that I’d previously missed. However, now that I’ve played some of the best gamesFinal Fantasyhas to offer, I’m struggling to recapture my love for the game that initially sparked my interest in the series years ago. While I once stubbornly bristled at people calling it a lesser entry in the series, I think I now see where they were coming from.
Another part of my reasoning behind revisiting theseries was to have a better grasp on the games ahead of the upcomingFinal FantasyandMagic: The Gatheringcrossover. I like seeing how a card game likeMagictranslates narrative elements into gameplay mechanics and wanted to get a better feel for theFinal Fantasygames I’d never played. Playing some of the games I hadn’t before showed me what I’d been missing out on, and why my previous favorite no longer holds that title.
Final Fantasy 8 Originally Got Me Into The Franchise
Final Fantasy 8 Was The First Final Fantasy Game I Played
I am a bit too young to have been around for the earlierFinal Fantasygames.Final Fantasy 6came out a week or so after I was born, and the only console my family owned when7came out was my mom’s old NES. Consequently,my first experience with aFinal Fantasygame was playingFinal Fantasy 8at a friend’s house, after I had been thoroughly confused by theGil Questvideo he had shown me. Playing through the game’s early hours didn’t help me understand the Flash video better, but it did sell me onFinal Fantasy.
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At the time,Final Fantasy 8was a perfect storm for me. I was a kid, soFinal Fantasy 8’s Gunblades seemed like the height of cool. Also, as many kids have done in the past with Peter Parker, I saw another brown-haired white boy (Squall) and thought, “Hey, that could be me!” I also loved both trains andStar Warsas a kid, so joining a group of rebels living on a train who took their lead from someone they called “princess” was right up my alley.
AlthoughI was really intoFinal Fantasy 8when I first played it, I didn’t immediately become a fan of the series. I went from Nintendo consoles to an Xbox 360, so I wasn’t able to getFF9-12on any of the consoles I owned. It didn’t help that I playedFinal Fantasy 13when it came out and enjoyed it. Hearing that fans of the series didn’t really likeFF8orFF13all that much made me think that I just had a weird taste in games and that I probably wouldn’t like the others in the series.
After Playing Final Fantasy 6 And 7, It’s Hard To Get Into 8
Final Fantasy 6 And 7 Have Stronger Narratives And Better Mechanics
I’ll be honest, I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder aboutFinal Fantasy 6and7for a while, even after I started playing older games in the series. These were the two games everyone loved, while the ones that sparked my interest in the series were the ones everyone hated. WhenFinal Fantasy 7 Remakecame out,I finally decided to stop being stubborn and give the game a chance, and wow did I regret my previous pigheadedness.
AfterRemakeandRebirth, I went back and played the originalFinal Fantasy 7and enjoyed that version too. Knowing I had been needlessly stubborn about it, I decided to playFinal Fantasy 6as the next game in my playthrough of the series, and I know now why it is so beloved. After hopping around a bit, I decided to come back toFinal Fantasy 8, but I quickly realizedit was going to be a tough going back.
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Even with my nostalgia for the game,I’ve been struggling to get back intoFinal Fantasy 8. The opening section is slow and full of tutorials. On top of that, I don’t like the Junction mechanics as much as6’s magicite or7’s materia. Even though it’s newer,Final Fantasy 8feels morein need of a remake thanFF6. Although I have forced myself to keep going long enough for it to be a bit more enjoyable, I can see why it was initially disliked.
I Understand Now Why Certain Games In The Series Were Disappointing
Comparing Final Fantasy 8 To Its Predecessors Highlights Its Flaws
I realize now a big part of why I was able to appreciateFinal Fantasy 8when I initially played it was because it was my firstFinal Fantasygame. Now that I’ve playedFF6and7, I completely understand whygettingFF8as a follow-up would be disappointing.Final Fantasy 8doesn’t have nearly as strong of a narrative hook as the previous two games, and its opening areas frankly feel a bit generic compared to inventive settings like the sinking Figaro Castle or Midgar’s plate and slums.
As I’ve gained more experience with the series, I can also see whyFinal Fantasy 13was considered disappointingwhen it was first released. Although a lot ofFinal Fantasygames start in a somewhat linear fashion (FF10and evenFF7come to mind),they don’t feel as restricting asFinal Fantasy 13. The game’s early maps are essentially a series of straight corridors with little to no opportunity to explore or tackle obstacles from multiple angles. I could also see how Lightning, being an emotionally distant former soldier, might have initially made her feel like a Cloud clone.
Although I can now more clearly see the flaws in games likeFinal Fantasy 8andFinal Fantasy 13,I still wouldn’t call them bad games. Both still have qualities I enjoy, and both were still good enough to spark my interest inFinal Fantasyto begin with. At this point, I’m glad that I started theFinal Fantasyseries where I did because I was able to appreciate some of the lesser entries for what they were, without having to compare them to the best the series has to offer.
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I don’t know if I’m fully comfortable recommendingFinal Fantasy 8or13. While I think some criticism of these games is slightly overblown, and I have enjoyed both, I can still recognize that they’re 40+ hour games. That is about as long as the main story ofFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and if you only have time to do one, I wouldn’t blame anyone for choosingRebirth. Still, I think it’s worth acknowledging that a “bad”Final Fantasygame is far from a bad game in general, and they’re worth a try if you’re at all curious about them.
