One thing I love about FF8's worldbuilding is almost all of it is something you have to discover for yourself. When you first reach Fisherman's Horizon you never have to interact with more than just whatever furthers the plot, but the main side story takes you through the whole town and you learn so much about FH and who its people are. 8's storytelling was at its best when you learn the history of the people you're interacting with or just travel around and learn things about other people. Not to mention 8's world map is one of the best utilized in the series, you're constantly trekking to different corners to progress in the story and it was great seeing things built with a purpose (there's a whole side quest about finding all the weird landmarks across the world with Obel Lake). Hell, there are details peppered across the map that barely get a line of dialogue about them that says loads about the history of the planet and its civilizations (you get so many hints about the Centra civilization just from observing the dungeons on that continent and certain landmarks). It's a shame world maps have fallen out of vogue with how good they handled 8's.
I just did a retrospective of Final Fantasy IX not to long ago. I think the magic Sakaguchi brought and how well he worked with his team really says something about him as a leader. Final Fantasy since he left has just felt like it has been missing something.
VIII has its problems, but its world building, art direction, and music kept me hooked the whole way through. The characters are also a lot more likeable and endearing than people give em credit for.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought 8 was a fucking SLOG at the beginning. I'm playing through it now for the first time [just got the "airship" of the game and came back to Balamb to find soldiers having invaded it no spoilers past disc 2 pls thk u] and I'm shocked just how long it took me to really get into it. I didn't even care about any of the characters until the concert at Fisherman's Horizon, which is a pretty big issue in such a character-driven story. But yeah man those opening fuckin hours, God why. It's such a stark contrast too, 6's opening was like "magic in this world no longer exists other than one girl who's brainwashed and being used, here's a cool ass moody walk set to the opening credits", 7's opening was like "damn look at this rad city and an anime boy on a train holy shit let's do some terrorism" and then 8 it's like "gee, school sure is boring. Hope I pass my exam. I gotta go to a 5 room linear cave dungeon and beat up a fire cat but my teacher's gonna help me!" like what the fuck that's so dull. Even the very first game was like "go beat up this guy and save princess" and 20 minutes later you just barely manage to squeak by and beat Garland and then it's like "sike bitch this is just the opening here's the credits sequence and title screen" gawd damb.
10-2 is great from a mechanical perspective. It does the job system infinitely better than any game in the series. It’s like buying a really nice canvas and then painting on it with actual dog shit.
I’m a big fan of X’s world. I bought a PlayStation, my first console as a kid “PC mater race” believer just to play X after seeing my cousins playing it. Having said that the only other FF games I’ve played is 7, 12, 14 and 15. So a big gap in the older (better) games.
I have always had an immense respect for the world-building in Final Fantasy. Most games would create lore for their game and expand on it in sequels, but Final Fantasy creates brand new, fully-fleshed out worlds every couple of years (although the gap is getting longer now due to development time). Final Fantasy 12’s bestiary entries probably go as deep into the lore of Ivalice as an Elder Scrolls game would, despite it not serving any purpose besides giving you the occasional hint about items related to the monster you’re reading about. It’s really impressive. Final Fantasy XIII, despite all it’s problems, has super deep and interesting lore as well if you’re willing to read about it. Even the older games include a ton of completely optional information about the world. I love Final Fantasy IX’s world so much
Hey Ptolemy, there's an FF9 song in the background from 15:30 to 16:20 that I'm having a lot of trouble tracking down. If you remember the name, that would be a great help. It's a beautiful song.
10 is my favourite, possibly because its the first one I played but I like the tropical pseudo Japanese setting. After 5 or 6 playthroughs its nowhere near as hard as I remember it being initially though e.g. Evrae, Seymour and Yunalesca fights. I like the setting of 8 its very unusual, and it feels epic with the flashbacks and going to space and the futuristic city, I feel like the empty feeling of the world is perhaps intentional because its this really ephemeral world dominated by this witch lady where time is being compressed ( I forgot the exact details ). Rinoa is very beautiful but I think Yuna is a much better character, Squall stikes me as an unrealistic character so I think we are looking at a game that more appeals to teenagers fantasies in the vein of Twilight. The side characters Selphie and can't remember with the hat and gun, they are not as impactful at all as the other party members in 10.
Yeah, I'd say its 90% straight Fire, but 10% what? It's hard to say exactly how good it is given it isnt a complete story. I'd say overall, a really fun game, graphics, character, story and music is all on point. It gave us old time fans what we want and more, and is great for new players too
Final fantasy fell apart once Sakaguchi left. Both Sak and Matsuno knee 101 on world building and characterization. Ever since Sak got kicked out and Matsuno got sent to the loony bin, the franchise has been Tetsura "bts" Nomuras playground to as many useless bothersome spin-offs like its afterbirth.
![เปิด อาณาจักร หมื่นล้าน "สาระตั้ม" l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3XE0nPF4YkQ/mqdefault.jpg)
One thing I love about FF8's worldbuilding is almost all of it is something you have to discover for yourself. When you first reach Fisherman's Horizon you never have to interact with more than just whatever furthers the plot, but the main side story takes you through the whole town and you learn so much about FH and who its people are. 8's storytelling was at its best when you learn the history of the people you're interacting with or just travel around and learn things about other people.
Not to mention 8's world map is one of the best utilized in the series, you're constantly trekking to different corners to progress in the story and it was great seeing things built with a purpose (there's a whole side quest about finding all the weird landmarks across the world with Obel Lake). Hell, there are details peppered across the map that barely get a line of dialogue about them that says loads about the history of the planet and its civilizations (you get so many hints about the Centra civilization just from observing the dungeons on that continent and certain landmarks). It's a shame world maps have fallen out of vogue with how good they handled 8's.
I just did a retrospective of Final Fantasy IX not to long ago. I think the magic Sakaguchi brought and how well he worked with his team really says something about him as a leader. Final Fantasy since he left has just felt like it has been missing something.
VIII has its problems, but its world building, art direction, and music kept me hooked the whole way through. The characters are also a lot more likeable and endearing than people give em credit for.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought 8 was a fucking SLOG at the beginning. I'm playing through it now for the first time [just got the "airship" of the game and came back to Balamb to find soldiers having invaded it no spoilers past disc 2 pls thk u] and I'm shocked just how long it took me to really get into it. I didn't even care about any of the characters until the concert at Fisherman's Horizon, which is a pretty big issue in such a character-driven story.
But yeah man those opening fuckin hours, God why. It's such a stark contrast too, 6's opening was like "magic in this world no longer exists other than one girl who's brainwashed and being used, here's a cool ass moody walk set to the opening credits", 7's opening was like "damn look at this rad city and an anime boy on a train holy shit let's do some terrorism" and then 8 it's like "gee, school sure is boring. Hope I pass my exam. I gotta go to a 5 room linear cave dungeon and beat up a fire cat but my teacher's gonna help me!" like what the fuck that's so dull.
Even the very first game was like "go beat up this guy and save princess" and 20 minutes later you just barely manage to squeak by and beat Garland and then it's like "sike bitch this is just the opening here's the credits sequence and title screen" gawd damb.
7, 8, and 9 were all great. i really enjoyed 10 as well. for me 10-2 signaled the beginning of the end
10-2 is great from a mechanical perspective. It does the job system infinitely better than any game in the series. It’s like buying a really nice canvas and then painting on it with actual dog shit.
I’m a big fan of X’s world. I bought a PlayStation, my first console as a kid “PC mater race” believer just to play X after seeing my cousins playing it. Having said that the only other FF games I’ve played is 7, 12, 14 and 15. So a big gap in the older (better) games.
Really enjoyed this little video essay. Surprised to see you don't have more views! Keep it up
I have always had an immense respect for the world-building in Final Fantasy. Most games would create lore for their game and expand on it in sequels, but Final Fantasy creates brand new, fully-fleshed out worlds every couple of years (although the gap is getting longer now due to development time). Final Fantasy 12’s bestiary entries probably go as deep into the lore of Ivalice as an Elder Scrolls game would, despite it not serving any purpose besides giving you the occasional hint about items related to the monster you’re reading about. It’s really impressive. Final Fantasy XIII, despite all it’s problems, has super deep and interesting lore as well if you’re willing to read about it. Even the older games include a ton of completely optional information about the world.
I love Final Fantasy IX’s world so much
Very nice review! Learned a lot about the worlds of final fantasy I never knew!
I learn a lot about video game history and design philosophy in your videos. Thank you for posting this gem.
Nice
Hey Ptolemy, there's an FF9 song in the background from 15:30 to 16:20 that I'm having a lot of trouble tracking down. If you remember the name, that would be a great help. It's a beautiful song.
Evil Forest from FFIX maybe?
@@PtolemySL Thanks a lot
Awesome content!
10 is my favourite, possibly because its the first one I played but I like the tropical pseudo Japanese setting. After 5 or 6 playthroughs its nowhere near as hard as I remember it being initially though e.g. Evrae, Seymour and Yunalesca fights.
I like the setting of 8 its very unusual, and it feels epic with the flashbacks and going to space and the futuristic city, I feel like the empty feeling of the world is perhaps intentional because its this really ephemeral world dominated by this witch lady where time is being compressed ( I forgot the exact details ). Rinoa is very beautiful but I think Yuna is a much better character, Squall stikes me as an unrealistic character so I think we are looking at a game that more appeals to teenagers fantasies in the vein of Twilight. The side characters Selphie and can't remember with the hat and gun, they are not as impactful at all as the other party members in 10.
Thats nice and all but bro…..what about putting time jannies in it?
Is the FFVII remake any good, Ptolemy? I've never played a Final Fantasy game before.
Hope you see this
Yeah, I'd say its 90% straight Fire, but 10% what? It's hard to say exactly how good it is given it isnt a complete story. I'd say overall, a really fun game, graphics, character, story and music is all on point. It gave us old time fans what we want and more, and is great for new players too
Final fantasy fell apart once Sakaguchi left. Both Sak and Matsuno knee 101 on world building and characterization. Ever since Sak got kicked out and Matsuno got sent to the loony bin, the franchise has been Tetsura "bts" Nomuras playground to as many useless bothersome spin-offs like its afterbirth.