Top 10 Final Fantasy That Ruined the Series

"There’s been a lot of people pointing names and calling fingers at AAA games lately, not least of all Final Fantasy VII Remake for being episodic. Is it really fair? Is the series already ruined? We take an investigative look…" - Rice Digital

[donwel]

My opinion is FF7 ruined the series. And before I get disagreed to oblivion, allow me to explain why.
I don't think FF7 is a bad game, not in the slightest, but therein lies the problem. Due to the game being so popular it has become the basis for comparison for every other game in the series, and let's face it here, no matter how good the games after FF7 would have been they still wouldn't have been FF7 good.
I can only imagine the amount of pressure on the devs to put out another game as popular as FF7 over the years.

[ninsigma]

FF9 was awesome and well received though and many people liked 10. Not sure I agree that 7 being so good ruins how the following games a received.

[donwel]

I also enjoyed 9 and 8 was probably my favourite in the series (never played 10 though) but I'd always hear people comparing the newer games to 7, usually unfavourably.
Maybe it's more to do with the idiots I chose to listen to back in the day.

[ninsigma]

Ah there will always be the die hards who refuse to accept anything but their own truth lol. Ff7 is my favourite but I think FF9 is a damn good game. 10 is cool enough but the characters aren't great imo. The combat is cool and strengthening the characters stats is pretty easy but deep. I wasn't a fan of 8 tbh. It's an OK game but it felt fairly bland for me. Let's hope with ff15 people will give it the fair shake its due :)

[eyeDEVOUR]

4,6,7 & 9 are my favs.

[PSN_ZeroOnyx]

I loved FF I, III, V, VII, VIII, IX & X.

I really want to play FFVIII again because I absolutely loved it (quite possibly my favorite FF game), but I don't want to pay for it through PSNow.

[EverydayGuy]

They have it on steam too

[PSN_ZeroOnyx]

I prefer console gaming. I would honestly prefer to pay PSNow prices over playing on a PC.

[BlahBlahWhatever]

The series was ruined after FFX, until that point even if some people didn't like one FF they could still play it & enjoy it to some decree, anything that was released after FFX didn't remind at all how the series used to be & didn't have those familiar things/elements that make any FF to be an FF, anyway it's not worth playing an FF game for the past 15 years now, that's for how long now the series is dead for me.

[DragonKnight]

FFXIII Trilogy ruined the series. Think about it. No game before that trilogy ever made fans really question SE's skill with FF games (largely due to Squaresoft being a better developer than Enix), but ever since the FFXIII trilogy came out, and how much SE were trying to push Lightning as the new brand mascot (will never happen. The order goes Cloud, a Moogle, a Chocobo, a Cactuar, several summons including Odin, Leviathan, Bahamut, Shiva, and Ifrit, several dozen other characters including enemies such as Kefka, random NPCs, Quina and Cait Sith, then maybe Lightning) just has put a, lot of mistrust in FF. When Versus XIII was scrapped, made multiplat, changed directors and title, removed characters and changed the combat, how many fans were like "WTF is SE doing?" And that's because people became much more scrutinizing of SE after the abysmal FFXIII trilogy.

The MMOs should not be counted as part of the main series, but they did nothing to the overall brand and really just confused people. FFXII is underated because of the switch in main characters and, just like how Akira Toriyama did when he didn't follow through making Gohan the new hero for DBZ, SE should have learned NOT to listen solely to their Japanese fanbase when it comes to making big decisions like who should be protagonist. I heard that Vaan was chosen because of Japanese fans, and it was a mistake.

And despite what some closed-minded "fans" might think, the FF7 remake going action-based is neither bad, nor ruins the brand. Being stuck in the Past forever will just ensure you never have anything to enjoy.

[DragonKnight]

@kalkano: If by stuck in the past you mean actually doing something new with the combat, and thereby not using the traditional turn-based model (tradition meaning a reference to the past), then being "stuck in the past" with my action rpgs (hilarious) looks to be great.

And now you'll tell me how 19 year old turn-based combat is "new" right?

[DragonKnight]

@Kalkano: If you want to play that game, turn-based combat is as old as fantasy role playing, so do try to answer my original question and stop dodging.

I'm waiting for you to explain how turn-based combat isn't old and would make a remade FF7, which had turn-based combat in 1997, somehow new and innovative and cutting edge. Go ahead, enlighten me.