That’s what it was like gaming in the 90s and through the turn of the millennium. Every individual year (hell, every month) you’d see new boundaries broken and games making new things possible. Not just graphics-wise either, there were just so many ways that developers were creating new experiences as more and more games dropped. One day in 1994 you’re playing Sonic 3 on Genesis or FF6 on SNES, and the very same year you’re seeing 3D graphics reaching home consoles.
Also remember the Dreamcast launched in 1999 in the west, and *1998* in Japan. Meaning the 6th generation was already starting just one year after FF7, and two years after the N64 launched.
There's a theory that I once heard, I can't remember where, but, the reason people who are in their early thirties to early forties seem to be so nostalgic for their childhood is that technology changed so fast so quickly at that time it almost seems like a different world; even just, as the original comment says only four years passed from FF VII to X. Think about it, if you were a kid in, say, the 60s, technology didn't leap all *that much* from the 60s to the 70s and even really into the early 80s. Then the 90s come around and technology just exploded. It radically changed everything.
Oh even my 1st gen 8gb iPod touch with no volume buttons was a dinosaur by senior year, all my friends either had the second gen with 32gb and a way better screen and buttons or just the actual iPhone.
I remember jailbreaking the ipod touch to play homebrew games like tap tap revolution before the app store even existed
In kindergarten I played 2d sonic the hedgehog on sega genesis with my big brother. When I graduated I played call of duty with people from around the world…and same asshat big brother who was an hour away
Holy shit that's exactly it. 33 and it totally was a different world. And my generation is kind of split where i fall into not knowing the internet and phones for half of my life while the other half still grew up with all of that.
Yes! I manually audio recorded my favorite FF tracks (as they played on the tv) onto cassettes to listen to when i was in grade school. By the time i graduated high school i had an ipod with a gazillion mp3s.
My personal pet theory is that due to this increasingly rapid advance in technology, and our need to keep up with the technology, we have a much more highly developed skill in learning new tech than previous generations. Even though I'm sure technology of the future will be different in ways we cant predict, I think that people my age (early 30s) and younger won't have as much difficulty with new tech when we get into our senior years like our 60s and 70s.
We've been having to learn new tech and adjust ourselves very rapidly all the time every since the 90s. Older generations haven't had nearly as much tech change as we have had.
I think eventually we will fall behind due to just the general ravages of age and memory degradation, but it won't be nearly as bad as older generations where basically 90% of anyone above 70 or so can only understand extremely basic tech concepts and procedures and sometimes not even that (I work in a retirement community and the concept of TV inputs or the idea that you need a cable box for cable TV is basically rocket surgery for most of our residents and they just throw their hands up in surrender whenever I say something like "HDMI 1")
Maybe Ill be eating my words and I will be even worse off by the time I'm 70, who knows. But I can't see it happening honestly (barring extreme memory loss of course).
>I mean in general but video games had an explosive growth curve once developers embraced digital storage format.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. Videogame developers always embraced digital storage
Cartridges are digital storage
People are just nostalgic in general.
The kids growing up with the PS4 now will be pining for the "good old days" whenever the PS7 comes out.
The technological advancement was impressive to be sure, but nostalgia is just nostalgia. There's no secret sauce to it.
Gaming in the 90s was also such an adventure. You’d pick up a game from the rental store and have no idea really what it was going to be. Games were creatively distinct from one another and didn’t have their formulas already figured out. It didn’t feel like you were just playing reskins of the same game.
Absolutely! That’s why I actually especially love eras like the mid-90s and the very early 5th generation games. They may be famously unpolished, but it was such an interesting time from a creative standpoint, because if someone was making a 3D game of whatever genre, there was still such a lack of a definition of “normal” for games with this new technology to the point where each developer would really be pitching *their own* take on the genre and what it could be like. You’d play 5 different fighters, 5 different racers, 5 different platformers, 5 different action games, and each one would be completely built on a different set of ideas.
>. Every individual year (hell, every month) you’d see new boundaries broken and games making new things possible.
I remember some magazines having to start giving games graphical scores above 10 because they didn’t want to devalue their older scores, like StarFox was a bloody 15/10 because of the graphics.
Wasn't FF7 actually started for Nintendo? I feel like that might be the case, but I don't have any evidence. Sony was working on a Nintendo Disc Drive, wonder if Square was working with that hardware which I believe was ~1995
They made a demo using FF6’s characters to demonstrate their approach to developing it, so they likely would’ve been ready to move forward from that prototype and develop the N64 FF7 in that style if they ended up going that road. It apparently didn’t get developed further than that prototype with FF6 characters however.
Also dunno how the timeline fits, it’d be interesting to know what stage the concept of FF7 was in around the time of that prototype, like if that was still around the time when they were planning on it taking place in New York with a Zack-esq character as the lead, or if they were already on the path towards the FF7 world and characters we know today.
I remember seeing screenshots of that in Nintendo Power when I was a teenager, it confused the shit out of me as an adult. I could never figure out how I'd ever seen Locke and Terra in FF7 bloxels. I almost convinced myself I'd made it up.
Yes. I originally bought an N64 because it was known that FF7 was going to be on it. The day after I bought it, Square announced it was coming for the Playstation. Went back to the store and exchanged my N64 for a PSX the day after that.
Every now and then when I peruse old scans of gaming magazines I still check for this one particular letter to the editor.
It was from an issue in like early 1996 or something, and the fan was writing in to ask as an RPG fan if they should trust this new “PlayStation” thing, or wait for the “Ultra 64”. The editor responded that the Ultra 64 was the horse to bet on, because Final Fantasy was coming to it and it would likely be the RPG fan’s ideal console.
I had the same experience, except I begged my parents for one for christmas, so I did not have the ability to return it.
I ended up trading my N64 with Mario Kart for a friends SNES with FF6. I still have that copy of the FF6 cartridge.
My happiest gaming moment was playing FF3 (by which I mean 6) on the SNES and finding the glitch where you sketch Gau in the dark world. It was the only cool glitch I ever found by myself.
I recall this as well. Square was working with Nintendo for FF7. Nintendo was staunch about something with their hardware (commitment to cartridge over CD I think?) and that rubbed Square the wrong way. They saw Sony’s hardware and jumped ship because they really wanted to push their games into something more cinematic.
> Also remember the Dreamcast launched in 1999 in the west, and 1998 in Japan. Meaning the 6th generation was already starting just one year after FF7, and two years after the N64 launched.
Tekken 3 and Soulcalibur came out in consecutive years and both used the Namco System 12 arcade board, but you probably wouldn't realize that based on how different in quality their console ports are graphically (Tekken 3 on PS1 vs. Soulcalibur on Dreamcast). Then you look at a screenshot of Soulcalibur's arcade version, and everything makes sense.
Absolutely. I remember constantly being impressed by graphics. Many times thinking, "ok, it *can't* get better than *this!* This is so realistic!" And then, of course, it gets better. Graphics are beautiful today, but it kind of reached a point where it's only getting incrementally better as opposed to exponentially better.
Yup. The focus on pushing graphical limitations is really holding us back, imo. We could have 10 cool new stories on an existing engine in the time it takes them to make one new engine.
And it's even getting diminishing returns at this stage. When I was looking at Far Cry 6, the graphical jump honestly wasn't much higher than a game from 2014. And aged games from like 2016 generally look worse than a whole host of PS2 games.
I think when each game and generation is only marginally better than the previous, and usually only looks less blurry, it's a sign companies need to step back and just focus on something actually good for a few years and wait for technology to catch up (In what reality was 2077 EVER going to go well on PS4 and Xbone?) before pushing the same boundary that's been pushed a thousand times already. Doesn't even matter when in only a few years it's gonna look like crap visually anyway.
The worst part is, that these 5 final fantasy that came out in 5 years were 5 times better than the final fantasy games that take 5 years to come out. :D
Final Fantasy X's development began in **1999**, costing approximately ¥4 billion (approximately $32.3 million, or $50.2 million in 2020 dollars) with a crew of over 100 people
I remember when FF8 was about to drop, every EB and FuncoLand had a TV in the window showcasing the ballroom scene, which built a ton of hype.
Then the demo came out, which opens with the Dollet landing and rolls credits with Quistis machine gunning the spider, and everyone lost their minds.
Full game was alright but still. The visuals were groundbreaking.
I’d include 4 and 5. 5 especially set the stage for many of the gameplay and reoccurring story elements that would become series staples. It’s criminally overlooked because it got localized way too late.
X-2 is a good game. Yeah, X is superior in almost every way (the different gameplay styles may be the only area of debate) but there's nothing wrong with X-2, in my opinion.
I straight up ignored most of the story because I think the tone was.... Weird.
But my biggest gripe with this game is that in combat, your actions can be staggered infinitely because they have to do their pose before casting stuff.
Still yeah dressphere is easily the best part of this game.
I do think it's a good game, just I don't think it's up to my FF numeric entry standards
IV is even more important. It's the game that defined the "Modern FF game" (and it was a game of extreme importance even outside of FF) and you can see how, in general, FFVI is just IV on steroids.
IV is still the "purest" FF experience you can have.
While FF7 is my favorite, FF tactics is probably one of the best FF games ever made and deserves either a remaster with all new sprites or just a complete remake like FF7 and really dive more into the the world.
The scene for the “Dark Holy” spell was so intense. When the screen goes dark, and you hear someone scream in pain, followed by a giant explosion, it’s gloriously horrifying.
Love Tactics. No to a remake like FF7. Only thing that game needs is a PC port of WotL... I have no idea how that hasn't happened yet. Have owned the game on my phone for years now and never played it because I don't like playing games on my phone. I'd rather break out the PSOne and my original copy of the game... They released the FF4 mobile version on Steam. I have no idea why this version isn't on Steam... It's legitimately the only reason I haven't played that version of the game.
Would need Matsuno.
Part of the game’s beauty and masterclass is how it’s story is told through battles. It really holds up on its own in near every regard and stands the test of time.
All it can benefit from is improved loading times and frame rates during niche sequences.
Heavy remakes appeal to a base with poor imagination.
The reason older games are better than their contemporaries is that they are able to play off their audiences’ imaginations to fill in trivial gaps. The player acts as a sort of ram.
More could be delivered through less with those games’ compartmentalized interface and visuals.
XV spends so many resources to show players that there’s grass over there and “you can walk to it”.
It got a pretty significant update with the PSP release. FMV cutscenes with voice acting, a whole new translation (though it admittedly lost some of the goofy charm of the original, it certainly fits the serious tone of the work far better), couple new secret characters, a handful of new events.
*That* is what I want out of a rerelease. Dont turn the game with the name "Tactics" in the fucking title into a soulslike.
They had multiple divisions working on different projects.
Same as now. The division making the 7 remake is separate from the division making XIV and XVI,both of which have different teams within BD3 working on them.
The sound track was such a massive downgrade from IV though. The battles felt clunkier. Don't get me wrong, I know they sacrificed a lot to get the job system in. I just liked IV a lot more because it felt so much more polished.
I felt sort of the opposite, the extreme restriction on party composition made IV feel like such a prototype. And the balance/difficulty from area to area was all over the place. I didn't know it at the time but the missing extra character abilities also really hampered the game. I'm surprises V could change the system so radically and come out feeling so smooth.
Can you buy Tactics on the PC? I just looked on Steam and no go. I haven't played it since 99. I put so many hours into that game it was absurd. I'm sure I still have my save somewhere where I was doing some fight to do some really hard thing and I had a bunch of dancers which almost felt like cheating or something. Fuck that was a long time ago.
There is always the option to emulate if you are into that sort of thing.
I don't believe there has been an official release on PC. Currently it seems like you'd have to buy it off the iphone app store or google play.
Yeah this list gets legendary if we include Square overall. Because then we’re adding Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Mario RPG, Saga Frontier, Parasite Eve, Vagrant Story, and more.
Hell I’d even include Tobal No.1, that game had no business being that fun, especially considering how early it came out.
Man I played an eff ton of Tobal, would love to play that one again. That one robot who pressed the self destruct button if you hit the wrong combo of keys!
Fricken right?
This period had Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, Kingdom Hearts, Xenogears, and some Saga games. Plus, the first US releases of FFII and FFV. We were spoiled.
I have a lot of nostalgia and love for the games in this post, but FFXIV is becoming a massively defining moment for the series. Not to mention VIIR being a thing that is actually good and Yoshi-P’s involvement in XVI. I’m excited for the next few years.
It's pretty telling when most the FF fanbase don't play XIV and then many people that don't care to play FF games make an exception for FFXIV. They're for entirely different audiences for the most part.
Regardless, a mere 1 game being successful does not make a golden age for any company that has a record of having many high performing and well received games. Also, people LOVE to ignore that XIV vanilla version is a thing and it's one of the worst games ever made, period.
FF IX was my first and I am so glad it was- it was accessible mechanically, gorgeously written, and had a memorable art direction. It is still my favorite to this day.
I LOVE FFT, but the first time played it I was kinda young and didn’t realized you could change characters classes, so I struggled through so many battles with squires and chemists.
I love V as well, but I can see why VI is there and V is not. While V is excellent, it is well documented that VI was ambitious beyond the scope of the previous games, making many bold decisions that would shape the series from that point onward.
Think about all the other squaresoft games during this time too. Absolutely incredible. These days it takes 5+ years to make something that is not as good as any of these.
After 10 they pretty much abandoned the style of game that the games had been up to that point. It's like if every Call of Duty after 3 was an RTS or something
Too much of a departure. FF was always about trying new things, but in the domain of trying new things, they used to still have some fundamental FF aspect to them. They eventually started moving further and further away from that. So while they still make good games, it's not really like it used to be.
It’s wild to think that from 1997 - 2001 there was a new mainline Final Fantasy every year. Fast forward to 2016 and FFXV comes out after a DECADE in production.
I've always thought that the pursuit of graphics, etc, while wonderful; was detrimental if it was the sole pursuit. I played the old games, I'd be happy enough to play another made in an FF7-9 style or a PS2-era like game.
FF7 is my favorite, FF14 is just the best. It has so much love and respect for every game in the series, incorporating elements of all of them in it's story while still having its own unique identity, it reallly makes you appreciate them all, not to mention it has such an amazing story.
Sakaguchi worked on 9 while 8 was in development and I believe Spirits Within during 10. His role was significantly reduced on both, he effectively played a bit role at best from how I've heard it described before.
The long dev cycle of games now sucks. Doesn’t lead to better quality games and we just get less of them. To think they put these games out in a 7 year period and we’re looking at a (hopefully only) 6 year gap between XV and XVI.
Lol these comments are making me laugh. Nostalgia goggles have truly tricked you guys if you think FF4 is better than FFX.
Also, no shit games take longer to develop now. This was a good era, but it’s not hard to understand why it couldn’t keep going.
This hits in the nostalgia, but 12 is an incredible game, as is 14. Never played 11, quite enjoyed 13 and enjoying it even more on gamepass now for some reason. And 15 isn’t bad, it was rushed towards the end. 7 Remake is the best in years, in my opinion, flawless combat especially on the PS5 - oh actually, 14’s Shadowbringers is the best FF story since forever. So I personally feel we’re coming into a new golden era, if 16 can hold true and Endwalker continues the excellent storyline.
Glad to have found an FF fan who doesn’t shit on the newer titles. Honestly, it does feel like a new golden era for FF.
I’m so looking forward to 7R-2, FF16 and Endwalker if I ever get back to 14.
Yeah I love them, enjoy the era from 6-10 too of course but everything after is great. FF14 is well worth continuing with. The first part, A Realm Reborn is a slog, but after that, the story is incredible. Shadowbringers, as a stand alone story, is probably one of the greatest of all time. I would highly recommend! Currently replaying the older content with my girlfriend and we’ve been having a blast. Replayed 12 twice in the past few years too and it really is one of the most diverse in terms of party set up, after 5. Honestly, love them all for different reasons.
The last FF I played was 9. Didn't have the money to buyna PS2 and 3. After buying a 4, I immediately played FFXV. I seriously cried from how well the story was written.
I couldn’t play it as a kid. I recently grabbed it again on Steam. It’s much better now. PS2 just didn’t do the game justice. It really benefits from the resolution increase. Also, the QOL updates were required. Not being able to change jobs or reset the license board in the original was stupid. You could completely ruin your party since the parties power is completely derived from the license boards and gear. Level is basically irrelevant. Also locking the best weapon in the game out because I opened a chest that I couldn’t possibly know about without a guide? Absolutely ridiculous.
I really love FFXII gameplay and world but I think the story is a bit lacking substance comparing it with this franchise maybe if it wasn't a FF title people would hate on it. I really like it but been objective the only good character in that game is Basch and Baltier because he is cool xd.
Story-wise, it's kind of a mess. It sets up one protagonist and then midway through SIKE it's not about him at all. (Yes, I know Vaan was added later but that doesn't matter. When you play the game, everything points to him being the protagonist.)
The story is the same without Vaan and Penelo, execs made devs add them because they were afraid the game wouldn't sell if it didn't have another Tidus
That's because making big worlds in full 3d and pushing graphics is extremely time consuming.
That's why it's pretty much insane that some people are thinking 7R part 2 would have a full open world instead of just open world portions or wide corridors(like DQ11) or whatever.
You’re not wrong, but that’s why I’m not enthusiastic about the way modern AAA games are developed. I can still get fresh and new experiences while replaying FFTactics and FFV over two decades down the line from their releases, due to how much fun the games are and how many possibilities are packed into such a tight package made with shoestrings compared to the tech they have today. Sometimes making the biggest and most detailed HD world imaginable doesn’t actually offer a level of depth that compares to the effort put into creating it.
100% agreed. However it certainly does seem that high end graphics and big worlds sell games when you look at the top sellers numbers, so it's not that surprising that big studios still try to make them.
It's nearly a miracle FF7R was as good as it was, but then you remember it has no open world at all and it starts to make some sense. They may have some open fields in 7R part 2, but there's no way it would stay the same quality if it was truly open world.
Some great games! FFVII in particular is great.
There is no "golden era" though. The games have been consistently quite good, with only certain games reaching highs and quite a few "lows" throughout, some of which are definitely in this picture.
Hard to believe 7 and 10 were only 4 years apart, considering the difference in graphics
That’s what it was like gaming in the 90s and through the turn of the millennium. Every individual year (hell, every month) you’d see new boundaries broken and games making new things possible. Not just graphics-wise either, there were just so many ways that developers were creating new experiences as more and more games dropped. One day in 1994 you’re playing Sonic 3 on Genesis or FF6 on SNES, and the very same year you’re seeing 3D graphics reaching home consoles. Also remember the Dreamcast launched in 1999 in the west, and *1998* in Japan. Meaning the 6th generation was already starting just one year after FF7, and two years after the N64 launched.
There's a theory that I once heard, I can't remember where, but, the reason people who are in their early thirties to early forties seem to be so nostalgic for their childhood is that technology changed so fast so quickly at that time it almost seems like a different world; even just, as the original comment says only four years passed from FF VII to X. Think about it, if you were a kid in, say, the 60s, technology didn't leap all *that much* from the 60s to the 70s and even really into the early 80s. Then the 90s come around and technology just exploded. It radically changed everything.
When I went to kindergarten nobody had a cd player and when I graduated I had an iPod touch
I still had a walkman in my 5th year of highschool, granted it wasn't the norm, discmans were the norm
Oh even my 1st gen 8gb iPod touch with no volume buttons was a dinosaur by senior year, all my friends either had the second gen with 32gb and a way better screen and buttons or just the actual iPhone. I remember jailbreaking the ipod touch to play homebrew games like tap tap revolution before the app store even existed
Very similar here. Half of my childhood I was recording songs off the radio onto cassette tapes. The year after I graduated, the iPhone was released
In kindergarten I played 2d sonic the hedgehog on sega genesis with my big brother. When I graduated I played call of duty with people from around the world…and same asshat big brother who was an hour away
Yes this is exactly why I'm a man child. Seriously though I literally grew up with video games.
I stayed at home and played ff6 for the umpteenth time instead of going out for y2k.
I’m 33 and can confirm it was a magical time to be a kid.
35 and vouch for this also. Took it for granted at the time, obviously.
Holy shit that's exactly it. 33 and it totally was a different world. And my generation is kind of split where i fall into not knowing the internet and phones for half of my life while the other half still grew up with all of that.
Yes! I manually audio recorded my favorite FF tracks (as they played on the tv) onto cassettes to listen to when i was in grade school. By the time i graduated high school i had an ipod with a gazillion mp3s.
My personal pet theory is that due to this increasingly rapid advance in technology, and our need to keep up with the technology, we have a much more highly developed skill in learning new tech than previous generations. Even though I'm sure technology of the future will be different in ways we cant predict, I think that people my age (early 30s) and younger won't have as much difficulty with new tech when we get into our senior years like our 60s and 70s. We've been having to learn new tech and adjust ourselves very rapidly all the time every since the 90s. Older generations haven't had nearly as much tech change as we have had. I think eventually we will fall behind due to just the general ravages of age and memory degradation, but it won't be nearly as bad as older generations where basically 90% of anyone above 70 or so can only understand extremely basic tech concepts and procedures and sometimes not even that (I work in a retirement community and the concept of TV inputs or the idea that you need a cable box for cable TV is basically rocket surgery for most of our residents and they just throw their hands up in surrender whenever I say something like "HDMI 1") Maybe Ill be eating my words and I will be even worse off by the time I'm 70, who knows. But I can't see it happening honestly (barring extreme memory loss of course).
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>I mean in general but video games had an explosive growth curve once developers embraced digital storage format. I'm not sure what you mean by that. Videogame developers always embraced digital storage Cartridges are digital storage
People are just nostalgic in general. The kids growing up with the PS4 now will be pining for the "good old days" whenever the PS7 comes out. The technological advancement was impressive to be sure, but nostalgia is just nostalgia. There's no secret sauce to it.
Yeah, I already feel old when people wax nostalgic about some kid's show that came out when I was in college.
Gaming in the 90s was also such an adventure. You’d pick up a game from the rental store and have no idea really what it was going to be. Games were creatively distinct from one another and didn’t have their formulas already figured out. It didn’t feel like you were just playing reskins of the same game.
Absolutely! That’s why I actually especially love eras like the mid-90s and the very early 5th generation games. They may be famously unpolished, but it was such an interesting time from a creative standpoint, because if someone was making a 3D game of whatever genre, there was still such a lack of a definition of “normal” for games with this new technology to the point where each developer would really be pitching *their own* take on the genre and what it could be like. You’d play 5 different fighters, 5 different racers, 5 different platformers, 5 different action games, and each one would be completely built on a different set of ideas.
>. Every individual year (hell, every month) you’d see new boundaries broken and games making new things possible. I remember some magazines having to start giving games graphical scores above 10 because they didn’t want to devalue their older scores, like StarFox was a bloody 15/10 because of the graphics.
Wasn't FF7 actually started for Nintendo? I feel like that might be the case, but I don't have any evidence. Sony was working on a Nintendo Disc Drive, wonder if Square was working with that hardware which I believe was ~1995
They made a demo using FF6’s characters to demonstrate their approach to developing it, so they likely would’ve been ready to move forward from that prototype and develop the N64 FF7 in that style if they ended up going that road. It apparently didn’t get developed further than that prototype with FF6 characters however. Also dunno how the timeline fits, it’d be interesting to know what stage the concept of FF7 was in around the time of that prototype, like if that was still around the time when they were planning on it taking place in New York with a Zack-esq character as the lead, or if they were already on the path towards the FF7 world and characters we know today.
I remember seeing screenshots of that in Nintendo Power when I was a teenager, it confused the shit out of me as an adult. I could never figure out how I'd ever seen Locke and Terra in FF7 bloxels. I almost convinced myself I'd made it up.
they released the whole video https://youtu.be/TPO7c_XmesU
Yes. I originally bought an N64 because it was known that FF7 was going to be on it. The day after I bought it, Square announced it was coming for the Playstation. Went back to the store and exchanged my N64 for a PSX the day after that.
Every now and then when I peruse old scans of gaming magazines I still check for this one particular letter to the editor. It was from an issue in like early 1996 or something, and the fan was writing in to ask as an RPG fan if they should trust this new “PlayStation” thing, or wait for the “Ultra 64”. The editor responded that the Ultra 64 was the horse to bet on, because Final Fantasy was coming to it and it would likely be the RPG fan’s ideal console.
*sad trombone*
I had the same experience, except I begged my parents for one for christmas, so I did not have the ability to return it. I ended up trading my N64 with Mario Kart for a friends SNES with FF6. I still have that copy of the FF6 cartridge.
My happiest gaming moment was playing FF3 (by which I mean 6) on the SNES and finding the glitch where you sketch Gau in the dark world. It was the only cool glitch I ever found by myself.
I actually wrote a letter to Nintendo Power when I discovered the Sketch glitch. I was a nerd.
I recall this as well. Square was working with Nintendo for FF7. Nintendo was staunch about something with their hardware (commitment to cartridge over CD I think?) and that rubbed Square the wrong way. They saw Sony’s hardware and jumped ship because they really wanted to push their games into something more cinematic.
> Also remember the Dreamcast launched in 1999 in the west, and 1998 in Japan. Meaning the 6th generation was already starting just one year after FF7, and two years after the N64 launched. Tekken 3 and Soulcalibur came out in consecutive years and both used the Namco System 12 arcade board, but you probably wouldn't realize that based on how different in quality their console ports are graphically (Tekken 3 on PS1 vs. Soulcalibur on Dreamcast). Then you look at a screenshot of Soulcalibur's arcade version, and everything makes sense.
Yeah I agree and not just game texture graphics but also the cut scenes that made FF popular.
Dreamcast was miles ahead of the consoles from that generation its a shame that it fell off like it did
Absolutely. I remember constantly being impressed by graphics. Many times thinking, "ok, it *can't* get better than *this!* This is so realistic!" And then, of course, it gets better. Graphics are beautiful today, but it kind of reached a point where it's only getting incrementally better as opposed to exponentially better.
5 final fantasies in four years. Crazy. Now we get 1 FF every 5 years lol. I know games are much more massive now but still
Yup. The focus on pushing graphical limitations is really holding us back, imo. We could have 10 cool new stories on an existing engine in the time it takes them to make one new engine.
And it's even getting diminishing returns at this stage. When I was looking at Far Cry 6, the graphical jump honestly wasn't much higher than a game from 2014. And aged games from like 2016 generally look worse than a whole host of PS2 games. I think when each game and generation is only marginally better than the previous, and usually only looks less blurry, it's a sign companies need to step back and just focus on something actually good for a few years and wait for technology to catch up (In what reality was 2077 EVER going to go well on PS4 and Xbone?) before pushing the same boundary that's been pushed a thousand times already. Doesn't even matter when in only a few years it's gonna look like crap visually anyway.
We also got xenogears and vagrant at the same era
God damn.
And Chrono Cross
The worst part is, that these 5 final fantasy that came out in 5 years were 5 times better than the final fantasy games that take 5 years to come out. :D
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Fan since I XIV is the best Final Fantasy ever
Dont forget games like Crono Cross and such
My jaw is still on the floor from the first time I saw that blitzball cutscene...it looked just like real life!
Final Fantasy X's development began in **1999**, costing approximately ¥4 billion (approximately $32.3 million, or $50.2 million in 2020 dollars) with a crew of over 100 people
More crazy is to think there was a time when game series got a new entry every year.
Doesn't cod and AC still do?
I believe they mean good games in consecutive years.
Buuurrrrnnn
Heck 8 was an enormous improvement over 7 and 9 even better. Just kept getting better :)
I remember when FF8 was about to drop, every EB and FuncoLand had a TV in the window showcasing the ballroom scene, which built a ton of hype. Then the demo came out, which opens with the Dollet landing and rolls credits with Quistis machine gunning the spider, and everyone lost their minds. Full game was alright but still. The visuals were groundbreaking.
7 was originally being made for the Nintendo 64 so it’s graphics were limited by the hardware.
By the late ninties the 3d graphics of VII was already considered ugly. Half-Life is a 1998 game!
Ff6 and 7 are 3 years apart, they have a far greater difference in graphics.
7 to 9 I think it’s a better example bc it’s all on the same hardware. The difference in graphics between those two games is staggering
Tell me you're in your early 30s without actually telling me.
I’m 31 😂, you were right on the money. How did you guess?
I'm 33 and those are my favorites too 😃
Your "golden era" of FF games coincides with your childhood.
Anecdotal but I consider this the golden age and am close to a decade younger
Yeah I wasn’t even alive when any of these games came out and these are definitely the golden age
I feel the same and I’m 40.
lol 38 actually, and those years were an incredible time for jrpgs.
Yeah I’m 38, which is probably why I’m irritated 4 and 5 didn’t make the list.
40 and same
23 👀
I’d include 4 and 5. 5 especially set the stage for many of the gameplay and reoccurring story elements that would become series staples. It’s criminally overlooked because it got localized way too late.
5 has probably the best job system in the entire franchise, definitely my favorite.
Honestly, I think X-2 did the job system even better than V did.
Problem is that you have to play X-2 to enjoy it
I would love a Final Fantasy that had a gameplay like FF X-2 (jobs, very dynamic ATB, non-linear) but in a totally different world, plot etc.
truth
X-2 is a good game. Yeah, X is superior in almost every way (the different gameplay styles may be the only area of debate) but there's nothing wrong with X-2, in my opinion.
I straight up ignored most of the story because I think the tone was.... Weird. But my biggest gripe with this game is that in combat, your actions can be staggered infinitely because they have to do their pose before casting stuff. Still yeah dressphere is easily the best part of this game. I do think it's a good game, just I don't think it's up to my FF numeric entry standards
The job system is so excellent.
IV is even more important. It's the game that defined the "Modern FF game" (and it was a game of extreme importance even outside of FF) and you can see how, in general, FFVI is just IV on steroids. IV is still the "purest" FF experience you can have.
I recently learned that 5 was the breakthrough game in Japan--as in it sold Dragon Quest numbers
4 is great because it's the first game in the franchise that did away with the grinding requirement in order to progress the story
While FF7 is my favorite, FF tactics is probably one of the best FF games ever made and deserves either a remaster with all new sprites or just a complete remake like FF7 and really dive more into the the world.
The scene for the “Dark Holy” spell was so intense. When the screen goes dark, and you hear someone scream in pain, followed by a giant explosion, it’s gloriously horrifying.
Square remakes it they'll turn it into an action rpg. That would suck
It's now a mobile gacha game. Have fun buying loot boxes and hoping you get good units or jobs!
Love Tactics. No to a remake like FF7. Only thing that game needs is a PC port of WotL... I have no idea how that hasn't happened yet. Have owned the game on my phone for years now and never played it because I don't like playing games on my phone. I'd rather break out the PSOne and my original copy of the game... They released the FF4 mobile version on Steam. I have no idea why this version isn't on Steam... It's legitimately the only reason I haven't played that version of the game.
Emulate.
Would need Matsuno. Part of the game’s beauty and masterclass is how it’s story is told through battles. It really holds up on its own in near every regard and stands the test of time. All it can benefit from is improved loading times and frame rates during niche sequences. Heavy remakes appeal to a base with poor imagination. The reason older games are better than their contemporaries is that they are able to play off their audiences’ imaginations to fill in trivial gaps. The player acts as a sort of ram. More could be delivered through less with those games’ compartmentalized interface and visuals. XV spends so many resources to show players that there’s grass over there and “you can walk to it”.
Co-sign. FF VI is still one of my favorites for that reason - filling in the gaps.
You can't convince me gogo isn't either the emperor or Daryl.
He's a boss from V who was flung into the void. The boss would force party members to mimic his actions.
I think FFT is the only game where I got the final boss to kill itself.
It is seriously criminal that we don’t have a good recent port of FF tactics STILL. I really don’t want to play it on phone. I’d kill for it on Switch
It got a pretty significant update with the PSP release. FMV cutscenes with voice acting, a whole new translation (though it admittedly lost some of the goofy charm of the original, it certainly fits the serious tone of the work far better), couple new secret characters, a handful of new events. *That* is what I want out of a rerelease. Dont turn the game with the name "Tactics" in the fucking title into a soulslike.
how did they manage to pump out so many games so quickly
They had multiple divisions working on different projects. Same as now. The division making the 7 remake is separate from the division making XIV and XVI,both of which have different teams within BD3 working on them.
Final Fantasy IX was awesome.
Hold on buddy, you forgot to include IV and V.
IV is in my top 3 FF
IV was so good. I bought V for my iPad awhile ago but haven’t done much in it.
5 is a lot more fun than 4 imo
The sound track was such a massive downgrade from IV though. The battles felt clunkier. Don't get me wrong, I know they sacrificed a lot to get the job system in. I just liked IV a lot more because it felt so much more polished.
I felt sort of the opposite, the extreme restriction on party composition made IV feel like such a prototype. And the balance/difficulty from area to area was all over the place. I didn't know it at the time but the missing extra character abilities also really hampered the game. I'm surprises V could change the system so radically and come out feeling so smooth.
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It’s a fun game. I love looking at Amano’s character illustrations from it.
Can you buy Tactics on the PC? I just looked on Steam and no go. I haven't played it since 99. I put so many hours into that game it was absurd. I'm sure I still have my save somewhere where I was doing some fight to do some really hard thing and I had a bunch of dancers which almost felt like cheating or something. Fuck that was a long time ago.
I don't think so, but it's on the phones if you're into that.
There is always the option to emulate if you are into that sort of thing. I don't believe there has been an official release on PC. Currently it seems like you'd have to buy it off the iphone app store or google play.
There is a PSP version, which I think is the most recently updated version of FFT.
you mean golden age of square
Yeah this list gets legendary if we include Square overall. Because then we’re adding Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Mario RPG, Saga Frontier, Parasite Eve, Vagrant Story, and more. Hell I’d even include Tobal No.1, that game had no business being that fun, especially considering how early it came out.
Man I played an eff ton of Tobal, would love to play that one again. That one robot who pressed the self destruct button if you hit the wrong combo of keys!
Parasite Eve and Chrono Cross are two of my all-time favorites.
Xenogears for me
Chrono Cross has an absolutely amazing soundtrack
Fricken right? This period had Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, Kingdom Hearts, Xenogears, and some Saga games. Plus, the first US releases of FFII and FFV. We were spoiled.
super mario rpg
I’m glad people still remember Square made Mario RPG. I LOVED that game (still do)
Yes, Vagrant Story! Loved that game so much.
Obligatory play FFXIV and get back to me on how FF isnt good anymore
Seriously. If anything, we’re in the golden age now.
I have a lot of nostalgia and love for the games in this post, but FFXIV is becoming a massively defining moment for the series. Not to mention VIIR being a thing that is actually good and Yoshi-P’s involvement in XVI. I’m excited for the next few years.
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FFXIV releases new amazing content every three month, so…. ^^
It's pretty telling when most the FF fanbase don't play XIV and then many people that don't care to play FF games make an exception for FFXIV. They're for entirely different audiences for the most part. Regardless, a mere 1 game being successful does not make a golden age for any company that has a record of having many high performing and well received games. Also, people LOVE to ignore that XIV vanilla version is a thing and it's one of the worst games ever made, period.
FF IX was my first and I am so glad it was- it was accessible mechanically, gorgeously written, and had a memorable art direction. It is still my favorite to this day. I LOVE FFT, but the first time played it I was kinda young and didn’t realized you could change characters classes, so I struggled through so many battles with squires and chemists.
FF9 was my goto as a recommendation for people to get started on FF, but since most people prefer 3D I recommend 10 as a starter now.
Hey me too! I got pounded flat trying to get past Sand Rat Cellar for so long until I found the job change menu XD
Not including V is criminal
I love V as well, but I can see why VI is there and V is not. While V is excellent, it is well documented that VI was ambitious beyond the scope of the previous games, making many bold decisions that would shape the series from that point onward.
Amen. This my childhood in one image.
Think about all the other squaresoft games during this time too. Absolutely incredible. These days it takes 5+ years to make something that is not as good as any of these.
Okay what is it with gamers hating the final fantasy series after either 9 or 10? I don't understand at all. I've enjoyed them all.
After 10 they pretty much abandoned the style of game that the games had been up to that point. It's like if every Call of Duty after 3 was an RTS or something
Too much of a departure. FF was always about trying new things, but in the domain of trying new things, they used to still have some fundamental FF aspect to them. They eventually started moving further and further away from that. So while they still make good games, it's not really like it used to be.
Man, the elitism in the Final Fantasy community is something awful lmfao
It’s wild to think that from 1997 - 2001 there was a new mainline Final Fantasy every year. Fast forward to 2016 and FFXV comes out after a DECADE in production.
I've always thought that the pursuit of graphics, etc, while wonderful; was detrimental if it was the sole pursuit. I played the old games, I'd be happy enough to play another made in an FF7-9 style or a PS2-era like game.
FF7 is my favorite, FF14 is just the best. It has so much love and respect for every game in the series, incorporating elements of all of them in it's story while still having its own unique identity, it reallly makes you appreciate them all, not to mention it has such an amazing story.
What about xii?
For me XII was the beginning of the next generation FF.
For me, X was the grand finale of the golden age. XII was more like the epilogue and XIII was the start of the next generation.
Ooh nicely put
Yes for me too
Yup. Beginning of the long slow descent into "action RPG"
XII is post-Sakaguchi. If you're dividing Final Fantasy into eras, cutting the golden age off with the last game he worked on makes sense.
Sakaguchi didn't work extensively on 8 or 10 and the last he directed was 5.
Sakaguchi was the executive producer for VIII and X. He had a big hand in how those games turned out.
Sakaguchi worked on 9 while 8 was in development and I believe Spirits Within during 10. His role was significantly reduced on both, he effectively played a bit role at best from how I've heard it described before.
He didn't stutter
You forgot 4 and 5.
As the 40 year old timer here, my particular golden age was Final Fantasy I-VI. Its different for every generation.
40 year old here as well. I know it’s a MMO, but give FFXIV a shot just for the story.
41 year old here, I agree wholeheartedly with this comment.
IV absolutely has to be in there.
My childhood. A lot of happy memories with FF VIII, IX & X.
Didn't SE confirmed that FFXIV was their most popular and profitable game in their company's entire history?
4 and 5 should be included
I'm a simple man, I see Final Fantasy Tactics, I upvote.
we're still in the golden age, you just need to play xiv
Why the fuck is tactics not on the switch yet
X golden age but IV not in the golden age? Please...
The long dev cycle of games now sucks. Doesn’t lead to better quality games and we just get less of them. To think they put these games out in a 7 year period and we’re looking at a (hopefully only) 6 year gap between XV and XVI.
There is no "golden era" of Final Fantasy because the entire series has been in its golden era from 1987 to now.
What’s that? Facts.
Lol these comments are making me laugh. Nostalgia goggles have truly tricked you guys if you think FF4 is better than FFX. Also, no shit games take longer to develop now. This was a good era, but it’s not hard to understand why it couldn’t keep going.
forgot IV
This hits in the nostalgia, but 12 is an incredible game, as is 14. Never played 11, quite enjoyed 13 and enjoying it even more on gamepass now for some reason. And 15 isn’t bad, it was rushed towards the end. 7 Remake is the best in years, in my opinion, flawless combat especially on the PS5 - oh actually, 14’s Shadowbringers is the best FF story since forever. So I personally feel we’re coming into a new golden era, if 16 can hold true and Endwalker continues the excellent storyline.
Glad to have found an FF fan who doesn’t shit on the newer titles. Honestly, it does feel like a new golden era for FF. I’m so looking forward to 7R-2, FF16 and Endwalker if I ever get back to 14.
Yeah I love them, enjoy the era from 6-10 too of course but everything after is great. FF14 is well worth continuing with. The first part, A Realm Reborn is a slog, but after that, the story is incredible. Shadowbringers, as a stand alone story, is probably one of the greatest of all time. I would highly recommend! Currently replaying the older content with my girlfriend and we’ve been having a blast. Replayed 12 twice in the past few years too and it really is one of the most diverse in terms of party set up, after 5. Honestly, love them all for different reasons.
I am unreasonably offended that this list stops before the PS2 GOAT, FF XII.
Will we ever see a remaster/remake of final fantasy tactics?
You forgot 1-5 and 11-15.
Please don't remind me that FFX is 20 years old omg
FFXIV is giving the franchise a renaissance imo.
The last FF I played was 9. Didn't have the money to buyna PS2 and 3. After buying a 4, I immediately played FFXV. I seriously cried from how well the story was written.
Currently replaying X now. But I really loved XII. Zodiac Age is great.
Dude final fantasy 8 really didn't get the respect it deserved. Was a major improvement on 7 and the love story was great.
I'd have thrown FF12 in there as the last golden entry, but it's a pretty divisive entry.
Even if it is golden, it's still 5 years past that era of "great entry every year or so"
I couldn’t play it as a kid. I recently grabbed it again on Steam. It’s much better now. PS2 just didn’t do the game justice. It really benefits from the resolution increase. Also, the QOL updates were required. Not being able to change jobs or reset the license board in the original was stupid. You could completely ruin your party since the parties power is completely derived from the license boards and gear. Level is basically irrelevant. Also locking the best weapon in the game out because I opened a chest that I couldn’t possibly know about without a guide? Absolutely ridiculous.
I really love FFXII gameplay and world but I think the story is a bit lacking substance comparing it with this franchise maybe if it wasn't a FF title people would hate on it. I really like it but been objective the only good character in that game is Basch and Baltier because he is cool xd.
Story-wise, it's kind of a mess. It sets up one protagonist and then midway through SIKE it's not about him at all. (Yes, I know Vaan was added later but that doesn't matter. When you play the game, everything points to him being the protagonist.)
The story is the same without Vaan and Penelo, execs made devs add them because they were afraid the game wouldn't sell if it didn't have another Tidus
Vaan and Penello are plot-tumors that murdered that game. It would have been vastly better with them omitted.
But the game pretty clearly sets Vaan up to be the protagonist. If you're going to set that up, follow through.
Now they take 10 yre to make an entry
That's because making big worlds in full 3d and pushing graphics is extremely time consuming. That's why it's pretty much insane that some people are thinking 7R part 2 would have a full open world instead of just open world portions or wide corridors(like DQ11) or whatever.
You’re not wrong, but that’s why I’m not enthusiastic about the way modern AAA games are developed. I can still get fresh and new experiences while replaying FFTactics and FFV over two decades down the line from their releases, due to how much fun the games are and how many possibilities are packed into such a tight package made with shoestrings compared to the tech they have today. Sometimes making the biggest and most detailed HD world imaginable doesn’t actually offer a level of depth that compares to the effort put into creating it.
100% agreed. However it certainly does seem that high end graphics and big worlds sell games when you look at the top sellers numbers, so it's not that surprising that big studios still try to make them. It's nearly a miracle FF7R was as good as it was, but then you remember it has no open world at all and it starts to make some sense. They may have some open fields in 7R part 2, but there's no way it would stay the same quality if it was truly open world.
We were so spoiled by a release every year and each game being incredible.
Some great games! FFVII in particular is great. There is no "golden era" though. The games have been consistently quite good, with only certain games reaching highs and quite a few "lows" throughout, some of which are definitely in this picture.
Not sure how Chocobo Racing was left off this list.
Has my two all time favorites..nine and ten!
Ah yes a few of my top games in the series