Summary
Final Fantasyis one of the best most popular JRPG series that fans can’t get enough of. The series broke new ground during the early years of gaming by showing how the changing hardware could augment this genre, before entering a lull and eventually making a comeback for the ages.
As one would expect from a JRPG series, there are times when someFinal Fantasygames include a ridiculous grind that can be a nightmare to deal with. Players have to move heaven and earth to enjoy certain benefits that may not be worth the trouble.
Watching Terra use Magic while the others can only watch on in awe makes for a great moment whenplayers get their hands on magiciteand realize that these Espers teach certain spells to the party members. However, this realization is also accompanied by a feeling of dread when players realize the grind that awaits them.
Even if players don’t want every party member inFinal Fantasy 6to become a spell-slinging master, it’s quite irritating to make characters learn must-have spells that can aid them in a pinch. Late-game magicite boasts some of the strongest spells in the game that can be a nightmare to learn if players want their magic-inclined characters to be as effective as possible.
Final Fantasy 4’s emphasis on conveying a narrative that played around with the jobs of the series made for a great time. Cecil’s initial journey as a Dark Knight leads to him facing a moral crisis that is resolved after he sheds his dark side and becomes a Paladin.
It’s one of the most memorableFinal Fantasymoments of all time, but players will be singing a different tune when they open the menu and see that this mandatory party member has gone down to Level 1. If players choose not to grind, thentackling certain bosses with a low-level Cecilcan be an absolute nightmare.
TheJunction system ofFinal Fantasy 8has some good ideas, but the hasty nature of this game’s release meant that SquareSoft couldn’t balance the system all that well. This meant that players who wanted their stats to be buffed to the nines needed to draw 99 stocks of every spell in the series.
This grind frustrated fans so much that some of them have permanently turned their backs onFinal Fantasy 8. However, with modern innovations such as a speed-up system coupled with easy gameplay, players won’t have to spend too much time drawing magic, especially if they don’t mind stopping way before they reach the 99 stock limit for each spell.
The materia system ofFinal Fantasy 7has aged like a fine wine, to the point where its remakes are using pretty much the same formula without any major changes. It’s a testament to how engaging this mechanic was, allowing players to customize the abilities of their party members.
However, players would be singing a different tune if they want to ensure that all pieces of materia they have is upgraded to the max. The grind is unreal, and what makes things worse is that players are incentivized to unequip mastered materia to focus on other lower-level variants instead, which prevents them from reaping the reward of using high-level magic and spells in battle.
Final Fantasy 9harkens back to the classic era of the series while also integrating modern JRPG systems to let players enjoy the best of both worlds.Most skills players can learnare tied to equipment, which is a fun system with one nagging annoyance that can make for a mind-numbing grind.
AP doesn’t exactly grow on trees, and players must make it a point to wear weaker equipment to learn skills that can place them in hot water against a challenging boss. Constantly switching mediocre equipment and grinding AP makes for a remarkably dull design choice in an otherwise excellent title.
Final Fantasy 2is the black sheep of the series, lambasted for poor progression that removed a tried-and-tested leveling system in favor of something experimental. It was a nice idea but floundered when it came to the execution.
The broken systems of the game encouraged players to beat themselves up and spam certain moves over and over again to level up certain stats. To prevent all characters from having the same growth, players had to do some wacky things in battles that felt a bit too grindy and preventedFinal Fantasy 2from making a strong impression in the minds of many.
Almost everyFinal Fantasygame features ultimate weapons for their character that are a joy to use. Players love the idea of walloping enemies with high damage numbers, butFinal Fantasy 10adds a unique spinto this concept by making players work to unleash the full potential of each party member’s Celestial Weapons.
Players must complete the many side activities and minigames present in the game and achieve incredible results to turn these Celestial Weapons into some of the most effective damage dealers. Some activities are easier to accomplish, but others are a nightmare to deal with. The toughest and most infamous minigames of the lot involve dodging 200 lightning bolts in a row and getting a time of zero seconds in the Catcher Chocobo minigame.
Final Fantasy 5featuresone of the best job systemsin the entire series, letting players go all out in customizing their party as they see fit. The focus was on the gameplay, with the story taking on a light-hearted note and becoming iconic in the minds of fans courtesy of its comedic moments and the charming presence of Gilgamesh.
While the job system was fun enough to mess around with for casual fans without getting too complicated, hardcore JRPG players who wanted to max out every job were dooming themselves to a grind for the ages. Jobs require a decent amount of AP to master, with some of the more complex jobs around being a downright nightmare to master because of their ridiculous requirements.
