Most underrated Final Fantasy title?

I'm going to go with 8 since most of the people on this board seem not to have played a game in the series before 7....

XIII by far.

Next in line would be 5.

Final Fantasy II - Although it's a broken game, it deserves some props for the innovation if brought to the table.

Final Fantasy VIII - Gets a lot of hate for the draw system and orphanage twist, but otherwise it was a great game.

out of the post FF7 games, I would say FF9 , it got alot of praise , but I don't think it sold as well as the previous 2 , but I think its a wonderful game (really on par with FF8 imo)

out of the pre FF7 games, well , probably FF5, it was overshadowed by 4 and 6, but its a good game.

FFIX - I don't think this game gets nearly the attention that all the other FFs got. I think I was the only person I knew that had it when it first came out. 

IX is not underrated. It's the most universally loved Final Fantasy game on the internet. JML897

ahh, no.

[QUOTE="JML897"]IX is not underrated. It's the most universally loved Final Fantasy game on the internet. Shenmue_Jehuty

ahh, no.

[QUOTE="JML897"]IX is not underrated. It's the most universally loved Final Fantasy game on the internet. Shenmue_Jehuty

ahh, no.

Everyone seems to love VI and IX at this point. Even XII is getting a lot of love.

III-V rarely get hated on but they also rarely get talked about. They're just kinda there which I think fits them perfectly considering how good they are.

I honestly don't know what's underrated at this point, maybe in a few more years when everyone has fully jumped on the bandwagon that VII isn't the greatest of them all then VII itself will be the underrated one :P

[QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]

[QUOTE="JML897"]IX is not underrated. It's the most universally loved Final Fantasy game on the internet. JML897

ahh, no.

VII and X have widespread backlash? Since when? Those two seem to receive the most praise (also VI) and they are talked about way, way more than any other FF game, again mostly in a positive light. I have seen IX rarely ever get talked about, and at the time it was released, I didn't know anyone else who owned it, at least not for about a year after its release. Even too this day, it remains the underdog of the FF series. I think the only other FF game that can claim that is V, but it still doesn't touch IX.

IX is not underrated. It's the most universally loved Final Fantasy game on the internet. JML897

[QUOTE="JML897"][QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]

ahh, no.

Shenmue_Jehuty

VII and X have widespread backlash? Since when? Those two seem to receive the most praise (also VI) and they are talked about way, way more than any other FF game, again mostly in a positive light. I have seen IX rarely ever get talked about, and at the time it was released, I didn't know anyone else who owned it, at least not for about a year after its release. Even too this day, it remains the underdog of the FF series. I think the only other FF game that can claim that is V, but it still doesn't touch IX.

Don't you think your personal experiences are sort of making you a little biased?  In regards to why FF IX is never talked about, that's because there's nothing controversial about it.  It came out.  It was well received by the old and the new.  I would assume that it's one of the few titles in the game regarded by the entire fan base as a remarkably solid game, but not a stand out in the way VI and VII, and to some extent X.  It lacks the polarizing elements like VIII, and is not as fun to hate on as VII.  

If there's a reason why IX isn't talked about (it's talked about quite a bit on this website from what I've seen, and pretty much universally liked) it's because well it's just a damn solid title, nothing more, nothing less.  Nothing really controversial to bring up.

[QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]

[QUOTE="JML897"]IX is not underrated. It's the most universally loved Final Fantasy game on the internet. JML897

ahh, no.

I would say that VI is the most loved FF title on the internet, but IX is definitely the second most loved.

VII and X have widespread backlash?

Shenmue_Jehuty

VII and X are highly revered and almost always place very high on lists of the top FF games, but they definitely get their fair share of hate as well. VII gets attacked for being overrated and not aging as well as other games in the series while FFX gets attacked for Tidus (for the life of me, I don't understand why Tidus bothers people so much; Squall is much worse since he is actually a jerk whereas Tidus's negative qualities are limited to being annoying), its linearity, character designs, and some elements in the story.

I personally think most of the FFX hate is dumb, but it's definitely there, even if the game is highly revered overall. I also think it's pretty daft to hate on FFVII because it didn't age as well as FFIX or FFVI or because of its massive hype.

Actually, most video game hate aimed at well made games is pretty stupid. Not to say that FFX and FFVII should be above criticism or that everybody has to like them, but people seem to take things they disliked about the games and blow them out of proportion. I mean, I've heard people claim that Tidus or FFVII's ugly character models ruined the entire game for them, which is just absolute nonsense IMO.

VII and X have widespread backlash? Since when?

Shenmue_Jehuty

I can't even count the amount of debates/arguments I've gotten in over FFX. I love it but there are definitely a lot of people out there who can't stand certain aspects of it (mainly the things that the posts above me touched on)

all of them are overrated basically except 12 and 13, they are in fact underrated imo

I see people are naming ff9 as underrated. lolcry. that game isn't underrated, it's probably the most overrated ff game I've ever seen. it's also the worst ff game I probably ever played. not a bad game but maybe 7/10 max.

ff9

ff2

or 

ff13 i guess.

Final Fantasy V is the answer.

The backlash from VII was post Advent children. Although there was also a time when the VII fanbase was awful.

X was loved a lot last gen from my experience. Now not so much.

As for me I played both games a lot later then there release dates (VII in 2004, X in 2010).

When I think of underrated I think of games that didnt get recognized as being as good of a game as they actually are either in review scores, hype, etc.

The reason FF9 did not sell as well as 7 and 8 is because a lot of people didnt get 8. While 8 is a huge change in direction for the series and it made 9 sell fewer copies, it is still much better then the crap we have had quite a few years. Everything after X has gone way downhill imo... Square (square enix) is not what it once was, and has all but lost my respect and trust down to the last drop. It is amazing how much games are being dumbed down and its as if the majority of people just dont see it....

The reason FF9 did not sell as well as 7 and 8 is because a lot of people didnt get 8.WitIsWisdom

I thought it was also because FF9 was released at a bad time. It came out after the PS2 did; people were starting to move on from PS1 games at that time.

And even though FF9 "sold poorly" by FF standards it was still a commercial success.

[QUOTE="WitIsWisdom"]The reason FF9 did not sell as well as 7 and 8 is because a lot of people didnt get 8.JML897

I thought it was also because FF9 was released at a bad time. It came out after the PS2 did; people were starting to move on from PS1 games at that time.

And even though FF9 "sold poorly" by FF standards it was still a commercial success.

[QUOTE="JML897"]

[QUOTE="WitIsWisdom"]The reason FF9 did not sell as well as 7 and 8 is because a lot of people didnt get 8.Jag85

I thought it was also because FF9 was released at a bad time. It came out after the PS2 did; people were starting to move on from PS1 games at that time.

And even though FF9 "sold poorly" by FF standards it was still a commercial success.

No I'm leaning more towards FFIX being released late on the PS1 and around the hype of the PS2. Plus FFX was relased a year later and I can recall that game being hyped.

I also believe that the art style may have turned people off since it was different from VII and VIII's art style.

[QUOTE="WitIsWisdom"]The reason FF9 did not sell as well as 7 and 8 is because a lot of people didnt get 8.JML897

I thought it was also because FF9 was released at a bad time. It came out after the PS2 did; people were starting to move on from PS1 games at that time.

And even though FF9 "sold poorly" by FF standards it was still a commercial success.

I'm sure that may have had more of an impact then I placed emphasis on, however, Final Fantasy is (was...) one of those franchises that sell because of spectacular gameplay. With that being said, I think overall that the RPG lovers of us out there realize more than others that graphics arent always everything. Now dont get me wrong, most FF games are beautiful, however. What I am saying is that I know that even though I jumped to the PS2 that FF IX was still very high on my priority list. With the most consoles on the market ever for the PS at that time, it just seems a little more plausible that 8 had more of a negative impact on the overall franchise then people know. I also know I am not miss Cleo (lol), but although a lot of FF fans looked past the differences in 8 and still found a way to love it overall, a TON of FF fans came into the scene with FF7. 7 was much more traditional and hyped to an extreme level. Back in the day everybody in the "cool gaming loop" owned or at least played (or fronted they owned or played) FF7. It was all the rage.... however these same "FF experts" (after playing just 1 single title in the series) hated on 8 for not being "traditional." The weird thing to me is that some people STILL consider 8 to be the black sheep of the series even though it didnt stray as far from the original formula as the last several titles have, and people dont hate on them nearly as much. I can tell you this much... I would die to have an indirect sequel to 8 over anything after 10. At least you could control ALL of your characters. I do agree with you overall, I just wanted to explain my take a little better. That doesnt necessarily make my opinion "right" however, I have followed the gaming industry including reviews and trends and been a collector for over 20 years. That doesnt make me an expert by ay means, but it probably gives me more experience then most of the so called experts placing ratings and reviews on games today... I am also working toward a degree in creative writing which I may decide to try to get employed as a game reviewer while working on my novel.

ff9

ff2

or 

ff13 i guess.

CaptainGamespot

FF3,  FF5, FFMQ and FFT. All good games, that are over shadowed by the emo entries in the series.

FF II and FF V

Final Fantasy II - Although it's a broken game, it deserves some props for the innovation if brought to the table.

Final Fantasy VIII - Gets a lot of hate for the draw system and orphanage twist, but otherwise it was a great game.

Jag85

Final Fantasy V due to being released late in the West and Final Fantasy XII for getting alot of hate from fans 

FFIII: It really was a great game, but I remember when the DS remake released it got bashed pretty bad. I thought the overall feel of the game was perfect, and after all was said and done, it felt accomplishing.

or

FFXIII: This game gets bashed really bad for well just about every reason possible. Thought the game looked and played beautifully.

I think Tactics doesn't get enough recognition. dagreenfish

[QUOTE="CaptainGamespot"]

ff9

ff2

or 

ff13 i guess.

Valknut4

FF3,  FF5, FFMQ and FFT. All good games, that are over shadowed by the emo entries in the series.

i love fft, but i didnt bring it up as it was a tactical side mission. ff5 was good, but didn't captivate me.

[QUOTE="JML897"]IX is not underrated. It's the most universally loved Final Fantasy game on the internet. Shenmue_Jehuty

ahh, no.

It's the highest rated FF game on MC.

[QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]VII and X have widespread backlash?

GreySeal9

VII and X are highly revered and almost always place very high on lists of the top FF games, but they definitely get their fair share of hate as well. VII gets attacked for being overrated and not aging as well as other games in the series while FFX gets attacked for Tidus (for the life of me, I don't understand why Tidus bothers people so much; Squall is much worse since he is actually a jerk whereas Tidus's negative qualities are limited to being annoying), its linearity, character designs, and some elements in the story.

I personally think most of the FFX hate is dumb, but it's definitely there, even if the game is highly revered overall. I also think it's pretty daft to hate on FFVII because it didn't age as well as FFIX or FFVI or because of its massive hype.

Actually, most video game hate aimed at well made games is pretty stupid. Not to say that FFX and FFVII should be above criticism or that everybody has to like them, but people seem to take things they disliked about the games and blow them out of proportion. I mean, I've heard people claim that Tidus or FFVII's ugly character models ruined the entire game for them, which is just absolute nonsense IMO.

BTW, I read y our X-2 review which i guess means you finished playing it. I am toward the end I believe in chapter IV, and I generally agree with a lot of your review with a few disagreements, although the main difference is that I think both X and X-2's story are tied they are both equally random inconsistent, and the crossfades are ridiculous.

[QUOTE="GreySeal9"]

[QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]VII and X have widespread backlash?

Admiral-lemnant

VII and X are highly revered and almost always place very high on lists of the top FF games, but they definitely get their fair share of hate as well. VII gets attacked for being overrated and not aging as well as other games in the series while FFX gets attacked for Tidus (for the life of me, I don't understand why Tidus bothers people so much; Squall is much worse since he is actually a jerk whereas Tidus's negative qualities are limited to being annoying), its linearity, character designs, and some elements in the story.

I personally think most of the FFX hate is dumb, but it's definitely there, even if the game is highly revered overall. I also think it's pretty daft to hate on FFVII because it didn't age as well as FFIX or FFVI or because of its massive hype.

Actually, most video game hate aimed at well made games is pretty stupid. Not to say that FFX and FFVII should be above criticism or that everybody has to like them, but people seem to take things they disliked about the games and blow them out of proportion. I mean, I've heard people claim that Tidus or FFVII's ugly character models ruined the entire game for them, which is just absolute nonsense IMO.

BTW, I read y our X-2 review which i guess means you finished playing it. I am toward the end I believe in chapter IV, and I generally agree with a lot of your review with a few disagreements, although the main difference is that I think both X and X-2's story are tied they are both equally random inconsistent, and the crossfades are ridiculous.

I did finish it.

I think X's story has a few problems, but overall I loved it to death whereas the FFX-2's story never really clicked at all. It was just kind of there. 

What do you mean by crossfades?

[QUOTE="Admiral-lemnant"]

[QUOTE="GreySeal9"]

VII and X are highly revered and almost always place very high on lists of the top FF games, but they definitely get their fair share of hate as well. VII gets attacked for being overrated and not aging as well as other games in the series while FFX gets attacked for Tidus (for the life of me, I don't understand why Tidus bothers people so much; Squall is much worse since he is actually a jerk whereas Tidus's negative qualities are limited to being annoying), its linearity, character designs, and some elements in the story.

I personally think most of the FFX hate is dumb, but it's definitely there, even if the game is highly revered overall. I also think it's pretty daft to hate on FFVII because it didn't age as well as FFIX or FFVI or because of its massive hype.

Actually, most video game hate aimed at well made games is pretty stupid. Not to say that FFX and FFVII should be above criticism or that everybody has to like them, but people seem to take things they disliked about the games and blow them out of proportion. I mean, I've heard people claim that Tidus or FFVII's ugly character models ruined the entire game for them, which is just absolute nonsense IMO.

GreySeal9

BTW, I read y our X-2 review which i guess means you finished playing it. I am toward the end I believe in chapter IV, and I generally agree with a lot of your review with a few disagreements, although the main difference is that I think both X and X-2's story are tied they are both equally random inconsistent, and the crossfades are ridiculous.

I did finish it.

I think X's story has a few problems, but overall I loved it to death whereas the FFX-2's story never really clicked at all. It was just kind of there. 

What do you mean by crossfades?

Crossfades is a video editing tachnique. Where what you would usually do is have a scene fade out while another seen is fading in at a completely differnt location or setting, or at a different gorup of people fading in, while the scene that it's tranfering from is fading out at the same time and then you bla the bla.

Here is an example, at .10 it shows an example of crossfading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1f4EJhSJy4

The issue with X and X-2, which actually a lot of people find annoying, is that a large chunk of scen to scene transitions use crossfading, but the main issue with that is it's not scene to scene.

You have Titus for example in a scene where he is running toward something, it would crossfade to him back to the same thing of him running toward something then crossfade again for no reason of him doing the same thing and it's incredibly weaird and makes no sense.

Let me see if I can find an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XbCSvBOgDI&list=PLD663E62FBE808933

I found this at a fan site, 7:09 is an example, and it become more random as you go through the game where it will zom up to peoples faces and crossfade to the same persons face, or will rotate around secenary and crossfade to pretty much the same scenery rotating but maybe one centimeter to the right instead of just watching it rotate  the whole time. Or when there is action going on, and this is all scenes not just the CGi, they will do continous crossfades to the same people around them for no reason whatsoever and it's really really bad.

^I'm curious, are you a video editor or something?
I can think of a few examples from FFX when that crossfade technique was used but I never even gave it a second thought when it happened. I'm just thinking people wouldn't really be bugged by that sort of thing in a videogame cutscene unless you have a job editing media for a living.

You say a lot of people complain about the crossfades but in all my time discussing FFX this is the first I've ever heard someone complain about it (and trust me, I've talked about the game a lot). I just did a google search for "Final Fantasy X crossfade" and nothing relevant even came up. If it was a common complaint then wouldn't I see reviews/message board posts talking about it?

It's funny to see the words "underrated" and "Final Fantasy" in the same sentence.

It's funny to see the words "underrated" and "Final Fantasy" in the same sentence.

Emerald_Warrior

^I'm curious, are you a video editor or something?
I can think of a few examples from FFX when that crossfade technique was used but I never even gave it a second thought when it happened. I'm just thinking people wouldn't really be bugged by that sort of thing in a videogame cutscene unless you have a job editing media for a living.

You say a lot of people complain about the crossfades but in all my time discussing FFX this is the first I've ever heard someone complain about it (and trust me, I've talked about the game a lot). I just did a google search for "Final Fantasy X crossfade" and nothing relevant even came up. If it was a common complaint then wouldn't I see reviews/message board posts talking about it?

JML897

No it's in google but you have to go a few pages. The reason is that there is a band called crossfade and a lot of people use their songs over random youtube videos of romance or action, or even plathrough of final fantasy X for whatever reason i do not know and it makes no sense. And there is a LOT of them and a lot of people using link tricks to get mutliple urls that go to the same videos.

It's a common complaint, and thinking they would post something they dislike in a FFX fan message board makes no sense to me why would they do that?  I will admit it's not the number one reason people dislike the game, I would say it';s just under as common as the complaints for blitzball.

[QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

It's funny to see the words "underrated" and "Final Fantasy" in the same sentence.

JML897

II and 3 had no hype whatsoever even in the homeland.