Why do people like Final Fantasy so much ?

Is it because of the characters ? gameplay ? story ? the only FF game i ever played was Crisis Core for PSP but it got boring

This is a question that can easily be subjected to anything that's popular. Why do people like Halo/Metal Gear Solid/Starcraft/WoW? Why do gamers perfer one console over another? Why do tweens like twilight so much?

The answer is simple. People have different tastes in things.

because Final Fantasy is freakin awesome.

I could write a lot, or I could link the excellent, excellent series of articles The Rise And Fall of Final Fantasy by "pitchfork".

Take look at the articles for Final Fantasy VI, VII, VIII and IX; if only for the images. Maybe that will make you understand.

Well, for one thing, I don't know how you can just play an offshoot and then think that represents the series proper, but anyway...

Before they started trying to turn them into interactive movies (FF VII), the series was pretty good. If you can enjoy SNES-era games, then try playing Final Fantasy VI (on one of the compilations or something). If you don't like that, then I'd say you probably just don't like JRPGs.

Is it because of the characters ? gameplay ? story ? the only FF game i ever played was Crisis Core for PSP but it got boring

Merc009

Because some people like liniar adventure games with stats and cutscenes.

Well, for one thing, I don't know how you can just play an offshoot and then think that represents the series proper, but anyway...

Before they started trying to turn them into interactive movies (FF VII), the series was pretty good. If you can enjoy SNES-era games, then try playing Final Fantasy VI (on one of the compilations or something). If you don't like that, then I'd say you probably just don't like JRPGs.

SpaceMoose

Design-wise FF7 was perfectly conventional (the big improvement was in the graphics). That being said, better graphics (and a shiftfrom Amano to Nomura)really closed the gap between character sketches and character models. Like I've said before, in the old days the camera was fixed way out and characters had to have supersized heads, emoticons, and wild gesticulations (jumping up and down and whatnot) to convey emotions. In modern times cameras can be as close or as far as game designers need them to be, and characters models can be a lot more detailed (though I'd say facial tech in FF didn't become really convincing until FFX).

The bet Squenix made with FF was hugely risky but the payoff was huge both for Square and rpg gamers. Nowadays quite a few rpgs cross the Pacific and they tend to be skillfully localizaed (bows to Atlus) but pre-FF7 many jrpgs didn't leave Japan and many of those that did were poorly localized. Its also worth noting that Squenix hasn't rested on its laurels with FF. Each game has played quite a bit differently (the gap between even FFX and FFX-2 is vast). That means that very few people love all the modern FFs (I like Vivi, but I really despised the battle system, villian and some of the design decisions of FF9).

Don't get me wrong. I wish Westerners would pay more attention to games not named FF (the SMT and NIS games have found an audience, but neither Vagrant Story nor the Shadow Hearts games ever did), but I've got no problem with the FF games.

Well right off the bat its a level of technical polish and production values that few titles out of Japan can meet (comparitively speaking of course). For those who enjoy the JRPG and the franchise in of itself know that each Final Fantasy pushes the genre in interesting directions while being an established benchmark of quality. Not to mention it hailed a new era for the JRPG in the west.

Is it because of the characters ? gameplay ? story ? the only FF game i ever played was Crisis Core for PSP but it got boring

Merc009

All the things you've mentioned, so there is no reason for you to ask why.

Also I don't find FF games boring.

I find FPS games incredibly boring (Which includes Half Life 1 & 2, Call of Duty franchise, Halo, etc), but I don't go asking why people enjoy it, because I know why.

People just have different taste.

The graphics had absolutely nothing to do with my being somewhat disappointed with FF VII. I just thought it was kind of boring. What I meant was that VII was the point where they seemed to start figuring that if they made the games flashy enough that could make up for doing anything else interesting. As you said, it was "perfectly conventional." It's also the point where the stories started getting kind of idiotic and weird just for the sake of weird, though IX might really be where the series jumped the shark in terms of plots.

I think the often cheesy Shadow Hearts series (which was made in part by former Square employees) was better than what Final Fantasy has become. I couldn't really tell you WHY I like it better. I just found them more enjoyable overall.

There is one thing I was glad they finally did with Final Fantasy XII and that was to get rid of random battles. I don't know why it took them that long when they did it in Chrono Trigger ages ago...

People like Final Fantasy because of the characters, the plot, and the interaction between the characters with their internal conflicts that eventually affect the party in the end.

People become attached to the characters and become surprised when things happen to them. With many people, it was [spoiler] Aerith dying at the hands of Sephiroth. Mine was when I found out that Tidus was dead after all(pretty shocking). Another one was when Kefka from Final Fantasy VI actually defeated the heroes and destroyed the world. That was a 180 I did not see coming. [/spoiler]

If you enjoy Halo TC, you became attached to him when playing through the series. The same way you feel for Master Chief is the same way I feel when playing Final Fantasy VI, or when someone picks up Final Fantasy VII for the fifth time.

I like the fact that for every final fantasy game they don't skimp on anything. The music has professional composers composing, the art styles are amazing, the CG cutscenes are even better than most movies, The stories, while maybe cliche are still presented very well.

I see final fantasy as more of a piece of art that you should enjoy, rather than a game that's trying to get you to have fun in that tetris sort of way.

Why do people play ANY genre of video game? Because it's what appeals to them. Everyone has different reasons for playing Final Fantasy or Halo or Modern Warfare, etc.

Because Square Enix is the "Lamborghini" of JRPG companies, and Final Fantasy is always the role model for them. That means they always put their greatest efforts into games with the name "Final Fantasy" in it. And THAT means, the final fantasy games are of the best quality out of any rpgs made by Square Enix. That means their best graphic, audio and so on. And since most of the RPG's made by them are between good and very good (ok exceptions exist) being the best series has to mean something. You can love or hate them, you can like the story or battle system or not, Final Fantasy games are always GOOD quality.

Nowadays Final Fantasy VII looks like crap, sure, the technology evolved since it came out, but when i first played it, it was reeeeally awesome, in graphics AND atmosphere. That goes for every Final Fantasy game.

Because Final Fantasy Owns.