Final Fantasy Ranking Finale and March 31

Final Fantasy Rankings Finale

(Original unabridged post)

(Posts Part One, Part Two)

This is a listing of my ranking of Final Fantasy Core games as of 2014.
I am including some information along with the rank.  There will be 2 numbers after the game's title: the first is my game grade(1-10) in context of when it came out.  The second is what I'd grade the game today.

3. Final Fantasy 12 (8) (8)

The Matsuno Final Fantasy.  The one that took place in an already established world.  The one that has a semi-Final Fantasy and a non-Final Fantasy as part of its universe.  This strange Single-player MMO-esque Final Fantasy is polarizing.  The combat is confusing to many(though it is very much like what Dragon Age did later), and the main characters don't seem like main characters at all.  But that story.  I really wish there was more story in between certain dungeons in the game, and I kind of wish the story became more apparent much sooner, but holy crap; when the story gets going, its hard to not be fascinated.  This is my pick for best overall story in a Final Fantasy.  When I rate story above all, you can see that I find faults with the game's pacing and presentation enough to keep it out of the #1 spot.  Basch is ranked 3 in my favorite characters of all time list.  My favorite duo of all time is Balthier and Fran.  My favorite villain of the series is Vayne by a wide margin.

2. Final Fantasy 9 (8) (8)

Final Fantasy 9 is the game that most exemplifies what a Final Fantasy should be.  It was Sakaguchi's send off to the series, and he pulled out all the stops for it.  The story goes from a small matter of royalty to a universe changing, epic story of survival.  The entire game is an exploration of identity.  Identity as a person, as a legacy, as a civilization, as a memory, and what defines all that.  My favorite character in all of gaming is Vivi.  My favorite sub-story in all of gaming is Vivi and the Black Mages.  The cutscenes are the best in the series, with practically all of them comprising of "oh shit!" moments.  The world is beautiful, my favorite setting of all Final Fantasy games.  The reason this game is not in the #1 slot is not nostalgia, as many will accuse, but because that aside from Vivi and a smidgen of Freya, the cast is rather weak on meaningful characterization.  Only Irvine is a bigger disappointment to me than Amarant.  Amarant's cool look wrote a "badass" check that did not get cashed in.

1. Final Fantasy 6 (10) (9)

The only Final Fantasy to score a 10 from me that was not a first of its tech generation.
Graphics?  It did things you would not think would be done on the SNES.  It looked so good that many PS1/Saturn RPG's looked worse.  From the gears in the town of Narshe, to the beautiful sunset on Cid's island, the world was full of interesting details.  Music? Best in the series.  Every character got a theme, and I could hum them all by the end of it.  Hearing a certain music floods my mind with memories of where I heard it.  Only 7 comes close with a couple of tunes that match 6's memorable score.  Final Fantasy 6's score is close to perfect.  The story is grand, and while it may not get 12 or 9 "epic" it is suitably world shattering.  On top of that, all the side stories fill all the pats of humanity that the main story doesn't touch.  You get Cyan's duty and family, Edgar's unresolved relationship with his brother, Setzer's hidden sadness, and Shadow's silent enduring of pain.  There are over 10 characters in Final Fantasy 6 and all except 1, maybe 2, get the spotlight.  Combat is fun and complex, the Esper mechanic is really awesome, and the fact that every character gets their own special attacks makes every character different and fun.  Sabin even uses Street Fighter style movements to do his abilities.

Final Fantasy 6 is a masterpiece of gaming, and taken as a whole, it still stands the test of time.  It only loses a point for its apparent bad(yet memorable) translation, and the aging of the graphics(despite still being very beautiful in my opinion).

March 31

What a beautiful Spring day.  I typically complain about warm days, but it was really nice to wake to a warm sun.  Grocery day!  So I was inspired by the hint of Spring to decide to have a picnic on Sunday.  No fried chicken this time, I think I'm going to grill chicken earlier in the week and have that at the picnic.  A light pasta salad, and maybe some cucumber.  I hear there's some practice cake comin' my way.

I know some people turn their nose up at Shocktop, but I don't care.  Shocktop is a series of wheat beer made to compete against Blue Moon.  Its big alcohol disguised as craft, and so other beer snobs like to bitch and moan about it.  Wheat, is one of my favorite beer types.  One of the reasons is because I can be adventurous, and still be given a nice after taste.  I love the after taste of wheat beer, its like warm muffins.  So the beer can be fruit flavored, strange flavored, crazy flavored and I can still drink it.  I got myself some of the Honey brewed Wheat Shocktop aged with whiskey barrel staves.  Yes, that's a lot of words in a row meant to make craft beer drinkers die with joy, and it worked on me.  Its been almost a year since I've had any beer, and I hope Tuesday is hot and humid outside, i'll be drinking some beer in a hammock.