Final Fantasy Theatrhythm

This is an addictive rhythm game a la Guitar Hero featuring the best of Final Fantasy music. It is controlled with the touch screen using the usual gestures and where each Final Fantasy numbered game has at least 3 different stages featuring different gameplay:

- The world map: where the character roams around and the player follows an slow paced music. Controlls here are usually tap and hold&slide.

- Cinematic mode: a beautiful mode where a cinematic from the game plays while the player follows the flow with taps, holds and flicks.

- Battle mode: the 4 characters battle some enemies while the player keeps the rhythm on a fast paced music with taps, holds and quick slides while the characters attack the monsters with many known skills, magics and summons.

The game has some rpg-like customization, featuring the main characters who can level up, learn different abilities, equip item. Plus there's a ton of content to do, many difficulty levels and different modes.

Music of course is superb, featuring the most epic and remember tunes from the main games. Too bad the 3ds speakers aren't great, but the recording quality is very good because I connect the 3ds to some autoamplified speakers the sound quality experience a vast improvement.

On the bad side, there's dlc and that they "dared" to put tunes from a game that Squarenix refused to bring in english.

Did I like it? Addictive!
I think you will like it if you:
- Don't hate rhythm games
- Love Final Fantasy

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy II

Combat is turnbased, with the usual setup with enemies on left side and party on the right side. This time classes don't level up with experience but with another method based on the actions and weapons used in combat. Character customization also includes equipment and magic. Also a new feature is the "back row" position, feature that usually allows the character to do/take less physical damage while increasing their ranged damage.

Unlike some modern rpg, there is a enjoyable world map with many dungeons and town with the addition of the chocobos as transport method. The encounters are random but that can be avoided with the chocobo.

The story is a bit more complex but we still find the typical infinite justice japanese heroes, so I didn't enjoy it much but it doesn't hurt as the interruptions are minor. At least this time the characters have names and more personality.

While is not the epic experience that started with FFIV (imo), it is an enjoyable game with addictive battles, that may feel a bit too easy right now. Music has some excellent tunes and graphically looked good at that time, I recomend the psp version now.

Did I like it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Are curious about the Final Fantasy beginings
- Don't hate jrpg

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy I

The saga start, featuring a nice world map with lots of exploration to do, finding dungeons, towns and random encounters and traveling with different vehicles.

Combats feature a pure turn based system, with enemies on one screen at the left and players on a different screen at the right side. This system was really fun though now feels very dated.

At the game's beginning the player can chooose the 4 heroes between a few classes, these classes are the final fantasy usuals and the choice is very welcome for me. Character evolve with the usual experience levels and customization is just about the different equipment.

The story is very light and characters generic, with no personality and not even a name. Of course this is forgivable on a game from 1987. Graphically looked simple but it has improved with the many re-releases, music has a few tunes that now have reached the epic status.

Did I like it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Are curious about the Final Fantasy beginings
- Don't hate jrpg

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy XII

I tried hard to like this game, but I can't.

The combat system looks diferent than usual, I guess it's because there's no random encounters, but the execution is basically the same active time battle again with a few differences, like the mmo's "agro" system where enemies target a determined ally based on a few parameters.

While the player controls one character, he can command the others but also rely on a programmable IA called Gambit. Those allow the ia to make actions based on conditions, like if the leader gets below 50% hp then heal him. This is good but the problem is that gambits are found through the game, I think this is a bit lame because most of the basic orders are unlocked at the beginning making the game even more boring because I had to keep ordering them what to do for many hours.

My problem with the combat system is that it got very repetitive and after 14 hours I was just rushing through endless and simplistic enviroments populated by 3 or 4 types of enemies.

The story and characters aren't bad, I think it's the only reason that kept me going until the end, but I think It wasn't worth it.

I didn't like the customization either, every character has the same choices which the only choices are if to become a mage, rogue, warrior, etc. but inside those classes there's nothing else to choose from.

Did I like it? Nope.
I think you will like it:
- Don't mind the repetitiveness
- Have fun exploring endless straightfoward dungeons

I rate my experience with a 4.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy Legend III

This game belong to the SaGa series and  actually starts very good with the common rpg elements: exploration, world map, random encounters, turn based battles, towns, equipment, heroes, but lacking soul.

The enviroment doesn't look bad either, but the battle screen is very poor, with zero detail, just the menus and sprites.

Combat is the usual turn based system, challenging enough but it gets boring and repetitive where the lack of development and dungeon design helps to get tired too.

Customization is a bit weird, aside from the usual equipment  we can use some of the items dropped from the enemies to evolve the characters class, this isn't a bad idea but it is implemented in a confusing way where without a guide I was completely lost.

The story is okay, tries to be epic but fails because of the bad pacing, the player will spend too much time wandering around and defeating the monsters rather than following the story or dialogs.

So after a few hours the game has nothing else to show and starts getting very heavy. If this game had less grinding and repetitiveness and a good story development the game would have been way more fun to play.

Did I like it? No.
I think you will like it if you:
- Desperate to play old jrpgs?

- I rate my experience with a 3.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Graphically can remind to the other final fantasy games, though there are many different things like the battle screen is similar to Phantasy Star/Dragon Quest series.

Encounters aren't random and battles are turn based with a turn order style similar to Final Fantasy X.

Customization is about gaining experience levels and not much more, there are no equipment choices but upgrades and a few different weapons to choose from which also are used during the exploration.

The exploration is limited but reminds a lot to the Action RPG with a few jumps and things to do around. The world map is small and based on checkpoint, everything is very lineal.

The game isn't epic nor a blast to play but is entertaining enough. The story is a bit weird but fun and graphically looks like very simplistic, like the first few snes game. Music is very cool.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Are desperate to play old school jrpg

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy Adventure

A game that can remind to the (old) Zelda games on its looks and also to the Enix action rpg on its gameplay.

But in reallity this is the first game of the Seiken Densetsu saga, saga where Secret of Mana belongs, so we may find many gameplay and plot features that will be used on the later games.

The gameplay is real time action, focused on dungeons which contain the usual puzzles, enemies and treasures. Also there's some of exploration to do around too, the world map is big enough to contain a few towns and places to look. As curiosity, the player can kill the npcs in town... a thing we are only alowed to do on some western rpgs now (and probably with the same repercusion).

On the customization side we find the usual experience levels, parameters and equipment, etc. No complains here, it's a game from 1991.

The story is the usual Hero of light vs Dark plus saving the girl, at least the story involving the Mana Tree is apreciated as a Secret of Mana fan. Graphically looks nice for a Game boy, I can't remember about music quality, sorry!

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Are desperate to play old school jrpg

I rate my experience with a 7 out of 10.

Final Fantasy XIV

The second version of the second mmo featuring a world with a few Final Fantasy details like summons, black mages and chocobos.

Gameplay is the very standard "World of Warcraft" style, quests and more quests about deliveries and defeating monsters all the way to the max level where the player will start attending bigger and spectacular dungeons and fights. The combats are cooldown based with a way slower pace when compared to other games.

The amount of content is decent but lacks many basic features. The story may be cool, but it isn't what I'm looking on a mmo so I skipped most of the dialogs, there are some unskippable ones, I didn't like this because affects the game's pace.

Graphically looks very good. The interface, special effects, monsters and characters details are awesome, specially the clothes that feel very realistic. Enviroments have nice textures and modeling but they feel a bit generic and not very fantasy like. Music has nice calm melodies, with is nice to avoid repetitiveness on a mmo.

Overall is a good and addictive mmo, but it is too standard for me and has nothing special to offer rather than the FF theme.

Did I like it? Yes, but...
I think you will like it if you:
- Aren't tired of mmos

I rate my experience with a 6 out of 10.

Final Fantasy Tactics

To me this is an overrrated game, yes it is tactical and very fun but it has many lacks...

Challenge isn't very high plus I HATE random encounter on a game like this, because to me the battles are supposed to be long, strategic and epic. Having random encounters just trivializes the combats and become very generic and repetitive, plus having that "free grinding" can unbalance the entire game.

I appreciate the job variety, gives a lot of customization and choices though some classes suck a little :P.

The story is okay, with a few twists but I can't see what's so great about it, I aslo found characters boring.  Graphics: got nice sprites and music is correct.

Also I don't see the "Final Fantasy" anywhere, it should have been called Vagrant Tactics.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg
- Don't expect Final Fantasy

I rate my experience with a 7.5 out of 10

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

The start is really bad, I mean, that snow ball fight... but it is a great game, there aren't many additions but it is pretty entertaining. I think the story is worse than the original.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg
- Can get through the start

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2

More of the same gameplay (which is good), new story and new implementations, fun enough.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Like srpg

I rate my experience with a 7 out of 10

Final Fantasy X

At first I loved this game, I think because I needed a to play a new Final Fantasy, but with the time (after 100% finishing it :P) I started to notice that it has a lot of things that I don't like

The combat is turn based again and without the active time battle, this time it uses turn order based on different parameters. It is very nice and has some challenging battles and lot of optional bosses to fight..

Customization is the key point here, each character has a grid with plenty of different paths to choose and skills to unlock giving the variety I always apreciate, specially with the advanced grid.

It looks awesome, there are many beautiful places to visit, though instead of a world map this time we get a cheap waypoint system. Also exploration is very limited because level design is very simplistic, I always knew where the treasure is. Music is superb.

I didn't find the story so interesting as in other FF games, it is very straight foward and with unrealistic behaviors. I hate Tidus, I hate Yuna, I like the other characters though.

The blitzball mini-game is a bit random but fun to progress.

Did I like it? Yes.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like jrpg

I rate my experience with a 8.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

(psp version)
While it is nice to see the original characters and how they evolved after the end, it gets VERY repetitive.

First because there is a lot of revisited dungeons and it gets very tiring, like "doh, here again?"

Second because the last chapter is just advance through and endless dungeon plenty of very frequent encounters with enemies with very high-hp, requiring alot of grinding (which I hate).

There are a lot of characters to choose from, each very unique but there's some stupid (hidden) requirement that If I don't go to a story place with a certain formation I will miss the good/extended ending.

What I appreciate the most are the new sprites for characters and scenarios, they are high quality and really makes the game look very modern and refreshing. But I'm sure this won't happen again, Square always messes up. Music is great as usual.

Did I like it? Only seeing Kain&co.
I think you will like it if you:
- Liked FFIV
- Don't mind heavy grinding

I rate my experience with a 3 out of 10.

Final Fantasy IV

My first Final Fantasy and probably the first jrpg I've ever played by myself, I think I was like 7 years old and got up to the moon where I found a difficulty spike and quit it (of course I finished it years after).

Many things were new to me, a deep story and very charismatic characters, I started to learn english just to understand them ^^.

Combat is turn based with the active time battle system that gives a more dynamic behavior that makes the combats very interesting. Encounters are random of course.

There are many characters and with unique skills that gives the game the necessary variety to not make it repetitive. There's no customization aside form the equipment.

There are many places to visit, the usual shops, towns and even other worlds, though smaller than the main one. The game is not very long but is very intense and with many secrets to find.

It looks okay (the psp review is excellent) and to me this is where Uematsu career takes off because it has a lot of excellent melodies. I think this is the start of epicness on the saga.

Did I like it? Yeah!
I think yhou will like it if you:
- Like jrpg
- Don't mind random encounters

I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10.

Final Fantasy X-2

Ok after the weird start that can turn many people away, the game concept is very interesting. Graphically is very good, some models are very detailed and effects are cool. Music doesn't dissapoint either.

Customization is based in something called dress spheres, that it is like a Job system, similar to FFV but with less depth and variety, though they can be switch in combat giving some extra status if done so.

The combat is turn based but it leaves the system used in FFX for the more typical active time battle.

The story is not very interesting but we all know where it leads so we keep playing the mission based system to advance through the events. Again there's no world map, instead we find a cheap waypoint system.

But after many hours it stopped being fun, I found myself doing plain missions on very straight-foward places with repetitive random encounters and where dialogs and character interation was very poor. I wasn't really motivated anymore so I had to force myself for at least 10 more hours to finish it just because I wanted to watch the ending.

Did I like it? I got bored after a few hours.
I think you will like it if you:
- Want to know about Tidus
- Like jrpg

I rate my experience with a 5.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy IX

A shame for me, because the story didn't hook me up at all, I tried to play this game since it came out and always stopped before finishing the first disc, then several years later I finished it and I must say that I didn't enjoy much. Characters are cool and so, but it is missing something, maybe more character development, epic story or a lively world.

The gameplay feels more classical, still turn based random encounters with active time battle but I think that the combat is more simple and repetitive, it also probably because all these years I've been playing lots of rpg and I got used to these fights, but I barely used skills nor invocations, just steal-steal-steal, ok let's finish it.

I didn't have fun with customization either, it reminded me to a light version of Lost Odyssey and skills weren't as interesting for me as in the previous Final Fantasy games.

Of course the game is an excellent Final Fantasy and thousands of people have enjoyed it. A big world map with many things to do and production values are very high, beautiful enviroments, excellent design and a very well done soundtrack. It is just that my tastes or expectations are different to what FFIX delivers.

Did I like it? Yes, but not what I expected.
I think you will like it if you:
- Like jrpg
- Get interested by the story and world

I rate my experience with a 6.5 out of 10.

Final Fantasy VIII

Another of my favorites from my teenage days; an epic story involving students from some kind of mercenary school.

Gameplay is the same good as always, random encounters and turn based combat using the active time battle. This time the customization is based on GF, the old invocations are now some kind of being that can be linked to one of the characters.

By linking a GF the character gains the ability to summon them, the passive bonuses that the GF has gained by leveling up and finally also give stat bonuses that depends on the amount of magic linked to that slot. This magic can be extracted from monsters, giving more things to do on a combat rather than fight.

Ok explained like this the gameplay may look complicated but it is well explained on the game and without the need of a heavy tutorial.

There arent many minigames available but clearly they put a lot of effort into the card game, I love it is really addictive, specially when the opponent has a nice card that I want ^^.

Graphics has improved a lot too, now characters look more human and have textures, backgrounds are pre-rendered (I love it) and combat stages are in 3d. Music is also outstanding.

I loved the characters (Laguna is awesome ^^) and the story is very well done and emotive enough, Cry Count = 5.

Did I like it? Yes!
I think you will like it if you:
- Like jrpg
- Avoid comparisons with VII

I rate my experience with a 9 out of 10.

Lightning Returns FFXIII

It's finally over! The whole story since XIII-2 it's a complete nonsense but I was happy to see it end. Characters feel really empty, like it had nothing to do with previous games. I really prefer to think that the story finished with the original ending (FFXIII).

The gameplay is the only thing that kept me going foward, combat is pretty interesting, it is played as an action rpg and the objective is find and use enemy weakness to get it staggered so it takes extra damage and offering various levels of staggering. The challenge is decent and I loved the last boss! It really made me nervous, like the old times ^^.

The game has many customization options, dresses, weapons and shield that gives Lightning different appearance, active and passive skills, and crafting that involves creating new skills (weapon and shield crafting isn't available in the first playthrough :\). That bad thing is that in 2 hours I already had found a good setup and aside from leveling up my skills, I didn't change anything until 40 hours later to deal with the last boss.

The world isn't really big but it's very open and really incentivates the exploration and quest completion, I loved that. The story development is very open, I appreciated the feeling of freedom while progressing through the main quests. Also there's a very well played time restriction that instead of making me rush around, it made me plan and organize my progression while taking my usual pace.

Visually I like the character detail but hate the enviroment textures, they look really poor, like a low budget game. Music is good but doens't have any emotive new tunes. The replay value is high as it offers many new things on the 2nd run.

Did I like it? Yes
I think you will like it if you:
- Want to know more after FFXIII-2
- Like action rpgs

I rate my experience with a 7 out of 10.