It is simple enough: between the series of Phantasy Star and Final Fantasy, which do you prefer... and why?
Phantasy Star Series Versus Final Fantasy Series - Which Do You Like Better?
It is simple enough: between the series of Phantasy Star and Final Fantasy, which do you prefer... and why?
Last edited by Nz17; 12-17-2014 at 12:01 AM.
I have yet to care a single bit about any of the Phantasy Star games. The first was dreadful, and even PS4 was underwhelming to me despite the hype it got from gaming elitists and Sega fanboys. I am more of an FF fan.
Voted for FF. FF7, 8, 11, 12, and 14 may be meh to terrible to me, but there's still more good than bad. PStar though 1 was great, 2 was pretty ok but overkill monster fights, 3 blew and 4 I never touched and I don't consider PSO/PSU the same thingIf I did I'd probably have checked both.
Phantasy Star 4 is a great game but that's it. The highly overrated Phantasy Star 2 and the original Phantasy Star are both okay, and the limited time I put into the third game, it's a bit worse. Phantasy Star 4 does rate among the best of the Final Fantasy games, but the best Final Fantasy games are a bit better and there are more of them while there's only a single Phantasy Star 4.
The action games are a different story. I've played and finished the first Crystal Chronicles and it's okay, but just okay. Certainly not comparable to the Phantasy Star Online/Universe outside of having better looking graphics. Dirge of Cerberus is and Phantasy Star Online/Universe aren't really comparable, but outside of the storyline, which all of them are equally awful, they're all great games. As much as I'd like to give it the benefit of the doubt, I can't. That Final Fantasy Explorers game looks like ass regardless what action RPG that plays similar to Phantasy Star Online that you compare it to. Haven't played, waiting for an official US release which is never going to happen, but Phantasy Star Online 2 and Nova look amazing. Phantasy Star wins in the action department imo.
I like both, but I voted for Final Fantasy.
Last edited by kupomogli; 12-17-2014 at 08:23 AM.
Everything in the above post is opinion unless stated otherwise.
I'd wrestle with this more if not for Final Fantasy III(VI). It's my second favorite RPG, and just had so much atmosphere that it's the only game from either series I play about once a year, sometimes twice. I like the anime style and sci-fi theme of Phantasy Star, but wish they had done a little more to highlight the space motif to make it feel a little less fantasy and a little more sci-fi.
If we are including the entirety of both franchise's catalog then phantasy star. You couldn't pay me to sit through final fantasy 10-14 aka fmv anime: the sort of game
I was relatively quick to answer Final Fantasy, though I've spent more hours just playing Phantasy Star Online ver. 2 than all Final Fantasies combined.
Ive always been a fan of the earlier final fantasy games, and I think they are generally better than phantasy star.
I wonder what people here think is better, final fantasy tactics or tactics ogre?
Shining Force.
I'd take the "Ogre" games over the FF Tactics titles. There's really only one reason, and that reason could have been a plus -- the classes and how they're handled. I like the FF classes being there, but I have Ogre Battle and in those the characters are like chess pieces that do a specific action and you just level them up in 1 experience pool. FFT though over complicates and drags the game out to be much slower. I tried a lot in particular to make myself like and play the GBA game (barely touched the PS1 game) and I couldn't because you had class, then subclass to level up. You both had to gain general experience, but then job based skills has their own XP pool too. If you had a White Mage you had to level up, but then also level up to get Cure1, 2, 3, Holy, etc and it was just a painful grind. I mean if you had just one game for the year on a system, great, go for it, but if you aren't that way or your patience isn't there it's a drag. Ogre Battle type games are slow, but nothing that slow, FFT makes them seem quick.
I like Ogre Battle better than Tactics Ogre. Ogre Battle and Dragon Force are my favorite strategy games. Daria is right, though. On a grid, Shining Force wins based on the sheer number of Centaurs and Birdmen alone.
Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together PSX > Final Fantasy Tactics > Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together PSP.
The problem with the PSP version of Tactics Ogre is that because of the skill system, unless you choose the best skills immediately, your characters are going to be severely underpowered. If you don't have a dragoon or beastmaster type character your party is going to get wrecked by dragons and beasts who take and deal high amounts of damage. You can't just switch to one of those classes either. Every class you acquire starts at level 1 while weapons and armor are able to be equipped only as long as you're high enough level. By the time you receive a dragoon, you'll be around level 17 or so(going from memory, so not exactly sure) and the class will start at level 1. Until the characters get to around a level or two below your party level, that character will take off 1HP per attack and will die in one or two hits.
Without the skills and when each class isn't tied to a single level on the PSX version, each character is their own level like regular RPGs, the game plays with much less of a grind. If you do have to grind, then you can go to the training ground which can be done at any location in the game, even towns you've participated in battle before. You place everyone on one team and another weak character on another team. Just have your character that's one or two levels above everyone else move forward a few steps and start throwing stones. When he gets low enough HP have someone kill him/her off then start working on that character, repeat. Less than five minutes everyone will be the same level. Progression is much quicker.
Now the PSP version may be the better game if you max out every class and purchase the most powerful generic equipment, enough for each party member, to still keep the game balanced, as you can then use the world card to travel back to the very beginning of the game and all enemies will be on the same levels as your characters and will have the most powerful equipment available to them, which will probably be generic equipment or uncommon equipment. At that point there's no grinding whatsoever. Enemies will have powerful weapons, spells etc, while the player will also have access to the same. It's just getting there that's the problem and because of the stupid every class starts at level 1 and equipment is tied to a level, I just quit playing the game despite the original Tactics Ogre being one of my favorite games of all time.
As for Shining Force. Extremely overrated. I've only played the first game, but it's not as good as people say it is. It's a rather weak TRPG that's extremely slow paced, unbalanced because there are plenty of points that the enemies are so overpowered that you kill who you can, gain levels, and after you lose, you retain all the EXP. The balancing issue is that it's impossible to go straight through the game without grinding through losses so what's the point in even playing the game? The slow paced movement through any action? The amazing story(/sarcasm?) The other games may be better than the original, but the original isn't good enough for me to be interested in finding out.
*edit*
Here are some other good ones.
Yggdra Union. This is a hard TRPG, even after you get it it's still pretty difficult, but very balanced. The game has a fairly long tutorial that has you slowly going through battles learning new gameplay options the further into the game you get. At first you can only move your characters and attack with a single character, afterwards you'll be able to perform unions which is still a single attack, but depending on whether it's a female or a male, spaces in each direction from the character in either a + for female or x for male will pull any allies into the battle, same with enemies. You'll later be able to use abilities during battle as long as the ability tied to the movement is the union character type then anyone can use it, then even later on each character the main union character comes in contact with when doing an attack will do mini unions also pulling those characters in. Not only do you have to set your characters up on who to birng into battle, you have to make sure their party is fighting someone they can defeat, swords > axes > spears > swords. Rods beat swords, axes, and spears but lose against bow. Bow can't be countered and beats rods/staffs but bow users also can't counterattack so they'll usually lose when being attacked, etc. The storyline doesn't seem bad at first but with 40+ battles, you'll start getting bored of listening to it around 10 and you'll probably just start skipping through everything. The storyline is pretty much okay now we have to attack here etc, etc, or get through here. It's really not a story at all just telling you their next objective from start to end. Very dull.
Brigandine. Greatest TRPG ever. It plays as a take over the continent strategy game outside of combat where you change character classes, summon monsters, move units, send units on quests, send units out for battle. You start as one of six countries who will use your knights to defend their borders. In Brigandine you're not going to win every battle, and losing doesn't automatically mean you've lost the game, it just means that you didn't take over the territory you're attacking or maybe you've lost one of your own territories. You've only won the game or lost the game when taking over all territories or if you've lost all your territories. Enemies are most difficult when getting down to their last territory as they'll use their best knights and best monsters in that final battle and fight to the death. They don't flee in the final battle. Because losing is a part of the game, you don't have to attack just to win. Sometimes you might want to attack just to take out a few monsters or do what you can, something that will limit their funds next month as they'll have to summon more monsters. If you happen to take one of their knights out they'll be wounded, giving them one less knight to defend their territories for one month.
Arc the Lad 2. Similar to Shining Force, Arc the Lad 2 has towns where you can explore, but it also has a world map, dungeons, etc. You're not limited to being pushed along doing battle after battle like other TRPGs, even the original game before it. Town and dungeon exploration is only one of the games advancements in the series. You play as a character named Elc and as a hunter, Elc can take jobs from the hunters guild, only one of which is required to progress the story at the beginning then the hunters guild can be ignored the rest of the game, however, the hunters guild has 56 jobs that you can take along with around three to six wanted posters at each guild. The jobs at the hunters guild have their own storylines that give depth to the games world rather than feeling like fetch quests and skipping those jobs, you're pretty much skipping a third to half of the game. There's a character named Leiza you acquire who has a skill called ravish, allowing her to capture any of the 150+ monsters in the game to use as any of your five allies in combat. You can only keep your party filled with, I think, six monsters after you get the rest of the playable characters which means you have to get rid of one to get another. Depending on how much enjoyment you get out of Arc the Lad 2, Arc Arena is like an expansion that allows you to import your party from Arc the Lad 2 into a large arena to fight against preset enemies to advance its own story. You can also play through the tournament mode which is randomized battle after battle until you lose, 50 wins in a row get you monsters enhanced with rare skills and better stats or weapons/armor that either can't be modified like they are in the game or aren't in the game at all. My second favorite game of all time.
Last edited by kupomogli; 12-19-2014 at 08:04 PM.
Everything in the above post is opinion unless stated otherwise.
I'll go with FF like most people but there are probably only 2-3 FF games I'd rank above PS4. I actually like PS3 almost as much as PS2 after finally having played it but I still have yet to complete the first game. Some what ashamedly I never played the Dreamcast iteration but I'd still like to add it to my collection
Some other problems for me regarding Phantasy Star is how the character/monster designs are all something out of a really bad old-school sci-fi pulp magazine from yesteryear. Not exactly my favorite genre, to be honest. The music is also terribly cheesy, and while this, in terms of mechanics, is not much different from the early Dragon Quest games, I'd still take DQ because it has more charm. In terms of sci-fi RPGs, I'd take the Metal Max/Metal Saga series over PS anyday. I'm usually quick to defend SEGA because they've often been an underdog, but this is an exception. As a matter of fact, I might like PS Online and it's derivitives more than the original PS series.
*Hisses with a beast-like ferocity*Originally Posted by kupomogli
I think the Shining Force games are awesome, the only one I am not crazy about is Shining Force III.
The first shining force game is good, the only complaint I have about it is the item management. But otherwise its a really good game. The later battles are really good.
Shining Force 2 and Shining Force CD are great games and are better than the first.
With the shining force games (especially SF2) I enjoy the grinding and building the armies out of the various characters available.
Last edited by bb_hood; 12-23-2014 at 12:34 PM.
It's not really fair to compare a series that only has 4 entries, all released in the late 80's to early 90's to a series with over a dozen games and in continuous production from the late 80's until now. Apples to oranges.
That said, the best FF games are probably better than the PS games, but even the worst PS game (that'd be 3) is still better than garbage like numbered online games or FF13.
You're right about that I suppose since the PSO/Universe games aren't the same thing, just shares some general concepts and assets.
I think if one wanted to do it right the only fair one would be FF vs DQ as both are roughly the same age and both are still supported, have screwy spinoffs, and both have now dived into the annoying world of MMORPG play with a numbered release.
I agree. I fell in love with the PSO games as soon as I loaded them up. Sega is really fucking up by not getting the new ones a world wide release.
Cool people I have bought stuff from on this board: orrimarrko kyosuke75 dave2236 video_game_addict cloudstrife29661 NESCollector75
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