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Final Fantsy Mega Defense Thread Part 2
(because no one can handle too much reading here on...a forum...)
Notes:
1. If you reply in 20 seconds within this thread submition, or without reading my thread and say something completely unproductive, you fail and will be ignored (i.e."wall of text")
2. This thread was not made to persuade you into liking anything, it is merely a call for respect for a franchise that deserves it.
3. You can disagree (of course), but flaming hurts my feelings.
4. This thread is about the main installments of FF only, because obviously, the spin offs often arn't as deserving.
Previously on Final Fantasy Mega Defense:
We debunked the following statements:
1. "Final Fantasy went downhill after Final Fantasy (insert number here)."
2. "The newer games are garbage"
4. "It's milked and has lost all of its quality"
5. "Overrated"
7. "The games are just plain garbage"
We learned a valuable lesson about respect, personal taste, and just plain common sense. Overall the thread went well with some good arguments and very few ignorant statements.
Link to thread: http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26070444
PART 2
Now we will look at the last few common attacks on the Final Fantasy franchise:
3. "They ruined everything with FF12"
6. "Who wants to play as a girly man?"
This should get interesting, as the last statement is very controversial.
So let's go:
3. "They ruined everything with FF12"
When someone says this I usually begin by asking them, "How?". And they go on to explain that:
The battle system was terrible
The story was bad
Some of the characters were useless in the story
Can I start out by asking all you a serious question? Would you have rather had FF continue with the turn based random encounters and turn out like games such as Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey? Or would you like to take that chance, at something new, innovative, and fresh?
A Final Fantasy without random encounters and the petty turn taking -- it's a dream to many FF fans. But for some reason, some people think it's the end of FF as we know it.
Let's see what the critics have to say:
Game rankings-FFXII 90.9%
Now as we learned in the previous thread, you can dislike a game simply because you didn't enjoy it, but to call a game terrible or garbage requires much deeper reasoning. If the average score out of all those critics is AAA for FFXII, is it really as bad as you make it sound?
No. It's just different. And that can be good or bad depending on whether you have an open mind or not. The gambit system requires deep customization in order to enjoy it to its fullest. I know most of the people who hated the system did so because they had to constantly pause and nitpick skills and attacks every other second. If you know how to work the system, the game plays very smoothly -- and watching your gambits work out perfectly is an enjoyable accomplishment. FFXII was not made to have you pause the game and manually cure your party -- it was made to be less annoying and smooth, something many critics agreed with.
A more legitmate complaint would be that you could make every character just as good at anything -- swords, magic etc...
But you have to remember, this is a different approach to FF. It was made by the people who did FFT, and is even set in the world of Ivalice. In FFT you could make your characters whatever ****you wanted to -- and you see that in FF12 as well.
The story and characters were another complaint. This where FF bashers/"fans" really confuse me. (no spoliers)
Before, everyone would complain about how they were sick of groups of teenagers saving the world from an evil man. The stories of previous FF were more focused on a select few characters.
Well now FF12 tries something fresh, and the arguments turned around. FF12's setting is much broader, it is based on war and politics. We are finally given a more realistic approach to a fantasy story. The story is largely viewed from a street urchin named Vaan -- not a superhuman/clone/elite or hero in any sort of way. He is just normal and plays his part very well. He gets caught up in something much bigger and he actually does add value to the overall plot.
Because the setting was so broad, there was less character focused dialogue -- but we still got plenty of information on their personalities on how they developed -- if you were paying attention. There is no main bad guy, and we get to see alot of cool scenes of the enemy such as the dialogue among all the Judges.
At the end of the day -- FF12 sold millions, gamers loved it, critics loved it, and if you didn't -- is it so hard to see why other people did?
If you didn't enjoy it I would understand -- the game is pretty different from what you are used to. But the franchise had to change sometime, we can't be selfish and ask for the same thing over and over again. Games need to appeal to newer generations of gamers who don't have the patience for turn based random encounters. We have new technology -- we can do more, and for the better. FF changed itself and you should be proud that it did a pretty fine job of doing so.
So now let's look at the last popular "insult" to FF.
GIRLY MEN!
6. "Who wants to play as a girly man?"
Right? Who wants to play as a guy who likes a girl? You must be homosexual!
To defend FF against this level of ignorance is hard -- because it depends on how well you can be accepting of other people's cultures.
FF bashers like to use this picture most as "ownage":
Let's see here:
A.) Vaan is the youngest FF main character, and it would make sense for him to seem less "man grown".
B.) If you didn't notice -- he's ripped.
C.) It's concept art.
For people who actually played, did Vaan ever go into that stance or anything like it? Did he ever try to seduce you? Blow kisses to the camera? No, he did not. He is a street urchin, and looks more like Aladdin if you ask me. If you arn't comfortable with your sexuality I can understand your concern with the above picture.
Also, you need to understand that Final Fantasy is a Japanese made franchise,and for those who don't step outside their houses -- Japan is not the same as America or the U.K or wherever you are from. You also need to understand that a large amount of woman play Final Fantasy as well -- especially in Japan.
In western cultures we look up to men that look like this:
In easternr asian cultures, they look more like:
Basically, pretty boys are popular in Eastern Asia. I've been to Japan, and neither fat or muscular people exist there (exaggeration but pretty close). The guys walking around with the babes are skinny as hell, and are wearing incredibly stylish clothes and have some crazy hair****.
If this culture bothers you, or confuses your sexuality -- continue to stay inside your house. Hopefully most of you can respect other people's cultures and their values. Not to mention none of the FF characters were pansies.
And personally I think the metro ****looks more badass. When I see: 
I think to myself:
That looks cool/badass
I wish I could pull that hair off
Not:
omg he is an emo girl and im not going to touch this game because of it
Based off of sales and popularity, it's safe to say more people agree that the characters look cool and unique over emo and girly. I like having a wide variety games with different looking characters. If everyone looked like Sam Fisher and Rambo -- it'd get old fast.
Are they prettied up beyond realism? Of course. But you see it in all forms of entertainment.
And calling someone homo for playing this games will always backfire on you because you are basically saying you only want to play as muscular manly man.
Neither side is homo (and if they're any gay people on this forum i mean no offense). It is completly natural to look at someone like Cloud or Sam Fisher and think, "Damn they look cool..."
And if you seriously don't like they way they look and it makes you very uncomfortable -- keep your mouth shut and have some respect.
Hey, and now for FFXIII the main character is a chick -- so we all win =).
I hope you all enjoyed the FF mega defense threads but I think this wraps it up. Again I did not make these to make you go back and play a game and say, "oh I guess I was wrong about this game, you rule Koalakommander!". I made these to give some insight on a truly well made string of games and why they should be respected -- even if you didn't personally enjoy them.
Make sure to vote for the next defense topic! And of course -- discuss this one =P.
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