Shenobi
1999
The first time I ever played this, I borrowed it from a friend and it got lost in a backlog of other games that just caught my attention at the time. I didn't really like Squall and his generally complain-y attitude, but I soldiered through to Disc 3 (I think?) before the Backlog Monster ate it.
When I finally got around to playing it again several months later, I found myself completely lost on what to do and ended up driving my mountain/school bus around the world for about an hour before eventually just giving up and moving on to other stuff. I didn't feel particularly invested in the story up to that point, so no real loss for me.
Eventually, I decided to go back and do a run-through of every FF game in the main series and came back to knock this one out. My opinion of things didn't really change, though I made sure to actually focus on the game wholly this time so I didn't lose track of where I could/should be going.
The story didn't really do anything for me and coming off the Materia system (which I really enjoyed), the Draw system just felt like some monstrous mixture of "not interesting" and "easily exploitable". The visuals were fine for their time, but given that it was almost 18 years later or so, there wasn't anything really hooking me that other RPGs didn't do better before or after this.
To each their own, right? Maybe it deserves a 1.0, but it's (at least for now) tied for my least favorite FF game alongside FF XIII.
When I finally got around to playing it again several months later, I found myself completely lost on what to do and ended up driving my mountain/school bus around the world for about an hour before eventually just giving up and moving on to other stuff. I didn't feel particularly invested in the story up to that point, so no real loss for me.
Eventually, I decided to go back and do a run-through of every FF game in the main series and came back to knock this one out. My opinion of things didn't really change, though I made sure to actually focus on the game wholly this time so I didn't lose track of where I could/should be going.
The story didn't really do anything for me and coming off the Materia system (which I really enjoyed), the Draw system just felt like some monstrous mixture of "not interesting" and "easily exploitable". The visuals were fine for their time, but given that it was almost 18 years later or so, there wasn't anything really hooking me that other RPGs didn't do better before or after this.
To each their own, right? Maybe it deserves a 1.0, but it's (at least for now) tied for my least favorite FF game alongside FF XIII.
2009
I've played through this game twice. It is a visually magnificent game, but I can't get past a number of unlikable characters and some of the strictest linearity in any FF game ever.
It's really noticeable when you first reach the Gapra Whitewood early in the game and see a number of branching paths going into the forest -- of which you can't take any. It feels like there was a lot of ambition on hand and things got in the way of execution -- maybe they ran short on time or spent too much budget on pretty-ifying the game? Needless to say, the first ~25-30 hours of the game are like this. Then it commits a deeper sin.
[SPOILERS (minor) AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL]
Once you touch down on Gran Pulse, the game gives you the illusion of freedom by letting you wander out into the world in any direction you desire -- except that if you don't head directly toward a certain group of monsters, any other encounters are likely to annihilate you on contact. Gran Pulse essentially becomes a trial-and-error test of which encounters are the ones that are okay to fight and dictate which area you should be in until your party becomes hardy enough to take on the next big threat.
[END OF SPOILERS]
I wasn't fond of the Eidolons or Paradigm system, either -- but these issues (for me) were negligible compared to the sheer linearity imposed on the player with a ragtag crew of (mostly) frustrating characters.
It's really noticeable when you first reach the Gapra Whitewood early in the game and see a number of branching paths going into the forest -- of which you can't take any. It feels like there was a lot of ambition on hand and things got in the way of execution -- maybe they ran short on time or spent too much budget on pretty-ifying the game? Needless to say, the first ~25-30 hours of the game are like this. Then it commits a deeper sin.
[SPOILERS (minor) AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL]
Once you touch down on Gran Pulse, the game gives you the illusion of freedom by letting you wander out into the world in any direction you desire -- except that if you don't head directly toward a certain group of monsters, any other encounters are likely to annihilate you on contact. Gran Pulse essentially becomes a trial-and-error test of which encounters are the ones that are okay to fight and dictate which area you should be in until your party becomes hardy enough to take on the next big threat.
[END OF SPOILERS]
I wasn't fond of the Eidolons or Paradigm system, either -- but these issues (for me) were negligible compared to the sheer linearity imposed on the player with a ragtag crew of (mostly) frustrating characters.