Does anybody still care/get excited when a new Final Fantasy game is released ??

[vestcoat]

Beating FFI should be a required for anyone with more than a cursory interest in video games.

I was excited about FFII (IV) SNES. Played it -- disappointed.

Heard about the real FFII & FFIII -- Excited. Played them -- disappointed.

Lost interest in the series.

Saw someone playing FFVII and calling it an RPG = vomited

I've rolled my eyes at every new Final Fantasy game since.

[NightWolve]

I guess I should recap my start with it also.

FFI (NES) - Beat it, was happy to find yet another RPG similar to Dragon Warrior and others.
FFIV (SNES) - Loved it, really solidified my love of the RPG genre along with Ys Book I & II which I got about at the same time. The music in both games, the story, that put the RPG genre at the top for me.
FFVI (SNES) - It got nowhere near the replay time that FFIV did (beat that like 5 times). It was enjoyable, but I only beat it once.

FFV (SNES Emulator) - Sometime in 2001, I found a group called RIGG founded by Stephen Harris (who went on to run www.RPGFan.com for some years) and while hanging around there, I met hardcore gamers and learned about the fan translation craze. I learned of Neill Corlett's patch and about a FF game that never made it to the states. Excited, I got the ROM, patched it, and gave it a playthrough. Well, if I don't remember much of a game, and didn't develop any attachment to it, it was probably just average, and that's what I guess was the case with FFV. I have the PS1 remake, but yeah, that's in the backloggery for God knows how long.

(As you know, the fan translation craze took root with me, mostly Ys games, I even got to work with Neill on the Ys IV project. He did the hardest programming part, and together we got the script extracted, moved the project forward.)

FFVII (PS1) - So after SNES, my next system was PS1, bought this of course and absolutely loved it.
FFVIII (PS1) - While I did log 100 hours into it, max out all characters, I understand why people hate this one. I enjoyed it, but it's certainly far from my favorite in the series.

FFIX (PS1) - Bought it, sat unopened in my backloggery.

FFX (PS2) - Next system I upgraded to was PS2, but that would be my last... So this game comes out, immediately bought it, and I was tempted to go back to 9 to do things in order, but I couldn't wait, I made the time for this game despite work and whatever else. I think it was great, but maybe I'm easy to please relative to others.

FFX-2 and FFVII (PS2) - These were also purchased, and sit in the backloggery all comfy... Who knows when I'll finish my originals off... Still have lots of PS1 as well as PS2 games to do. :/

[xelement5x]

X-2 gets a lot of hate, but the battle system in it is great, and it's pretty fun as long as you don't take it too seriously.  It's not going to be an epic save the world story, just a fun romp.

[esteban]

ANSWER: No.

[MrBroadway]

All you guys that were disappointed with VIII and even VII, do try out IX. Your backlog will thank you. It was a definite throwback to older games and had the feel of an SNES Final Fantasy.

[Black Tiger]

All you guys that were disappointed with VIII and even VII, do try out IX. Your backlog will thank you. It was a definite throwback to older games and had the feel of an SNES Final Fantasy.

I made it pretty far in IX. It was infinitely better than VIII, but still stale nu-Square and running around static bavkground images like that for hours is extremely boring.

You should try Tengai Makyou The Apocalypse IV to see what anti-Square JRPGs can be like.

[MrBroadway]

I made it pretty far in IX. It was infinitely better than VIII, but still stale nu-Square and running around static bavkground images like that for hours is extremely boring.

You should try Tengai Makyou The Apocalypse IV to see what anti-Square JRPGs can be like.

My point isn't that it's the best of the RPGs, but it's a throwback to the old Square RPGs.

[pulstar]

IX is good but it is extremely sluggish (especially when the mist is about on the world map) which put me off replaying it more than twice. It was good though. Surprisingly one of my favourites was/is V.

I remember seeing pics of it in a magazine with information about a release date but it never happened. About 1999 I picked up the cart from a game shop in London and really enjoyed it. The story is quite sparse but I thought the overall experience was really enjoyable.

[Opethian]

Bravely Default is the new experience. Final Fantasy died many years ago

[Necromancer]

The last 'new' Final Fantasy that piqued my interest was the PSP remakes.  I give zero f*cks for the truly new stuff.

[BlueBMW]

Final Fantasy F'in Mystic Quest!  Best in the series!

FF1: Played it, liked it.
FF2-3: Never played
FF4: Played it, loved it.  Replayed it on DS, loved it again
FF5: Played some of it but in Japanese so I got stuck with no guide
FF6: Never played it (blasphemy I know...)
FF7: Played it multiple times.  Favorite in the series (is one of my personal top 5)
FF8: Played it.. Wasnt as impressed
FF9: Never played
FFX/X2: Never played
FFXI: Played it, but without friends to play with couldnt get very far
FFXII - Present: Havent played any of them
FFMQ: played it, loved it

[reson8er]

I play FFXIV on a daily basis, and (obviously) think its a pretty great game.  It manages, quite elegantly, to bring a lot of past FF nostalgia and integrate very well t into a modern game.

More to your point though, I was very disappointed by XIII, so much so that they will have to prove that the series is worth it to me again. 

If you have any Q's about XIV, feel free to ask.

[pulstar]

Bravely Default is the new experience. Final Fantasy died many years ago

Bravely Default is nice but I think it's been given such praise because there really isn't a Final Fantasy (or other JRPG series) to challenge it. Compare it to FF4,5,6? It doesn't stack up favourably. The game is too slow paced and drawn out. Everything takes ages to do. Not that I don't like Bravely Default, I do, I just don't think it's that good.

[Opethian]

It is unfair to compare it to games that were released 15+ years ago in a time where the genre was hot and standing out was a challenge. Look at what RGPs are not now. THat is my basis of the experience.

It sad that they could not survive like the Dragon Quest series has. I love them all and I wish I had a way to play DQ X stateside.

[pulstar]

It is unfair to compare it to games that were released 15+ years ago in a time where the genre was hot and standing out was a challenge. Look at what RGPs are not now. THat is my basis of the experience.

It sad that they could not survive like the Dragon Quest series has. I love them all and I wish I had a way to play DQ X stateside.

It is unfair, I understand what you're saying, but the comparison is going to happen. And it's not to say Bravely Default is bad by any means but it feels like they've stretched every moment to the extremes to make it a 60+ hour game when it could have been more succinctly told in 30 hours.

There may be hope with DQX, it's been announced (albeit a streaming service, the same as with smartphones) for 3DS. Hopefully this means they'll think a but more about releasing it in the US/Europe.