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 Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:47 pm
Photo Credit: Aerith FFVII - Taken at Jafax 16 Day 1 Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan
Greetings all Final Fantasy Fans,
Here is a story of my Final Fantasy experiences. When the game first came out I was a big time Dungeon and Dungeons player whether it was a table top game or a video game. To me Final Fantasy was another one of that type of game that I played briefly. I really liked the idea of Role Playing a character.
Back in 2010 at my second convention I came across a Final Fantasy Photo Shoot. At that time I was in the early days of my Cosplay Photography and was absolutely thrilled at seeing Final Fantasy cosplayers for the first time. Since then I always look for Cosplayers from 3 different series: Sailor Moon (No surprise their), Disney, And especially Final Fantasy!! I have taken hundreds of Final Fantasy Cosplayer Photos. Two of the better ones are posted on this thread.
Final Fantasy has become one of the most Loved Video Game series. My biggest fascination is the characters themselves and the beautiful outfits that the cosplayers create to honor them. My favorite characters are Cloud, Aerith, Yuna, and Tifa.
Please let us know what you think of this wonderful Video game series, your favorite characters, favorite version of the game, and if you have cosplayed some of the characters.
In the next few posts I'm going to let everyone know something about the series. All of the info is from Wikipedia.
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:59 pm
Photo Credit: Yuna (Summoner) FFX - Taken at Jafax 18 Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan
Overview
Final Fantasy is a fantasy role-playing video game created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, developed and first published in Japan by Square (now Square Enix) in 1987. It is the first game in Square's Final Fantasy series. Originally released for the NES, Final Fantasy was remade for several video game consoles and is frequently packaged with Final Fantasy II in video game collections.
The story follows four youths called the Light Warriors, who each carry one of their world's four elemental orbs which have been darkened by the four Elemental Fiends. Together, they quest to defeat these evil forces, restore light to the orbs, and save their world.
The game received generally positive reviews, and it is regarded as one of the most influential and successful role-playing games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, playing a major role in popularizing the genre. Critical praise focused on the game's graphics, while criticism targeted the time spent wandering in search of random battle encounters to raise the player's experience level. By March 2003, all versions of Final Fantasy have sold a combined total of two million copies worldwide.
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 10:03 pm
Gameplay
Final Fantasy has four basic game modes: an overworld map, town and dungeon maps, a battle screen, and a menu screen. The overworld map is a scaled-down version of the game's fictional world, which the player uses to direct characters to various locations. The primary means of travel across the overworld is by foot, but a canoe, a ship, and an airship become available as the player progresses. With the exception of some battles in preset locations or with bosses, enemies are randomly encountered on field maps and on the overworld map when traveling by foot, canoe, or ship, and must either be fought or fled from.
The game's plot develops as the player progresses through towns and dungeons. Some town citizens offer helpful information, while others own shops that sell items or equipment. Dungeons appear in areas that include forests, caves, mountains, swamps, underwater caverns and buildings. Dungeons often have treasure chests containing rare items that are not available in most stores. The game's menu screen allows the player to keep track of their experience points and levels, to choose which equipment their characters wield, and to use items and magic. A character's most basic attribute is their level, which can range from one to fifty, and is determined by the character's amount of experience. Gaining a level increases the character's attributes, such as their maximum hit points (HP), which represents a character's remaining health; a character dies when they reach zero HP. Characters gain experience points by winning battles.
Combat in Final Fantasy is menu-based: the player selects an action from a list of options such as Fight, Magic, and Item. Battles are turn-based and continue until either side flees or is defeated. If the player's party wins, each character gains experience and gold; if it flees, it is returned to the map screen; and if every character in the party dies, the game is over. Final Fantasy was the first game to show the player's characters on the right side of the screen and the enemies on the left side of the screen, as opposed to a first-person view.
The player begins the game by choosing four characters to form a party, and is locked into that choice for the duration of the game. Each character has an "occupation", or character class, with different attributes and abilities that are either innate or can be acquired. There are six classes: Fighter, Thief, Black Belt, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. Later in the game, the player has the option to have each character undergo a "class upgrade"; whereby their screen portraits mature, and some classes gain the ability to use weapons and magic that they previously could not use. The game contains a variety of weapons, armor, and items that can be bought or found to make the characters more powerful in combat. Each character has eight inventory slots, with four to hold weapons and four to hold armor. Each character class has restrictions on what weapons and armor it may use. Some weapons and armor are magical; if used during combat, they will cast spells. Other magical artifacts provide protection, such as from certain spells. At shops, the characters can buy items to help themselves recover while they are traveling. Items available include potions, which heal the characters or remove ailments like poison or petrification; Tents and Cabins, which can be used on the world map to heal the player and optionally save the game; and Houses, which also recovers the party's magic after saving. Special items may be gained by doing quests.
Magic is a common ability in the game, and several character classes use it. Spells are divided into two groups: White, which is defensive and healing, and Black, which is debilitating and destructive. Magic can be bought from White and Black magic shops and assigned to characters whose occupation allows them to use it. Spells are classified by a level between one and eight, with four White and four Black spells per level. Each character may learn only three spells per level. White and Black Mages can potentially learn any of their respective spells, while Red Mages, the Ninja and the Knight cannot use most high-level magic.
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Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 10:08 pm
Final Fantasy Plot
Setting
Final Fantasy takes place in a fantasy world with three large continents. The elemental powers on this world are determined by the state of four orbs, each governing one of the four classical elements: earth, fire, water, and wind. The world of Final Fantasy is inhabited by numerous races, including Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Mermaids, Dragons, and Robots. Most non-Human races have only one "town" in the game, although individuals are sometimes found in Human towns or other areas as well. Four hundred years prior to the start of the game, the Lefeinish people, who used the Power of Wind to craft airships and a giant space station (called the Floating Castle in the game), watched their country decline as the Wind Orb went dark. Two hundred years later, violent storms sank a massive shrine that served as the center of an ocean-based civilization, and the Water Orb went dark. The Earth Orb and the Fire Orb followed, plaguing the earth with raging wildfires, and devastating the agricultural town of Melmond as the plains and vegetation decayed. Some time later, the sage Lukahn tells of a prophecy that four Light Warriors will come to save the world in a time of darkness.
Story
The game begins with the appearance of the four youthful Light Warriors, the heroes of the story, who each carry one of the darkened Orbs. Initially, the Light Warriors have access to the Kingdom of Coneria and the ruined Temple of Fiends. After the Warriors rescue Princess Sara from the evil knight Garland, the King of Coneria builds a bridge that enables the Light Warriors' passage east to the town of Pravoka. There the Light Warriors liberate the town from Bikke and his band of pirates, and acquire the pirates' ship for their own use. The Warriors now embark on a chain of delivery quests on the shores of the Aldi Sea. First they retrieve a stolen crown from the Marsh Cave for a king in a ruined castle, who turns out to be the dark elf Astos. Defeating him gains them the Crystal, which they return to the blind witch Matoya in exchange for a herb needed to awaken the Elf Prince cursed by Astos. The Elf Prince gives the Light Warriors the Mystic Key, which is capable of unlocking any door. The key unlocks a storage room in Coneria Castle which holds THT. Nerrick, one of the Dwarves of the Cave of Dwarf/Dwarf Village, destroys a small isthmus using the TNT, connecting the Aldi Sea to the outside world.
After visiting the near-ruined town of Melmond, the Light Warriors go to the Earth Cave to defeat a vampire and retrieve the Star Ruby, which gains passage to Sage Sarda's cave. With Sarda's Rod, the Warriors venture deeper into the Earth Cave and destroy the Earth Fiend, Lich. The Light Warriors then obtain a canoe and enter Gurgu Volcano and defeat the Fire Fiend, Kary. The Floater from the nearby Ice Cave allows them to raise an airship to reach the northern continents. After they prove their courage by retrieving the Rat's Tail from the Castle of Ordeal, the King of the Dragons, Bahamut, promotes each Light Warrior. A kind gesture is repaid by a fairy, receiving special liquid that produces oxygen, and the Warriors use it to help defeat the Water Fiend, Kraken, in the Sunken Shrine. They also recover a Slab, which allows a linguist named Dr. Unne to teach them the Lefeinish language. The Lefeinish give the Light Warriors access to the Floating Castle that Tiamat, the Wind Fiend, has taken over. With the Four Fiends defeated and the Orbs restored, a portal opens in the Temple of Fiends which takes them 2000 years into the past. There the Warriors discover that the Four Fiends sent Garland (now the archdemon Chaos) back in time and he sent the Fiends to the future to do so, creating a time loop by which he could live forever. The Light Warriors defeat Chaos, thus ending the paradox, and return home. By ending the paradox, however, the Light Warriors have changed the future to one where their heroic deeds remain unknown outside of legend.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 3:08 pm
Favorite Characters: Sephiroth, Vincent Valentine, Yuffie, Lulu, Auron, Terra, Celes, Kain, Setzer, Nacht, and Vivi I've been playing Final Fantasy since I was knee high to a grasshopper and still believe it's the best series out there heart
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:59 pm
Shiny Chelle Favorite Characters: Sephiroth, Vincent Valentine, Yuffie, Lulu, Auron, Terra, Celes, Kain, Setzer, Nacht, and Vivi I've been playing Final Fantasy since I was knee high to a grasshopper and still believe it's the best series out there heart I agree, Final Fantasy is one of the best video games out their. For a game that has 15 versions of itself and counting speaks volumes for how popular it is. I can also easily tell that it's popular due to the large number of people that cosplay the characters. One of the cool things that I have seen is cosplayers standing side by side cosplaying the same character but each one was from a different version of the game. I never get tired of taking photos of FF Cosplayers and showing my Cosplay Photography photos off just like I did on this thread.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 5:13 pm
I've played 2, 3, 7 (crisis core), and LR:XIII briefly, and I've passed X, XIII, and XIII-2. It took me a while to get playing FF games even though I'd watched The Spirit Within and Advent Children at a young age. Probably because grinding for grinding's sake really does irritate me, even though I'm fascinated with some of the stories. If at some moment I realise I'm not enjoying a game, I'll stop playing it. This made finishing X difficult. XIII overall has been my favourite. I love the time-travel and alternate realities, rebirth, souls being bonded to other souls, etc. Cool stuff.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 9:57 pm
Anui-El I've played 2, 3, 7 (crisis core), and LR:XIII briefly, and I've passed X, XIII, and XIII-2. It took me a while to get playing FF games even though I'd watched The Spirit Within and Advent Children at a young age. Probably because grinding for grinding's sake really does irritate me, even though I'm fascinated with some of the stories. If at some moment I realise I'm not enjoying a game, I'll stop playing it. This made finishing X difficult. XIII overall has been my favourite. I love the time-travel and alternate realities, rebirth, souls being bonded to other souls, etc. Cool stuff. I own both movies The Spirit Within and Advent Children. Advent Children was what really got me interested in the Final Fantasy Video Game series. I take it that you like FFVII better than FFX. Have you tried playing FFX-2? I've talked to Cosplayers and the ones that Cosplay FFX-2 characters like that version of the game a lot more than FFX. I like time travel and alternate realities as well. This makes me want to play FFXIII. I did hear that FFXIII was really good. It's nice to have a game player say the same thing. Oh, who are your favorite FF characters?
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 4:38 am
smithers456 Anui-El I've played 2, 3, 7 (crisis core), and LR:XIII briefly, and I've passed X, XIII, and XIII-2. It took me a while to get playing FF games even though I'd watched The Spirit Within and Advent Children at a young age. Probably because grinding for grinding's sake really does irritate me, even though I'm fascinated with some of the stories. If at some moment I realise I'm not enjoying a game, I'll stop playing it. This made finishing X difficult. XIII overall has been my favourite. I love the time-travel and alternate realities, rebirth, souls being bonded to other souls, etc. Cool stuff. I own both movies The Spirit Within and Advent Children. Advent Children was what really got me interested in the Final Fantasy Video Game series. I take it that you like FFVII better than FFX. Have you tried playing FFX-2? I've talked to Cosplayers and the ones that Cosplay FFX-2 characters like that version of the game a lot more than FFX. I like time travel and alternate realities as well. This makes me want to play FFXIII. I did hear that FFXIII was really good. It's nice to have a game player say the same thing. Oh, who are your favorite FF characters? Ah yes. This was the case with a lot of people I knew. Especially since Advent Children's soundtrack became so popular and kinda (in my opinion) heavily contributed to the FF series' respect as an art-form past the amazing visual art itself. Actually I prefer X over VII. The coming of age story of a mage undertaking formal training (Yuna) and the issues of Tidus' existence (Plato would say he does in fact exist) are far more interesting than the shitstorm Cloud (+ crew) get into with a character (Sephiroth) who wants to ride the planet away. I understand there's more sociological elements surrounding Shinra's economic and power takeover of the world, and it's eventual collapse, but I'm really not that interested in that. Unfortunately XIII-2 is the one that deals with other worlds and dimensions heavily, whereas XIII is limited to 2 worlds from memory. But playing XIII is essential if you want to understand their world, god-structure, etc. If you don't care for that, the story of XIII-2 probably stands on it's own as a new story since the dynamic changes with some roster changes, which are tied into some major events that change the nature of the universe from XIII to XIII-2. Yeah actually if there were to be another film made, out of all the FFs I've played, I'd want one of XIII the most, or Dissidia, as long as Lightning is the lead I'm cool. Which brings me to the last question. My favourite character is Lightning, the arguable lead of all the XIII games. I don't even have to give that a second thought. You don't find this out until the very end, but before XIII even starts she has given away nearly half of her soul (what she perceived to be her 'childish' elements) to be more efficient in her upcoming military career, in which she would end up attaining the rank of lieutenant (maybe general?) and the title of 'lightning' after her unique powers. Prior to this, in her childhood she was known by her birthname Claire Farron. So she's basically stripped away her identity completely by the time we meet her in the first game and become a dog of the military. As the games progress it only gets worse for her. She comes to bear the weight of the universe and all realities both metaphorically and literally, I won't say how or why or what that means, as you intend to play it. It's also worth mentioning she's the older sister of Serah, who is who you play as in XIII-2, so a lot of her decisions are heavily rooted in what she thinks is best for her younger sibling. --- I guess I relate to the character in nearly all of those ways. While I haven't joined the military, I am a shadow of my former self due to the decisions I've made (for the better, I think), and I have put my younger sibling's life before my own multiple times. So it was nice to play a character that was of very similar morality to myself. What is your favourite character?
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:58 am
Anui-El smithers456 Anui-El I've played 2, 3, 7 (crisis core), and LR:XIII briefly, and I've passed X, XIII, and XIII-2. It took me a while to get playing FF games even though I'd watched The Spirit Within and Advent Children at a young age. Probably because grinding for grinding's sake really does irritate me, even though I'm fascinated with some of the stories. If at some moment I realise I'm not enjoying a game, I'll stop playing it. This made finishing X difficult. XIII overall has been my favourite. I love the time-travel and alternate realities, rebirth, souls being bonded to other souls, etc. Cool stuff. I own both movies The Spirit Within and Advent Children. Advent Children was what really got me interested in the Final Fantasy Video Game series. I take it that you like FFVII better than FFX. Have you tried playing FFX-2? I've talked to Cosplayers and the ones that Cosplay FFX-2 characters like that version of the game a lot more than FFX. I like time travel and alternate realities as well. This makes me want to play FFXIII. I did hear that FFXIII was really good. It's nice to have a game player say the same thing. Oh, who are your favorite FF characters? Ah yes. This was the case with a lot of people I knew. Especially since Advent Children's soundtrack became so popular and kinda (in my opinion) heavily contributed to the FF series' respect as an art-form past the amazing visual art itself. Actually I prefer X over VII. The coming of age story of a mage undertaking formal training (Yuna) and the issues of Tidus' existence (Plato would say he does in fact exist) are far more interesting than the shitstorm Cloud (+ crew) get into with a character (Sephiroth) who wants to ride the planet away. I understand there's more sociological elements surrounding Shinra's economic and power takeover of the world, and it's eventual collapse, but I'm really not that interested in that. Unfortunately XIII-2 is the one that deals with other worlds and dimensions heavily, whereas XIII is limited to 2 worlds from memory. But playing XIII is essential if you want to understand their world, god-structure, etc. If you don't care for that, the story of XIII-2 probably stands on it's own as a new story since the dynamic changes with some roster changes, which are tied into some major events that change the nature of the universe from XIII to XIII-2. Yeah actually if there were to be another film made, out of all the FFs I've played, I'd want one of XIII the most, or Dissidia, as long as Lightning is the lead I'm cool. Which brings me to the last question. My favourite character is Lightning, the arguable lead of all the XIII games. I don't even have to give that a second thought. You don't find this out until the very end, but before XIII even starts she has given away nearly half of her soul (what she perceived to be her 'childish' elements) to be more efficient in her upcoming military career, in which she would end up attaining the rank of lieutenant (maybe general?) and the title of 'lightning' after her unique powers. Prior to this, in her childhood she was known by her birthname Claire Farron. So she's basically stripped away her identity completely by the time we meet her in the first game and become a dog of the military. As the games progress it only gets worse for her. She comes to bear the weight of the universe and all realities both metaphorically and literally, I won't say how or why or what that means, as you intend to play it. It's also worth mentioning she's the older sister of Serah, who is who you play as in XIII-2, so a lot of her decisions are heavily rooted in what she thinks is best for her younger sibling. --- I guess I relate to the character in nearly all of those ways. While I haven't joined the military, I am a shadow of my former self due to the decisions I've made (for the better, I think), and I have put my younger sibling's life before my own multiple times. So it was nice to play a character that was of very similar morality to myself. What is your favourite character? Thanks for sharing all of the info on the FF games. It makes me want to play more. I do happen to own a Playstation 2 game system and own FFX. When I found both I got really excited because I get to play one of the actual FF games finally. Yuna is my favorite character and it's for the same reasons that you mention plus she is beautiful in spirit and presence. My next favorite character is Lighting which I really appreciate the info that you mentioned about her. Aerith is my next favorite character. I'm a Cosplay Photographer and in this thread I posted cosplay photos of both an Aerith Cosplayer and a Yuna Cosplayer. I hope that you enjoyed checking them out. I also took some awesome photos of a Lighting Cosplayer. smile At every Convention I go out of my way to find and take photos of FF Characters. smile
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 7:16 pm
tl;dr - I've played all of them except for XIV. FF II was horrible, and FF XI would have been a lot better if the grind wasn't so horrific.
Also, who's waiting for FF XV? I plan on doing some streaming with it once I get my copy and I have some free time.
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:31 am
OnsenMark tl;dr - I've played all of them except for XIV. FF II was horrible, and FF XI would have been a lot better if the grind wasn't so horrific. Also, who's waiting for FF XV? I plan on doing some streaming with it once I get my copy and I have some free time. Free time is hard to come by these days. Over the years as a Semi Pro Cosplay Photographer I have had the privilege to take a lot of photos of FF Cosplayers. I can't wait to see what outfits that Cosplayers will come up with for the characters that will be in FFXV!! Btw one of my best FF Cosplayer photos is at the intro to this thread!!
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 10:28 pm
smithers456 OnsenMark tl;dr - I've played all of them except for XIV. FF II was horrible, and FF XI would have been a lot better if the grind wasn't so horrific. Also, who's waiting for FF XV? I plan on doing some streaming with it once I get my copy and I have some free time. Free time is hard to come by these days. Over the years as a Semi Pro Cosplay Photographer I have had the privilege to take a lot of photos of FF Cosplayers. I can't wait to see what outfits that Cosplayers will come up with for the characters that will be in FFXV!! Btw one of my best FF Cosplayer photos is at the intro to this thread!! All I can say is to expect a lot of FF XV-related cosplay coming early next year, if there hasn't been any already, lol.
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 6:26 pm
Anyone excited for Final Fantasy XV?
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:15 am
KayaLing Anyone excited for Final Fantasy XV? Kaya can you tell us more about the basic story line and plot for Final Fantasy XV if you know about it.
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