Heavy Rain (2010)

I had been meaning to play the 2010 game Heavy Rain for quite some time, but had yet to get around to it.  Part of me was hesitant about doing so because it had been compared loosely with those old point and click adventure games from the 80’s and those never appealed to me.  As a result, I put it off and never got around to purchasing it until recently when I saw it for 20 bucks at a local store.  Having just finished my first play-through the other night, my initial reaction is that this is one of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had with a video game.

For those unaware, Heavy Rain is probably best described as either an adventure game or a crime noir.  It was released for the Playstation 3 in February of 2010 to very favorable reviews earning an aggregate score of 89.3% on Gamerankings.com.  It does share some things in common with point and click adventures but not as much as I had been lead to believe.  For the most part, the player still controls an on-screen character through mostly conventional means.  The left analog stick changes the direction the character is facing and squeezing the R2 trigger makes the character walk similar to how the old Resident Evil games used to control.  The character can approach objects in the environment and some can be interacted with by pressing a button indicated by an on-screen icon.  Often instead of the button input being the typical “X” or “Square” it’s a direction on the right analog stick.

Visually the game is a mixture of average and exceptional. The exceptional part refers to the characters and the life-like way they're able to emote.

After that though the game gets less typical.  At any point in time, squeezing the L2 button will make a bunch of text pop up on the screen with one of the face buttons beside it indicating a thought.  Pressing the associated button will let the player listen in on the character’s internal thoughts.  This is sometimes used to help cue the player on what to do next but most of the time it’s just to add color to the context of the situation and enhance the experience.  Actions will play out on-screen and button commands will pop up that the player has to follow in order to progress, or not.  Often times inaction is also acceptable and even desirable as all responses will advance the story.  These scenes range from simple conversations to intense physical confrontations between characters.  For the conversations, missing a cue can lead to failing to pick up a piece of valuable information, while in a fight missing the cue or hitting the wrong button can lead to failure, including death.

That’s the basic gameplay and most of the scenarios occur in pretty small areas.  There’s very little running around and trying to figure out what to do next, the game just unfolds in scenes.  There are a couple scenarios where you’re asked to drive or shoot a gun but they handle like the other scenes, just with less reaction time.  I went with the hard setting which affects the type of inputs required.  I think the easiest setting mostly limits the commands to simple one button presses.  I was asked to do motions with the right analog stick, half-circle motions and funny “hook” motions.  Sometimes the game asks you to tilt the controller (like when driving) or jerk it in a certain direction quickly.  For the triggers and face buttons, some are simple presses, others require pressing and holding the buttons in a certain sequence or tapping rapidly.  Usually the required input corresponds with what the character is being asked to do on-screen and adds a surprising amount of depth and immersion for the player.  I was expecting the controls for this game to be a necessary evil to move the plot forward but they really add a lot to the experience.

Ethan Mars will be asked to do some very bad things if he ever wants to see his son again.

If the plot wasn’t any good though the controls would probably get old, but thankfully Heavy Rain plays out like a true crime drama.  The main protagonist and first character you’ll control is Ethan Mars.  After losing a son in an unfortunate accident Ethan finds himself in a state of severe depression and estranged from his wife.  When his son Shaun goes missing he finds himself at the end of his rope.  It’s soon learned that his son was abducted by the Origami Killer and Ethan must go through several trials sent to him by the killer in order to get him back.  Meanwhile, the local police have enlisted an FBI agent, Norman Jayden, to help track down the killer.  As Jayden, the player will use sophisticated equipment to play detective and try to find the killer while navigating through a series of red herrings and Jayden’s own substance abuse.  Local private investigator Scott Shelby is also working hard on the case and is the third character the player will control.  Shelby is a former cop working on his own leads to find Shaun.  Madison Paige is the fourth and final character the player gets to control.  She’s a journalist suffering from insomnia who kind of stumbles into Ethan’s life.  She’ll end up working with Ethan to try and find Shaun.  The Origami Killer slowly drowns his victims over a period of time, and depending on the amount of rain that falls, Shaun will die.  This adds a sense of urgency to the plot as the game bounces from scene to scene, character to character.

Some of the tasks the player will be asked to do can be described as atypical.

The truly unique part of Heavy Rain is that there is no right way to get to the game’s conclusion, and no game over along the way.  Any or all of the characters could die over the course of the game, including Ethan’s son Shaun, and no two games will be the same.  The trials Ethan goes through are both trials of skill and morals.  Each completed one gets Ethan a clue to Shaun’s location.  Some are brutal and for me conjured memories of the movie Se7en.  The more that are completed the easier it is to find Shaun but some players may find certain ones abhorrent and refuse to complete them.  That’s understandable and know that it’s still possible to save Shaun without completing all of them.  Ethan may end up with enough information to figure it out or one of the other characters will come to Shaun’s rescue.  It’s also possible for all of them to figure it out, which is what occurred in my game.  I suppose that is the most desirable outcome.

I played this game straight-up, meaning no help or re-do’s.  There were a couple of scenarios that didn’t go the way I wanted them to but I resisted the urge to reset and go again.  I think this game is best played as if it were life or death, and in the game of life there are no extra lives.  There were a few moments I thought I really screwed up and was going to get someone killed but I was always able to wiggle out of it.  These moments of high anxiety are where the game shines brightest as I found myself really invested in what happened to the characters.

It’s not a real long game, maybe 8-10 hours each time through, but the pacing is spot-on.  The game started a little slow as the characters were worked into the plot but once it got going I didn’t want to put the controller down.  When I had to though, I found it hard to jump right back in knowing how emotionally taxing the experience was going to be.  This is a game I recommend players beat in 2 to 3 sittings, though if you can do it in one then more power to you.  The game does have a “twist” in the plot that some apparently did not care for.  I was neither shocked nor put off.  For a game that really tries to not be a game, the twist did feel a little cheap as the game did kind of cheat in order to make it happen.  I’d explain more but I don’t want to spoil anything.

Heavy Rain is the only video game I’ve ever played that transcends the genre.  That doesn’t mean it’s my favorite or the greatest game ever, but it does make it one of the most significant.  The argument of whether video games can be art is a fashionable one currently and for those on the affirmative side of that question Heavy Rain is probably the best thing going for them.  I do think it’s a title any serious gamer should play, and if you do choose to pick it up make sure you see it through to the end.

I posted a few weeks ago about the Mortal Kombat demo and came away mostly impressed.  Well the game was released on the 19th of April and I became a first day buyer.  Since then I’ve logged many hours with the release and have come away with these impressions.

First off, this is Mortal Kombat the way it should be.  It’s modernized for today’s audience but retains a lot of what made the franchise unique when it debuted nearly 20 years ago.  That is to say, there was an obvious style present in both how the game looks and how it plays.  Mortal Kombat has always differed from other games of its genre by including over-the-top characters with over-the-top powers.  Whether it’s Sub-Zero’s freezing powers or Liu Kang’s dragon abilities, there’s nothing realistic at all about the game.  And with today’s hardware this is magnified even more so.  The male fighters are hulking monsters and the women buxom and scantily clad and as the fights progress you’ll see clothing shred and chunks of flesh go missing.

Gameplay wise, all of the old moves are here along with some new ones.  The developers abandoned the multi-stance styles embraced by the more recent games which helps keep things loose and simple.  Some characters still have weapons, like Scorpion, but they’re integrated into his standard moves.  The X-Ray meter at the bottom of the screen functions a lot like Street Fighter’s super combo meter.  As it fills, the player can use it to enhance basic moves to give them added punch.  Or, the player can let the meter fill further opening up combo breakers at level 2, and finally X-Ray attacks at level 3.  I talked about these destructive X-Ray moves in my demo impressions, and the same criticism is still present though some of my fears were alleviated.  The moves are still ultra powerful, and most of them are fairly easy to land, but the AI is not afraid to use them which helps equalize things.  Really, my only major complaint is the unbalanced nature of some of them.  The characters that incorporate a teleport move of some kind into their X-Ray attack are at a far greater advantage than some of the others.

The basic gameplay still centers around super moves and combos.  The pace of the fights are akin to something mid tempo, and the best fighters are able to string together super moves with combos.  There’s also a grab button, and the franchise’s trademark block button as well.  Blocking is something that is beneficial to master given the abundance of characters with quick hitting teleport moves.  Also, most X-Ray attacks can be blocked as well, which is something that always seems to turn the tide of battle.

X-Ray attacks are quite brutal.

There are multiple game modes available to spend some time on.  There’s the standard ladder tournament that pits the player against seven fighters and three boss battles consisting of Shang Tsung, Goro/Kintaro, and Shao Kahn.  Shang Tsung is a regular playable character, so perhaps it’s a stretch to call him a boss, but he’s present in every ladder tournament so I guess that makes him a boss.  The second boss is random and is either Kintaro or Goro and both guys are as most remember them; cheap.  Neither is as bad as Kahn though, who’s quick dash attacks and ability to no-sell the moves directed at him make him extremely annoying.  He also has an attack where he throws his maul across the screen.  If it hits, the player becomes staggered and is left open to attack.  When Kahn is feeling especially mean, he’ll double or triple up on the attack and leave the player character helpless to do anything about it.  To beat him one typically has to resort to the old cheap tactic of launching projectile attacks.  Kahn will often pause to taunt randomly which helps.  After he’s defeated, the player is rewarded with an ending cinematic for the chosen character that’s narrated over.  These cinematics are done with still images which is kind of disappointing, and they’re quite brief and few are memorable.

If one wants to really experience the Mortal Kombat story, then the appropriately titled story mode is where to be.  Story mode is long, and takes the player through the whole Mortal Kombat mythos but with a new twist.  As the player, you’ll switch characters depending on the plot and have to take on 1 on 2 matches at times.  The story is campy, and some of the voice acting and writing is terrible, but it’s mostly a good time.  Some of the matches are absurd, but it’s beatable and you’ll unlock a couple of new characters along the way.

The other modes include a new tag match and the challenge matches.  The challenge matches are difficult and often contain gimmicks to make them even harder.  The tag match is a welcome addition, though it isn’t very flashy like a Marvel vs Capcom title.  As you play these modes you’ll earn “koins” that can be spent in the game’s bonus section, The Krypt.  There’s hundred of items to unlock here, but most of it is junk like concept art.  There’s hidden fatalities and extra costumes as well, but they’re harder to find.

By the end of most matches both characters will find themselves a bloody mess.

And fatalities are the name of the game when it comes to Mortal Kombat.  Yes, they’re a gimmick but they’re so much fun.  They’ve never been better too, and some of them are insane.  My vote for best belongs to Noob Saibot, but everyone will have their own favorite.  Each character has two, plus a stage fatality, and some of a third “klassic” fatality depending on where the game is purchased.  I bought the game at Best Buy and received Sub-Zero’s classic costume and fatality, the old head rip.  Babalities are also back and this time around they’re a lot funnier than the old ones as each baby will perform an action that usually results in crying.  It’s a humorous and non-violent way to end a match.

All in all, Mortal Kombat is pretty much exactly what I expected, and exactly what I wanted.  While Street Fighter will likely always be the king of the fighting genre, Mortal Kombat has its own niche and there’s no reason why people can’t be fans of both.  I plan to log many more hours with this one and maybe if PSN ever gets back online I’ll test my abilities against the rest of the world.  It’s not a flawless victory for Warner Bros., but it’s pretty damn good.

I woke up this morning and did my usual Saturday routine of grabbing some breakfast, a warm beverage, and sat down with my laptop to see what’s going on in the world.  I ended up at ign.com and checked out their review for the new Final Fantasy IV re-make on Sony’s PSP.  The game is yet another re-release of the Super Nintendo classic only this time with enhanced visuals and added content in the form of the episodic sequel released on the Wii from a year ago.  This isn’t about that particular game though, more about the comments made by reviewer Colin Moriarty regarding the quality of today’s Final Fantasy titles.  I both agree and disagree with some of the comments he made (which, to summarize, was that early Final Fantasy titles are the best and the present day titles subpar) but it got me thinking; what is the best game in the Final Fantasy series?

I have played most of the Final Fantasy games.  I haven’t played them all, and I can cite the ones I have never played as the original game, II, and the most recent Final Fantasy XIII.  I do not consider the on-line only games as being part of the same canon, but for what it’s worth, I have not played them either.  Of the ones I have played, the only one I never beat was the Final Fantasy III re-make on the DS (I still plan on doing so, one of these days), though I’ve never encountered anyone willing to argue that title is the best in the series.  I’ve also played many of the spin-off games, including the excellent Final Fantasy Tactics and the less than excellent Final Fantasy X-2.  Needless to say, I’m only going to look at the ones I have played and beaten and I’m not going to include the spin-offs, for as good as Tactics is, it’s just Ogre Battle with a Final Fantasy theme.

For my money, this becomes a contest between four games:  IV, VI, VII, and X.  Final Fantasy V is a lot of fun because of its job system, which was introduced in III and refined for V.  I had a lot of fun with that one on emulation before it was released in the US, and then again when it received a release for the Playstation alongside VI.  As fun as it was though, I couldn’t help but feel like the game’s plot was really chiche and the villain was not a viable threat, or even interesting.  Final Fantasy IX holds a special place in the hearts of many fans for its throwback approach.  Following three titles that blurred the line between fantasy and sci-fi, IX fully embraced that old fantasy feel of the first five titles.  One of the Playstation’s last hurrahs, it was a visual delight and the cast charming, but for me it doesn’t have the same scope as the premier titles in the franchise.  The item system also didn’t feel as if much time was spent on it by the developers to create a truly deep experience.

That said, the four titles I mentioned previously are the cream of the crop.  The fans of the other titles number far fewer than the ones for these four.  It’s time to take a look at each one…

Final Fantasy IV was released for the Super Nintendo in 1991.  It is not only note-worthy for being one of the best in the franchise, but also for the great confusion it caused gamers in the US when it was released as Final Fantasy II.  The true NES sequels of the original Final Fantasy were never released in the US, so Squaresoft decided to call IV Final Fantasy II in the states.  At the time it wasn’t confusing, but when Square decided to call Final Fantasy VII the seventh title in the franchise in all territories, American fans were left wondering how they missed IV, V, and VI.

Final Fantasy IV is the rare game where the player starts off playing as the villain.  The main protagonist, Cecil, is a dark knight who has committed unspeakable atrocities.  As someone who likes anti-hero characters, this gave the game instant appeal for me.  Of course, Square doesn’t keep the player in the role of the villain all game and Cecil eventually has a re-awakening.  From that point on, he has big purple hair and refers to himself as a paladin.  Lame.

The game was the first to introduce the Active Time Battle system, which made the game feel less turn-based.  It was also the last title to let the player control a party of five.  The gameplay is pretty much classic Final Fantasy.  There are summons, white magic, black magic, ninjutsu, and other familiar attack types.  Characters adhere to one strict class and become more powerful as they gain levels.  The game is very linear, and features a traditional good vs evil plot.  Atypically, the game feature space travel and the final dungeon is housed on the moon.  There’s very little in the way of customization, which must have seemed like a radical departure for Japanese fans going from III’s job system to this one.  Pre-programmed plot events dictate who will be available as a party member and who won’t where as future titles would often give the player a choice of who to send out into the fray.

Despite it’s limitations, the story is a memorable one.  It’s engaging watching Cecil sort out his emotions.  The plot events, while linear, allow the game developers to script some memorable action scenes.  The script is also surprisingly whitty, though some of that is due to the game’s original poor translation making the phrase “spoony bard” a popular one amongst gamers.  In typical Final Fantasy fare, the true enemy is revealed late in the game and takes away some of the excitement of the closing moments.  Nonetheless, the re-released PSX version contains a challenging and rewarding end boss fight (the US SNES one was dumbed-down) and the experience is overall a memorable one.

Final Fantasy VI also received a numeral change when it was originally released on the SNES in the US as Final Fantasy III.  Final Fantasy VI has also been re-released several times by Squaresoft over the years but has never received a sequel or a remake, despite being often cited as the best of the series.  Released in 1994, it represented an obvious visual upgrade over the two previous titles.  It also opted for a steam punk type of setting over the traditional fantasy one and is really the only title in the series to not feature a true leading role.  This is quite appropriate considering VI has the largest cast of available characters in the series totaling 14.

Outside of those differences, the core gameplay sticks to what Final Fantasy IV popularized.  Each character has their own specialized class that draws from popular character classes of the previous games.  There are some notable departures such as Edgar’s tech abilities and Relm’s drawing ones, but for the most part every character fits into the traditional mage, monk, warrior mold.  The plot is pretty interesting, and features the player as part of a resistance movement to take down an evil empire and introduces one of the most memorable villains of the series, Kefka, who’s one sadistic bastard.

The game is fairly linear, though once the player reaches the world of ruin it becomes more open-ended.  At that point the player can choose to track down more party members and scour some dungeons or go right after Kefka.  There’s also a moment where the player can lose a party member permanently, which is kind of cool even if it’s easily avoided.

Spells in this game could be learned by anyone, though certain characters were more well-suited for magic than others.  Magic was learned by attaching an esper to a character and as battles were won AP was earned which went towards learning spells.  The better spells naturally took longer to learn.  The espers also served as the game’s summons and could be called upon once per battle to unleash havoc on the opposition or bestow beneficial effects on the party.  Their use in that regard was nonessential, but the customization abilities were quite enjoyable.  This customization allowed the player to assemble his or her favorite party any way they wanted to.  The game did expect the player to use everyone at least a little bit though as certain dungeons would require up to 3 parties of 4 complete.

Final Fantasy VII was the first title in the series to be released in the US with its proper name.  It was also the first Final Fantasy game to not be released on a Nintendo console with Square electing to go with Sony’s Playstation due to its use of CD’s rather than a cartridge medium.  This allowed Square to include FMV sequences and true orchestral quality audio.

Final Fantasy VII is without question the biggest release in the franchise’s history.  Met with unfathomable hype, it was finally released in 1997 and met with much praise.  It was also big, encompassing three discs and taking most gamers over 40 hours to complete.  It’s 3D visuals were somewhat blocky at the time, and have not aged too well.  The battle graphics were much better and the CG sequences, at the time, jaw-dropping.  The dialogue was also more mature, especially whenever Barrett spoke, and the mood of the game was a bit darker than previous titles.

You can't have a blog post about Final Fantasy VII without including a shot of the most famous death in video game history.

The setting was again more of a tech heavy one as opposed to a traditional fantasy one, and this time around there was definitely more of a sci-fi element.  The esper system was gone and replaced with the materia one.  I’m still not exactly sure what materia is, but it was equipable like the espers and granted the character the ability to cast spells.  Each piece of materia has five levels and AP was earned to increase those levels.  These levels were denoted by stars on the menu, and the level determined how many times a spell or summon could be used in battle.  When a piece of materia maxed out at level five, it could be used an unlimited amount of times in battle and would spawn a level 1 duplicate.  This made leveling up unique pieces of materia (such as most summons) vital to create a super party of characters.

Each character now could only be equiped with one piece of armor and one weapon, and these determined how much materia a character could hold.  Some weapons and armor contained materia slots that were linked together, which could be exploited to great effect in battle.  Some of it was simple, linking the fire materia with the “all” materia turned the fire spell into an attack all spell.  Or you could join elemental materia with attack materia to grant that attacks elemental properties to an ability like mug.  Magic based materia often lowered base attack power when equiped, this discouraged players from turning their brutes into a jack of all trades.  And like with VI, certain characters were just obviously more well-suited to using magic than others resulting in greater damage from spells and summons.

The summons were a true spectacle of the time as using one initiated an FMV sequence where the summoned monster would unleash an awesome attack.  These did grow tiresome though after awhile, particularly the ultimate summon Knights of the Round, which was the best way to attack the game’s hidden bosses but lasted several minutes.  Future games would wisely introduce a way to skip some of these more over-the-top animations.

The plot of the game involved a struggle between the game’s main protagonist Cloud, against his former idol Sephiroth.  Cloud begins the game as a moody brat but becomes more likable as the game progresses.  The player is able to watch him grow into a leader.  There are also several flashback sequences, and one very notable death, along the way.  The look of the characters would prove quite popular, and the success of the game would eventually lead to several spin-offs and pseudo-sequels though it has yet to receive a true re-release or remake.  Due to its great success there’s been a bit of a backlash movement against the title by some fans since this was the jumping on point for many.  The success of VII proved to Japanese developers that RPG’s were viable in the States and the release of following titles became events as opposed to just another release.  To this day it is still one of the more dynamic released in the franchise as the materia system granted a great amount of freedom and flexibility to the user second only to the job system of earlier games.

Final Fantasy X marked more firsts for the franchise, most notably the first title for the Playstation 2 and the first to feature fully voiced characters.  These two things resulted in a gorgeous looking game with a more engaging set of characters.  The main hero, Tidus, winds up in a foreign land through supernatural means and ends up joining up with a band of heroes on a sort-of pilgrimage.  The voice acting is pretty solid, though some people find certain characters off-putting.

There were other firsts though, and one was a big departure for the series; the removal of the overworld map.  In past games whenever the player left a town or dungeon they would end up on a big map screen.  From here certain vehicles could be used liked the airship or a chocobo.  Now everything was linked together removing this map screen.  I remember at the time such a concept was hard to fathom, though I suppose for new-comers to the series it was completely logical.  The end result was uncomfortable for the purists, but ultimately created a better visual experience for the player and the world felt more intimate.  There was still an airship, but now the player didn’t pilot it freely and instead just used it as a means of quick travel.

The summons in this game played a bigger role.  Only one character, Yuna, could actually summon them now and when doing so the summoned beast was a playable character.  The other party members would be removed from battle temporarily as the summoned monster took over for a couple of rounds often culminating in the use of one awesome attack.  Characters leveled up via the sphere grid, where abilities and magic were learned.  As characters gained sphere points they could move along the grid and unlock abilities.  This allowed for a lot of customization, but like in previous games certain characters were naturally pushed in a specific direction.

The battle system received it’s first major overhaul since Final Fantasy IV.  Now the order of attack was displayed in a corner and this could be affected by certain spells and actions.  It added a more strategic element to the approach for the player though it admittedly made things easier knowing when the enemy was going to attack.  Party members could also be switched in and out of battle at any moment which was pretty neat, but also made it so that the player could go through the game barely touching certain characters.

The plot was definitely more melodramatic this time around with an obvious focus on the relationship between Tidus and Yuna.  There’s a bit of a tragic element thrown in, and I enjoyed the ambiguous ending.  The high production values enhanced the quality of the story, and Blitz Ball may be the best mini game in any Final Fantasy title.

Those are the contenders for best Final Fantasy.  My run downs, despite totaling 2600 words, are actually pretty brief and do not come close to touching upon everything these games do well and not so well.  It’s actually a pretty hard choice, and I began writing this with one title in mind but am finding myself changing my mind.  Regardless, for me this is actually a battle of two and not four.

Final Fantasy IV is a landmark title for the franchise due to its inclusion of the ATB system and impressive narrative.  The following titles really were just taking what IV did and adding to it right up through Final Fantasy IX.  As compelling a narrative it possesses, I did note that it’s a bit restricted which brings it down a bit.  Perhaps some of that is due to hardware limitations but so be it.  It’s also strictly a linear experience and represents the least customization for the player.  For these reasons, it is clearly not the best of the best.

Final Fantasy X is sort of a re-defining for the franchise.  It took that old ATB system and thew it out and gave the player a truly epic experience.  The sphere grid gave the player a lot to tinker with but did away with some of the more fun aspects of older games of finding new spells and abilities about the world.  Like IV, it too is quite linear and the path for most of the game is pretty clear.  It possesses another one of those villain-swaps at the end that derail some the game’s momentum, and though a great game, it ultimately falls short of the immortality other games in the series have achieved.  Though I will say, it does not deserve to be lumped in with the less than stellar Final Fantasy XII and XIII.

Which leaves two, Final Fantasy VI and VII.  On one hand, there’s VI with its engrossing story and great cast of characters and truly memorable villain.  On the other, there’s VII with it’s massive scope, excellent materia system, and stellar production values (for their time).  For me, it really is an either or type of argument.  I enjoy both immensely.  VI is easy to get into as the first part of the game keeps throwing things at the player and moves at a rapid pace.  The story is easy to follow and the gameplay is tried and true Final Fantasy.  It does perhaps prove a bit too easy, and as great as Kefka is, he goes down with a whimper in the end.  VII has a more convoluted narrative that gets murky at times but for those willing to dig deep it proves quite satisfying in the end.  The characters all have distinct personalities, despite numbering fewer than the 14 present in VI.  For my money, the materia system is still my favorite in any Final Fantasy, just narrowly beating out the job system from V.  It keeps the customization without making every character feel the same.  And while it does not take a great deal of skill to finish the game, beating the hidden bosses requires a great deal of savvy and a huge investment of time.

In the end, I don’t know that I truly prefer one over the other.  Both are great, near flawless experiences.  The strengths of VI are unique to VI, as are its faults, and the same can be said of VII.  Despite both being Final Fantasy titles, it really does feel like comparing apples and oranges.  I can conceivable pick one today, and tomorrow feel like my opinion has changed and writing this has made me want to play through the both of them all over again.  I set out to pick the best one though, and I’m not going to wimp out after over 3200 words.  So with that said, gun to my head, the best title in the Final Fantasy franchise is…

Final Fantasy VII.

And the winner is...