Final Fantasy - An Entire Series Retrospective and Analysis

I love how FF's long-standing history allows people to make these holistic analyses about what the series has affected and what affected it.

I saw this video and thought "another ff series review"? But after seeing it, and how many myths were debunked. I can clearly see that this is the product of someone that really played the original games.

Because of this video, my partner and I have decided to play all Final Fantasy games in order like you did. It's interesting seeing in person the changes overtime and the difference systems. We are currently on FF3.

I actually really loved FF2's story and state/progression system. I would love to see a similar system in the future, but maybe tweaked a bit.

Love this video.

So what your saying is the "Final Fantasy" was the friends we made along the way.

Best 5h40min review of Final Fantasy 16 one could ask for.

I feel something missed out was the thick game walkthrough guide book of final fantasy 10 where a third of the tips and content were "available online" only and the book itself told you you had to go online to get that info....not a good reason to buy the book.

God damn it I actually finished the video and I have to find something else to watch

The fact a whole essay was done on FF8 and it doesn't even mention the card game is sacrilegious.

Overall, I love this video and find I agree with most of the statements made. I did want to address a couple of things in the FFVIII section, though. (It was my first Final Fantasy, is still my favorite, and is just the one I have the most experience with at this point.)

First, I don't think drawing was really intended to be the main way you get magic in the game. It always remains an option, but using your GF abilities to refine magic from items is the most efficient way of getting magic. The Draw command can only give you 9 copies of a spell at maximum, and this number could be lower depending on your MAG stat. In comparison, many items give you 5-20 copies of a spell when you refine them, and if you're fighting battles or playing Triple Triad regularly, you'll have no problem getting access to tons of items for spell refinement. The only spell you can't get through refinement that you have to get through drawing is Apocalypse, which only becomes available during the last phase of the last fight of the entire game.

Other than its utility in drawing GFs in certain battles, I've always viewed the drawing mechanic as a short-term replenishment or experimentation system rather than the more long-term way to acquire and stock magic. This is especially true since you can't use drawn magic for stat growth through junctioning until the battle is actually over. Speaking from my own experience (which will obviously differ between players,) I've used the Draw command to restock on magic if I've used it in the middle of a fight, experiment with magic I haven't used before or only use sparingly, or get access to a magic I otherwise haven't been able to access yet. For example, many bosses will have a restorative spell in their spell list for you to access, like Fujin having Full-Life in this video. This means you can safely use your magic to heal and draw more if you're running low. In the case of the Fujin fight, this can also change your strategy, as one of Fujin's attacks will always leave a character at 1 HP. This means you can have that character use a powerful limit break, and if the character dies right after, you can resurrect them at full health to go again.

Second, I think the Boost ability, which wasn't discussed, is meant to compensate for the length of the summon animations. Other than the rare GFs which deal a set amount of damage or only apply buffs, most GFs can have their damage boosted, and so a longer animation can actually be an advantage for a GF. Eden, for example, has the longest animation time of any GF, but also deals the most damage and can easily reach the maximum boost of 255, or 255% of the normal damage calculation. Conversely, GFs with shorter animations, like Ifrit, can only be boosted to ~150%. This mechanic also has the benefit of giving the player something to do when the animation is playing so they aren't just watching it play out for 30 seconds. And if the player stops paying attention to the boost, they'll hit the button at the wrong time and end up doing less damage than if they hadn't boosted at all.

Finally, I disagree with the suggestion that you shouldn't be able to use junctioned magic. While I can see the potential benefit to the decision-making process outside of battle, it detracts from that process during battle. Meltdown (changes the VIT of an enemy to 0) would be my go-to example for the problem I'm talking about since it is simultaneously one of the most useful spells in battle and one of the best VIT junction options. Being able to use this magic in battle means I can use it, but at the cost of lowering my own VIT mid-fight. It also means I'll have to get more of that spell later on, which means drawing more magic or refining more items. This presents you with the opportunity of gaining a short-term benefit at a long-term cost.

Great upload, thanks for sharing. +1 sub

FF6 is the best FF .

20 minutes of ff6 and I'm not sure you used the word 'epic' once. As cliche as it is, easily one of the most epic video games of all time. You gave it some flack for the amount of caves! Bro in 94 most games were just beat over the weekend you bought them. People always comparing these against each other but when compared to everything else these are the greatest games ever made.

The Final Fantasy games have never really "clicked" for me -- but it's still interesting to hear so much about their history and what draws folks to them. Good video.

As someone who has been playing final fantasy games since childhood, thank you for making these videos. There is just something beautiful about knowing people also have the same interests as you.

I agree somewhat with your opinion of FF 2. I had a horrible time with it during my initial play through but when I revisited it during the pixel remaster and just played it as it came the game was greatly improved in my eyes. I still feel the dungeon design is terrible and encounter rate frustrating and the story a bit aimless at times but still not as bad as I used to feel it was. I will be replaying 8 but I admit Squall was one of the main reasons I did not like the game. Being in my 40s now as opposed to me late teens when it came out may change my opinion of the game.

Can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said more articulately. Thanks for creating these with so much effort and for giving our tired minds and souls something to relax to.

Does anyone know the song that was playing at the very beginning of the video?

Keep doing these videos. This is art as much as the games you cover.

I played the demo of FFXVI when it came out and knew nothing about the game nor did I watch any of the trailers. The demo I thought was just OK then I found out many drew parallels between it and Game of Thrones. I find Game of Thrones incredibly boring and I knew I was going to dislike it so I have not considered buying it and probably never will. I am interested in the spectacles of that game but I am not willing to spend 70% watching mediocre cutscenes just for the 10% of good ones and the 20% of easy gameplay.

Hopefully you’ll respond to me good sir. Why is your channel called neverknowsbest? Did you get it from fooly cooly? Deeper meaning? I was just wondering because I have “never knows best” tattooed on my thigh and was just wondering what it meant to you?

Great overall video. I was hoping you'd touch more on the villains in some of the titles, though. I think that XVI was good, but as I spend more time away from the game, some aspects and decisions made with the story bother me. I agree that its third act was weak, and would argue that the Game of Thrones x Final Fantasy theme they went for began to clash in the third act which falls into JRPG tropes at the expense of the earlier political intrigue.

I know of one person who played the whole series back to back on stream a few years ago his channel is called the LoreRunner.

Have you played Stranger of Paradise though? And if not, you really should if you like FF as well as good action combat and RPG elements

What a video! Thank you for this exceptional retrospective.
You managed to strike a nice balance between subjective judgment & objective evaluation, & I'm sure even the most opinionated people about these games will be able to recognise, in all these fascinating games, both the terrible flaws & the awesome traits.

based ff12 inversion

I don't see how you can say FF15 was immersive and then in the next sentence bring up the overwhelming reuse of NPC assets and diners throughout the world which inherently break the immersion. FF15 was an exercise in lazy production

It took me a few days, but I'm really glad I watched the whole five hours and 40 minutes. Such a comprehensive and positive look on the series. I will always be partial to the prerendered backgrounds era. 2D has been going through a renaissance of sort with HD2D, I'm hoping we'll see the same trend with prerendered backgrounds in the coming years. Bravely Default did kind of reintroduce them but in a very limited scope and with very generic JRPG art style, I'm hoping for something as bold as the FF8 backgrounds one day.

I never did get to enjoy these master pieces growing up but Final fantasy 7 remake is one of the most memorable, beautiful and soul touching games I’ve ever played in my life. It truly has a special place in my heart and soul. I’ve been gaming for decades and only have a handful of games that had that effect of touching my soul. FF 7 remake, cyberpunk 2077, last of us 1 and mass effect trilogy. For some reason these 4 games hold a special place in my heart. There really a lot of epic games, but those 4 for some reason were so memorable.

Brilliant, amazing video.

Time for the FF side games lol

Brilliant mate cheers 👏🏾

The best gaming historian there is! Great job as always Never 🫡

Long time fan of your channel and you outdid yourself here sir! As a lifelong fan of the series, this is a treat!

The team behind XIII were so focused on making it cinematic that they forgot to add gameplay. 💀

Your name is the same name I have on most of my other accounts. Is it a fooly cooly reference? Mine is

FF14 constant interuption by uninteresting dialog is what made me drop it at around lvl 30. If i read it all my day would be spent on reading a novle instead of playing a game, but if i skip all of it i dont have context on why i do stuff and makes me uninterested. Its a lose-lose scenario.

Also, i have no friends that want to play an MMO and MMO Guilds feel like they have a core group of friends and random people around them. I would be one of the randoms, so meaningful responses are a rarity. I also want a house to decorate but i dont have the money to buy it nor the time to camp around a house to most likely not get it anyway.

The issue with 16 is not the story and music which are always great with FF, its the huge change in gameplay. A group based and turn based combat have been turned into an action slasher with 1 character. IMO SE have been on the wrong path for a while now and are struggling to find their place which has been there since the start.

I'm only on the FF2 part of the video, so Im sitting here wondering "did he really play through and make a retrospective on FF14.. Or even more wild, FF11?? I cant help but worry about his sanity lol

Im literally going to plan to watch all of this...

This took days to finish watching, but I am glad I watched it all the way through. I need to go play some Final Fantasy now.

Saved this vid for a night like this, thank you as always for this awesome content...

Excellent journey through time here. I think, even with the emphasis, you understated the achievement of FFXI in "going on an adventure with friends". I've played most of the franchise, and many MMOs and nothing comes close to what they acheived with 11. I have dozens, if not hundreds of stories where typical after-work gaming sessions turned into stories of perseverance, meeting new people and creating lifelong friendships. Those experiences and relationships just done't happen in safe and casual MMOs like 14, there's no shared struggle to create bonds around and virtually no opportunity for someone to shine in a moment of need. It's the ultimate commercialized MMO, which isn't necessarily bad, but it trades nuance and depth for mass adoption and there's just something a little sad about that.

Final Fantasy 5 was my first Final Fantasy game, and is my favorite. I had the GBA version, and the realization that there was a whole second world was crazy for me.

Bravo

What an amazing video. Over half way through so far, and the detail and explanations are just top tier. I jumped in to the series at 12 and it is still one of my favorites in the franchise. Ive played 10 through 15 so far, minus 11. 16 once it comes to PC. I do plan on going back and playing the entire franchise, even though i feel im going to have a terrible time with 1-6 and probably 7-9.

I remember how i got into final fantasy thanks to disney, and i wonder if one could make a solid argument that Kingdom Hearts helped boost its notoriety in the west?

Subscribed!

Hey Best! YOU"RE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL MY SLEEPLESS NIGHTS man! 😉👍
I love the superb quality of your productions, and I can surely say - you are now FAR ahead Mr Ahoy whose documentaries were of the best value until you showed up 😎
Keep up the good work, I cheer you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for your tremendous effort making FF video - which is also my forever-in-love series ever! Also - your conclusion at the very end - is 300% to the point - that's one thing always constant in FF series - is that it's always changing :)
Love you man ❤❤