A MONTAGE OF THOUGHTS ABOUT SEVERAL GAMES

Yeah, I'm going to disagree with you on Earthbound's story as well. "Four wonder kids save the world" might not be the most believable or original thing ever, there is something magical about the way Earthbound portrays it, especially through the dialogue and writing. Sure, like any game, it has its faults, but the positives decidedly outweigh the negatives in Earthbound.
I also didn't really mind Earthbound's menu system. Not elegantly designed, but it definitely served its purpose well.

Yeah um how did Earthbound's story blow? If you are talking about maybe the basic plot in general then yeah maybe, but the line of events and memorable moments are extremely awesome. Btw I think you will agree Mother 3(earthbound2)'s story is VERY good if you ever played it.

You are treading dangerous Earthbound lover territory, be careful.

Wow, I don't think i could disagree more with that list if I tried.

FF9 is still my favorite of the series, but then again I'm not much of a final fantasy fan.

Earthbound and Mother3 are amazing in every way shape and form(except maybe being a bit too easy).

I couldn't get into FF7 no matter how hard I tried, and I tried pretty damn hard(different strokes for different folks I guess. But I am no means a hater of the game).

Chrono Cross...well most of the characters are throwaways and the story is hurt heavily because of that, but hot damn to I love that game's battle system. After my brain adjusted to the battle theme I just kept playing nonstop for hours

Chrono Trigger: ehhhh uhhh eahhh ahhea...I don't know what to say. It's weird for me. The only reason I played it (like 10 years ago now) and got through most of the game was that all my friends really dug the crap out of it and I was a copycat without thoughts of my own. Every time I try to pick up and play it now, I lose interest shockingly fast. I just have absolutely no urge to ever play it.

Never played FF5, love/hate FF8, never played Xenogears but I am interested, and I do agree with you on FF6.

(roman numerals can suck it btw,).

The only reason anyone ever enjoyed Chrono Cross is because it has one of the best videogame soundtracks ever. This is fact.

Here's some thoughts I have

-FFIX - great game, had characters you really ended up caring for - except quina and eiko. Christ, the first half of the game Vivi was my main reason to keep playing. I wanted SOO BADLy to know just what he was. I'd have to agree that the plot really just trip over itself near the end, but that doesn't destroy the fantastic atmosphere that was set up for this game. Few games draw me into a world like this one did. One of my three fav FF games.

-FFVII - I got this for the computer first. The graphics were better, which probably helped make me want to buy a Playstation later on, but the game crashed a lot, and nearly broke our cyrix computer. Since I was younger, I realize now that I didn't entirely understand the whole plot, but the 3D aspect, and all the summons really drew me in and made me ignore any of that. I thought it was a reasonable step from VI.

-Earthbound - Here's another love it or hate it game. Personally, I'm not a fan of dragon quest style combat screens, but I loved this game so much I didn't even notice. The story is reminiscent of some of the later era nes rpgs in its sparse telling. This is one of those rpgs where you don't feel like talking to every npc is a huge chore, it was the charm of the game - or if it was, you wouldn't like the game. The amusing dialogue supports the first half of the game. And there's a lot to support - menus to talk or check things (or you could use l for context sensitive play), extremely limited storage space especially for Ness who gets so many items it's not even funny, walking through dungeons multiple times, long difficult stretches of the game... But if its charm catches you, you won't even notice. Also, there's the kickass music - I STILL listen to it on my mp3 player.

-FFV - never played very far, but the music seemed solid, and the characters interesting. I would have to agree about the story, sometimes it can feel like you're going from place to place crazily.

-FFVI was awesome. I can't say this enough. It remains one of the BEST final fantasy games, still. One of my top 3.

-Chrono Trigger - I disagree about the story being stupid. I used to think that way, but when I played through some of the subsequent times (also, new game + MADE this game) i realised that the only reason the get embroiled in all this time travelling stuff is because the have a quantum leap-like habit of getting out of trouble by falling into time portals - then seeing the local situation and decided they want to help out like a bunch of rubes. But there were great characters, awesome 2 and 3 person techs that I obessively looked for, sprawling storylines that required time travel to solve (i felt so bad when I left robo in the past to sow that field) - and fantastic music. Also, the battle system was something really new at the time, and you just liked to watch it...

-Chrono Cross may be a dividing point for fans of the series, but I really, REALLY enjoyed this game. The intro song drew me in. Next, the graphics amazed me. By the time the graphics stopped blowing my mind, I'd gotten a hang of the battle system and made it my bitch. Once I'd done that, the story had become satisfying. Like Legend of mana, I became more and more interested in the stories of all the side characters - probably because the started introducing them so early in the game with skelly. Also, I was always challenged by the bosses, especially masamune infested karsh... The story may be ZOMG METAL GEAR complicated, and I don't even remember the dialogue, but I still remember how much I loved this game. Lol, by the time I got to fighting the boss time dragon, I was like "How many more, 'Final Bosses' can I take? Am I going to fight God next?" little did I know...

-Xenogears - was THE reason I bought a playstation, along with FFT. Great graphics (i'm a whore for sprites on 3d), Instantly engaging story, and a combat system that never got old. Fantastic storytelling really made this game - it hides just enough information, gives you just enough glimpses of the enemies, and good camera work and sound make the story very compelling and visceral. And who could forget the music of this game... Truly Legendary. Also, you could jump around! I never got tired of jumping, since you get to do it so rarely in rpgs.

-FF8 - when I first played it, I didn't like it. My wife though loved it. After I tried it again, I realised the reaosn I didn't like it was because I was trying to play it like any grindan RPG, whereas you're supposed to go neck deep into the system and make it your bitch to progress. It may only take an hour to get yourself to 99 cures, but once you junction them to your HP, you'll never even need them. One thing that annoyed me? There are tons of plot relevant information that the characters keep from the player - so much so that any random passer by could have told you the answer. "Why can't radio transmissions work!?" you ask yourself for hours of gameplay, only to be answered in the last 3/4 of the game - "Oh, we launched a sorceress into space, didn't you know that?" **** YOU! Forgettable music, and Squall doesn't seem nearly as angsty to me as everyone else seems to feel, and now that I'm on the subject, most of the cast is forgettable. Seifer is just too cute, though.

Things I've learned:

Things were more fun when everything was new. Do you even remember how awesome NES games were when they first came out? Almost Every game did something new...

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And Chocobo Hot and Cold is a terrible minigame

Yeah, it did suck. I didn't really bother with it. I usually don't play any of the sub games in FFs

Xenogears wasn't too good either. lots of meaningless text and giant robots.

i am going to mail you a punch in the face

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-FFVI was awesome. The cast of characters were really well thought out and I loved how there was no "main character." Also, reuniting with your friends and getting them back in the coolest RPG plot device ever. Though the dark color tone can turn me off sometimes. It's all about vibes.

The second half of the game seemed like filler to me. A bunch of disjointed events that contrasted too much with the plot heavy and enjoyable first half.

I'm going to have to agree with you on this one, NB. The second half of FFVI is just never as fun for me as the first half. It's like they just ran out of story between the end of the World of Balance and the end of the game, so they were like "let's ditch the story, make you find ALL your party members all over again (and we'll start you with a shitty one just for the lols) and then once you DO find them and all the espers and shit, you get to GRIND for a hundred years in the dinosaur forest if you hope to ever actually have a balanced enough party (actually 3 parties) to take on Kefka's tower! Fwakhakhakhakhak"

All of that aside, I am still of the opinion that there has never been (and probably never will be at this rate) a better Final Fantasy than VI.