That sword-shotgun actually looks pretty awsome. (Shot-sword-gun?)

Also, just how many minutes of FF13 have you played if the only connection you've found is a Chocobo? Couldn't be very long at all, considering the game is stuffed full of references.

"It's rumored that number 13 may be the last installment of the series. "

That's a pretty hilarious rumor.

Considering 14 is already in beta testing.

And there's still two more FF13 games coming out.

13 was the first game to not have Nobuo's music as he's writing music for 14. The result, a game that feels like FF but is lacking something (a soul?)

-Biggs & Wedge
-Cid
-Chocobos
-Moogles
-terminology (magicite, espers)
-Crystals
-Music
-Monsters (Cactuar, Bomb, Tonberry, Flan, etc)

rather than rant, I'll leave it short and simple. Several things exist in almost all Final Fantasy games (if not, just the majority even) To avoid rambling, a list:

[url=#user_comment_30189]@Kono[/url] (last) Blah blah, this is getting too long. The point of my drivel is that present FF games are suffering due to poor storytelling and weak character development; an over-reliance on cliches that are absent in older (pre-FFVII) games. Older games had cliches too, but story usually won out.

[url=#user_comment_30189]@Kono[/url] (cont.) thrive on the repetition of cliches in a manner even more pronounced than in Western media. This doesn't mean the changes are good, but I respect the attempts to breath life into a series that has been relying on far too many crutches for far too long. (cont. - last one, I swear)

[url=#user_comment_30189]@Kono[/url] Speaking respectfully, you are quite wrong. The series has evolved in many ways since its inception and some of these changes have been for the better, others have not. I respect these attempts to make changes as JRPGs - like most Japanese media - have a VERY strong tendency to (cont.)

You're forgetting the gunblades!

well it seems that something else became common in final fantasy too - girly looking men!

Looking forward to your take on the CS:S noobfication... I mean, update.

Apparently some of you have a hard time distinguishing preference and quality.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/9/6/

So if all games with yellow big birds is Final Fantasy so is Grand Fantasia FF too?

Also, kane deserve a official hug of honor for his photonote. It made my day.

I take it the author is a final fantasy 9 fan?

Also known as the one with all the cameos/fanservice

you'll at least like the others. Every game has its fans as well as its haters. Yeah, they could name the games other things, but they are still very similar, share designers and such and constantly trying to come up with non-retarded names is tricky. Infinite Undiscovery, loooking at you.

Final Fantasy is in general no worse or better than it ever was. Any thoughts of that nature are due to nostalgia, tastes changing as you grow, and increasing hardware creating expectations of more. Personally, despite the change of locale and setting, I think that if you love one final fantasy...

Just remembered Biggs and Wedge too. Though I havent come across them in the newest FF game

Graphics. It didn't used to be that way and the games were better for it, but ahead-of-the-curve graphics are now a major identifying trait of Final Fantasy games.

KRAW!

I would so kill for that weapon as the engineer unlock.

[url=#user_comment_30122]@PT[/url]: Anti-Spirals... LOL!!

LOL @ Kane's SotN photonote on the chocobo.

Oh like it matters there is a character named Cid?

Aren't you guys forgetting engineer Cid?

Is... is that a double barreled shotgun attached to the hilt of his/her sword?

i like the little guys :D

I sense a greek sparta joke coming.

[url=#user_comment_30114]@Babies[/url]: Wait...srsly? The next comic is the 300th? ...Hrm. I expected something quite surprising!

In my honest opinion, I can play Final Fantasy 1 thru 6 (Don't get me started on Breath of Fire I/II) infinite times and not get bored completely. But I think I only finished 7, X, and X-2 past those...and I've played all but the newest.

If Square went back to sprites and good writers...I'd cry.

Heh heh heh: http://ferretcomic.com/504

Moogles. Don't forget moogles.

IMHO, FF games have gone slowly downhill since the PS era, and completely nosedived with FFX.

What makes a Final Fantasy game?

Belts. On everything.

lol Shotgun blade thing XD
and come to think about it chocobos = final fantasy
take away the chocobos and you'll end up with a generic jrpg.

Not true! They also have reoccurring monsters like Cactaur and Bahumat, as well as spells like Ultima and Nova and summons like Ifrit and Shiva. Also, Cid, Biggs and Wedge.

Need more female distintion

MY BOOLET WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS

You know what always felt familiar to me, switching to new Final Fantasy games? Good music, engaging and fast-paced combat, character development and story-telling worthy of my attention, and mother-fucking phoenix downs. Seriously, anybody else think "Phoenix Down" when they think Final Fantasy?

Needs more belts and zippers.

I remember when airships were both simpler ships with propellers, and that they were mighty, sometimes ancient devices of bygone civilizations.

Now they're spaceship-like and everyone has one.

Don't forget a character named Cid! Every FF game has one of those too.

I dream and await for the probably never coming day in which Square-Enix will work on a second Mario RPG... Those were better days.

[url=#user_comment_30130]@Brandon[/url]: Pfft. Chrono Trigger was a brand of quality. Final Fantasy is their main brand but far from the only one in the Square staple. Square has always tried something new. Now they're dabbling back into movies like they did with Spirits within.

Final Fantasy is not a game series. It is a Square-Enix seal of quality. It is their promise that they put a lot of effort into this game and want it to be successful.

FFXIII had a lot of problems, but you gotta give them credit for keeping the series fresh.

Long FF games are long. Srs'ly.

The fact that I've never even managed to reach the half way point in all the FF games I own... with 20+ hrs. on each... I just told myself I'll come back later, and moved on.

Perfect!

...no wait,

I meant boobs.

TF2 Arc!! NO!11!

CORRECT!

So this is how Anti-Spirals decided to contain Spiral Creatures after Simon killed one?! INGENIUS

FF XVIII-2 3D! Crossed-eyes GO!

Well... to me FF is just that. Each game was a Final. Fantasy. Each not connected with the other. This of course bars X-2 which... we'll get back to that some other day yea? :D But still, even though chocobos might not be around I still feel that there's something else that makes FF a FF game.

Changing every time is probably the only reason FF lasted until XIII. [url=#user_comment_30106] @Wolveriner[/url] ATB is fine, but I'd rather be able to fight enemies without going to a battle screen, like in FFXII. Even with the changes they made, it is pretty much the same action timer system.

WELL WHADDYA KNOW, THE NEXT COMIC IS THE 300TH ONE

[url=#user_comment_30098]@TommyKoopa[/url] Boohoo! The new games aren't what I wanted them to be so I will pretend they never existed. Geez.

Love it

Actually there are RPGs aside from Final Fantasy that have Chocobos in them, Legend of Mana is a fine example. Granted, it's still made by the same company.

spy is in isde

I kind of wish they'd make another Soul Blazer game Terranigma was great, but I'd love to see it with modern technology

There are two things I've hated about Squenix lately:
1) Putting the MMOs into the traditional numbering sequence, instead of doing FFO, FFO2.
2) Moving away from the ATB system that worked so well from 4 to 10-2.
Change is good and all, but the new system just lacks the finesse that ATB had.

First thing first I have to say that FF series is a grandular perfection. FFVII is what brings the popularity and the next generation of FF games can sometimes be excellent or repetitive.

They always have jailbait too

As I remember, they went back to their roots when making FFIX and it didn't sell too well. As I remember anyway

Wait, this is is -2 game? She should be wearing much less than most Nerf Now characters, not more :)

I don't get this comic. There hasn't been a Final Fantasy since the third one, or was it the sixth one? It's hard to tell sometimes. I do kind of wish they'd make a new Final Fantasy game on a modern system though. However, it ended on the SNES and all we have now are remakes.

Well there's the ATB system used in most FF since the fourth. There's ennemies you meet again and again. The spells are the same. The espers/aeons/whatever often are the same. And there's the moogles and chocobos. Oh and they're also called RPG although you don't even role play...

final fantasy comic between a dramatic arc.
status quo.

Scowling androgynous protagonist? Check

Ludicrous fantasy weapon? Check

Bland cover art? Check

Oversized ridable chickens? Check

Yep, it's a JRPG alright.

No actual Moogles in FFXIII

[url=#user_comment_30076]@Anon[/url] You took the words right out of my mouth

[url=#user_comment_30074]@Kingsfoil[/url] Ignoring how ff14 is already announced and everything? Yup totally the last...

XD, I wonder what chocobos taste like though. I bet it's like ostriches.

Then again, I doubt I could eat one after playing XIII.

Lawl.

What about moogles?

I'd buy it

It's rumored that number 13 may be the last installment of the series.

I wonder if that's a good or bad thing.

Dude is that a shotgun/sword hybrid? Awesome...purely awesome.

Wark