Someone please explain Final Fantasy to me!

Ok, I picked up FFVII - Dirge of Cerberus for the Ps2 a while back, and played the whole 15 hours solid.
It was totally fucking incredible. Best game I've played full stop.

Now, I have no idea of the build up to this, or what happens after.
From the research I've done, this was purely a spinoff of the character Vincent Valentine.

Is it really all the story I'm going to get from this plot, and the rest is totally unrelated?
All the Lucrecia Crescent story, and the battles with good and evil against Azul the Cerulean?

I've watched the history of FF video, but it only really explains the games, not the story.
Is there something I can read that will take me from beginning to end of this whole adventure without playing all the 8bit games?

Are all the games 1-11 one continuous story? Or is each number a new tale totally?

I haven't played any of them (although I know the story of VII due to friends going on and on and on about it at home and friends through uni have played it through a couple times in my presence) but I suggest starting from the beginning and play through 1-7 using emulators before playing VII DoC.

I think the tales are separate throughout the games but tie in here and there.

All the story lines of different numbered games are different, there's a few character names that pop up, as well as 'gods/demons', but other than that you won't see Cloud fucking around with Vaan.

For VII DoC, I'd play FF VII and that'll let ya kinda understand Vincent, but I've never played that one... I think there was a prequel game as well.


Best Final Fantasy's you need to play are(as they came to the states numbered) III VII VIII X and XI.

VIII is rubbish compared to VII. X and VII are by far the best along with III.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Crysack

VIII is rubbish compared to VII. X and VII are by far the best along with III.

---

Yea comparatively, but I still liked VIII other than a few b/s things i HAD to do.

Haven't played it in years but I still play X XII never get to play the others anymore, but if you got time to waste on a MMORPG get Final Fantasy XI, was pretty good what I played, but I lost my account from inactivity.

Final Fantasy VII, X and XII (possibly other newer ones, lost track after IX) are the only FF games that have true sequels and other media. All of the mainstream games are unrelated to each other, besides the aforementioned recurring character names such as Cid, Biggs and Wedge. Even these characters are the same in name only, though they usually have similar interests game to game (Cid usually builds, flies or works with airships, while Biggs and Wedge are usually soldiers of some sort). For the most part, Final Fantasy I-XIII or whatever it's on now are sequels in name only, though the earlier ones all shared the quest for crystals to save the world.

My favorite will always be VI (III in the states). I bought it the day it came out and locked myself in my room for weeks. IV (II in the states) is also a favorite, while the original will always be a nostalgic favorite. By the time VII came out, I was starting a family, so I just never got as interested in it and subsequent titles.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lewis

All the Lucrecia Crescent story, and the battles with good and evil against Azul the Cerulean?

---

these things are probably totally unrelated to the FFVII story, but that game is epic in itself
play it on PS2

just reading the stories wouldn't quite cut it

theres actually a whole sidequest devoted to lucrecia that you can do with vincent in ff7. loved the fuck out of that game.

Yea, all FF games are completely unrelated, aside from a few. FF7 has some spin off's, 10 has a direct sequel too and 12 is set in the same world as another one, but the plot etc is wholly different. It is an excellent series. Get FFX. It is hands down the best RPG on the PS2. And that is saying something.