Round of 16: After the Apocalypse

[This Old Neon]

Welcome to the "BEST GAME EVER!!!" Project's Round of 16!

You can vote for 1 game in this bracket. Vote carefully—you can't change your vote after submitting it. The top game at the end of the week will advance to the Top 8 Quarterfinals.

8 - Final Fantasy VI - 1994 - SNES
105 - Doom II: Hell on Earth - 1994 - PC

You are encouraged to discuss your choice and your reasons for selecting the game you did.

[Drauks]

This... this is cruelty. Soul searching shall have to be done. Maybe a pilgrimage.

[SkyPikachu]

People who voted FF is 6 your favorite? If not which FF is?

[Drauks]

I love both of these games. FF6 is my favorite of the series, for reasons. But since it has a comfortable lead, I didn't mind tossing a vote to Doom 2 in order to salve my conscience

[Kong Wen]

People who voted FF is 6 your favorite? If not which FF is?

My favourite old-school entry is FF for its simplicity.
My favourite 2D entry is probably a tie between FFIV for nostalgia and the plot, and FFVI for the mechanics and overall appearance and complexity.
My favourite 3D entry is definitely FFXII. I love everything about that game, but especially the highly strategic Gambit system used to set up your AI characters for battle.
My overall favourite game in the series is one of the spin-offs: FFT. Perfect tactical game.

Most of those games have been eliminated, so this is the one I have left to vote for. Whether I would vote for if it were in a poll against another FF game remains to be determined... in a side-event.

[Sharecrow]

I think FFX is my favorite. I also really love 1, 2, and 5. I think 6 will make that list, too, though I haven't gotten very far in it and then bailed because, for whatever silly wyvern reasons, I want to finish 5 first. But that's going to take me a while....

[Niahak]

People who voted FF is 6 your favorite? If not which FF is?

I waffle between 6 and 7 (which I'll admit is pretty unusual). I don't think either is the pinnacle of the genre, though.

For all that people give 7 a hard time over starting the trend toward style over substance, there aren't a whole lot of superfluous flashy sequences - the game itself runs quickly and even the longest of its weird minigames is only a few minutes before you get back into the action. Battles run quickly and are mechanically satisfying - the materia system offers up many different strategies in a straightforward and intuitive way. The plot is weird at times and certainly goes off the rails, but many of the lesser enemies are a lot of fun. Heidegger makes for a great wacky antagonist for a bit, and the Turks are pretty fun as they alternate between menacing and sympathetic.

6 is one of my favorite 2d RPGs. I think it makes for an interesting motif to avoid placing any one character at the forefront for the entire game - even those who naturally gravitate there are missing from your party for substantial parts of the story. Mechanically it's a little too easy, but the Esper system was a neat way to customize without removing the "identity" of each character in battle. Kefka is a pretty fun guy to hate throughout the entire game, too.

[Kong Wen]

Final Fantasy VI advances to the Quarterfinals!