This week’s Wednesday Rant takes a look at where the numbered Final Fantasy series went wrong.
Note: Please be aware that this article is merely my opinion. The things I say in here may be extremely polarizing amongst some gamers…just know that as long as you respect my opinion, I’ll respect yours. Thank you!
Allow me to tell you a short story. The first time I played a Final Fantasy game (the original, on NES) was at my friend Ben’s house, back when I was in 2nd grade. We spent three entire weekends working together to beat it, taking turns playing and drawing maps, taking notes, etc. I never forgot that experience, and to this day, playing the first entry in the numbered series rockets me back in time to his living room. While I didn’t play all of the numbered Final Fantasy games that way, my memories of II-VI are just as vibrant and rewarding to revisit.
Enter Final Fantasy VII. With it, the series not only made the jump to 3D, but it also went from being a fantasy game with technology elements, to a technology game with fantasy elements. This is a staple the series would follow from VII on, throwing technology in your face (such as Cloud’s bike in VII) rather than merely writing the story around it (such as the Esper Factory in VI.) This not only shifted the focus of the story, but changed the entire dynamic of the series. Look back at VI. What threatened to destroy the world? Some huge machine? Some grand weapon? No. Three statues moved out of alignment…that was it. That’s all it took to destroy the world.
With such an emphasis on technology, a certain charm of the series was lost. Although, it wasn’t just the shift in perspective that made things different: it was also a new age, from a gaming point of view. 3D was the big thing, and VII was part of a class of games that attempted to leverage this new technology. I hate to admit it, but the visuals DID play a role in this: while 3D was “OOH, SHINY!” back in the mid-90′s, Final Fantasy VI had come out just as sprite-based visuals were starting to show serious potential (and, leading up the 3D revolution, continued to show.) I think this transition was jarring to me, and in a story-heavy series like Final Fantasy, it pulled me out of the game world. Everything was vying for my attention visually, which made it difficult to focus on what was happening, rather than what I was seeing. This aspect could have been avoided, had the series stayed 2D with sprites until the PS2/Xbox era. This is no longer an issue, what with the beautiful visuals Final Fantasy games have shown in recent years…but it did make the transition much more difficult than it had to be.
“No worries,” I thought. “It’s just different than what you’re used to. I’m sure as the series goes on, you’ll get more accustomed to the look.” But I didn’t. Even as the visuals improved, the focus of the story still concentrated too hard on the technology present, with some mystical elements thrown in where they could be shoehorned into the plot. As the series climbed in numbers, it started making the stories far more complicated. Think back to the 4th, 5th, and 6th entries in the series. They all had intricate plots, with a huge number of characters and twists everywhere you looked…but they were still simple! Despite how much was crammed into each game, it was all laid out simply. The twists and turns were smooth, well-executed, and in many cases, completely unpredictable. Now, the storylines have to be as convoluted as possible, with a smaller cast than ever! I realize this sounds like me saying “bah humbug, it’s too complicated to understand. Now get off my lawn!”, but I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that the pre-VII games had amazingly epic yet simple storylines, while everything post-VII has to be as spaghettied as possible. Complicated doesn’t equal epic, folks…in this case, it equals a lack of original ideas.
I think that’s my biggest problem with the numbered series now…they’ve started to run together. Either some evil corporation is out to destroy the world, or some evil madman is out to destroy the world, or some crazy spirit is infecting machinery and making it go berserk…why not something that DOESN’T have to do with the apocalypse? I love an apocalyptic story as much as anyone, but not when it’s the only theme explored for more than half a dozen games. Why not do something like a power-hungry evil guy trying to merge parallel dimensions together, or some guy saving the world and, in the process, going nuts across the countryside?
Note that all of these problems don’t apply to the series as a whole…just the numbered series! The offshoots (Crystal Chronicles, Tactics, Dissidia, etc) have been mostly amazing. They explore awesome stories, with unique decisions, characters, and gameplay. In fact, if the numbered series was more like the offshoots, you wouldn’t be reading this right now. I-VI were amazing games. VII was merely OK, but I was honestly expecting something a little more original than “the end of the world” for the first foray into 3D; everything after that has just been an unimaginative mess. Recent entries in the numbered series seem to have attempted to refocus their efforts on politics and the world itself…yet they still suffer from the same problems.
Admittedly, nostalgia does play a role in all this…since I was fairly young when I-VI came out (I was in fifth grade when VI was released in North America), those games do hold a special place in my childhood memories. Still, that means that I was in seventh or eighth grade when VII was released…the perfect age to “appreciate” it’s attempts at moving the series forward, while being able to process the more complex gameplay and technical aspects. For the reasons outlined above, this just plain hasn’t happened.
The numbered series should have either been killed off long ago, or instead become what the offshoots are: explorations of different genres, with original stories, and attempts at not just different ideas, but NEW ideas.
I remember it as if it were yesterday. I unwrapped the paper surrounding the gift to find a shiny new CD case staring back up at me. The contents within were, of course, Final Fantasy VII.
Hardly waiting to even have the case opened the whole way, I rushed to my PlayStation and practically shoved the game into the waiting disc tray in my haste to get to the newest adventure. After seeing the traditional Sony and PlayStation splash screens (how I miss those things…), I heard the opening notes to the Crystal Prelude. My heart skipped a beat, and I decided to listen to it for a few minutes before finally moving on with the game.
Upon selecting new game, I pushed myself further into my little cushy chair that I had long since decreed to be my “gaming chair.” After figuring out that O was the OK button instead of X, I got rolling.
From the very beginning FMV, I will admit to being a little taken aback. Where was all the gorgeous scenery? What happened to the chocobos? Where were the monsters and magic and epic battles that I was expecting? Why am I staring at a Goddamn train?
However, all was soon forgotten when I entered the first battle with the peon soldiers. There’s definitely something to be said for swinging around a sword that is twice as thick as you are.
Final Fantasy VII is undoubtedly a personal favorite of mine, but it isn’t without its faults. Much of what you say is entirely true, my friend. The one thing that you don’t give this game credit for, however, is that it was the beginning of the trends that are currently followed with every entry to date.
Ever since Cloud, most protagonists of the Final Fantasy series have been spiky-haired blonde guys (Squall obviously having been the exception to the rule). Sephiroth totally set the standard for being an androgynous badass. The focus on technology started here, and has only gotten progressively worse as the series continues to put out more numbered entries.
The only saving grace for Final Fantasy right now, I believe, is the online experiences that they offer. I personally believe that these entries should be stricken from the annals of numbered entries, but what are you going to do? While the androgyny thing is still there, the online entries provide you with everything that you could ever possibly love about the Final Fantasy series, save for any real cohesive story. Gameplay-wise, though? It’s all there.
Final Fantasy 7 has a special place in my heart as a wonderful game and one that really renewed my faith in RPG’s as a whole, but it also deserves its label as being the entry that ruined the series.
But then there’s Final Fantasy IX. Easily my favorite 3D-era entry, and largely because it returns to it’s ‘fantasy with technological elements’ roots. Plus, the story may have BECOME ‘Evil guy wants to end the world’, it certainly didn’t start that way.
I agree that the earlier FF games were more enjoyable than the latter. I also disliked the techy side of the games starting in FF7 instead of a fantasy based game. FF9 did return somewhat to those roots. FF10 is fairly fantasy-ish outside of the goofy blitzball and bit-too-modern airship (post-apocalypse fantasy).
I have found the whinny hero syndrome to be my biggest distraction from the latter FF games than any issue with flashy graphics. FF8 suffered greatly from it. FF10 I managed to love even though Tidus needed a good beating around his head. There has to be a better way of having internal conflict of a character without having a whinny character. Adding voices rather than just subtitles has made it even more of a factor. Just imagine how much we’d hate Squall if we had to hear his whines instead of just reading them.
Basically, to improve FF we need more fantasy and less whinny characters.
I don’t know that the “end of the world” problem bothers me. We dealt with the same thing in FF4 & FF6. From a certain perspective things are always the end of the world. Think on most sci-fi shows, fantasy book series, etc; the majority of them seem to fall into the same thing.
On a side note, I found your blog from a slashdot signature file a month or two back and have enjoyed reading your stuff. I look forward to more good articles in the future.