Musings on Final Fantasy.
I was am listening to Final Fantasy music, and these thoughts struck me. So I put 'em on my twitter, but I started getting long-winded, so. Here:
I want to know how on earth Square managed to make one awesome Final Fantasy, let alone eleven - no, twelve now, more awesome games.
I mean. They could have gone up to make Final Fantasy VI and decided to quit and they would have made video game history.
And then they went on to make VII and IX and X and XII - I dislike VIII, but it has some standout moments. It's just. How on earth.
It's...hm. Like Da Vinci drawing Mona Lisa, deciding that that's good, and then drawing at least five more, each one better than the last.
Better in different ways, I might add. FFX has its merits, but FFVI has its merits, so there's no greatest - they're all great. There's a reason the Final Fantasy series defines the japanese rpg - so many standard conventions came out of those games, and yet it keeps managing to break the mold in some way with each new game.
Each and every new Final Fantasy game has a LOT to live up to, and yet even with the standards that each game is held up to, they all manage to be great fun to play and best sellers - if an unknown company made FFX on its own and sold it, it would still be rated highly by reviewers and players - I'd argue that it would be called that small company's magnum opus, and even better games would be expected from them.
But from Squaresoft / SquareEnix? It's just another great game from the line. It's one of thirteen.
So answer me this: how have they not lost the magic? Sure, they've changed elements and alienated some fans to changes (FFVI fans VS FFVII fans = FIGHT) (FFX-2 would have been a good game, if it weren't expected to be a FF game.) but overall each game is worth trying even once, simply to see what they did new this time.
I want to play Final Fantasy XIII, but I haven't gotten my hands on a PS3, but I expect that it's already a game worthy of its namesake, judging from the reviews.
And still Square doesn't seem like it'll slow down any time soon - there's no end in sight for the Final Fantasy series, and somehow? That seems right. Final Fantasy, the original game, was meant to be the last game Squaresoft ever put out before going bankrupt, and now it's the originator of a series that has conquered the jrpg market - and a lot of the video game market in general.
So. This went on far too long, but I've been playing and thinking about Final Fantasy for a long time. I'll finish with some music to see this post off, though.
The Chocobo theme, by the way, is a theme I avoid when playing the games, as I have the bad habit of getting on a Chocobo and never ever getting off due to listening to the music. If FFXII didn't have a time limit on its Chocobo rides, I'd never stop riding the birds everywhere. ^^;;
I want to know how on earth Square managed to make one awesome Final Fantasy, let alone eleven - no, twelve now, more awesome games.
I mean. They could have gone up to make Final Fantasy VI and decided to quit and they would have made video game history.
And then they went on to make VII and IX and X and XII - I dislike VIII, but it has some standout moments. It's just. How on earth.
It's...hm. Like Da Vinci drawing Mona Lisa, deciding that that's good, and then drawing at least five more, each one better than the last.
Better in different ways, I might add. FFX has its merits, but FFVI has its merits, so there's no greatest - they're all great. There's a reason the Final Fantasy series defines the japanese rpg - so many standard conventions came out of those games, and yet it keeps managing to break the mold in some way with each new game.
Each and every new Final Fantasy game has a LOT to live up to, and yet even with the standards that each game is held up to, they all manage to be great fun to play and best sellers - if an unknown company made FFX on its own and sold it, it would still be rated highly by reviewers and players - I'd argue that it would be called that small company's magnum opus, and even better games would be expected from them.
But from Squaresoft / SquareEnix? It's just another great game from the line. It's one of thirteen.
So answer me this: how have they not lost the magic? Sure, they've changed elements and alienated some fans to changes (FFVI fans VS FFVII fans = FIGHT) (FFX-2 would have been a good game, if it weren't expected to be a FF game.) but overall each game is worth trying even once, simply to see what they did new this time.
I want to play Final Fantasy XIII, but I haven't gotten my hands on a PS3, but I expect that it's already a game worthy of its namesake, judging from the reviews.
And still Square doesn't seem like it'll slow down any time soon - there's no end in sight for the Final Fantasy series, and somehow? That seems right. Final Fantasy, the original game, was meant to be the last game Squaresoft ever put out before going bankrupt, and now it's the originator of a series that has conquered the jrpg market - and a lot of the video game market in general.
So. This went on far too long, but I've been playing and thinking about Final Fantasy for a long time. I'll finish with some music to see this post off, though.
Click to viewThe Chocobo theme, by the way, is a theme I avoid when playing the games, as I have the bad habit of getting on a Chocobo and never ever getting off due to listening to the music. If FFXII didn't have a time limit on its Chocobo rides, I'd never stop riding the birds everywhere. ^^;;