Final Fantasy Series Overview Part 2

When we ended our previous entry in the Final Fantasy series part VI waved goodbye to the 16-bit era with the most spectacular presentation to date one that was partly due to the first ever change in directors. Many of the same crew from part VI would redouble their efforts to make the series better than ever on a new generation of consoles without the involvement of Nintendo. From here one out the franchise grows in all manner of different directions and unique concepts. Perhaps that's why so many still hold to their feverish devotion to VI as it was the last traditional title before newfound success launched the JRPG genre into the spotlight forever changing the gaming landscape with one massive game.

Final Fantasy VII (1997) Dir. Yoshinori Kitase

Whereas the past few installments tended to focus on expanding either storytelling or gameplay VII took the riskier route of II, only this time it actually worked. The new materia system was unlike anything the series had done before, allowing for all manner of methods to customize character abilities via interconnected equipment slots. Presentation reached a whole new level with 3-D characters roaming per-rendered backgrounds along with the most gorgeous cut-scenes available at the time. Even the story and setting took the sci-fi leanings of the previous game and went full-on with technology and magic co-existing. The story of a mentally-ill soldier battling alongside the rejects of an unjust society to save the world from an egomaniacal science experiment was a massive influence over a generation of gamers.

Many aspects of the game can seem quaint compared to what we have now but it still holds up very well save for blemishes like a sloppy translation. One aspect that stood out to me as I experience more of the series was how easy this one was overall. An occasional boss might offer some trouble but it was fairly breezy adventure which likely helped more people experience the full adventure. VII marked the beginning of a long line of more cinematic gaming. It isn’t the absolute best in the franchise, not anymore at least, but it’s up there in terms of quality and a historic title in its own right.

So successful was this game that it encouraged Sony to bring more Sqaure titles stateside like the amazing Final Fantasy Tactics and Einhander which then lead to Sqaure teaming with Electronic Arts and unleashing their growing catalog of awesome titles on eager newly converted RPG nuts. Years later this cast and world would be revisited by a bevy of spin-offs which may or not get wrapped into the remake in some form (I'm only a few hours in). Let’s take a look at those spin-offs before returning to the psx era.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005) Dir. Tetsuya Nomura

By the time Advent Children arrived audiences had already witnessed both a direct sequel to one of these games, and a film based on the series but now we’d get both at once. I should note there's both an original and expanded cut (the complete version) with the latter being more readily available, and a better experience. When it originally released I wasn’t sure what was coming my way, especially since spoilers were mercifully less common at the time. Color me surprised when the end-product turned out to be one of the craziest action flicks ever put on screen.

The story is set a few years after the game when a contamination within the lifestream has created a virus known as geostigma. Dealing with this illness is the primary concern of our heroes though leading man Cloud still hasn’t gained full emotional stability after the events of the game. Throw in a trio of new villains with more than a passing resemblance to Cloud’s advisory and shit’s about to get wild. I know there’s a portion of the fandom that hates this movie but I found it finalized the emotional arcs from the game, mainly the relationship between Cloud and Tifa, quite nicely. Beyond that the influence this has had on the presentation can be seen today with Remake which takes a similar style to battle and character interactions. Should you dive down the rabbit hole of VII content don't even think of skipping this film.

Last Order: Final Fantasy VII (2005) Dir. Morio Asaka

There isn’t much to be said about Last Order as it is primarily an anime retelling of the Nibelheim flashback from the game. A decent watch, and worth noting for contortionists, but nothing essential.

Dirge of Cerberus: Final fantasy VII (2006) Dir. Takayoshi Nakazato

Essentially the black sheep of the compilation, Dirge of Cerberus was a victim of timing, expectation, and the companies general inexperience with action titles. The game wasn’t making any attempt to be like the fast and complex character action games like Devil May Cry, and it arrived mere months before Gears of War completely changed the fundamentals of shooters. What we have is a slower paced shooter that can still provide lots of entertainment if you’re willing to slow down and play the way it wants.

As for what is here the biggest perk of all is finally getting some real meaty development from what amounted in the original game as the b squad. Characters like Vincent, Yuffie, or Reeve didn’t receive a lot of story focus in the original game due to some of them being optional or others being purposefully kept in the shadows. Players primarily control Vincent as he faces off with a group called Deepground which is headed by fellow victims of Professor Hojo’s experiments. Despite some sleepy voice-acting and pacing issues the story has a lot of cool moments and introduces new characters while exposing additional depth to the vague points of the original adventure. Unfortunately there was some unfinished plot-points and a lingering threat that has yet to be dealt with, leaving that urge for one more outing with this crew.

Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII (2007) Dir. Hajime Tabata

Sadly this prequel was exclusive to Japanese cellphones and never saw a proper release or alternate version in the west. Story details can be found on Wikis and I believe there are retooled emulated versions out there. Personally I’ve held out hope to see this content remade or integrated into a different project.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (2007) Dir. Hajime Tabata

The better known of the two prequels, Crisis Core give players the opportunity to discover the full bredth of Zack’s contributions to the greater mythology. That on its own would likely have made for an interesting game yet there was a whole slew of new information and characters like Angeal and Genesis, who’d previously been a mystery, to sort through.

The game took an action RPG approach to combat and exploration resulting in a much faster, and fairly easy game to breeze through. The most controversial aspect of gameplay was a constantly running slot game that essentially acted as a visible version of the randomizes common to all RPGs. Having had only one brisk playthrough via a friends borrowed PSP I recall it being a great deal of fun and how it accomplished that perfect prequel requirement of making me want to jump right back into the original game. It’s sad that the title has remained isolated to the PSP for all these years as it was a great deal of fun and, much like Advent Children, influenced the battle system to come in Remake.

Final Fantasy VIII (1999) Die. Yoshinor Kitase

Moving on from the massive amount of content baring the number VII we return to the psx for an entry that is an absolute favorite for some and a bit of a head-scratcher for others. That confusion largely stems from the development team once again pushing new concepts on both the storytelling and gameplay fronts though not to the same level of overall success.

Beginning with the good stuff, the presentation is still unbelievable for this console with crazy graphics and one of the absolute best soundtracks in the series long history. Character models were bigger and more expressive with their body language. A better translation meant the emotional overtones of the story flowed more naturally even when the story itself neglected a few characters or threw in a few sloppy plot twists. At the time of release it helped to sooth the nerves of playstation owners who lacked the funds to pick up one of those spankin' new Dreamcast consoles.

Gameplay sadly wasn’t quite as good with the total removal of traditional MP, turning spells into collected material your drew from enemies or certain points on the map. These spells where then junctioned via a being like Ifrit or Sheva to you states and abilities depending on which functions you’d unlocked up to that point. After the smooth functionality of the materia system the whole junction thing was a bit baffling. Once you figure it out and get over the urge to horde magic the experience becomes much more fun. I can see why a subset of fans hold this one so close, it's still unique decades after release and contains a memorable adventure. In essence VIII is still an outstanding game, just one that for many of us wasn’t quite up to snuff with the previous title and took a lot of risks that didn’t all pay off.

Final Fantasy XI (2000) Dir. Hiroyuki Ito

Much like our last article I’m gonna have to make an unpopular claim. While I can’t deny this is still a good game I kinda hate Final Fantasy IX just a little. Like VI before it, IX has a wide span of folks eager to push it as the best in the franchise despite all evidence to the contrary. Where VIII swung wildly to expand the series IX settled back in with old fantasy tropes and simplified gameplay with a couple of poor choices thrown in.

The presentation was still largely outstanding but came with a few setbacks. The return of four-person parties meant in-battle graphics had to be trimmed down from what they were In part VIII. Likewise music was still really good but the old fashioned fantasy setting offered a more predictable and corny soundtrack. The new gameplay system based on learning abilities from equipment lacked the fun customization of the previous two games and encouraged messy item hoarding alongside forcing the player to use equipment they didn’t want to bother with. Refinements to this system have come about in later entries to make it feel like less of a chore and more of an opportunity for customization.

With each of these games the story can only be so good as the cast of characters within it, and that is both the biggest strength and weakness of IX. On one hand there are incredible characters like Steiner and Vivi who are all time greats. That being said, Vivi suffers from a horrible writing choice in the end when two massive events regarding his fate happen totally off-screen, without explanation, and with seemingly none of his friends giving much of a shit. And then there’s Zidane, ohh how I loath him. It’d one thing to be an uncomplaining hero, that's bad enough, but its his role in battle that sinks everything. Each party member has their own specialty, and damn near everyone is useful in every situation except Zidane. His special attacks are often lame and his thieving abilities can't hold a candle to what everyone else is capable of. Then there’s Quina, a profoundly pointless individual who, depending on the work you put into them, is either dead weight or game-breakingly powerful yet still contributes nothing of value to the story.

I know this all sounds like a lot of vitriol but the fact remains that even a weak Final Fantasy is still a damn good game. As someone who loves this franchise so much I can’t help but call out this last psx outing as a lesser entry. Even with their flaws both VII and VIII were bold titles. That same creative energy is sadly missing here.

That's where we're going to leave it for tonight. Don't worry if you're not keeping a mental tally of my overall quality assessment as I might brave the tough task of a series ranking when all is said and done. Now I need to get back to the daily lockdown grind of schoolwork and housework broken up by the comforting joys of the VII Remake. Rest assured I'll be covering that one in due time as well. On the blog front I have conquered another college course meaning I might finally catch up on some of the posts I've been meaning to get out to you all. We've got snacks, sentai, and some seriously weird VHS tapes to gab about. Just hold in there and I'll see about lifting your 2020 spirits.