Final Fantasy?

[Xeven the God]

I just have three questions:

1)What makes Final Fantasy so great?
2)Why has the series run so long?

and

3)Why the hell are none of the games connected to each other in any way except for the title?

If you could answer these in a short essay type post that would be great.

 

[DinoDoc]

4) Why is the series called Final Fantasy when it is never Final?

 

[SuperR]

I think there are several factors when we ask ourselves why there are so much fans of this series (including me, heehee). One has to consider the fact that Squaresoft made these games for the Japanese audience. However, when translated into english, a huge uproar among US fans began for these games especially after Final Fantasy 3 (6 in Japan) for the Super Nintendo Console. This put Squaresoft on the world map, and they had to pay a bit more attention to their world-wide audience now that they were producing for the playstationm beginning with Final Fantasy 7.

One of the main reasons why the FF series are great RPGs is because they have good storylines. They got out of that wacky "the princess has been kidnapped, go rescue her!" plot that was getting a bit overused in Zelda, Dragon Warrior, etc. and instead brought new concepts such as multiple character partys, huge variety of equipment, character classes (black or white mage, warrior, thief, ninja, caller, etc.) or as in Final Fantasy 6 a complete custom-based style that allowed us players to create our own strengths and weaknesses for each characters with espers.

Another factor that is underrated but I think that is very important is the music. I know it's only VG music, but it is simply awesome and keeps the player in the story. The number of great themes composed in this game can also explain the longevity of the series since it has only upgraded in soundquality, and the number of great themes did not decrease either.
About point three I must make a remark: there is also two music themes that make an appearance in each final fantasies, which are the prologue and the prelude. Aside from that though, there is not much connection between the final fantasies except that the party you control has to overcome a fierce battle at the end with a guy who wants to control/destroy the world, and you are always aided by a guy named Cid.

There are alot of people who think that Final Fantasy series are the "peak" in RPG gaming, although there are numbers of good games out there that are less commercialized. From #1 to #10, they all have/had appealing graphics, incredible storylines (except the first ones....... corny!), breath-taking music, and the challenges imposed by the game were not too hard but not too easy, although there always have been sidequests which required great amount of time to level up and such. This aspect pleased every type of audience, from the rookie ones who were interested by the storyline, and the "hard-core" players which made competitions of determining who would get to 9999 Health Power with every character...

That was my 2 cents canadian on this...

 

[Greadius]

Final Fantasy 7 bored the snot out of me. The dialogue was far too long and too frequent. Not that I'm opposed to a good, complex plot, but when I sat down to play a game I didn't want to have to read 5 pages at every turn.

FF2 & 3 were kept me playing for hours. Especially FF2; I really enjoyed that storyline. It was simple in its concepts but grand in its berth, and I love all the twists and turns it took, even if the ending was kind of corny.

 

[DaEezT]

Simple: There are no real RPGs for consoles so everyone takes what they can get and thats mostly Square and Final Fantasy....

 

[Grey Fox]

I love the FF series, but to tell the truth it's no REAL RPG.

You are not Role-Plaiyng (Role-Playing Game) a single time in the game.

 

[damunzy]

Originally posted by Grey Fox
I love the FF series, but to tell the truth it's no REAL RPG.
You are not Role-Plaiyng (Role-Playing Game) a single time in the game.

It is all in how you play the game. Some people can really get into the games and will be playing a role. I have felt that way with some CRPGs (Computer or Console RPG) but I would have to agree that I haven't with most. I have even found myself roleplaying with strategy games, so basically it comes down to how you play the game. The good thing about CRPGs is that you don't have to worry about the calculations of to hit and damage like you do in paper and pencil D&D games so in a way it is superior (although you cannot get the human reaction in a CRPG, unless it is online but then it still isn't the same).

So in closing, CRPGs can be roleplaying but it is deffinately not a roleplaying that involves interaction on the same level with other humans as paper and pencil RPGs.

 

[Grey Fox]

I mean that FF is not a CRPG its more like an Adventure game...

Fallout is a Comp. Role Playing Game or CRPG

 

[damunzy]

I disagreee with that also. Zelda is an adventure with RPG aspects while FF is a straight RPG (I don't remember very many parts of FF where you had to jump over stuff with your characters like in zelda, or remember having to manuever my characters around so their swords would hit the enemy).

 

[Grey Fox]

Well I think that it's a RPG too actually, but if you think real hard it's not actually a REAL RPG.

Have you ever played Fallout? I haven't really, but I know how it's played. And that's closer to a real RPG.

RPG's isn't only Level:ing, and getting better by experience points.

RPG's is about playing a role, and FF gives no space to do that. You cannot become "Evil" in FF if you want to. You can that in Fallout.

My freind told me about a quest he had. He was going to kill a Mafia leader or something like that in the Fallout world. BUt he did it in a very special way. He GAVE his gun to the Mafia boss' child, and then the Child went inside and shot his father by mistake. He also have killed almost every child he has met in the world to become more evil.

These things you cannot do in FF, it's to linear. Your not Role-Playing the character, your following it, and does the characters actions.

About what type of game it is, sure I call it an RPG, because of the Leveling and such. (Everyone calles that type of game RPG).
But it's really an Adventure game with a Strategic touch. Yea you don't jump over stuff like in Zelda, but is that what you think reflects an Adventure Game?

FF is a type of Adventure game with Turn-based Battles.

 

[Sixchan]

4) Why is the series called Final Fantasy when it is never Final?

Its time for:

Sixchan's Video Gaming History Lesson!

Long, long ago, in a company far far away, (not really) there was a problem. Square were going out of business. Their final game, intended for them to go out with a bang, was a fantasy RPG. As it was the final game, they called it "Final Fantasy". The game did not sell brilliantly, but it was enough to keep square alive, for now. The then made another RPG that had a similar game style, and called it (betcha can't guess): Final Fantasy II. this sold much better, and Square (who later became Squaresoft) have been on a roll with their popular Final Fantasy series ever since.

 

[Grey Fox]

That's not totally correct Sixchan, The true story is that the Final Fantasy producer Hironobu Sakaguchi, was going to quit making video games, and he wanted his last game to be his best game yet. And he had always loved sagas and tales, so he decided to make a game like Dragon Quest (Or what it was/is called...), and implement a great story. But the game became a hit so his boss asked him to stay and make a Sequel. And he is still making these games over 10 years later!

A fun thing is when putting together the crew for the game, he actually didn't like the Main artists drawings the first time he saw them, but he saw some other drawings he had done without knowing the artist and said: "The Artist that did this is the artist we want!" (Or something like that).

An Nubeo Uematso, then musician behind all the FF-music, hadn't done any classical music before the games. He usually did rock/pop music...

 

[Sixchan]

I'm pretty sure my going-out-of-business story is right.

Taken from Gamespot's history of Final Fantasy Article:

Sometime in 1987, a small Japanese publishing company named Square Co. LTD. was in desperate need of a hit. Until this point, Square had mostly published smaller games for the Famicom Disk system. The titles sold respectably, but the modest installed base of Famicom Disk systems made blockbuster status an elusive goal. Hironobu Sakaguchi had an idea: why not create a game similar to competitor Enix's Dragon Quest? The console RPG was a big hit with gamers, and Sakaguchi thought that Square could significantly improve upon the basic formula. Thus work began on a massive one-megabit cartridge role-playing game that would attempt to revolutionize the genre. All of Square's resources, dreams, and hopes were placed on this single game. If it failed, Square would be no more. The project, as Square's final gasp, was given the name "Final Fantasy."

 

[Grey Fox]

Maybe so, but can't both stories be true?

 

[Sixchan]

I suppose they could. I've heard a few different stories about how it got it's name, but this seemed more plausable to me than the others.

 

[Grey Fox]

Well both our storie tells us that it was Hironobu Sakaguchi's Final Fantasy right?

 

[Sixchan]

But your's suggests it was called Final Fantasy because it was the developer's last game rather than Spuare's last game.

 

[Grey Fox]

If you write a book or a movie, it's not the publisher who names it. It's you right? Ok, it's different with games, but not much.

 

[Whuts a bahamut]

why tha hell do you guys care whether FF or zelda isn't an RPG.
The game was meant for playing , not to describe every little aspect about it. The only people who know whether its an RPG or not is Squaresoft, the people who made it, whether they wanted it to be an RPG or not.

With that sayd i'm gonna work on my site. LOL

 

[ApocalypseKurtz]

Originally posted by Whuts a bahamut
why tha hell do you guys care whether FF or zelda isn't an RPG.
The game was meant for playing , not to describe every little aspect about it. The only people who know whether its an RPG or not is Squaresoft, the people who made it, whether they wanted it to be an RPG or not.

With that sayd i'm gonna work on my site. LOL

Pearls of wisdom