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I was introduced to the wonderful world of gaming through the power of the original PlayStation: a console that defied expectations. Thinking back on it now, it was a rather strange-looking grey box, wasn't it? Not necessarily appealing in terms of immediate aesthetic design beyond its asymmetric buttons and large disc cover (that opened up with a satisfying click). It had a certain charm though, nonetheless. Fortunately, the console wasn't defined by its sense of style — its games solidified Sony's place in the industry.
The PS1's library was (and still is) jaw-droppingly vast. When I got my own as a Christmas present, several years after its initial launch, there was simply no going back. Gaming captured my imagination unlike anything else, but my engagement developed gradually.
For years, I'd just keep myself entertained with the likes of Tekken and Crash Bandicoot — relatively straightforward games that were a fun distraction for 15 to 30 minutes, maybe an hour if I was really in the zone
For years, I'd just keep myself entertained with the likes of Tekken and Crash Bandicoot — relatively straightforward games that were a fun distraction for 15 to 30 minutes, maybe an hour if I was really in the zone. Initially, sitting down in front of my PlayStation wasn't much different from grabbing my action figures. But as I got a bit older and started reading the Official UK PlayStation Magazine on a monthly basis, something changed.
There was a distinct desire to go deeper; I would gawk at gory screenshots of Resident Evil 2 and be left utterly mesmerised by Metal Gear Solid — a game I watched my friend play through from start to finish after school. I didn't really understand any of it, but there was a robot ninja, and Psycho Mantis knew what was on my memory card. That was more than enough to push me into broadening my horizons.
The release of the PS2 in 2000 completely passed me by, as I was still knee-deep in exploring the many PS1 games that my then-adolescent brain could comprehend. But there was one specific series that struck a chord like no other. A potent combination of teenage angst and the stark realisation that (gasp) video games could tell emotionally engaging stories, Final Fantasy altered my perspective forever.
The covers of Final Fantasy titles always intrigued me: just fancy black text on a white background. There was a pretentiousness to it — what does Final Fantasy think it is, not even slapping a character on the front of the box? And it uses Roman numerals instead of numbers? I used to look at these covers in my local games shop and dismiss them almost immediately, but once again, the Official PlayStation Magazine was responsible for opening my eyes.
Reading those old mags, you couldn't help but notice that the top 100 PlayStation games list — a consistent feature found near the back of each issue — was flush with Final Fantasy. They had to be doing something right, I thought. One day, having saved up my pocket money, I took the plunge and plucked Final Fantasy VIII from the shop shelf. I'm not exactly sure why I was drawn to VIII, but I do remember being fascinated by the fact that its cover (previously deemed pretentious) featured a man and woman sharing a loving embrace. A rarity, I suppose, when it comes to box art. In hindsight, I couldn't have chosen a more angst-ridden starting point, but the story of Squall and his stunted emotions really hit home.
Needless to say, I became enraptured by Final Fantasy VIII, and because of that, my perspective on gaming as a whole was elevated to entirely new heights
It felt like Final Fantasy VIII had everything: a near-incomprehensible plot (which, to my young teenage mind, meant that it must be cool and mature), endearing characters, and an initial school-like setting — how relatable! And perhaps most importantly, there was romance. At this point, actual love stories were alien to me, but the advent of puberty had, of course, forced an underlying interest. Needless to say, I became enraptured by Final Fantasy VIII, and because of that, my perspective on gaming as a whole was elevated to entirely new heights.
I was desperate to relive the emotional investment and thrill of Final Fantasy VIII. So naturally, my next port of call was Final Fantasy VII. This was the game that everyone gushed over, the one perched right on the peak of that all-important top 100 games list. Fortunately, I stumbled across the classic going cheap in my soon-to-be shuttered local shop (at the mercy of the impending, extremely corporate GAME), and I picked it up without a second thought.
Admittedly, it took a couple of weeks for me to come around to Final Fantasy VII. Its blocky character models looked so primitive after spending goodness knows how many hours with Final Fantasy VIII's correctly-proportioned cast, but as is often the case with a quality RPG, it was the storytelling that won me over. Another brooding protagonist with a cool sword? Check. Another whimsical love interest? Check. Another engrossing fantasy world filled to the brim with adventure? The biggest check imaginable.
I adored Final Fantasy VII. At this point, I had played through a number of RPGs and the genre was fast becoming my favourite of the bunch — but Cloud Strife and the gang went above and beyond expectations. It marked the first time that I truly came to appreciate what we now broadly refer to as gameplay. The entire experience is layered with systems and mechanics that align in harmony, from unleashing limit breaks in battle to unlocking impressive mini-games that add to the texture of the overall adventure.
The thing is, I had purposefully missed out on a lot of what its successor, Final Fantasy VIII, had to offer. I dabbled in Triple Triad — the title's collectable card game — but never felt the urge to try and master it. Likewise, I struggled to fully comprehend the highly customisable but undeniably tedious draw system, which sees you 'draw' magic from enemies in order to bolster your party's stats.
Final Fantasy VII triggered something in my brain which has been active ever since. To this day, I still see it as a benchmark for what an RPG can offer in terms of design, structure, and, indeed, storytelling
However, with Final Fantasy VII, I felt compelled to see everything, and that's almost certainly a result of its immaculate design. But in an era where the internet wasn't readily accessible to me (the horror), this thirst for in-game knowledge meant that I'd have to track down physical guides and comb the 'cheat' sections of unofficial magazines. I must have spent weeks, potentially months, putting together what was essentially an archive of Final Fantasy VII information — complete with classic GameFAQs guides — which were printed out using ink bought specifically for homework purposes.
Final Fantasy VII triggered something in my brain which has been active ever since. To this day, I still see it as a benchmark for what an RPG can offer in terms of design, structure, and, indeed, storytelling. It's no exaggeration to say that it helped shape my view of what makes a game good. And with that conclusion, I very slowly (but very surely) began to realise that I was a massive weeb.
I had watched my fair share of the Pokémon anime as a kid like everyone did, and I had gone through a serious Digimon phase back in primary school. But it wasn't until I got deeply immersed in games like Final Fantasy VII that I thought to myself, "you know, Japan might be on to something." It wasn't long before I was streaming episodes of Naruto via a dreadful dialup internet connection (the bitrate must have been unfathomable) and buying up Dragon Ball manga volumes in order to kickstart a collection that continues to this day.
I would rent Neon Genesis Evangelion DVDs from the local library's shockingly robust (and weirdly adult) Japanese animation section and purchase old Gundam Wing VHS tapes for pennies. I fully embraced all of the teen-targeted Japanese entertainment that I could get my hands on, and this newfound fascination could be traced straight back to Final Fantasy, and, by extension, PlayStation. Here we are two decades later, and all of these interests have stuck with me.
My foray into Final Fantasy wasn't just a gateway into broader Japanese entertainment; it pushed me into trying my luck with other Japanese games, RPGs especially. We're talking about niche releases here, and across the PS2 and Nintendo GameCube, I bought so many duds. Almost immediately, deep-dive research on potential purchases became a necessity. Part of the problem was that I was still using those formative Final Fantasy games as my main point of reference. I was expecting these obscure Japanese titles to stand alongside true classics. I must have been mad.
I was expecting these obscure Japanese titles to stand alongside true classics. I must have been mad
However, every now and then, I'd just stumble upon an absolute gem. By sheer chance, I was out shopping for a game on the day that Dragon Quest made its grand debut in Europe with its eighth instalment, subtitled Journey of the Cursed King. How could I resist that incredible box art (penned by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, no less) despite knowing next to nothing about the franchise? I snapped it up on the spot, and it remains one of my all-time favourites.
It was a similar story with Persona 3, although I'd been keeping tabs on that one through the magic of the internet. I have a crystal clear memory of sheepishly entering the aforementioned GAME (traitor!), walking up to the counter, and asking if they had Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 in stock on launch day — except I was so embarrassed at the prospect of speaking Japanese words that I pretended not to know the full name.
"Do you have Shin... Shin Mega... something? I think it's out today."
"Oh, Persona 3?" replied the guy behind the counter, with zero hesitation.
He revealed that they'd only been sent five copies: three of them were pre-orders and one had been sold earlier. I'm pretty sure I paid a sickening amount of money to snag that last copy (at least, by my cheapskate student standards), but Persona 3 was worth the sacrifice. It was a title that melded an effortless anime art style with tightly designed RPG gameplay. And that jazz-inspired soundtrack! I'd never heard anything like it in a video game. For a long time, I thought Persona 3 was the coolest thing on the planet.
We live in an age where a single Google search will tell you absolutely everything that you need to know about an album, book, movie, show, or game
On that note, part of me misses the days of rolling the dice on a genuinely unknown Japanese entity. We live in an age where a single Google search will tell you absolutely everything that you need to know about an album, book, movie, show, or game. It's been literal decades since I strolled into a physical shop and trawled the stands for something I haven't already heard of. In some ways, that's a positive — I don't want to think about how much money I must have wasted as a youth — but it does feel like that sense of discovery has been lost to time. Or maybe that's just the nostalgia talking.
Speaking of which, nostalgia is an incredibly powerful tool. I've probably played through the opening two hours of Final Fantasy VII about 1,000 times, and it's not just the perfect plot pacing or Midgar's iconic atmosphere that calls me back. It's that desire to feel what I felt all those years ago, even just for a moment. I don't necessarily think that's unhealthy or weird, for lack of a better word. Everyone has something they'd like to experience again for the first time.
I see the original PlayStation as much more than just a console and a means of casual entertainment. When I picked up a PS1 controller for the first time to play Tekken 2 with my older cousins, I couldn't have possibly imagined how that strange-looking grey box would impact my life. Here I am, roughly four console generations later, making a living by writing about video games. Specifically, PlayStation video games. Incredible.
Comments 43
Man, this really mirrors a lot of my experience, though I played FF7 on PC. But I’ll always remember that experience of playing through it that first time and how it felt like it opened a doorway in my mind to what my taste was. Fortunately too it coincided with anime finally coming Stateside in the biggest way it had, following the success of Pokemon. While I didn’t stream Naruto so much, I did totally stream Dragon Ball… and a lot of it was in Japanese and I couldn’t understand a word of it. I’d wait a couple hours for an episode to download and just watch for the spectacle of it. I remember seeing arcs of the story that you couldn’t see in a legal capacity and it just felt so cool to do back then. Ah, youth! What a magical time. Great article, my friend.
I love it. What an enjoyable trip down memory lane, Robert.
Nice write up Rob. Reminded me of a few of my own memories like accidentally purchasing slightly pervy anime VHS's because anime in general was so uncommon.
50 quid for a book? Sorry, I genuinely do not wish to be antagonistic, but do you honestly think that is a reasonable price?
Final fantasy 8 was on another level 😎
@LifeGirl It looks like a lovingly crafted book, and £50 I would say is reasonable for a nice edition which you can display on your bookcase or coffee table.
I still remember the first time I played FF7 and FF8, I remember being in total shock after the intro video of 8. My very first RPG which blew my mind with the fact you could just walk around a town and talk to villagers, something I’d never done in a game up until that point, was Sword of Vermillion. A great little underrated (imo) RPG for the Mega Drive and opened the door to the absolute magic and wonder of RPGs.
Wow, I directly relate with a good chunk of this, from devouring gaming magazines to Final Fantasy 8 (along with MGS and Silent Hill) being the game(s) to alter my perception of what games could really achieve. Looking back, PS1 truly did move the needle both personally and across the industry. Great read, thanks!
Absolutely phenomenal write-up Rob! I heavily relate to the idea of a single RPG being such a groundbreaking and important title in someone's life, though for me, rather than it being FF, it was another RPG series that you may or may not have heard of: Pokemon. More specifically? Pokemon Black.
It was the very first game I ever owned and opened my eyes to the wondrous worlds and surprises that games could offer and my child mind became hooked on the medium. Over 12 years, 3 separate console lifecycles and 4 generations of Pokemon later, Pokemon Black still remains as my favourite game of all time for not only being one of the best RPGs/games ever made (in my humble opinion) but for being my gateway into a world filled with creativity, excitement and wonder galore.
Man it seems I missed a lot of great Rpg's during the PS1 days, then again I was like 5/6 years old so I had zero interest at all. I didn't start getting jrpgs until I was 17/18 starting with Final Fantasy 13 on the PS3 and been hooked on them since.
I kinda wish instead of studio's remastering and remaking games from 1-2 gens ago, more of them would focus on games from PS1/PS2 days like Dark Cloud, Chrono Trigger, Grandia, Parasite Eve and Vagrant Story.
@Fizza Pokémon White was the Pokémon game that got me back into the series, I must of put a thousand hours into that game yet the newer games can't hold my attention for more than 50. Also it had my favourite line up of Pokémon with Chandelure, Vanilluxe, Victini, Haxorus, Gothitelle and Rehsiram.
Hopefully though Black and White are next in line for them to re visit since they have remade gens 1-4 so far.
Nice read! Even being a tad older than you, I can relate to that feeling of discovering an entire new world through JRPGs.
Playing the original Phantasy Star series as a child alongside my older sister compelled both of us to learn English (debatable) and later on Japanese and eventually become flight attendants to visit this land where all these games and stories were created.
And it all started with a Sega Master System cartridge we picked from the shelf on a whim because it had a girl brandishing a sword on the cover and what appeared to be a fighting cat.
So thank you, Sega, for changing our lives forever and taking us far away from our home, both figuratively and literally.
Beautiful article - go treat yourself to Jade Cocoon. Not the most in depth gameplay (except for monster merging which Pokémon has never even attempted), but the Ghibli aesthetic (legit designed by a Ghibli artist), soundtrack and story are just fabulous. Fave game of all time.
Rant part 1:
Yes, the Final Fantasy franchise definitely altered me as a person.
Especially Final Fantasy VI-X. The magic is just not there anymore.
The stories back then had a lot of heart, something that I feel is missing from the last games (Including Final Fantasy XVI)
Back then you could say that this FEELS like a Final Fantasy game. Not because it was turn based, not because it had great graphics and not because there was moogles and chocobos.
There was probably a combination of the art style, the Uematsu music and the world building as well as story telling.
The world building was way more varied and did not hold your hand as much as these days, there wasn't always a marker showing you where you are supposed to go and you where able to talk with all NPC's so a big part of the game was relying on you to explore and talk with NPC's who would give you bits of information about the world, or something random like what their favourite food is. That made the world feel more alive.
Sometimes you would talk with a random NPC and that would trigger some side quest, but there was no marker on the map showing you that this NPC will initiate a side quest.
You felt like you stumbled upon it or were rewarded for exploring.
And speaking about side quests they were way more varied and lengthy, usually there weren't as many, but the ones that were there was usually very time consuming but extremely rewarding in the end.
When it came to story telling I feel like the older games were more intimate and had heavier focus on the characters and their relationships.
Sure you could argue that Noctis or Clive also had relationships, but I feel like they didn't evolve much. I don't think there was any interesting development in the relationship with Clive and Jill or even Clive and his brother Joshua. Within the first hour of the game you could tell yes Jill and Clive are definitely in love and there's really no lead up to that.
While Final Fantasy VIII for example have the main character Squall gradually growing from being antisocial, selfish and rude into opening up more to people, becoming a leader and learning to love and need another person. And also his relationship with the other characters and their relationships with each other were evolving. And I really think that sort of focus on character relationships are sorely lacking in the later games.
Rant part 2:
Then the music, while there are som nice songs in all Final Fantasy games including the new games, they can't even begin to compete with Uematsu's music. I guess that's why Final Fantasy XVI opted to borrow a lot from Nobou Uematsu.
But even so it kind of fails, because it just doesn't have the magic. Many times during the game I got the Witcher 3 vibes from the soundtrack rather than Final Fantasy vibes.
It felt sort of generic.
The older games had incredibly strong themes that were very memorable and invoked unique feelings.
And that's really the keyword "unique".
Just take Aerith theme as an example, it's hard to put it into words but invokes a lot of bittersweet emotions while also feeling somewhat hopeful and pure.. all while being very memorable and simple sounding.
One of the best reoccurring themes in Final Fantasy XVI is the Rosaria theme, however to me it's kinda boring in comparison.
Now I am not saying that I hate Final Fantasy XVI, in fact I am half way through the Final Fantasy difficulty on new game+ and I do enjoy it quite a bit. But for completely other reasons than I enjoy most Final Fantasy games.
I do not play Final Fantasy XVI to quell my thirst for Final Fantasy because it's simply not that game, I play Final Fantasy XVI when I want to play a decent Final Fantasy themed action adventure game.
Because it feels like a different kind of game that tries too hard to convince me that it's a final fantasy game by throwing moogles, chocobos, crystals and other final fantasy related things at me without understanding how to recreate the magic.
I don't know maybe one they can figure it out.
And I truly believe that they are shooting themselves in the foot in the long run by trying to appeal to a mainstream western market. If they just had the courage to try and go all out in making a more traditional Final Fantasy that has a higher focus on character, unique story and less focus on being a western style action game then I think they could actually do something truly great. And while I would love to see a return to ATB systems I would be ok with action based combat if they can just do the rest right.
Congratulations if you read my entire rant, you deserve a gold star
Thanks so much for all the nice comments! It was great to write something so personal (especially when it's going to be put in a book).
@choreogeo I had Jade Cocoon on a demo disc when I was a kid — but this was before I got into Final Fantasy. Sadly, the game went over my head at the time, but I always wanted to go back to it in the years that followed. One day!
@Fizza Pokémon Black / White is a fantastic game. Love Black / White 2 as well. Not sure they're my personal favourite Pokemon games (it's probably Crystal, based purely on nostalgia) but they've got to be up near the top of being the best in the series.
@Nei I wouldn't mind reading an article about all of this!
I bought, read and cherished every copy of a magazine called Super Play - this really focussed on the SNES RPGs and gave insights into those that were not translated to English.
This article brings me back to the days of PS1 where I hunted down many of those referenced. Thanks!
I was just the right age for the content of the stories. The need to play JRPGs had laid dormant after the original FFVII.
Then, I played Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - GEDDIT!
@DaniPooo Apologies in advance for not being able to write an equally large reply, but I do agree with your general sentiment.
I still enjoy Final Fantasy. I think 16 is fantastic. But it's definitely not the same series it once was. Some sort of magic has been lost over the years, without question. You go back and play the opening of FF9 (quite possibly my favourite opening act to a game ever) and there's never been anything like it since.
There's almost certainly a nostalgic influence there, but I totally get where you're coming from.
@ShogunRok Haha, amazing - that's where I first played it too! When I first played the demo I thought it was nothing but the most awkward blatant rip off of Pokemon ever, remember only showing my friend the demo and playing it again so we could laugh at it. We then discovered the "merge" monster function... I bought the game the very next day.
It's not a perfect game at all, compared to a Final Fantasy it's laughably limited - but what it did do, especially compared to Pokemon (the game it's closest too) is astonishing. In '99 Jade Cocoon had full voice acting. In '99, Jade Cocoon had no random battles, all monsters were physically in the world and had different temprements and behaviours. In '99, Jade Coccon would allow two players to fight the monsters they'd trained in a 2p battle arena. Most of all though, Jade Cocoon let you take any two monsters you caught and merge them together... got one dragon monster and one ogre monster? Merge them together and get a horned winged ogre! Got a mushroom monster and and armored unicorn dog? Smash them together and see what you get! Better yet, then take those two weird creations and smash THEM together! You can look back now and see this feature was not quite as advanced as it seemed at the time, (generally, monster a model would adapt to the skin and some features of model b), but the fact i've never seen this ever attempted again in any monster catching game, astonishes me! It gave a game that didn't have the extensive explorable maps of a FF it's own depth. I'm praying they bring it to PS+, but it's actually a perfect game to play on a iOS or Android emulator. I'll stop ranting now, but man - that game is always magic to me.
Also it def had some crazy dice roll, probability, chance based RPG beauty baked into it too - I've played that game through SO many times , and there's still a Crit chance one hit. to 1hp giant axe that I've only ever seen once and to this day have NO idea how I got it. Man... I'm done now, but boy do I love that game.
i rarely read long articles like these, but man that took me back. What a good read !
i never realized that RPGs have been the trigger that made me discover japan, animes & mangas.
Also discovered that the Godzilla beast that fascinated me at very young age was Japanese and i came back at it around the ps1 era.
I remember getting my ps2 back when final fantasy x came out in the states I was almost 6 at the time my sister who was on social security or government assistance spent her whole check on me at the time getting the system and the game my God it was amazing I had so much fun playing that game and the box art was super lovely and loving the final fantasy series with x led to getting the ps1 games and playing those on my ps2 and I've been a fan of jrpg's since
What A Bunch of Nerds......
See, I watched a friend play several FF's for dozens of hours on Nintendo and Final Fantasy VII on PS1 was a natural step for me so u could keep up worth the story and so was VIII and 10 and 11, quite possibly 12 as well.
I only faked sick days from school so I could play 7 hours straight so as not to forget the plot
So you see, I'm not a Nerd
@UltimateOtaku91 I could go for a parasite Eve 2 remake like resident evil with magic🤣
Love this! I'm probably a couple of years older going off the story but pretty much v similar story around the same time, except it was FF7. What shop did you get that from? Electronics Boutique jumped out at me goddammit GAME and all your aggressive business practices!
Thanks for the nostalgia had the Ps1 as a kid and would regularly buy the Opm magazine reading about games like Metal Gear Solid and then I picked up the magazine with the demo god that opening,luckily someone across the road from me had an older brother that could ‘chip’ them so I remember saving up to pay him to do it,I used to go to his house and he would regularly give me a list of new games he could get although this was the days of dial up and I’d have to ask him on Monday to have it by Friday haha,I remember getting many Japanese copies of games like Biohazard 3 and Brave Fencer Mushashinden I’d give anything to go back to those days haha that opening for FF8 was and is still amazing to this day and easily one of my favourite games of all time might have to pick that book up for a trip down memory lane
@Decimateh-xblz cracking game that and the first one,I had a US Copy that wouldn’t play in colour unless you had a scart cable 😄
@BraveFencer lmao I forgot about having the scart lead stuff back in day I don't miss that or having to find which channel it goes to on your TV 😭 I never played the 1st one but did love the 2nd. At least ya could understand it I remember playing a Godzilla game and it was all Japanese 🤣🤣😭
@Decimateh-xblz imo the first one was better,yeah the scart cable gave superior pic and audio IIRC the AV cable(red,white,yellow) was a bit funny,I’m tempted to buy and original PS1 and see if there’s a way to connect it to a 4k tv might even see if I can do some games as most of the stuff ones I had go for crazy prices in Cex
@BraveFencer IL have to give it a try if ever get chance then I loved 2nd. N ye old games are insane prices now😭 I'm on Xbox atm this gen so I don't know but isn't there a way to download it through PS4 or 5? Or with the subscription thing they do now with all the PS1 games? Was thinking about getting one to try do that and paly the ratchet and clanks🤣
@ShogunRok loved the article, and like others it mirrors my own journey just transposed a decade or so later.
Replace FF8 with Phantasy Star, Y’s & Shining Force etc as my first forays… though I didn’t know what genre they were. And replace Official PS Mag with SuperPlay. But it was still Square/Squaresoft as they were back then, and Final Fantasy 4, 5, 6, along with Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger that really cemented my love of JRPGs. They were often the best games in the world at the time. They ABSOLUTELY changed my outlook on life and had a huge influence both on me and the industry, Final Fantasy felt like the biggest gaming IP for a decade around FF7-10.
Sadly I don’t think JRPGs have advanced and evolved enough in the last 20+ years, and while I still enjoy them, I don’t think they are the best games in the world anymore. Far too much bad writing. Far too many cookie cutter characters, worlds, plots. Far too much repetitive gameplay, overly drawn out playtime and busywork - fine for a youth with all the time in the world, but often not acceptable for busy adults.
Despite all that, when one is good they are still great and take you places no other genre can.
EDIT: for shame, I didn’t even mention the music! Still the best and can evoke emotions with a couple of notes.
@DaniPooo I did read your whole rant(s), though I can’t comment on FFXVI specifically as I haven’t played it yet.
But this is exactly a part of the problem. We used to line up to play Final Fantasy in numbers, each launch felt like a meteoric event, but something has been lost, or I think more accurately, something hasn’t evolved to keep them on top.
While I can’t talk to FF16 specifically I don’t blame them for changing things up, as the series has been on a slow steady decline since the PS1… or perhaps depending on your personal taste either the PS2 or SNES, it just isn’t as relevant as it once was. Something NEEDED to change. They may have got it wrong, again I can’t comment, but I applaud them trying. Final Fantasy has been a shadow of what it once was.
I’m FOR SURE older than you are, as I can remember the day I opened my Super Nintendo on Christmas, but I can also FOR SURE remember the first time I played Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation. You mention nostalgia in this article. Simply reading this article has flooded my grey matter with so much nostalgia, that I couldn’t help but read it without a smile on my face living vicariously through your AND simultaneously through mine. Beautifully written.
PS1 & PS2 were epic machines. Some of the widest variety of games on any console. You could have liked nearly any genre as a gamer and the PS1 & PS2 had you covered. There’s a reason i think they are pound for pound both in the top 5 consoles ever made and the case could be made for top 3. As a HARDCORE Diablo fanatic i am still kicking myself to this day for not keeping my Diablo 1 disc on PS1. One of my worst trade in’s of all time.
@themightyant It's not that something needed to change.
They started messing with the formula that made Final Fantasy work with the release of Final Fantasy XII already. They been constantly changing Final Fantasy since FFXII.
And I do not just mean small changes in the growth system. (We always had those)
I am talking the complete experience, different directors and composers with each game and none of the seems to even try to recreate the Sakaguchi magic.
The problem is that they never went back to the formula that made Final Fantasy so amazing, with each new release they just strayed further and further away from the identity of the franchise.
Like someone else here said "Don't fix something that isn't broken"
And that's exactly what they have done, tried to fix Final Fantasy even though it never needed to be fixed, Up until Final Fantasy XII the franchise was massively successful and most people agree that the era from Final Fantasy VI - X was the golden era, this is the era they should aim to understand and take most of their inspiration from, rather than turning the franchise into a western action game.
Hironobu Sakaguchi was tired of Square only doing action games and games that Square's management thought was popular. And he said something in the lines of: "I am not great at making action games, I think I am better at telling a story".
There was more to it than that, he also loved D&D and stuff.
But the entire move towards turning Final Fantasy into a western action game totally goes against the purpose of the franchise's existence. It's a shame, and disrespectful towards Hironobu Sakaguchi I feel.
His vision was that Final Fantasy would be an RPG in a world dominated by action games. Final Fantasy is like Anakin Skywalker..
“You were the Chosen One. It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness." - OBI-WAN KENOBI
:D:D
Sorry that all feels like a lot of revisionist history and trying to fit YOUR criticisms of a game onto the creators. Do you know that Sakaguchi was part of some of the FFXVI press circuit and when asked what makes and Final Fantasy on a panel he said:
I'm absolutely don't think they should keep doing the same thing for decade after decade, they have to keep evolving the game and formula. Again I am not saying they got it right with FFXVI, as I haven't played it, but going back and rehashing what made a game great 25 years ago isn't going to be ground breaking today. Things have to change.
@themightyant "I'm absolutely don't think they should keep doing the same thing for decade after decade, they have to keep evolving the game and formula." & "but going back and rehashing what made a game great 25 years ago isn't going to be ground breaking today"
Here's the thing that a lot of people fail to understand, you don't need to make something new and groundbreaking to win game of the year.
Look at Dragon Quest XI, it's considered by many to be the best game in the franchise or one of the top games, and it has barely changed since Dragon Quest 3.
Look at Super Mario Wonder, It's a classic 2D Mario game, there's nothing groundbreaking about it, they added some clever features but it mainly plays like any other 2D Mario game.
And people love it!
I don't think Final Fantasy has to try to be ground breaking.
I think Final Fantasy has to try being Final Fantasy.
But that does not mean that they can't improve graphics or innovate in terms of story and gameplay.
It means trying to preserve the identity of the franchise artistically and practically.
@DaniPooo Mario Wonder actually changes up far more than most think, the wonderseeds completely change up levels and the new powers, animations, and more add up to create something fresh even if, yes, it’s still a 2D Mario game. But if it was like Mario was 25 years ago it wouldn’t be close to GOTY.
I’ll give you DQXI. Almost everyone was surprised at HOW good that game was, despite not changing much at all, but I think that’s the exception not the rule.
But I’d argue that unlike Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy has always been groundbreaking, pushing things forward and being near the cutting edge. That is an essential part of what Final Fantasy is, it isn’t just another run of the mill JRPG. But I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one, even if ultimately we want the sane thing, Final Fantasy to be great again.
@themightyant I played through the entire game of Mario Wonder. Sure there's some nice little changes and gimmicks, but the core identity of a Mario game is still there.
And I agree that some changes are definitely needed sometimes to make things feel fresh. All Final Fantasy games changed things around to make things feel fresh, the difference is that back in the the golden era they knew where to draw the line.
Usually they focused on telling a new story and made some changes to how character growth and the technical aspect of the RPG worked, but generally all the Final Fantasy games had that Final Fantasy essence.
There's a reason why Mario is still about fun surprising run and jump platforming, because that's what Mario is about, that's the identity of Mario. Nintendo will never do a hyper realistic Super Mario FPS game, because that wouldn't be Mario.
Only time they would ever do something different like that would be as a spin off.
The Final Fantasy franchise used to be the same, just look at Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Adventure (Turned into the Seiken Densetsu series), Final Fantasy Legend (Turned into the SaGa Series), The chocobo games, Dissidia, Ehrgeiz and the list goes on. All Final Fantasy spin off titles... Why? Because they were deemed too different from the mainline Final Fantasy franchise.
Like I said, I am not saying that Final Fantasy can't change or innovate, I am saying that they should be careful and respectful to the original vision not to implement changes that drastically alters the identity of the franchise.
Final Fantasy has not always been groundbreaking, not at all.
Has it always been held in a high regard for its excellent stories, and high quality? Yes absolutely!
But to me groundbreaking is doing something so new and fresh that it alters the industry forever. Moment's like that are actually sort of rare for the Final Fantasy franchise. Just look at Final Fantasy 5 for example, the greatest thing about that game was the job system, and that job system was lifted straight out of Final Fantasy 3 and enhanced. The Job system in Final Fantasy 3 was based on the idea of jobs from Final Fantasy 1 with the twist that you could change jobs and it also added more jobs.
Final Fantasy 1 might have been groundbreaking was it not for the fact that dragon quest and many other RPG games was already released.
Did the Final Fantasy franchise do things their own way? Yes absolutely, and there were certainly new innovations with each game. But nothing that altered the core appeal and identity of the franchise.
People who are Dragon Ball fans usually enjoy this anime because of multiple things coming together into a sort of harmony. They love the characters, the art style, the deep lore, the over the top fights and transformations and the world building.
And even though Dragon Ball, Dragon Balls Z and Dragon Ball Super are all making some changes, it still has that Dragon Ball magic in all of them.
The same thing goes with Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon and Final Fantasy.
But since each Final Fantasy game is its own self-contained story with it's own unique characters, it's even more important that they nail the "feel" and essence of the franchise.
Because without that, there's no identity there anymore.
Just throwing in some Chocobos, Crystals and a Marlboro is not enough to call is a day
@DaniPooo You make some fair points, and I agree with parts of it. But what makes a Final Fantasy game is also subjective, right? For me turn based isn't one of those things. Just as Yakuza went the other way and went from action to turn based, it is still Yakuza. I'd also argue that Mario, Zelda etc. changed a lot when they went 3D, Odyssey and Ocarina play VERY differently to the originals.
But I agree you can change too much, you have to keep some things to stop it straying too far, again that is a subjective line. It's worth noting many fans love FFXVI, yet there is a vocal group who don't like the changes. What is it for YOU specifically that has changed that makes it not a Final Fantasy?
I disagree FF hasn't always pushed boundaries. The first pushed on from other RPGs to show what the genre could be, 2 and 3 extended this. 4, 6, 7-10 all pushed forward what interactive storytelling could be and on the whole pushed graphical fidelity, whether that be the finest pixel art on SNES or the best 3D + pre-rendered background on PS1 etc. That is one of the defining factors of Final Fantasy, it isn't just another run of the mill JRPG series, it WAS always ground breaking, and many others imitated it, this is one of the things it's lost. It's no longer the high bar for everyone else.
I partly agree it might have been easier to just make it a spin-off and call it Final Fantasy: Journey or something BUT there are problems with this approach. Primarily as much as consumers complain about endless sequels they are also fickle, they would be less likely to buy a spin-off than a sequel, and even less if it was a new IP. We've seen this repeatedly, consumers as a group say they want one thing, but their actions show differently. Hence I don't blame Square-Enix for making it a numbered entry. If you or I had the opportunity to have a likely ceiling of 100% sales, 70% sales or 50% sales we would all go with the first, right? (specific numbers are made up but you get the idea)
On top of that S-E would have everyone asking where the next mainline entry is for years. So no I don't blame them for making this a numbered entry, it makes business sense, even if it causes some minor problems. At the end of the day the developers decide what Final Fantasy is.
@themightyant I never said in any of the previous rants here that I think action vs turn based is the problem.
I made a point that it's the combination of multiple things, especially the way they write the story, the character developments and character relationships as well as art direction and music direction that defines the identity and feel of the game.
And I feel that these things are more important than turn based vs action based combat. I also think that it still needs to be an RPG in its core. And Final Fantasy XVI is barely an RPG.
The level of options to develop your character in this game is extremely limited. The equipment system is tragically shallow with almost no strategising needed. And it almost doesn't matter what skills in the skill tree you choose to focus on.
Im many ways the game does not feel like even an actionRPG because it has such a shallow growth system and the game holds you hand all the way.
It's more about timing and dodging at the right moment.
Even if Mario and Zelda has changes over the years, the core gameplay and identity is still there and intact in every single title, with a few black sheets (Zelda 2 and Super Mario 2, which was before these franchises really had developed their identity)
Breath of the Wild is different, but you can still tell that the core gameplay is there, it's still a Zelda game.
I said many times now that I am not against change and innovation, but it should be done carefully not to mess up the vision of the franchise and the identity too much.
And I feel like everything since Final Fantasy XII has been lacking in terms of that true Final Fantasy magic and feel.
I think a Final Fantasy with action based combat could still capture the essence of a Final Fantasy game for sure.
Kingdom Hearts does a better job at delivering a Final Fantasy like experience than Final Fantasy XII. And that's partly because they managed to nail the writing and character development.
They also usually had better character growth systems (Slightly) that Final Fantasy XVI.
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