As I may or may not have mentioned before, I'm stupid excited for Final Fantasy XIII like I was turning 13 again. It's the same old story too – it's those damn graphics! I thought to myself that maybe I should try to temper my excitement. I've been let down by Final Fantasy games in the past.
Or have I? My plan for this past weekend was to revisit (or in some cases, visit for the first time) every Final Fantasy game that I own. Be forewarned – any criticism I make here is informed by 2 – 7 hours of game time at most, so you might take offense with some of the things I say if you've played the whole game.
FINAL FANTASY IV
I've owned this game for at least a couple of years, and this was the first time I popped it in to see what it was like. IV is regarded as one of the best in the series, and from my short-ish playthrough, it does certainly seem to have one of the more coherent and interesting stories of the games I've played so far.
Upon first viewing of the game, you realize that Square had no idea what to do with the SNES's hardware. This is a really ugly game, one that was bested even by a lot of the games being released in 1991 (A Link to the Past comes to mind). If it weren't for the slightly more detailed battle environments, this could almost be an NES game. Not that that really matters when it comes to old-school RPG goodness, it's just that it's interesting that a company that basically built their reputation on graphical fidelity made such a butt-ugly game.
I've learned over the years that any Final Fantasy installment is a game you love despite it's flaws, or the flaws overcome the plot and design and potentially ruin the experience for you. Unfortunately, I feel like this is one of the latter. In the first hour of the game, I came across a random battle (and I wasn't going out of my way, mind you) where I fought undefeatable zombies. I mean, what the hell? Who does that in the first hour of the game? I knew going in that the random battles were going to be atrocious and unforgiving (and they certainly are – you can't take two steps on the world map without getting another one), but I didn't think it would get that bad.
IV has an involving plot and a real, red-blooded protagonist in Cecil, but the gameplay mechanics simply don't work.
FINAL FANTASY VI
A question that often comes up in my head when playing a Final Fantasy game is that, roughly around the same time, there has almost always been a better game out there to play; so why would I play the inferior one? Final Fantasy VI was released right around the same time as Chrono Trigger, which, for me, is still the absolute defining pinnacle of JRPG gaming. Squaresoft fixed every niggling problem in JRPG games in one fell swoop, making an incredible story, a less-cumbersome battle system, lovable characters with dimension, and most importantly, no random battles.
Playing Final Fantasy VI felt like a step back for me. If Square was able to do it in Chrono Trigger, why not in FFVI, their biggest and most successful franchise? Because of tradition? Well, I'm sorry, but those play mechanics were already outdated in 1994.
Having said all of that, it's easy to see why VI was (and is) so well-regarded. The SNES graphics were pretty incredibly detailed (on par with Chrono Trigger), and VI probably has the best story in the series. Not many RPGs, and especially not classic RPGs, would just end the world on you halfway through the game. Still, the character development is somewhat lacking and I can't shake the feeling that Square had proven that they could make an almost perfect game, and almost deliberately chose not to for this particular game.
FINAL FANTASY VII
This is the big one. This is gaming's Star Wars – a seminal experience in videogaming that you absolutely and positively enjoy while you're playing it. Just like Star Wars, though, it's easy to get wrapped up in the spectacle and ignore its flaws until well afterward.
FFVII still resonates with people on such a personal level that I felt I had to play it. At the time of its release, I was a PC-only gamer, and by the time of its release on the PC, I was well into a completely different phase of gaming life. That's why it took me until this past June to finally get a Playstation, and I just got this game in December.
The best compliment I can give to this game is that it makes me feel nostalgic for something I've never experienced. Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, and Sephiroth are such iconic characters in videogaming that actually getting to experience them as they are rather than how I've imagined them at different points throughout my life was kind of incredible, actually. I'd contend that they're not particularly well-written – they all kind of fall into various Squaresoft JRPG tropes – but they are very well developed. It's easy to see why my girlfriend, for instance, can still feel pretty strongly about the different characters, even 12 years after her and her sister played through it for the first time.
Losing the "fantasy" portion of the series and moving more firmly in the direction of science-fiction didn't seem to harm any of the goodwill towards the game. I suspect that FFVII, as the first 3D iteration, fully developed the intrinsic Japanese-ness of the series in a way that North American gamers hadn't seen before, making the game feel totally fresh. Coming straight off of VI, in retrospect, it wasn't all that fresh – kind of like an update of VI in quasi-3D. Still, there's no lessening this game's impact. Its random battles seem less onerous and more exciting due to the Materia system, and while it's no work of great literature, it connects on several levels. Truly a great game, and one that I'm excited to continue. I'm about 7 hours in, and my girlfriend and I are really enjoying playing this game together. I'm going to see this one through to the end.
FINAL FANTASY IX
Blech. This game is bad enough to warrant me retroactively taking points off of Final Fantasy VII. I really, really do not enjoy IX. It's kind of the emblematic game of what was wrong with PSX-era JRPGs, and like VI, was bested by yet another Chrono game (this time, it was Chrono Cross).
Square basically let all of the bad tendencies of Final Fantasy games bubble up to the surface in this one. Portentous, overlong CG scenes? Check. Collection of poorly-developed characters derived from the FF pool of character tropes? Check. Conscious effort to artificially produce nostalgia? Checkity-check-check. Random battles out the wazoo? Well, that might just be this game's biggest failure. Games like IV and VI have a lot of random battles too, but they at least go somewhat quickly. In IX (released in 2000 – seriously, hadn't they got the memo? NO MORE RANDOM BATTLES!), there's way too much in the way of graphical flourishes that drag down the framerate of the already overworked PSX, making battles take forever.
I mean, on the one hand, this was an absolutely gorgeous PSX game, but on the other, it seems like Square thought that that was enough to make an entire game, even sacrificing plot and character (their bread and butter) in the process. I never once felt anything towards Zidane or Garnet, and only occasionally for the underdeveloped Vivi.
If they wanted the game to be a throwback to FFs of old, perhaps less in the way of overwrought CG and exposition would have been better. It's unfortunate, because this was the first game I got for my PSX, and one that I've played almost to completion. This is a game that's only recommended if you're absolutely the most gung-ho FF advocate on the planet; otherwise, steer far clear.
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS A2: GRIMOIRE OF THE RIFT
This game is nothing like games in the normal FF series, in that it offers no exploration and is focused primarily on its battle system. It works, because the battle system is really good. Basically, FFTA2GOTR (that's a mouthful!) is a strategy RPG in Square's spin-off tactics series. I haven't actually played any of the other Tactics games – I know that the one on the PSX is supposed to be a fantastic game, but A2 is actually quite fun as well.
The plot is extremely slowly-unfolding, and I'll basically say that if you've seen The Neverending Story, this is that movie in videogame form, essentially. You play as Luso, a boy who reads a mysterious book and ends up in Final Fantasy world. Before long, he's joined a mercenary group who are embroiled in a large scale conflict, as he tries to find his way home. It's not as deep or involved as other FF games, but it's perfect for this one, which really emphasizes its portability.
The battles are turned based and strategy heavy, and while I wouldn't say they're anywhere close to as good as the incredible Fire Emblem system, they're still quite fun and really good in short bursts. In this way, FFTA2GOTR is perfect for a pretty large segment of gamers – people like me who are kind of casual observers of the Final Fantasy phenomenon; people who love turn based strategy games (that category would also include myself); or people who want to dive right in and glean as much from the game as possible. If you were to take that route, by the way, the game could last you for up to 200 hours.
Still, it's not a perfect game – 200 hours of essentially the same battling, with only a few variations and power-ups, is a bit much. It does benefit from being able to take it on the go, but if you could only get one SRPG for the DS, well, I'd make it a Fire Emblem game.
FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS
I'll refer you to my full review of this game, but here's the condensed version. It's Final Fantasy meets Zelda, effectively merging the two most prominent styles of Japanese fantasy gaming into one that's slightly less than the sum of its parts. It's action packed and plays fast and loose with its storyline, so it's not really for Final Fantasy diehards. It's worth playing, though, as it is incredibly fun and sometimes awe-inspiring. Square pushes the hell out of the Wii hardware and makes an interesting detour with its battle system, but the overall game doesn't quite live up to its promise.
So, if you're looking for one FF game to play (and you can't wait for XIII which comes out… tomorrow), as cliched as it sounds, I'd make it Final Fantasy VII. Now, get to work on some fan-art or a music video montage, please.
Join the conversation
I think you need to replay FFIV. Or at least play it until it's conclusion. FFIV is without a doubt the BEST Final Fantasy Game pre-FF VI, and I've yet to see a Final Fantasy game do as much with the arc of a single character as they did with Cecil. Especially once you transcend your past atrocities and become a paragon of good as a paladin. I don't know, I wouldn't be too hasty to judge FF IV negatively when you seem to heap so much praise onto VI. Also, a lot of fans who felt alienated by the series after FF VII came out seem to have rallied around IX because it harkens back to many of the tropes which were only prevalent in Final Fantasy pre-FF VII. You say that it embodies many of the worst excesses of the Final Fantasy series, but I would argue that FF VIII and FF X and FF X-2 are the worst offenders in that category. FF IX is more of a retro-revival, and if you don't like it that's fine but the worst Final Fantasy game after FF VII is most definitely FF VIII.
In my opinion, the best Final Fantasy game made after FF VI is Final Fantasy Tactics for the PS1, or Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions as it was redubbed when ported to the PSP. This is as mature as the series has even been, and probably ever will be if things continue the way they are in the JRPG scene. The only JRPG that has even remotely interested me lately has been Resonance of Fate, and I'm still pretty iffy about that one. Tri-Ace did make an excellent and very underappreciated JRPG for the Gamecube in Baiten Kaitos though, so I still hold out hope that Resonance of Fate will be a sleeper hit.
You're probably right on all counts, Christian. Well, except on FFIX. People might praise it for going back to those old-style tropes, but I don't think it executed it well enough. I feel like if Square was doing something similar to IX today, it would almost certainly know how to pull off that retro feeling. They got too far into PSX-era RPG trappings, though, to make that game successful (for me, anyways). It's probably also that for whatever reason it just turns me off (maybe it's the fact that they still had random battles in the year 2000. Throwbacks be damned, that's just shitty design).
Also, Baiten Kaitos rules! Funnily enough, it was overlooked at the time because Tales of Symphonia had just come out – while ToS is really fun because of its battles and four-player co-op, it doesn't nearly have the depth or maturity of storytelling that Baiten Kaitos has. ToS was mostly just a melange of manga nonsense. Mostly, though, the battle system is totally original. There's members of the Baiten Kaitos team working on Xenoblade, so I'm pretty excited to see what they come up with.
This article feels vastly out of place among the rest of this site's articles. It just seems odd to review old games in such a fashion, assign arbitrary numbers to them, and do it for a series that has just been a storm of nerdbait for over a decade. This is a thing that has been argued endlessly by people way too invested in defending their Final Fantasy of choice on every video game message board and trying to speak with authority on the subject just seems impossible at this point.
That said, good call on not playing FFVIII.
VI will always be my favorite. Maybe I was just at the right age when I played through it, but it always resonated with me strongest. I still really enjoyed VII at the time, but I think it holds up pretty poorly due to the shift from Amano to Nomura and the unfortunate fact that early 3D has aged much worse than 16-bit era sprite graphics. VIII is where the series started to lose me, though. Even at age 14 or whenever I first played it, I thought it was really stupid.
That aside, I have a minor correction to make. Tri-Ace was not responsible for making the Baiten Kaitos games, that was Monolith Soft, who prior to Baiten Kaitos made the Xenosaga trilogy, and before that was most of the people within Square who made Xenogears and Chrono Trigger (minus Sakaguchi and Horii, of course). Tri-Ace is most famous for making the Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile series for Enix.