In 1987, Final Fantasy was conceived by a, then unknown,
company known as Square. They were financially on their last legs and decided
to create their final game and close their doors for good. They settled on the
name Final Fantasy, a game that would reflect it as their final game, and how
they wanted to create a fantasy. Ironically what was supposed to be their swan
song 25 years later turned into a multi-million dollar franchise and spawned 14 sequels and countless spinoff titles. As one of video game's most beloved
franchises in the past 25 years, Final Fantasy has shown that even after all
these years, they still have fans that are dedicated to the series... a little
too dedicated.
Final Fantasy has gained a bit of infamy over the years, not
from the games themselves, but from how viciously broken their fanbase is.
While it's not unheard of, or impossible to find a fan who likes most, if not
all, of the games, the fanbase is famous for how ferociously they despise
specific games within the main series. It's not to say that they are the only
broken fanbase, not only in video games, but in entertainment in general. Zelda
has its broken bit, as does Pokemon, and even the Fallout series has its broken
base (despite only having about 4 games), it seems that Final Fantasy fans are
the most hard headed and the most "violent" when it comes to their
games. But why does it hit Final Fantasy harder than a series like Zelda which
is about as old and itself has several entries.
It largely has to do with the fact that the Final Fantasy
series tends to try and reinvent itself with every installation in the series.
While series like The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon tend to have several
familiarities with them, Final Fantasy feels like a new game every time you
play a different one. Some of the early ones are a bit similar to each other,
after FF6, they went for basically redesigning the game from scratch with only
Moogles, Chocobos, spells, and sometimes the summons as the only familiar
faces. It's gotten more diverse with its later games where they even go and
redesign the battle system every game. This explains the strife between the
different fans are so strong, you're almost defending different games.
Another problem with the series, is that until recently, the
series was spread over several consoles. While luckily after several
ports/remakes (and the Playstation classics on the PSN), the first 9 games are
available on the PSP/Vita and most of them are available on the PS3 (excluding
3, and 12). With this, you can play most of the games with ease. Prior to
this, it was spread over several consoles, and many people don't
have the space, or money to keep all of their previous consoles, much less own
multiple consoles. So to play much of the series was a bit of a hassle. With
the series spread over several consoles, many fans are really only exposed to a
small handful of the series. So with this in mind, it explains why many of the
fans defend one or a couple of the games in the series as they're really the
only ones they know. So this brings the endless question, are you really a fan
of a series if you're only familiar with one or two games? That's something
that really has no answer, and thus fuels the never ending flamewars.
The fanbase is largely divided into three main camps: Final
Fantasy 1-6, Final Fantasy 7, and Final Fantasy 10. Liking anything else means
you. Are. Wrong. If you are a Final Fantasy fan, it's wise to take note which
camp is near you to prevent yourself from having a massive headache. Though
despite these main camps, there are still several possibilities to still be
wrong. As we have the polarizing Final Fantasy 8 and the even bigger breaker,
Final Fantasy 13. Let's dive into these main camps to see why they're so
dedicated to each one.
The Final Fantasy 1-6 camp is somewhat hypocritical in and
of itself. The big part is that many of these people haven't actually played
all 6 of them.So while they feel justified to lump them all together, it
seems very silly to try and defend games that you haven't even played. Out of
these 6, Final Fantasy 1, 4, and 6 are the most well-known and are all 3
landmarks in RPG's. 2, 3, and 5 are the least played of the 6, and you could
say the least played in the entire series. This is largely to do with the fact
that the original versions of these games weren't released outside of Japan
until several years after their release, especially with FF3 being released 16
years after its original release in Japan. With that information aside, we can
go back to how many of these campers either haven't played all 6 of the games, or
actually only like 2, maybe 3 games at most in this group. So when you sit down
and think about this, it makes the entire camp seem like a complete joke.
Why are they defending this group as a whole if they're
either not familiar with all of them or don't even like all of them? Nostalgia
is a big factor in this group, and also "defending the classics". We
must also take note that the series, and RPG's as a whole, were mostly a niche
in gaming culture at the time of their release, with many American localization
teams thinking that RPG's themselves were money pits because nobody wants to
play a long game, which seems silly today, because today we have the Elder
Scrolls, MMO’s and sandbox games that go on forever. Since the series was a bit
"underground" on the 8 bit and 16 bit days, they feel that the series
was ruined by popularity when they moved to the PlayStation and became a
massive hit. This ideology fits the same bill with certain music fans that
after a band hits the big time, they are no longer a good band. The same goes
with video games.
Now for group 2, the Final Fantasy 7 camp. As the most well
known and most popular in the series, and the game that brought not only Final
Fantasy to the mainstream, but also RPG’s in general, so it's unavoidable that
this game alone has its own camp of dedicated fans. For most gamers that missed
out on the game as late comers to the series, they probably won't get the big
deal with this game. Nostalgia also plays a massive role in this camp, because for
many dedicated FF7 fans, this was their introduction to the series, and without
this game, they feel that they would not be interested in the series. For many
fans, their first experience with a franchise tends to make the biggest impact
on them, and anything after that will never live up to the expectations as
their first experience. Sort of like how a drug user's best high will almost
always be his first time.
From a modern standpoint, this game looks and feels very
uninspiring, and will definitely confuse people with why this game is a big deal.
Its graphics feel very archaic, even for a Playstation game, and the story
itself is riddled with JRPG clichés. Sadly this is an aspect that many will
miss out on if they didn't play the game when it was new. Originally praised as
the first 3D Final Fantasy, it was also one of the earliest 3D RPG's on the PS1.It
was also highly influential with its setting and story, and in its wake has
been followed with several games that have more or less "ripped off"
aspects of the game. So if you're a modern gamer and compare it to recent
titles, this game brings nothing new to the table. But if you if you think
about all these firsts that the game brought to the table, it’s easy to see why
this game is held in high regards. It’s like the Nirvana album, Nevermind, of
the RPG’s. Comparing it to today’s music, the album brings nothing new to you,
they sound like every other gritty rock band on the radio today, but if you
rewind to 1991 when it came out, this was a radical departure from the radio back
then. In the 80’s Hair Metal and New Wave were all the rage, and nobody outside
of a college campus had any clue with what the hell Alternative was. Fast
forward today, apparently everything is alternative. Well back to Final Fantasy…
Since FF7 started a second generation of Final Fantasy fans,
it started the original, and the deepest split in the fanbase. This sort of
"generation war" suffers either from whose nostalgia is the
strongest, or how the FF7 fans are noobs because the game made the series
popular and brought what was once a well-kept secret into the eyes of the
public.
Now for the final camp, Final Fantasy 10. This camp shares
some of the same problems with the FF7 camp, though the large difference is
that it’s not as highly influential. Like FF7, FF10 was also many people's
entry into the series. Just like many FF7 fans first console was the original
Playstation, FF10 fan's first console was the Playstation 2. Despite this, the
game is still heralded as one of the best RPG's, if not one of the best PS2
games and heralded many firsts in the series. Even though the game is 10 years
old now and is starting to show its age, it still holds its own visually to
many gamers whereas Final Fantasy 7's deformed sprites and awkward navigation
shies newcomers away.
As ushering a new generation of Final Fantasy fans, FF10 is
hated by the PS1 generation and the S/NES gen as those fans being "tainted
by the evils of modern video games". The FF10 fans are only into fancy
graphics and voice acting and can't handle the "purity of the
classics". And also in a slight hint of hypocrisy, the second gen view the
third gen into ruining their well-kept secret, since they feel that the PS1
games are allegedly obscure and FF10 is too popular because it has the first
direct sequel in the franchise's history. All ignoring the fact that Final Fantasy 7 sold more copies than 10. Another criticism is over Square's
merger with rival company Enix. The older fans claim this game is ruined
because the original company is no more. The biggest irony of this claim is the
fact that the merger happened in 2003 and FF10 was released in 2001 and
every non-greatest hits copy of the game's packaging says Squaresoft and even
the title screen lists Squaresoft in every version of the game. Clearly a
company that has yet to exist can't "ruin" a game, but many people
ignore these facts. A lot of people make
the same claim saying Square Enix ruined the series with 10-2, even though
Squaresoft developed the game, not Square Enix. Though this situation is kind
of a trick question, as the game was released in North America after the
merger, and only the original Japanese release says Squaresoft.
So what about some of the other games? Why are they hated?
Why are 8 and 13 so polarizing? Also what's the deal with FF3 being hated
despite being a missing entry? While I can't go in depth on some of this, I can
do a simple breakdown with why the Final Fantasy fans rage massively hard over
these games.
Let's start with Final Fantasy 3:
Final Fantasy 3
As mentioned earlier, this game was relatively unknown to
most of the fans. Only the most hardcore of fans played the fan-translated roms
on NES emulators, while others patiently waited for Square (later Square Enix)
to release the game outside of Japan. So in 2006, their prayers were finally
answered. Many of the fans were expecting a mass epic and thought Japan never
released it to the rest of the world for this very reason. Many were sadly
disappointed to find out that this game was incredibly archaic in story, and
gameplay, and felt rather betrayed. They ignore the fact that this game was
released on the NES and it's quite silly to expect a very deep and rich story
when later games like FF4 and 6 were the ones who pushed the envelope in
storytelling, not an NES title. Another major flack FF3 got was that it was
released on the DS, not the PS2
because Final Fantasy is only on Playstation.
Final Fantasy 8
Once the most polarizing game in the series, Final Fantasy
8, while largely praised by its graphics from the fans introduced by FF7, the
gameplay itself gained some flack. It had a lot of radical gameplay changes for
every Final Fantasy fan. Its junction system (look it up yourself) is confusing
to many newcomers to the game. It also added an unorthodox way of gaining
money, and the fact that the monsters level up with you. To counter this, one
must use the Junction System to hoard magic to increase your stats. Your stats
increase every 10 spells you use, so if you use too many spells, it actually
affects your stats. The story, depending on who you're talking to, is either
heralded as a rich tale, or loathed as convoluted and too "lovey
dovey". While the confusing gameplay changes are legitimate reasons for
not liking a game, there are still many fans who hate FF8 because they were
expecting it to be a sequel to FF7, but discovered it was a completely
different game and have never forgiven it ever since.
Final Fantasy 9
Squaresoft felt that FF7 and FF8 were getting too futuristic
and scifi, and created FF9 as a sort of throwback to the more fantasy aspects
of the older games. Sadly for Square, this did not bode well with fans. One big
criticism is that the game was given a more cartoony storybook-like artstyle to
match with its fantasy setting. Many fans felt that their "mature
series" was becoming too kiddy and Square are trying to appeal to children
because "mature gamers play mature games, and don’t want to play Disney
shit". All of them tend to ignore the fact that FF9 probably has one of
the most mature storylines in the franchise. This game also doesn’t get enough
attention as FF7 or 8 as it was released late in the PS1’s lifespan, and came
out a month after the launch of the PS2.
Final Fantasy 11
MMORPG, enough said. More points because you have to pay
monthly for it.
Final Fantasy 12
While heralded by professional critics upon its initial
release, FF12 has gained a backlash from its fans. Similar to FF8, 12 gained
some heat from fans for changing a lot of gameplay aspects. From its gambit
system, not earning money from battles, and the MMORPG inspired battle system,
it has its fair share of legitimate reasons why people dislike the game. Though
a lot of fans hate it because it's "too medieval" and Final Fantasy
games aren't supposed to be medieval (ignoring that the majority of the series
has a medieval setting).
Final Fantasy 13
The whole game breaker. FF13 has two main grudges against
it: the fact that it was released on the latest video game console generation
(so basically why FF7 and FFX are hated by older fans), and how the gameplay is
unorthodox from other FF games. The only universal agreement with this game is
that the graphics rule.
The first criticism is in its story; some praise it to
ungodly levels, and other feel that it has no story. No matter what anyone
tells you, the game does have a story, and is fairly straightforward through
most of the game and does very little to stray away from that. Arguably one of
the most straightforward stories in the series as it's not riddled with
multiple plot twists. The reason why people probably feel it has no story, is
that instead of being story driven like the others, it’s largely a character
driven story and copes with how the various playable characters cope with
themselves. It even features some very mature situations: like how Lightning is
coping with raising her little sister without her parents help, and Sazh coping
with his missing son.
The main criticism is in the gameplay. First off with how
about it’s linear for much of the game. Some people want their RPG's to have a
lot of exploration in them, while this is a legitimate reason to dislike the
game, the problem is that a lot of those people praise FF10 which is just as
linear. The second criticism is the battle system. Like the story, the battle
system is either praised to godly proportions, or hated with a passion. The
battle system does take several hours of gameplay to finally open up and show
what it’s really about, but prior to that, you don’t really do much in battle. Another
aspect of the gameplay is that you automatically heal after battle and you have
unlimited magic. Many feel that Square Enix is trying too hard to cater to
"those filthy casuals", but ignore that the battle system itself
makes things tricky and the game itself is no walk in the park as they have
level caps and force you into using strategy in boss battles more than the
previous games that mostly require you to just grind your level higher.
Final Fantasy 14
As the second MMORPG with paid services, FF14 suffers the
same fate as FF11, though this time it's different. Out of all the 13 previous
games, FF14 is the only one that's universally considered to suck, and this is
not from idiot fan opinions. Riddled with glitches, design flaws, and broken
gameplay, the consensus was that the game felt unfinished. Luckily Square Enix
noticed its universal hatred and decided to completely redo the entire game and
to reveal it as FF14: A Realm Reborn. A Realm Reborn was finally released and
has gained very positive reviews, but it suffers from the same fate as FF11
with being a paid MMORPG.
As a series that spans generations of gamers, its fanbase
incorporates several types of fans. With its ongoing flamewars between its
various factions, there are still many sane fans that either love their
preferred game, or most/all of the games. Though we could all think that if
everyone had the same opinion, the world would be a fairly boring place.
No comments:
Post a Comment