Last week we went over the 2D fantasies and explained how
Final Fantasy 6 was not only the pinacle of storytelling in any 2D final
fantasy, but also probably one of the greatest stories ever created. However,
despite all its narrative glory and its multi-layered characters (a playboy
king with brother issues, a knight struggling with the loss of a kingdom and
the afterlife of his family, a commander torn between loyalty to her country
and doing what's right and who is also a love interest for a treasure hunter
who is dealing with the loss of a loved one and his desire for this commander),
Final Fantasy 6 is not the most important fantasy in the series. That title
goes to Final Fantasy 7.
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| A battle from FF 7 |
Released on 1997 for the Sony Playstation, Final Fantasy 7
brought the genre of role plaing games to the mainstream. The visuals were
excellent for the time, and the low-poly models still look cute to this day.
Although the characters were fairly one dimensional when compared to those of
FF6 (here we have a kid with multiple personality disorder, a villain with
mommy issues, a 'nice girl' flower girl, the stoic goth vampire, and the
"everything that's wrong with African American stereotypes"
character), the overall story itself lives up to the epic proportions set by FF
6. While the story in 6 featured a corrupt empire, freedom fighters, the end of
the world, suicide, and the quest for identity, the story in 7 features a more
straightforward yet equally important story of a corrupt organization
exploiting the planet for the sake of profits and a deranged maniac bent on
mass genocide. If anything, the overall story of 7 gives players a better
premise than 6 (although it does fall a bit short in the implementation). The mechanics
are fairly standard. Normal exploration, turn based battles, and a new system
for learning skills (as is the trend of FF, to introduce a new skills system
with almost every game) are fairly standard fare. What puts FF7 over the top is
the Golden Saucer and its minigames. Chocobo Racing and the snow boarding
minigames (among others) give the game a very high replay value. In the end, how does FF 7 stack up to 6? It depends. If you
value story and characters, 6 comes out on top. If you value overall concept
and replayability, 7 wins. In my mind, they are just about the same.
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| OMG Squall!!!1!!1ONE! |
Which leads us to Final Fantasy 8. As far as exploration and overall
mechanics, it was largely similar to 7. However, even though most of the
characters were better designed than those from 7, the story itself felt bland
by comparison. Here, we see the story of a bunch of military academy graduates
who go out into the world and end up saving it from a witch. The skill-learning
mechanics where players draw skills from monsters also leave a lot to be
desired. The game's saving graces are the characters and the card collecting
minigame. Overall, it is a drop from 7.
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| Final Fantasy 9 |
Final Fantasy 9 is a clear increase in quality over 8, and
to many the best 32 bit fantasy. The story is closer to traditional swords and
sorcery than any fantasy since 6, the skills system where players learn techniques
through weapons is interesting and compelling, and the character are
interesting in a quirky funny kind of way. A certain increase over FF 8, the
ninth fantasy is to me at least on-par with 7.
So, if we were to chart the 32 bit fantasies in a chart...
it would look like a V. :foreshadowing:
Stay tuned later today when we wrap up the series with the
next gen and HD fantasies.
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