In a previous post, I talked about my late-found
love of video games and how Final Fantasy VII was my entry into the gamer
world. Now, I want to talk about the franchise and why so many fans are pulling
their hair out.
Many of us are hoping against hope that FF: Versus XIII
will revive the joy we felt playing the older games. There’s a lot of talk
about how the new games have lost their Final Fantasy feel—not that they’re
exactly bad games, but like the movie FF: Spirits Within, they shouldn’t be
called Final Fantasy.
Here’s my deal:
Like a good book, Final Fantasy VII had characters.
Real, fleshed-out, past-bearing, issue-having characters that felt real. As I
progressed through the game, new tidbits would come out, and there was always
another story behind the one I was experiencing. It gave FFVII a depth that
allowed me to immerse myself in the world.
Now, others had great characters, too, but some (ahem…XII) the
characters fell flat. Honestly, the only one in FFXII that I cared about was
Balthier. Vaan could have totally been eaten by a cockatrice and I would have
shrugged.
Another thing that I really noticed with FFXII, but
may have actually started in X-2, was the failure to make the summons effective.
Now, in X-2, you had to fight your former summons, but considering the story of
FFX, it sort of made sense. With XII, I found they were mostly pointless. It
was harder to get some of the summons than it was to defeat the final boss.
That, in my opinion, was a fail. I’m not saying they should all just land at
your feet, but harder than the final boss?
Linear Maps. Ugh. In the early games, you traveled
the world. There were mountains to climb, oceans to sail, forests and plains
and rivers…you get it. You had a destination, but you didn’t have to follow a
line or fast travel directly there. You could roam. You could take the time
between destinations to level up, gather items, and earn money for the shops.
And there were cities! Buildings to explore, shops to peruse, and usually
talking to the people of that town was what led to your next task. For me,
FFXIII was the worst one about linear movement. You ran through an area with
little discovery, without the excitement of random encounters, and the only
pseudo free-roam was on Gran Pulse.
Battle. Okay, Final Fantasy games are turn-based, so
those who are button maestros and can hit a sixteen-button combo in two seconds
are laughing at me. I can’t. When I have to hit a bunch of buttons, I start
freaking out, but that’s a post for another day. The thing is, even though the
games were turn-based and had action menus, you still had to think about what
you were doing. You had to decide who would attack and who would support,
whether to use physical force or magic. And it mattered! In the games with job
classes, you had to figure out what was the best balance for the way you wanted
to play: heavy on the mages, brute force, a happy medium, etc. In the last
three games, I find my eyes glazing over in regular battles. Final Fantasy XII,
I could set my characters to attack and wander off to the kitchen to get a
drink or snack. Not good. In XIII and currently in XIII-2, the paradigm shifts
are the only things that keep me awake. The auto-battle option should NOT exist.
It’s lazy and brain-deadening. As for FFXIII-2, the cinematic action tries to
spice things up, but for me, it ruins the shiny moments. There’s story going on
there! I want to watch that badass cinema scene, not scan my TV
trying to find the button I’m supposed to press right… NOW! Put those button
sequences in the real battle. That way I have something to do there, and I can
watch the cool stuff.
And dammit, I want relevant summons again.
I agree, whole heartily!
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