Retire Final Fantasy
As a nearly lifelong fan of the franchise, it pains me to say it. It’s time. Final Fantasy needs to go. Let the name pass into memory. Let Square Enix bear the series to the stage and Uematsu’s music speak loudly for it. Go, bid the gun-swords shoot.
I bid bringing Final Fantasy to a finale because the name itself has outlived its worth. Square Enix is set to release Final Fantasy XIII-2. You read that right. And we’re still awaiting the release of Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Well, I’m not really awaiting it, as my time with the game series abruptly ended with the launch of the Playstation 3 and my utter dearth of expendable income.
Anyhow, I’m seeing a trend here, one that began with the hokey-sounding Final Fantasy X-2, and one I fear won’t let up even with the irony of the game title stretched well beyond aesthetic appropriateness. Let the name die and continue the games with new titles. Start a new series. Or make more standalone titles such as the near to perfect Vagrant Story—the company’s finest achievement.
As far as I know, the series isn’t getting worse with each new installment. Okay X-2’s turning Yuna into a double-gun-toting Britney Spears was truly bizarre, and not in final fantastical way, but I loved XII as much as the classic VI and VII. It’s simply the painful numbering that beckons me. It’s a pain that no potion, ether, remedy, or elixir can relieve. No spell can cure. No airship can escape.
Names matter. Yes, I’m sure the series title gives each new installment instant credibility with target buyers, but for the sake of all remaining Espers, please, Square Enix, let your imaginations and marketing sense rise to the heavens. Bring us excellent new games with excellent new memorable titles. If for nothing else, do it for the Moogles. Or for Cid.
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Final Fantasy II–best ever, for Nintendo. I dominated that game. Never got the pink puffs to give up the ore that I could trade in for the special secret sword, but did get all my characters up to level 99. That title music with the appregios–beautiful!
You got your characters to 99 but you didn’t get the sword?!?!?! It’s usually the opposite for me.
Final Fantasy is very much like a washed up band: People keep buying their next albums hoping that it will be a return to their old glory days, but it never ends in anything but disappointment.
FFII and FFIII for SNES were the single greatest RPG achievements of all time. After that began the slow decline into graphics over gameplay and wow factor over storyline. Last one I ever played was FFVIII and that was a painful, painful game.
FFIII (VI) for the SNES remains one of my favorites. It has something like 14 permanent playable characters, and they all had involving back-stories and development.
I don’t share your assessment of the later games, though. VIII didn’t have the narrative direction of VII, but I really liked Squall and the other characters. The mechanics weren’t my favorite, but they were fun once I got into them.