Final Fantasy has fallen from grace. What once was a pinnacle of RPG gaming has become, in a nutshell, what the prequels were to Star Wars. I’ve spent hours brewing over the abomination that is FF XIII, and now know exactly where Square-Enix has gone wrong. First off, let’s find out just where they strayed.
Too much politics, too little personal involvement.
Whether it’s the endless extolling over matters of lineage in FF XII, or the mind-numbing Pulse L’Cie versus Sanctum L’Cie banter in XIII, one thing is certain: I don’t care about it. Let’s take Final Fantasy VI for an example here, shall we? First off, we had three organizations in the main storyline. There was the evil Empire, the valiant Returners, the rebel organization in opposition, and the kingdom of Figaro who fund these rebel activities. That was it. From that point on, the conflicts of those parties were told through events in the character’s story lines. We grew attached, we cared for them, and the global events weaved in through those ordeals.
Now we need a datalog or journal, whatever the hell it is, just to keep track of who is what while characters I don’t really care for, or that ever get fleshed out beyond the one-dimensional fantasy cliches they are wander about onscreen. Meanwhile, I’ve got the swords and magic version of the Senate scenes in Phantom Menace boring me into a coma.
The fix:
It’s obvious, really. Get back to the characters, guys. We care about them, not faceless government entities. It’s easier to get hooked into a story if it’s on a personal level, no matter how immense outside events are.
On the rails, linear story progression.
Come on, Square. Your world maps are one of the reasons wildly popular sandbox RPGs like Fallout 3 even exist. Now I’m forced to run through the the same scenery, back and forth, while I grind my levels. Sure, it was the same old story on the world map, but there was a sense of discovery there. A cave with a tidbit of back story for one of the characters, a castle hiding the ultimate weapon, all of these things made previous Final Fantasy games engaging and entertaining. Now, you basically stumble into the “secrets” in progress of playing.
The fix:
When it comes to RPGs, it’s very hard to deliver a movie gaming experience like Uncharted 2. With Final Fantasy, this doesn’t work. Give us exploration back, and maybe a few towns that aren’t related to the story in any way.
Masturbatory fighting systems
Choose Gambit/Paradigm. Run headlong into enemies. Mash action button so the game chooses your actions. Repeat. Sound like a battle you want to fight? Didn’t think so. Alas, the newest iterations require little strategy other then picking an appropriate AI routine and watching… Literally so in XII. Granted, XIII battles are much prettier, and a fair bit more challenging, but it still doesn’t feel right to me when I want a certain degree of involvement. When I start feeling like the only thing I’m actually able to fully control is walking and running, we have a problem.
The fix:
If I wanted to play an Action-RPG, I’d go get one. But instead of the layers of strategy I want, I get some weird hybrid that offers not nearly enough of either type of battle system. I personally would want the ability to control all characters back, and a more classic style of fighting, but I’ll settle for the first one and a revamping of the system so I feel more in control.
I can’t be the only one who feels this way, so what are your thoughts on Final Fantasy through the years? Tell me about it in the comments.