A VERY LONG PROLOGUE
1991. The Super Famicon/SNES drops, ushering in what many gaming
enthusiasts and nerds consider the high-water mark of console video
games: the 16-bit era. The hardware was powerful enough to enable
bigger, better-looking and more complex games than what the NES has
previously allowed, but still came with enough limitations that
developers had to be clever in designing their games. It's for this
reason that a fairly wide margin of JRPG enthusiasts consider the
16-bit years the Golden Age of Squaresoft, if not the best time for the
console RPG genre as a whole.
The early
90's were also the most divisive in gaming. Enter the SNES/Genesis
console wars. My experience was that unless you were one of those rich
little snots whose parents bought you both systems, you picked a side,
stuck with it, and spent entire lunch periods shouting at your friends
across the table about why you were right and they were wrong. (It was
some great practice my generation got for today's political climate.)
Enticed by Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage and Shining Force early
on, I cast my lot with the Genesis camp. I didn't play Final Fantasy IV
until after I'd already played through most of VI, and as a result,
playing IV felt like a step backwards to me.
This time was different. The only games I've been playing lately aside
from 2-D fighters have been the 8-bit Final Fantasy games. After a
month or two of playing virtually nothing but RPG's that could only
display up to 25 colors and play only four different bleeping sounds at
once, I was undeniably impressed when I started the game and watched
those 16-bit airships fly over a height-distorted world map as the
opening theme “The Red Wings” rose to a crescendo. It's not hard at all
to see why Final Fantasy IV blew so many minds when it came out in '91.
Final Fantasy IV is interesting in particular because it is such a step
forward for the series and for the genre. The beefier hardware – and
undoubtedly beefier budget – allowed Square to try out a plethora of
new things with IV. The Active Time Battle system. Fights requiring
more complex stratagems than “do a lot of damage to bad guy.” Perhaps
most importantly, the improved graphics and sound allowed for a far
more convincing execution of a story with full-fledged characters and
an involved storyline than Square's first attempt in Final Fantasy II.
But even though Squaresoft was interested in breaking new ground, they
were also obliged to take the same approach with Final Fantasy IV as
any sequel: determine what people liked in previous installments and
pack the new one full of
more
of those things. In this case, Square gave the fans more airships, more
Chocobos, more character classes, more abilities, more maps, more
spells, a new set of Elemental Fiends, more Crystal MacGuffins, etc.
When I was about 25% through the game, I was talking to a friend –
someone who hasn't played any Final Fantasy games predating the seventh
installment – and was trying to explain to him why IV would be worth
his time to check out. “It's so cool,” I told him. “You get these two
little wizard kids who can team up and cast gigantic spells and you
gotta climb this mountain covered with zombies so you can Class Change
and there's this demon you gotta kill at the top and then he comes at
you from behind, and…”
The first question he asked was “how's the story?”
Then it occurred to me that console RPG genre is sixteen years older
now, and people expect totally different things from it than when it
was still taking shape in the SNES/Genesis era. I realized something
else, too: as groundbreaking and incredible as Final Fantasy IV was in
'91, it simply wouldn't fly if it were released today in 2007.
There are a few
reasons for this. The first is that people seem to pick up console
RPG's primarily for their stories now; the actual gameplay seems, in
many cases, to be viewed as a necessary means of forcing the story to
progress. (Cases in point: Kingdom Hearts II and
.hack.)
In '91, the opposite was true: people bought console RPG's to fight
random battles, level up, and kick the crap out of massive bosses with
your hard-earned abilities and expensive equipment because it was
fun,
dammit. The story was garnish – something to give the level grinding
and dungeon crawling the illusion of having a higher purpose. Though
Final Fantasy IV had a story that was much more sophisticated than
those of virtually every RPG that came before it – and definitely
marked the beginning of a shift towards a greater emphasis on
characters and story – it's still evident that more effort went into
designing the rest of the game. (More on that later.)
Another aspect of Final Fantasy IV that wouldn't go over well with
today's audience is its revolving door party roster. The last time a
Final Fantasy installment killed off a character and made them
permanently unusable for the remainder of the game was VII, and even
then, people tirelessly scoured every nook and cranny of the Planet,
convinced there had to be a way to bring Aeris back to life. All that
trouble for the sake of getting to use a defunct character again, and
not a very useful one at that. In Final Fantasy IV, party members are
constantly
blown up, turned to stone, thrown overboard during sea serpent attacks,
and sacrificing their lives to cast that sealed spell that just
might
be powerful enough to defeat the villain once and for all (but isn't).
You never have a say in who joins your party, and there's no way of
stopping somebody from leaving (or getting themselves killed) when the
time comes. I don't think today's audience would appreciate this sort
of thing. In fact, Square Enix tweaked Final Fantasy IV Advance, making
it possible to change party members towards the very end of the game.
The other thing is that Final Fantasy IV just doesn't have enough of a certain
something that contemporary games are overbrimming with. That something…is
zazz.
Final Fantasy IV's zazz factor is decidedly low. It has a
quasi-medieval setting (devoid of steam or cyberpunk influence)
populated by knights, wizards, and dwarves (no bunny-eared amazons,
Geohounds, cyborgs, or evil parodies of Christ). Cecil wears a suit of
armor (without even one decorative zipper, pouch, or patch of
fashionably exposed skin) and fights with a sword (instead of a
gunblade, keyblade, chainsaw-sword, etc). BORING.
Digression
JRPG's – and many other Japanese games, and anime too – are in serious danger of fatal zazz saturation.
Some zazz is good to have. Think of it like putting sugar in coffee. A
sugar cube or two makes coffee less bitter; some zazz adds flavor to a
game and its characters. But just as pouring too much sugar into a cup
of coffee ruins it, over-zazzing your game makes it annoying instead of
bland. Remember back when anthromorphs with ‘tude were in vogue?
Sonic's ‘tude levels were within acceptable parameters, and it's still
hard to deny the appeal of his Sega Genesis incarnations. But then you
also have Bubsy the Bobcat, who was pumped full of more focus-group
tested ‘tude than any single piece of intellectual property should ever
be asked to contain, and if anyone actually
remembers Bubsy, I'm sure the memories are not pleasant.
Here's an example of the progression of zazz saturation: a timeline of SNK fighting game title characters.
Terry and Ryo look like two guys out of a martial arts flick. Iori and
K' look like they're from an anime. Alba and Luise look like they're
from a Japanese fashion magazine. I understand that with so many other
products on the market, designers have to make their franchise and its
components stand out, but it's honestly starting to get ridiculous.
Other examples include the gulf between the characters and aesthetics
of Mobile Suit Gundam and Gundam SEED, Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) and
Shadow the Hedgehog (2001), and to cite a stateside example, the
differences between the 2-D Prince of Persia titles and The Two
Thrones. Style over substance.
Anyway – let's talk more about Final Fantasy IV.
CHARACTERS
Final Fantasy IV boasted some of the most interesting and memorable
characters of its era. That being said, most of them would be laughed
off the casts of today's JRPG's.
Allies
CECIL
Dark Knight
Orphaned at a young age and raised by the king of Baron, Cecil rose
through the military ranks to become captain of Baron's elite air
force, the Red Wings. Though trained to wield the shadowed arms and
powers of a Dark Knight, Cecil remains a man of integrity. After
returning from pillaging the defenseless town of Mysidia and stealing
its Crystal of Water, Cecil voices his objection to the king and is
promptly dismissed from his post. His new assignment is to deliver a
parcel to the village of Mist...
Why he worked in '91: Finally: an RPG where your main character
starts out as a walking death machine instead of a blithering wimp with
no skills or equipment.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: The Dark Knight thing is cool, but the armored look is
so four generations ago.
Needs more skin, straps, and tattoos. A keen fashion sense can provide just as much protection as plate mail.
CECIL
Paladin
You knew that getting to play as a Dark Knight was too good to be true.
At a certain point in the adventure Cecil decides that he doesn't want
to be a terrifying death machine anymore, so he undergoes the
time-honored JRPG Class Change Ritual and becomes a Paladin, the
reverse of a Dark Knight. The process involves climbing Mount Ordeals,
wading through hordes of zombies, doing battle with his own dark side,
and most importantly, adopting a flowing-haired bisho look which
ensures his becoming a trillion times stronger than he was as an
armored, masculine son of a bitch.
Why he worked in '91: Yeehaw! Class Change!
Why he wouldn't work in '07: It might, actually. The bish look
is exactly the kind of zazzing up Cecil needed. His outfit's still a
bit bland, though – attach some
unnecessary zippers and some
angel wings, however, and we'll be in business.
KAIN
Dragoon
Another orphan whom the King of Baron raised along with Cecil. Kain
went against his adopted father's behest to train as a Dark Knight to
follow in his birth father's footsteps as a Dragoon. As a result, Cecil
won prestige and rank over Kain, who began harboring feelings of
jealousy towards his adopted brother and best friend. It also didn't
help much when Cecil bagged Rosa, with whom Kain was also secretly in
love. The dark forces behind Baron's recent militarism waste no time
taking advantage of Kain's latent resentment of Cecil and setting the
two against each other.
Why he worked in '91: Of all Final Fantasy IV's characters, Kain
probably has the most impact. You spend the entire game going back and
forth between thinking he's the coolest guy ever and hating his
traitorous guts.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Kain was the original JRPG Judas.
Of course he'd still work today – and he does! Only now he's younger,
not a Dragoon anymore,
and he hangs out with Mickey Mouse.
RYDIA
Summoner
A young girl from Mist. Her life takes an abrupt turn for the tragic
after Cecil and Kain accidentally murder her mother and set her town on
fire, but Rydia is a real good sport about it and joins Cecil on his
journey anyway. As a full-blooded Summoner, Rydia has the natural
ability to communicate with supernatural beings and deities.
Why she worked in '91: So wait. An adorable little child who casts spells? Like some sort of “magical girl?” THAT'S JUST CRAZY ENOUGH TO WORK!
Why she wouldn't work in '07: She might, but you can bet her “Momo” appeal would be exploited to its fullest extent. Just thinking about it makes me cringe.
RYDIA
Summoner
Hey! Rydia's grown up now! And she's hot! Oh, and she's also pretty much the best character in the game.
Why she worked in '91: See above.
Why she wouldn't work in '07: Loli Rydia is more valuable.
ROSA
White Mage
Cecil's girlfriend. Like most JRPG squeezes, the full extent of her
repertoire consists of healing, getting kidnapped, and gushing to the
hero about how nothing bad can happen to her when she's with him. I'm
almost positive this is what the ideal Japanese woman is supposed to be
like.
Why she worked in '91: Neat! Not only do you get to play as a rad Dark Knight, but you're also nailing a cute White Mage!
Why she wouldn't work in '07: She doesn't look Japanese enough. The hero
always
goes with whatever chick looks the most Japanese. Also, she and Cecil
are already a done deal before the game even starts, and that leaves
little room for Ranma/Akane hijinks and/or overblown Heero/Relina
melodrama.
TELLAH
Sage
Part revered Mysidian sage, part revenge-obsessed old coot. When his
daughter Anna ran off to get hitched to Edward, she was killed in the
Red Wings' attack on Damycan. Tellah is now committed to avenging her
death at any cost. His major claims to fame are dishing out one of the
most famous spells and one of the most famous insults in Final Fantasy
history.
Why he worked in '91: Say…doesn't he look sort of like that Turtle Hermit guy from Dragon Ball?
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Turtle Hermit
who? SSJ3
TURNKS 4 LIEF BABY!!!! Plus, you don't see that many old men characters
in JRPG's anymore because they're not young or pretty enough.
EDWARD
Spoony Bard
The prince of Damycan, who sometimes likes to disguise himself as a
wandering bard and prance through his kingdom anonymously . Edward is
possibly the most maligned character in Final Fantasy, with the
possible exceptions of maybe Quina and “Jar Jar” Wakka. I don't see how
anybody could have thought Edward might be a hit. “Okay,” someone at
Squaresoft must have said at a developers' meeting, “Final Fantasy II's
weakest character was Gordon, and Final Fantasy III's most useless
class was the Bard. You know what
I think would be a good idea? COMBINING THEM.”
Why he worked in '91: He didn't. By the way, his Japanese name is “Gilbert,” which somehow makes him sound even
more useless and wussy.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Because he sucks. Although – I
could totally see a Tetsuya Nomura revamp that has Edward dressing like
a Japanese glam rocker and fighting with a magical guitar, and it
scares the hell out of me.
YANG
Monk
Fabul's head monk is one bad mother. One bad mother. One one bad mad
mother mother mother mother. Okay, I got nothing. Yang's got the
standard JRPG monk profile: polite, humble, self-sacrificing, and a
hell of a hard kicker. The only person in the world stronger than him
is his wife.
Why he worked in '91: He's like the Black Belt class from the original Final Fantasy, only he's not boring as hell! And he makes stuff dead
fast.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Monks are
so passé. Barefisted fighters nowadays either have to be
hip badasses or
hot chicks.
PALOM
Black Mage
The male half of Mysidia's dynamic duo. Black mage prodigy Palom is
loud mouth and ill-behaved, in sharp contrast to his sibling Porom. He
and his twin sister are assigned by the Mysidian elder to guide Cecil
to the summit of Mount Ordeals.
Why he worked in '91: Chock full of what was then referred to as “'tude.”
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Maybe he would. The
magical twins concept still pops up now and then.
POROM
White Mage
Palom's twin sister is syrupy sweet and polite all the time, except
when she's yelling at and physically abusing her brother (which happens
fairly frequently). Porom's special powers include white magic,
pretending to cry, and the ability to synchronize her magic with
Palom's to unleash large scale devastation.
Why she worked in '91: Cute as a button.
Why she wouldn't work in '07: Two magical lolis in one
game? The fanboys' brains would shut down from oxygen deprivation as
their entire bloodstreams flooded into their groins. Killing your
customers is bad business.
CID
Engineer
A bearded fella from Baron who builds airships. He's like an uncle to Cecil and Rosa, and is
very protective of the latter.
Why he worked in '91: They don't come much quirkier. Plus, you'd
played Final Fantasy III, you'd recognize that he's a cross between the
Scholar and Viking jobs.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Nomura would never let Cid get away
with a beard like that. He'd also probably stick him in pink spandex. I
hate Tetsuya Nomura.
EDGE
Ninja
Prince and heir to the throne of Eblan, a nation whose entire military force consists of
ninjas.
How cool is that? Eblan, however, fell rather easily to the might of
Rubicante and his forces. Its people were driven into exile and its
king and queen went missing. Against all warning, Edge sets out on his
own to kill Rubicante and rescue his parents.
Why he worked in '91: Dual-wielding, Ninpo, throwing shurikens,
stealing…Edge has abilities out the wazoo. Plus, like Palom, he's got
that precious commodity of the early Nineties known as ‘tude.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Imagine: gawkily-animated Edge
flailing around the screen in 3-D, complete with lousy voiceover and
equally bad lip-synching. If Nomura ever decides to draw some extra
zippers on his outfit, we're in trouble.
FUSOYA
Lunarian
Eons ago, a planet existed whose orbit lay between Mars's and
Jupiter's. When it was somehow destroyed, its inhabitants used their
advanced technology to fashion a satellite and set it into orbit around
the “Blue Planet” as a second moon. These people, now called the
Lunarians, sleep in stasis deep beneath the surface, awaiting a time
when the people of the Blue Planet evolve to a point where
communication, trade, and eventual coexistence between the two races
becomes possible. FuSoYa alone has been assigned to remain awake and
watch over his slumbering race.
Why he worked in '91: Sweet merciful crap will you just
look at his spellbook…!
Why he wouldn't work in '07: You're no longer allowed to be an “old man” character in an RPG unless you are quirky, and FuSoYa is definitely
not quirky. Also, his eyebrows are freaky.
BAD GUYS
THE ANTLION
I wonder if Edward ever gets tired of being wrong and sucking at life all the time?
Why it worked in '91: Final Fantasy IV was the first JRPG to use
the ATB system, and the Antlion was the first boss to take advantage of
this and go crazy with physical counterattacks.
Why it wouldn't work in '07: Oh, why not. Every RPG needs a few throwaway bosses before the ominous metrosexuals in black coats start showing up.
THE DARK ELF
Astos lives! …But he seems to have abandoned the cunning machinator
shtick in favor of a role as an evil, mentally deficient goblin. He
inconveniences both sides in the battle over the Crystals by snatching
the Earth crystal from Tororia. Then, to make things tricky, he sets up
a magnetic forcefield inside his cave that make metal weapons and
equipment impossible to wield.
Why he worked in '91: Magnetic field was a damn cool idea.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: It was also damn annoying. Today's
audience is more concerned with story progression than challenge and
wouldn't appreciate a speed bump like this.
THE MAGUS SISTERS
Cindy, Sandy and Mindy are the faithful minions of Barbariccia the Wind
Fiend. Their signature move is the infamous DELTA ATTACK, though in its
first appearance here it really just consists of Mandy bouncing level
two elemental spells off the Wall'd Sandy.
Why they worked in '91: What part of DELTA ATTACK aren't you understanding?
Why they wouldn't work in '07: Needs more – you guessed it – more zazz. I'm thinking, I dunno…bug costumes.
DOCTOR LUGAE
After Cid refuses to develop any more technology for him, Golbez tosses
him in the dungeon and hires this nutjob to take his place. Dr. Lugae
is responsible for both the modified Red Wings and the giant cannon in
the Tower of Babil, but prefers working with biologics instead of
hardware...
Why he worked in '91: Yeesh. This guy
still creeps me out – especially after what he does to Edge's parents.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Everyone would accuse him of being a Hojo rip.
SCARMIGLION
The Four Fiends of the Elements get makeovers and new monikers from Dante's
Inferno,
and make their first (and only) 16-bit debut in Final Fantasy IV.
Scarmiglion is Lich version 2.0: the undead fiend of Earth with vast
necromantic powers and legions of shambling undead at his command.
Golbez orders him to intercept Cecil on Mount Ordeals and prevent him
from becoming a Paladin, knowing that Cecil's dark sword is next to
useless against the undead.
Why he worked in '91: Oh my god he isn't dead and he's coming at me from behind! Thrilling! Awesome!
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Oh my god he isn't dead and he's coming at me from behind! I didn't think to save! WTF HAX
CAGNAZZO
The Fiend of Water, who I guess is supposed to be some kind of evil
turtle thing. In addition to being able to summon tidal waves, he's as
tenacious as Scarmiglion and knows a thing or two about disguise.
Why he worked in '91: Well, he forces Palom and Porom to off
themselves to save the rest of the party. That's pretty high up there
on the villainy scale.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Just
look at him. Severe zazz deficiency.
BARBARICCIA
Probably better known to older fans as Valvalis. At any rate,
Barbariccia of the Wind lives in the floating mechanical tower of Zot
and doesn't wear a lot of clothes. Evidently, she also has a thing for
Kain.
Why she worked in '91: “Must stop her spin!!” “Kain…JUMP!!”
Why she wouldn't work in '07: She might, though I suspect she'd be one of those insufferable OHOHOHOHOHO chicks.
RUBICANTE
The Fiend of Fire is the strongest of the four, and probably the
coolest as well. (I will be honest: my AOL name in sixth grade was
definitely RUBICANT8.) He's still on the bad guys' team, but exercises
much more chivalry than his underhanded, sucker-punching cohorts. He
even makes a point of healing your party before throwing down so you
can fight him at your strongest.
Why he worked in '91: Was it Flame? LET ME SHOW YOU HOW IT'S DONE
Why he wouldn't work in '07: He might – his Cloak of Flames is
already pretty zazzy. But knowing Square Enix today, they'd also make
him beautiful and in love with Cecil.
GOLBEZ
It's whispered that the mysterious cloaked figure placed in command of
the Red Wings after Cecil's demotion and defection is also the one
really running Baron these days. (Insert Cheney joke here.) Golbez is
demoniacally cunning, harder to kill than a cockroach, and commands
incredible magical powers. Morever, he's got both the most powerful
nation in the world and the Four Fiends of the Elements directly under
his thumb. Whether or not he's even
human is questionable.
Why he worked in '91: Golbez is arguably the most competent villain in the history of Final Fantasy. The guy
never
loses. Though he does occasionally get caught off guard when a powerful
magic user shows up and blasts him without warning, Golbez always
manages to turn the circumstances of his defeat into an advantage. And
unlike even Kefka, the heroes
never have a definitive victory over Golbez: the guy just decides to stop fighting Cecil and go after Zemus instead.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: No flowing white locks. Doesn't show enough skin.
ZEMUS
A powerful Lunarian who didn't want to wait for the inhabitants of
Earth to evolve so the two races could coexist, Zemus thought it would
make a lot more sense to take the colonialist approach and simply take
over the planet. The rest of his race disagreed however, and forced him
into stasis against his will. Over the centuries, the dreaming Zemus
has telepathically manipulated events on the Blue Planet, patiently and
gradually engineering a cataclysm that will eradicate all terrestrial
life.
Why he worked in '91: He's such an evil bastard that even Golbez wants him dead. He
must be bad.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Necron Syndrome. Not that it would stop most JRPG developers anyway, but nowadays it really should.
ZEROMUS
Death only
increases
Zemus's hatred towards all life. Zeromus is the product of this hatred.
No, I don't get it either. Regardless, I hope you're up for some power
leveling before facing this guy.
Why he worked in '91: Seeing all your teammates and friends
appear to revive and cheer you on before the final showdown began was
pretty awesome before a.) virtually every other JRPG afterwards started
doing it b.) you had to sit through it 5,000 times because Zeromus kept
Big Banging you to death.
Why he wouldn't work in '07: Phantasy Star called; it wants its critter back. Needs more angel wings, too.
TO BE A REAL PALADIN…
Forward strides in
graphics and gameplay aside, Final Fantasy IV is most often lauded for
upping the ante in terms of the kind of story an RPG or adventure video
game is supposed to tell. Many, many fan reviews will heap more praise
upon the games for its plot and characters than anything else,
asserting that not only did it raise the bar but still has the best
story to tell of any RPG to date. This is sort of funny because – and I
say this both as someone who can't decide between Shakespeare and
creative writing graduate programs in grad school and with an extant
desire to get some sort of Final Fantasy tattoo – Final Fantasy IV's
story is damn ridiculous.
It's true. I love Final Fantasy IV, but I can almost guarantee you the
developers were making the story up as they went along. Another excerpt
from a Squaresoft meeting:
DEVELOPER #1: Okay, so the bad guys just snatched all the
crystals and we're about out of world map. I think it's about time for
a world-shaking cataclysm followed by a climactic showdown and final
boss fight, right?
DEVELOPER #2: Naw, dude. Sakaguchi says the final project's gotta be at least eight hours longer. Any ideas on how we go about doing that?
DEVELOPER #3: I got it! Why don't we just say there's four more crystals out there and they're all underground?
DEVELOPER #2: Works for me. I'll start palette swapping enemy
sprites and programming them in as stronger “dark” versions of
overworld monsters.
[A MONTH LATER]
DEVELOPER: So, uh…we can't think of anything else to have the
player do in the underworld, we're still a few hours short, and we
can't think of a way to wrap everything up. Sakaguchi-sama?
SAKAGUCHI: [looks up from sniffing glue and doodling a
bedroom-eyed Rydia in his notebook] Well duh! Isn't it obvious? NOW WE
GO TO THE MOON! And check it: let's also make it so the good guy and
the bad guy have been long lost brothers ALL ALONG and now have to set
aside their differences to battle a common foe! How's
that for some riveting storytelling?
DEVELOPER: Brilliant, sir. But, uh…who's gonna be the last boss, then?
SAKAGUCHI: I don't know. Some guy living on the moon, I guess. What the hell am I paying you for?
You think of something.
And even though the characters in Final Fantasy IV do and say a hell of
a lot more than the casts of every 8-bit JRPG combined, they're still
fairly flat. With the possible exceptions of Kain and Cecil (and the
latter gets a lot less interesting after he gives up being a Dark
Knight), everyone spends the game signing the same songs. It's
sometimes like watching an episode of Pokemon:
ROSA: Cecil! Save me!
RYDIA: Innocence innocence innocence!
EDGE: Arrogant and boisterous! Arrogant and boisterous!
RYDIA: Innocence?
EDGE: Boisterous! Arrogant, arrogant? Boisterous!
CID: Kook! Kook kook! KOOK!
ROSA: SAAAAVE ME, CECIL!
But here's the thing: none of this matters. Final Fantasy IV's story is
simple and silly, but that's not where its appeal lies. Final Fantasy
IV is a great game because it gives you a five-member party, a magical
spaceship, and hordes of vicious monsters, demons, and aliens to rip up
ATB style. It's just
fun.
There's still no denying it that opened the floodgates, though. If
Final Fantasy IV wasn't the turning point itself, it was one of several
16-bit JRPG's that triggered the genre's increasing focus on
storytelling. The end result of the process set in motion by Final
Fantasy IV and its ilk are newer franchises like Xenosaga and .hack, in
which the actual gameplay elements – battles, dungeons, stat/ability
progression – are simplified and user-friendly to the extent where they
sometimes feel like an afterthought.
Or padding. Story and presentation get a
far
wider cut of the budget. (If you think I recently shelled out forty
bucks for .hack//G.U. Volume 2 because I was excited about the new
scythe weapon, you're crazier than I am.) I have a friend who watched
all of the cutscenes from Final Fantasy XII on YouTube so she wouldn't
have to put forty hours into actually
playing the game. If
that's not bad sign for Final Fantasy and its genre, I don't know what
is. But enough for now; we'll talk more about this when we get to VIII
and X. Just you wait.
CONCLUSION!
Final Fantasy IV – with its stubby characters, straightforward ability
system, fairy tale setting, and admittedly dated graphics and sound –
bears very little resemblance to today's JRPG's, and that really might
be a good thing. It's old school enough to have that retro charm, but
still
far
from feeling primitive and dated. I'll spare you the SQUARE HAS GONE TO
THE DARK SIDE rant (for now), and just say that this is Final Fantasy
the way Allah intended. It's cartoony, fast-paced, packed with
monstrous bosses, and while it's got a story to tell, it's more
interested in striving to be the best video game of its kind than the
best interactive storybook. I want the SNES back.
VERDICT::
4.5 out of 5 Red Wings!
That's that. Now I'm gonna play .hack//G.U. for a few hours and then sob myself to sleep.
