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The History Of Final Fantasy

January 30, 2010

Tags: Final Fantasy, PS2 Games
Posted in: PS2 Games

The History Of Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy
Original System: Famicom (NES)
Japanese release: 18 Dec, 1987
US release: 12 Jul, 1990

An American first established the template that would go on to define the Japanese RPG. Henk Rogers, the man who would later bring Tetris to the world, designed, wrote and released the first Dungeons and Dragons-style game in Japan in 1984 – a game that went on to sell 150,000 copies. The following year Enix took the format, dressed it in anime-style visuals and a grand story and released Dragon Quest, the game that firmly established the RPG as Japan’s favourite videogame genre.
Hironobu Sakaguchi, founder of the small Tokyo-based game developer Square, looked at these developments with keen interest. His company had achieved modest success with the clutch of titles it had developed and released but on nothing like the scale needed to secure its future.

Sakaguchi decided to take a gamble and devise a JRPG of his own. He invested the last of the company’s capital in this last ditch attempt to make a success of it. Final Fantasy was named after the gambit as, if it sank at retail, it would be the final game the company could afford to develop.

The game, of course, defied its pessimistic title. Not only did Sakaguchi and his team manage to create a rip-roaring videogame story of knights, crystals and world-saving but also a team-based battle system that was engaging enough to last the course of the adventure. While the game can be tortuous to play today (especially in its original NES guise, with a lack of world map, constant flurry of battles and rudimentary sprites), its vision and ambition is still clear. The original Final Fantasy should be celebrated for laying down the framework upon which all subsequent games bearing its name were built.

Final Fantasy II
Original System: Famicom (NES)
Japanese release: 17 Dec, 1988

Only available in Japan until recently, Final Fantasy II is significant for establishing recurring series themes such as Cid, chocobos (here coloured white not yellow) and orphans for lead protagonists. In contrast to the first game, players assume the roles of four pre-named characters (Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon) that level up their offensive and defensive statistics randomly though repetition of moves. Headed up by Akitoshi Kawazu, it’s generally considered the weakest entry to the core series.

Final Fantasy III
Original System: Famicom (NES)
Japanese release: 27 April, 1990

The third entry was perhaps the first truly pioneering triumph; the previous games mainly copying Enix’s Dragon Quest template. Once again the story focused on the four young orphans, but its visuals pushed the Famicom system to its limit. As well as Moogles (originally called Moglies in Japan), summon creatures, the fat chocobo and his gyshall greens, FFII established floating hit points when characters dealt or received damage, the beloved job system, and the first special commands such as ‘Steal’ to the series.

Final Fantasy IV
Original System: Super Famicom (SNES)
Japanese release: 19 Jul, 1991
US Release: 23 Nov, 1991

While the move from NES to SNES brought with it an obvious graphical upgrade, it was the game’s more serious approach to storytelling that really captured the imagination. Casting the player as a noble knight sworn by oath to serve his king and country yet unsure of the ethics of these masters, FFIV’s storyline was by far the most ambitious in the series so far. The narrative’s core creativity was further enhanced by a dazzling translation by Ted Woolsey, the American responsible for localising each of the Super Nintendo-era Final Fantasy games into English. His neat turn of phrase and humourous interpretation of the original Japanese is part of the reason that FFIV is the first truly enjoyable title of the series’ formative years for contemporary gamers.

Final Fantasy V
Original System: Super Famicom (SNES)
Japanese release: 6 Dec, 1992

After the plot-heavy previous game, FFV shifted its emphasis onto the battle system, giving the heart of the JRPG a severe overhaul. Principle among its innovations was the Active Battle System, which made the amount of time you took to input a command a factor in deciding the order of moves. The game also widened the scope of the job class system that encouraged the mastery of up to 22 different job classes, all with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Original System: Super Nintendo
US release: 5 Oct, 1992

Designed and produced by Square’s American office, Mystic Quest was intended to be a JRPG-lite, with low difficulty and more basic rules to ease Western gamers into the complexity of the genre. In reality, the game was far too simplistic to be much fun, and the fact that Square decided to release it instead of the vastly superior Final Fantasy V in America embittered many fans.

Final Fantasy VI
Original System: Super Famicom (SNES)
Japanese release: 2 Apr, 1994

Unusually for a JRPG, FFVI features a large ensemble cast instead of a single protagonist. The set-pieces, such as an impromptu opera or six months spent on a desert island, stand out too, as does the arch-villain Kefka, whom you pursue over the course of the adventure. The battle system may be more orthodox than other entries, but as each character has their own unique move list, the designers were thoroughly creative with animations and attacks.

Final Fantasy VII
Original System: Sony PlayStation
Japanese release: 31 Jan, 1997

The most-returned videogame of all time? Perhaps, if rumours are true. But there’s no denying that the seventh mainline FF game is also one of the most important. With 330 CG maps and 40 minutes of full motion video representing over two years work by over 100 full-time team members at a cost of over $45 million, FFVII broke numerous records upon its debut on Sony’s PlayStation in 1997. Moreover, set within a steampunk-style world, the game’s themes about pollution and corporations’ treatment of the earth were previously untouched by the series. But by personalising its ethical dilemmas with some of the most iconic character designs seen in the medium, FFVII managed to educate and challenge without preaching to a disinterested audience. In doing so, it booted its chosen genre firmly into the mainstream for the first time.

Final Fantasy Tactics
Original System: Sony PlayStation
Japanese release: 20 June, 1997

The first true Final Fantasy spin-off into another genre is also one of the best. A chess-like Tactical RPG in the style of Advance Wars, it was the first game to be designed and directed by Yasumi Matsuno, who would go on to produce other Square-Enix classics such as Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII.

Final Fantasy VIII
Original System: Sony PlayStation
Japanese release: 11 Feb, 1999

FFVIII’s traditionally proportioned characters, real-
world setting and emo teenage lead was the series’ first concerted stab towards realism. The less stylised graphical approach paid off, making FFVIII one of the highest grossing. While it still has fans today, it has failed to endure in the same way as FFVII. Its legacy of more realistic character design and teen dramatics may have reappeared in FFX, but it’s perhaps telling that there’s been no mass petition for a remake.

Final Fantasy IX
Original System: Sony PlayStation
Japanese release: 7 Jul, 2000

After two games set in steampunk fantasy worlds and one set within the grounds of a high school drama, FFIX represented a return to the series’ roots of knights, castles and honour. It was a chance for Square’s founder, Sakaguchi, to revisit the kind of fantasy world found in his first games. FFIX was a graphical triumph, though its whimsical visual style failed to win over audiences in the same way as FFVIII’s realism had. This back-to-roots approach delighted those disillusioned by the series’ courting of the mainstream. Today FFIX retains a great deal of its charm, and, thanks to the heavily stylized approach, the aesthetics have arguably aged the best of the PlayStation-era FF titles.

Final Fantasy X
Original System: Sony PlayStation 2
Original Release: 19 Jul, 2001

The shift to the next generation of consoles allowed FF’s backgrounds to be 3D. The greater amount of disc space also allowed characters to be voiced. While critics began to turn on the series, fans were blown away by its scale and ambition. The predefined character progression paths were exchanged for an open and customisable board game-style development grid. FFX was certainly responsible for bringing in new fans – however, the visual innovations are undercut by the strange story and unlikeable lead characters.

Final Fantasy XI
Original System: Sony PlayStation 2
Original Release: 16 May, 2002

With no previous experience in the field, Square’s decision to trade the single player linear RPG format for a Massively Multiplayer Online approach for the eleventh game in the series was astonishing. The first ever cross-platform MMORPG, allowing gamers across Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 2 to play together, Final Fantasy XI had around 200-300,000 players logging in per day at the height of its popularity. While these figures have dwindled in the shadow of World of Warcraft, Square-Enix has not been put off from the genre. Final Fantasy XIV will follow in XI’s footsteps as the second MMO to bear the series’ name.

Final Fantasy X-2
Original System: PlayStation 2
Japanese release: 13 Mar, 2003

The first direct sequel to a mainline FF game, focused on the three core female characters from FFX. A J-Pop soap opera, it’s wholly incongruous to the rest of the franchise, and well worth a play through because of it.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Original System: Nintendo GameCube
Japanese release: 8 Aug, 2003

Square’s return to Nintendo hardware was of mixed success. An offline multiplayer RPG, the game’s clunky execution spoiled its good ideas, which were improved upon in the more recent DS sequels.

Final Fantasy XII
Original System: Sony PlayStation 2
Japanese release: 16 Mar, 2006

FFXII overhauled almost every mechanical element in the series. While still a sprawling epic adventure with hundreds and thousands of monsters, turn-based random battles are discarded for in situ, free-flowing fights that owe far more to MMOs than orthodox JRPGs. Thanks to the Gambit system, which allows hundreds of AI directions to automatically set the behaviours of your team while they fight on screen, you act more like a team manager than a combatant in battles. Also, rather than following the standard narrative of orphan to world-saviour, FFXII’s plot focuses on grand political drama. FFXII is one of the most interesting JRPGs ever made; its attempts to reinvent the genre often successful. But for fans that just wanted more of the same, its innovations were a step too far and, despite its creativity and exemplary execution, its relative commercial failure will likely ensure its innovations are left behind in the future of the series.

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