Today marks 25 years since the original Final Fantasy released on the Famicom in Japan. By now, most fans are familiar with the origin story: Square’s last hope at making a hit before they packed up their bags was met with solid success, and thus, a franchise was born. It became the unmistakable face of Square, Squaresoft, and then Square Enix. Most fans on this side of the pond weren’t along for the full 25-year ride, myself included, but everyone starts somewhere. As any fan of any Final Fantasy game knows: there are a lot of good points to jump in.
So here we are, on the cusp of 2013, getting ready for another year of new Final Fantasy announcements, reveals, and releases. This week we’ll see more of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII making a proper debut, and throughout the first part of 2013 we’ll be invested in details from the game as well as the forthcoming release of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. There’s definitely a lot to look forward to.
But, as anniversaries are, it naturally has us looking fondly to the past to compare that to our present and the future. As someone who’s been following the Final Fantasy series news for years going back to days of downloading the Square Millennium Event videos over dial-up, I have a few observations I’d like to share with you — especially ones that involve the state of the franchise lately.
One of these subjects that I see crop up in conversations is the “Final Fantasy feel” and how recent titles have lacked that feeling. What is it exactly? Who does that feeling belong to? Personally, I think this expression is a bit weak getting the underlying emotion across — so let me try to interpret it as I see it.
We’ve come to understand the Final Fantasy series as one that changes with each major iteration while keeping a specific formula — that core “feel”. Do you get this feeling by sticking in a world map or a mascot characters? Do you get this feeling from having a specific person direct or score the title?
Perhaps. But I think that’s a small part of it.
All of the elements of Final Fantasy titles: story, music, combat, art style — they are key to its execution and success which isn’t dissimilar to any other beloved video game series. But, what I think Final Fantasy has going for it is an approachability, getting people to bite, and taking them on an adventure they weren’t expecting. Over the years, Final Fantasy has maintained an image that appeals to a teenage audience demographic, and many of us were teenagers ourselves when we first became acquainted.
Is that to say that longtime fans have become dissuaded by newer Final Fantasy titles because of their seemingly sophomoric approach? Are they “getting too old” for Final Fantasy? No and no. When I think of Final Fantasy in respect to this, I think of some of the animated films of Disney’s Renaissance in the late 1980s to 1990s. You might think the concept of a bunch of animated cartoon animals was a ploy to get children into the theater, but as anyone who has seen them knows: the living and breathing heart of the films is that they have something — a story in them for everyone.
I feel that from a video games perspective, that this is a role Final Fantasy has played well.
A fandom at odds with itself seems to come with the territory when you have so many viable “entry points” into the series. Which is best? What is the ideal? Many bill themselves as a theory-crafter, expert, or the voice of the community levying judgment on each new title. Title versus title, ad nauseum. Why not sweep that kind of discourse under the rug? As a fan of the series fan, I used to despise it, thinking: “all of these titles people bicker about are great and through the nature of the internet there is only vitriol”. While it’s still true to some respect, over time, I began to pry in between peoples’ statements to get what I really wanted to know — what interested me almost as much as the games themselves:
“What is it about this Final Fantasy game that makes it so special to you?”
In the end, I found it a more interesting pursuit than proving the merits and faults of each game.
With the above in mind, we undoubtedly need to take a look at where we are now. We have two major releases in the coming year: Lightning Returns and A Realm Reborn. We have a third game in a trilogy, and the reboot of a MMORPG that released two years ago. When I wrote earlier about Final Fantasy fans expecting titles to take them to new places, it obviously puts these games between a rock and a hard place. We’re well familiar with the Final Fantasy XIII and its reception by now, and Final Fantasy XIV is essentially a face-lift (meant in the strongest sense) of a previous game that disenchanted many with the idea that Final Fantasy would continue to be a great series in its current hands.
You could easily use my own words against me in this situation.
“These new Final Fantasy games aren’t special because they’re taking us to the same games again (that we may not have liked anyway), so what’s there to be excited for?”
It’s no mistake to assume that Lightning Returns and A Realm Reborn were met with a controversial and lukewarm reception. Final Fantasy Type-0 and Bravely Default: Flying Fairy also remain in limbo, new titles that had initial enthusiasm that has waned over months of no localization details. We haven’t even mentioned Final Fantasy Versus XIII yet. When some refer to the current state of franchise as weak, it’s not hard to agree. Is that a reason to give up entirely? Hardly.
We know little about Lightning Returns yet. From what Square Enix has divulged it seems that the game’s experience will be quite different from its predecessors. Sure, that’s not enough to sell people nor convince them that it’d be worthwhile for Square Enix to attempt. However, as more information comes out, we should hold it to reasonable expectations — we should consider that if the game itself is in earnest trying to deliver a new experience that a second look isn’t going to hurt.
A Realm Reborn all the same. Director/producer Naoki Yoshida has made it no secret that he feels the Final Fantasy brand has been significantly damaged, and is doing everything in his power to regain fan trust, albeit through a major “redo” of Final Fantasy XIV. However, this shouldn’t equate to bowing to the big voices in the fandom saying “FFXIV should be like this”; a strong creative vision as well as an understanding of the Final Fantasy experience is going to deliver without resorting to sticking old tropes in for a few veterans’ sake.
I believe these two games will serve as a “competency test” for Square Enix going into the future, as Lightning Returns represents older talent trying to do something new with a twice-used experience and Final Fantasy XIV being in the hands of relatively talent that has everything to prove to a skeptical and cynical audience.
Much is at stake. As much cynicism and doubt flows through the Final Fantasy community today, the fans know the “Final Fantasy feel” when they see it. I’m confident that in its presence, the fans’ praise will return. As we head into the 25th year of the Final Fantasy series, one thing should be certain: Square Enix needs to convince us that it knows how to make a Final Fantasy they and fans can be proud of.
So, to celebrate the series I invite you to share what about the Final Fantasy series interested you in the first place. That extends to respectful discourse about why your favorite Final Fantasy is what it is compared to the others, or your general expectations for Square Enix going forward. I’ll enjoy reading your responses!
(Sumber :http://www.finalfantasy.net/category/xiv/ )
