Final Fantasy Means Science-Fantasy!

by Jeff Zimmerman 

In response to the editorial, Science-Fantasy, I would first like to say that SQUARE has made no real changes in its regime of fantasy to a total mind-set of science fiction. True, Xenogears is mostly science-fiction, but there's a degree of religion in it as well, so the mysticism retains its position as an important plot factor. However, one must notice that Xenogears is NOT a Final Fantasy game, and therefore does not follow the same fantastical requirement that the Final Fantasies do.

I have heard a number of people wonder, "Why do they call it FINAL Fantasy when there are so many sequels?" Well, I believe that the word "final" has a much more profound meaning in Final Fantasy than just as a cool word that catches people's attention. Each game in the Final Fantasy series has had, in some way, an extreme connection to the world of science fiction. The only difference between, say, Final Fantasy I and Final Fanasty VII is that the battle between fantasy and science fiction has become more of a cooperation of the two in harmony.

In Final Fantasy I, your characters could fight, use an item, run, or use magic. Certainly no science there! But many forget that these pixelated travellers also discover a whole new world filled with robots, war-mechs, and the technologically floating city from which they can look down on their fantasy world below. They feel out of place, as though they are not in their realm, when in fact they are in the world of Final Fantasy, the LAST of the fire, lighting, ice, and cure, and the beginning of bionic surgery, plasma weapons, eclectricity conductiong currents within the walls, and the soul of technology.

Not one of the Final Fantasies does not have a certain degree of science in them; some more than others, but it's always there. Final Fantasy III (VI) took place after the destruction of the fantasy portion of the world, and actually depicted a small rebirth of magic, until eventually magic is gone from the world and technology rules again. Some Final Fantasies display what, externally, is a story of good's triumph over evil, but in reality is the undecisive battle between science and fantasy. One character in Final Fantasy VII, Bugenhagen, is the perfect example of how technology and fantasy mesh and combine to form the most beautiful of devices. When he first enters the Highwind, he praises its whirring machinery, just as he knows the importance of magic as well. In Final Fantasy VII, it's almost as if the technology would be useless without the magic, and the magic would be useless without the technology.

And thus, while other non-Final Fantasy games may diverge from the role of fantasy into the realm of science-fiction, the FINAL in Final Fantasy will retain its symbolic significance.