RPGs for the Modern World

by Benjamin Avner 

It's become stylish lately to gripe about how much better RPGaming used to be in the "good old days," and gripe about newer RPGs such as Final Fantasy VII. Two of the most common targets are difficulty and 'fantasy elements.' Several editorials have already properly addressed the difficulty issue (most recently, Shawn Bruckner's "The Difficulty Factor: Who are we Challenging?"). There are also several editorials discussing the fantasy issue, but my opinion differs enough that I think I should make my opinions known.

From the beginning, the Final Fantasy series has never been straight-out fantasy. There were always some elements of technology involved, whether it was the relics of Lefien in FFI, the Empire's Warship in FFII, Baron's technology and the Giant of Bab-il in FFIV, and whatever else added a bit of spice to the world. In the more recent Final Fantasy games, technology and 'futuristic' elements have taken on a larger role, until we arrive at Final Fantasy VII, which is pretty much evenly divided between nature, magic, and technology. The game begins in Midgar, where darkness, smog, and machines reign supreme, and many of the ads showed clips from near the beginning. People panicked upon seeing the promos and the first few minutes of the game, and, pressing their logic to the limit, declared that FFVII was a sci-fi game, and there was no actual 'fantasy' in it. Most of the people who feel this way have not played the game for long enough to realize that the fantasy and magic elements are still there, they're just mixed with sci-fi-ish stuff; a nice balance, as far as I'm concerned.

Michael J. Greenhunt ("Save the Elves and Dwarves, etc.") cites the disappearance of Elves and Dwarves as a decline in fantasy elements. My response to this is, so what? There's no law that says fantasy has to have elves or dwarves; they're more clichéd than anything else, really. FFI had a world dominated by humans, except for a few token elves and dwarves, with no particular reason for being there other than fantasy traditions. It seems Square learned their lesson; in FFIV, there is no town of elves because it would be wrong to put in a token town of elves for no reason other than some inane idea that fantasy requires elves. The dwarves in the same game are properly used, because they have a purpose, and never feel like an afterthought. FFVII also properly deals with the fact the humans outnumber the other sentient races. The Moogles/Mogs/Moguri seem to have pretty much gone into hiding, the Cetra become extinct, and Red XIII's species comes close to the same fate.

At first glimpse, there was something that bothered me about FFVII. Now, I don't mind it anymore, but I'll admit that when I first played, I was bothered by the Midgar's gritty look. I still haven't really gotten used to Cid puffing on that cigarette. Now I realize what the problem was; as Greenhunt mentions, it's startling to see the newer games with the grunge and dirt so lacking in older games. After thinking about it for awhile, I've realized that this too is a good thing. I'd like to think that RPGs have moved beyond the stage where, despite the Evil Force having the power to destroy the world, the world somehow remains uniformly green and pretty. The fact is, the world shouldn't be an overly pleasant place, particularly during a major battle. A total departure from fantasy and nature would bother me, but that's not what FFVII represents at all. Would the Sleeping Forest seem quite so tranquil without having seen Midgar's slums? I think not. The incorporation of non-fantasy elements has added a new dimension to RPGs that a cliché-filled Tolkienesque world cannot. Regardless of the setting, I'm attracted to Square's games because of their depth, not because of the presense or absense of an elf or two.