Putting the Fantasy Back into Final Fantasy

by Matt Blackie

It's no secret that Final Fantasies have been becoming more and more hi-tech and incorporating more and more science-fiction elements. If you look at the first Final Fantasy, and then at each installment along the way, all the way to Final Fantasy VIII, you'll see a gradual increase in the level of technology.

If you ask any science-fiction or fantasy writer what the difference is between the two genres, this will probably come up somewhere in their explanation: Science-fiction describes what could be, but isn't, while fantasy describes what can't be. That statement basically sums up what the two genres are and how they're different.

If you've ever read any fantasy novels, you'll notice that often times there is little effort, if any at all, put into explaining forces such as magic. It's taken for granted that magic is here, and that it doesn't have a rational explanation. That's what makes it magic. All of the Final Fantasies from I to VI followed this example.

In Final Fantasy VI, even though magic had died out in the human world, and had to be acquired through the use of Espers, it was never explained how the Espers got their magic, simply because then it wouldn't be magic anymore; those mystical forces can't, or shouldn't be rationally explained away, because that would defeat the purpose. Likewise, Final Fantasy VI has another mark in its favor: the half-breed, Terra. Rational biology would state that Terra would be a genetic impossibility, but then again, the fantasy world doesn't attempt to rationally explain how she was concieved. She just was.

Final Fantasy VII breaks this long-held tradition of fantasy. But wait, you say! Final Fantasy VII had magic - don't you recall the Materia? Yes, I do, and in fact, the very presence of Materia is what causes FF7 to stray from the path of fantasy.

During the scenes in which we see parts of Cloud's past, Sephiroth explains to Tifa about the nature of Materia. I can't recall verbatim what he said, but the general idea was this: The force that people call "magic" really isn't magical or mystical at all; it's just a rational, explainable phenominon. Explaining magic away somehow takes the feel of impossible fantasy away, and replaces it with uninteresting scientific fact.

The world of FF7 attests to this. Your average Joe could walk into almost any shop across the globe, and with the correct funds, buy himself a piece of Materia as easily as he could buy himself a hamburger at the local restaraunt. A mystical, magical force wouldn't be so easily for sale; a shopkeeper wouldn't take inventory on how much of this Materia or that Materia he has left; delivery trucks wouldn't carry shipments of boxed, crystalline mysticism to a local retailer near you.

Given, Final Fantasy Tactics went back to the old FF feel. There was technology and long-lost machinery, as in the previous installments, but the force of magic was just that: magical. No rationale, no scientific explanation. It's magic. However, while FFT was a pleasant return to the old days of FF, it wasn't exactly a mainstream title, nor was it given a number like the 'real' Final Fantasies.

I've steered away from information regarding FF8, so I can't say whether or not magic will be explained away as it was in FF7. However, to be perfectly frank, I do believe that it will be done. I fully believe that "magic" in FF8 will end up being some sort of scientific reality instead of the mysterious unknown force that it was truly meant to be.

So what do we need to do to put the fantasy back into Final Fantasy? Well, one might start by stop explaining magic. The entire basis of magic is that it's unexplainable. Another good idea would be to bring back the elves and dwarves and mysterious other races. Having only humans in a fantasy world goes for less-than-wonderful storytelling. The games won't be (and aren't) necessarily boring or uninteresting, but adding other races would add a lot to the milieu.