You just don't get it, do you?

by Nick Uson

Since Final Fantasy VII's release in September of '97, I have been one of the most outspoken critics of the game, the company that made it, and the entire RPG industry as a whole. I've tried literally hundreds of times to explain to anyone who was quick to attack my character, intelligence, and overall humanity with respect when they showed me none. Admittedly, I've never had the greatest talent when it comes to remaining civil for long, but I've made an effort.

When ignorant, close-minded people like Matt Blackie assume ignorant, close-minded things and claim them as fact like he did in his "Sqaure: They're The Good Guys" editorial, it insults me on a number of levels. First of all, the fact that they quickly dispense with the polite, civil, and cliche "It's their opinion and to each his own" [paraphrased] comment is quickly overshadowed by the fact that its plain to see they don't mean what they say and already had it in their heads when they typed in the first character of their letter that they didn't pay much attention to anything than their own preconceived notions on the subject.

Secondly, it insults me because they cite the wrong examples. Generally speaking, the group of people who weren't satisfied with Final Fantasy VII and currently aren't satisfied with SquareSoft are old-school RPG players who grew up on the Final Fantasy series. These players have always tended to be outspoken when it comes to certain gameplay elements, but have never been so extreme as to cry betrayal because of them. To say that Final Fantasy VII is a bad game because of its ending or that Aeris died is like saying that Bob Ross is a bad artist because he uses the wrong brush strokes. To begin with, its art. In art, there can be no true "wrong." Frankly, I don't know with whom you hold your conversations on this subject, but I would suggest perhaps finding someone older than 10 to talk with.

Personally, I feel that the American version of Final Fantasy VI is the greatest game of all time. It is a simple fact that there are more actual story elements from VI's story than VII's, which is mostly just useless speculation [who could forget the "I think Final Fantasy VII's planet is evil" converstation].

I agree with your comments on why Square changed the US versions. I've never heard anyone with actual knowledge of the history of the RPG industry try to contest that.

In regard to Final Fantasy V, I found it a shallow and un-enjoyable game. It lacked any kind of real character depth and the story was too...blah, to be exciting on any level. The gameplay was creative but wasn't so entertaining that it made me overlook the bland story.

But enough meaningless jargon, it's time to get to the heart of the issue. Final Fantasy VII was indeed lacking in the story department [for the record, I speak for no one but myself], and I'll tell you why: compared to the epic adventures of previous Final Fantasy games, it was a cheap daytime soap opera. However, it wasn't the story that made it so bad, it was the plot.

People complain that Kefka was a "cardboard cutout of a villain". The majority of the poeple who say this never bothered to explore Vector and discover that he was the first of Cid's guinea pigs for the Magitek experiments. Since Cid didn't really know what he was doing [case in point: the fact that he was trying to extract magecite from the Espers rather than just letting them die and get the true form of it], the experiment went horribly wrong and drove Kefka insane.

Sephiroth, on the other hand, "suffered" through the whole Jenova saga. This had great potential of being entertaining, but was killed by the overall lack of thoughtfulness on the part of the writers. Rather than seeing the damage Sephiroth had wreaked upon the land, or watching him in action in some explosive way, we got city residents to tell us they saw him walking east. A few giant Weapons and a crater on the Northern Continent? Blah. Kefka destroyed the world.

The other main argument against the game is that the characters were weak. Obviously, this is something I don't disagree with. Cloud Strife was the most shallow, annoying, and preconceived character in RPG history. Like most everything else in this game, he too had potential, but failed miserably when it came to executing the ideas. His memories were too mucked up to truly show you his pain and actually make you care for him. His supposed love for Tifa or Aeris was just one of the many ploys to sell to the demographic.

Which leads me to my next subject, one that has been widely ignored by the masses. Final Fantasy VII was an immoral game. Not in the way you're thinking. Nope, not because of any religious issues, or because Cloud goes to bed with Aeris/Tifa, but because it not only sold out one of the dynasties of the RPG industry, the Final Fantasy series, but it sold out the rest of the industry as well. And it was designed to do so.

I'm sure you're scratching your head. You've probably never heard of this before, or never even thought about thinking about it crossing your mind. What I mean is simple: Final Fantasy VII was loveless, it was designed to do nothing but make a ton of money, and that is the sole reason why it lacked any substance. If you look at a game like Final Fantasy IV, you can see that there was a lot of heart put into the games. You get the feeling that the programmers and writers had some late night sessions to make sure they made a great product. I don't know about the rest of you, but that's what made me so enamored with SquareSoft in the first place.

Lately though, it seems that both the people who played the games and the company that made them have lost sight of that. It's been said that Cloud's sword is Freudian because it is so enormous. I wouldn't fight that. The target demographic for not just Final Fantasy VII but pretty much every video game in existence today is male, 12-16. Subliminally, why do you think so many people who play the game are so infatuated with the character?

And why do you think Baret is so popular? He's one of the first black characters I've ever seen in an RPG. He appeals to that demographic as well. Disagree? Why does he seemingly try so hard to get all those ebonics words out? Makes perfect sense to me.

Tifa and Aeris are obviously every male's fantasy. On one hand, you have Aeris who looks like a gorgeous and buxom supermodel just waiting to be...looked at. On the other, there's Aeris, who's also a very cute and innocent girl. She represents the "girl next door" fantasy. Top it off with the fact that the player who is represented by big "sworded" Cloud gets to choose who he wants to bed, and you've got yourself a winner.

Oh yeah, and the fancy, flashy graphics helped too.

When you compare these characters to Terra Branford of Final Fantasy VI, you can automatically see the difference in depth. A young woman named Madonna happened into the world of Espers, who had sealed themselves away from humanity because of the great injustices they had created in trying to wield too much power.

Madonna fell in love with Maduin, an Esper, and Terra was the result. Later, Ghestal and Kefka attempt to unlock the sealed gate and succeed. In a moment of confusion and fear for her child, Madonna desperately hands Terra to the first person she sees, who unfortunately is the evil Emperor Ghestal. The Emperor being the evil, greedy, and power-hungry guy that he is, realizes Terra's half-breed nature and kills Madonna. Terra is now under total control from the Empire.

Rather than just rasing her in the ways of the hateful empire, Ghestal takes no chances with his new secret weapon and places a Slave Crown on her head to ensure that she will forever remain his slave. However, in the Empire's obvious ignorance when it comes to the true nature of the power of Magecite and the Espers, they send Terra to a small mining town called Narshe, where rumors have been running rampant of a recently discovered frozen Esper.

When she finally reaches the Esper, she has a strange interaction with it and thus one of the most complex, in-depth, and epic stories in RPG, nay, video game history gets of to a somewhat mysterious start.

Not half that much could be said about any of Final Fantasy VII's characters without at least some of it being speculation. And no, ambiguity isn't an excuse. It's a cop-out.

Yup, I paid around sixty dollars for Final Fantasy VII. Yes, in your eyes I probably would be seen as complaining rather than sharing my opinion. Forgive me if I'm wrong though, but isn't that what you've done in countless editorials before, Mr. Blackie? Before anyone can place any kind of judgment on anything, self examination is required. Before all of us who play RPG's and are so eager to get on our soap boxes harping our latest opinion start chirping away, don't you think its time for us to listen to each other and actually think about what's going on? If that was so, this debate would have ended a long time ago.

Original Editorial: Square: They're the Good Guys