Sci-Fi Elements in Final Fantasy

by Jacob Holloway

With the release of Final Fantasy VIII people have again begun to criticize Square's series for incorporating science fiction themes and elements into its more recent games. The last two installments, Final Fantasy VII and VIII, have been attacked by RPG traditionalists for abandoning the fantasy settings which were found in earlier games. Apparently, these people only want to play RPGs that have dragons, wizards, castles, and knights in them. And this vocal minority does not want the rest of us to reap the benefits of more varied games. Science fiction elements in recent Final Fantasies is good for the genre and benefits RPG players.

Nearly all RPGs made prior to FF7 occurred in a fantasy world and all of them made now still have heavy fantasy influences in them. The sheer number of fantasy RPGs out now staggers the mind. If I listed even half of them the list would be longer than I intend this editorial to be. People who like fantasy RPGs should be satisfied with the fact that the majority of the market catered to them for an entire decade.

These traditionalists claim that every RPG being made now takes place in a technological world. They are forgetting Legend of Mana, Breath of Fire IV, Grandia, Suikoden II, Legend of Dragoon, and many others currently in development that all take place in a fantasy setting. Fantasy RPGs have always and will always be around just as they should be.

These fantasy traditionalists also seem to overlook the fact that technology has always been a part of most role playing games. Chrono Trigger had time travel, robots, and even a final boss from outter space. Final Fantasy III had locomotives, factories, and magitek armor ("tek" = "tech" = "technology") And the famous airships are found in nearly all the Final Fantasy games. So if their hatred is really focused against technological plot devices I can't see why they like those previous games as they do.

But science fiction elements and technology can be excellent means for moving a story forward if used correctly. Many plots simply wouldn't work without technology. Chrono Trigger uses time travel, Final Fantasy VII (the best selling RPG in America to date) mixes fantasy and science fiction elements beautifully, Xenogears (another fan favorite) has a world full of technology and the giant robots used by your party are even referred to in its title (though for some reason I've never heard anyone complain about this game not being in a fantasy world) Those games could not have been made if all RPGs had to, by law, be set in a fantasy universe. And many more won't be made if those traditionalists get their way.

These elements add diversity to the genre. They give us choices. I don't see why someone would want to deprive another of a choice such as this. Sci-Fi components attract new players to the genre, people who would not otherwise have played an RPG if they were all of the swords and sorcery variety. And they attract new programmers and developers as well, this adds more ability to the talent pool and will only benefit all RPG players, even the traditionalists. It is good for the genre as a whole to have some games that embrace technology, some that harken back to the world of fantasy and even some that occur in a modern setting. This diversity only helps the genre as a whole and RPG players in particular. There will always be room for all types of role playing games. I respect the right of traditionalists to play only fantasy "save the princess" role playing games. I wish they would respect my right to enjoy the entire spectrum of games the genre has to offer.