FMV Ruining Final Fantasy

by Michael V. Colianna

Every editorial I've read so far, arguing either for or against Square's latest installment in their Final Fantasy series, has been about the setting. Most of what I've seen has been something along the lines of "Oh my, FF went from a fantasy game to a science fiction one!" or "I like the swords more than the guns!" I've seen all the presented sides of this argument so many times already, but most of the people I've conferred with have a different concern in mind, one I've never seen argued at all in any direction, one with which I agree.

FMV. Why is it that people accept FMV? Sure, the animation is great and all. Sure, the image quality is excellent. But FMV is a cheat. The Playstation couldn't possibly hope to actually produce those effects using its graphics processor. Never in a million years could it have pulled off Cloud's travel through his mind to face his fear at the end of Final Fantasy VII. It could never have duplicated the excursion at the Northern Crater by itself. No, the Playstation had to rely on cinemas produced by SGI machines. And to me, that's a waste of money and gameplay.

I overlooked this for a period of time. It never occurred to me for some reason. But then I saw Square's ad for the (then) up and coming Final Fantasy VIII. No way would they have wasted the money to produce all that FMV for the ad alone, it had to be in the actual game. In fact, the FMV would have to be a staple in the game. I showed the ad to most of the people I associate with. The only comment I got was, "Wow, that looks like it will be a great movie." I was hurt because I didn't think Square could go wrong. They hadn't so far. Then I played VIII and realized my friends were right.

Hence, I get to my point: FMV is ruining the Final Fantasy series. Being more of a fan of science fiction than fantasy, I like the technological parts of the newer games. Nobuo Uematsu's music is still as good as it always was. But there's something missing now. The older games had something that the newer ones blatantly lacked but for a while I couldn't pinpoint it. Just recently, after renting and actually playing Final Fantasy VIII, the problem revealed itself in my mind. The new games are getting increasingly short on gameplay, especially the newest one. It seemed to me that the bulk of VIII was moving the character from one FMV to the other, and that's not a game. The old ones were about playing the characters and developing them and learning about them... doing it yourself. Now it's all about watching them do so in a series of movies and some battles interspersed along the way.

From the very first Final Fantasy game, I always played straight through. Nothing could stop me. I was determined to beat the game. Sure, that Elemental of Fire just beat me, but I can always open the save up and try again. The rental time was five days for Final Fantasy VIII. The first day, I watched some movies, fought a few battles, tried that HORRIBLE excuse for some gameplay (which is too close to Pokemon to like), and was slain by Ifrit. Instead of opening the save up and trying again, I took the game out of my Playstation and returned it. Maybe I wanted to dislike it, I don't know. But I figure, when the movie comes out I can save forty bucks and get a ticket to that. Square has let me down with this one, and will continue to do so if they persist with making the games into movies.