The key to the decline in Final Fantasy -- Magic??

by RavynBlac

The key to the decline in Final Fantasy -- Magic??

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Okay, this guys a nutcase if he thinks magic is the problem in final fantasy. Think about it this way, though. In each of the 5 previous Final Fantasy games, there's been a different style of learning and using magic. Take a look and see if you see what I see.

FFIV -- The purest form of RPG magic. Gaining at level-up. IMHO, the way it should be. With the exception of Rydia's call spells, you didn't have to go looking all over the world (and underworld and moon as the case may be) to get your magic. Nothing complicated about this.

FFV -- Not the best way to go, but not the worst. In FFV, for those of you who haven't played it (and if you're one of them, get FFA now!) you buy spells, but once you buy them, your entire party has access to them. I think it was an interesting way to go, and with the way the class system works, it's really the best way to go. In other games it wouldn't work, though.

FFVI -- Here's where true decline set in. The esper system. Yes, I'm insulting the esper system. For the few and far between unfamiliar with this game, in FFVI, you equipped things called espers. One per person. Each esper (there were about 25 or so) had a percentage for certain spells that they could teach you. In battle, you got magic points, in addition to the normal XP and gold. The magic points were multiplied by the percentage of each spell the currently equipped esper has and you began to learn the spell. Whew. If I didn't explain it well enough, check the file on the site. It'll tell you what I'm talking about. So why is this bad, you ask? Well, because it started to complicate things. Not only do you have to worry about leveling up, but you also have to worry about learning magic. I'm not saying the game itself is bad, mind you. Far from it. I love FFVI, and am currently playing through it on FFA. But the magic system was a strong downside to an otherwise incredible game.

FFVII -- Ah, yes. The materia system. I think just about every RPgamer around has either been one from the beginning, and because of that, played FFVII, or got into it because of FFVII. Either way, it's probably the most recognized game of the genre. But the materia system left a lot to be desired. It took the esper system and went one step down. Now instead of learning several spells at the same time (albeit different speeds) , you learn one spell at a time. And even then, you don't even learn it! Your equipped materia learns it. Yeah, you can equip multiple materia simultaneously, but you can't have more than a set amount. And in addition to that, if you want any special ability whatsoever, you have to use materia. Squaresoft, what were you thinking?

FFVIII -- This game has a lot of problems to start with, but since I'm just talking about magic systems, I'll limit myself to that. The magic system in FF8 is, well, sad. Having to draw magic from monsters is just plain repetitive. Yeah, you can refine magic, but finding the rare items that let you refine anything worth using is (more often than not) more trouble than it's worth. There's less bad here than in FFVII, but it's still not good.

In closing -- Before the flames come in about how I don't like complicated games, let me say something. You're right. There is a point where enough is enough, and the game becomes more complicated than fun. I think in both of the new PSX Final Fantasy games, it truly was more complicated than fun. I know RPGs are about thinking and strategy and problem/puzzle solving. But it's hard to think about those things when you're planning who needs what esper when, and who should have what materia equipped, and what you need to draw and when. I still have faith in Squaresoft to produce a high-quality game. I've never doubted them in that. But not everything they name Final Fantasy is great. All that being said, what do you think?