Square Hostility

by Mike Lemmer

A few weeks ago, a newcomer on a forum I frequent commented on how much she's looking forward to the new Final Fantasy, what with the excellent graphics and Final Fantasy and all. Next thing I know, here I am ranting and raving against the movie like it was the spawn of Satan himself! Afterwards, I was quite surprised by my reaction. Until that time, the Final Fantasy movie was just "another movie" in my mind, something that I might want to see later. But something about how people viewed the movie made me snap.

Even stranger is the fact that I am a huge fan of Square's old games. I own just about every Square RPG made for the SNES (yes, even Mystic Quest) and have fond memories of playing the original Final Fantasy on the old NES. However, certain household rules have prevented me from getting a PS or PS2. Thus, the last Square game I ever played was Chrono Trigger (damn good game, too). So over the past years I have been merely an observer, watching Square release more and more games while constantly thinking back to the old classics. So I'm "stuck back in the past", so to speak.

Looking back now, though, I realize that with almost every Square game that came out, I felt a growing sense of distrust. Square, a company that used to be just a company for us dedicated RPG fanatics, turned massively public, and certain things I knew and loved about the Square games were getting tossed out of the picture. What was coming to the forefront? Graphics!

Admit it, nowadays the first thing people mention about Square games are the graphics and the cutscenes. (Story plays a close second, but I'll get to that later.) To any hardcore old-time gamer, this immediately spells trouble. I remember back when the most entertaining game had nothing but a few frames of animation for the character (or none) and we were lucky if they jumped around or nodded, let alone star in cutscenes. The graphic systems of the time simply didn't allow for major eye candy, so the developers had to use something else to draw people in. When the graphics become the main reason for recommending a game, something is seriously wrong.

Second, the storyline: Square still seems to be doing a good job of making an involving storyline, so I won't argue. However, a strong sense of "deja vu" is coming over me. Final Fantasy XXVIII, anyone? You know they're gonna release it sooner or later. It's only a matter of time before the Crystals and the Life force lose their shine. And yes, the army will always be evil incarnate. Get used to it.

Third, the issue that has caused me the most worry as of late: the gameplay. What is it? I have been reading up on the PS Final Fantasy games for quite some time, and while I have always heard about the graphics and the story, the gameplay was stuffed into the back closet. I only gleaned a few things about summoning monsters. It didn't help when I read that you could beat most of FF8 just by using summoned creatures that quickly trashed the opposition 98% of the time. Only recently did I learn about the one-equipment and equipping-summons aspects of FF8. And FF9... well, I'm STILL in the dark about that one. It's a bit unnerving when people spend more time discussing the plot than the actual game...

But now that I've discussed the reasons for my slowly growing fear of Square's direction, I guess I have to detail why the dam burst when it came to Final Fantasy the Movie. The problem is, I don't quite know why. Perhaps it was the constant talk about how good the graphics were, with almost nothing about the story (big warning light). Or how people were gushing about how real that eye looked (more graphics, warning light). But perhaps the most disturbing thing was that Square was actually trying to do this. People that remember such great movies as "Super Mario Bros.", "Double Dragon", and "Wing Commander" know how movies based on video games do. Something is lost in the transition. With the Final Fantasy movie, it lost most of the environment inherent in Final Fantasy: Where's the magic? The moogles and chocobos? The strange and varied landscapes? Why the hell did they have to tack on the label "Final Fantasy" onto a movie that had almost nothing to do with Final Fantasy besides another plot about evil armies & some Gaia Life force?

Perhaps the most disturbing thing is what Square has become: a juggernaut whose main line, Final Fantasy, has pretty much smashed anything else that could've competed to smithereens. It is the Microsoft of RPGs, and unless a new upstart manages to make a game that blows it away, only Dragon Warrior has a chance (slim at that) of giving it a run for the money. Cutscenes and perfectly rendered graphics rule the series to make it appeal to the biggest audience possible, while gameplay takes a far back seat.

It's enough to make an old-time gamer weep. Let us pray for a game that relies on revolutionary, fun gameplay instead of top-of-the-line graphics to advance its story and find an audience. And hope that Final Fantasy gets some good competition going so we can REALLY start the debates...

-Mike Lemmer
"Kid, you remember all those stories about heroes going out and nobly battling the forces of evil, spurred onward only by their infallible courage and pure spirit?"
"Yeah?"
"They were lying through their teeth."

SIDENOTE: I have just heard that the Tomb Raider movie has made $50 million, while the FF movie has made only $20-30 million. Although I ranted and raved about it up above, this has me deeply disturbed. FF deserves more than to be beaten in earnings by a video game movie's whose biggest attraction is some sexy chick. (Hubba hubba... uhhh, *cough* excuse me...) Perhaps I'll catch it on video...