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by Kris Schnee Warning: Contains Final Fantasy X Spoilers A brief summary of FFX's opening: Tidus, a star athlete, is signing autographs before the big game. A mysterious girl in purple tells him he's busy tonight, then vanishes, but he doesn't notice. Above the stadium, a mysterious man in red (Auron) watches a tidal wave which is about to destroy the city. He doesn't seem to care. It hits, Tidus sees Auron who says cryptic things, the purple girl freezes time and says "It begins," Tidus gets knocked out repeatedly, another girl saves him and knocks him unconscious again, then goes swimming with him. Then she tells him her name. At about this point (one hour into the game) you may notice that FFX isn't making any sense. It doesn't get much better over the next several hours, as we learn about Tidus' angst-filled childhood and see cryptic dreams with Auron, the purple girl, and the two obvious love interests. Compare this jumble of characters, events, and strange behavior to the opening of a game like Suikoden II, Star Ocean II, Wild Arms, or either Grandia. In those games the heroes were quickly introduced and given a straightforward problem not involving metaphysical horrors called "Sin." They were all made for lower-tech hardware than FFX -- hence cruder graphics and less voice acting -- yet they had plots which made sense from the first scene. Ditto for Final Fantasy VI, which had plenty of action in the opening scenes but kept it all coherent. FFVII had an excellent opening with action, character development, and information about the world, but even by then the series had begun to replace substance with flash. The Playstation's technology let Square tell a story with rendered video sequences for major scenes, showing us Sephiroth in flames and the moment when something happened to Aeris. These pretty graphics were memorable, but "something had happened" to the plot as well. Sephiroth was a bizarre villain who spent much of his time playing mind games with Cloud before trying to blow up the world, and the hero was sent whimpering off to a hospital for his deep-seated mental problems. The new Final Fantasy's incomprehensible or sniveling characters were a step backward from the strong heroes of FFIV through FFVI. Even the battle system took on an exaggerated, excessively spectacular look with its 40-second summon sequences and an attack called "Super Nova" that could destroy the solar system (repeatedly!) but didn't do much damage. FFIX was designed to win back Final Fantasy fans who had complaints against the seventh and eighth installments, by changing only superficial things. The game emulated the style of the very first of the series, with classic knights and black mages and a medieval fantasy look. The designers poured massive effort into the graphics, even publishing an art book to show off their sketches and renderings, and forgot about the plot. Look at FFIX's opening: Exciting storm -- whoops, only a dream. Flashy city. Monkey boy lights a candle; this is interactive for some reason. Random guy with dragon mask tries to kill monkey boy for no reason; he and his friends rob and beat him until the mask falls off and they see it's their boss; no one ever mentions the incident. They plan a kidnapping. Below, a black mage gets ripped off, then plays card games and agrees to become a boy's slave. This opening isn't quite compelling next to a number of plots by Square's competitors. Suikoden II was criticized for its dated graphics, because its designers put their effort into character and story first. Square's choice of style over substance is obvious even from the advertising on the back of their game boxes. On the FFIX box, we see the words "The Crystals Are Back," some quotes praising the graphics, and screen shots of non-interactive video sequences. That's it. On FFX's: "The world lies on the brink of destruction -- Only a select few may be able to save it." Absolutely generic. Compare to the boxes of Square's rivals; since they're not so famous, they have to explain why their plot and gameplay are unique instead of relying on a brand name. Square has the ability to create great characters and engaging storylines, and to innovate. The company needs to start doing these things again in areas other than graphics. Despite the slight changes in gameplay made in FFX, the series has used the same battle system since the fourth game. While Final Fantasy's innovation ground to a halt (except for the non-series FF Tactics), Star Ocean II developed action-based fighting and Grandia added exciting tactical elements and an end to random battles. Square's designers need to look at the rest of the RPG industry and find new ideas like these to keep the Final Fantasy series fresh, concentrating on gameplay and story. The next Square RPG ideally would let graphics stagnate at the FFX level without pushing the boundaries again. Instead it would innovate with its plot, in which heroes with low angst levels try, for once, to do something other than save the world from a big bad monster / lunatic dictator. The game would try a new battle system, maybe borrowing Grandia's style, and experiment with new or little-used gameplay features like long item descriptions or other things mentioned in earlier RPGamer editorials. This new, humbler Final Fantasy would cost less to create and entice back players who've been disillusioned. Ever since Square got CD technology to play with, the low-tech end of game design, the writing, has been shafted. Graphics have replaced substance as the focus of the Final Fantasy series, even as competitors have turned out fine works which don't try so hard to establish a new art form by flash and hype alone. I gather that "Sin" in FFX is a force responding to the world's excessive dependence on technology? If the world is Square, then Final Fantasy's designers had better summon an overhaul of the series. Kris Schnee feels like an old man, criticizing these whippersnappers with their newfangled DVDs. 
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