A Long and Unfocused Journey of Rebuttal

by Douglas Dunlop

Original Editorial: Final Fantasy Sinful

When I read "Final Fantasy Sinful" by Kris Schnee I rejoiced in happiness, finally, a reason to write an editorial to Rpgamer. For this, Kris, I would like to thank you. But that's all the praise you'll be getting from me.

I have never read an editorial which I disagreed with on every single point until Final Fantasy Sinful. Let's work through it step by step.

Your point about Jak and Daxter having a better story than Final Fantasy X because it's story has little to no substance is oxymoronic. You claim a story that reveals all it's shallow extents in the first few minutes of gameplay has a 'better plot' than one that uses: Symbolism, foreshadowing, and a question of what's to come. Now, I know this is your opinion and art is in the eye of the beholder, but, to say that a simple shallow story is 'better' than what I mentioned above is simply wrong. I could pursue this point a lot further but this isn't the only thing I want to touch on in this editorial.

"This weak plotting is not new to the series. In fact, it's a sign that the Final Fantasy name has grown decadent by sacrificing substance for style, becoming poorer than its competitors in everything but flash." (as well as the following paragraph) First of all, George Orwell would be ashamed to see one of his greatest utilizations of English Diction used in such bad context. Second of all, this weak plotting you are trying to talk about is nothing but the opposite; well plotted foreshadowing and establishment of characters. Just say Tidus didn't end up in Baaj temple and wasn't introduced to Rikku, the Al Bhed, and their way of life. Now lets see how the plot would be affected. You wouldn't have any idea how or where the Al Bhed get their 'Forbidden Machina'. You (this is obvious) wouldn't meet or recruit Rikku a very important character to the plot. You wouldn't know where you were when Sin takes you to the Al Bhed's "Home". Yuna would be married and end up either living it up with Seymour or continuing her pilgrimage alone and die. If you find out how to get to Baaj temple in the airship then your arrival wouldn't be near as significant as it is in the game. And that's just the tip of the ice berg, the opening of FFX is one of the (if not the) most important parts in the game, and it only lasts about 30 minutes if you rush through it.

As for your next comment, you obviously haven't played much of the game if you think the person in the Tidus' dreams is Auron. In fact this is a disgustingly large oversight on your part. At this point n my reading of your editorial I'm reminded of the people who write 'reviews' on EGM's website that look a little something like this; "I watched my friend play FFX. It sucks I give it 0 for everything! X-BOX RULES X-BOX RULES X-BOX RULES X-BOX RULES! Halo FOREVER!!!!" (I actually saw one very similar to this).

Now here's where I decided to write a rebuttal. Your paragraph stating how much more coherent games like Suikoden II, Grandia, and Star Ocean II are than FFX and how this makes them better. The fact that you included Star Ocean 2 gave me the urge to write a Kris Schnee style explanation of it's plot. You talk to some people on a star ship, you beam down on an un-explored barren planet, you touch something, you wake up in a forest with no explanation of what is happened, a bear attacks a girl, you save her. You go to a town meet some pathetically un-inspired characters, you leave town, you meet even more pathetically un-inspired characters, do some terrible plot sequences for no reason whatsoever. You travel over the world repeating most of these steps, then you beat a big boss and end up on ANOTHER planet, again unexplained, and repeat some of these steps, beat final boss, and a terrible cut up ending ensues. None of the jumps from planet to planet are explained and barely any of the sub plot is explained. If you consider this DRIBBLE good and FFX's exquisite plot bad then I can come to no other conclusion than this: You are easily amused and enjoy monotony, but you cannot grasp any advanced literary devices or interesting plot lines.

As for Grandia, well I don't even want to touch on that terrible story except, to play an 80 hour RPG with one single goal and no interesting plot twists get very monotonous. And Suikoden II is a completely different story. It's based on kingdoms, succession and rebellion. It isn't an Epic, therefore it should not be included in this category.

Your comments on FFVII lead me to believe that you did not understand it's plot fully. I do not wish to bore the readers with a detailed explanation of FFVII's plot simply because it's been done to death and most people STILL don't get it. I do have a word of advice, foreshadowing is used a lot in Final Fantasy games, try playing through them and paying attention to details and utterances of characters. Think about what Hojo says to himself throughout the game, think about everything Sephiroth says or anything people say about Sephiroth. If you try and notice these things games become so much deeper than otherwise.

This next paragraph where you talk about FFIX is very pointless and if I were you I would have taken it out. It has no bearing on your editorial's point. But the reason I bring this up is because of the last comment, "Suikoden II was criticized for its dated graphics, because its designers put their effort into character and story first." The designers did put their effort into characters and story first yes, but only because that's how you make a game. If they could have made Suikoden II have great graphics, they would have. The fact is Square was just plain better than Konami at making graphic engines for games.

Your next paragraph states that Square is great at making storylines and characters (you sort of rebutted yourself am I right?) but they need to innovate the battle system. You give examples of what games Square should copy in order to innovate their games even further. Again an oxymoronic comment, but I'll let it slide. You mention how much better the battle systems of Grandia and Star Ocean are. But Grandia uses basically the same battle system as the FF's, only executed differently (one time bar along where all the enemies and allies are shown instead of 4 ones for every character) and gives you the ability to attack one enemy at the same time. Star Ocean uses a modified version of the Action RPG fighting system (you are transported to a screen and you run around and slash enemies). If this is innovation then I think we are doomed to stay in this even spiral we are in.

This covers pretty much your entire editorial except the last paragraph. You say, "Ever since Square got CD technology to play with, the low-tech end of game design, the writing, has been shafted." I really can't believe someone is complaining about FFX's story, much less someone who hasn't even finished the game. I'll admit FFVIII and FFIX's stories were lacking in the explanation department. But FFX's story is executed so perfectly that I seriously cannot see any serious faults in it. I already explained why the beginning is so important and although I would LOVE to explain the plot in every little detail I don't think the readers would like it too much. But I would like to address the characters. One reason why I think these characters are so memorable is the way they act as one mind. Each one of them hits different chords within your brain stimulating your reactions. Tidus is the game's narrator, but he also acts as - To borrow from Bolt's A Man for all Seasons - 'the common man', he refers to things how regular people could refer to them. Yuna, while terribly portrayed by her voice actor, comes off as the martyrical altruistic part of us (we all have one). She wants to help people for no reason other than to help them, and she sticks to it until the end. Kimahri is an interesting character, he acts as the beast in all of us (physical strength and athletics). He also acts as the part of us that lives to defend something, he's the part of us that would break up a fight that was getting out of hand. Lulu is the pessimist. She doesn't necessarily accept the bad side of an outcome, she merely is aware that that bad side could present itself and thus she prepares for it - or warns against it. Rikku is the child part of our consciousness. She is willing to have fun but she hates it when people hurt her fragile feelings. And then there is Wakka. He is not necessarily part of one mind, he is merely the friend. No intelligent mind can thrive without a friend and Wakka provides that friendship in spades. When he is roughhousing Tidus you feel like he is roughhousing you.

For my closing I would like to say, Experience the games you play as if they were good books, don't just play them. RPGs are a combined force of the arts; visual; musical; and literal. Instead of taking games at face value, read into them like they were meant to be read into. Some people say RPGs don't offer near as good plots, characters, or stories as good books do. I think they are wrong...