Rebuttal to Final Fantasy Sinful

by Mateen Haroon

Original Editorial: Final Fantasy Sinful

Original editorial: I got Final Fantasy X a day or two after Jak and Daxter, and within a few hours I found that the latter had a better plot. Collect the ancient artifacts, break a curse, and incidentally save the world; J&D's storyline doesn't claim to be high art, but it's straightforward and enjoyable. FFX's story, on the other hand, is gibberish for at least the first several hours. 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.

Rebuttal: Just because simple and straightforward plots work for some games doesn’t mean that they will work for others. I certainly wouldn’t want a Final Fantasy game with a plot like Jak and Daxter’s (and I feel safe in saying nobody else does either). And the substance for style argument has been beaten to death, before, so I’ll just say this: If the FF series had become all about flash, then why is it still popular? A game may impress someone for a little while with graphics, but soon that person is going to want gameplay, and if it isn’t any good, they’ll move on to something else.

Original editorial: 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.

Rebuttal: Not make any sense? Excuse me, but do you have attention deficit disorder? Anyone could easily understand FFX’s plot. I find your summary of the early parts of the game rather amusing, as you skip two-thirds of the important parts. If you had paid any attention, you’d know that the girl “who saves Tidus and then knocks him unconscious,” saved him from the monster, but her brethren started to think thought he was a fiend. Later they realized that he wasn’t. He is then taken to their ship. The people on the ship won’t let Tidus stay there unless he does some work, so he goes swimming to activate some ruins for them. Is that simple enough? And what “cryptic” dreams are you talking about? I only remember two or three dreams, and only one of them was remotely difficult to understand. Oh, and anyone could figure out that the purple girl and Auron’s comments are mysteries that will be explained later in the game. To be honest, your entire editorial gives the impression that you didn’t play the game for more than a few hours, and that you didn’t even pay much attention to it during that time.

Original editorial: 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.

Rebuttal: So you want games that don’t require you to think about their storylines? Games which guide you by the hand? I’m sorry, but some of us want more complexity in storylines. I personally think that using your brain a little is better than watching a running commentary by the characters.

Original editorial: 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.

Rebuttal: First, if you thought Sephiroth was a “bizarre” villain, you must have skipped over half the scenes involving him. Just because he doesn’t use mind-numbingly simple techniques to accomplish his goals (such as blowing things up) doesn’t mean his actions are impossible to understand. Second, does being “sent whimpering to a hospital” make the plot worse? No, it does not. In fact, it adds depth to Cloud’s character. I find it curious that you didn’t provide an explanation why it supposedly makes the game worse. Third, the heroes are intended to be the way they are, because it makes them seem more human. Just because the characters aren’t one dimensional nitwits like in some games doesn’t make them worse. I found it to be a change for the better.

Original editorial: 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.

Rebuttal: If you knew anything about game design, you’d know that it’s impossible for the designers to focus entirely on the graphics and forget about the plot. Why? Because different people work on the story and graphics. A game’s graphics are not an indication of how much work was put into the story. As further evidence, take a look at these quotes:

"The screen shots on this page can't begin to give you an idea of how drop-dead gorgeous the graphics are..."

"You'll be hard pressed to find a game that looks or sounds better."

"This game is too big, too beautiful..."

"...the best looking RPG ever!"

All of those quotes are from the October 1994 issue of Game Players magazine, in regards to Final Fantasy 6. Square has always been on the top of things with graphics. So really, what's the big deal if the new trend in RPGs is polygons, CG and pre-rendered backgrounds? Square has always been using the latest technology to present their games in the best fashion possible.

Original editorial: 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.

Rebuttal: Since when did the back of a box dictate how good or innovative a game was? Just because the back of the boxes of the recent FF games focus on the visuals doesn’t mean the game itself does. The boxes are meant to catch the eye and attract customers, and nothing else, so therefore it makes sense for Square to put eye-catching visuals there.

Original editorial: 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.

Rebuttal: For the most part I (shock) agree about FF needing a new battle system. However, I disagree that the company as a whole no longer innovates. Square still comes up with plenty of creative new ideas; it just doesn’t use them in its flagship series.

Original editorial: 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.

Rebuttal: Letting the graphics stagnate is not a good idea. If Square can put out a game with a great story and gameplay as well as good graphics, then why settle for less? And the cliché of saving the world from a monster or dictator is not limited to FF games. Nearly every RPG uses it. Same thing with the angsty heroes cliché.

Original editorial: 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.

Rebuttal: For the first few sentences of the paragraph (the style over substance part) I’ll simply redirect you to what I said earlier about different people working on story, gameplay, and graphics. Anyway, I think that the author is whining needlessly. Final Fantasy may not innovate, but at least when it comes out, it comes out as a polished and completed product. Many games that are more innovative have been criticized because the innovations didn’t wok out entirely, or because the game wasn’t finished properly. Of course, I like innovation in RPG’s and want to see more of it, but using old ideas isn’t always a bad thing.