Final Fantasy and the Epic Myth: An analysis on the popularity of Square's Final Fantasy

by Kevin Leung 

I was first introduced to Final Fantasy at a friend's house. Amongst his pile of old NES games was a title that I'd never noticed before: Final Fantasy. Having played Battle Tanks, Mario, and Excite Bike to death, I wondered how I'd missed this little cartridge, sitting in the corner of a toy box and collecting dust. I popped it in and played through the first little subquest, though I was at first discouraged (Having no instruction manual, I did not know anything about "equiping" or "experience". I simply chose 4 warriors and went straight to Garland). Having been totally destroyed by Garland, I quit the game, labelling it as impossibly bad and pointless.

Several years later, I came across another game, this one titled "Final Fantasy III". I wondered to myself where I'd heard this name before, and decided to try it out. Wow.

That 3 letter word still echoes in my mind, as I've played every Final Fantasy I could lay my hands on since: 1-9, Legends for Gameboy, even Mystic Quest. Whenever I play through a great game, I would go over my experience and think to myself "What made this game good?" Often, i nailed it down to a few well definable categories, such as graphics, pacing, and sound. FF, however, was harder to pinpoint. Sure, it offered a different gaming experience, it was obviously very well thought out, and the eye and ear candy weren't bad, but none of these seemed overly spectacular, nor did any single category provide an adequate answer. Why then, would I pause everytime I finished an FF game and here the mental "Wow"?

After every FF game I've finished (I had not finished FF8 or FF5), I could be found sitting on the couch, dumbfounded, having wasted 40-70 hours of my life away in front of a video game, mulling over the plot, going over the characters, summarizing the game up in my mind and storing it away for future reference. No other game, save for a very select few (Chrono Trigger, Metal Gear Solid) ever did that to me. This happens to me only when I've read a good book (Dune, Lord of the Rings, Canticle for Liebwitz, etc) or seen a great movie. Well, after YEARS of mulling over this, I've come to the conclusion that Final Fantasy has this effect on people because of its epic scope. Final Fantasy is a modern epic, satisfying society's need for myth.

Final Fantasy, surely, remains one of the most ambitious projects ever, and everytime a new Final Fantasy is released, the stakes are raised and the standards lifted a notch. I believe that FF has an effect on people much the same way Star Wars had (and still has), in that it is a modern myth. In the next few paragraphs, I hope to make my case. I must note that I've omitted information about FF8 and FF5 because I have not finished either yet.

Firstly, there are the characters. Many are decidedly one-dimensional, but I propose that they are purposely one-dimensional, just as the majority of Star Wars (Luke, Obi-wan), and even Classical Mythical characters (Hercules, Zeus, Theseus) are one-dimensional; these characters fulfil vital character archetypes to be found in myth. There is, for example, the enigmatic, wizened old mentor (Obi-Wan, Merlin) in the form of various secondary characters that aid the main FF party on their quest (Ramuh in FF9). The rebel, a character foil for the main character (Han Solo / Luke) is also found: Edgar contrasts Sabin, Barret contrasts Cloud, and so on. Of course, for the sake of practicality and gameplay, there must neccesarily be more characters in an FF than in myths, but in terms of archetypes and character roles, they can often be used to represent different sides of the same coin. For example, in FF9, Freya, Steiner, and Beatrix all represent the warrior caste: the noble, chilvarous knight in shiny (or rusty) armour. They, however, represent different sides of this archetype. Freya represents patriotism; the devotion to the knight's land. Steiner represents loyalty; the devotion to a person (often the knight will champion a single lady). Beatrix represents the archetype of the enigmatic swordsman.

Another important archetype to consider is that of the epic hero or the reluctant hero (often combined). The epic hero represents a questing person, often of noble birth, exiled from his homeland, and seeking glory and triumph for both him and his family (Aeneas, Achilles). The reluctant hero is a very popular archetype; he represents the lone hero thrust into a situation beyond his control, fending off the enemy and destroying evil in defense of his homeland and of his people (Luke, Jesus). The primary traits of --noble birth-- and the --reluctant hero-- can be found in just about every FF's main protagonist: Terra, Cecil, Cloud, Zidane.

Next there is the musical score. While there is no standard for "epic music", FF has a decidedly epic and grand musical score. Its use of classical composition lends to FF an operatic grandeur (FF6 and FF9 seem to be very self-aware in this respect). Each theme is carefully thought out, in terms of composition and orchestration, and lend to the overall mood of the game. FF music not only rivals, but in many instances exceeds the very best movie scores. Only with Final Fantasy do I find myself whistling or humming a tune after playing the game. The memorable musical themes add to the memorable FF experience. Also, the denouement, the ending, must be fitting to an epic myth. In FF, not only do we get a fitting resolution to all the conflicts and various character story lines, but we also get an epic fanfare, a salute and farewell to our great heroes. Nobuo Uematsu makes use of a lot of suspended fourths that resolve to suggest a return to home (Foot Note 1). The almost constant use of this suggests that the homecoming, the end of the epic quest, delayed as it is, is all the more valued. In terms of effort and quality, the FF soundtrack is unsurpassed by ANY other game. For example, some people do not realize this, but the musical number for the FF6 ending is over 20 minutes long. 20 minutes, and I loved every second of it. The musical is beautiful, and it is used almost as a narrative device: A theme conjures up the image of a character or place, or certain emotions and feelings. Truly, the musical score, if nothing else, slams home the epic grandeur of the series. And let us not forget that memorable Final Fantasy theme, first heard in the bridge crossing after defeating Garland in FF1, and still heard all the way to the finale of FF9. The song is memorable and timeless, and its inclusion into every FF game suggests an epic scope greater than each game itself by itself.

Graphics have less impact, but are nonetheless an important part of FF. In each FF game a mood is established by the look. FF6 is decidedly a lot more serious and grave than FF4, for example. With the playstation games comes the incredibly graphical presentation of various summons and spells. They are supposed to convey to the player the incredible power that is being wielded, that the characters are truly greater than human.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Final Fantasy is comparable to a modern epic myth because of its storylines. It has progressed a lot from the early (and even some present) plotlines of video games. With FF4 came an immense change in the way the story was dealt with. There was no longer the traditional "man fated to save the universe sets off on quest to save the universe" or "girl in need of help is helped by guy". With the great improvment of SNES over NES came also a huge re-working of plotlines. With FF4 we were introduced to the various archetypes, subplots, and character developments which always led to a resolution in the end. Terra (FF6) was not a great knight fated to slay the dragon and save the world. Things were no longer as simple as defeating the dreaded wizard and saving the princess. Beneath all the unconventional dressing was still the conventional quest: An epic must deal with a quest, a journey of a character (or characters) both spiritually and physically, to vanquish demons both in their world and in their hearts. Every epic must have this inner and outer journey. We see Luke of Star Wars confronted with this struggle. On the outside is the threat of the Empire. On the inside was the temptation of the Dark Side, and the conflicting desire between being loyal to his friends and being loyal to his loving but misguided father. We see it in Zidane, in Terra, in Cecil, in Cloud, in Eiko, and so on and so forth. The quest must take place, and the stakes must be high. An epic is not an epic if it is only a playground tussle, after all. Every FF surely satisfies this beyond a shadow fo a doubt.

OK, I've gone through why Final Fantasy is a modern epic myth. But I still haven't answered the questions: Why is it so popular? Why does it make such an impact? Well, FF being an epic has a large part to do with it. Part of the appeal of Star Wars was that with a depressed America, people needed new mythic heroes to look up to, new quests to take them on spiritual journeys, the people needed A New Hope (Foot Note 2). Well, twenty years later, we have once again run out of myths. We've run out of things to be turn to as a moral outlet. We go to movies and books, but these do not always satisfy the people, and not many of the younger generation read anyway. So we turn to video games. Video games represent the new myths and stories, giving us a chance to save the world and do the right thing. Final Fantasy takes it a step beyond that by far surpassing our own standards, giving us an epic quest to journey through, epic heroes to interact with, and an epic world in which to experience the fantastic, to take a plunge into one final fantasy.