Problems?

by Seán Peters 

In his recent editorial, Problems (gasp!) with recent Final Fantasies, Lord Bahamut went off on a tirade about why he disliked Final Fantasy VI, VII, and VIII. Although I don't deny that he has a right to his opinion, this belonged more on a rant page than in an editorials forum.

First of all, his opinion about Final Fantasy VI was just that... an opinion. He didn't like the lack of a clear cut leader in the party, and the fact that Kefka was an easy last boss to kill. However, I'm not quite sure why he needed the need to express this in his editorial. Editorials, if I'm not mistaken, are written to try to change someone's opinion, or at least force them to critically evaluate their own. However, there seems to be no real argument, just a simple statement that he didn't like the game because of the aforementioned reasons. I don't see how that can sway anyone's opinions.

He does quite a bit better when attacking Final Fantasy VII, but in his arguments against it, I have a sneaking suspicion that he missed quite a bit of the story of this fine game.
Yes, Cloud, for a large portion of the game, is not really himself, and changes his viewpoints and motivations several times. Apparently, Cloud is "wussy" because of all this. Let's see, Cloud saw his town burned to the ground, his mother (I believe) died in the blaze. His (supposed) childhood best friend was lying near dead in front of him, he saw Zack almost killed by his role model, and yet he still managed to run a sword through the legendary Sephiroth. After that, he was subjected to JENOVA cells which wreaked havoc with his body and psyche, which was made even worse by Zack rescuing him before the treatments were complete. When he regains consciousness, after his mind has been torn apart by JENOVA cells, he is in a 1st class SOLDIER uniform, with Zack's Buster Sword next to him. In his altered state, he truly believes that he is Zack, and doesn't discover the truth until much later in the game. I'm not quite sure how this makes him a "wuss".

I'll give summaries for everybody else.

• Barrett: Yes, single-minded hardheadedness in the beginning, and yes, he does get "all mushy" when it comes to the daughter that isn't even his. His hardheadedness is because of his anger at himself and Shinra for what happened in the past. He cares for Marlene for that same reason.
• Tifa: She knew that Cloud was seriously emotionally unstable because of what happened in his past. She cared greatly for him, and feared that if she didn't play along, Cloud would snap. She lied to protect him.
• Aeris: She chose to die for the Planet because she knew it was the only way the Planet could be saved, and she reached that decision after the questions about her heritage ahd been answered.
• Red XIII: I don't know exactly where Lord Bahamut gets this from. I never found Red XIII to turn into a "big fluffy kitten" at all.
• Yuffie: Okay, I can't argue with him here. I really didn't like Yuffie, and I mostly agree with his point against her.
• Vincent: His character can be significant to the story. Without Vincent, quite a bit of backstory about the creation and birth of Sephiroth is missed. I don't see how that equates to having "no impact on the story whatsoever".
• Cid: Oh no. Square didn't want to offend people by not bleeping out their ^$(*$#@ language. That must mean the game sucked. $(%* them.
• The Turks: You fight them when they're doing their jobs. Otherwise, you save them. I don't see the problem with that. It's a common theme in many "Evil Empire" games that not all citizens/employees of an evil empire/corporation are evil.
• Sephiroth: He's physically dead, but his conscious lives on in the Lifestream. This is also a possible reason why he is such a "pushover". He didn't have complete control over the Lifestream by any means, and without his body, the Lifestream would be the only source of his power.

Unfortunately, I don't remember enough of Final Fantasy VIII to be able to rebut this section, however, from personal, real-life experience, the most apathetic introvert can change drastically if he falls in love with someone.

In closing, Final Fantasy is overall a satisying game series, and, at least in these examples, is free from "blatant screw-ups". In fact, the only blatant screw-ups I found were those which the author himself made, both in mistaking his own personal distaste for a criticism of the game, and in not understanding the plot of Final Fantasy VII.