I've been on a Final Fantasy kick lately, most recently playing Lightning Returns. The game is pretty good so far, but I'm not liking the time element of it. Otherwise it's pretty fun. But playing this game made me curious about how people view the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy now that all three games are out. It seems the general consensus is that the original Final Fantasy XIII is the best of the three, which is funny considering how much people bash it in relation to other Final Fantasy games. Taking that into consideration, I began to think about how the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy ranks in comparison to the other Final Fantasy titles, and then thought further about how many Final Fantasy fans claim the series has been on a huge downward spiral ever since Final Fantasy X and I can't help but disagree.
Sure new Final Fantasy games are becoming fewer and fewer but the quality is still there. Before I go any further, let me just say that I understand completely why long time fans would dislike Final Fantasy XII or Final Fantasy XIII. Final Fantasy X was the last traditional Final Fantasy with its turn based battle system, classic class roles, rich story, and fantastic soundtrack. Final Fantasy XI is an MMO so sure that was a huge departure right there. Final Fantasy XII tried to mimic XI by being a pseudo-MMO that's meant for 1 player only. Some people liked it, some people hated it. I openly admit I hated the game the first time I played it. It's a huge departure for the series. Many of the series' mainstays were gone: the traditional battle system, the flow of the plot, intricate characters, character classes, and even the Final Fantasy victory tune was relegated to only a few certain moments in the game. However, after giving the game a second chance, I began to realize all of this was intentional. The game was meant to be a departure for the series, and quite honestly, I feel that the game is pretty close to being a masterpiece. I absolutely love the open exploration, the story, the world, and especially the soundtrack. My god, the soundtrack! Who cares if it wasn't composed by Nobuo Uematsu? It doesn't automatically make the music bad. It's different, sure, but it's actually one of my favorite FInal Fantasy soundtracks, if not one of my favorite soundtracks for any video game. The stories in Final Fantasy games are mostly very character-driven, whereas FFXII was very world-driven. By the end of the game I didn't feel particularly close with my characters, which is one of the games faults, but I did feel more in tune with the world as a whole, moreso than any other Final Fantasy world. It was brimming with life, and there was a lot of lore to go around. Ivalice is my favorite Final Fantasy world. Then we come to Final Fantasy XIII which people complained was too linear and had a plot that made no sense. To be quite honest, no Final Fantasy game's story was ever perfect. The vast majority of Final Fantasy titles have been linear as well. There was the illusion of open-ended gameplay in most Final Fantasies but the main story was still linear. Final Fantasy XIII-2's story was a bit weird but the gameplay was more open than Final Fantasy XIII's, yet people still complained about the game. Now Lightning Returns is out and people are complaining about the game being too open. I think in the end, fans are just extremely fickle. FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns are unnecessary sequels, but they're still good games. I think people need to take a step back, chill out, and look at each individual game as it is on its own. There will always be entries in a series that are your favorite, or least favorite. We're only human and it's human nature to play favorites. That's okay. So it's in my right to think Final Fantasy XII is a fantastic game and Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels are still very good, while many others seem to dislike them.
While I disagree that the Final Fantasy franchise is going stale, I understand why people would think so. Like I said, After Final Fantasy X, the series took a huge turn. It strayed far away from its roots and began to redefine the series as a whole. I think fans' issues with the series' new direction goes beyond gaming. When a person experiences something new for the first time, that experience often defines how that person sees that particular thing. By association, everything related to that thing is now compared their original experience. For instance, the first Star Wars movie I saw was Episode I: Phantom Menace. That one is usually considered to be one of the worst in the franchise, especially by long-time fans. However, because that was the first movie in the saga that I saw, I judged all other Star Wars movies in comparison to that one. Episode I is by far my least favorite of the Star Wars films but because I saw it first, every Star Wars movie I saw afterwards was better in comparison to Episode I. Bringing this analogy to Final Fantasy, my first Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy VII (like many fans). When Final Fantasy VIII came out, I immediately misjudged it because I compared it to VII which I deemed far superior. Years later, now that I'm much more open-minded, I still prefer FFVII over VIII but I realized FFVIII has its own merits and shouldn't be directly compared to VII. The reason I initially didn't like VIII was because it was different from VII. When I thought of Final Fantasy, I immediately thought of FFVII because, to me, that was the archetype of the series, being that was my first experience with the series. Then FFIX came out, also compared it to VII. Even the earlier Final Fantasies (which I played after FFVII, VIII, and IX) I compared to VII, despite all being released before it. Eventually I opened up and FFIX became my favorite in the franchise, and began to appreciate the earlier Final Fantasies and FFVII dropped down in my rankings. I began to see each Final Fantasy as the game that they were. Each Final Fantasy is different from the next; each one tells a different story. I even liked Final Fantasy XIII, which I admit is far from my favorite, but on its own is still a very good game. So if you played VII first, you likely compared every Final Fantasy you played afterwards (old or new) to FFVII. If you played FFX first, then you compared all Final Fantasies to FFX. And so on.
All in all, I get that everyone has an opinion. No Final Fantasy, or any game for that matter, is going to be unanimously the favorite. As popular as FFVII remains, there are still plenty of people who dislike it, or don't prefer it over other Final Fantasies. Likewise, for all of Final Fantasy XIII's shortcomings, and for all the fans that rate this entry and its sequels poorly, there are other fans who love the game and find it to be the best in the franchise. And that's okay. No one is wrong for liking one game over the next simply because they preferred the story, characters, world, gameplay, etc. What is wrong, however, is disliking a game simply because it isn't a copy of a game that came before it. So when it comes down to it, Final Fantasy, as a franchise, will never be defined by Final Fantasy VII, X, XIII, or any game that comes after it. It's defined by its fans and every game as a whole. In other words, Final Fantasy is not just Final Fantasy VII, it's Final Fantasy I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII...etc. It's every game in the franchise combined. And just like everything in life, it continues to evolve with each new entry, whether you love it or hate it.
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