What In The World Is Final Fantasy? A Beginner's Guide To The Biggest RPG Series On The Planet

Maybe you've heard of Final Fantasy. Maybe you're familiar with some of the basics: shiny crystals, giant swords, dead Aerises. Angry teens.

But you might not know much more about Square Enix's massive set of role-playing games. They can be intimidating to newcomers, chock full of strange gameplay systems and confusing nomenclature. How can you tell them apart? Where do you even begin?

Don't worry. That's what we're here for. Here's your beginner's guide to all things Final Fantasy.

So what is Final Fantasy?

A giant, hotcake-selling brand that has been attached to quite a few games over the past few decades. Some of them are great. Others are less great. But they all share certain common traits.

Like what?

They usually place you in the war-ravaged shoes of a hero or cast of heroes who has to fight against all odds to defeat some sort of powerful enemy. There are usually large, sprawling worlds packed with interesting settings and lovely music. You can almost always collect items and weapons, customize your characters' skills, and play through minigames and sidequests as you gradually work your way toward a nasty final boss.

What's with the "usually" and "almost always"?

Well, there are exceptions. Square Enix has slapped the Final Fantasy name on quite a few different games over the years: there are now Final Fantasy racing games, fighting games, and even a musical rhythm game. So it's hard to sum them all up nicely.

Back up. Can we start from the beginning?

Sure. The world was first introduced to Final Fantasy in 1987, when a scrappy company named SquareSoft put together a Dragon Quest ripoff full of dwarves, elves, robots, volcanoes, and underwater temples. As the legend goes, creator Hironobu Sakaguchi called it "Final Fantasy" because it was based on Tolkienesque fantasy novels and because he expected it to be the last game he ever made—unless it did well.

It did well.

What's the game like?

There are two main components: field sections and battle sections. On the field, you move your characters around towns, dungeons, and a large "world map" that strings them all together. While moving around, you can go to shops to buy items and weapons, talk to townspeople, and collect treasure. You'll also get into random encounters with invisible enemies, who will suddenly make the world flash and transport you to a separate battle screen.

To take down those enemies, you give each of your four characters orders like "attack," "magic," or "use items." Your team and the enemy team swap turns attacking, healing, and defending. Whichever team loses all of its collective health points first is the loser. If that's you, you'll have to start again from the last place you saved your game.

Does this actually require any skill?

Arguable. In Final Fantasy, the real challenge is resource management. Do you really want to waste those spell points on this battle? There's a boss coming up. Can you really afford to spend another potion? Is it time to exit the dungeon, restock, and try again? There are a lot of tricky decisions involved.

So the other Final Fantasy games are like this too?

Yeah! Many of the mechanics and strategies change from game to game, but the other mainFinal Fantasy games are, for the most part, also comprised of field and battle sections. Most Japanese role-playing games have followed this formula in some way.

Okay. So what happened after Final Fantasy?

Here's where things get a little confusing. Square developed two sequels to Final Fantasy—Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III—but decided not to release them in the United States.

Hold on. Weren't Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III on the Super Nintendo?

Yes. But those were actually Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI, both renamed for U.S. audiences so we wouldn't be confused about the ones we missed.

I'm confused.

Guess Square's plan didn't work. Here's a quick breakdown:

Final Fantasy - 1987, Nintendo (U.S. and Japan)
Final Fantasy II - 1988, Nintendo (Japan only)
Final Fantasy III - 1990, Nintendo (Japan only)
Final Fantasy IV - 1991, Super Nintendo (released in U.S. as Final Fantasy II)
Final Fantasy V - 1992, Super Nintendo (Japan only)
Final Fantasy VI - 1994, Super Nintendo (released in U.S. as Final Fantasy III)

Jeez. What a mess.

Yep. Fortunately, Square has released English versions of all of those games. They also corrected the numbering for U.S. ports and re-releases. (Square loves ports and re-releases. It's a terrible addiction. They say they can quit whenever they want, but they're lying.)

So next was Final Fantasy VII, right? Is that the one with Sephiroth?

Mommy issues and all. With a multi-million-dollar marketing campaign, eye-popping computer-generated imagery and the promise of poignant, heartrending narrative, Final Fantasy VII took the world by storm when it was released for PlayStation in 1997. It is perhaps best known as the game where Aeris dies.

Wow. Thanks for the spoilers.

Shush. Aeris's death isn't a spoiler. It's a genuine tragedy.

That's kind of weird. You're kind of weird.

Let's move on.

So why does everyone worship Final Fantasy VII?

Lots of reasons! For a lot of today's 20- and 30-somethings, it came out just in time to shepherd us through adolescence. We watched Cloud and Tifa grow up as we were growing up. We sympathized with their mistakes and wished we could be as strong as they were.

But it was also an excellent game (even if it hasn't aged quite perfectly). It took you on a wonderful adventure through all sorts of cool places, from the gritty, dystopian city of Midgar to the carnival-esque Golden Saucer to the icy hills of the Promised Land. It allowed you to customize your characters by equipping them with magical orbs called Materia that could manipulate their skills and stats in creative ways. There was just a ridiculous amount of stuff to see and do.

What about the story?

Like many Final Fantasy games, number 7 has a wild, twisty plot. Sometimes it can get confusing, mostly because Square did an awful job translating the text. But it's still an emotionally resonant piece of work that takes you inside the heads of quite a few fascinating people with quite a few fascinating stories to tell.

Okay. I think I'm starting to get the appeal.

It's really good at making you feel like you're on an adventure, a wild chase that takes you through some really exotic settings.

So what came after Final Fantasy VII? Any other masterpieces?

Let's do another quick breakdown:

Final Fantasy VIII - The story of a grumpy teen named Squall and his adventures in military school. (And in prison. And space. And a time-compressed alternate reality.)

Final Fantasy IX - A medieval throwback chock full of wizards, knights, and Shakespearean dialogue.

Final Fantasy X - The one with Tidus. Dark, haunting, and full of water.

Final Fantasy XI - A massively multi-player online game. Fun if you're into that sort of thing.

Final Fantasy XII - A single-player massively multi-player online game. Fun if you're into that sort of thing and you don't like other people.

Final Fantasy XIII - A big hallway.

Final Fantasy XIV - A failed MMORPG that Square plans to totally revamp and release again later this year.

So there are 14 main games? Are they all connected?

Nope. There are some common themes, though. The items always have the same names—basic healing units are called Potions, for example, and reviving items are Phoenix Downs. There's usually a character named Cid. There are usually summon creatures named after mythological creatures like Shiva, Ifrit, and Bahamut. You can pilot flying vehicles called airships and use them to explore the world.

And there are recurring creatures that have become staples of Square's library over the years, like the yellow horse-bird Chocobos and the adorable puffy Moogles.

How many other games are there?

So we mentioned the 14 main installments, but there are also three direct sequels to main installments, and way too many spinoffs to count.

Which is the best?

Ask four Final Fantasy fans this question and you'll get eight different answers. My personal favorite is Final Fantasy VI, but I have strong feelings about almost all of them.

If I've never played a Final Fantasy game before, where should I start?

If you don't mind 16-bit graphics and sprites, pick up Final Fantasy VI on your PlayStation 3 or Wii. (Note that the Wii sells the Super Nintendo version, which is called Final Fantasy III.) It has aged quite well. The characters and cities are still pretty and fun to see, while the story is just as engaging as it was in the mid-90s.

If you want something that looks a bit more modern (and 3D), check out Final Fantasy IX on the PlayStation Network. It's easy to pick up and jump right into.

Are any of the spinoffs worth my time?

Yes! Although it might not be a great fit for genre newbies, Final Fantasy Tactics is a triumphant, addictive strategy game that's good at devouring hundreds of hours of your time.

I'm also quite partial to the DS game Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light.

Okay, Jason, tell me the truth. Why do people love Final Fantasy so much?

The music.

Really?

Well, yeah. Kind of.

The truth is that great Final Fantasy games, like great role-playing games in general, are successful when the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts. Final Fantasy games might not be the best at doing any one thing in particular, but they're wonderful at blending everything. By combining grand music, entertaining characters, lovely settings, and all the other factors we've talked about, they evoke this "I'm on an adventure!" vibe that you won't find many other places. You don't need to play these games because you need to hear their stories or fight their battles; you need to play them because they let you have an experience unlike anything else in the world.

Aw. How cute.

Thanks. They're neat games. You should pick them up. If you're willing to look past some oft-silly dialogue and delve into some unfamiliar battling systems, you'll be well rewarded.

Okay!

Oh, and don't bother with Final Fantasy XIII or its sequel. If you're not already a big fan of the series, they'll just bum you out.

Anything else I should know?

Grinding for levels is unnecessary. Talk to everyone. Be curious. Let yourself fall into the adventure.

Oh, and don't name all of your characters Sephiroth. It's only funny for like ten minutes.

Source : kotaku.com

Big Surprise, Japanese Gamers Like Final Fantasy XV's Demo

Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae came out last month and most people who got it have probably had enough time to process their feelings about it.

Japanese gaming mag Weekly Famitsu released the results of their user survey on the Final Fantasy XV demo.

What were you looking forward to going into the game?

Going into the game, most people seemed to have their sights set on the combat, with graphics coming in second.

Having played the game, what did you enjoy the most?

Interestingly enough, what most people seemed to look forward to before they started playing seemed to take a backseat to the visual and audio aspects of the game as well as the actual characters. Perhaps most interesting is the jump in appreciation of the music going into the game and coming out of it.

How long did it take you to clear the game?

Episode Duscae is not a long game. Most people seemed to get through the game in 2 to 5 hours with a few people taking more. The people who took over 8 hours probably spent their time exploring all the corners of the world.

What made you feel the “greatness” of FFXV?

• “The combat was fast and kept me on my toes.”
• “The epicness of the monsters.”
• “The food graphics.”
• “Not just the graphics, but the coordination in battle and conversations add to the realistic atmosphere.”
• “The details in things like the poles the Chocobo are tied to.”
• “The beauty of the landscape and reflections of light. The reactions of the characters are so realistic it’s like they’re actually alive.”
• “The extensively detailed world tickles my thirst for adventure. It’s been a while since I’ve experienced such a field.”
• “The people and monsters made me think ‘these could actually exist in real life.’ I want to visit this world.”

Which character did you like the most from playing the demo?

1: Noctis (127 votes)

• “He’s a prince, but doesn’t act like one.”
• “Because he’s the main character.”
• “I like his voice.”
• “I liked him from the start.”
• “I like his battle style of summoning different weapons.”
• “I felt kinship in how he has trouble getting up in the morning.”

2: Cindy (91 votes)

• “I shouldn’t have to explain why.”
• “Even as a woman I think she’s cute.”
• “The fact that she’s a beautiful mechanic who is ignorant of romance.”

3: Prompto (56 votes)

• “His every movement or expression is cute.”
• “I can feel that he’s trying!”
• “He’s dependable in battle because he stops enemies.”

4: Ignis (45 votes)

• “He’s like a butler.”
• “His cooking seems like it’s always tasty.”

5: Gladiolus (39 votes)

• “I like how he pulls everyone forward.”
• “The fact that he takes the lead and goes straight into dangerous places was really cool.”

What did you think about the 40 minute day cycle?

A significant number of players seemed to feel that 40 minutes was just right or too short for a day cycle in the game. Director Tabata Hajime has noted that the day length has been repeatedly changed over the course of development and it’s likely that he’ll take the feedback from players to tweak it even further.

What did you think about the camping level-up system?

Most people seemed happy with the leveling system that relied of camping. Not only does it add a level of control to players for how strong their characters are, but it also can potentially work as a tactical feature in how camping can be limited by location or events.

How was the battle difficulty?

Most people seemed to find the combat normal to challenging, which is probably the perfect balance that the game wants. However, there will be further added elements like magic and other features in the full game that will probably change things up drastically, so don’t take your experience in the demo to be what the final product will be like.

What did you think of the battle with Behemoth?

• “Awesome. I haven’t had a battle this tense in a long time.”
• “I could only laugh at how much I didn’t stand a chance. I was surprised at how it was much more powerful than any Behemoth I’ve encountered before.”
• “It chased me so much it was like a horror experience.”
• “It was very difficult, forcing me to attack and defend efficiently or I’d be killed immediately. It was a battle that had my palms sweating.”

What did you think when you used the summon?

• “I feel it was the best-looking summon effect in Final Fantasy history. I’m looking forward to finding the other summons.”
• “It’s huge! It’s amazing! Please make the other summons as epic!”
• “It was simply overwhelming. I love such systems that let you turn the tide of battle in an instant.”
• “The one-hit kill was truly a Final Fantasy summon. Watching its giant form appear right there on the battlefield was amazing.”

How satisfied are you with the FFXV demo?

People seem happy with the demo. I know I am.

The survey was conducted for a rather short period of 3 days and garnered only 398 valid responders – a relatively small sample – so take the results with a grain of salt.

Square Enix has its own separate official feedback survey available for people who downloaded the game, so check it out if you want to offer your two cents to the developers.

Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae is currently available with copies of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD.

Source : kotaku.com

Everything You Might Have Missed In The Final Fantasy XV Demo

If you skipped the Final Fantasy XV demo last month, you can go on continuing to skip it, because this morning Square Enix released a three-minute video that sums up all the cool parts just for you.

Of course, watching something is never quite the same as playing it, but this video will give you a good idea of what FFXV demo players got to experience, from the high-octane combat to the mind-blowing Ramuh summon. It’s a fun watch—enough to tide us over until we see more of FFXV later this year (likely at E3).

Also, anyone who makes a music video of Noctis and crew set to the Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way and sends it to me (or posts it in the comments here) will win my undying affection.

You can reach the author of this post at jason@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @jasonschreier.

Source : kotaku.com

Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade Game's Special Trailer Streamed

Comparison trailer also streamed for Team Ninja game hitting Japanese arcades this fall

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Square Enix began streaming a "special trailer" on Monday for the Dissidia Final Fantasy arcadegame.

KOEI Tecmo Games' Team Ninja (Dead or Alive series) is developing the the game, which will use technology from a PlayStation 4 core system instead of an arcade circuit board.

Square Enix also began streaming a comparison video between an arcade version and a PlayStation 4 version of the game on Thursday.

Confirmed characters include:

• Warrior of Light from Final Fantasy I
• Onion Knight from Final Fantasy III
• Tina (Terra) Branford from Final Fantasy VI
• Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII
• Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII
• Y'shtola from Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
• Ramza Beoulve from Final Fantasy Tactics

The arcade game will feature a 3 vs 3 battle system. The game will also include a summons gauge that players can use to summon Ifrit and other popular Final Fantasy summons when the gauge is full. Takeharu Ishimoto and his band The Death March will perform a new song for the game.

Square Enix will host two sets of location tests for the new arcade game. The company will host the first test from April 17-19 at Hey in Tokyo, Sendai Leisure Land in Miyagi prefecture, and Nagoya Leisure Land Sasashima in Aichi prefecture. Square Enix will then host the second test from April 24-26 at Sega Ikebukuro GiGO in Tokyo, Round One Stadium Sennichimae in Osaka, and Taito Station Fukuoka Tenshin store in Fukuoka.

Square Enix and KOEI Tecmo Games will release the arcade game in Japan this fall.

Square Enix released Dissidia Final Fantasy, a PlayStation Portable fighting game featuring Final Fantasy heroes and villains, in 2008 in Japan, and in 2009 in other parts of the world. The company then released the Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy sequel in 2011 for the PSP with new characters, stages, and story.

Comparison trailer via Siliconera

Source : http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/

The Fabulous First Five Minutes Of Final Fantasy X-2

The Final Fantasy X-2 Remaster with Bonus Final Fantasy X hit the States this week, once again raising the all-important question, “How can you hate a game that opens with a dance number?”

First off, sorry about the “singing”. I couldn’t help myself.

Secondly, I completely understand why so many Final Fantasy fans hate this game with a passion. Following up the first big Final Fantasy game of a new generation with what is essentially the series’ equivalent of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball was a move that was destined to cause contention among the player base.

I love the game. I enjoy the Dressphere system. I like unlocking all the outfits and playing with group dynamics. I relished the opportunity to further explore the continent of Spira. And that music. From the moment the game’s menu popped up I was in love.

And yes, I know her name is Lulu.

The First Five is the first five minutes of a game with light commentary. Once the five minutes are up, so am I.

Source : kotaku.com

FINAL FANTASY XV COULD USHER IN A NEW ERA FOR THE GAME DEMO

FINAL FANTASY XV COULD USHER IN A NEW ERA FOR THE GAME DEMO

I’M NOT SURE yet if it’s a good idea or a crummy one, but Square Enix’s deceptively prosaic decision to release multiple iterations of its demo version of Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae strikes me as more than feedback-focused fan service. It’s also a hopping-off-the-bandwagon maneuver.

The Final Fantasy publisher just announced it will unleash a second version of its demo for the long-in-development RPG in June. Demo version 1.0 arrived in March as a downloadable bonus bundled with Final Fantasy Type-0 HD. I liked it a trifle more than Game|Life editor Chris Kohler, although I also balked at the lame boys-club bits. (I’m no prude, I just draw my lines somewhere between respectfully sexy andsexploitatively absurd.)

It’s not often that a publisher updates a demo. It’s not often that a publisher even releases a demo, these days. They’re like this weird conceptual echo from the 1990s, when PC gamers still expected refunds if they hated a game but were getting the stink eye from piracy-paranoid retailers. Demos were supposed to be a way to peek under the hood, an insurance policy to mitigate player-author creative differences.

These days, how do we sample games before they hit? Usually, not at all. When we do, it’s in the form of “early betas,” or, more and more, “pre-alphas” (public-relations-speak for “Don’t sue us if the final game looksnothing like the prerelease sizzle reel“). Lately we’re seeing a lot of multiplayer previews on consoles, usually done as a stress test before servers go live, and which are usually deleted after a few week. And of course there’s Steam Early Access, in which you pay for games in full before they’re finished.

But demos employed as feedback funnels, months and maybe even years before the final game’s released? Demos with rejiggered followup versions? That’s new, or at least unusual for a publisher like Square Enix. (Though so are hour-and-a-half feedback videos with exhaustive poll breakouts that cover aspects of the demo even I wasn’t thinking about.)

It’s almost a counter-cultural thing. With betas or pre-alphas or whatever, you’ll see patches weekly, if not daily. The changes tend to be minute, the sort of fine-tuning and bug-quashing most players won’t notice. You have to stand pretty far back, time-wise, to quantify anything approaching a major shift.

Even Square Enix seems to know what it’s doing is a little… weird. “[From] a first-party perspective, there’s been no precedent of applying patches to demos,” said game director Hajime Tabata, responding to the game’s feedback.

I have no idea what’ll be new in version 2.0, but based on these developer interviews, I’m expecting major changes. Bug fixes of course, but also: better party A.I., difficulty tweaks, hide-and-fight tactical flow finessing, the option to cancel attacks by evading, wider (and smoother) camera angling, a rethink of the way lock-on targeting works, and probably at least a few yet-to-be-seen battle features.

In short, a pretty radical overhaul of the way the game’s fundamental differentiator—combat—works.

In theory, because of the scarcity of demo versions and the substantial timeframes between them, the approach serves a more independent creative team better. In an Early Access game or ongoing beta, change is constant and extremely granular, and one could argue that risks muddling the artistic vision. The tail in the latter case may be more likely to wag the dog (without the dog noticing).

I’m not saying that Tabata’s artistic vision is more likely to pass muster, because teams with bottomless money pools and ridiculously generous timeframes can still faceplant (and often do). But it’s an interesting little wrinkle in the long (and at times, worrisome) history of Final Fantasy XV‘s development.

I’m leery of the whole crowdsource-your-development thing, and thus cautiously optimistic about the alternative theory: Less-frequent, narrower audience peeks might veer closer to whatever a healthier balance between player and developer collaboration looks like.