In one of Orin Drake’s most recent articles,she talked about mythologies. About legends, how most RPGs tend to be retellings of similar legends with heroes that can easily be placed on a scale. In no videogame series is this ‘retelling’ aspect more apparent than the Final Fantasy games. It’s most likely in part because of these repeating aspects that Final Fantasy has garnered so much attention, negative and positive. Like any truly great piece of art, the FF games invoke debate, generally splitting people down the middle: you either adore the series, or you despise it. No matter which side of that fence you’re on, though, I think it’s due time to step back and start reconsidering your position.

I’ll start with the Final Fantasy fanboys (and girls). Every once in a while (especially when visiting the forums at an RPG-centric site like our very own www.allrpg.com) one will run into one of these people. The ones who will defend Square-Enix and the Final Fantasy series to the death, who believe Cloud, Squall, and all the other melodramatic main heroes can do no wrong. Call ANY one of the multitude of games sub-standard, and they’ll be screaming at you faster than you can say “Welcome to Corneria!”

I’m not gonna lie to you. I am, overall, a fan of the Final Fantasy games. In fact, one among their ranks (Final Fantasy VI) is almost undoubtedly what I consider to be the greatest RPG ever made. But despite any of those feelings, it bothers me immensely to see people trying to tell me or anyone else that none of the titles in the series have any flaws whatsoever. Liking a game is one thing. Putting it on a pedestal, as though to worship it, is something completely different.

Let me use some examples from an old forum I used to frequent. Back on this forum we had a constant poster, let’s call him “FFGuy123”. Now he was a Final Fantasy maniac. He had played every game in the series (including II and III, neither of which had been released state-wide at the time), and adored them all. In fact, I think he’d played through all of them at least two or three times.

Here’s where his adoration got out of hand. Any time anyone would bring up any small criticism of the series, FFGuy123 would flip out. He’d scream, often repeating the same lines about how amazing the game is, how much work the developers had put into it, and how we should respect them just for that. This is the kind of logic I see used far too often in videogame forums. In fact, Richard Goodness just mentioned it in his last article,)! A certain fan boy will defend his game of choice by saying: “You can’t criticize them, if you’ve never even made a game!” The point is so warped as to be nonsensical. No one tells Roger Ebert that he has no right to criticize movies, because he’s never made one.

And, of course, most of this is reason, something fan boys, in their blind love of their game, often refuse to listen to. What FFGuy123 needs to do is simple: quit kidding himself. The Final Fantasy series has had a lot of ups, but on the same note, it’s had a lot of downs. And, perhaps simply because of how important these ups were to the genre, the downs seemed to hurt even more. Need some examples? My pleasure.

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest . This is one of the most widely-mocked games ever released by Square-Enix. It’s also, ironically, one of the games I played most as a child. A few friends and I would venture through Mystic Quest several times every year. We were eventually able to find every treasure chest and pass the game in a record time. It’s only now that I realize, this was little to be proud of.

Despite the semi-innovative idea of adding adventure elements (the use of weapons outside of battle to solve small puzzles, similar to the formula used in the Wild Arms games), this game was pretty terrible. Every part of this game seemed thrown together, from the terribly written story to the ridiculously easy battles. Yes, this was intended to be an RPG for beginners, but in reality, it was much worse. It wasn’t for beginners, it was for losers . It seems reasonable to call it one of the easiest RPGs ever made, but FF:MQ is also one of the easiest games any made, of ANY genre.

Final Fantasy VIII. One of the most argued-over and controversial in the series, FFVIII retains a large fan-base, and for good reason. There were reasons to love the title. The deeply personal stories and (to some degrees) highly evolved characters presented a pretty big change from the normal FF plot formula that was intriguing, in the right minds. Unfortunately that change is also a part of what dragged this game down.

Because FFVIII’s story was designed on a less epic level, a story that explored the minds and lives of its characters in a much more human manner, there was less action. The story was slower, and that presented an insurmountable challenge to a lot of gamers who weren‘t used to such a text-heavy, person-based title. The plot may have been made easier to swallow if not for amazingly complex and sadly boring battle system. While junctioning may have led to a very original way to maximize your characters stats (through a ton of lame menus), I don’t know anyone that enjoyed spending hours battling the same monsters so that you could draw magic from them.

Now let’s take a look at the opposite end of the spectrum. Over here we have those who I’ll kindly refer to as the ‘highbrow’ gamers. They despise the FF series in at least a majority of its incarnations for one of two reasons. Either they think they’re too classy for the mainstream entertainment the FF games provide, or they’re just trying desperately to appear hardcore.

Yeah, I can’t figure out why being hardcore (much less classy) always seems to equate to being cynical and jaded either.

A distinction should probably be drawn at this point. The majority of Final Fantasy haters are not so pretentious as to truly despise every FF game. Rather their focuses tend to be on only one half of the series, be it the early games (I-VI and any ‘side’ games in this period) or, more commonly, the modern (VII-X/X-2).

As I’ve already shown, there’s certainly material to be criticized. The annoying trend I’ve noticed here, though, is that these anti-fanboys (the exact opposite of fanboys, but retaining all their annoying qualities!) tend to never mention the stuff that it seems would make their arguments more valid. They seem to focus on the most basic concerns, never caring enough to delve into real problems the game may or may not have. For example, I know you’ve all heard the guy (or two or three) saying there’s no way he’ll ever even try Final Fantasy X-2 “cuz its all girly!!!1”

Obviously, though, it’s up to personal taste whether or not someone likes a game. It’s certainly not my job to try and convince anyone otherwise, and that’s not what I’ll try to do. But I do think it’s important that someone be educated in a subject before he or she tries debating it. At least with the fanboys we know they’re knowledgeable on the game; they’ve already passed the damn thing 20+ times!

There’s one important lesson I believe these anti-fanboys must learn to feel towards the FF games: respect. While these titles (as with most any titles of such scope) have had their share of mistakes, they’ve also provided important stepping stones in bringing the RPG genre to where it stands today, popular enough to allow even some of the weirdest, niche games to get developed in the U.S. (Magic Pengel, anyone). If you need clearer examples of some of the stronger times in the FF series, let me help you out.

Final Fantasy VI. Oh dearest Final Fantasy VI. There are so many reasons why you are the greatest game ever created. You have a storyline that is absolutely unrivaled by even the best of modern RPGs. You have a wide cast of characters that are all fleshed out with real personalities and back stories we actually care about. There’s the truly inspire music score, there’s the perfect battle/leveling system. And, oh, let us not forget what is perhaps the greatest gift you gave us: Kefka, undoubtedly the most wonderful villain ever created.

I could keep doing this for days. There’s a million reasons why this game was so great. Final Fantasy VI remains Square-Enix’s most epic opus ever created. It’s a shame that a lot of fellow gamers I talk to haven’t yet experienced this title, and often seem to be too coddled by their fancy 3D graphics and high-quality everything to take a step back and check it out. Assuredly though, anyone who has not yet tried this game and does it give it a chance will walk away from it with one of the greatest gaming experiences ever created under their belt. I’ve never forgotten it, and I find it hard to believe that most serious gamers would either.

Final Fantasy X. I know this is definitely going to be a controversial pick for an ‘up’ in the Final Fantasy series, but I’m going to just come out and give it to you guys straight: I love Final Fantasy X. I think it was a huge step in the series and in the genre. It didn’t take me long after purchasing the game to realize this, either. It was only a few weeks after I‘d purchased the game when my best friend and I were sitting in front the television, me playing. My best friend is not an RPG fan at all. He thinks they’re the most boring games ever created. But after watching me for about twenty minutes, he made a remark that really struck me: “This is the first RPG I’ve ever really enjoyed watching.”

With Final Fantasy X, Square-Enix created a gallimaufry of multimedia fantasy storytelling that works like clockwork in that A.D.D.-tinged society I mentioned earlier. Even those who hate the generally slow-paced, dialogue-heavy RPG genre can have fun with this title. The addition of a completely voiced script was a nice plus, but the fast-paced battle system helped even more. To make an RPG that ensured a good time would had by all was a huge step in insuring the popularity of the genre would hold strong.

So, like I said, it’s not really my job, nor my right, to sit here and dictate to anyone what they should like or dislike. No one deserves to be told their taste is wrong, and it’s obviously quite silly to call opinions inaccurate. The real lesson to learn here is that taking such an extreme side as both of the parties discussed have taken isn’t worth all the trouble it causes. When someone is so deadset on something being either the best thing ever or the worst, they’re bound to anger people by forcing their opinions onto everyone.

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