I've just watched the English dub trailer for Final Fantasy XIII and I don't think I've ever been so horrified by anything in my entire life. I am actually sickened by it.
I'm going to cut this for ranting and possible spoilers about and for EVERYTHING Square have ever done... and for its EPIC LENGTH. Enjoy.
Ever since the Enix was attached so inelegantly onto the end Square, I feel like the whole franchise has lost its spark and integrity. All we've had since is mediocre sequel after downright dreadful one. We've had new characters randomly thrown into existing storylines, random storylines thrown at existing characters. There's been too much focus on women in short shorts, Aerith's apparent love for clothes shopping, remakes, director's cuts, and director’s cuts of remakes... It's just getting really silly.
When Final Fantasy X-2 was announced I was genuinely really pleased. I lost myself so completely in FFX, more than with any other game, I think, that when it ended I wanted nothing more than for some kind of continuation. I played it over two days with![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
myvxkirito, literally plastered to our sofa until the credit's rolled, and I adored it. Now though, thinking about it leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.
I still enjoy playing it - I love Baralai's character and the relationship between him, Gippal and Nooj - but there's so much about it now that really niggles. Yuna, for example, turned into nothing more than eye-candy for the boys. Her reservations and her hesitance were some of the qualities that really endeared me to her. Then she turned up as a barely-dressed, gun-toting action pin-up who spent more time impersonating a popular singer like some bizarre Square version of Stars in Their Eyes. I know that the point was that she was moving on, living her life, writing her own story, as it were, but it still felt really... fanfictiony. Even Rikku, who was really sweet in FFX, felt like she was just there to wear a bikini.
And then there's FFVII. Hmm...
I actually do really like VII. I loved it when I first played it, the immortal line Alright, everyone, let's mosey becoming a legendary phrase in my house, but now, again, it has lost its shine because it has become so overdone.
I was excited by Advent Children at first but now I see it as little more than a watchable film with amazing graphics. I felt that it was too slow and too self-indulgent. Dirge of Cerberus had Gackt in it, plus Longing and Redemption, which equals instant WIN. But the game itself, in my opinion, was... well, dirge. Shelke and Shallua are actually two of the characters in the whole history of the universe that I would most like to stab in the face with a fork. Shallua was actually pointless, Shelke was just annoying. Yuffie, who I never had a problem with before, made me cringe every time she was on screen. And I didn't like Weiss' hair, but that's just petty.
In whole, it sucked (thank you, Smidge).
Last Order (Not Last Resort, Yubinbasya, you are still awesome *happy face*), Crisis Core, Before Crisis, Advent Children Complete, Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII, On the Way to a Smile...
This has gone so far beyond giving the fans what they want, it's not funny. A sequel is a nice way to reward fans, but these are just being made now to make money. They're not even adding anything of value to the original game or characters. The series is slowly becoming more and more about side characters and new characters and new stories. They're weaving more and more into a veritable storyline patchwork quilt that was already far too large for the bed.
The meaning of Final Fantasy VII, as it was way back when in 1997, has completely been lost. The passion is long dead and buried, its bones salted and burned and its soul never to rise again. I attribute most of the blame to Nomura, and the fact that he apparently spends less time thinking about the actual point of the games than he does picking a dress for Aerith to wear. For five minutes. Until she dies. On the first disc. FAIL.
My evidence for this is that FFXII is fantastic. Everything about it, from its design to its characters and from its soundtrack to Rasler's hair. Which is important. It is complex and involving, funny and sweet. And Balthier is a GOD. It is probaly next on the list to get a remake or director's cut, or flash edition X, or Penelo in hotpants as a gun-toting action pin-up... The obvious Enix sequel failed but that's down to it having a different development team more than anything else.
And then we get onto Kingdom Hearts. Amazing. Utterly fantastic - with the exception of the name "Leon". What kind of crack was someone smoking when they decided that was a good idea? And with Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Enix had their first real sequel-related success. Organization XIII were a really interesting and well-designed addition, the cards were a nice touch, and it served to further develop the bond between Sora and Riku. Kingdom Hearts II was fantastic for the same reason. In my eyes it's actually a little bit better than the original, especially for the reference to Auron's undeadedness. It's just... amazing. Really amazing.
But then... Oh, then we have 358/2 Days with Xion. Who is an angry female version of the series' male protagonist. Any thirteen-year-old with access to Wordpad could have come up with that idea. And has.
The problem with Enix is that, as mentioned quite thoroughly, the more they mess with what people originally fell in love with, the more they water it down and drag all meaning kicking and screaming from the cold, dead corpse of the original game.
Really, up until this point, with the exception of Kingdom Hearts, it's been my opinion that the main games have been awesome, while the sequels, tie-ins and spin-offs have been half-cocked with storylines that could have been written by a child.
Until we get to FFXIII, that is.
Because it's not a standalone, main game. It has three parts. They're packaging their sequels, tie-ins and spin-offs altogether, which I guess generates more cash all in one go but makes you wonder just how much attention each game has had when they've been created all in one go. Aaaannnd at the same time as the forthcoming FFXIV.
The graphics are amazing, there's no doubting that. But from what I've seen so far, the design is a little lackluster and dull. It's all greys and mecha which looks so boring when compared to the vibrant FFXII. The characters are... annoying? Boring. Predictable. And Lightning... Oh dear. I admire her Motoko-ness, but there's really no hope for a character that was designed to be a 'female version of Cloud Strife'. Enix, message straight to you from my heart, LEAVE FINAL FANTASY VII ALONE. Also, she's a good version of the evil guys which is the most unoriginal concept that it amazes me it's been used like this.
Admittedly, I've not seen much of the game, I know little really about the story and how it fits together with it's counterparts, but so far I'm not the slightest bit interested in finding out more. Like I said to the Smidge after watching the trailer, if I didn't know what it was and just saw it by chance, I wouldn't even look twice at it. I wouldn't have even watched the whole trailer. It's graphically impressive, but visually boring with characters and concepts that have come straight from fanfiction. I'm really disappointed.
But all this is just my opinion, and opinions often change. I'll probably be back here in a few months time raving about how amazing it is and how awesome the characters are but I know for a fact that my thoughts on Enix will remain unchanged. They are greedy. And spend too much time thinking about Aerith's wardrobe. And how they can cash-in on VII a little bit more. And how Leon is a much better name than Squall.
But I still love Square. I love all of the 'main games' in the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series. There has been the occasional spin-off / sequel that has made me happy, and 'Moron! Loser! Your mom wears a shell suit' will remain the best insult of all time (Yes, VIII, I love you so much, even though no one else does.)
Square, you rock. Enix, not so much.
And that's me done. Random, vague, flawed, and sometimes ill-informed and downright silly, my rant comes to an end. With some advice.
If you want a highly-engaging Japanese RPG...
...
...
Play Shadow Hearts. :D
And, finally, a quote this rant inspired:
If you make that a little less coherent, people might think you were drunk - the Smidge.
I'm going to cut this for ranting and possible spoilers about and for EVERYTHING Square have ever done... and for its EPIC LENGTH. Enjoy.
Ever since the Enix was attached so inelegantly onto the end Square, I feel like the whole franchise has lost its spark and integrity. All we've had since is mediocre sequel after downright dreadful one. We've had new characters randomly thrown into existing storylines, random storylines thrown at existing characters. There's been too much focus on women in short shorts, Aerith's apparent love for clothes shopping, remakes, director's cuts, and director’s cuts of remakes... It's just getting really silly.
When Final Fantasy X-2 was announced I was genuinely really pleased. I lost myself so completely in FFX, more than with any other game, I think, that when it ended I wanted nothing more than for some kind of continuation. I played it over two days with
myvxkirito, literally plastered to our sofa until the credit's rolled, and I adored it. Now though, thinking about it leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.I still enjoy playing it - I love Baralai's character and the relationship between him, Gippal and Nooj - but there's so much about it now that really niggles. Yuna, for example, turned into nothing more than eye-candy for the boys. Her reservations and her hesitance were some of the qualities that really endeared me to her. Then she turned up as a barely-dressed, gun-toting action pin-up who spent more time impersonating a popular singer like some bizarre Square version of Stars in Their Eyes. I know that the point was that she was moving on, living her life, writing her own story, as it were, but it still felt really... fanfictiony. Even Rikku, who was really sweet in FFX, felt like she was just there to wear a bikini.
And then there's FFVII. Hmm...
I actually do really like VII. I loved it when I first played it, the immortal line Alright, everyone, let's mosey becoming a legendary phrase in my house, but now, again, it has lost its shine because it has become so overdone.
I was excited by Advent Children at first but now I see it as little more than a watchable film with amazing graphics. I felt that it was too slow and too self-indulgent. Dirge of Cerberus had Gackt in it, plus Longing and Redemption, which equals instant WIN. But the game itself, in my opinion, was... well, dirge. Shelke and Shallua are actually two of the characters in the whole history of the universe that I would most like to stab in the face with a fork. Shallua was actually pointless, Shelke was just annoying. Yuffie, who I never had a problem with before, made me cringe every time she was on screen. And I didn't like Weiss' hair, but that's just petty.
In whole, it sucked (thank you, Smidge).
Last Order (Not Last Resort, Yubinbasya, you are still awesome *happy face*), Crisis Core, Before Crisis, Advent Children Complete, Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII, On the Way to a Smile...
This has gone so far beyond giving the fans what they want, it's not funny. A sequel is a nice way to reward fans, but these are just being made now to make money. They're not even adding anything of value to the original game or characters. The series is slowly becoming more and more about side characters and new characters and new stories. They're weaving more and more into a veritable storyline patchwork quilt that was already far too large for the bed.
The meaning of Final Fantasy VII, as it was way back when in 1997, has completely been lost. The passion is long dead and buried, its bones salted and burned and its soul never to rise again. I attribute most of the blame to Nomura, and the fact that he apparently spends less time thinking about the actual point of the games than he does picking a dress for Aerith to wear. For five minutes. Until she dies. On the first disc. FAIL.
My evidence for this is that FFXII is fantastic. Everything about it, from its design to its characters and from its soundtrack to Rasler's hair. Which is important. It is complex and involving, funny and sweet. And Balthier is a GOD. It is probaly next on the list to get a remake or director's cut, or flash edition X, or Penelo in hotpants as a gun-toting action pin-up... The obvious Enix sequel failed but that's down to it having a different development team more than anything else.
And then we get onto Kingdom Hearts. Amazing. Utterly fantastic - with the exception of the name "Leon". What kind of crack was someone smoking when they decided that was a good idea? And with Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Enix had their first real sequel-related success. Organization XIII were a really interesting and well-designed addition, the cards were a nice touch, and it served to further develop the bond between Sora and Riku. Kingdom Hearts II was fantastic for the same reason. In my eyes it's actually a little bit better than the original, especially for the reference to Auron's undeadedness. It's just... amazing. Really amazing.
But then... Oh, then we have 358/2 Days with Xion. Who is an angry female version of the series' male protagonist. Any thirteen-year-old with access to Wordpad could have come up with that idea. And has.
The problem with Enix is that, as mentioned quite thoroughly, the more they mess with what people originally fell in love with, the more they water it down and drag all meaning kicking and screaming from the cold, dead corpse of the original game.
Really, up until this point, with the exception of Kingdom Hearts, it's been my opinion that the main games have been awesome, while the sequels, tie-ins and spin-offs have been half-cocked with storylines that could have been written by a child.
Until we get to FFXIII, that is.
Because it's not a standalone, main game. It has three parts. They're packaging their sequels, tie-ins and spin-offs altogether, which I guess generates more cash all in one go but makes you wonder just how much attention each game has had when they've been created all in one go. Aaaannnd at the same time as the forthcoming FFXIV.
The graphics are amazing, there's no doubting that. But from what I've seen so far, the design is a little lackluster and dull. It's all greys and mecha which looks so boring when compared to the vibrant FFXII. The characters are... annoying? Boring. Predictable. And Lightning... Oh dear. I admire her Motoko-ness, but there's really no hope for a character that was designed to be a 'female version of Cloud Strife'. Enix, message straight to you from my heart, LEAVE FINAL FANTASY VII ALONE. Also, she's a good version of the evil guys which is the most unoriginal concept that it amazes me it's been used like this.
Admittedly, I've not seen much of the game, I know little really about the story and how it fits together with it's counterparts, but so far I'm not the slightest bit interested in finding out more. Like I said to the Smidge after watching the trailer, if I didn't know what it was and just saw it by chance, I wouldn't even look twice at it. I wouldn't have even watched the whole trailer. It's graphically impressive, but visually boring with characters and concepts that have come straight from fanfiction. I'm really disappointed.
But all this is just my opinion, and opinions often change. I'll probably be back here in a few months time raving about how amazing it is and how awesome the characters are but I know for a fact that my thoughts on Enix will remain unchanged. They are greedy. And spend too much time thinking about Aerith's wardrobe. And how they can cash-in on VII a little bit more. And how Leon is a much better name than Squall.
But I still love Square. I love all of the 'main games' in the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series. There has been the occasional spin-off / sequel that has made me happy, and 'Moron! Loser! Your mom wears a shell suit' will remain the best insult of all time (Yes, VIII, I love you so much, even though no one else does.)
Square, you rock. Enix, not so much.
And that's me done. Random, vague, flawed, and sometimes ill-informed and downright silly, my rant comes to an end. With some advice.
If you want a highly-engaging Japanese RPG...
...
...
Play Shadow Hearts. :D
And, finally, a quote this rant inspired:
If you make that a little less coherent, people might think you were drunk - the Smidge.
Mood: Ranty
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