History of Final Fantasy: Compilation of Final Fantasy 7

Final Fantasy 7, despite its problems, became arguably one of the most popular Final Fantasy games in the entire series.  So, to try and make more money off it, and to appease fans clamoring for a remake, Square-Enix decided to release some sequels and tie-ins to the game after the Playstation 2 had hit.  These games were direct sequels but dealt with side characters and sub plots that the original game never got a chance to tackle.  So, how were these games?  While most were reviled by fans for being clunky and not what they wanted, many of them are actually quite interesting and even fun to play.  So, please, join me, as we take a look at the Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 and find out just how crazy this game and its sequels could get.

History of Final Fantasy: Final Fantasy 7

Here we come to one of the most iconic games in Final Fantasy.  Final Fantasy 7 is heralded by many as the greatest game in the series and has changed the face of the RPG genre for close to two decades.  It's certainly an amazing game, but is it as good as everyone says?  What is the history surrounding the game everyone wants to remake?  Stay tuned and find out.

History of Final Fantasy: The Art of Final Fantasy

Video game growing pains is back, this time with another Final Fantasy video.  We're talking about the art of Final Fantasy, because it changed quite a bit in the jump from the 16-bit to the 3-d.  It's important that we recognize the differences in art and how they affected the franchise and the fans before moving on to talk about Final Fantasy 7.

So, let's do that.  Enjoy!

History of Final Fantasy: A Bravely Default Rant

So, I've started playing Bravely Default and...I feel angry.  Not with the game, the game is great, but with Square.  So, I put my anger into words and tried to explain why Bravely Default is good and why it shows how fare Square Enix and Final Fantasy have fallen.  Check it out.

History of Final Fantasy: Final Fantasy 6

So, in spite of much illness and a project to prove how video games have the potential to educate, I have continued work on this series.  Today, we are going to look at the longest video I have ever made, my favorite Final Fantasy game, and quite possibly, the best game in the series.  It's not perfect, and I will discuss the many problems it faces, but it captured a kind of magic from both the series and the 16-bit generation that has never since been replicated.  And with this, we end the golden age of RPGs, even though I will still talk about a game that was in the golden age next time, which was not terribly good.

Anyway, without further ado, Final Fantasy 6, ladies and gentleman.

History of Final Fantasy: Final Fantasy 5

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but I am not getting much editing done lately so I have to space out my videos.  I'm planning a presentation on how video games can be used as an educational tool, the Christmas episode of Video Game Growing Pains, and I've got a test in a few days.  Yes, even teachers take tests.

Anyway, enough complaining.  This week, we examine Final Fantasy 5.  It takes a little of the old, a little of the new, and makes an experience that, at the time, was wholly unique and utterly unforgettable.  Give it a look and see what makes this game so special.

History of Final Fantasy: Final Fantasy 4 After Years

So, following the release of Final Fantasy 4, there were many other Final Fantasy titles, but in the late 2000s, Square began to tinker with the idea of a sequel.  A remake for the DS was already planned, so it only seemed natural to release a sequel to one of the greatest RPGs of all time.  And it was released on the mobile phone.

Oh dear.

Then, the Wii, PSP, IOS, and many other systems...Final Fantasy 4 After Years is a reviled game for many reasons, from the price gouging approach it took to gaming, to the retreaded ground, to the mobile platform, but is it really bad?  Stay tuned to this blog and find out.

History of Final Fantasy: Final Fantasy 4

Video game growing pains is back, this time with the start of the golden era of Final Fantasy, with the games which make up some of the best of the series.  We kick things off with a retrospective on Final Fantasy 4 for the Super Nintendo.

Enjoy!

History of Final Fantasy: Unofficial Final Fantasy games

Okay, new podcast/video up for everyone to see.  This time, we're looking at the unofficial Final Fantasy games from the game boy, back when brand recognition meant anything and to hell with it, even if it's not Final Fantasy, if we call it that, it'll sell.

Are they worth a damn though?  Step up and take a look.

History of Final Fantasy 1 and 2

Officially kicking off my history of Final Fantasy podcasts here and now.  My GOAL is to get them out at least two to three times per week, do a little recording in my spare time, and cobble these together when I'm off from work.

Bear in mind, this is still a passion project and I do still work 10-11 hour days, so...some weeks may only have 1 or less podcasts.  Either way, I am giving this a shot and will include both Final Fantasy 1, which debuted a few days ago, and Final Fantasy 2, fresh off the presses, here for your auditory pleasure.

I may take a hiatus from these near Christmas if I haven's finished for a more video intensive project.  We shall see.  But for now, please enjoy my look back at the history of Final Fantasy 1 and 2.

Final Fantasy Podcasts and updates

Okay, so living abroad in China and working, often for 10-11 hours a day, is going to prevent me from doing a lot of writing, editing, research, image searches and the like.  So, I've got a few decisions I'm making.  Most of them are in the podcasts below, but I'll spell them out here.  Don't expect many new articles, I don't have time right now.  I'm toying with the idea of podcasts, or rather, audio only sections where I just vamp for a bit on different topics.  This might replace my current formula, we'll see.  Right now, toying with it.  I do have some more video reviews I plan to make, with a special one hopefully for Christmas.  Until then, enjoy listening to my voice.

Let's see of this takes off, shall we?

I'll release more videos as I can edit them together.  They will be somewhat minimal, but hey, this is a passion project and I don't have my games with me at present.  If these are popular, I can redo them later.

For video game lovers...PERLERS!

Hey all.  No new editorial today, because I'm engaged in one of my other hobbies.  Selling out.  I kid, I kid, but one of my big time hobbies is perling.  Thusly, I've opened a store to sell my perlers.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/RealmofPerlers

What is perling?  Well, you use multi-colored beads on spiked pads, iron them together, and you can create some cool images, like these:

Anyway, I started up a shop to sell some of these awesome perlers, because...well, I've got too many and I'm about to be laid off of my job.  Got a talent?  Try and make some money off of it.  So, please excuse me for selling out just a tad.  I'm trying to create voices that are talking about my shop...even if they're all mine, hehe.

Promise, next week I will have another editorial.  Till then, give my store a look.

Where Did Final Fantasy Go Wrong? A Fan's Analysis

            Well, this is going to get a few people angry.  Anyway, this discussion came about because recently I've been replaying Final Fantasy 5, which is a criminally overlooked part of the series.  It, along with other older Final Fantasys and certain games from yesteryear, are a breath of fresh air compared to the modern industry.  However, the thought occurs to me that we could face a very real possibility of a FINAL Final Fantasy.  Square has abused the franchise to a surprising degree, milking it for all its worth while overlooking what made it great to begin with.  More worrying is that other companies, good companies with strong games and smart designers, seem to be following their example, hoping for similar sales numbers.  Level-5, for example, maker of excellent action RPGs on the PS2 such as Dark Cloud, Dark Cloud 2, and Rogue Galaxy, recently released the incredibly frustrating, poorly controlled, and much delayed White Knight Chronicles games and the beautiful, but flawed, Ni No Kuni.  They're ignoring some of the same aspects of game design that Square is, and with disastrous results, at least from this fan's perspective.  During the PS2 era, Level-5 was a name I trusted.  I would pre-order any game with their label.  Now, I dismissively wave them aside, because they've lost my trust.  Same with Square.  So, to see how we got here, I want to examine where Final Fantasy went wrong.

A reminder of times gone by.  The glory days of Final Fantasy are long gone.

            Before we discuss where Final Fantasy went wrong, though, we need to outline what made it such a seminal series for RPG fans.  This can be broken down into four main categories.  Graphics, Music and Sound, Game design, and Storytelling.  These four aspects of the game series are what enraptured fans.  First, let's examine why that was the case, then, we'll examine how Square dropped the ball.

            Graphics: Final Fantasy has always focused on graphical fidelity to a degree.  Even during its time on the NES, it tried to be a powerhouse of graphical design, using complex sprites, a varied color palette, locations that were relatively unique at the time, and a style distinctive from other games of similar design, like Dragon Quest or Phantasy Star.  As the series gained steam and moved on to the SNES, this not only meant crisper, more detailed graphics, but an improvement in how they were used.  Character sprites could now emote to a huge degree, showing shock, concern, anger, disgust, etc.  Mode 7 was also a popular feature for giving certain sections, like traveling via airship or on chocobo in Final Fantasy 6 a distinctive feel.  The graphics served a purpose of not only making the game prettier, but also of making it more unique and distinctive and allowing the characters to connect to the player on a visual as well as narrative level.  There was a lot more, "Showing" instead of "Telling."  When Final Fantasy came to the Playstation, there were some graphical hiccups, with the blocky style of Final Fantasy 7.  However, it still offered, at the time, gorgeous cut scenes, a distinctive style which, love it or hate it, has not been replicated since, and a more varied range of movement for characters.  They could wield weapons outside of combat, stand awkwardly, slump in place, etc.  There were a range of emotions that could be told through body language.  And this trend continued through Final Fantasy 8 and 9.  The graphic styles were distinctive, the cut scenes beautiful, and the characters emotive.

From the very beginning, Final Fantasy featured colorful worlds that pushed the limits of its platform

            Final Fantasy 10 is where I argue that the series started to get lazy.  I did still greatly enjoy Final Fantasy 10, however with the advent of voice actors, emoting became less important, and so the voices, which could often be quite annoying, became more apparent as opposed to how character models could be used.  That aside, the graphics were still quite good and allowed a much more interesting array of monsters and summoned beasts to be called upon.  This is true through Final Fantasy 11 and 12, which each had distinct styles and graphics which were quite pleasing to the eye.  Cut to Final Fantasy 13 and its sequels.  The graphics here plateaued, in my opinion.  They were as gorgeous as they could probably ever be and didn't really need improvement.  The character models are painstakingly detailed, the environments crisp, and even the style of monsters was varied too, giving them a more mechanized look, even if far too many enemies were just soldiers in drab uniforms.  However, I personally believe that the characters lost much of their ability to emote due to the game's over abundance of cut scenes, which basically plopped a pre-rendered mess into the game at certain points, but graphically, there shouldn't be that many complaints for the game.  From a purely aesthetic standpoint, Final Fantasy started out attracting players with a more graphically engaging RPG experience on the NES and this trend continues to the present day.  Square does, if nothing else, create beautiful graphics.  However, they have reached a plateau where they may not be able to wow us with graphical design any more and will need to find a new way to attract players, either through interesting graphical styles, like Final Fantasy 9 or 10, or by allowing the characters a wider range of expression.  Not just facial expression, but full body expression.

Even if body language has fallen by the wayside, Final Fantasy remains a gorgeous series with graphics that never fail to impress.

            Music and Sound:  Music from the Final Fantasy series is iconic.  It is soul stirring.  Hundreds of thousands if not millions of people have been brought to tears by themes like the "Aria di Mezzo Carattere" from Final Fantasy 6 or "Eyes on Me" from Final Fantasy 8.  And this has warranted dozens of full symphonic tours.  If graphics were the body of the series, music was the soul.  It moved players and that is one reason the older games are remembered so fondly, even though their music was limited by the hardware of the time period.

This music was burned into my brain from childhood.  I replayed Final Fantasy 6 at least a dozen times just to linger on this sequence and this score.

            I do not believe, personally, that any one series should be defined or held up by a single person.  Games are built by teams, after all.  However, Nobuo Uematsu, the composer for Final Fantasy 1-11 deserves personal mention.  While the series has been helmed largely by Hironobu Sakaguchi, most often uses Yoshitaka Amano or Tetsuya Nomura for graphical design, and has had a slew of other directors, animators, etc.  Uematsu was an integral part of the series.  Music from Final Fantasy 1-11 ran the gambit of light hearted and fun, to heartbreakingly tragic, to almost scary.  The music appealed to gamers on an emotional level and kept them gripped from beginning to end.  And, as the series moved from NES to SNES to Playstation, the music improved, as the sound chips and tools available to Uematsu improved.  Even now, he is recognized as one of, if not the, greatest video game composer of all times.

This man was the soul of Final Fantasy and his departure from Square crippled the series.

            And when Uematsu left Square, Final Fantasy lost its soul.  Square still owned many of the popular themes Uematsu created, such as "Victory Fanfare," "Mambo De Chocobo," "Prelude," and "Final Fantasy."  However, Square took to retooling or just ignoring these themes after Uematsu's departure, with few of them used in FF 12 and none, save for the Chocobo theme used in FF 13.  And that theme is so bastardized it's barely recognizable.  I will not say that the music got significantly worse after Uematsu stopped composing for Square, however it never stirred or gripped players like it used to.  It was passable, competent even, however the music lacked the soul and emotion Uematsu gave it.  Instead, Square has chosen to use more modern pop themes, the most used theme from Final Fantasy 13 being "My Hands" by Leona Lewis, an X-factor contestant.  Nevertheless, these themes COULD have held a place in the series if paired with Uematsu's music as a nice counterpoint, however as it stands, they feel like crass replacements.  Musically, Final Fantasy has become boring.  And if Square ever wants to recapture the previous soul, they either need to contract Mr. Uematsu to compose for them again, since he is now an independent composer, find someone who can create similarly evocative music, such as Yoko Shimomura or Akira Yamaoka, or stick with themes they already posses.  Final Fantasy will not get better if they ONLY use old music composed by Uematsu, but it may at least slow the degradation.  However, musically, it can't get much worse.  Bland is even worse than offensive at times in video games because it is forgettable.  At least offensive music sticks with you. 

I cut Final Fantasy X-2 a fair bit of slack, but that was a one off.  We didn't need pop music or bland themes in every game thereafter.

            Game Design:  Here we come to the key part of Final Fantasy.  Game Design.  The series is well known for starting off using turn based combat, then an active time battle system, and after many tweaks, a system not unlike those of MMOs.  Looking back at the original turn based combat, it was very stiff.  Battles progressed slowly, but that was because each character needed to be assigned a move, then perform it, then enemies did the same.  The active time battle system improved on this by speeding up combat.  Enemies and players could now have their turns intersect and whoever was fastest got to move first.  It allowed a great deal more excitement and tension in combat.  Then the shift to an MMO style took control away from all but one character, while still retaining the basic features of the active time battle system.

Say hello to the Active Time Battle System, staple of the good Final Fantasy games from 4-10.

            Ignoring combat for a moment, game design also had a great deal to do with how players experienced Final Fantasy.  Starting out on an overworld which allowed for non-linear exploration, players were given a path, told to follow, but allowed to deviate to find hidden treasures, new monsters, or just goof off and play with their abilities.  There were distinctive divides between overworld exploration, town based exploration, and dungeons.  Dungeons were dangerous and had plenty of enemies, but also lots of treasure.  Towns offered players a chance to buy items, hear rumors from NPCs and become immersed in the world.  Overworld exploration was the bridge between these two segments, giving the player the feeling that they could control where they moved not just in towns or dungeons, but everywhere.  This general structure would remain consistent with the series from Final Fantasy 1-10.  However, after Final Fantasy 10, the series tried to wean players off these features.  Final Fantasy 11 only gave players one character to control while still allowing them to have a non-linear world and job system to explore and play with.  Final Fantasy 12 still only had players controlling one character and made the game more linear, but the world was large, interconnected, and had branching paths which led to hidden secrets.  Final Fantasy 13 only had players control one character through a linear 60 hour hallway.  Even when the game supposedly opened up for exploration, there was very little in the way of secrets, hidden treasures, or anything really interesting to find.

The MMO style of gameplay was not a good fit for Final Fantasy.  It robbed us of our freedom.

            What I want to make clear, however, is that linear exploration and changes to combat are not, in my opinion, what hurt Final Fantasy design wise.  The series has always been ready to explore and experiment with different styles of gameplay.  What irked me most was the general lack of control players had after Final Fantasy 10.  Control is what Square took away from players since Final Fantasy 11 and the series has never been the same.  Players controlled between 3 and 5 characters at a time before Final Fantasy 11, were given free range to explore wherever they wanted, and a wealth of other options were made available to them, from weapons and armor, to spells, summons, and personal abilities.  Final Fantasy 11 reduced the game so that each player controlled only one character.  To a degree, this made sense, as it was an MMO and the job system and constantly changing world allowed players to explore and experiment without the game getting stale.  However, Final Fantasy 12, which was not an MMO, also only gave control of one character to players, even though a party could have three characters and a guest.  The characters not in use by the player were AI controlled and had to be given orders beforehand using a series of logic loops called gambits.  While frustrating, at least these gambits gave players some semblance of control and Final Fantasy 12 had secrets to be found, like hidden summons, dungeons to revisit, bounties to hunt, etc.  Final Fantasy 13, however, was the nail in the coffin.  Only one character out of three could be directly controlled.  The others were handled by the computer.  While there is an illusion of choice, as you can select individual commands in battle, the computer is smart enough that if you hit auto battle, it will basically do what is necessary to win/survive.  There is some control in party layout, as each character has a few "jobs" with different abilities, however it all comes down to auto battle in the end.  Worse, players are given a 60 hour linear hallway to explore, with no secrets, no branching pathways, no towns, nothing that is not scripted.  It is like playing a 60 hour movie.  There were some attempts to restore control, like when players are allowed to explore for the first time some 40 hours in, but by then it was too late.  Gamers had already resigned themselves to the hallway.  Final Fantasy 13-2 seemed to understand this to a degree, and there are more places to explore nonlinearly, but the game still only allows control of one character at a time.

Here's a typical map from Final Fantasy 13.  A long hallway, with no branching paths, no exploration, no control.  This hallway was the nail in Final Fantasy 13's coffin.

            Final Fantasy was, at its core, a role playing experience and control is the heart of that experience.  You have to role play.  To feel like these characters are under your control and so their fates and yours are intertwined.  When you explore, they discover and when you make a mistake, they suffer.  Removing control essentially removes all elements of role playing from Final Fantasy.  A ROLE PLAYING GAME.  In previous iterations, job classes which players could customize to their taste were available.  Summons could be swapped, mixed, matched.  Skills could be learned and experimented with.  In Final Fantasy 10, the most enjoyable addition to the series was the ability to CONTROL summoned beasts, as well as swap out party members mid fight.  The level of control was staggering and it made players invested in seeing these characters succeed.  But, if control is removed and a computer can do the job of the player...why do we even need to play the game?  Where is the tension?  Where is the investment?  This is, in my opinion, the biggest misstep of the Final Fantasy series.  But not the last.

When it comes down to game design, control is the name of the game.

             Storytelling:  Storytelling is a prickly issue for Final Fantasy.  Despite how beloved the games' characters, stories, and twists are, they are also rather silly.  Nothing is too out there for Final Fantasy games, which frequently included steampunk elements, alien invasions, cloning, time distortion, dimensional travel, crossdressing, gods fighting mortals, etc.  I believe that one of the reasons people find the stories so enjoyable is because they were paced well, kept a decent mix between high tension and comedy relief, and offered a different story each time from what was expected.  True, many of the stories in Final Fantasy boil down to "Kill the evil wizard/swordsman/whatever" but the tweaks and twists added kept it interesting.  We dealt with something we knew, but in a manner that was wholly original to us.  How do you spice up a kill the evil wizard plot?  Throw him into the past so he can absorb ancient monsters to become a god and create a time loop.

Time Travel.  A sure-fire cure for boredom in a kill the evil wizard plot.

            Personally, I believe that the stories started to degrade in quality when voice acting was introduced.  It created a disconnect between player and character where if you didn't like a character's voice, that was too bad, you were stuck with it.  And while a player's imagination could fill in the gaps for a bad joke or an emotional moment in the previous games, from Final Fantasy 10 onwards, that job fell to the voice actors, and if they flubbed a line or made something awkward, that was how the story was.  There was no wiggle room.  As the games continued, voice acting was not the only problem.  Scripts generally became less coherent and focused more on melodrama rather than on actually telling a story that made sense and held together.  Worst of all, however, it would seem that the newer staff who replaced those working on the earlier Final Fantasy games, particularly the staff who worked on Final Fantasy 13, simply did not have a unified vision for the story they wanted to tell.  A number of times, there were leap of faith plot twists that were impossible to ignore, infuriating plot conveniences, and revelations that were head scratching.  Also, an encyclopedia was added to hammer out story details they couldn't bother to put in the narrative itself.  When you need an encyclopedia to explain a character's motivations or history, you are failing at storytelling.

This is not good storytelling.  This is the antithesis of good storytelling.

            What is truly a shame, however, is that most Final Fantasy games, even up to 13, had some interesting ideas to explore.  Interesting themes to be brought to light.  Final Fantasy 6, for example, looked into the idea of what would happen to the world if a capricious and nihilistic god ruled over it.  This outlook allow players to explore the issue of "if life is so short, so fragile, so fleeting, why bother?" and find some interesting viewpoints and reasons for why humans continue living.  Final Fantasy 10 examined how a world ruled by a corrupt theocracy could ultimately live in blind ignorance of the real monsters, even when it was being menaced by a creature the size of Godzilla as well as exploring the ephemeral nature of life and the power of dreams.  Final Fantasy 13, loathed though it is, looked at ideas of prejudice, how stereotypes and hatred can ultimately ruin a world, rotting it from the inside out, to where anyone associated with the accused are viewed as less than human by others and acts of brutality against them are deemed justified.  The true disappointment in Final Fantasy's storytelling was not that there were no good ideas.  The insane ideas and the deep themes practically made the story.  No, the true disappointment was in how poorly executed the story, and script, became over time.  They went from being a bit quirky and insane to almost totally nonsensical.

 

Final Fantasy 13 did have some amazingly powerful, moving character moments, exploring complex and mature themes...pity the story itself was so poorly told.

Conclusion:

            Looking at the data, it should be pretty clear what the major stumbling blocks for Final Fantasy are and why it's becoming less and less relevant to fans.  Graphically, there aren't really any problems.  Characters may not emote or use their body langauge as well in the HD age, but the series has always had a fairly high graphical pedigree and that's continued on into the current generation, with absolutely gorgeous vistas and backgrounds, interesting character and enemy design, and just tons of beautiful eye candy to amuse players. 

            Musically, the series lacks a strong hand to give it direction.  Uematsu provided that hand before and they haven't found anyone else to give it the necessary soul to match the onscreen events.  It hasn't become terrible overnight, but the slide has been gradual, with Final Fantasy 10-2 moving into more j-pop, Final Fantasy 12 trying to recapture the feel, but ultimately being a little forgettable, and Final Fantasy 13 being often times boring, annoying, or just confusing.  Why did they include an American Idol singer as a selling point?  Why license a song like that instead of having one made for the series by a strong composer? 

            From a storytelling perspective, the scripts seem to have gotten poorer and the over reliance on voice actors seems to be pushing scripts and dialogues into certain directions that ultimately make them less reliant on clever wordplay, body language, or situational context and more reliant on the talents of the VA.  This may be the world we live in, but you need a balance of those things, since not all VAs are created equally.  The nonsensical parts of Final Fantasy are, for the most part, fine.  The series has always had some goofy elements that don't make too much sense.  The important part is having a script which keeps players engaged until the game is over and they start realizing how damned goofy what they just played was.

            However, most importantly, Square needs to give players back control.  When you take away a player's control in a game, it stops being a game and becomes a movie.  Final Fantasy offered a huge amount of variety and control options until it hit 11, which limited it due to that game being an MMO.  After 11, though, all the single player games have been lacking in options.  Now, the norm is to only control 1 player where before a party of 3-5 could be under your control.  Restricting control is not a good idea, as it will remind players they are going through a very linear, scripted, and stifling experience.  Give players back the ability to make mistakes, since mistakes help us grow.  Give them the ability to explore, to talk to people, to shop, for god's sake!

Ironically Final Fantasy 13 sold very well...then, people realized it was crap and so sales dropped like a rock.

            And, there you have it.  They need a strong musical hand, a more balanced script that relies less on voice and more on context, words, and body language, and they need to give players back their control.  So, do I think Final Fantasy can recover from these pitfalls?  Well, it can, but I'm not sure it should.  Final Fantasy has always been a sort of industry standard for what an RPG is.  If people see this poor standard, they can at least learn from it.  Besides, Final Fantasy has already alienated a ton of fans, not just with flaws like the above in its main games but with numerous money grabbing schemes from its spin offs.  The brand is pretty weak right now.  It might just be better to start fresh, so to speak.  For example, Uematsu and Sakaguchi, both Final Fantasy Alumni, worked together to create The Last Story and Lost Odyssey, games which had a Final Fantasy feel, but which were not Final Fantasy, strictly speaking.  These games won over audiences with their graphics, music, storytelling, and above all else, their control.  So, a Last Story 2 or Lost Odyssey 2 might not be such a bad idea.  Start a new legend and let the Final Fantasy series have a break.  Better to let it rest in peace with over a dozen good titles than slowly wither and decay until there really is a "Final Fantasy."  And maybe someday, it'll be ready to come back.

 

It's possible that Final Fantasy has gone too far and will never be as it once was.

 

Even if Final Fantasy is gone for good, however, worthy successors have stepped forward.  The Last Story(Top image) and Lost Odyssey(Bottom image)

            Before I sign out, I would like to remind people that I am not an expert.  Just a gamer who knows what he likes, what other gamers like, and where the industry seems to be heading from my perspective.  This is just my opinion on what the hell happened to Final Fantasy.  Take it, leave it, or argue if you like.  Let me hear what you think happened.

Diminutive Diatribes: Encyclopedia Moronica

I'm preparing something special for May and working on my novel at the moment, so free time is a bit sparse.  I will probably have another full post before April is out, until then, please enjoy another diminutive diatribe.

Diminutive Diatribes: Encyclopedia Moronica

            In-game encyclopedias.  They take many forms throughout the game industry, from a journal entry which tells players what's happened up till the present, to a bestiary in an RPG, to dozens of terms which need to be explained, which aren't properly explained in the story, which players need to understand in order to know what the hell is going on.

While sometimes a useful tool, these aren't necessary to play video games.  And they never should be.

            Encyclopedias in games aren't always a bad thing.  Bestiaries can make great tools, alchemy guides can be very useful, and references to controls that you've learned but might have forgotten are essential if you need to put a game down for a long period of time.  However, too often in this day and age, games are using encyclopedias as a crutch.  They think that there's no reason to sit down and explain what's going on or what have you because it's easier to just throw a term out there and let the players do the work themselves to try and understand it.  Or worse, they are repositories of information that is necessary to understand the story, but which the game couldn't bother to tell itself, due to budget problems, disrupting the flow of the game, or just general laziness.

Encyclopedia and tools like them are useful, but they should never be made mandatory.

            Developers, take notice.  If you drop a term like Fal cie, necrology, nethicite, etc. but don't properly explain what it is...then you're just going to confuse and annoy your players.  If this term is important, then don't shove its definition into an encyclopedia in-game.  We have wikis online if we really want to know more about it.  If it's important, explain it to us, the players.  If it's not, then that negates the entire point of including an encyclopedia, because if it's not important, why should we care?  Why should we do YOUR job in trying to figure out what a term means when we paid you for this game?  And if these terms are essential to a story and you just dump them in an encyclopedia and tell us to research on our own, then you, the developer, have failed at storytelling.  You have failed at your job of telling us a story or explaining a concept.  And last I checked, if someone fails to do their job, they get fired.

This look of horror?  Yeah, it's what gamers get when they realize their game has more required reading than their school work.

            Final Fantasy 13 is one of the most disgusting abusers of this principal.  It dumps huge blocks of terms from the game into an itemized list that takes hours to go through, slowing the game to even more of a crawl than it usually is.  Some biographies are included for characters, some with events we have seen and some which happened before the story, so if you want to understand everything then you have to read them all.  And some entries in this encyclopedia CHANGE over time, so you have to re-read them occasionally.  This is just a waste of time.  True, a number of these terms can be ignored, but some, like what a Fal Cie and a Lcie are can cripple the impact of the story if not explained.  The story tries to explain a few of the terms, but often times it leaves the player to discover who and what the gods of the world of Cocoon are and why they matter.  Who are the individual Fal Cie?  What impact do they have on the players or the world?  You'll never know unless you read!  And it is all explained in such a bland, annoying way, with a drab grey menu screen with nothing exciting about it at all.  This is the most moronic way to use an in-game encyclopedia.

Hope you enjoy grey menus and generic fonts.  Cause this datalog(encyclopedia) is going to take you hours to read.  And the reading is required.

            If you want an encyclopedia in a game, if you MUST include it, then take a lesson from Ni No Kuni.  Ni No Kuni's encyclopedia is set up like an ancient wizarding tome, with colorful illustrations, an old timey paper look to it, and above all else, no obligation to read it if you don't want to.  It has a bestiary, an alchemy recipe list, item lists, spell lists, and a world map for reference.  That is the key word.  REFERENCE.  You don't need to look at it to play the game, but perhaps you want to know what skills a monster can use or where to buy an item?  Then you have your encyclopedia.  There are stories included in the book that aren't told anywhere else, such as the source of an eye in the sky which causes a storm or why your companion Mr. Drippy has a lantern in his nose.  However none of them are required reading.  They add to the world, certainly, but you can get by fine without reading them.  These phenomena are explained in-game, while more is there if you want it.  Mr. Drippy is a fairy and has a lantern attached to his nose because...fairies, am I right?  The eye in the sky creates a storm and is controlled by the bad guy, it's ancient magic.  Simple.  Why is the eye in the sky?  Well, you don't need to know, but if you want to, there's a story for it.  That's how to use an encyclopedia in-game.  It follows the logic of older titles like Wild Arms, Ultima 7, and Final Fantasy 6.  There are stories waiting to be found all about the world, told by npcs, hidden in bookcases, or just as side events.  They help add to the world, they help build it, but they aren't required to understand and appreciate the story.  There's two weapons in Final Fantasy 6, both called Atma weapon.  Do I need to know what they are?  Not really.  Can I find out if I want to?  Certainly.  What happened to Blackthorne in the Ultima universe after Ultima 5?  Do I need to know?  Nope.  But if I want to, I can find out.  The remake of Wild Arms for the Playstation 2 even includes an entire novella with interesting characters, plot twists, and high stakes...none of it is connected to the game and you don't need to look at it at all to win the game.  But if you take an interest, it's there for you.

You want to include an encyclopedia?  Make it interesting, make it unique, and most importantly, make it unnecessary.  Ni No Kuni nails this principle.  The Wizard's Companion is gorgeous.

            If you're going to include extra details in a game, be it journal entries, audio logs, letters, or an entire encyclopedia on the world, ask yourself two questions.  1) is it necessary?  If yes, then ask yourself if it flows along with the game or just takes players out of the experience.  If it takes them out of the experience, then you have a problem.  2) Is it enjoyable/fun?  Do these entries add to the world?  Do they make the experience something more?  If not, then why include it at all?  Extra details in a game should add to it, not make it a slog.

Encyclopedia-esque references have been in gaming for decades and aren't going anywhere.  But only in the era of the PS3 and Xbox 360 did they become mandatory.  This beautiful image is from a reference in Chrono Cross for the PS1.  You never had to look at this through the whole game.  But aren't you glad you did?  It's a stunning image.

            On the whole, still not sold on the idea of encyclopedias in games, but I recognize that they can be harmless or at least offer extra details for inquisitive minds.  I prefer those details to be woven into the game world organically, like finding an old man with a legend to share or reading a random book on a book shelf to hear about an ancient and tertiary conflict, but there's no harm in adding extra bits in the form of an encyclopedia entry.  However, they should never, ever be mandatory.  Slowing a game to a crawl because you need to learn about what the hell a bio-static electro gauntlets or a gravity discharge bomb is will only annoy players.  And annoyed players are more likely to avoid or abandon the game.

Ouya, Oh Yeah, Oh No!

            The Ouya.  I know that a lot of people have talked and speculated about the Ouya and joining a bandwagon isn't exactly my style.  But if the Ouya succeeds, it will have repercussions that many may not realize.  You see, provided the Ouya works, I think that it could well be the future of video gaming.  A middle finger to the bloated, expensive, frankly deplorable AAA video game market and just the shake up console gaming needs.  So, for the sake of the indie market and for how this new console could affect the video game industry, I've decided to take a moment to explore what the Ouya promises to be and what that means for the industry and gamers, good or bad.

Behold the Ouya.  The next big wild card in the console wars.

            Hardware.  The Ouya is an interesting machine, hardware wise.  It has an NVIDIA quad core processor, for moderate graphical prowess, certainly no match for a PS3, but at least as strong as most android or Iphones, possibly stronger depending on how it is used.  1GB of ram provides speed comparable with decent laptops for streaming or gaming.  8GB of flash memory allows for storage of games, which, while comparable to the PS3 and Wii U at launch, is still a rather small amount.  It can be expanded via USB storage.  It has full wifi, ethernet, and bluetooth capabilities, allowing internet connections of all varieties and wireless connectivity.  It has USB ports for porting programs from other systems and a relatively unique controller.  The Ouya controller resembles a Playstation Dual shock controller, with the face buttons changed to spell out O-U-Y-A.  There is also a touch screen included which can be used as a touch screen or to mimic a mouse, allowing for internet surfing and exploring the Ouya's stores or software.

If that controller's touch screen works out, this might be the make or break feature of the Ouya.

            What does all this mean?  Well, the Ouya is basically an iphone made into a console, though I think that's a gross oversimplification.  It shows the basic features of a video game console without any unnecessary extras crammed in.  No backwards compatibility with other systems, no DVD or blue-ray playback, no slots for CDS, etc.  It is a console that aims at digital distribution, streaming audio and video, and with the basic capabilities of a phone or medium range computer in terms of gaming.  The graphics of the Ouya will not be top of the line, however they will match and probably exceed those of top of the line Iphones, since they will not need a number of extra components which other consoles or phones would need for them to function properly.  The controller in particular seems steps above what the Xbox720 and PS4 are offering, by providing something sleek, which still has touch screen capabilities, making it even more attractive to some than a Wii U controller.  Thanks to it's supposed ability to mimic mouse movement, the controller has great potential for bringing PC games and console games closer together.

            Based on what can be gleaned from these specs, the Ouya seems to be aiming at gamers less interested in graphical fidelity and more invested in fun gameplay experiences, with the ability for it to be expanded into a digital multimedia system down the line.

            Price.  The Ouya aims to do what many console gamers have been dreaming of for decades.  Make a console that will not destroy their credit rating.  The Ouya aims to debut for only $100 at launch and one can assume that used versions could be sold for cheaper.  This proposition is a bit eyebrow raising.  True, many computer components are much cheaper if bought wholesale or if the company using them is in a contract with the manufacturer, but the price seems too good to be true.  Something that, as the software previews have shown, is at least as powerful as a low end PC with the capability to stream video from Onlive or Twitch TV that even a minor could afford simply by saving his allowance for a few months seems like a fantasy.  So, many are skeptical of the Ouya's ability to deliver on its low price promise considering the promised hardware and software involved.  I can only say this.  Is it possible?  Certainly.  It is possible to build a working console for that little, provided you have the capital to develop the necessary OS, get the manufacturing process hammered out, and to maintain manufacturing for an indefinite period of time.  And with the Ouya's pre-orders, successful kickstarter campaign, and any personal investment those behind it have made, I'd say it is possible to get the process rolling and make the Ouya with only a small loss for each machine sold.

The Ouya's managed to ship out its developer consoles already.  Will the commercial ones be as easy?

             However, price doesn't only figure into the hardware.  The Ouya's manufacturers have outlined that any software sold on their system will be split 70% to 30%, with the 30% going to the manufacturers, allowing them to feasibly continue producing Ouya consoles indefinitely, provided there is a strong software base.  More surprisingly, however, is that the Ouya requires at least one aspect of every piece of software on it to be completely free.  This has been dubbed, free-to-try.  This system can include whole games, demos, level packs, etc. but it ensures that any person who buys an Ouya will always have something to fiddle with even if they don't pay a penny over the $100 price tag.  I am not certain is this particular aspect of the Ouya is sustainable, however if the programs use in-game advertisements or other means, this business model could prove successful.

Seems too good to be true, doesn't it?  Still, cut out all the fat and just maybe the price can work...

            On the whole, the price point for the Ouya seems too good to be true.  Cheap, with free content being released constantly from both professional and independent developers.  What can this mean?  Well, it could mean one of two things.  It could mean that there will be much price gouging.  That free to play games with 90% of the content as purchasable DLC could become the norm.  This is a depressing thought, however if the market stays competitive on the Ouya, this may not be an issue, as price gouging games that are free could be beaten out by reasonably priced games that are complete, offering a free demo.  Conversely, it could mean that the Ouya is trying for an entirely different market than the bloated AAA console gaming crowd and will be aiming to make its money back through smaller products, but greater sales numbers, not unlike Steam.  Offering both a service and a price that makes gamers feel as if they are being respected, I can only hope that this is the case since it shows intelligent design with the marketing of both the console and the software.

            Approachability.  The price point already makes the Ouya approachable from almost any developer or gamer, however it seems to have far more than price going for it.  In their FAQs, the Ouya's manufacturers claim that a store similar to an app store will be set up to sell the software.  This can mean that anyone who develops a game for Ouya can sell it without the need of a publisher, beyond the Ouya's manufacturers, of course, without licensing fees, and without need for excessive testing from either the Ouya's manufacturers or the development team.  This could mean that the Ouya will have more experimental games, that it might be an open door to fledgling designers, or that it could be a playground for scammers.  The marketplace seems to be aiming at as low a barrier of entry as possible.  This could be solved with refunds provided for broken products, self regulating product reviews that shut down scams like those that appear on other app stores, or by regulation from the Ouya manufacturer, such as people releasing a scam being permanently banned from releasing on the console again.  Approachability is a double edged sword.

This is a mock up of what the Ouya app store could look like.

            This approachability seems to go beyond just a business model, however, with the Ouya being easily moddable without punishment from the manufacturers and with all the tools necessary to develop games for the Ouya included with the console.  It has been years since anything beyond the PC has allowed for such approachability and flexibility.  The Commodore 64 springs to mind with homebrew games being capable of being ported to a floppy disc and sold commercially.  What does this mean for the Ouya?  Well, let us do a little math.  Let's assume that 100,000 people buy an Ouya in the first year.  And of those 100,000, let's speculate that at least 1,000 develop a game to completion where it can be released on the Ouya's marketplace.  Now, assume one last time that of those 1,000 games, 100 are successful financially.  If we follow this model, then the Ouya could release at least 100 quality home brew games yearly.  This means that the Ouya could be a self sustaining gaming platform, without the need for support from large publishers or developers.

This is the Ouya taken apart.  Four screws.  That's all it takes to mod this baby.

            The Ouya seems to be a very approachable console, but it may end up being too approachable.  Releasing a scam game on an Iphone doesn't require as much effort as one might think and the same could be said of the Ouya.  Games with so many bugs or glitches that they are unplayable could also become a problem.  However, if the app store is properly regulated and decent games are released, both from professional designers and from regular people making homebrew games, it could become a timeless machine, where one does not need a $10,000,000 budget to make a game.  They just need the time and the will.

            Focus.  This category seems a bit odd, but just stick with me.  You see, the Ouya appears to be focusing, at the moment, on gamers.  Not simply hardcore or casual gamers, but gamers in general.  Developers like Mojang and Square-Enix have made promises of having Minecraft and Final Fantasy ready for the console, while any number of android apps which captured the imagination of casual gamers also seem to be lining up to be ported.  The promise of Onlive streaming services for games as well as Twitch TV, which showcases competitive video gaming, seems to further demonstrate the Ouya's focus of being a cheap, accessible console that all gamers can enjoy.

What does it take to make competitive video gaming relevant again?  Get it to the people!  The Ouya can do this.

             The Ouya also seems to embrace its limitations, with its conservative design and ambitions.  This means that the focus will be on smaller game development from teams of tens or even only a few people, without the bloated design groups of a AAA title like Dead Space 3 of Final Fantasy 13.  I have already explained how both illusion in gaming and how limitations can enhance a product, so hopefully recognizing this will allow it to avoid the excessive costs of the AAA console market while still delivering a solid product.

How gamer focused is the Ouya?  Someone has already developed and SNES emulator for it.  Nuff said.

            The Ouya's marketing also seems to rely heavily on indie game designers embracing them as a more cost effective way of getting their games out there and making money for their teams.  A more indie focused console could create a niche for itself that will either supplant mainstream console gaming or live alongside it as a niche.  Either way, the Ouya seems to win.  I believe that its focus, at least in this department, is admirable, as it does not aim to compete with the unique features of the Wii U or the graphically superior Xbox360/720 or PS3/4.  Instead, it aims to create a place for itself.

            Game Development.  Honestly, the Ouya's impact on game development is what has me the most excited.  They aim to streamline the development and release system while creating a more symbiotic relationship with developer and publisher.  Ouya games can be created on the Ouya or created separately and made to work on the Ouya, then submitted to the Ouya store and published with none of the hassle.  While I have said that this could lead to shoddy or buggy games, it also allows genuinely good game designers to release their titles without jumping through hoops for larger publishers, allowing them to remain small and independent, making a career out of their game design rather than being tied to a publisher for their paycheck.

Cryamore is PC Kickstarter JRPG.  That has promised Ouya support.  THIS is what you might expect from indie game designers for the Ouya.

            The Ouya seems to be aiming to put the power back into the hands of the developers rather than in a shareholder meeting asking the question "Is it guaranteed to sell?"  I am excited for the prospect because the Ouya could work alongside crowd sourcing websites like Kickstarter or Indiego to allow gamers to choose what gets made rather than a group of businessmen.  With any luck, this will also have a sort of self regulating effect.  Under this kind of system, gamers vote for games, sequels, genres, etc. with their wallets, allowing them to regulate the market based on demand.  If there is a demand for a JRPG, then one can be put on the Ouya and it will be successful.  Complemented by the free-to-try model that the Ouya is adopting, it would seem that gamers will be allowed to have all the choice in a game.  If they like the first level, or the demo, or the free game, they can throw money at it and be rewarded with what they want.

Some big developers have promised Ouya support, but don't expect Final Fantasy 13 on the Ouya.

Final Fantasy 3, though?  Yeah, I can see this on the Ouya.

In terms of game development, the Ouya could revolutionize the industry.  With the over bloated, often disrespectful, price gouging methodology of the modern console gaming scene, a crash like the video game crash of 1983 seems all but inevitable.  The Ouya, however, favoring the indie scene, could survive that crash and become a beacon for gaming culture, much like the NES did.  However, that is only one possible scenario.

            Conclusion.  The Ouya still has a lot to prove, to be honest.  The price point needs to be proven, the software support needs to be proven, the ability for developers to quickly and easily release products for the system needs to be proven, and some form of quality control will need to be exercised.  There are a number of ways the Ouya can fail, from internal bugs in the OS, to support falling through from its partners.  However, this is true of any product.  I am cautiously optimistic about the Ouya, thanks to being an avid member of Kickstarter.  I did not support the Ouya during its time on Kickstarter, but I have supported a number of indie game designers who promise Ouya support and seem excited at the prospect of a home console tailored for them.

This is every gamers dream.  As Jordan Mechner put it, a game console that's $99, plugs straight into the TV and has a huge library of games ready to try out of the box for no cost?  Yes, please!

             The Ouya may not revolutionize the games industry as I have said it could in my more extreme predictions, but I believe that it will be, at the very least, a moderately successful console.  If it can maintain a low price, stay in touch with its fans and supporters, exercise quality control to cut back on any would be scams, and truly support those who use the console as a development tool, I believe that it will be able to breathe some new life into the games industry, bringing casual games to a wider audience than before and giving indie developers a place they can call home.  If the information that is available to the public about the Ouya is true, then I am 100% confident that it will at least achieve some level of success.  It could become a mega hit which every console gamer will buy as their second or even first console after their main one becomes out dated.

            So, will I be getting one?  I'll have to wait on the game library to become more concrete before I decide on that.  And for a bit more information on how certain things are handled.  Computer technology isn't black magic, it's science, and computers, even supposedly plug and play machines, are often finicky.  I may wait till the Ouya gets some of its bugs or details hammered out before I jump into the Ouya pool headfirst.  I can say this, though.  It's a damn sight more likely that I'll buy an Ouya than a PS4 or Wii U.

            More information about the Ouya can be found at it's website, here, and at its Kickstarter page, here.