h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The "Final Fantasy" Series - A2591129
Author: LeonardQuirm - U715107

This is my second attempt at a overview of the Final Fantasy games - the first one turned out far too much like a review of the later games. I am now in the process of transferring a few of the links, and reworking the previous one as a proper review which can be linked off this page. The previous page was A2589005.
I couldn't think of that many facts to put in about the games in an overview, so if you think of some more I'll see what I can find out and add them. I intend to do more detailed pages about the mechanics and stories of the later games (VII up to X-2) which can then be linked off this one.

Isn't Breath of Fire by Capcom?

http://www.capcom.com/xpml/game.xpml?gameid=750019

Square's best-known non-FF games from the pre-32-bit era are probably Seiken Densetsu, of which the first (unless one counts the GameBoy's Final Fantasy Adventure) was released in the West as Secret of Mana.

Otherwise, as I said elsewhere, I think this will work well as a 'hub' Entry.

Ah...just reread my source, and it says (of BoF) "an English language version was created by Squaresoft). I missed the "English language" bit.

Dudes. Has it occured to you that the name Final Fantasy (enter any number from 1 to about a million here) is a contridiction in terms? It's about as stupid as calling a film "Final Destination 2!"

See F48874?thread=415563

Thanks, RFJS_. Looks like I'm going to have to put that explanation in there, though!

It looks like it. Also, Final Fantasy I and II are being converted to the GBA:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/04/12/news_6093366.html

http://the-magicbox.com/0404/game040804e.shtml

The first one links to the official site, but owing to the Japanese text you probably won't be allowed to link the Entry to it.

There are also rumours floating about a Final Fantasy III GBA conversion, but nothing confirmed.

I happened upon the following, which you may find useful; although it'll probably fling pop-ups at you:

http://allrpg.com/features/fffeature/index.php3

Wow...lots of info...I'll incorporate some of it, but not all by any means - especially not all the different releases.
By the way, RFJS_, seeing as you've found so much info for me and added so much, do you wantme to put you up as a researcher on the page? Frankly, you've probably done more than me, and I think I saw a facility to add other researchers on the editing page. It would probably be only fair.

for the offer. I don't really mind; all I've really done is find the odd Web site and drag things out of my memory, but that does count as research, so if you want to add me then feel free; I'm U524615. On the other hand, the writing is entirely yours, so in a very real sense this is fully your Entry. Actually, I recommend leaving the decision until you've decided the Entry is finished, when you'll be properly placed to determine how much of the information I provided.

By the way, I thought the h2g2 RPG Club might interest you: A874109

Actually, having looked at the Entry again I'm inclined to think that the content is almost entirely yours, and I'm essentially helping eith the polishing; so no, don't add my name.

I found a pretty good statement of the naming story (post 6, I think) on a thread attached to one of the other FF entries: F35393?thread=44826

you need to describe eahc game separately a little

A couple of minor points: firstly, since Squaresoft's link to the series is slight, I wonder whether it might be best to put the Dragon Quarter reference inside a footnote (It is 'Quarter', isn't it?). Secondly, the links to other Entries near the bottom look a bit scrunched up; a lot of Entries use line breaks, or list tags (GuideML-UL or GuideML-OL; unfortunately these seem not to get converted into links, so you'll have to enter them manually.).

'All the games are seperate, with different story lines, different characters and different universes.'

Except X and X-2, as you note further into the Entry. (Writers on FF's non-continuity frequently note the recurrence of chocobos, moogles, airships, and characters called Biggs/Vicks, Wedge and Cid, but I don't know whether you want to go into that much detail. See http://glossary.square-x.com/?ref_search=7 for an explanation of why it's 'Biggs/Vicks'.)

Regarding whether there ought to be a separate section for each game -- that rather depends on how likely you think we are to get separate Entries on each one. (I see you've already started on FF9; I'm sure I didn't have that much energy when I was doing my GCSEs.) What I will say is that an Entry that covers the series as a whole is probably the best place for details of what differences exist and how the series has developed -- e.g. in the original FF you start with a team of four characters, choosing their classes and having no option but to choose their names, whereas later games moved to predesigned characters. Also, there's the ATB, which I think was introduced in FF4; actually, it would probably be a good idea to give a brief, general explanation of what playing a Final Fantasy game involves, since the Role-Playing Games Entry is rather generalised. Then there are the changes in graphical style: the mixture of traditional super-deformed and a less unrealistic style in FF7, followed by a movement towards realism in FF8 (which I think I recall reading was seen by some in Japan as a cynical attempt to make FF more popular in the West), then the move backwards in FF9 (in many respects a rebirth of 'traditional' FF; have a look at the character classes listed in A665228)...

One thing you might consider is going further down the route of describing chronological development. As regards the graphical development, the SNES games sometimes used Mode 7 on the World Map; the PSX games combined polygonal characters with pre-rendered 2D layers (and occasionally FMV)in the field, and used full-3D for battles, the World Map, and the odd mini-game; and the PS2 uses full-3D. Something else that's often commented on is the role of technology in the different games: the way in which FF6 undertook that stylistic departure from the mediaeval (albeit mediaeval-with-airships) feel, then 7 and 8 were set in high-technology worlds, and 9 returned to the 'traditional' style...

What format you opt for will presumably depend on whether you want to consider each game in isolation or focus on the development of the series (or try to combine the two approaches); obviously, the possibility of getting separate Entries on each game lessens the need for specific comments on them here, but in an Entry on 'The "Final Fantasy" Series'* one would expect something, and since we can't assume prior knowledge of the series any discussion of its development would have to have some general information to hang on, as it were. (Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware there aren't that many people around here qualified to write on 1 - 6, although it's possible that someone at the RPG Club would be prepared to take up the gauntlet; or we could try Challenge h2g2 -- challengeh2g2, another one that doesn't get converted into a link. I recently acquired a second-hand PSone so as to be able to play the re-releases -- and FF9, and some of Square's other works -- but with a lot of other things to do, and a desire to avoid any risk of game-addiction during the exam period, I look set to get a long way in a long time.)

*One other detail: I don't think the double quotes will be allowed, even though they aren't in the Entry itself.

That's the problem with tackling a topic that loads of people are into - everyone has an opinion.

My own vested interest was as the manual editor for FF VII and VIII. One of the reasons why the European (not just British) versions coem some time after the North American version is loocalisation. When FFVII arrived on PlayStation, the decision was taken to do translations of the game for the major European languages - English, French, German, Spanish and Italian - which of course takes additional time. Another slight difference in gameplay to the Japanese versions was the reduction of random battles that the party would encounter, as it was felt that the Japanese rate would be a little too overpowering for most newcomers to the genre.

Something I'd really like to see in thise entry is a brief discussion of the storylines for each of the games. What the games are actually about, the themes and major characters. Just a short paragraph on each would do, so FFVII would be: 'The battle against Sephiroth and the evolution of Cloud from cold-hearted mercenary to empassioned revolutionary.'

>> FFXII, back to the original style last seen in FFX, is also currently being worked on for the PS2, and has a release date in Britain for August 2004. <<

This will almost certainly date the entry very quickly. FFX-2 isn't realy in the same style; it's a slightly different game structure and it's only the characters that remains similar. It's more a sidestep, like Kingdom Heart, than a proper FF game.

Just a little extra information for you, Final Fantasy I and II were released in Europe on PlayStation as 'Final Fantasy Origins', while FF IV and V came under the banner 'Final Fantasy Anthology'. FFVI was a solo release on the original PlayStation.

Jimster
(who has a friend who has played FF VII a grand total of 14 times, each time via a slightly different route)

As I wrote above, the more likely we are to get detailed, individual entries on each of the games reasonably soon, the less information on each of them we need in this article; that's why I suggested a chronological/developmental model. (Final Fantasy as a future Topic of the Week, perhaps?) I'm not sure what LeonardQuirm is planning, or even whether he's -- with a name like that I assume he's male -- considered the structure in thoe terms.

'Just a short paragraph on each would do, so FFVII would be: 'The battle against Sephiroth and the evolution of Cloud from cold-hearted mercenary to empassioned revolutionary.''

It would have to be more than that; this would have people wondering which bit of the Entry explains who Cloud and Sephiroth are.

Regarding localisation and translation -- does anyone by any chance know the details on the Aeris/Aerith business in FF7? I know 'th' and a terminal 's' are both written as 'su' in Japanese, but I'd have thought Square would have some idea of what it wanted its major characters to be called -- and on the PC version of FF7, 'Aeris' is used right the way through, but the image of her displayed during installation is called 'aerithres.bmp'.

Emerald and Diamond Weapon were also added to FF7's non-Japanese editions to provide extra challenge, weren't they? Giving rise to 'FF7 International Edition' in Japan, according to one of the sites I linked to above.

I also found this regarding the FF9 translation: http://www.square-x.com/news/130

Now, how can I find subtle ways to drop this encounter with the manual editor into conversation?

Urgh, those weapons were horrendous. i managed to defeat Sephiroth in about two rounds of attacks (thanks to the joys of 'Knights in Round' plus the copycat Materia that all my team had), but couldn't make any headway on the Weapons. With FFX, I've defeated every monster and all of the evil Bosses bar Evil Yojimbo and the final extra boss you get once you complete the monster arena. But funnily enough, after spending the best part of a year taking my time and enjoying each part of the entire game, I don't want to finish it. Still haven't gone into the final battles yet

I tried beating Ruby and Emerald Weapons a couple of times, but got sidetracked and so never made a serious effort at it (and on one occasion the game crashed). Come to that, I never got to the end of the Ancient Forest either. I'm told Emerald is beatable only using Phoenix and Final Attack Materia in a linked slot... Goodness, I'm getting nostalgic.

Okay... this looks like quite a reasonable amount of work. Have to see what I can do.
I am determined to get these guides for VII to X-2 done, but it could take me a while. I would be quite happy for someone else to do one or two (especially VII, as I never even finished it...) - but leave X to me, please.
I've never had the pleasure of playing any FF games earlier than VII, so any information about that I will have to hunt down and/or have it provided for me on here. Most likely, though, it'll be a lot more detailed when I reach VII onwards.
And also, the sort of changes that occured between the games sounds like a good idea. I actually spend a worrying amount of my "thinking time" considering the ways games in series have changed and why; such as the removal of a Limit break gauge and MP in FF VIII (my conclusion - trying to make it simpler), or the new Bond game, Everything or Nothing: it's gone to third person - obvious influences of MGS2 in it (including a VR mission!)

Btw, regarding FF VII - I never completed it because I left it for a while having just reached the third disc. Tried returning at one point but realised I didn't have a clue bout what to do. I may start it over again, but seeing as it's borrowed off a friend, and I've got other games to play and things to do...

*Leaps in.* I'd like to do FF7; it's a personal favourite, the existing Edited Entry is very short, and when I checked the author appeared to have Elvised.

*Wanders off to read the Update Forum.*