SNES #5- Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest

Yes, I'm following up Final Fantasy 13 with that fake Final Fantasy game that was only released because people thought Americans were too dumb to play real RPGs. Actually, the two games are much more similar than they initially appear, and I'm glad I played them back to back. They are both action oriented games that are considered black sheep in the series. At least 13 is considered a real Final Fantasy game. Mystic Quest is another story altogether.

When I was a kid I didn't think there was anything strange about this game. It was just the next Final Fantasy game. The gameplay was different, but this did not seem unusual. Developers took much more radical chances with sequels back then. This wasn't too long after we had the side scrolling Zelda game and RPG styled Castlevania game. So I remember renting this one a couple of times and actually being a little excited about how easy it was. I could never beat games that I rented, especially RPGs. With this one I felt like I actually had a chance.

Of course it wasn't too long until we all figured out that this game was different. It was probably around the time Final Fantasy 3 came out. That game was a life altering experience. It was one of the most in depth and exciting games to ever come out, and we all knew that Mystic Quest wasn't in the same league. I'm not sure how you figured stuff out back then, but one of my friends stumbled on the secret. Mystic Quest was made as a simple starter RPG for the American audience. The genre had never sold well in this country, so this was a trick to lure people in.

Of course, the game developers made some odd choices in what they thought the mass market would enjoy. It must've been bad market research or something. They thought that people really liked using heal potions and not knowing how many hit points they had left. There are some points in this game where I was using heal potions every other attack, and the life bar only confuses things more. It's shown as a bar, but enemy attacks are shown as a number above your head. It can get confusing. They must've also decided that people hate exploring, because you almost always know where you are going. The game is mostly stripped down to fighting battles and visiting towns. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be a shock to the system if you've played other FF games and are expecting something like that.

I really hate to dwell on what this game lacks, but it's hard to avoid. This's game's reputation is based on it being a failed experiment. I know this games gets a hard time among fans, but I actually think it's pretty good. I think it's fun that you get items which let you interact with the environment more. I also think it's fun that the monsters will transform as you hit them. That's something that not even FF3 did. All in all this is a fun little game that is good for a couple afternoons and isn't hurting anyone. I certainly don't see a problem with that.


(As a bonus here's the infamous brain ad for the game. I love how they make the game sound like it's both really hard and really easy. It sure confused me in 1993.)

Playstation 3 #1 - Final Fantasy 13

This has got to be one of the strangest games I've ever had to write about. This is a Final Fantasy game like no other. If you think some of the other departures in the series were shocking than FF13 will put you directly in your grave. The two hour long battles on FF8? That's kid stuff. The side scrolling portions of FF10? This game makes that one look as traditional Dragon Warrior 1. How about those non random battles on FF12? Well actually you're getting warm on that one. Still, no other Final Fantasy game even comes close on the crazy factor.

So how crazy is this game? Well how about this: You don't make it to the overworld for 30 hours. That's right, 30 hours! And I thought slogging through Midgar was tedious. Until that point it is basically an on the rails combat game with a few RPG elements thrown in. There's not even MP in this one. Sure, you gain levels in a way, but even these are restricted by your progress. So much for every gamer's favorite time waster. Once you get to the overworld there's not even that much to do. You do get to go on hunting missions though. I was so relieved to be able to walk around freely that I worked on those for a dozen hours before I let any more story line sneak in. That was actually my favorite part of that game. I got to ride around on chocobos fighting larger and larger monsters in a beautifully rendered world. I would play a game that was just that. Is there a game like that? If not there should be.

Oh and how about those characters? No knights or wizards in this one. Instead you have mercenaries and unlucky civilians with names like Lightning, Hope, and Snow. It's like your normal RPG characters got replaced by the American Gladiators. They also have some of the goofiest dialogue heard in a game in some time. The whole time we were playing it, my girlfriend and I kept shouting things like "Moms are tough!" and "Here comes your hero!". This is much different than your typical cast of brooding heroes, dark and mysterious magicians, and rough but lovable engineers from games past.

And how about the story? There's this mysterious force out that the turns people into superhumans. Since there are two competing worlds that means that pretty much everyone wants you dead. Oh, and each one of these superhumans has a special task that they don't know which turns them into crystal if they complete it. if they take too long they get turned into grotesque beasts. It's a weird story. It's weirder than Final Fantasy 10, and in that game people could only truly be dead if someone waved a special stick in front of them.

So it sounds like I'm blasting this game, but it all works in a strange sort of way. Sure it's mostly waking in a straight line fighting things, but the combat system is one of the most unique and challenging I have seen in an RPG. The shifting job classes really requires you to think. I also know that there are no towns to visit, and you are stopped by dialogue every fifteen minutes, but I like the directness of the game. There are hardly any side quests, and even though the story makes no sense it's fairly easy to keep up with. Your group gets turned into supernatural beings while trying to save your sister, and then you have to run from the evil government while trying to save the world. What could be simpler? The characters also have a directness about them which is refreshing. There's a couple of dark secrets among them, but not too many. They seemed more like real people than most video game characters, and I enjoyed the way they interacted with each other. Plus Sazh is cool. If you thought that Barrett was a little racist with his gun arm, Sazh makes up for it by having a chocobo in his fro.

So this game is kind of a contradiction, but for the most part a fun one. I really enjoyed playing it, but I have no idea why. It was certainly easy on the eyes, and unlike most FF games it even had a good ending. This one was a major departure in the series, so I wouldn't be too surprised to see the next game in the regular series take a more traditional approach. Of course after this game it wouldn't surprise me if the next game was a racing sim. You gotta love those guys over at Square. They certainly know how to make their fans angry.

SNES #4: Final Fantasy 3

I am having so much trouble writing about this game. I've deleted and started over several times. I even had a high quality post, but somehow accidentally deleted it. Now that I'm writing this for the 50th time I'll try to do it right. One thing I've learned about gaming is that it's much easier to write about a bad game than it is a good one. Bad games are funny and insightful. If you ever want to learn about what makes a game great than go play some awful ones. With great games all you want to do is sit back and say "aw yeah, this is the good stuff." In fact, I think that's what I'm going to do.

I think this would be a good time to make some ridiculous comparisons. Of course everybody knows that FF3 is the greatest game ever made. It kicks Ocarina of Time's ass. It makes Super Metroid look like regular Metroid. It's as good as Duck Tales and Bionic Commando put together. FF7 has to bow down to it when they walk past each other in the hallway. It even makes Mario a bit nervous. Of course, the crazy thing about all these comparisons is that they are all true but one. Also, you either agree with me or you are wrong. Like a politician I have no middle ground on this issue.

So I played through this game again after about 10 years and I discovered that it is still the Citizen Kane of gaming. Playing it for even five minutes make me happy that I was born in the 80s. Screw you 1960s. All you had was The Beatles. Today I am much more acclimated to modern RPGs, so the slower story parts are much easier to sit through. When I was 9 and playing through this game I wanted to fight monsters and walk around town more. I found the first half to be a little too slow. I always hated going through the opera house back then, but now it only takes like five minutes. Why did that bother me so much? I must've been a jerk back then. That's the only explanation.

Of course the first half is great, but the game's true bread and butter is the remarkable second half. Every RPG before this one would've ended on the floating island in the World of Balance. However, once the world is torn asunder the bleak and dying World of Ruin opens up many new possibilities and freedoms. It's the most open ended RPG I've ever played that doesn't lose track of itself. There is truly only one thing on the agenda in the World of Ruin, and that is fighting Kefka in his fortress. Before that all you need to do is gather your companions, collect magicite, build up your character's abilities, gain levels, and do side quests. The best part about this is that it's mostly up to the player to decide what to do next. I remember finding it very liberating to do something in a different order than what the strategy guide told me. I didn't have much to rebel against back then. It seems like today's games have two templates. They either tell you exactly what to do and you move in a straight path to complete them, or they are completely open ended and have no ultimate goal. FF3 allowed you to explore and solve mysteries while making you feel like you were playing towards something. They sure don't make them like that anymore.

Heck, this is such an great game that even the flaws are engaging. I'm not sure that the game would be as good if we ever found out what was up with Siegfried or what happened to Bannon. Or how about the bugs and glitches? I fought the dragons legit this time, but as a kid I x-zoned like crazy. How about the one in the Veldt that when you sketch Gau you get like a million dirks? Love that one. These are all things that add color to the game and I'm truly glad they are there. I mean, if games didn't have bugs than what would people make all their youtube videos about? I just wish it didn't take me 15 years to find out the evade stat is meaningless.

So this is a game that has left an inedible impression on me. I know that I have been gushing in this review, and greatest game of all time is always a debatable topic. However, sometimes all a writer has is his hyperbole. What else is there to do when a game has been talked about so much? Of course, with this game hyperbole is quite easy. The sky's the limit.

Super Nintendo #2: Final Fantasy 2

If nothing else this blog gives me an excuse to play through my favorite games again. It might seem like a waste of time if I wasn't writing about them afterwards. I know, most people would say that video games are a waste of time in the first place but what else am I gonna do?

There are few games I hold in higher regard that Final Fantasy 2. This was the first turn based RPG I ever played. I got it on Christmas of 91 along with my Super Nintendo. F-Zero was the other game we got that day. It was nice that our parents were so concerned that we had a variety of games to play.

This game would eventually become my favorite thing in the world, but at the time it made no sense. It was different than any of my other games. Back when games started up instantly I was shocked that the prologue took so long. It was almost eight minutes before you actually got to play. The fighting made no sense either. The monsters didn't even move. How could the be taking away so much life? Once I found out that you could run I ran from every battle. I think I got to the second or third boss and then gave up on it because my level was too low and I didn't know what that meant.

So I let my cousin borrow it for a year or so, and by the time I got it back I was a much mature eight year old who was ready for complex stories and thoughtful, deliberate gameplay. I was instantly hooked after that, and still to this day RGPs are my favorite type of game. I know that makes me sound like a nerd, but in my universe the nerds are the cool ones. It's all about context.

Of course the things I loved about this game are the same things that kind of bug me about RPGs today. I would say that at the time this game had the most complex story of anything on a console at that time. You had dead people coming back to life, good guys becoming bad guys becoming good guys, an occasional trip to the moon, and a brooding protagonist who sees the errors of his ways. As a kid I was completely engrossed. I wanted every game to be this complicated. It also took me upwards of 50 hours to beat it. I wanted every game to take this long. I would make up games in my head that fit this formula even if they weren't in the same genre. I would think of fighters that had 50 selectable character, or platform games that had a hundred levels. Maybe I was just ahead of my time.

All of this was great about FF2, but now it's 2011 and just about every RPG is overly long and complicated. Most of them don't even get started for a couple of hours. The action gameplay in Kingdom Hearts is fun, but for the first hour you're just walking around a tiny island looking for supplies. By the time I'm finished with that I hardly even want to play anymore. Final Fantasy VII makes you play for close to 10 hours before you even get to the overworld. In Dragon Warrior VII you play for close to four hours before you fight in your first battle. Luckily that game is amazing so I can forgive it. The biggest offender might be Final Fantasy 13. That whole game plays like one big prologue. It seems like after every room you're interrupted by character development. I really just want to run around, gain levels, and find hidden treasures.

So it's a little ironic that I look back at Final Fantasy 2 and long for its simplicity. At the time it was the cornerstone of video game storytelling. It had a slower pace than just about any other game, but it was completely engrossing. I spent my free time drawing overworld maps and thinking about how cool Cid was. I had my group of friends at school who would get together and talk about what level we got our characters to the night before. Today this game still plays great. It has great music, great characters, and it is easy to learn and get hooked on. It laid the groundwork for practically every RPG that came after it. At the time I hoped that this was the future of gaming. For better or for worse I was right. I just hope that someday I can figure out why I enjoy level gaining so much.