Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

Today, 3/25/08, marks the US release of the long-anticipated prequel to Final Fantasy VII. Crisis Core, while PSP-specific, sports amazing graphics and a fantastic soundtrack, as well as quality voice acting and, quite frankly, the best spin-off of the wildly popular original game. Gathering both critical acclaim and popular appeal, FFVII:CC is a milestone in the franchise. As a prequel, it covers the seven years prior to FFVII leading right up to the moments almost immediately before the start of that game. Featuring characters known to FFVII fans that have not previously been given much face time, this is a game both comforting to old hands and accessible to new players, although only the latter will be surprised at the inevitable tragedy.

Zack Fair is a SOLDIER 2nd Class with a burning desire to prove himself. With the guidance of his friend and mentor Angeal, Zack works his way through the war in Wutai and up the ranks. Their relationship takes a hit, though, when they are sent to retrieve a SOLDIER gone AWOL: Genesis, longtime friend of both Angeal and Sephiroth. The genetic experimentation that is revealed in the search will have lasting implications, and also immediate, devestating impact.

Images:

Zack
Angeal
Genesis
Sephiroth
Three friends at play
In-game combat
A familiar scene
A familiar face
The only time you've ever seen Cloud smile
Game trailer

Final Fantasy XII

Following the release of FFXI as an online, mulitplayer game, 2006's XII came back to the console with some of the MMORPG elements incorporated. The battle system, rather than being some form of turn-based combat as all previous incarnations had been, was changed to a modified AI system where you can pre-set conditional actions that will happen without you dancing attendance on them, although you may use direct input at will, resulting in a game that, at times, literally plays itself. While this upset a number of people, it also made others very happy by removing the tedium of random combat and levelling by streamlining repetitive actions. Mechanics aside, the story has generated a lot of controversy among fans. Those who like the game enjoy the broad story that deals more with the politics of nations than individuals, the fact that the main playable character is not the central focus of the story, and that there isn't a romance shoehorned into the mix. Those who dislike the game cite the same examples.

A trio of countries used to stand between the empires of Archadia and Rozarria, but the Republic of Landis has been absorbed by Archadia, Nabradia is a ruined wasteland, and Dalmasca is occupied territory. Vaan, a native Dalmascan with a grudge, invades the palace during a banquet to "welcome" the new governor, Lord Vayne of Arcadia. His efforts to steal back something for the people are stymied by a run-in with a sky pirate and his partner who are after the same treasure. Eventually this leads to meeting up with the deposed—and presumed dead—princess of Dalmasca, and the man who supposedly betrayed the country and assassinated the king. The web of deceit is tough to untangle as factions in Archadia play against each other for control, Rozarria is alternately courted and provoked, and Dalmasca and her people are once again caught in the middle.

Images:

Vaan with his friend, Penelo
Balthier, the sky pirate
Fran, his Viera partner
Ashe, princess of Dalmasca
Basch, reputed kingslayer
Vayne Solidor
Al-Cid Margrace of Rozarria makes nice
Opening movie: The fall of Nabradia; Ashe is wedded and widowed
Vayne, the politician
Vaan meets the sky pirates

Final Fantasy Tactics

Taking a step back in time, 1997 (1998 for North America) saw the release of Final Fantasy Tactics, not the first of the non-numbered spinoff games, but one of the most popular released on a main console, rather than a handheld. While it suffered from egregious translation errors, it had the benefit of purely strategic combat and an intricate, heavily political plot.

History is dictated by the winners and those who claim victory. Legend tells of a hero of the Lion Wars, Delita, a man who rose from humble origins, stopped a budding civil war, and became king. What is left out of the books, though, is the story of Ramza Beoulve, youngest son of a noble house and best friend of the stablemaster's son, Delita. The two part ways after a tragedy that leaves Ramza disgusted with the attitudes of the nobles and Delita swearing revenge against all of the nobility, even an old friend. Some time later, Ramza is working as a mercenary guarding the princess Ovelia when she is kidnapped by Delita. His initial effort to rescue his charge and find out what's going on with his friend is rapidly mired in a shifting morass of political alliances betrayed, church coverups, assassinations, fratricide, patricide, and the ever-present conflict of commoners versus nobility.

Images:
Concept art of a more innocent Ramza
Concept art of a disillusioned Ramza
Concept art of Delita
Concept art of Ovelia
Ramza and Delita talking
A battle in progress
The opening movie and credits

Final Fantasy X

The transition to the PS2 meant a lot of changes for Final Fantasy. FFX, released in 2001, heralded a shift to the highly cinematic, brought voice acting to the series, and completely altered the traditional leveling system. The modified turn-based combat system allows for greater strategy than previous offerings have had, and the ability to change characters in battle makes for greater flexibility. The minigames, particularly blitzball (the sport of choice in this game's world) come in varying levels of addictive, and add spice to the atmosphere. These technical aspects, along with its dramatic, character-intensive story that is lauded among fans, make for its wide regard as one of the best games both in the series and outside it, and it is the first FF to spawn a direct sequel.

Tidus is having a rough time of things. In the course of an evening he's gone from being a famous blitzball player to seeing his city of Zanarkand destroyed and being a refugee in a world where he's regarded as crazy if he mentions his home. Lacking anything better to do he falls into a position of guarding Yuna, a summoner on her pilgrimage to defeat Sin—the creature that appears about every ten years until a summoner takes it down. Guarding Yuna is an interesting job, between random monsters, assaults from Sin, kidnapping attempts, a budding war, a prospective marriage, and the puzzling temples that are stops on her voyage. The truths that unfold about the nature of their journey, the Aeons that summoners call on, and the history of both Zanarkand and the church that dominates the world of Spira are tragic, and really put a cramp in the already difficult process of falling in love.

Images:

Tidus
Yuna
The playable cast from left: Kimari, Yuna, Wakka, Tidus, Rikku, Lulu, and Auron
Transition to battle
Game opening: blitzball and destruction
Yuna dances for the deceased
Yuna summons a classic; Shiva's new look

Final Fantasy IX

Since their last effort was less than well-regarded by many, SquareSoft revised their angle with 2000's release. FFIX went back to its roots with a strong fantasy angle, classic gameplay (pre-determined roles and abilities rather than flexible ones), and more references to previous games than you can shake a Gysahl Green at, up to and including musical themes. Critics gave the game excellent reviews, but the public, perhaps made leery by the last game, didn't seem to go for it as much. For those who were not put off by the art style and classic elements, however, IX is championed as one of the best in the series.

Zidane, thief and actor in the roving troupe Tantalus, doesn't much care that he doesn't know where he came from, or that he happens to have a tail—he's far too busy having a good time. His good time extends to kidnapping the princess of Alexandria on orders from her uncle, which works out well, since the princess herself asks to be kidnapped. She's tired of being kept in the dark by her war-mongering mother and wants to get out. Adopting the name Dagger, and followed by the captain of the guard, Steiner, she, Zidane, and a small assortment of fellows they collect on the way are rapidly engulfed in an expansive war that overtakes the entire world. Queen Brahne creates a path of wholesale destruction, assisted by her arms dealer, Kuja, who turns out to be so much more...

Images:

Zidane
Dagger
Conspiracy to kidnap
Kuja
Game intro movie
Escape from the forest

Final Fantasy VIII

1999 marked an effort of realism with FFVIII. Character models had realistic proportions, real actors were recorded to make motions look realistic, the settings made an effort to look realistic... sadly, however, this game was widely panned by new fans for not being FFVII-2 and by old fans for lacking the fantasy aspect they loved. Sorceresses, magic, mysterious links to past events, and guardian forces aside, this is also a game with monsters falling from the moon, an orbiting satellite prison, flying anti-gravity buildings, a zero-G rescue mission, and your very own spaceship. If you really look, you can even find an alien. This is very much a love it or hate it game. The ones who love it really, really love it and the ones who hate it would rather poke out their eyes with a fork than play it. Middle ground is rare with this one, so it must be doing something right.

Squall Leonhart is taciturn and withdrawn. He's also one of the very few masters of his chosen weapon—the gunblade—at his school, a military academy that trains the students for the chance to join an elite mercenary force called SeeD. With the help of his instructor, Quistis, Squall qualifies for the SeeD exam, along with his rival, Seifer, and fellow students Zell and Selphie. Following his sterling performance he is accepted into the ranks of SeeD, and at the celebratory ball he is knocked off his feet by a young woman completely unlike any he's met before. Little does he know that she—Rinoa—is going to embroil him in a massive affair of global politics, power-hungry sorceresses past, present, and future, Squall's unknown parentage, and, most difficult of all, his own walled-up emotions. And that's all before spacetime starts breaking apart.

Images:

Squall
Seifer
Quistis
Rinoa
Zell
Selphie
Irvine
Sorceress Edea
Game into movie
Ballroom dance movie

Final Fantasy VII

The first FF on the Playstation. The first FF released for PCs. The first FF to feature 3D graphics and fully animated movie clips. Quite probably the best-selling Final Fantasy game ever made. 1997's release of Final Fantasy VII brought the series to vast numbers of people who had never before played it on the Nintendo consoles, and made more die-hard fanatics than any FF before or since. While not the only game in the series to have a related game (X has a direct sequel, and XII has a sequel in production), VII has three spin-off games, two films, and two novellas based on it. It catapulted the silver-haired prettyboy phenomenon into rabid popularity, is prone to some truly terrible translation gaffes, and has caused innumerable other works to suffer by comparison. It features the most popular incarnation of Cid—and the only one that's a main, playable character—the most popular villain, and one of the most popular main characters of any game. Love it or hate it, Final Fantasy VII is a powerful force in the game world, and will remain so for some time.

Shinra Power is a monolithic corporation with direct control over the city-state of Midgar, and indirect control over the majority of the world. Mako is the concentrated lifeforce of the planet, and the energy source mined and distributed by Shinra. SOLDIERs are the elite of Shinra's army, created by saturating ordinary people with high concentrations of mako and keeping the ones that survive the process. Cloud Strife is a SOLDIER-turned-mercenary with massive gaps in his memory who joins an eco-terrorist group called AVALANCHE—headed by Barret Wallace—at the request of his childhood friend, Tifa. After planting a bomb that destroys one of the eight mako reactors in Midgar, Cloud meets Aerith (mistranslated in the game as Aeris), an innocent young woman being pursued by the Turks, Shinra's enforcers. Finding out why Shinra wants her is only the beginning, as it seems that Sephiroth—Shinra's leading general, most accomplished SOLDIER, and presumed corpse for the last five years—is alive, insane, and more powerful than ever.

Images:

Cloud
Tifa
Barret
Aerith
Cid
The famous Sephiroth scene
Cloud and Sephiroth on the poster for the movie Advent Children
Sephiroth as seen in Crisis Core
Rufus Shinra and the Turks: Elena, Tseng, Rude, and Reno
Rude and Reno as they appear in Advent Children
Vincent Valentine in Dirge of Cerberus
The original game intro compared to the tech demo remake for the PS3
Eminence Symphony Orchestra performing Sephiroth's theme song

Final Fantasy VI

1994 saw the release of the last Final Fantasy game for the SNES, although, as with IV, it was misnumbered in the North American release as III. Featuring an intricate story, fully-fleshed characters, the largest playable cast of any numbered FF game to date, the introduction of steampunk to the series, and one of the most memorably evil villains, it's another contender for the best Final Fantasy game.

Terra Branford has grown up as a slave under the control of Emperor Gestahl. Locke Cole is a "treasure hunter" with strong anti-Empire leanings. When Terra breaks free of imperial control and is found by Locke, a chain of events is set in motion that will break apart the world as it is known. Joined by Celes, a general of the Empire who realizes what's going on; Edgar, king of the neighboring country of Figaro; his brother Sabin, an ascetic; Shadow, an assassin with a secret; Cyan, a man who has lost everything to the predations of the Empire; and a small host of others, they try to stop Gestahl and his insane right-hand Kefka from exploiting the Espers—a race of magical people—and conquering the world.

Images:

Icons of the entire playable cast, in order:
Terra, Locke, Edgar, Sabin, Celes, Shadow, Cyan, Mog, Gau, Setzer, Relm, Strago, Umaro, and Gogo
Concept art of Kefka
The self-proclaimed Angel of Death
Intro sequence for the PSX
Opening scenes on the GBA

Final Fantasy IV

Although fourth in the series, this 1991 offering for the SNES was only the second to be released in North America, and is often still referred to as Final Fantasy II for that reason. It has, like the original game, been remade several times for a number of systems. As the innovator of any number of conventions that would later be used in the series and notable for having the first playable Cid—a character that has appeared in some form in every FF since II—this game is among the top contenders for the highly contested rank of Best Final Fantasy Game Ever.

The story focuses on Cecil, Dark Knight and captain of the Red Wings, the fleet of airships belonging to the country of Baron. After being sent to a peaceful town to steal a Crystal in what amounted to a massacre, Cecil questions his king's motives. Given a vague reassurance, he is sent on a mission to deliver a package to another town. Accompanied by his best friend, Kain—who can't quite disguise his love for Cecil's girlfriend, Rosa—Cecil journeys to Mist, home of the Summoners, only to discover that the package he is carrying is actually a bomb. The entire town is obliterated, leaving a young girl as the sole survivor. The girl, Rydia, summons Titan with the last of her strength, causing an earthquake that changes the landscape and separates Cecil and Kain. Angered by the betrayal and grieved by the destruction he inadvertently caused, Cecil undertakes a quest to redeem himself and stop his former king. Betrayal, redemption, and sacrifice abound as Cecil gathers companions only to lose them again, culminating in an otherworldly showdown with a force of primal hatred and destruction.

Images:

Concept art of Cecil
Concept art of Kain
Concept art of Rosa
Concept art of Cecil, post-redemption
Screenshot of Cecil confronting Baron's king
Cecil and Kain fighting the Mist dragon
Game introduction video for the GBA vs. the SNES
Trailer for the DS remake

Final Fantasy

The beginning of an era. This 1987 game, originally for the Nintendo Entertainment System, has generated a large amount of numbered sequels an un-numbered spinoffs. It's been remade and ported onto at least six different platforms (MSX 2, WonderSwan Color, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, PSP, and a downloadable verson for some mobile phones), and even has a popular webcomic based on it. A game given a tongue-in-cheek name (it was the Final game they'd make, and a Fantasy RPG) by a dying company, it revitalized Square when it became one of the highest-selling games of all time.

The outline of the game is amazingly simple. You create a party of four characters from six available classes. They are the fabled Light Warriors (or Warriors of Light, depending on the translation), and need to quest for Orbs of the four classic elements (earth, fire, water, and air) to reenergize the corresponding crystal, which will in turn allow them to defeat the power of Chaos which has the world trapped in an eternal time loop. Being as close to a true role playing game as a video game can come there's absolutely no character development beyond your imagination, but in a time dominated by arcade-style games FF was a rarity of complex storytelling.

Images:

A random battle from the original NES
A random battle from Final Fantasy Origins for the PSX
Concept art by Yoshitaka Amano
Intro FMV for the PSX