I love video games. Anyone that knows me can tell you that. And one of my favorite series has always been the Final Fantasy series of games.
It all started when my brothers and I downloaded an SNES emulator on our home computer. It came with some 150+ games, including a couple of Final Fantasy games (II-the English version of IV, Mystic Quest, and 5-which was in Japanese because it had never been released in the States). I discovered II/IV and DEVOURED IT. It was such a great game, with compelling characters, lots of choices weapon- and magic-wise, and an elaborate plot. I played Mystic Quest, and it was alright. Nothing to write home about, though. And I tried to play 5, but...it was in Japanese, so...it was quite difficult to play.
Years later, VII came out, and my family bought that. It had similarly compelling characters, and lots of great everything. Unfortunately, I quickly became attached to a character that dies at the end of the first (of three) discs, so ...I had a really hard time playing beyond her death, and to this day, I still haven't finished the game.
Then VIII. I didn't really like the magic Draw system, although I did really enjoy the GFs. I didn't really like the fact that there was no armor or accessories to equip, just the weapon, but I made do. The playable characters weren't quite as compelling, and there was this big whole side story that I wish had had more impact on the main story, but it was still a better-than-average game.
IX was my favorite, after IV. It was a "return to simpler times" the developers tried to tell everyone. 7 and 8 had been more sci-fi, and 9 was a return to magic/fantasy. The characters could have used a bit more development, but they all had storylines. I really liked the return of the class systems, and it was a very dramatic plot with a lot of locations to visit, and an interesting (albeit tedious) delivery subplot.
X is where it started to go downhill for me. It was the first final Fantasy game with voice acting, and ...it was shoddy. They had some talent (Tara Strong and Billy ...West, I think is his name), but OH MY GOD some of the voices were AWFUL. The class system was back, kind of, but it was flawed somewhat. You had 7 characters. In the early part of the game, you had to constantly rotate between 5 of these characters in order to defeat even the most basic of enemies. A 6th character to heal, and a superfluous 7th character. I didn't really like the plot, or the mini-games. The characters were pretty annoying (I thought), and I just didn't really enjoy a whole lot of the game. However, it did have a well-defined history, and a few bright spots randomly interspersed throughout the game.
Then it spawned this God-awful sequel. Charlie's Angels, Final Fantasy style. It was...not good. And 10 was not a good enough game to deserve a sequel, when every other game before was SO MUCH BETTER.
I never played XI because it was an MMORPG, and if I'm going to play on a team, I'd like to have some semblance of control over them.
XII was...also not good. The battle system was ...just awful, and there was no real distinction between the characters, aside from what they looked like. They could all use the same abilities and weapons. The player character is not the main character, and the whole plot is just a small chunk of a larger story, but...you don't really see that story. You hear about it, but your party's quest is not the world-saving, bad-guy-conquering quest that it should be. And you have to walk EVERYWHERE. Yeah, it doesn't sound that bad, until you do a quest in one remote corner of the world map, and find out that your next quest in the the opposite side. You don't have access to your airship right then, and you're all out of Teleport Stones. You have to WALK THE WHOLE WAY. It takes like a half hour to walk from one map to the next, which means it takes you THREE HOURS to get to the next place. Sure, you could go find another Teleport Stone, but that'll take you so far out of the way that you might not think it's worth it.
XIII has been the most recent (I think. XIV might have come out, but that was another MMORPG so I'm not going to play it). I haven't finished it yet, and truth be told am in no hurry. It's another not that great game, I think. You have 6 characters, who each excel in 3 job classes. The upgrade system is costly and annoying, both abilities and weapons. The game is very linear for the first two-thirds, and then suddenly BAM! Wide open space. Complete with every third monster being too hard for you to kill, so you get your ass kicked. Quite frequently. Which wouldn't be that bad, if you could change your lead character in battle. Which you can't do, so if your lead character dies, GAME OVER. Doesn't matter if your teammates are still alive and can revive you. Nope. YOU DIE. I'm not a big fan of this game. Which brings me to the point of this blog post...
Why the FUCK does Square-Enix do shitty things with their awful games, and NOT A GOD DAMN THING with their good games. 10 got a sequel. 13 is getting a sequel. and 10 is being fucking REMADE for the PS3. 12 got a pseudo-sequel. Granted, 4 got a sequel (15 years later...), but 5 (which wasn't that great, but wasn't terrible), 6 (which was actually pretty good and epic), 7, 8, and 9 were all much better than 12 and 13. And 6, 7, 8, and 9 were all better than 10. And...nothing. 7's mythology has been expanded with a sequel movie, and spin-off FPS game, and a prequel, but a remake would be excellent.
So here is my open letter to Square-Enix...
Dear Square-Enix,
I used to really enjoy your games. But ever since you added voice acting, I feel like your games' quality has been falling. Immensely. And throwing shitty sequels onto already shitty games doesn't make either of them better. Even remaking shitty games might make them better, but why not just remake an already good game that every single one of your fans wants. It'd be so much easier. You don't even really have to do anything to the remake. Just update the graphics. That's ALL YOU HAVE TO DO. Add voice acting if you want to. But that's really it. Please stop doing dumb things, because pretty soon, you will lose me as a fan. Sure, one less person buying your shitty games is nothing, but soon there will be two. Then three. Then ten. Then fifty. Step up the quality now, or you guys will be wishing you had.
Sincerely,
A Nerdy Gay who really used to believe in you guys
