Final Fantasy VI
- For the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo Super Famicom. The plot focuses on a character named
Terra (or Tina in Japan). The game begins with two of the Empire's henchmen,
Biggs and Wedge, and Terra, whose mind is being controlled by a device called
the Slave Crown. They attempt to take a frozen creature called an Esper from a
northern town, and in the attempt, Terra is knocked unconscious, and later
saved by a member of the underground rebellion against the Empire. No relation
to the Empire in Star Wars even though the names Biggs and Wedge were
taken from the names of the two pilots that accompanied Luke Skywalker in Star
Wars in the final assault on the Death Star. This game was released as Final
Fantasy III on the SNES by Square of America. It was re-released by Square EA
on the Playstation with Final Fantasy V under Final Fantasy Anthology. Final
Fantasy VI has the best graphics that the SNES has to offer, and it set the
foundation for the following Final Fantasy games, making the Final Fantasy
franchise have realistic computer graphics from the next installment on. The
characters include Terra, Locke, Edgar, Sabin, Shadow, and the villain Kefka.
See separate article for more information.
Final Fantasy VII
- For the Sony PlayStation and PC. This is the first release where the character's
names aren't arbitrarily capitalized. It is also the first Final Fantasy with
3D-graphics. The plot focuses on a character named Cloud Strife. Cloud is
beginning his employment for a group called AVALANCHE, headed by Barret
Wallace, after quitting from the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company's
super-soldier unit named SOLDIER for reasons that he cannot recall to become a
mercenary. They are attempting to sabotage a Mako reactor, a device which
drains energy from the Planet to generate electricity, to create monsters, and
to create Materia, magical orbs. These reactors are created and maintained by
the Shin-Ra EPC. However, Cloud goes beyond being a hired mercenary with
AVALANCHE by his side, and is drawn in to a vast storyline, centering around
Sephiroth, who was the ultimate SOLDIER member. Final Fantasy VII seems to be
most popular Final Fantasy game. It is the best selling Final Fantasy game
installment-wise. Final Fantasy VII will soon have a motion picture sequel,
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
Final Fantasy VIII
- For the Sony PlayStation and PC. This release featured a dramatic improvement in
graphics and cutscene quality. A highly artistic addition to the series, it
involved a group of orphans about 17 years of age who were adopted by a school
for mercenaries called 'The Garden'. There are many such
schools throughout the FF8 world and their main (but secretive) duty is to
protect the world from the threat of powerful Sorceresses, as the last one
caused a great war.
- This addition to the series was surprising in its incredible level of
detail, including ancient stories of a being that gave humans magical powers,
an unknown force that makes radio transmissions impossible, the mysterious
lineage of the game's main character Squall Leonheart and a burgeoning love
between Squall and a young girl, Rinoa Heartilly. While many hold that FF8
created a new zenith in RPGs for artistry and character/plot development,
critics disliked the opaqueness of Squall's motives and his unpleasant,
unlikeable and distant behavior, as well as the interminably long summoning
cut scenes. Therefore, Final Fantasy VIII created controversy among Final
Fantasy's pre-32-bit-era fans.
Final Fantasy IX
- For the Sony PlayStation, released in 2000. This release is a
return to Final Fantasy's roots - likable characters, a main character with an
unknown past, and stereotypical examples of the original series' various
character classes (unlike the "Job" system of FF5 and FFT, the characters
can't change their type of fighting). The plot revolved around a mysterious
villain who needs the people of a devastated culture to gain power as he
disrupts the "flow of souls" in the natural cycle of life and death. There are
several main characters: Zidane, Princess Garnet a.k.a. Dagger, Eiko, Amarant,
Vivi, Adelbert Steiner, Freya and Quina. Chocobos and airships figure strongly
in the gameplay. Final Fantasy IX has created controversy among Final Fantasy
fans. It also has references to the previous Final Fantasy games, especially
Final Fantasy I. The fiends of Final Fantasy I, which are Lich, Marilith,
Kraken, and Tiamat, were carried over to Final Fantasy IX.
Final Fantasy X
- For the Sony PlayStation 2, released in 2001. Visually much like
Final Fantasy VIII, in that the characters have normal proportions. There are
some noticeable differences between Final Fantasy X and the previous members
of the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy X introduced voice acting. Under
the direction of Toshiro Tsuchida, the battle system is changed from
the traditional "Active Time Battle" to a new "Conditional Time Battle" system
which was more turn-based and ostensibly allowed for a greater degree of
strategic depth.The leveling system has also received an overhaul, with the
advent of the Sphere Grid. The story is still the primary focus, aided by
exceptional graphics, but some critics have an opinion in reverse of this
regard.
- The main character is Tidus (son of Jecht), a cheerful blitzball player
from Zanarkand, who escapes an attack on his home city by a creature called
"Sin". He is transported to the world of Spira, where he is enlisted in a
quest to destroy the creature, who reappears every ten years to wreak havoc
until defeated by a "summoner". Tidus joins the summoner Yuna of Bevelle
(daughter of Lord Braska the High Summoner), and her guardians Wakka of
Besaid, Lulu of Besaid, Auron, and Kimahri Ronso. Kimahri is Yuna's most
faithful guardian. He knew Yuna for ten years before the events of Final
Fantasy X. He later meets Al Bhed thief Rikku. Wakka and Rikku are close
associates of Tidus. They make up the playable cast of the game. Tidus of
Zanarkand was voiced by James Arnold Taylor. Yuna of Bevelle was voiced by Hedy Burress. Wakka and Kimahri were voiced by John DiMaggio. Rikku the Al Bhed was voiced by Tara Strong. Unfortunately, Final Fantasy X has
created some controversy among fans of the older Final Fantasy games
(especially fans of the games released on 8-bit and 16-bit systems) due to
linearity, English voice acting, the addition of blitzball, and claiming that
it has no world map. Critics disliked Blitzball, and they complained about the
Sphere Grid system and the voice acting. Many critics stated that Final
Fantasy X was centered solely on graphics, complaining mainly about the
storyline and gameplay. A few critics complained about the soundtrack. One
notable song is Suteki Da Ne, performed by Rikki of Amami. It is derived from Yuna's Theme.
There are four versions of Suteki Da Ne.The Eternal Calm video, interquel of
Final Fantasy X and X-2, was never in English until the time of the American
release of Final Fantasy X-2, when it was featured on the demo disc of the
Official Playstation Magazine.
Final Fantasy X-2
- Detailed information is available by searching for Final Fantasy X-2.
Final Fantasy XI
- Detailed information is available by searching for Final Fantasy XI.
Final Fantasy XII
- For the Sony PlayStation 2. Possibly the last Final Fantasy game
on the PlayStation 2 if Square keeps the tradition of three
games per console. It was originally scheduled for a release during the last
few months of 2003, but Square Enix has postponed the Japanese release to
middle 2004. The only information so far is a poster showing a huge city and
its population. Recently, it was revealed that the two main characters are
named Vaan and Ashe, and the game involves Chocobo Knights.
- As of December 11th, another two characters have been revealed, named
Furan and Barufurea (current romanizations unknown). Furan is of the Viera
race (seen in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance) and Barufurea is of
the Sky Race. The game will have many characters, as the norm of a game of
developed by Square Enix's fourth production team.
- As of December 17, 2003, Final Fantasy XII's battle system has been
revealed to be similar to that of Final Fantasy X-2. Also, there will be three
slots for crystals.
- Preliminary trailers suggest that it has an extremely similar graphical
style to Vagrant Story--a previous work of FFXII's new
director Yasumi Matsuno
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
- For the Nintendo Gamecube. This is the first Final Fantasy
game on a Nintendo console since Final Fantasy VI. Since Sony partially owns Squaresoft, the company that makes Final Fantasy, it
seemed unlikely that it would ever see a Nintendo system again. However, Squaresoft created a 2nd party studio that included
people who had worked on Final Fantasy games for Playstation to make Final Fantasy games for Nintendo consoles. This new Final Fantasy game is set
to feature many new gameplay elements previously unseen in a Final Fantasy
game, eg. Real Time fighting, as well as being the first RPG to incorporate
GameCube-GameBoyAdvance compatibility.
