I Don’t Really Care What Final Fantasy Is Anymore

Before I get into this - let me explain the title. I don’t really care what Final Fantasy is anymore. That doesn’t mean I dislike the series now or I’m angry at Final Fantasy 16. Or that I’m never playing a Final Fantasy game again. None of that is what this article is about. I still love Final Fantasy. I just don’t think I care what it is anymore.

Which is weird, because for decades of my finite human existence, I’ve been mad about what Final Fantasy is and what it most certainly is not! Of course, I started playing the series in the mid ‘90s, so all of my opinions were locked to that time period. Anything that came before what I started playing was alright. Anything that came after I started playing was heresy.

Here’s what I believed made a Final Fantasy game (ages 7 - 30):

It’s called “Final Fantasy”
Chocobos
Airships
Nobuo Uematsu music
Hironobu Sakaguchi involved (the more the better)
Turned-based battles
Black mages/White mages (not what it sounds like)
A character named Cid (preferably mechanic of some sort)
Summons
A mixture of fantasy and sci-fi in the same story (a bit of a stretch, but fine)
Crystals (this can be subbed out for any magic macguffin)
Friends going on an adventure

Even this required a little stretching as a kid. Where did the Final Fantasy Tactics games fit? Well, okay, it has some of those things so we can find a place for it in our hearts. What about the earlier games in the series that didn’t have half of this shit? Well, they didn’t have it yet! So it’s fine. You think I would’ve applied the same logic to Final Fantasy games that came out after the mid ‘90s, but no. I’m not a self-aware person.

As time went on, I almost became angry at Final Fantasy. I’ve written about it before but I believed that, because I was a long-time fan, I was the arbiter of what did and did not make a Final Fantasy game. And my fury on the forums was that of a righteous god! How dare Final Fantasy 10 have voice acting and spin-offs. How dare Final Fantasy 11 be an online game. How dare Final Fantasy 12 look completely different from other games in the series. How dare the GameCube get a spin-off game. How dare, how dare, how dare.

I don’t know why I was like this. Maybe I projected some sort of awkward mid-puberty need for stability on the commercial product made by a corporation. Actually, that probably explains a lot of my life choices. Or maybe I just really liked what I liked about Final Fantasy and - despite similar games still being made - was sad that “FINAL FANTASY” in all capital letters isn’t what I had determined it must be.

As with any fan of anything, the more concrete my expectations were, the more disappointed I became when artists who’d never met me designed a game that didn’t take all of my exact needs into account. There were posts deep down on unofficial forums they could’ve seen if they wanted to make it to my liking.

Essentially: Why couldn’t they just make the same video game over and over, while also adding enough new things to excite me, but not having anything that could confuse me or make me feel like it’s a different experience than before, but still all fresh? Jesus.

Over time, I began to respect a couple difficult truths. One, Square Enix is a business in the business of doing business and by putting ‘Final Fantasy’ on a product, it will sell better. Two, not everything is going to be made for me. It’s a tragedy we all face. How can a series meant to be sold to millions of people not incorporate my unwritten notes on how much the Final Fantasy victory music can be changed?

Which I guess brings me to Final Fantasy 16. It looks like it wants to be God of War meets Game of Thrones, which I’m sure is the case for about one third of video games being pitched right now. It’s also supposed to be the first Final Fantasy game to say “f***.” Which, I don’t know… great? I’m not offended. I'm just also not 11 years old and excited about swears. Its developers have also shown a defensive tinge of, “It’s set in an imaginary fantasy version of Europe, so there can be red dragons but there can’t be Black people.”

I also don’t trust any story that sells itself as ‘gritty.’ There’s something, ‘This isn’t your Dad’s Final Fantasy!’ to it. Which, I guess it isn’t. It’s not turn-based. It doesn’t seem to be about a fun group of friends going on an adventure. If there is a crystal, I feel like the main character is going to crush it in his hand and say, “F***.” Which he can now! That’s kind of nice.

But the name Final Fantasy doesn’t mean anything other than Square Enix saying, “This is a major addition to our flagship franchise.” It’s a blessing on a project. Final Fantasy 9 was almost a spin-off game until everyone was like, “No, this is good. Let’s go with this.” Of course, Final Fantasy 9 is an awful example because every creative choice in the game very intentionally reflects what I wanted.

Final Fantasy 16 is probably going to be good. I hope it is. And I’m going to buy it because these articles let me write games off on my taxes. I just need to stop pinning my hopes on a series that’s existed outside my expectations longer than it’s existed inside my expectations. I’m old. I remember it like it was yesterday. They called Titanic the Ship of Dreams.

I don’t care if Final Fantasy 16 makes me feel the way 7 did or 6 did or 2 didn’t (despite meeting most parameters). It’s a video game. It’s a video game from a sometimes-great, sometimes-absurdly-bad company that’s willing to let this specific title lead its big ticket series.

But it doesn’t matter what a Final Fantasy game is. It’s a made-up title. Here’s what I believe makes a Final Fantasy game now: