Making any sort of RPG is not an easy task and though we have had many amazing companies attached to world-renowned franchises, there is one company, in particular, that sets the bar. That company would be Square Enix and their Final Fantasy franchise drove many game developers to innovate and change their ideas to reflect that of the everlasting RPG giant. The franchise itself has spanned many generations and lasted over thirty years and continues to be one of the most iconic titles of all time. It’s not really surprising though when you consider that the same company has been behind such groundbreaking franchises as Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts. Both have similarities to the venerated RPG, but they also have unique differences which show the company's ability to change and innovate.

They became the catalyst which helped to change the video game industry and they pushed gaming companies to create their very first RPGs. Before that time, many companies felt that the market was limited in that area, but after seeing the success of Final Fantasy they began to change their minds. Square not only showed that you could craft remarkable stories around an RPG atmosphere, but they also showed that fans would be willing to enjoy their favorite stories through other media by creating television shows and films dedicated to their most iconic titles. With all this success, there were also failures, and while every game in the franchises wasn’t exactly a hit, each had its place in the history of the series. They continue to innovate and attempt new things in an effort to evolve the series in a way that it captivates future generations to come.

25 Grinding To Success

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It’s not something that you usually think about when playing these sorts of games, but once you do it sort of turns everything on its head. After all, we are supposed to assume the role of a particular character and they are supposed to carry on as if everything is normal.

In reality, most people wouldn’t be looking for fights to take.

We all know they aren’t based on reality, but when you put them in that context it makes no sense at all that you would have to grind to level up before advancing. You are focused on a particular quest and it stands to reason that if you were a group of individuals you would avoid every fight so that you could get to your end goal faster.

24 Money Troubles

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This next one applies to so many RPGs it’s not even funny. I always thought it was weird that in Zelda you could break all the shop owners pots over and over again and then simply use the Rupees that you acquired to purchase his wears. Doesn’t exactly sound like a good business model to me.

There’s never really been an explanation as to why game designers do this and my best guess is that they are trying to reward you for exploring. In Final Fantasy, if you don’t have any GIL it’s usually not a problem because you can simply go into a house or a hotel and open a chest and find a good amount without ever fighting monsters for it. I think this particular comic showcases what this kind of society would cause really well.

23 Heroes Come In Many Forms

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After playing these types of games for a while you begin to wonder if your particular character is any better then those he or she is fighting against. When you start to think about all of the things you had to do to reach your mission goals, you really have to reassess things.

With the presence of more choice in RPGs, you can write your own story.

Though there has been more variation within RPGs as of late, Final Fantasy VII didn’t really give you a lot of choice as to how you wanted to go about things. When everything was all said and done it really didn’t seem like you were the type of hero you were made out to be. This particular illustration pretty much spells out why Cloud should be considered anything but a hero.

22 Wait Your Turn

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There have been a few RPGs which dispel the notion of a turn-based system. They focus more on the reality of the situation and have more of a real-time action system in place. The monsters don’t wait for you to decide what to do and instead attack you at the same speed regardless of when your next move will be.

It’s hard to believe that an enemy of any kind would let a party of people take turns trying to defeat it, much less give them time to retaliate at all. As bad as this particular situation is, it gets even worse when you consider that the party members will often talk amongst each other during battle. I don’t imagine any enemy would allow you to carry on this way for any length of time without taking action.

21 Not Thinking Things Through

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If you were to ask most gamers they would probably tell you that the demise of Aerith Gainsborough was one of the most defining moments in gaming history. It’s hard to think of it that way now since many main characters meet their demises, but when this particular event occurred it wasn’t something that was done too often.

The unexpected nature of the event caused a shockwave throughout the gaming industry.

There were many who disliked the event, but over time they began to appreciate what it meant to the overall story and its impact. As time passed through, there were many who began to ask questions that they hadn’t before. After all, you had been using Phoenix Downs to resurrect teammates before and yet, in this particular instance, neither Cloud nor anyone in your party attempted to do anything of the sort.

20 Getting Your Monies Worth

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When you start out on your adventure you usually don’t have a lot of cash to spend so it makes perfect sense that the lower level enemies that you fight drop a decent amount for you to build on. This way you can buy the armor and items you need to continue on without having to spend too much time grinding away.

Though this system makes sense early on, there are a few things that can be noticed in the Final Fantasy games that make you question what the game designers were thinking. For instance, while low-level enemies drop a decent about of GIL, there will be times where you will fight a particularly difficult enemy and receive little monetary reward for your efforts. You would think that the opposite would be true, especially considering that you have expended so many items to defeat them.

19 Leaving Out Some Key Information

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One of my all-time favorite RPGs was Breath of Fire IV, but I can honestly say that there were many frustrating times to be had. Having played it much later on I was a bit perplexed by the presence of a phone number for assistance being placed on the disc. It didn’t take long for me to understand why though when I reached a point in the game without any direction.

At times, you were simply supposed to find the answer through trial and error.

I can honestly say that without walkthroughs at times I don’t think I would have been able to finish the game in a reasonable amount of time. I never understood why the quest givers didn’t just hand you all the information you needed in the first place and I think this illustration exemplifies the frustration it causes pretty well.

18 Learning The Basics

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At the beginning of any RPG, your first two goals are getting items and money and gaining experience points. Both come fairly easily through simply grinding and doing side quest, but sometimes you have to wonder what exactly is the point of some of the quests that you receive. While some teach you a new skill and others introduce you to a new part of the game, there are some that don’t seem to give you anything of value at all.

It’s these pointless side quests that seem to do nothing but give you experience that has so many players frustrated and feeling as if they are wasting time. It’s one thing to quest and fight your way to a particular area and it is quite another to essentially be the errand runner for a particular individual.

17 The Coast Is Clear

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Within many different games, you can see the trouble coming before it ever arrives. You can plan your next attack and formulate a strategy that gives you the best chance of accomplishing your mission. Sure, there are always surprises, but at least you have a decent idea of what you might be up against.

RPGs popularized the idea of having random unexpected attacks occur.

This is a good idea in theory because it keeps you guessing about what enemies you will face and essentially makes you unprepared for what could come next. While this is all well and good, it makes for a rather humorous reality when you considered what it would be like for the character and how they would actually react to not being able to see their enemy before they were attacked.

16 The Path Of Most Resistance

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Sometimes you have to sit back and wonder just what the particular members of your party were thinking when they suggest you take a certain course of action. In a large and expanding world, it seems as if they always choose a particular area or a particular path that isn’t exactly ideal. In some cases, it makes sense that they would not be able to make the particular path an easier one to navigate, but other times they had plenty of options. Such is the case with many narrow passages ways that you seem to have to traverse.

It’s a bit odd that party members with all sorts of magical abilities, some being able to fly and others being able to blast holes through solid rock, that they would need to squeeze through a narrow passageway. They could simply fly over it to the other side or expand the passageway with their magic.

15 The Other Side Of Things

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One thing's for sure, it can’t be easy being a creature within any of these RPG universes. Not only are players constantly battling them for money and experience, but they don’t have any particular place to hide in order to protect themselves from such events. While we can safely assume that some creatures choose to attack you along your adventure, it does bring about the question as to how those who don’t feel.

The inclusion of peaceful creatures only furthers speculation.

After all, not every creature within the world attacks you and there are many that provide daily assistance to those that live in the world. Even if other creatures want to attack you, one would think that they would do their best to avoid you until the time was right. If anything, after a while, they would probably avoid you given your level.

14 Misplaced Items

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You’ve got to have a large list of different items to buy within an RPG to keep things interesting and to get players to want to grind their way to a higher monetary amount, but there are a few items within these same games that you often wonder why they are there in the first place.

True enough, not every character within the said universe can use magical abilities, but it seems sort of pointless to give a group of people who can, the ability to buy a fishing rod or something of the sort. In reality, they could simply use a particular magical ability to help them catch the fish rather than pay a vendor for a fishing rod. You’d have to imagine that the vendors wouldn’t be all to happy with this reality either.

13 An Odd Reality

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At times, I think that game designers put certain things within their games just to see if we are actually paying attention. For example, within Pokémon, you will see countless facts about the weight and size of particular Pokémon that don’t add up and it gets you to start thinking about the relative weight that you are carrying within your backpack.

The unrealistic size of Cloud’s sword has generated many hilarious illustrations.

There has never really been an explanation as to why Cloud’s weapon is this way and many have often wondered how Cloud could carry such a heavy sword. After all, you don’t see many carrying anything even remotely close to it and there are many instances where he states that something is heavy. Either his sword is made of some super lightweight material or he has an ability that makes it light as a feather.

12 Lost In Translation

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Immersion is a big part of any game and it’s the games that do it really well that stand out the most. In an effort to create the immersion, companies have to place the player into the environment and get them to really understand how the people interact with each other on a daily basis.

Language becomes a big part of that same process and rightly so given that you can learn a lot about a culture from its language. That being said, sometimes it can be rather difficult to understand what exactly it is that you need to do when the language doesn’t exactly resemble anything that you are used to reading. There are even times when your character appears to speak the language perfectly fine while the others around them struggle to do so.

11 No Time To Waste

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Our entire lives are based around time. It’s used to keep track of our food, when businesses open, and gives us a work schedule that we can go by, among many other things. Without the usage of time, it would be rather easy for us to lose track of how much of it was left in a particular day and we might easily get sidetracked as a result.

Despite the urgency of some quests, it seems as if you are constantly given side ones to do.

In reality, you would think that Cloud and crew would have no time to do anything else other than work toward accomplishing their ultimate goal of stopping the meteor and defeating Sephiroth. Instead, they find time to do all sorts of side quest and mini-games along the way and you can spend countless days doing so even as imminent danger is approaching.

10 Inhuman Strength

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When it comes to fantasy, it is easy to see why physics as we understand them simply don’t apply. You have characters who are able to cast spells and alter their environment and you have others who are able to craft things seemingly out of thin air. There are plenty of things that don’t make sense out of the context of the game world, but it isn’t without its own rules.

As you play through the game, you begin to learn of the limitations of the characters and those around them and you can sort of piece together how the physics and the environment works apart from your own. Even so, Final Fantasy VI had many scratching their heads. It’s understandable given that they were able to witness Sabin simply pick up a train and suplex it to the ground multiple times.

9 Heading In Unprepared

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Throughout the course of history, you have had many armies that have come unprepared to battle and have lost as a result. While this does happen from time to time, for the most part, they have a general idea of what they might be up against and plan accordingly.

Despite this, many enemies seem to run headlong into battle within the Final Fantasy universe.

There are far too many instances within the games where it seems as if the enemy is set on meeting their demise no matter what. One would think that if they learned that they were up against a high-powered foe that they would retreat and prepare accordingly, but that just doesn’t happen. Instead, they will send one soldier after another to their doom and accomplish nothing as a result.

8 Different Modes Of Transport

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There are many different things that game designers will implement to separate one character from another. They will change the way they are dressed and the way they behave as well as their particular skill tree. It not only helps you to remember them more distinctly but also gives you a reason to incorporate them into your party.

For a long time, most RPGs simply created a mode of transport that every character used at the same time. In this way, there was no present advantage or disadvantage for having a particular party leader and you could formulate your party based on skill set alone. Over time, there began to be a change in mode of transportation in character and there became a need to re-evaluate party setups based on that fact. Though this was understandable, the fact that Lightning has to use a horse while Snow has a motorcycle seems a bit too far fetched given the environment that they are in.

7 Full Of Surprises

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We’ve always been told to expect the unexpected and it applies to our video games too. While it is always nice to have random things happen you eventually get to the point where you become a bit frustrated with it. There have been many games where I have fought enemies within my level range only to encounter a boss that isn’t even in the same stratosphere.

Power leveling has been a necessity within many RPGs.

The idea of power leveling isn’t a bad one. It allows you to hone your skills and to find the best possible party setup that gives you the best chance of success. Though that’s the case, it gets a little tiring when you encounter an enemy that is far and above what you are used to fighting. You end up losing the game first in order to understand that you have to grind more to get past it.

6 A Weird Way Of Casting Spells

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It’s worth noting that some of the most memorable characters within any game are those that either have a personality vastly different than all others or who have an appearance that is unlike any other character that you encounter. Often times, these same characters play a central part in the overall storyline.

You will be introduced to characters with all sorts of fighting abilities that help you to accomplish your overall goal. While these abilities seem reasonable given their particular skill set, there are certain characters with specific attacks that don’t exactly seem normal even for their world. Take for example Quistis Trepe’s ability of bad breath where she essentially spews foul smelling odor from her mouth toward her enemy. It makes sense when monsters do it, but it seems a bit strange coming from a human within the same universe. I guess that’s why the party crouches when she does the move each time.