What Makes a ‘Real’ Final Fantasy Game?

In the months since Final Fantasy XVI’s release, there’s been quite a bit of discourse around the game. Say what you will about the game quality wise. It goes without saying that you’re allowed to like or dislike a game.

However, I’ve noticed a common sentiment cropping up that I find fairly interesting. “Final Fantasy XVI isn’t a real Final Fantasy game.” Ignore the title, ignore that it was published by Square, that doesn’t matter. It’s not a real FF game.

Is this a huge issue? Not really. Because you know something funny? This exact discourse happened back when Final Fantasy XV came out. In fact, it happens just about every time a new FF game comes out! I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened back when Final Fantasy II came out!

Only on a smaller scale, as the world had yet to be cursed by Twitter.

Just look at the jump from VII to VIII. Final Fantasy VII is one of the most beloved games of all time; it’s basically it’s own franchise at this point, with all the remakes, spin-offs, a movie, and more than a few mobile games. VIII, on the other hand, was much more controversial. It got some very positive reviews, and it has a devout fanbase to this day. Yet a good many players were disappointed and vocally decried the game.

Including myself. Sorry VIII fans, but I will never see eye-to-eye with you. I hope we can still be friends.

The same thing happened again when IX came out. Again, it scored very positive reviews from critics. Again, the reaction from consumers was highly mixed. Odd, considering that IX is now widely regarded as one of the best in the series!

Namely by me.

*If you want to read some of these older reviews, I’ll leave a few at the bottom of this article. It is a limited list, unfortunately; hard to find reviews from the early 2000s, since most don’t exist anymore. Still, small as that sample size is, it does give some insight as to how those games were received.

This is the eternal loop of the Final Fantasy series. New game comes out, critics love it, players that hate it go on about how good the last one was, then a new game comes out and the process repeats itself. On and on it goes, until we finally get to XVI and the complaint that birthed this article: “It’s not a real Final Fantasy game!”

I can see where this complaint comes from. Unlike most other entries in the series, XVI focuses more on the action side of things than the RPG side. It’s basically a fantasy flavor of Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. An interesting decision, considering that Final Fantasy is one of the most recognizable names in the RPG space.

Some people think the complaints come from it not being turn-based, and I’m sorry, but that’s just blatantly incorrect. Final Fantasy hasn’t been turn-based since Final Fantasy X back on the PS2. You could argue XIII was turn-based, but that system was weird and experimental enough that I wouldn’t call it that. So we can take that one off the table.

Is it a problem with the world? Well, that can’t be it either. Every world in every one of these games is vastly different from one another. The Mako-fueled Midgar of VII is completely unlike the modern sci-fi/fantasy combo of XV. There are always chocobos and moogles, bombs and cactuars, the same summons like Ifrit and Shiva, and a Cid, a Biggs, and a Wedge, but that’s all flavor, not substance. Like salt used on various kinds of meat.

Perhaps its the tone? Many players disliked XVI’s darker, more serious tone. Other games in the series did a great job of balancing grim moments with fun and humor. IX had some really fun party banter, VII had stuff like the cross-dressing mission, so on and so forth. X even made that part of the story; that infamous laugh scene wasn’t poor voice acting, it was two people forcing themselves to laugh to keep their spirits up in a terrible situation.

Well, it can’t be that either. It’s not like XVI was utterly devoid of humor. Clive’s uncle Byron is basically a gag character, for god’s sake. Besides, every story in this franchise is trying to do something different with their tones and themes. VII is a story of grief, VIII is a love story, and XV is about bros being bros. Being darker and more serious hardly excludes XVI from the club.

That just leaves the level design. But again: this point is moot as well. This aspect changes between every game. Some are big open worlds with towns and villages where you can go where you want when you want, like XV. Others are more linear, carrying you down long hallways to deliver their story like a rollercoaster; see XIII or VII Remake.

What is it, then? What makes a Final Fantasy game a real FF game? The answer is more simple than you think.

Change.

Final Fantasy is a franchise built around change. Every new entry tells a new story, with new visuals and new gameplay mechanics. They can be minor changes or major, it doesn’t matter. No two of these games are the same. It’s why this franchise has lasted as long as it had, even despite its historic lows.

VIII is one of the strongest examples. I hated that game; it’s probably my least favorite in the series. Despite my strong dislike, however, I will always praise that game for doing something different with its story and mechanics. Rather than trying to capitalize on VII’s success by just doing that again, they went off the beaten path and tried new things.

Ironically, this is the very thing that gave rise to this issue in the first place. What makes a ‘real’ FF game is entirely subjective depending on what you as a player prefer from these games. If someone loves these games for RPG mechanics and don’t enjoy action games, it makes sense why they’d say XVI isn’t a ‘real’ entry in the series.

This discourse will never go away. It just won’t. It’s baked into the core DNA of the series. Things change, and some people just aren’t going to like what it changes into. Then come a few years, they’ll be used to that thing, so when it changes once again, the whole discourse will pick up right where it left off.

Am I upset by that? Not at all. The main reason I love this franchise so much is its willingness to change. The day Square stops experimenting and starts turning the series into an assembly line, cranking out the same thing over and over, is the day I step down from my chocobo and go find another game to play.

Like Dragon Quest and it’s ten billion entries and spin-offs. Which… fans of the series don’t complain about at all. Least not as far as I’ve seen.

Maybe Final Fantasy fans are just impossible to please.

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