Origins of the Final Fantasy Franchise - Part 2

The History of Final Fantasy – Part 2 Final Fantasy: a history so vast, a single video just couldn’t contain it! Welcome to the second part of our in-depth look at the history of one of the most beloved RPGs of all time. The previous video dealt with the early days at Square (now Square Enix) up to and including Final Fantasy VII. So, for this video, we’ll pick up right where we left off! After the mega success of Final Fantasy VII, Square decided to develop two games at once in order to get two sequels out on the PSOne and thus capitalize on the success of the seventh game. Final Fantasy VIII would continue in the vein of the seventh game, being a more modern experience for newcomers, while Final Fantasy IX would go back to the series’ roots and be a more traditional RPG. Yoshinori Kitase returned to direct the eighth title in 1999 while Shinji Hashimoto stepped into the producer’s chair for the first time. There was a fear during the production of Final Fantasy VII that the difference between character models in cinematics versus gameplay would be off-putting, so this time around Kitase decided to use the same models for each, delivering a more realistic presentation in the process. But, all was not roses for Final Fantasy VIII as the title took some criticism for its gameplay changes, especially the switch from a traditional leveling system to the Junction System and a new Draw Point System for magic. The game managed to sell very well, however, moving eight million units, but it just didn’t have the same shock and awe that its predecessor did. In 2000’s Final Fantasy IX, Square was able to blend the stunning production values, graphics and presentation of the newer games with the older settings and more traditional gameplay elements, making for a game that even series’ creator Hironobu Sakaguchi said was his favorite to date. The addition of Active Time Events was celebrated throughout gaming media and the return of old favorites like the chocobos and the moogles left fans feeling nostalgic and satisfied. The plot even returned to a medieval fantasy setting with the addition of princesses, queens, knights, and thieves. Sakaguchi co-produced and Hiroyuki Ito was back in the director’s chair for the first time since the sixth game. The game was a smash hit with critics, being touted as the greatest pure RPG yet, but its sales were slightly behind Final Fantasy VIII and VII. In early 2001, everything was looking up for the game giant Square; but, as we all know: what goes up must come down! With nothing but accolades on his record thus far, Sakaguchi would go from golden boy to outcast within the company in the span of a single undertaking. His pet project, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within bombed at the box office, losing an estimated 94 million dollars. Since the newly founded Square Pictures bankrolled the majority of the project, they’d soon fold and all the fingers pointed directly at the Final Fantasy creator. Luckily, however, Final Fantasy X hit store shelves mere months later, saving the company’s name and pocketbook! With Sakaguchi away working on the film, Kitase took on the dual role of director/producer. Since production began on the tenth title shortly after the release of Final Fantasy VIII, the new game was more of a spiritual successor to the eighth entry, including a forward-thinking story, design, and environments. Also, pre-rendered backgrounds were replaced by full 3D graphics and gameplay, and the world map was scrapped, making for a more fluid, realistic world where battles and story integrated more fluidly. In terms of gameplay, the Active Time Battle System was replaced by the Conditional Turn-Based Battle System in a risky move, but one that paid great dividends and resulted in a deeper, more strategic game overall. Not surprisingly, Final Fantasy X was a critical and financial success, selling over eight million units, and fan response was so positive that Square began working on a direct sequel almost immediately, dubbed X-2. Around the same time of the sequel, Square acquired long-time rival Enix. But, since the move was initially resisted by Enix due to Square’s major flop with The Spirits Within when the companies did merge, it all but assured Sakaguchi’s exit from the company, ending a very long and successful partnership. Wasting no time, however, Square released Final Fantasy XI. News that it was an MMO initially rattled the fan base, many of which felt betrayed by the move away from the epic single player experiences the series was known for into the world of online gaming. Though gone from the company, the decision to pursue MMO gameplay was Sakaguchi’s, who was greatly impressed by Western RPGs like EverQuest and saw MMORPGs as the future of role-playing games. Yet anxiety was still high within the company because online games were not as popular in Japan as they were in North America. But a few changes worked in the company’s favor. First off, the Job System worked extremely well in online play, and the game catered to old-school RPG fans with its brutal difficulty, thus emphasizing the need for teamwork and community. Also, the decision to add cross-platform play between the PS2 and PC gave the game a greater lifespan, and it lived on through five expansion packs. Eventually, its critics made peace with the online gameplay and it retained a loyal fan base despite being outclassed by World of Warcraft in the long run. Meanwhile, the long-awaited Final Fantasy XII was marred in a troubled development cycle, beginning in 2001 and lasting until the game’s release in 2006. At the time, it was the longest development cycle of any Final Fantasy game. Sakaguchi was originally the executive producer and Tactics’ director Yasumi Matsuno was tasked with directing and producing. But, Sakaguchi was forced to leave Square, which left Matsuno working all thee job titles, causing him to burn out, and become too ill to continue working on the project. Hiroyuki Ito, of Final Fantasy VI fame, returned to co-direct the project and things began to turn around. A key development was returning the game to a fantasy setting, which brought a lot of long-time fans back after the progressively themed games of seven, eight and ten. Also, for the first time, combat was seamlessly integrated into the game with real-time strategy like most Western RPGs of the time, and it contained the most open world in a Final Fantasy game yet. These features would win out over the tough development cycle and the game went on to huge critical success, winning many “Game of the Year” awards and selling over five million copies. The amazing fan response also generated a sequel a year later on the DS called Revenant Wings. With an equally long production time, the powers-that-be at Square decided that Final Fantasy XIII would be reserved for the arrival of the PS3. It was conceived of as the main game in the newly-created Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology series along with Final Fantasy: Versus and Type-O. X-2 director Motomu Toriyama wanted the game to have the same impact on the PS3 that the seventh game had on PSOne, so it ran on the new “Crystal Tool” game engine, was more fast paced like modern games, and added a new skill tree leveling system. Upon release, however, fans and critics alike decried the game’s linearity despite its amazing presentation and updated features. The game sold in record time, and received generally positive reviews, but Square wanted to correct their mistake in making the game too linear, so they released a direct sequel two years later with a focus on exploration and side quests. The series’ long tradition of strong releases came to a halt with Final Fantasy XIV in 2010. Unlike their earlier MMO, this game had a long, troubled development history, with Square not even knowing what consoles it would be released on until the final stages of production. Also, the game only spent three months in beta and was released on exclusively on the PC with a host of problems. It was such a sloppy launch that critics wondered if the Final Fantasy brand would ever recover. The backlash caused Square to cancel the PS3 version and, instead, rework the entire game for release three years later. Bringing in Dragon Quest designer Naoki Yoshida to lead the team, the game was redone from scratch, running on a new engine, improved servers, along with revamped gameplay, story, and interface. It eventually sold well and received positive reviews. But, the seemingly recent spat of troubled productions continued into Final Fantasy IV as well. Actually, the fifteenth game was at one time the long-awaited Final Fantasy: Versus title that was in production since the Mid 2000s. For six years, the game saw little advancement under the team behind Kingdom Hearts, and with other developers already focusing on the upcoming new console generation in 2012, Square decided to scrap Versus altogether and begin work on a new Final Fantasy game entirely. Hajime Tabata took over as director and Shinji Hashimoto was back as producer. Running on a new engine, and with the story totally revamped, the fifteenth game became a completely open world action/role-playing adventure with quick gameplay, combat, and vehicles for travel. Also, the connection to the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology was greatly reduced, with the game resembling a more modern, real-world setting. Despite selling very well in 2016, reviews were not as enthusiastic, but as more patches and expansions are released, the game is looked at more favorably over time. With content still coming out for the fifteenth adventure two years later, and a host of supplementary media also set in the Final Fantasy XV universe, the latest installment in the long-running role-playing series is still being enjoyed well into 2018. On the horizon, fans are still eagerly awaiting more news about the “Final Fantasy VII Remake.” Whatever the case, more Final Fantasy is always a welcome surprise and we hope one day there’s enough content for a third historical video of this beloved series!