Many of the tropes that defined Final Fantasy can no longer be found in the series’ recent entries, but that’s not a bad thing.
Since making its debut on Famicom nearly 35 years ago, the Final Fantasy series has helped change the gaming landscape, while almost single-handedly defining an entire genre of games.
Many of the tropes and ideas that helped the series’ previous entries find success both in the States and in their home country of Japan can still be found in modern final fantasy games today, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been much over the years.
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Standalone Titles
One of the things that set Final Fantasy apart from some other long-running video game series was that it lacked a direct sequel. Each new title introduced an entirely new story that was completely independent of the story before it, meaning the games were much more accessible to new players. That all changed around the turn of the century, though Square began to expand the scope of its storytelling.
Final Fantasy VII started this trend, with games such as Before Crisis and Danger of Cerberus based on the original game’s story and lore, as well as extending some of its characters a bit further.
A sequel later followed, in the form of the animated film Advent Children. Final Fantasy X received a direct sequel as well as a novel and an audio drama, while Final Fantasy XIII took things a step further with not one, but two straight sequels.
Random Encounters
These days, players can usually see monsters and other enemies on screen long before a fight begins and often go out of their way to avoid them if they don’t feel like fighting. Although this hasn’t always been the case, instead of the first ten Final Fantasy games, players randomly encounter enemies as they move around; Something that was not only incredibly disappointing, but also quite upsetting.
This was not helped by some obnoxious RNG that was also included in the games. Whether it comes in the form of an enemy that has the ability to wipe out an entire party with a single attack or the difficulties of getting a rare drop from an enemy with an incredibly low spawn rate, it can ruin many people’s experience. was enough for And something that even the most ardent classic Final Fantasy fans are happy to see behind.
The ATB System
The Final Fantasy series has played with many different combat systems over the past 35 years, but few are quite as iconic as an active time combat system. This effectively required players to wait for a character’s ATB meter to fill up before they could issue a command to them and was first introduced in the fifth entry of the series.
The Final Fantasy series has played out over the past 35 years with many different combat systems, but few are quite as iconic as an active time combat system. This effectively required players to wait for a character’s ATB meter to fill up before they could issue a command to them and was first introduced in the fifth entry of the series.
Dungeons
While series like The Legend of Zelda managed to hang on to the idea of traditional dungeons until the release of Breath of the Wild, the Final Fantasy franchise departed from them very quickly.
Many of the earlier Final Fantasy titles had extravagant themed dungeons for players to navigate, but in the late nineties the series moved towards a far more linear approach.
This is perhaps most evident in Final Fantasy X, a game with only three mandatory areas that even come close to matching the typical expectations for a traditional dungeon. Many would see this as a good thing, however, perhaps an argument could be made that visiting dungeons based on different elements was starting to get a bit boring.
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