The legend we all know, right?
Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, stated that if this game, his “final fantasy” indeed, had not been successful, it would have been the end for Squaresoft.
As in the best science fiction novels, where a single event or a branching in the flow of time can lead to two parallel and alternative realities, in this Final Fantasy universe it not only achieved success, but became the milestone of Japanese-style role-playing games.
Final Fantasy, now in its sixteenth installment, owes its worldwide success above all to the brilliant idea of the European distributors to localize the most representative chapter of the franchise, that Final Fantasy VII which, when it arrived in Italy in 1997, gave the world the series’ most iconic and badass hero, the legendary Cloud Strife with his giant sword, and a charismatic and unforgettable villain like Sephiroth.
The magic behind Final Fantasy largely goes beyond technical parameters such as "gameplay" or "graphics". While these are important aspects, what really matters, and is a hallmark of the saga, is the story and how it is told.
Final Fantasy defined new standards as regards narrative structure, elevating it to such great heights as to arouse specters of powerful emotions in the player who approaches it.
Love, friendship, magic, death: these are just some of the themes addressed in each chapter, each with its own different approach, but with a single imaginative vision: to take the player by the hand and drag them into a magnetic vortex of adventures and twists, spectacular battles and epic confrontations, with not only the clanging of weapons providing the soundtrack.
The screenplay, in fact, plays a decisive role: the programmers’ maniacal care in the world building does justice to the underlying complexity of the plot, intrigues, and social fabric that are never entirely reducible to the rigid “black and white” dichotomy, ensuring total immersion in the world we are going to explore.
In Final Fantasy 10, for example, forests and cities still today serve as a model to draw inspiration from for the creation of enchanting settings, while the thirteenth installment manages to cast our gaze into a sidereal, dystopian, and hyper-technological future.
The evolution of Final Fantasy is not an end in itself, but rather rises to reflect the times, as only a media product of its caliber could do: the early entries were influenced by the rivalry with Dragon Quest, an antagonistic series that boasts the character design of Akira Toriyama (does Dragon Ball sound familiar?), and they invest heavily in a distinctly fantasy setting, with dragons, monsters, and the Crystals, which we will find again in every installment.
From the sixth chapter comes the real turning point: the bleakness of the story goes hand in hand with a deep and multifaceted characterization of the main characters, the plot touches on sensitive points for every human being, the acceptance of death but not of one’s own fate, and the courage to fight for the ideals one believes in.
Everything will be splendidly sublimated in the seventh chapter, consecrating the final fantasy in the Olympus of video game works.
Final Fantasy is therefore not just a game, but an experience of traveling between worlds that are so distant yet so close, connected by the continuity of themes and essential, indispensable constants.
It will touch your heart, squeeze it, and then give it back to you. You will have spent some money, certainly, but trust me when I say that you will come out richer in the end.
Could this be the true Final Fantasy?
