Note: This is indeed a rant. Read at own risk. :)


Having been one myself for a few years now, and having met many many other FF fans, I think it�s time to wrap words around a few observations I regret having made. Maybe you have made the same.

Among all the gamers in the world, those that seem to loathe Final Fantasy most are indeed the fans. As soon as the first details of a new game get announced, they start complaining, and predict that it will be bad, will even suck, will � in any case � be lots worse than Final Fantasy VII.

When FFX was announced. At once people complained. You know, it looked like FFVIII, and as everyone knows FFVIII was a bad game and so FFX would suck equally. Because Tidus is only a copy of Squall and Yuna is only a copy of Rinoa.

Of course FFXI is bad, too. It is an Online game, so it isn�t Final Fantasy because Final Fantasy has never been online before. In any case, it only shows how greedy Square Enix really are because they dare to demand fees from the players�!

Kingdom Hearts was a sacrilege, because Square dared not to join in the happy Disney-hating that is still so very popular especially among the fans of Japanese entertainment media.

Whenever Square tried to do expand the FF series outside the gaming territory, they could always trust on their true dear fans to� bash them and insult them.
Final Fantasy Unlimited, according to the fans, has nothing to do with FF, is an insult to FF, and is bad and evil and a disgrace. Well, to me it had just enough to do with Final Fantasy: summons, chocobos, and what not. But a true FF fan would never accept such facts, so it was soon decided that FFU was bad and Square were absolute jerks for evn trying.

The Spirits Within was plain evil in the eyes of the FF fans, it was the worst movie ever made, Square deserved failing, and because of this movie every other film they could attempt to make would fail equally!!! Oh yes!! The �has nothing to do with FF� argument came up again, and I often wondered if I was the only one to have noticed the parellels to FFVII, FFVIII and FFIX. Probably the majority was too busy hating the movie.

FFVII Advent Children for example, and this is when my rant touches the present situation. The fans do not know much about it, all they know is that it will have to do with their holy favourite FF game, the obnoxiously hyped FFVII. And while during all the previous years they ranted about anything that was not FFVII, now they suddenly decide that the biggest crime of all was actually to even touch this game, for it is holy and thou shalt not alter it in any way!!! Again, Square Enix are dumbasses who will most likely screw up and ruin FFVII and they should have stopped doing games and anyway they are nothing, nothing but a greedy bunch of evil monsters trying to get all our money!
Final Fantasy fans always seem to consider themselves to be better at Final Fantasy than the makers of the games. They seem to consider the games their private treasues, and nobody is to disappoint their extremely, endlessly high expectations.

Why can�t the Final Fantasy fans � like most other fans � take this whole business a bit lighter? It is not the end of the world if you don�t like one part of an ongoing game series, if you don�t like the character design of one of its spin-off movies. Why can�t you think positive and whenever Squenix announces a new game or reveals other plans, think: Hey, this might become cool, so let�s keep an eye on this.
What is it you have to lose?

The end
of Rant.

I think it was because I was corrupted by FF7 that I don't enjoy the others so much. FF7 "gave" me the template from which I expected most of the other games to follow. Therefore, when things were a little different to this, it took me a while to get used to it, rather than make me hate the game.

I also think that, as I am older now, I am not addicted to video games as I once was. FF7 was a way of life at school, as we all talked about it constantly during science lessons. "Have you been to...?" "Did you see this...?" "Have you got this...?" That sort of thing was a constant conversation.

Every other Final Fantasy has been played solitarily, without discussion in real life, only through these forums. I remember finishing FFX and thinking "if only I could have shared my views with someone in more detail during a conversation." No one else in my house, nay, in my course, plays Final Fantasy, as far as I know.

True, my first impression of Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children was "This is gonna be a film based on a game, and so far most films based on games have sucked." I am hoping that there will be a change, and I think a DVD release and keeping it short ish will aid that, and add to the mystique.

Still, I like most of the Final Fantasy games, and one day I might even finish completing them all. Alas, other things have come up in life that have deteriorated time I could dedicate to games, and now need to be used on other resources.

Now if Square had been bothered to have released FF's before 7 into Europe, this could be an even bigger debate... Probably about why no FF is as great as 4. Or 6. Or whatever.

(Can't be bothered to re-read, so just clicks reply.)

I don't even really consider Advent Children a "video game based movie", rather a "movie-shaped candy for all the lovers of the game"... o_o But that's just me.

And yush, Europe has always had this problem of FFVII being the first one... o.o But since the complaints don't just come from Europeans... o_o Well...

I cannot understand it. There are so many fans out there who are not satisfied with a complete masterpiece. They want more. So much more. Okay, fair enough FFX needed a sequel because of it's ending. But that my friends...broke tradition. I was not looking forward to FFX being voice-activated, but it turned out ok. I'm going to keep an openmind about FFX-2. Why? *sighs* I, as an FF fan must do so. One can only hope.

I dunno about this FFVII:AC. I mean, could it be possible that SquareEnix are better at telling a tale rather than making a game? That's the whole concept of RPGing. We, as the consumers are given roles to play a story. A story that has proven to affect us in more ways than one.
My theory...SquareEnix do not want another FFVII game. They would rather create a prequel film to elaborate upon everything that had happened. So we see Cloud & Sephiroth glaring at each other...big deal! We've been there, done that. But?... What if there's more? So much more. So much more that we were too blind to realise? That, I feel, will be the purpose of FFVII:AC.

One more thing...the reason why FF:TSW was such a flop was because it wouldn't stick to our traditonal Mages, Thieves, Moogles and Chocobos etc. Of course it contained all our other contents such as the tragedies, the romance and...and...Cid O.o;;;
I don't know...

The truth is...the fans demand too much, the designers had far too high expectations. That my friends is the fault, until someone realises this, we will continue to have what we have.

*collapses*

1. About....five
2. I was eleven when I started playing
3. FF7 ^_^

Good point Anna. And a true one at that, I can't complain.

Though I worship all holyness that is FF7 and would kisses it's shoe prints if it could walk, it's not as if I won't give other FF's a chance. It;s just, for some reason, the series has seemed to lean to a down-slope since 7...

See, I absolutely loved 7. Best game ever ktnhxlolz?
Now FF8, it was great, diferent at times, but great nonethe less
FF9 was different, but unique..not a bad touch..
FF10..nice graphics, nice characters...eh...bad..story?

FF10-2...hm...so far, I see nothing but a game for fan service. Is it absoluely necessary to make each girl character look like a slut in some way or another? As a guy, I'm not oen to complain (nor am I really complaining, more rather reasoning), but it seems a tad bit ridiculous as a sequel...an FF fanservice game would be nice though...make like a Mario Part esque game with female characters from past FF's..that would rule..!! =D!...oops...goin' off on my own little idea thinger. XD

But for the most part, I agree..fans don't even give FF games a chance anymore =X But oh well, FF will go on, whether fans keep bitching or not, because just look...it's still been going, hasn't it?

Well... People are only really negative before something comes out. It's like when something has a sequel. They're NEVER as good as the first one. Same thing, only there are, what, 11 games to follow up on? In fairness, people only get all moany when Square try to do anything that's not all super-deformed and such. I mean, nobody really complained leading up to the release off FF9 (did they?). So... TSA was actually a really awful movie, so that's fair enough. I dont know anything about FFU. FFX wasn't so great, but, yeah, it's not fair to be so prejudiced just because it looks like VIII (which wasn't that good, either). Kingdom Hearts was quite good, but you have to admit, the idea of a Square/Disney game DOES sound a bit ... crap. And as for Advent Children... well... I don't want a damned boring piece of eye candy. I want an enjoyable, innovative sequel which carries on the story of FFVII. I don't know why people would complain about FFXI though. That looks cool.... o_O

Er, basically, the reason people bitch so much is because Sqaure has made a lot of games, and has a lot of fans. But the fans prefer different games in the series, so, no matter which way you go, somebody's always going to dislike it. That, and Square's record isn't exactly perfect. It's certainly a lot better than most other developers. (the only games I really dislike are VIII and X, and even then they're not that BAD), but it still varies... and basically.. well, that means SOMEBODYS going to hate it/hate the sound of it. But they're still FF fan because they like some other FF games. ^.~

But people obviously keep an eye on it. And they complain. But it's just another way of showing how much they LIKE FF. Because they have their own idea of what an FF should be like and they don't want Square to stray too far from it. Sure, it isn't normal, but whatcha gonna do?

Anyhoo... damn that Advent Children is looking.. bad. Think I'd better go cuff Square round the ear. NOT WITH MY SERIES YOU DON'T. @_@;

i totally agree with misao, that peopel do seem to hate the upcoming games. rite now i think that alothough i really want to get ffxii, it is going to be terrible, and that its gunna destroy square, and we wont ever have good games again. but, usually, square come clean and makes, yet again, a great game. so please stop complaining, play all your ff's again, and you will notice that square cant possibly do anything wrong now

@Koenma
Uhhh.... FFX had a bad story? Well, FFX was absolutely brilliant in one aspect: atmosphere. It created a very unique world that simply made sense, with a original world order, its religion, culture, problems (religiously inspired racism!!)... it was the story of people discovering that everything they believed in was rotten to the core... it was about people having to find new answers for themselves... well, it was a very STRONG game.
Same goes for FFX-2. There is a lot you can find in those games.

Sadly some people are unwilling to discover anything beyong their first impressions. I don't understand how people can say FFX had nothing but good graphics; or that FFX-2 had nothing but fan service; or FFIX was childish... The games can offer so much if only you're willing to see beyond the surface. Give the game a chance, get into it, and you can find something for you in there... It has always been like that.

From what you are saying about FFfans is total rubbish.
In fact you (not you personally but those who claim are fans) Are simply not a final fantasy fan! You are simply a FF7 Fan!
FF7 is a great , fantastic game but.......... That's all it is FF7 . If you were a fan you wouldn't expect to see FF spring offs to always compare with FF7. FF7 is unique. Just like FF Unlimited is.
The beauty i thought about FF is that the games aren't all the same but just a genre! Hense we all see Chocobo's or Other Final Fantasy Things. If you are a fan of final fantasy you will see a good game in each game that comes out from FF. Not "oh FF7 is
much better"
In that respect you are not a fan of FF but of FF7 To me there is a difference a strong difference that doesn't give you rights to beat up the other games.

FFSpirits Whitin is a Film ! A FF Film.........! Excellent i mean did we expect a film. For one we should be greatdul. The Good thing abou FFSW The graphic's were amazing!!!!!!!! A breakthrough in computer technology. Plus it is Final Fantasy. Ok you don't have the conventional RPG storyline. But that's because it's a damn feature film not game! I thought the film was great as a FFFilm .... or as a graphics are great film. Ok i will admit the story was weak. But not terrible!

Kingdom Hearts. Disney1 I loved Disney as a kid it's a chance for me to be a kid again and get away with it? Surely that in it'self is great. In my eyes FF Fans should be greatful they see there favourite FFCharacters again in the first place? I mean it's pretty kool to see them in a different light. Just the fact they are rebourn in a new game is brilliant. Anyway is Kingdom hearts FF? NO!!!!!!1 You should be damn greatful they appear in that game. I think people have to realise SquareEnix is not just FF!!!!!!! or especially not just FF7

I feel sorry for Squareenix as they just can't make those claim to be fans happy??? You just always see FF7 So here they go and finally try and shut up your disrespectful mouths and give you Advent Children and Before Crisis! But will they be good enough for you ............. NO!!!!!!!!!!
I tell you why ............. Because you have made FF7 so much your own that any other version of the story is not exceptible.

wanna be a FFFan then watch the future with open eyes. Forget FF7 and just remember it for what is was! Be Happy with Advent Children it could be the last FF7 you see (though i doubt it)

Look forward to FFFuture it looks good!!!!!!

Cheers for reading!!!!!!!!!!!

Well ff is always gonna be ff we cant change whats gonna happen . My opinion is every so often in the series there is an amazing game then the rest are O.K or bad and whenever square enix try to do something new the fans complain but we cant change and thats that !




THE END