Story and Final Fantasy

[Bolivar]

Inspired from another thread, I wanted to discuss what it is about the story that makes these games special.

Now obviously, we like these games, we're on a Final Fantasy message board, but so often we spend a good amount of time picking apart the plot of the individual games for how absolutely terrible the writing is. I think every game has seen its fair share of this. There's also a peculiar crowd who dismiss stories in video games entirely, or have simply moved on from Final Fantasy and now that they've seen the light, they could never go back to such pedestrian attempts at narrative :monocle:

So I wanted to know where you guys stand, but more importantly, what makes these stories special (or horrible) for you? Is it the actual quality of the plot itself? The charm of the characters? The epic scale and scope some of the adventures have?

In another thread (http://home.eyesonff.com/final-fantasy-v/141723-so-about-plot-2.html), I posited that it's not the actual writing that makes the stories in FF so memorable, but the thrill of the moments themselves. Flying on an airship back to Baron, recalling the war crimes you just committed. :yuck: Evading a Black Waltz at high speeds while a shipment of automated mages are destroyed and/or lost. :whimper: Or entering a reactor at night, alarms blazing, with the intent to commit an act of terrorism therein. :hyper:

Discuss.

[Gamblet]

I just like the plot twists, the character backgrounds. They are told in some kind of special way, not many games do it like FF does.

[Sephex]

While I feel every FF has flaws in the plot, I still find myself enjoying the overall story. Also, I like watching the characters grow and interact with one another. That, and fun gameplay keeps me latched onto the series, even in FF games where the story really didn't interest me all that much (see: FFX-2).

[Del Murder]

I pretty much agree with Gamblet and Sephex. Plot twists, characterization, and overall story are what I like about FF. Nothing really stands out in particular since the FF stories aren't that original. But they are fun.

One thing I do like is the whimsical nature of some of the earlier games. Characters like Ultros and Gilgamesh really break up the 'Grrr must save the world super srs' nature of story that RPGs typically have. I feel that's really missing from the later games.

[Loony BoB]

I've always played the games (even those without named characters) as not so much a game about an overall story which features characters, but rather a game about characters which just so happens to feature an overall story. The real stories are those of each character in the game, and I find I enjoy the games much better this way. As much as I detest Tidus, I think he emphasizes this "character stories, not global stories" idea when FFX begins with him saying something to the effect of "This is my story."

[Wolf Kanno]

Well I play the series for several reasons but since we're going for story alone, I would say the two elements I look for the most are the stories mythology (how the world works and it's lore) as well as how well everything comes together as whole throughout the story.

To further elaborate, with mythology it's basically how the fictional elements work out for the story, it's premise and ideas that shape the world and characters. To be honest, I don't feel there is any main series number entry that has a bad overall mythology (direct sequels on the other hand...) though there are some titles that have questionable elements (summons that turn into vehicles...why?) but overall, I feel if you reduce every entry down to it's basic mythology and cosmology, you'll find every entry has some damn good ideas for an epic world and story. It's just the execution that I feel often is where things go wrong, and often my biggest gripe with certain entries is it's wasted potential to be something grand.

Which leads me to my second part which is basically how all the story elements flow into each other. Now, while I've been quick to point out bad plot elements, I can overlook it if it isn't too detrimental to the overall story, like the underwater helmet and snowboard that are used to help more than one person get somewhere at the same time. The execution is how the characterization work, how the plot flows and what it entails, and how all these element come together to tell a story along with a games mythology. If it's done well, it's an awesome game, but if there are hang ups like a bad plot twist (Dream Zanarkand) over the top characterizations (FFXIII's cast) or just some logical inconsistencies (VIII) it can wear down my ability to appreciate the game. I may adore individual elements and moments, but I can't really say the whole game is great if it has some glaring flaws, this is ultimately my issue with Final Fantasy VIII. I enjoy the game, but I can't help but agree and point out it's long list of flaws as a story. Whereas games like FFX and XIII not only fail to live up to their potential but have such poor execution it brings down any ability for me to take the story or characters seriously.

For characters, I don't expect to be blown away by something original, because stories often re-use the same character archetypes, but I do appreciate when a writer tries to at least give it a unique spin and flesh them out a bit. If you can get me to feel for them, you did your job well, because I am not the type who gets pulled in easily by hard luck life stories. It's often better to make me laugh than to try and make me cry cause very few games have ever done that. I think it's the reason why Sahz is the only character I got attached to in XIII because he actually made me laugh whereas the other cast members tried to make me care with their problems.

The story and characters are important because it's what we take away from the games, it's what allows us to relate to the world and feel like we are a part of it. Immersion is everything, it's what allows theaters to make us pay absurd amount s of money, so we can sit in a dark room silently like a bunch of cattle and watch a film or play. Physically we're immobile, but our imaginations are caught up in the tale. This is something I feel Final Fantasy does well. Even in the old NES entries, I am still compelled to silently pursue the goals set out to me by the King of Cornelia and the Lukahn Prophecy. If the world and characters can capture my imagination, then I'm pretty much set, if I ever feel like I'm crashing back down to reality, then I am not as kind to the title. :twak:

[Flying Arrow]

FF generally did stories better than their competition. A lot of the older games' stories still stack up today, I think. None of them were totally flawless in execution, but even some of the weaker ones managed to be compelling because of excellent world-building and presentation. I didn't play VIII multiple times because it has a well told story, but the world design and a lot of the details that go into it made it compelling enough to return to over games that are technically "better".

FF stories that hold up today still, in my opinion? VI, VII, IX, X, and XII. Some are better executed than others, but I still think those five are generally pretty solid.