and the population is...

[Desert Merchant]

does anybody else notice that these final fantasy worlds arent really saving... i mean seriously in FF1 theres probably like 30 or so people that inhabit the whole world. I think the amount of people increases in each final fantasy but still it seems somewhat low... and not worth the effort of taking on endless armys of monsters and bosses.

anyway... I think somone should count the people in these pre playstation final fantasy worlds....anyone up for the challenge or if you can count the people in like ff7-10 that would be cool too but I imagine it would be somewhat difficult with towns filled with random people such as alexandria midgar and pretty much any town in ff10

[Necronopticous]

This was one of the reasons I was really satisfied with the widely-hated airship system of Final Fantasy 10 where you go where you NEED to go rather than giving you access to the whole world which, if you really think about it, is hardly inhabited.

This made Spira feel much larger and more populated than any of the previous Final Fantasy worlds.

[Desert Merchant]

another thing that I notice about these strangley underpopulated worlds is that you seem to be the only one cruisin around in a giant airship and nobody seems to find it odd or tries to steal it when you land.... can anybody say "The Club"

[rubah]

Hard for there to be a lot of people when they kept getting wiped out by evil crazy bad guys.

[Desert Merchant]

yeah its also hard to beleive people are reproducing when we arent even introduced to kissing untill FFVIII

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Haven't you seen the way they do it in FFVI? They dance around and the magic sparklies become a baby!

[Necronopticous]

Haven't you seen the way they do it in FFVI? They dance around and the magic sparklies become a baby!It's so romantic. Love-ru <3

[Takara]

yeah its also hard to beleive people are reproducing when we arent even introduced to kissing untill FFVIII

False. Actually, Cecil and Rosa kiss on screen TWICE in FFIV. Those naughty little 16 bits people, I tell ya...


Haven't you seen the way they do it in FFVI? They dance around and the magic sparklies become a baby!

:<3:

[Christmas]

They might all be hiding and will only appear when you leave their town cause they are afraid of strangers. :p

[Snap Jumper]

They are at work. Where did all of those guys that built the bridge near Cornelia come from? Maybe you should come back at night when they're home. The rest all stay in or near the same place around the clock. The gardener in Gysahl must be quite tired by now. Take a day off!

[TasteyPies]

Enough evil rampant killer monsters leads to a low human population.

[Dignified Pauper]

Haven't you seen the way they do it in FFVI? They dance around and the magic sparklies become a baby!


Not to mention the baby that is born in Mobliz... I mean, you are there for its birth.

[Masamune·1600]

In most or all cases, you need to assume an implicit population. In FFVII, for example, you only ever see a fraction of Midgar. Further, towns are meant only to perform whatever gameplay/storyline role they might have; you'll notice, especially in older titles, that there are many buildings that simply cannot be entered.

I like what Brian Clevinger has done with the 8 Bit Theater webcomic, roughly based on the original Final Fantasy. While most of his extensive modifications admittedly serve the purpose of building the (hilarious) jokes, and moving the story, he has still greatly expanded the world of the first FF. For example, rather than being confined to a single cave, the dwarves are portrayed in the comic as comprising an entire nation, complete with numerous towns (many of which are destroyed by Black Mage).


This was one of the reasons I was really satisfied with the widely-hated airship system of Final Fantasy 10 where you go where you NEED to go rather than giving you access to the whole world which, if you really think about it, is hardly inhabited.

This made Spira feel much larger and more populated than any of the previous Final Fantasy worlds.

This is true, although extremely ironic, since FFX should probably be assumed to have a smaller population than most FF worlds. We know, with the exceptions of Luca and Bevelle, that Spira is comprised of small towns and villages, since large population centers wouldn't be a good idea with the potential of attacks from Sin.


Tidus: Whoa! This is a pretty big town!

Yuna: Luca is the second largest city in Spira.

Tidus: I thought every town was little-you know, like Besaid and Kilika.

Yuna: Towns don't usually get bigger than that. Because when a lot of
people start to gather...

Tidus: Sin...? What about Luca? It's safe here?

Yuna: It's not any different, but the stadium is here. The Crusaders
fight to protect it with all their strength.

Tidus: They protect the stadium?

Yuna: Blitzball's really the only entertainment that we have. Spira's a
little short on fun these days.

On the other hand, late game FMV's suggest that the planet itself is moderately large, and the Airship/no overworld set-up certainly helps to convey that idea.



Ultimately, I feel FFT did the best job of building a realistically populated world. Since one cannot really travel around the cities of Ivalice, the player must accept any population statistics given in-game.


Future of the War
=================
Three months have passed since the Battle at Gulofavia
-The first all out battle on a plain bordered by Lesalia
and Limberry-. The death toll for the two armies reached
nearly 400,000. This battle between those that fought side
by side during the War is only creating many casualties
with no end in sight. Many see the situation as a
stalemate, and its length has brought pessimism among the people.

Taken from the "News" in FFT, this segment suggests that a single battle saw over 400,000 deaths. From this, we can assume that Ivalice has several million residents, at least.