Final Fantasy Universes: The Writer’s Goal

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10-25-2007, 01:09 AM
QuistiDan

Final Fantasy Universes: The Writer’s Goal

Fantasy fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative. It’s a genre that uses mysticism, occultism and mythology as a primary element of plot, theme and sitting.

The Fantasy genre is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by overall look, feel and theme of the individual work, yet there is a great deal of overlap between the three genres to enrich the story in a way that enchants the gamer and captivate their attention .

Although Final Fantasy series may be viewed as a form of entertainment, it has other Objectives that can be learned from the story’s theme.

So, on the light of playing Final Fantasy series and journeying through its fictional universes of Gaia, Spira, Vana’diel and Ivalice; what was the moral messages, life values and story themes that the writer has implied?
10-25-2007, 03:39 AM
Gilthanes

I do enough analysis of storylines in World Lit classes that I see no reason to hang myself doing it for FF

The good thing about these games is they dont need some kind of underlying message or morals to be enjoyed.

You can't really relate storytelling in the Final Fantasy sense to short stories and novels written by famous writers, who for the most part write their story to critique society at the time, or the current rulers, satirize life style, etc. Final Fantasy (and majority of video games) do not behave in such a way, which is probably one of the reasons society puts computer games in such a bad light - its not like reading novels which have deep meaning and understanding, and teach lessons and morals, but are simply there to entertain.

So uh, leave the deep underlying messages to the books, and keep video games at their current level of entertainment :)

Edit: If someone does come in here and actually can analyze certain Final Fantasies to contain such underlying meaning, then bravo. There most likely are certain vague ideas people can pull from games, but I really dont think creators of most games purposely put satirical and didactic meaning to them. Now.. if the next final fantasy involves some scenario about terrorists and invasion of foreign countries, and shunning such actions within the game, then we'll talk :)
10-25-2007, 05:42 AM
Bolivar

I agree with Gilthanes that if you really want all of those things, there are better mediums than videogames to do that. However, I have to say that some games have really successfully delivered some meaningful stuff. I study history and politics, and the Metal Gear Solid series, for example, really has alot going on in there, especially 3, and 4 seems to be pushing it even further with many different questions that we need to ask ourselves today under one very big theme that is very relevant today. The anti-nuclear message of especially the first game was very strong, and the discussion of information at the end of 2 is, despite being hard to follow at times, also very in depth.

For Final Fantasy, there are a few themes that have presented themselves over the years. The one that stands out is the notion that "progress" and "advancement" are things that do not exist as we Westerners believe them to. All of the games, the first included, demonstrate that societies move in different directions rather than forward or backwards.

I think the main message throughout all of the series is Hope. You can say that applies to all videogames, and it possibly did no more in the first one than its contemporaries, but it has evolved with each game. With the latest entry, XII, its really summed up by Basch if he's in your party at the top of Pharos.

To break down others real quick that are a little different, VI really tried to get you to learn how to move on. Some really horrible things happen to the characters over the course of the game yet they all learn to let go and continue their lives. In VII it demonstrates that all life is connected and that we all share this existence. It also has that critique on society that I think you were talking about Gilthanes... X dealt with sacrifice if you really love something, and XII, not really in the same way as VI, really taught the player that you have to let go of the past. I think that's probably the biggest theme in the game, as to whether or not you can really do it, the cast really have an argument about it in possibly the most intense scene at the top of pharos.

So I think games including FF have had some really good themes conveyed by a writer (or scenario director in the case of earlier ones) but I would still say, if you demand something with crazy meaning you'd be better off reading a book or something. Games is the combination of not only that, but music, visuals, interactivity, into something that you couldn't really accomplish with those components alone.
10-26-2007, 05:11 AM
Gilthanes

Xenogears, despite its rushed second disk and a flaws in the translation, is one of the deepest games I can remember. There are dozens of references one can pull from that one. Everything from religion to pyschology, even sociology, is discussed or critiqued in that game

Edit: ya I know not an FF title, but close enough
10-28-2007, 02:53 AM
QuistiDan

Art Mediums

[out of thread content] There is a distinction between something’s actual form and its significant essence. Thus the value of art is not necessary located in its form, shape or medium; it is represented in its true inner nature.
Final Fantasy is not just a video game nor is it just a mere form of interactive entertainment; the dismissal of final Fantasy series as just an entertaining video games would be like promoting a Bohemian creed slogan that states “Art [is only made] for art’s sake” and that’s a disregard to the moral purposes of the series’ plot.
Medium wise, defining a work of art by its ‘form’ or ‘medium’ would limit the work’s artistic possibilities to the nature of that specified medium.
Final Fantasy is a well structured work of art with a nice mix of media that employs music (auditory art), illustrations & computer generated imageries (Visual arts) and narration (art of literature) to stimulate the human senses as well as the human mind. At the beginning of the series, some of those artistic elements were lacking; but now there is a noticeable progress for the better, and
I believe that the progress has happened because Video game writers--the great talented ones of them--have focused on how the creation of structured art can communicate the philosophy behind the theme of their story to the audience.
And Video game developers –the great pioneered ones of them—have purposely mixed the media and included context as an element of their artistic work. [/out of content]

Now back to the topic at hand:
on the light of playing Final Fantasy series and journeying through its fictional universes of Gaia, Spira, Vana’diel and Ivalice; what was the moral messages, life values and story themes that the writer has implied? :)

P.S: Gilthanes & Bolivar thanks for participating! you two have got me really curious about world literature & other video games!! please send me a P.M with a list of your fav books & video games.
10-31-2007, 07:08 PM
No.78

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuistiDan

Fantasy fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative. It’s a genre that uses mysticism, occultism and mythology as a primary element of plot, theme and sitting.

The Fantasy genre is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by overall look, feel and theme of the individual work, yet there is a great deal of overlap between the three genres to enrich the story in a way that enchants the gamer and captivate their attention .

Although Final Fantasy series may be viewed as a form of entertainment, it has other Objectives that can be learned from the story’s theme.

So, on the light of playing Final Fantasy series and journeying through its fictional universes of Gaia, Spira, Vana’diel and Ivalice; what was the moral messages, life values and story themes that the writer has implied?

FFX showed how manipulative and powerful religion and belief can be, with the whole game being about how horrible and decietful it all is, and then in X2 when they're free from it all, how happy everyone is. There's probably an underlying meaning there. Also usually in sci-fi type future scenarios involving how technology has destroyed themself, it's shown a horrible desolate world that's polluted and ruined. But FFX shows the machina cities as a lost paradise, and encourages it more than discourages it, which I think is clever and original.
10-31-2007, 08:24 PM
Gilthanes

Quote:

FFX showed how manipulative and powerful religion and belief can be, with the whole game being about how horrible and decietful it all is, and then in X2 when they're free from it all, how happy everyone is. There's probably an underlying meaning there.

Now that you bring that up, it made me think of something that South Park brought up in one of its episodes.

Once the religion was destroyed and everyone was "Free", they still continued to gather into DIFFERENT groups and still fight each other over meaningless stuff. You could go as far to say that FFX-2 shows and proves that no matter what happens, humans will always find conflict, if for no other reason to keep themselves occupied
10-31-2007, 10:53 PM
No.78

That's true, with the youth league and all that.
10-31-2007, 11:01 PM
Vivisteiner

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gilthanes

Quote:

FFX showed how manipulative and powerful religion and belief can be, with the whole game being about how horrible and decietful it all is, and then in X2 when they're free from it all, how happy everyone is. There's probably an underlying meaning there.

Now that you bring that up, it made me think of something that South Park brought up in one of its episodes.

Once the religion was destroyed and everyone was "Free", they still continued to gather into DIFFERENT groups and still fight each other over meaningless stuff. You could go as far to say that FFX-2 shows and proves that no matter what happens, humans will always find conflict, if for no other reason to keep themselves occupied

Although they would find less reasons for conflict if religion were out the way.
11-03-2007, 09:56 PM
QuistiDan

Eyes on Spira

Spira’s initial sorrow and the cause of its all pain was the “Machina War”. It was initiated by the imperialistic nation of Bevelle, who sought to forcefully extend their authority by territorial conquest to establish economical and political domination over the nation of Zanarkand; and that was to establish a resource to fund their own scientific research & technological advancement.
Although the Zanarkandians have a moral abhorrence towards war, they have a readiness to accept the fact that war may be sometimes necessary (especially when their country is under the threat of turning into an economically exploited colony by the imperialistic political rule of Bevelle).
Beside their moral concern of when it is right to resort to armed force, they have another concern of what is acceptable in using that force. (They believe in using practical non heavy weapons & performing the art of summoning, whereas their enemies –the Bevelleians- have a pride in using robotic fighting Machina and a secret weapon by the name of “Vigna Gun”).
To the Zanarkandians demise, they--along side with their city were completely annihilated by the brute force of the Bevelleians Machina…and the rest is history~ ~
(Yevon has taken drastic measures to revive his doomed nation and restore their lost city even if it was in a dream like world--& out of his sorrow he has commenced an Ultra War--a punishment a.k.a “Yu Yevon” or “The Curse Of Yevon” that Ultra war—that curse has lasted for 1000 years over the rest of Spira, that curse happened by the summoning of Sin in the spiral of death method -which is orchestrated by Yevon’s daughter: Lady yunalesca- and all these measures has been structured in order to subjugate the Bevelleians & their allies to the dogma of forbidding Machina weapons and praising the high summoners who should succeed their pilgrimage to Yevon’s city of Zanarkand and should fight Yevon’s Sin on the Calm Land…the same land in which the Machina war between Zanarkand and Bevelle took place 1000 years ago)
I believe that Yevon wanted his enemies to feel the same sorrow he felt when he lost his beloved people & beloved land during the unjust war of Machina; he was determined on putting Bevelle & its allies in the same hopeless situation that he and his people was in; thus -in Yevon’s mined- what could be better than disarming Bevelle of their precious weapons & manipulating its people into reliving the Machina War and reinventing its outcome? Where the Bevelleinas and their allies –though they are the high summoners who converted the religion of Yevon- would perish before a “Sin” their ancestors have created a thousand years ago and the irony of their cruel fate would be their death on the same battlefield that the Machina War has occurred.
The fact that Yevon’s enemies are following his teachings of condemning the engineering of Machina weapons, praising the performers of summoning art, sending their own people on a pilgrimage to set their eyes on Zanarkand Ruins, sacrificing their own lives to obtain the Final Aeon and finally dieing on the same battlefield location where Bevelle defeated Zanarkand would give Yevon some calmness and peace that’s until he arise anew.
The fact that all of the repeated spiral courses of violence--the spiral of death--and the figurative incarnation of Machina War (Bevelle vs. Zanarkand theme) the fact that all of that were severed by a Bevelleian girl & a dream of Zanarkand is fascinating.
Q~There are other issues in Spira along side of war and riligion what are they?