But why Final Fantasy?

[the AJman]

I like Final Fantasy because its fun, it seems to have the right blend of elements to make it an enjoyable experience. One of the many things I like is that it tries something new with each title, it makes it more interesting and it also means theres ususally a Final Fantasy for everybody. I'll try to keep this short, but no promises and now that I realize this is going to be big, I'm going to divide this up into categories.

Gameplay

I think Final Fantasy has some of the most exciting and most fast paced battle systems in the genre. Especially with systems like the ATB or ADB, you had to be quick and decisive as well as smart and thinking ahead and with XII being able to move around was a real treat. As the series progressed they would add or twick things to make it much more fun. The different applications of the limit breaks are always entertaining and very much some of my favorite abilities and features in the series. The animation for the skills and spells in the games are usually some of the most impressive on their respective video game hardware, and most of them are a decent enough running time so that it doesn't slow done the gameplay and still treat us to some awesome fireworks, though there are exceptions these aren't the norm. The bosses are interesting, well designed, and definitely one of the highlights off the series. They certainly have that larger than life feel to them.
They also have massive worlds to explore and uncover the secrets too. There are usually a good amount of fun side quests, and optional bosses who are in every meaning of the word epic. I also love there weapons designs, being a sword fanatic one of the things I'm always looking forward to when a new game comes out is the new swords (and other weapons of course). They also have pretty innovative and fun build up systems, ranging from the espers in VI, to Jobs in III, V, and Tactics, to Sphere grid in X.

Setting/Graphics

The settings are usually really cool, and they use a wide varity of them, it isn't the same rehashed game world in each one. The series goes from traditional medieval high fantasy (certainly my favorite type of setting), to steampunk, to a strong sci fi future world, to very heavily asian settings, and so on. Even with some of the settings they use more than once, they put a different spin on them. An example would be IV, IX, XII, all have a typical medieval setting, but each does some thing different to make them different in their own way. The worlds are real eye candy, especially the latter half of the series with 3-D graphics, its just flat wow. Even the 2-D games have a certain charm to them that sometimes the 3-D no longer have. The Graphics for a Final Fantasy game typically are some of the most advanced on the system they are release for, even the first game had amazing graphics for the time. Now I know that graphics aren't everything, but they certianly help, and Final Fantasies' graphics make the games so much more enjoyable.

Story/Characters

What can I say, the stories are epic, and enjoyable to play through. Another thing is that Final Fantasy is presented differently than other JRPGs. Most JRPGs out there feel like a playable japanese cartoon, and that sometimes puts me off a bit, but FF on the other hand feels like a big hollywood blockbuster like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, and feels just as epic. I'll admit that Final Fantasy might not have the deepest or the greatest writing out there, but what it does have is interesting plots and they are just overall fun and exciting. Stories don't always have to reveal the meaning of life or have some alagorical (sp) message, sometimes its just good enough to be enterained and wowed and every once in a while share a touching moment and shed a tear, and FF delivers all of that.
The Characters are interesting and easy to get attached too. There is a large number of different characters out there in the franchise, all with their own personality, design and fairly well written backstory. Theres really is a character for everybody in these games. And the character designers are usually varied and interesting bring something new to the table. Nomura with his modern street look, to Amano's very dream like and beautiful artwork, to Yoshida's old world european look.

Music
Nobuo Uematsu is an amazing music composer and I personally rank him up there with John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore. His compositions range from big and epic like many of the battle themes, to soft and a bit sad, and even some tracks that are a bit creepy (the track in VII when you escape the Shinra tower after Sephiroth massacred many of the people there). He also composes music ranging from heavy metalish, to typical big orchesta tracks. Sakimoto is another great composer, with great tracks that helped define the world of Ivalice. Even some of the more pop tunes are fairly pleasing to hear and this is coming from a guy doesn't usually listen to pop music whether it be from the western world or asia.

I could probably go on for ever, but frankly I'm getting tired of all this typing and I'm using a computer on my college campus to write this and I'm just waiting for some one to tap me on the shoulder and say I've been one here long enough. Final Fantasy is definitely a game franchise I have been a huge fan of for over a decade now, its certainly one my favorite game series by a long shot. As mentioned eariler it has the right combination of the right stuff to make it what it is and seperates it from its from the rest of the titles in its genre or sub genre. These are a set of games I don't see myself quiting any time, thats why Final Fantasy and I'll leave it at that.