Square Enix designates the Playstation era as the Golden Age

[Agent Proto]

Recently at a party for Square Enix's Final Fantasy series at PAX last week, there were several posters seen listing the games with their dates to describe the eras of the series. Let's take a look at the posters, shall we?

Old School


Golden Age


Modern Era


As you can see, it appears that Square Enix has decided that the Golden Age of the Final Fantasy series was during the Playstation era, from Final Fantasy VII to Final Fantasy XII. This is seven games (which also includes Final Fantasy X-2) in the lineup for the Golden Age.

Do you agree with Square Enix on this or not?

[Alpha2099]

Hard to say. Of that list (Golden Age), I've only played VII and XII. I abandoned XII because I truly didn't like the feel of it, but VII I've beaten at least 3 times and currently playing through again. The rest are very polarizing games. In the case of VIII, you either think it's the best ever or worst ever. And XI is an MMO which really isn't what the FF series is supposed to be about. I guess I could agree with it, even though I've mostly played the "Old School" era of FFs.

[Roogle]

Oh, that looks like a great list. I should use that to properly organize the Final Fantasy forums. I wasn't satisfied with how it turned out, but we didn't really have an official source to go on. Thanks for posting this!

[Wolf Kanno]

I don't really agree, I would argue the Golden Age was between FFIV and FFIX as I feel these are the entries that really defined the franchise and made it what it was. I'd call the NES entries the Silver Age and start the modern era with FFX or maybe even just lump FFX-2 to FFXIV as the Dark Age.

[Laddy]

Hmm....I'm not sure I agree with dubbing it "The Golden Age." I mean, I love VII, IX, and XII, but to me SNES era always seemed the most important.

[Hollycat]

I agree. Except 4, 5, and 6 were their own golden age, ten-2 does not belong, neither does XI.

[ReloadPsi]

And gold is usually a euphemism for...?

I hope someone gets what I'm trying to say here but I'll not be upset if I get lots of facetious incorrect answers because I'm in the right mood for 'em :P

[Wolf Kanno]

And gold is usually a euphemism for...?

I hope someone gets what I'm trying to say here but I'll not be upset if I get lots of facetious incorrect answers because I'm in the right mood for 'em :P

This should clear it up...

[ReloadPsi]

Well I brought that one on myself

[Agent Proto]

I would imagine Square Enix had a tough time trying to fit all of the games in the series in just three generations without having to anger any of their fans. Looking at the comments so far, it looks like they didn't achieve that goal. It's probably better for them to have included a fourth generation in there.

[Jiro]

I don't think they should have designated a Golden Age. Their opinions and the opinions of their fans are hardly going to be reconcilable. Creating something is an entirely different process from experiencing it.

[The Man]

I don't really agree, I would argue the Golden Age was between FFIV and FFIX as I feel these are the entries that really defined the franchise and made it what it was. I'd call the NES entries the Silver Age and start the modern era with FFX or maybe even just lump FFX-2 to FFXIV as the Dark Age.

Nailed it. The games after FFIX have without exception been extremely polarising (even the ones with exceptional critical receptions like FFXII) but people generally seem to love most of the entries from FFIV to FFIX (with the exception of FFVIII, which is also polarising).

[Slothy]

I don't really agree, I would argue the Golden Age was between FFIV and FFIX as I feel these are the entries that really defined the franchise and made it what it was. I'd call the NES entries the Silver Age and start the modern era with FFX or maybe even just lump FFX-2 to FFXIV as the Dark Age.

Agreed with all but your last point because I absolutely refuse to have something as awesome as FFXII lumped into some Dark Age category with the likes of FFX-2 or FFXIII.

[Hollycat]

I don't really agree, I would argue the Golden Age was between FFIV and FFIX as I feel these are the entries that really defined the franchise and made it what it was. I'd call the NES entries the Silver Age and start the modern era with FFX or maybe even just lump FFX-2 to FFXIV as the Dark Age.

Agreed with all but your last point because I absolutely refuse to have something as awesome as FFXII lumped into some Dark Age category with the likes of FFX-2 or FFXIII.

The Captain is correct.

[VeloZer0]

But then that are those that think FF12 fits in just fine in the dark age category....

Depending on the size of groups you want to break it up into I would place the golden age at about FF4-FF9 or FF4-FF7. For me the 4-7 stretch constitutes the 'core' of final fantasy.

Honestly to me it seems like they just divided the series up into three chronological groups and then added names. I don't know how you could not place a division between Square pre-merger and pre-Spirits Within and the SE that came out of it.