Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Final Fantasy Eras

  1. #1
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,418
    Articles
    59
    Blog Entries
    26
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Final Fantasy Eras

    So this has been a working idea in my brain for a few years now, but I like to divide the FF games into different eras based on a few historical and technological aspects.

    So for me, the franchise is divided into 4 eras currently:

    1st Era - FFI-FFV/MQ - The Sakaguchi Era (1987 - 1992)
    2nd Era - FFVI/SoM - FFXI - The "Golden" Era (1993 - 2002)
    3rd Era - FFX-2 - FFXV - SE "Franchise" Era (2003 - 2015)
    4th Era FFVIIR - Now - The Modern Era (2016 - Now)

    I may elaborate when I have more time. Does anyone else do stuff like this?

  2. #2
    Newbie Administrator Loony BoB's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Posts
    52,292
    Articles
    53
    Blog Entries
    19

    FFXIV Character

    Loony Bob (Twintania)

    For me, it's generally done in consoles. So FFI-III, IV-VI, VII-IX, X-XII, XIII-XIV. But it's fun to ponder other options, too, as you have.

    I wouldn't include FFXI inside the golden era. FFXI and FFXIV are their own unique era, perhaps, but if I had to split them out I'd say FFXI is closer to FFXII than FFX in how it plays and feels.

    I guess for me these days you could say it's more of a "this game started this, which remained in the series as the base expectation from that point onwards"

    FFIV began the (notable) character development/focus compared with previous games in the series

    FFVII began the heavy use of science fiction in the series (I know FFIX and perhaps FFXVI are not sci-fi focused but these are exceptions to the rule these days)

    FFX ended the use of a traversable world map

    FFXII began the positionals/action based combat

    It remains to be seen what kind of lasting legacy the more recent games will have on the series to help turn them into defining points, we'll only know as the newer games come out so we can look back at them clearly.
    Bow before the mighty Javoo!

  3. #3
    Dark Knights are Horny Garland's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    I'm in your temple, defiling it.
    Posts
    1,041

    FF-FFV: The Crystals -- There were a whole lot more thematic commonalities in the first five titles than the following ten. IX recognised this. This is the era when Square thought it knew what it meant to be a Final Fantasy. A gamer who played FFs I-V asked to speculate on VI would've assuredly been wrong.

    FFVI-FFXV: Anything goes -- Final Fantasy is just a name.
    Knock yourselves down.

  4. #4
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,418
    Articles
    59
    Blog Entries
    26
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    For me, the eras come down more to the behind the scenes stuff and who is creatively in control. Largely because I feel it paints what the games released in the time frame feel like. The only entry I go back and forth on is FFXV, since its development started at the beginning of one era and is associated heavily with FNC before getting turned into an official number title in what feels like a very different era. Part of me feels the end of the third era really happened with FFXIV ARR being officially released.

    As for XI, the MMOs are always annoying to place, but I lumped it together with the Golden Age since it's development and release largely fell into the era and it one of the projects Sakaguchi was excited for. Not to mention, it was a huge success for Square and the franchise. X-2 feels more like the first major shift for the franchise, since it's the first sequel, the first official game under the SE banner, and the first one largely developed without Sakaguchi's input. The third era is largely marked for me as an era where SE designed titles with the intent of EU type content, so Ivalice Alliance, Compilation of FF, and the FNC largely define this era for me.
    Last edited by Wolf Kanno; 04-12-2023 at 05:35 PM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •