Quote Originally Posted by Vyk
I think it honestly wasn't all that Final Fantasy. Great movie. Great plot. But it should have been called something else. I'm probably going to help further your argument that people were expecting a more Nomura approach. But Sakaguchi wasn't all about subtlety. The mechanics in the game, as mentioned, were similar to 7's mythology. But the plot reminded me more of FF8. Very political. Most FF games are about a struggle against a corrupt force. There's a bad guy. And either he's in a seat of power, or he HAS power(s). And there's those fighting against him. In TSW the struggle itself was more in the background, and in their minds and the system than anything you could really see. Yes there were fights against phantoms. But the closest thing to a bad guy was the general. And there was no real rebellion against him or anything. None of this really means its bad. It just wasn't Final Fantasy. And when people say the fans felt cheated. Those are Final Fantasy fans, expecting a Final Fantasy movie. Final Fantasy doesn't have to be action-packed. But they are adventures at least. This movie wasn't adventurous. It was a thriller. The Parasite Eve fans and those that enjoy all of Square as a whole, or games as a whole probably enjoyed the movie in one way or another. I did. But I still say it wasn't very Final Fantasy. So it's more false advertising than cheating us of a good movie. 'Cause it was good. I just couldn't compare it to any of Sakaguchi's Final Fantasys any better than one could compare it to a Nomura Final Fantasy
The thing that BAFFLES me bout Nomura, is that his side characters are always great. Ive seen enough shojo anime to cause permanent brain damage, and FFVIII just took every damn shojo cliche, created the gunblade, took a bond girl reject and made her the main villain, wrapped it all up in some very cool FMV and called it a Video game. Yet aside from how awful a product it was it also featured Laguana who is one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters of all time. I don't know how Nomura could direct the worlds most contrived love triangle, create what could very well be the most unlikeable bishonen and Bishonjo in all of history, along with the most bland side characters (there's only four of you and the orphanage scene is your idea of character development?), yet create as cool a character as Laguana. I just don't know. Similarly I'm sure everyone here is familiar with my rather low opinion of Advent Children, yet hey I do think the turks Rufus were phenomenally well done. There are times when I think the only reason Square didnt call AC Deus Ex Machina was that they didn't have enough for licensing fee's, yet despite how redundant and cookie cutter the film is, The turks and Rufus show up and save the film from complete mediocrity. And Vincent was also pretty cool.

So yah, Nomura can create likeable side characters. Its just that every main character he's ever created or directed just ends up so painfully derivative and bland its awful. I didnt find Clouds psychosis amusing the first time around in FFVII. Maybe its just me, but when you've come out of a disassociative state and admit that all the strength you thought you had was a psychological delusion, you shouldn't actually be stronger physically afterwards. so AC just bored me with him relapsing all over the damn place. Didn't like tifa the first time either, so it figures she gets her share of screen time. Maybe its best the turks, vincent, rufus, yuffie, and others didn't get onscreen very often, lest they suffer the same fate as awful scripting and direction. It seems like Nomura can summon some true inspiration, yuffie chewing tifa out over her inexplicable infatuation with cloud made me bust a gut (lets face it, it needed to be said), but it only occurs in short bursts where he's concerned

As for Final Fantasy, the first six games all followed different storytelling structures. Sure there was a final boss, but getting to him and the storytelling flow was always different. It wasn't until FFVII that Final Fantasy became formulaic with the whole cutscene/dungeon/boss/cutscene/dungeon/boss cycle. So I didn't really go in expecting a flow, i just wanted to see a movie that had a good story from the master of Final Fantasy, and I wasn't disappointed. I don't think I even blinked for the final twenty minutes as the plot twists just kept coming, and I loved how sakaguchi could speak volumes of whats going through a characters mind and their progression with just a few simple images and sounds. The scene where you hear metal on metal clicking, then see floating bullets and general heins head down with something in his hand pointed at his head was a powerful scene, and just as the chamber with the bullet loaded, he gets a message and goes from taking responsibility to totally succumbing to his obsession and becoming what he hated the most. If only Nomura had HALF that storytelling ability, Id have some respect for him.