Quote Originally Posted by Roogle View Post
Quote Originally Posted by The White Wizard of Fynn View Post

The game is old and cartridge space severely limited dialogue space.
I'm not sure if it being developed on a cartridge is a reason for its limited dialogue. I think that the attitude towards development of role-playing games was to make it resemble Dungeons & Dragons electronically with a basic story and basic motivations for its characters, and to leave more to the imagination of the player. I am pretty sure that dialogue takes up a small amount of space on any medium, including a cartridge. Role-playing games, and video games in general, weren't too focused on the story. It may have been a product of the decade; some movies from that time period are all about style rather than substance.
I remember Sakaguchi saying something along the lines of him being better at delivering a good story. So I don't really think the first FFs had excuse plots - they were actually trying to concentrate on it. It's just that story-driven games were something new. That's why the sotry feels limited these days, and I'm pretty sure the cartridge space doesn't help.
You can really tell, by all the airships of mass destruction, castles from hell, evil emperors taking over hell, the prince thinking he's a coward but actually being able to prove his worth, and the white wizard sacrificing himself for the well-being of the world, that they really tried to give us an epic storyline with interesting characters. Personally, I think they succeeded anyway, even if the characters may seem flat nowadays