Zeitgeist Report: Final Fantasy Resurrected

Overexposed, to be sure. Overhyped? Absolutely. Overrated? Perhaps a little. Once the darling of the RPG world, Squeenix?s Final Fantasy series, which needs neither introduction nor explanation, has suffered a little tarnish in recent years from the onslaughts of smug Internet trolls who?ve had their fill of the endless offshoots. Arguably the series? latter installments, beginning for most with FFVII hysteria, revived, nearly singlehandedly, the RPG genre in recent years, as well as indoctrinated an entire new generation of gamers. Whether or not they admit it now, everyone loved Final Fantasy. Everyone And now, all of those people have nauseated us to death with a lifetime?s reading of bizarre fetishistic fanfiction, terrible DeviantArt drawings, more gay porn than even those so inclined could ever view, and the utter refusal- shared by many sycophantic reviewers and marketing-industry lapdogs- to hear one mote of criticism against The Greatest Game Ever.

My confession is this: I honestly think that FFVII, VIII IX and X are terrific games. Okay? I admit it. I love them. I?ve been repressing it all of this time and snickering along with everyone else just to be cool, but I confess. Feels good to unburden my soul. Okay, okay, you know what? I even like X-2, too. FFVII- GameSpot?s Greatest Game of All Time? I wouldn?t swear it in blood, but hey- I could be persuaded to agree.

Still, the mood of the times had this once-bulletproof epic series losing its luster. Perhaps it?s true that the overhype is wearing on us all. More likely it?s that the fanbase, those who leapt astride the bandwagon during VII?s glory days, are simply growing up a bit. Remember the heavy emotions we all waded through in our adolescence? They seem a bit silly now. Remember those constant ellipses that we once thought were the mark of cool stoicism? Now that?s just kinda stupid. Most (but not all) of us have even matured beyond the point where we can be bought by a cutesy heroine in a completely pointless, blindingly revealing outfit. We once could relate to the juvenile personal crises that haunted the steps of those called to Save the Planet. Now, we just laugh at Emo-Cloud.

Personally, I think we?re all spoiled, to boot. Like its predecessor, the currently-styled PSOne, the PS2 has seen a lot of learning curve in game development. Largely, game elements, graphical quality and interactivity have steadily improved with each installment in any given major series, and to broaden the scope, we now have a wide variety of gaming options among the various consoles, in addition to PC gaming. Prices have been steadily climbing, too, and amid our belt-tightening perhaps we have come to expect substantially more when we drop fifty bucks on a game. Hard to believe there was once a time we were all content with linear, 2D 8-bit platformers, huh? But I wax nostalgic.

The gamer is a cynical creature, prone to criticizing and deconstructing every element of every game from the moment of its inception as an unsubstantiated rumor. If the reviewers love the final product, if it?s generally well-received, it?s all the more likely to be panned and torn down by fans. I don?t know why we?re that way, but it?s the way we are. Rare are those occasions when an online discussion among gamers is a universally positive reception, when we are all unanimous that one title meets or exceeds the quality standard.

I, too, was infected by this sort of cynicism. Truthfully, I wasn?t all that excited about Final Fantasy XII. When I saw the hysterical, hyperbolic reviews by nearly every major gaming publication, I rolled my eyes. It?s hard enough for a series to top itself in any single sequel without contending with the sort of egomaniac delusion that the Final Fantasy series has seemed to be operating under of late. Not one, but two entirely horrendous, virtually unplayable games (and they know who they are) pulled the wool over the eyes of millions simply by dangling a parade of Final Fantasy cameo characters in the background. When the advance reviews for FFXII stopped just short of rabid mouth-froth, I steeled myself for disappointment. But I?m a fan, so I played it.

Oh my god. Omigod, omigod, omigod.

Whew. OK, I?m cool. I?m cool, guys, really. But seriously. This is a freaking awesome game. Go ahead, be a pill and whine for its own sake. But personally, I?m thrilled to see a game like this, with the potential to actually satisfy expectations, to help us gamers shake off the malaise of too-cool boredom that?s led us to judge some of our onetime favorites as pass?. Some would say that the release of FFVII injected a jolt of passion into the gaming world. Others would say it injected a strain of rabies. With FFXII, we?re surely getting another hit in the mainline. While it can no more be called a ?perfect? title than can any of its predecessors, it damn near lives up to the hype, so it?ll surely attract a certain type of critic determined to find its fatal flaw. Thus far, though, the only bad buzz I hear is the typified, stale critique of the effeminate male characters and their irrational, buckle-explosive costumes. That all you got, guys?

Me, I?m just glad to be excited about a game again, a title I can really see myself playing for months. It almost feels like a rebirth of my innocence, rediscovering, even against my surly mettle, what it feels like to be blown away by a new game. Every time this series feels like it?s about to die, it pulls something like this, the very principle that saved the foundering developers from certain bankruptcy when they conceived the very first Final Fantasy. If Squeenix can keep it up- and it?s proven it can- who knows how many roman numerals we?ll exhaust before it?s really ?Final??

Leigh Alexander is a freelance game journalist who stubbornly insists she is not a fangirl. She can be reached at leigh_alexander1(AT)yahoo.com.