Huh? He's Got Pants Now.

[rionaleonhart]

Final Fantasy VII is a much sillier game than I remember. I'd forgotten about the bit where you get mistaken for a soldier and shoved into a uniform and have to pose for Rufus. I marched so badly in the televised parade that the television station operators, enraged by the dismal ratings, sent me a bomb.

I'd also forgotten about the bit where Red XIII dresses up in a soldier's uniform and sneaks onto a military ship and nobody notices. Red XIII is a quadrupedal lion/dog thing. Nobody notices.

VII feels to me like a 2D-era Final Fantasy that happens to be in three dimensions. I came into the series with VIII, which I think took itself more seriously than any of its predecessors did, and since then, with the exception of IX, Final Fantasy games have been pretty straight-faced. Perhaps that's part of the reason why opinion is so divided on later games.

Come to think of it, X-2 and XIII-2 do bring a bit of the silliness back. Maybe Square feel that their formerly-commonplace silliness should now be confined to spin-offs and direct sequels?

(Here, incidentally, is an exchange I had with my housemate, who is a Legend of Zelda person, when she was playing Twilight Princess and I was playing Final Fantasy XIII-2:

Riona: Why do you turn into a wolf in Twilight Princess?
RD: Because at the beginning... you're pulled into the twilight... and it turns you into a wolf.
Riona: ...
RD: You can't judge! With your Final Fantasy XIII-2 - 'oh no, this person's been swallowed up by the paradox!'
Riona: Look, it makes perfect sense. Someone's been absorbed by the paradox, and they're walking around as just an outline, so you have to make them visible with the magical powers of your little flying creature that is also a bow that is also a sword.

Later, RD proposed a surprisingly plausible theory: 'I think that when they're coming up with ideas for Final Fantasy games, they just pick two words out of a hat and combine them. "Gun... sword. Yeah!" "Goddess... motorbike. Let's do it!"')

Speaking of Final Fantasy XIII-2: why don't people write Hope/Serah? I thought you were supposed to have everything, fandom! It's not as if they're minor characters!

Also, I don't 'ship Noel/Serah, but I do still think that Noel/Serah first-time fanfiction should exist in which Noel has absolutely no idea what he's doing. He lived at the end of humanity; I seriously doubt he has much experience in sex or romance. So Serah has to walk him patiently through pretty much everything. It'd be great.


Whilst I'm rambling about Final Fantasy games, a few notes on Final Fantasy XIII:

The environments in Final Fantasy XIII are incredibly beautiful, but it's hard not to feel a bit disconnected from them. It's probably most pronounced in Palumpolum; I never emerge from that town feeling as if I've actually been there.

Storyline-wise, Sazh and Vanille's travels together might be my favourite part of this game. I really love their relationship. I wonder sometimes how Sazh felt about Vanille and Fang's reunion. Did he worry that he was no longer necessary in Vanille's life? (Gameplay-wise, of course, Sazh and Vanille's travels together are the worst part of this game because you don't have a decent Commando. For a while you don't have a Commando at all. But I love their relationship so much that I am prepared to forgive that.)

It probably wasn't a bad idea to shunt Snow out of the way for three and a half chapters. I love Snow, but he's best in small doses. He was my second favourite Final Fantasy XIII character at first, just behind Sazh, but Lightning displaced him a while ago. You're a sweetheart, Snow, but you're also completely intolerable sometimes.

(What if, instead of Lightning Returns, we got a game called Snow Returns, with Snow as the central focus and the sole party member? What a terrifying thought.)

Comments

[kadrin]

I think there are some points that are more serious about VIII, but, on the other hand, there are moombas who say "Laguna!" and an unskippable main quest about folk music and Selphie invading the missile base being Selphie and the President's doppelganger being a creepy metamorphic monster for some reason and Jumbo Cactuar as a GF and Zell's driving character trait behind "loyalty" being "hot dogs". And in VI, Kefka poisoned Doma, murdered General Leo, and successfully invaded the afterlife. VIII definitely has a more serious feel, but I think that's all just High Definition Squall scowling over all the cutscenes, y'know?

ALSO LINK COULDN'T SURVIVE IN THE TWILIGHT WITHOUT BEING TRANSFORMED INTO A TWILIGHT DENIZEN, AND SO MIDNA TRANSFORMED HIM INTO A WOLF, IT MAKES PERFECT... yeah. Yeah, you're right.

Next XIII spinoff release: Lightning Smash Simulation Versus. Hit this button sequence to punch Snow in the face!

[rionaleonhart]

I suppose 'serious' is always a relative term in the world of Final Fantasy. There's definitely a division in my head between 'VII and earlier' and 'VIII and later', though (with IX inconsiderately falling into the first category). The events of VI (and indeed VII, and quite possibly IX) are overall more serious than those of VIII, but, as you say, it's about feel.

I think the division can be summed up thus: in VII, when you're in disguise on the boat, one of the crew members offers a shop. At one point he sees through your disguise, and his response is this:

Say, who are you? You're not a part of the crew.
Oh well, seamen never bother with details!

And he goes right back to offering you items.

I don't think you'd see that sort of shameless, playful handwave-for-gameplay-convenience's-sake in more modern Final Fantasy games. I think that's where the division in my head lies. If that line showed up in VIII or XII or XIII, it would surprise me. If it showed up in V or VI or IX - games that, although they deal with serious themes, don't always take themselves very seriously - I'd happily accept it.

Of course, there are probably a load of recent instances like this that I'm forgetting. BUT THE DIVISION EXISTS IN MY HEAD.

(I'd forgotten about the fake zombie president. That was weird, I'll admit.)

[rionaleonhart]

I've just remembered the Mr Monkey and PuPu sidequests in Final Fantasy VIII, which mean everything I've just said falls apart. (Or does it? Mr Monkey surprised me a lot, but he wouldn't have in VII or IX.)