Final Fantasy, the title was going to be the last of a failing business in Japan called Square. The game in which all their dreams of saving their business was laid. The game that built an empire, of which many series have been compared to over the years. When I thought to lay this out for you, the gamers, I hadn’t realized just how many titles were actually in the FF collections, simply because while I have played through some of the spin-offs, continuations, and all but one of the main titles, I hadn’t played all of them. So in the spirit of it all, I present to you, the fans, a full compilation, in order as released in Japan, and review of The Final Fantasy Series (not including other major related games like Kingdom Hearts or the Chocobo Series that just featured the characters).

Final Fantasy-NES(Originally), released December 18, 1987;  MSX2, WonderSwan Color, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, mobile phones, PlayStation Portable, Virtual Console, iOS

Final Fantasy takes place in a fantasy world with three large continents. The elemental powers on this world are determined by the state of four orbs, each governing one of the four classical elements: earth, fire, water, and wind. The world of Final Fantasy is inhabited by numerous races, including Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Mermaids, Dragons, and Robots. Each non-Human race has one “town” in the game, although individuals are sometimes found in Human towns or other areas as well. Four hundred years prior to the start of the game the Lefeinish people, who used the Power of Wind to craft airships and the Floating Castle, watched their country decline as the Wind Orb went dark. Two hundred years later, violent storms sank a massive shrine that served as the center of an ocean-based civilization and the Water Orb went dark. The Earth Orb and the Fire Orb followed, plaguing the earth with raging wildfires and devastating the agricultural town of Melmond as the plains and vegetation decayed. Some time later, the sage Lukahn foretold of a prophecy that four Light Warriors would come to save the world in a time of darkness.

Review: One of the first games besides Mario and Zelda that I ever played on the NES, this was what brought me completely into the fun world of RPGs.  It was difficult to play through at first since I had never played a serious RPG before Zelda, and while it took a while to figure out, but when I did, I fell in love.  For it’s time, it’s game-play was amazing, the graphics superb, and the storyline hard to beat. I still remember the summer vacation I spent playing this game, and my parents kept asking if I would ever go outside, or at least let my little brother play… neither of which happened often. While I previously played around with Zelda, and would come or go as I pleased, Final Fantasy had me sitting for hours on end.  To remember it as the beginnings of one of my favorite empires and sagas, I look back and smile.

 Score: 9.5/10

Final Fantasy II(Original FFII) -Family Computer(Nintendo), released December 17, 1988; WonderSwan Color, PlayStation, mobile phones, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, Virtual Console, iOS

Final Fantasy II begins as Firion, Maria, Guy, and Leon are attacked by Palamecian soldiers and left for dead. Firion, Maria, and Guy are rescued by Princess Hilda, who established a rebel base in the town of Altair after her kingdom of Fynn was invaded by the Emperor. Hilda denies their request to join the rebel army because they are too young and inexperienced. The three set off for Fynn in search of Leon. There they find a dying Prince Scott of Kashuan, Hilda’s fiancé, who informs them that a former knight of Fynn, Borghen, betrayed the rebellion and has become a General in the Imperial army. The party returns to Altair to inform Hilda. She then allows the group to join the rebellion and asks them to journey north to find mythril, a metal which could be used to create powerful weapons. The party makes its way to the occupied village of Salamand, save the villagers who are being forced to work in the nearby mines, and retrieve the needed mythril. This continues on with missions and side-quests until the heroes face the main boss- The Emporer. 

Review: Now, this game came out much later here in the States for us, so I didn’t get to play it until it came out on the re-release on PS1 as part of one of the anthology collections of FF.  I was a bit disappointed at first with it, especially since I had played later versions previously, but after a few days of playing the storyline drew me in, so I forgave the rudimentary graphics, and the fact that it took so darn long to get here…

Score 7.5/10

Final Fantasy Legend- Gameboy, released December 15, 1989; Wonderswan, mobile

Final Fantasy Legend takes place on several worlds centered around a large tower, built by the Creator in ancient times to link worlds.  There are four unique major worlds that make up different layers or floors of the tower: the World of Continent at the base, the World of Ocean on the 5th floor, the World of Sky on the 10th, and the World of Ruins on the 16th. Time does not flow at a constant pace between levels of the tower, rendering some worlds more technologically advanced than others. Various monsters come forth from the tower into each world, many are hostile, but some of them are friendly to humans and willing to coexist. An offshoot of the human race also exists in each world; they are the magic-attuned descendants of a union between humans and the World of Continent’s older races.

Review:Now, I never could afford a SNES or Gameboy, in fact it wasn’t until I was much older that I bought my second console, which was a PS1, but I did have a few nerdy friends like myself who got into RPGs and owned those consoles, and this was one of the games I got to play on the Gameboy.  Even with a good story, I found myself disappointed in this game, because it was in black and white,  and it also had very rudimentary graphics, which seemed like a downgrade from the NES and SNES, and furthermore it seemed less exciting of a FF game compared to several RPGs I had played by this time.  When it re-released in color, I found it somewhat better, but still lacking compared to console specific games, which for the most part has been my opinion on most Portable RPGs.  Finally, it lacked the zing in the storyline and characters that were intrinsic to the former Final Fantasy titles.

Score: 5.5/10

Final Fantasy III – Family Computer(Nintendo), released April 27, 1990; Nintendo DS, Virtual Console, PS1

One thousand years before the current events in the game, on a floating continent hovering high above the surface of an unnamed planet, a technologically advanced civilization sought to harness the power of the four elemental crystals of light. They did not realize that they could not control such fundamental forces of nature and lost the ability to direct them. This power of light would have consumed the world itself had the light crystals not had their natural counterparts: the four dark elemental crystals. Disturbed by the sudden interruption of the careful balance of light and dark, four warriors were granted the power of the dark crystals to recapture the power of the light crystals. These so-called Dark Warriors succeeded in their quest and restored natural harmony to the world, but their victory came too late to save the doomed civilization. The culture was reduced to ruin, though their floating continent remained. On that continent the circle of Gulgans, a race of blind soothsayers and fortune-tellers, predicted that these events would ultimately repeat.

Review: Now this game I didn’t get to play until it’s re-release on PS1, but when I did, much like FFII, I was drawn into the storyline and character development, and found it a great game, albeit late in coming.  I remember that I had wished it had arrived here much sooner so it would have been appreciated more, but I still will have fond memories of the hours spent playing it.

 Score: 7/10

Final Fantasy Legends 2 – Gameboy, released  December 14, 1990; DS

The story in Final Fantasy Legend II revolves around MAGI, the shards of a shattered statue of the goddess Isis. The hero is awakened by his father, who then explains he has to leave for a while. He next makes his way through the hero’s open window. Years later, the hero decides to set out to find his father, and eventually joins a fight involving on one side new gods bent on taking over the world and opposing them the Guardians, an organization dedicated to the protection of MAGI and keeping it out of the wrong hands. The player visits twelve distinct worlds, in addition to the Celestial World and the shrine at its center. The goal of the game is to collect the varied pieces of MAGI scattered around each of these worlds.

Review: Another one of the games borrowed from friends, I almost broke my friend’s Gameboy in frustration because it kept eating batteries like candy before he gave me his wall charger and rechargeable batteries.  It was better then it’s previous title, but I was still highly disappointed in black and white displays, or more accurately, black and that weird paleish green that Gameboys all had.  Many nights I stayed up to midnight playing this, much to my parents disapproval, but I eventually beat it, and Victory was Mine!

 Score: 7.5/10

Final Fantasy Adventure – Gameboy, released June 8, 1991; mobile phones

The world is threatened by a Dark Lord who conquests for mana to rule supreme over the land. At his side is a mysterious wizard named Julius, who has more secret motives. The hero, a gladiator whose parents were killed by the Dark Lord, is imprisoned by him and forced to fight daily for the Dark Lord’s personal entertainment. One day, the hero escapes and by chance overhears the Dark Lord and Julius in their plans to seize the power of mana. When they discover his escape, they chase and then throw him over an assumed deadly waterfall. Having survived the fall, the hero then saves a mysterious young woman from monsters, and attempts to find the magical objects needed to defeat the evil massing against the Mana Tree, the world’s source of mana. After he defeats Julius and the Dark Lord, the Mana Tree inexplicably dies. The heroine sacrifices herself to become the Mana Tree and preserve the world. The hero then becomes her “Gemma” knight to guard her.

Review: This was one of those games I never got to play. While it was originally considered to be part of the Final Fantasy line in Japan, here it became the precursor to Secret of Mana, also known as Mana. I was not willing to borrow the Gameboy for a relatively unknown game. I now regret that I didn’t, as it’s Zelda like appearance made it well liked, but I was into many things at the time also and wasn’t going to add to it to the list.  One day I may go play it just to see how it feels.  

Final Fantasy IV(Titled FFII in America for a while) – Super Nintendo Entertainment System, released July 19, 1991; PlayStation, WonderSwan Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Virtual Console

Most of Final Fantasy IV takes place on Earth, also known as the Blue Planet, which consists of a surface world inhabited by humans, and an underground world inhabited by the Dwarves. A red, artificial moon orbits the planet, upon which the Lunarians live. The Lunarians are a race of beings from a world destroyed (it became the asteroid belt), and are identified by a moon-shape crest on their foreheads. They created this artificial moon and are now resting until such a time they believe their kind can co-exist with humans.  

Review: The second ever console version of a Final Fantasy that I got to play, this was many weeks of game-play at a one of my best friends houses. His mom actually started making me do chores since I was over so much. With the new and improved graphics that the SNES had, and with the new battle system and storyline, I was instantly hooked.  I wished I had known enough about tube feeding, ’cause I would have put myself on it for this game.  With a Mountain Dew drip bag, thus I would have had emotionally and physically no reason to move.  Scary as that sounds, it really was an excellent game, and still worth playing today.

 Score: 8/10

Final Fantasy Legends 3 – Gameboy, released December 13, 1991

A creature known as the Pureland Water Entity engulfed the world in a great flood. The entity drew monsters onto the land, and low lying cities have been abandoned. As a party of four warriors sets out to confront the entity, several youths from the future arrive to help, and it is realized that the Entity’s destruction is occurring also in the past and in the future. The group then collects pieces of the ship Talon in the past, present, and future to defeat the Entity.

Review: One of the Gameboy games I missed, sadly.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest – Super NES, released October 5, 1992

The fictional events of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest take place on a single continent of an unnamed world, which is divided into four distinct regions: Foresta, Aquaria, Fireburg, and Windia. The welfare of each region is determined by the state of one of four shining crystals: earth, water, fire, and wind, respectively. For centuries the Focus Tower had stood at the heart of the world. It had formerly been a center for trade and knowledge, and the world’s people met there to peacefully settle their differences. But on one warm summer day, powerful monsters stormed the Tower, stole the four crystals, and then took off with the magical coins that kept the Tower’s doors unlocked. The monsters began consuming the power of the crystals; they grew in strength while the world, inversely, began to decay. An old prophecy tells that at the time when the vile four steal the power and divide the world behind four doors, a knight will appear to vanquish the darkness.

Review: Now this game had an unusual twist, with their not being any random encounters.  I remember playing the first few hours wondering why I only saw monsters as sprites on the screen, and not running into any overland.  While it had this twist, it still was quite enjoyable and challenging, since monsters were also strategically placed in a manner that some you couldn’t bypass, and if you hadn’t leveled up enough on others, you just couldn’t pass. 

Score: 7.5/10

Final Fantasy V-Super Famicom, released December 6, 1992; PlayStation, Game Boy Advance

The history of the worlds of Final Fantasy V is revealed during the course of the game. One millennium before the events of the main story, a powerful mage named Enuo emperiled the world using the power of an evil entity known as the Void. The people of the world retaliated, using twelve legendary weapons to vanquish Enuo. Because the Void itself could not be destroyed, the people split the world’s four elemental Crystals into two sets, which sequentially caused the world itself to split. The Void then became sealed in a dimensional cleft between the two worlds. Nearly 1,000 years passed without incident and both worlds prospered due to the powers of their Crystals of Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth. Several kingdoms and towns developed, and travel by ship acted as a prominent means of commerce and communication. Something sinister soon stirred upon the second world though - for the past millennia malicious spirits and demons had been sealed inside a tree in the Great Forest of Moore. This grew into a sickness that emerged as Exdeath, the game’s primary antagonist. As he attempted to claim the world for himself, a group of heroes called the Four Warriors of Dawn defeated and sealed him within the parallel world using its Crystals, and peace returned for another 30 years. This is where Final Fantasy V begins, with characters who descended from, know of, or are the members of the Four Warriors of Dawn.

Review: This was another long awaited game here in the USA, and I once again played this on the PS1.  While I wish there was more I could say about this game, I was playing it and Final Fantasy VI about the same time, and it felt like there were only minute differences.  Between it and several previous versions the storyline changed, but that alone didn’t help it stand out much.  It was a decent game, but not enough to wow most gamers.

 Score: 6/10

Final Fantasy VI(Titled FFIII in America for a while)-Super Nintendo Entertainment System, released April 2, 1994; PlayStation, Game Boy Advance

 Final Fantasy VI takes place on a large, unnamed world. During the course of the game, its geography and landscape change due to various developments in the game’s plot. During the first half of the game, the world is divided into two major continents and referred to as the World of Balance. The northern continent is punctuated by a series of mountain ranges and contains many of the locations accessible to the player. Halfway through the game, the world’s geographical layout is altered, resulting in the two large continents splitting into several islands of various size, situated around a larger continent at the center. This altered layout of the game’s locations is referred to as the World of Ruin.

Review: I missed playing this on the SNES, I was busy in high school playing games like Doom, Wolfenstein, Masters of Orion, and more, so when I got a PS1, and picked it up with Final Fantasy 5, I found it to be intriguing.  It had a steam-punk feel to it at times, something new to the Final Fantasy Universe, the characters were unique, and it also had a new twist to the storyline, all around making it quite worthwhile.

 Score: 7.5/10

Final Fantasy VII-PlayStation, released January 31, 1997; Windows, PlayStation Network

The game’s setting follows in the footsteps of Final Fantasy VI by presenting a world with considerably more advanced technology than the first five games in the series. Overall, the game’s technology and society approximates that of an industrial or post-industrial science fiction utopia with a dirty underside. The world of Final Fantasy VII, referred to in the game as The Planet but retroactively named Gaia, is composed of three main land masses. The eastern continent features the city of Midgar, an industrial metropolis that serves as the capital city of the world as it hosts headquarters of Shinra, a corporation governing the planet. The story starts out with you fighting inside Midgar alongside Avalanche, a group of eco-terrorists fighting against the corrupt Shinra to save the planet.

Review: One of several games I got when I first bought my PS1, this game yanked my attention back to the Final Fantasy Series, and I relished playing this game over and over again. The characters brought me into a great story in a deep way, and I sympathized and felt for the main protagonists.  Like many other gamers, I’m hoping for an updated version of this game.  The release of the movie, and subsequent continuations to this rich storyline, have really set this game on a whole new level for rpgs and set the benchmark for numerous games afterwards. And I still have to original copy I bought for the PS1.

For a more in-depth review, check out Eden Wirefly’s review of Final Fantasy 7.

Score: 8.5/10

Final Fantasy Tactics-Playstation, released June 20, 1997; PSP, PS2

The story takes place in the fictional kingdom of Ivalice, located in a peninsula surrounded by sea on the north, west and south, with a headland south of the landmass. Its geography features varying landscapes, from plains to mountains ranges to deserts and forests. It is heavily populated by human beings, although intelligent monsters can be found living in less populated areas. Ivalice is a kingdom of seven territories, united under a monarch. Ivalice’s neighbors are the kingdom of Ordalia in the east and Romanda, a military nation to the north. While the three nations share common royal bloodlines, major wars have taken place between them. An influential religious institution known as the Murond Glabados Church is the dominant faith, centered around a religious figure known as Saint Ajora. The story being revealed takes place after Ivalice ended its Fifty Years War with the two other nations, but is facing economic problems and political strife. Added to its problems was the recent death of the king, whose heir was only an infant. A regent was needed to rule in place of the young Crown Prince, and the kingdom soon was split between Prince Goltana, represented by the Black Lion, and Prince Larg, symbolized by the White Lion. The conflict leads to what is known in the game as the Lion War. This is all told to you by the game’s fictional historian Alazlam J. Durai, who seeks to reveal the story of an unknown character (the story’s main hero) whose role in the Lion War was of major importance but was covered up by the kingdom’s church. 

Review:When I bought this game, with FF7, I thought it to be the previous game to FF7 but I learned later on that I was mistaken.  This game, along with several of the anthologies that I eventually got for PS1, were stolen from me so I only own it on the PSP version now. I find it still is worthwhile to play, especially with the updated cutscenes and voice acting.

Score: 7.5/10

Final Fantasy VIII-PlayStation, released February 11, 1999; Microsoft Windows, PocketStation, PlayStation Network

Most of Final Fantasy VIII is set on an unnamed world with one moon. The planet itself is comprised of five major landmasses. FFVII blends a fantasy steam-punk style with some features from our own world, giving it a unique flavor with a deceptivally familiar feel to it.  It starts inside of Balamb with some of the main characters, at a school that trains the military cadets there for mercenary campaigns.  The other part of the story deals with a previous war, and how it has affected the present time.

Review: While I loved Final Fantasy 7, this game holds a special place in my heart, since it had some of the best cut-scenes for a PS1 game of it’s time.  I was highly impressed with the style of the game, though the militant feel was reminiscent of several earlier titles.  I found myself liking the split storyline between Squall and Laguna, and enjoyed countless times playing through to defeat this game.

 Score: 9/10

Final Fantasy IX-PlayStation, released July 7, 2000; PlayStation Network

Final Fantasy IX takes place primarily on the four continents of a world named Gaia. Most of Gaia’s population resides on the Mist Continent, so named because the entire continent is blanketed in thick Mist. Lands outside the Mist Continent are uncharted territories not explored until midway through the game. Several locations on the parallel world of Terra and the dream land of Memoria round out the game’s areas. The Mist Continent itself features four factions: Alexandria, Lindblum, Burmecia, and Cleyra. Each country is separated by mountain ranges.  The isolated Cleyran civilization, nestled in a single giant tree in the desert, is protected by a sandstorm summoned by the village elders. Gaia is inhabited by humans and various non-human races. Alexandria and Lindblum are both populated by a mix of humans and anthropomorphic animals. The Burmecians are anthropomorphic rats who live in both Burmecia and Cleyra. The Cleyrans, who value dance, split from the Burmecians when the latter started to appreciate “the art of war”. The dwarves are short humanoid creatures who appear as inhabitants of the village of Conde Petie on the Outer Continent. There is also a village of black mages that have gained sentient thought and reside in the Outer Continent. The Genomes, an artificial race of soulless vessels, inhabit Terra; they will house the once-dormant Terran souls when Terra assimilates Gaia. Summoners are similar to other humans, but with a horn on their foreheads. In the story, only two summoners remain, the others were exterminated when the Terran warship Invincible destroyed their homeland of Madain Sari. Lastly, the Qu are large, seemingly androgynous humanoids.

Review: When this game came out, and I first started playing it, I felt cheated.  How dare they go from stunning movies and characters that seemed realistic in a sense, to chibi cutesy characters?!  It was almost as if Squaresoft was pandering to a new target audience that I wasn’t a part of.  After a while, I finally forgave them, because even with the new style, the gameplay, characters, and storyline really did make up for what seemed like the unwanted child of the Final Fantasy series. It did so by a willingness to knowingly make fun of itself while showing appropriate, needed drama.  All in all, I found myself neither loving this game nor hating it, but feeling as if it was just a stop-gap filler game in the series.

Score: 6.5/10

Final Fantasy X – PS2. released July 19, 2001

Final Fantasy X is set in the fictional world of Spira, and it consists of one large landmass divided into three subcontinents, surrounded by small tropical islands. It ranges through diverse climates, from the tropical Besaid and Kilika islands to the temperate Mi’ihen region to the frigid Macalania and Mt. Gagazet. Although it is predominantly populated by humans, Spira features a smattering of races. Among them are the Al Bhed, a technologically advanced but disenfranchised sub-group of humans with distinctive green eyes and unique language. The Guado are less human in appearance, with elongated fingers and other differences. Still less human in appearance are the large, lion-like Ronso, and the frog-like Hypello. A subset of the sentient races of Spira are the “unsent”—the strong-willed spirits of the deceased who remain in corporeal form. Other fauna in Spira, aside from those drawn from common real animals, include the gigantic, amphibious shoopuf, and the chocobo, which appears in most Final Fantasy games.  Spira is very different from the mainly European-style worlds found in previous Final Fantasy games, being much more closely modeled on Southeast Asia, notably with respect to vegetation, topography, architecture, and nomenclature. 

Review: While I may have cheered to see this game coming, with it’s return to “regular” looking, non-chibified characters and new storyline, I found myself kinda torn between indifference and excitement when I actually started playing it.  The main storyline was fine and enjoyable to play through, but I found myself bored to tears with the side quest and games like blitzball, and unhappy that some of the main storyline was so hyped around it. I did enjoy that this was one of the first games I played that had realistic mouth movements to go with actual voice acting, and I enjoyed several of the challenging puzzles of the main quest, but it isn’t ranked high in my love of Final Fantasy games.

 Score: 6/10

Final Fantasy XI-PS2, released May 16, 2002; Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360

The world of Final Fantasy XI is known as Vana’diel. It consists of two main landmasses with two smaller islands flanking them, which in turn are surrounded by small islands. It features diverse climates, ranging from the northern glaciers to the southern deserts. The four main cities in Vana’diel are Bastok, San d’Oria, Windurst, and Jeuno. The expansion Treasures of Aht Urhgan added the large Aht Urhgan Whitegate/Al Zahbi city area. The rest of Vana’diel is made up of a number of outdoor, dungeon, and minor town areas split into various regions. While most areas are accessible by walking, there are various modes of transportation from the classic Final Fantasy Chocobo and airships to special spells that facilitate movement across the game world. The events of the game are set 20 years after the Crystal War, when the nations of San d’Oria, Bastok, and Windurst on the main continent of Vana’diel fought and defeated the Shadow Lord and his army of beastmen. A parallel world named Dynamis, in which the beastmen succeeded in conquering Vana’diel, can also be explored. It is described as a dream world created by the Avatar of Dreams, Diabolos.

Review: Like most MMORPGs, I found myself intrigued with this game at first, but slowly lost my enthusiasism as my bank account was drawn from to continue playing it.  I also discovered how annoying multiple servers that do not communicate are, as many of my friends ended up on other servers, and it was such a hassle to change servers.  While I love the music from the game, and many of it’s quests, it wasn’t enough to keep me playing after a few months.

Score: 7/10

Final Fantasy: Unlimited with U-Mobile, August 20, 2002

Since this was only released in Japan, on select mobile phones, I never got a chance to play.  I did see the anime that it was based upon, and I would have like the chance to play this game just to see how it compared. Other then that, I haven’t been able to find any real information on this game, it’s game-play, or it’s story other then the fact that it’s based upon the anime.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance- Gameboy Advance, released February 14, 2003

Ivalice is a world created by four ordinary children: Marche Radiuju, a new student and resident of St. Ivalice and its school; Mewt Randell, a shy boy still attached to the memory of his late mother; Ritz Malheur, a loud and outspoken classmate of Marche and Mewt; and Doned Radiuju, Marche’s younger, handicapped brother and a big fan of fantasy novels and video games. Mewt comes across a dusty old tome in a local used bookstore and eagerly wishes to show it to his friends. Unaware that the book is the legendary Gran Grimoire, Mewt brings the book over to Marche’s house along with Ritz. The old book is written in a language none of them have ever seen before, and a single inscription reads: “Alta oron, Sondus kameela”. The next morning, Marche wakes up in the world of Ivalice. The fantasy Ivalice is supposedly a reincarnation of Mewt’s memories from a Final Fantasy game. Marche is separated from the others, and immediately begins a quest to return home. Even after realizing how much better his life is in the new Ivalice, he believes that none of it is real and is even more determined to return to his home. The other children, and Mewt’s father Cid, slowly realize through Marche’s efforts that the world has been shaped according to their wishes. Mewt is no longer being teased, is reunited with his deceased mother, and is now the Prince of Ivalice; Ritz no longer has her white albinic hair, instead having the silky red hair which she always wanted; Doned can now walk and is no longer sickly; Marche is suddenly athletic and powerful; Cid is the highest-ranking official in the nation; and all of them now live in Final Fantasy ‘verse, the video game the children all love.

Review: When I heard about this game, I was thinking sequal to Final Fantasy Tactics…. Unfortunately, I found out while playing it that though it was set in the Ivalice setting, the fact that the children were drawn from another world to this new setting disturbed me.  Also, while it was similar in game-play to Tactics, it wasn’t a continuation of the previous game.  Overall, I found it to be a highly dissapointing game, unless you had never played Tactics, or if you were new to the Final Fantasy Series.

Score: 4.5/10

Final Fantasy X/2 -Ps2, released March 13, 2003

While the setting of the original Final Fantasy X was decidedly somber, in Final Fantasy X-2, the main characters were fitted with a jovial Charlie’s Angels-like motif. Aesthetically, the world of Spira is essentially unchanged in the two years since Final Fantasy X. Most areas from the original return in this (exceptions being the Omega Ruins and Baaj Temple), with few new locations. The only significant changes include the reconstruction of the village of Kilika and the clearing of the mist atop Mount Gagazet which reveals forgotten ruins. Additionally, the Palace of St. Bevelle is now accessible throughout the game, rather than only during mandatory storyline sequences. However, even with Sin gone, fiends are no less populous than before.  Final Fantasy X-2 begins as Yuna, Rikku and Paine recover Yuna’s stolen Garment Grid from the Leblanc Syndicate in the first of several encounters during which they vie for spheres. The game is punctuated by a narration of Yuna addressing Tidus, as though she is recounting the events of the game to him as they occur, in a style reminiscent of Tidus’ own narration in Final Fantasy X. Although Yuna’s quest is to find clues that may lead her to Tidus, much of the storyline of the game follows the clash of the factions that have established themselves in the time since the coming of the Eternal Calm and the uncovering of hidden legacies from Spira’s ancient history. A significant portion of the game’s events are unnecessary for the completion of the main storyline, but much of the depth of the story—including characterization and background details—are featured in the optional content, which generally follows how each part of Spira is healing in the time since the passing of Sin.

Review: Several of my friends and I dubbed this one to be “Sidequest, the Female Version of FF”.  I’m not saying that female gamers don’t appreciate other Final Fantasy games, it just seemed like this one was exclusively geared for female gamers, with Riku thrown in almost as an accident or a grudging, eyecandy afterthought for the guys.  The main storyline in this game seemed weak, and mostly kept sending you on sidequest after sidequest, featuring annoying low-grade villans, and eventually you found yourself at the end.  One of my least favorites in the FF series.  I probably would have sold this game back, if not for my desire to have completed collections.

 Score: 4/10

Final Fantasy: Unlimited on PC Adventure :Labyrinth- PC, May 16, 2003

Another game that I didn’t get to play, simply because it was never ported over here to the USA.  Based again upon the FF Unlimited anime, looked to be a fun game, but I may never find out.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles- GameCube, released August 8, 2003

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, and related titles, take place in an again unnamed world. In the time of Crystal Chronicles, this world is covered in a noxious gas known as miasma, to which direct exposure can prove fatal. Towns, villages and other settlements throughout are protected from the ill effects of miasma by crystals which generate a barrier which miasma cannot penetrate. This effect is not permanent: it only lasts for around one year per fresh set of crystals. Therefore, each year, brave people from each settlement venture out into the world to collect myrrh, a liquid substance that powers the crystals’ protective effect. But myrrh can only be harvested from special myrrh trees, which are almost exclusively found in dungeons filled with monsters and other hostile creatures. The people collecting myrrh often use a caravan as a means of conveyance, and so are often called caravanners, and their caravans are called crystal caravans.  Crystal caravans have been journeying throughout the world, seeking myrrh for many years now. The player is put in control of one such caravan, from the small village of Tipa, setting out for the first time. As the caravanners’ journey continues and they travel further in the search for myrrh, they meet many interesting characters and learn much about the history of their world. Eventually, they reach Mag Mell, home of the Carbuncles who, after the fall of the Meteor, shut themselves off from the world and entered hibernation so as to not get caught up in any more of the world’s problems. After hearing of the caravan’s travels, they realize their folly and advise the caravanners to head for the nearby Mt. Vellenge, resting place of the Meteor and source of miasma. There they defeat the Meteor Parasite, halting the flow of miasma once and for all. Thinking their job is done, they prepare to head home, but are pulled into an alternate dimension where they meet Mio, a being connected to peoples’ memories and taking the form of a young girl bathed in light, and Raem, her dark counterpart born from the violence sparked by the Meteor impact who takes the form of a bird-like beast. Mio and Raem both thrive on memories, but have significantly different habits: Mio occasionally “nibbles” on peoples’ memories, causing forgetfulness. Raem, however, is much more malevolent, devouring peoples’ entire collection of memories, causing outbreaks of amnesia.

Review: Never owned a Gamecube, so not much to say on this game.

Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis-Mobile, released September 24, 2004

Before Crisis’s story begins shortly after the ending of the war between the Shinra Electric Power Company and the Wutai tribe, a conflict mentioned in passing during Final Fantasy VII. With Wutai defeated and the people of the world now dependent on their Mako Energy and Materia, Shinra finds itself the dominant economic, military and political power in the world. The story continues for several years until after Zack Fair escapes from the experiments at Nibelheim, all at the same time as Shinra is fighting Genesis during the events of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, though the two storylines do not overlap. There are those who remain dedicated to the destruction of Shinra, chief among them being the newly emerged insurgent movement known as “Avalanche”. Avalanche is, as mentioned earlier, an eco-terrorist organization that seeks to topple Shinra, whom they know are slowly killing the Planet with their manufacture of Mako Energy. This first Avalanche is far more ruthless and violent than the group headed by Barret Wallace in the beginning of Final Fantasy VII, and are the villains this time around. The game’s central heroes are the player Turks. The player decides which of these Turks take place in the storyline, and gives them their names. The Turks are led by Verdot, with his lieutenant and the future leader, Tseng. Non-player Turks include Reno and Rude, both veterans who have been in the organization longer than the player.

Review: Another Japan only game, released to a select audience on a select type of phones, so while it is intriguing, most gamers will probably never get a chance to play it.

Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding- Mobile, released March 29, 2005

This was a fun game both in the Final Fantasy 7 game, and on the mobile phone.  Not really any different then at the Golden Saucer. Set in the Final Fantasy VII world, it’s only a quickplay game, not a lot of backstory there. 

 Score:  6/10

Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus- PS2, released January 26, 2006

The game begins during the climax of Final Fantasy VII. As Vincent and Yuffie Kisaragi help to evacuate Midgar which is about to be destroyed by a meteor summoned by Sephiroth, Vincent finds Hojo, an antagonist from the first game, slumped at the controls of a Mako Cannon. The cannon explodes, destroying Hojo and forcing Vincent to escape. Three years later, Vincent is in the city of Kalm, which is attacked by mysterious soldiers who capture some of the citizens and kill the rest. Vincent, with the help of his former comrade Reeve Tuesti and the World Regenesis Organization, who are dedicated to helping the planet recover from the events of Final Fantasy VII, fights the soldiers and forces them to retreat. Reeve discovers that the soldiers were members of Deepground, a military organization made up of super-soldiers from Shinra. While confronting Deepground, Vincent discovers he is one of Deepground’s targets as he holds the Protomateria, which they want to use to control a mysterious being known as Omega. Vincent also carries inside him genes of Chaos, a beast having an unknown relation with Omega. These genes were medicinally inserted into Vincent’s body as part of an experiment by his lover, Lucrecia Cresent (who froze herself various years ago), to save his life.

Review: This was a game that blindsided me, as I was not expecting a third person shooter for a Final Fantasy game, though Square-Enix had done other shooters previously.  I enjoyed playing through the main storyline, and the customization of the different guns was interesting, but I found myself saddened that I could beat a FF game in under 2 days.  Reminencent of Metal Gear Solid when they did virtual reality settings, I found myself quickly ignoring the VR mission play to only play the main storyline.

 Score: 7.5/10

Final Fantasy XII- PS2, released March 16, 2006

Final Fantasy XII is set within the land of Ivalice during an age when magic was commonplace and airships plied the skies, crowding out the heavens. At this time, magicite, a magic-rich mineral, is commonly used in spells and in powering airships—a popular form of transportation in Ivalice. Ivalice is divided into three continents: Ordalia, Valendia, and Kerwon. Ordalia is located in the western part of Ivalice. The Rozarrian Empire makes its home in the vast inland plains of this continent as the eastern portion of it is largely desert—lawless lands so devoid of Mist, which is this time around the ethereal manifestation of magicite, that airships cannot fly over them. Valendia is the home of Imperial Archadia, where vast and lush plains dot the landscape. Central to the story is Dalmasca, a small kingdom between the two continents and Empires. Located in the middle of the Galtean Peninsula of Ordalia, Dalmasca is surrounded by an expanse of desert. The temperate climate of Dalmasca differs from the cold environs of Kerwon and the lush plains of Valendia and Ordalia. During this time, Ivalice is beset by the pending war between the forces of Rozarria and Archadia. Caught between the two powerful Empires, Dalmasca and a number of smaller nations have already been subjugated by Archadia two years before the game begins.

Review: Almost a letdown, I found myself warming to many characters with the exception of Vaan, but enjoying the overall story and game-play, including the new AI functions that allowed for almost auto-battling.  When I found out that Vaan and Penelo were added to target audiences in Japan, *Cough* Yaoi! *Cough* since an older protagonist hadn’t done well previously, I found myself even more dissappointed in the game.  Sometimes all it takes to make a great game mediocre is messing with main characters. Despite that, I was wowed by the graphics, the storyline based around the kingdom and judges, and most of the other main characters in the story.

 Score: 7/10

Final Fantasy VII:Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode-Mobile, released August 22, 2006

 A Prequel to FF:DoC, this was an interesting view of the events before DoC, showing the build up of problems found in the chronologically later but prior released game.  Continuing in the shooter style of Dirge of Cerberus, it played well on mobile phones, and had decent graphics.  All in all, would have been a good patch for the original game if PS2′s had patches. Lost Episode reveals a missing chapter of Dirge of Cerberus taking place between two events of the latter. 

 Score: 6.5/10

Final Fantasy XII:Revenant Wings- DS, released April 26, 2007

A few locations in the Ivalice of Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance return in Revenant Wings, along with a new setting: Lemurés. A legendary purvama raised into the skies by the god Feolthanos due to the Cloudstones long before the events of the game, this land is ruled by magical stones known as the Auraliths which erected a barrier to shield the Purvama from the rest of the world. In time, the Legend of the Floating Land became an ambition for sky pirates who seek the island and what riches are on it. The ruins of Lemurés are where the Aegyl reside; the Aegyl are a human-like race with wings sprouting from their backs and a life-span of forty years. Due to being shielded within Lemurés, the Aegyl have no knowledge of the outside world except what they learn from intruding sky pirates. Revenant Wings begins a year after the events of Final Fantasy XII, with Vaan flying his own airship with Penelo, after Balthier and Fran stole the Strahl, and visiting them in Bervenia, also accompanying them inside to obtain the Cache of Glabados.

Review: I’m sorry, this game seemed to be pandering to the very characters from Final Fantasy XII that I wasn’t happy about to begin with, so I had no intention of playing this game whatsoever…

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates- Nintendo DS, released August 23, 2007

Ring of Fates is a prequel to the original Crystal Chronicles, taking place thousands of years beforehand, before Miasma plagued the world, during the legendary “Golden Age” where all the races lived in peace (mentioned in Crystal Chronicles), and when the Great Crystal, into which “all fates are etched”, protected the people from the “malefic glow of the blood-red moon”. In the original Crystal Chronicles, the shards of the Great Crystal, shattered by the fall of the Meteor, are used by the numerous settlements throughout the land to ward off the Miasma, using myrrh to renew this effect when it wanes.  Rebena Te Ra is explored as the monster-filled ruins of one such settlement that was overrun and abandoned almost immediately after the Meteor fell due to its close proximity to the point of impact.  Meanwhile, in Ring of Fates, the Great Crystal is complete, using memories as the source of its protective effect in much the same way that myrrh powers the miasma-repelling effect of its later remnants, and Rebena Te Ra stands as an illustrious city and capital of the Golden Age.

Review: By this point, I had heard mixed reviews about the Crystal Chronicles, and since I didn’t own a DS, I never got around to sorting them out enough to decide if I wanted to play this game, much less find someone who had it and would let me borrow both it and their DS.

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core- PSP, released September 13, 2007

Crisis Core takes place some years before the events of Final Fantasy VII, and as such, many characters from the game and other related works appear in Crisis Core. However, the primary characters in the game are from either Shinra Electric Power Company’s private armed forces dubbed SOLDIER, or from their covert branch of operatives called the Turks. The main protagonist and playable character of Crisis Core is Zack Fair, a young and friendly man. At the start of the game, he is a 2nd class SOLDIER operative. Angeal is a 1st class SOLDIER and acts as a mentor for Zack. Both are friends with fellow SOLDIER members Sephiroth and Genesis, the latter serving as the game’s primary antagonist who takes special interest in an unfinished play called “LOVELESS”. The SOLDIER operatives work under Director Lazard, the illegitimate son of President Shinra. Zack is also friends with the Turks, particularly their leader Tseng and one of their female operatives Cissnei. During the course of the game, Zack encounters and befriends Aerith, a young woman tending flowers in a ruined church within the Midgar slums, and also his eventual best friend Cloud, a Shinra infantryman who was, like Zack, raised in a country town. Zack also encounters Dr. Hollander, a former Shinra scientist that is performing unethical experiments in secret. Luxiere and Kunsel are two SOLDIER operatives that befriend Zack, as well as informing him on events and actions while offering help in his time of need.

Review: When I heard that there was a prequal to Final Fantasy 7 coming out, I got so excited, it was like seeing a kid locked in a candy store overnight.  While I may not have been happy about it being on a portable system, since I noticed that for some reason RPGs had tended to suffer on portables, I decided to give it a chance.  I’m glad I did.  The game-play may not have been as good as if it had been on the PS2 or PS3, but the storyline more then made up for it, since it filled in many gaps in the Final Fantasy VII storyline, and gave rise to a unsung hero, Zack, and allowed you to see the madness which had come before Cloud finally became a hero. It has a good sense of humor, and fun to play, and many hours worth of game-play. Overall, one of the better RPGs on a handheld.

 Score: 8/10

Final Fantasy Tactics A2- DS, released October 25, 2007

Like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the game takes place in both Ivalice and St. Ivalice. Chronologically, the Ivalice portion of the game is set some time after Final Fantasy XII, while the St. Ivalice portion is set around ten years after Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. There are seven playable races in the game: Humes, Moogles, Viera, Bangaa, and Nu Mou return from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, while Seeq, from Final Fantasy XII, are playable for the first time. The Gria are a new race that has been introduced to the world of Ivalice. The main character, Luso Clemens, is a boy who is told by his teacher that he will spend the rest of the afternoon helping the school librarian Mr. Randell clean the library for demerits such as turning up to class late, etc. Luso feels that this is unfair as school ends that afternoon for summer vacation. His teacher tells him that he has to earn his vacation. Luso goes to the library but Mr. Randell is not there; he then finds an old book. The book abruptly becomes blank in the middle. After this, the book commands that the reader should tell/write the person who should fill in this blank. He then writes his own name on the blank page, after which he is transported into the world of Ivalice. After dropping into the middle of a forest right in front of a infamous large Crushatrice called “Klesta”, he is told by a warrior named Cid that if he wishes to live he should join his clan. Luso does so, and swears fealty to the clan in front of a judge, after which he magically transforms into a soldier, complete with appropriate clothing.

Review: Another game I haven’t gotten to play, this is a contining game in the Ivalice series, with new styles and a new job system, and unlike previous Tactics, had mission based playthrough. Seemed interesting enough, but fiscal difficulties kept me from buying it or a DS to play it. Eventually, when I can afford to get a DS, I’ll get it and several of the older FF games.

Final Fantasy Crystal Defenders (aka Crystal Gaurdians)- Mobile, released January 28, 2008;  iPhone OS, Wiiware, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network

A continuation of FF Tactics A2, this tower game from Final Fantasy features the monsters from it’s prequal, while having to use strategy to safegaurd crystals.  The game has about 300 levels of increasing challenge, and it can be slightly addicting, especially to fast play gamers. Not a lot of backstory on this one either, set in the Ivalice settings.

 Score: 5/10

Final Fantasy IV: The after Years- Mobile, released February 18, 2008; WiiWare

Following the events of the original Final Fantasy IV, the second moon leaves the Blue Planet’s orbit and there is a period of peace as Damcyan, Eblan, and the Village of Mist are rebuilt, while the Kingdom of Baron comes under the rule of Cecil and his wife, Rosa. However, 17 years later, the second moon has reappeared in the sky, much closer to the planet than it was years ago, and the unchanging Crystals begin to emit a soft light; however, the meaning behind these events remains unknown. The game revolves around Ceodore, a young man who is the son of Cecil Harvey and Rosa Farrell, two of the protagonists from the original, both of whom return along with most of the other main cast members and a number of entirely new characters.  Amongst these new additions to the cast are the Hooded Man, a wandering swordsman enshrouded in purple robes who is strangely familiar with Cecil’s previous adventure, and the Mysterious Woman, a female antagonist able to summon Eidolons, who attack the kingdoms in search of the Crystals.

Review: A continuation to Final Fantasy IV, the game plays similar to it’s prequal, and actually looks very similar to it also.  When I played it, I wasn’t all that impressed by this fact that Square-Enix did nothing to update it some for a release, instead chose to go with the retro style. The only reason I played it was cause a buddy of mine knew how much I enjoyed Final Fantasy IV, and got it for us both to try out.

Score: 5.5/10

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King -WiiWare released March 25, 2008

 My Life as a King takes place after the events of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, in a remote area of the peaceful world the Crystal Caravans created. The king, having lost this realm to the Miasma, now tries to revive his kingdom through a mysterious power called “Architek” that he received from the crystal. The king pays for research for new items for his warriors to purchase and sends them out to purge the land of evil. The player is free to give the kingdom the name of their choice, with “Padarak” being the suggested default.

Review: I didn’t even bother to try and play this game.  I’m not a big fan of anything that ends up on the Wii, since they just don’t seem to support the full games most of the time like XBox 360 or PS3, and so I just don’t play most games on this system.

Final Fantasy Dissidia-PSP, released December 18, 2008

The story revolves around two gods: Cosmos, the goddess of harmony, and Chaos, the god of discord. Creating a world from pieces of other worlds, they have been locked in eternal conflict within it, meanwhile summoning several warriors to battle in a never-ending cycle of death and rebirth until the balance tipped in favor of Chaos. As the war seems to be nearing its end, the ten warriors of Cosmos band together to strike back at Chaos’s minions and restore harmony.  Cosmos gives the ten warriors the task of retrieving the ten crystals that will help them defeat Chaos. They each set out on a journey called a “Destiny Odyssey,” where their respective stories are told and interlink with one another. During their “Destiny Odysseys,” the heroes encounter their personal villains, defeating them through epiphanies about themselves that help them obtain their crystals.  Following the “Destiny Odysseys” is the “Shade Impulse,” where all ten warriors are in possession of their crystals, but arrive too late to save Cosmos, who is apparently killed by Chaos. The heroes begin to fade away, but are saved by the power of the crystals, allowing the heroes to use what time they have left to strike back against the villains and defeat Chaos once and for all. In the end, the warriors return to their respective worlds, allowing harmony to reign under Cosmos, who somehow survived Chaos’s attack and has a new-found sense of faith in the future as there is still conflict in the world.

Review: Another game that caught me from the side, I had not expected a fighting game from Square-Enix, much less one based upon the main antagonists or protagonists of the Final Fantasy Series.  It’s ease of play, and exciting new storyline did give rise to many countless hours of trying to beat it, and to do so with 100%, and unlike the RPGs, I could walk away for a bit, come back, and continue playing it like I hadn’t left.  All in all, it was a interesting adaptation, and one I felt was worth the investment.  But my girlfriend got mad at it, since it distracted me a lot…

 Score: 8.5/10

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time- Nintendo DS, Wii, released January 29, 2009

The protagonist of the game returns from a forest where he/she battled a great number of monsters to celebrate his/her sixteenth birthday and coming-of-age ceremony. Upon completion, a cat-girl named Sherlotta rewards him/her with a personal crystal. The hero returns home to find a young village girl, Eryll, suffering from crystal sickness. The hero then sets out to find a cure for the disease. However, he/she is unaware that outside his village lies a world where crystals are merely artifacts of the past and no longer exist.

Review: I didn’t play this game either.  In case you can’t tell, you get to choose your gender in this one.

Final Fantasy Crystal Defenders:Vangaurd Storm – Mobile/IPhone, released May 13, 2009

 A mobile phone app, this game is another defender’s game, this time attemting to keep monsters from going to one side of the screen from another.  It features several classes from FF Tactics A2, and like the other defenders game, requires a little strategy.  I played the demo version, which wasn’t too bad for a quick play game, but I wouldn’t rate this high in the Final Fantasy legacy. Another one lacking in backstory, its also set in Ivalice ‘verse.

 Score: 5/10

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord- WiiWare, released June 30, 2009

As the title suggests, My Life as a Darklord is a direct sequel to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. The protagonist, Mira, is the daughter of the Darklord, the antagonist of the previous game. She lives in a tower that she must defend from marauding adventurers by populating it with monsters and traps. You progress through the game by surviving hordes of enemies that are on adventures trying to destroy the crystal at the top of your tower.

Review: I haven’t played it, nor any of the Crystal Chronicles.  See previous reviews in this series as to why…

Final Fantasy The 4 Heroes of Light – DS, released October 29, 2009

The story revolves around a 14-year old boy summoned by the King of Horne to rescue his daughter, Princess Carino, who has been captured by the Witch of the North.

 Review: Hasn’t been released yet for North America, so I haven’t played it yet.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers- (Wii) released November 12, 2009

 A thousand years have passed since the events of the original Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The destruction of the Yuke Crystal during the Great War, with the Yuke Tribe suffering apparent annihilation, had at last brought the victorious Lilties dominion over the world as they bring it into a new age of science and reason through Crystal Reactors.  They outlaw the use of magic and rule over the Clavats and few Selkies who comply to the new order. In this new era of imbalance exists a rare breed of powerful beings called Crystal Bearers, whose seemingly magical abilities have led them to be feared and scorned by the public. The young mercenary Layle is one such Crystal Bearer, who has been hired to escort the new passenger airship Alexis, the pinnacle of Lilty technology and a symbol of their current dominance. However, when the Alexis is suddenly besieged by a horde of monsters, Layle comes face to face with a mysterious Yuke named Amidatelion who takes the Alexis’ crystal shards, forcing Layle to land the thing with his powers. Soon after, getting caught up with Belle, a Selkie wanted by the Lilties for taking pictures while on the Alexis, Layle becomes a wanted man as his impulse to settle things with Amidatelion lands him on a quest which uncovers a conspiracy in the Lilty Kingdom that may threaten the future of the world..

 Review: Another FF game for a system I won’t own, and haven’t played.  Ah for the days of visiting friends’ houses after school…

Final Fantasy XIII- PS3, Xbox 360, released December 17, 2009

The setting of Final Fantasy XIII is primarily focused on the world of Cocoon, a sphere that floats above the surface of Pulse, the world below. Both worlds are controlled by fal’Cie, mechanical beings with godlike powers, each based around a crystal and created by a greater God-like figure called the Maker. The Cocoon fal’Cie are additionally responsible for keeping Cocoon floating, as well as providing light and water. Each fal’Cie handles a specific task within this utilities system. The fal’Cie have the capability of marking the humans, also created by the Maker, that live in Pulse and Cocoon as their servants. These servants, called l’Cie, are branded with a symbol representing either Pulse or Cocoon, and are additionally given a “Focus”, a task to complete. If the l’Cie complete their task in time, they are transformed to crystal; otherwise they become mindless monsters called Cie’th.

Review: I played through the demo, which I kinda liked, but heard the gamers complaining about the full game. I haven’t bought this game yet for my system, though most gamers would try and warn me off from doing so.  The game-play went from the usual Final Fantasy style to a very linear, very main story driven game that most gamers were furious about, especially since newer RPG’s like Fallout 3, Oblivion, and even FF XII had the sandbox style of game-play and choices of places to go that Final Fantasy was classically known for.  While it had great graphics, and decent game-play, the storyline left much to be desired.

 Score: 5.5/10

Final Fantasy XIV- PC, PS3, yet to be released, in beta testing right now, see this post

And this is not including the games that are announced but not yet have a date set for release, like Fortress, Final Fantasy Agito XIII, or Final Fantasy Versus XIII. A long series, spanning over 2 decades, and it really is worthwhile to play most of the games in the series.

And that is the Final Fantasy Series in review…. I hope you enjoyed.

Description of the games are edited versions of plot summaries from wikipedia.org, images are the intellectual property of Square, Squaresoft, and Square-Enix, all rights reserved.

Review: Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GC, 2001)

Developed by Silicon Knights, Konami

Published by Nintendo

Story- 9.8/10

Gameplay- 10/10

Design- 10/10

Control- 8.9/10

Music- 10/10

Fun Factor- 10/10

Overall- 10/10

If you’ve owned any generation of the PlayStation, then surely you’re familiar with the Metal Gear Solid series. For you Nintendo people- well, you haven’t seen a Metal Gear since…. NES. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a nice port of the first two games in the Solid series, but does it do the originals justice, or does it fall victim to FoxDie?

The panel has decided: this game is #$%^&*#@ awesome.

Story- 9.8/10

Tactical Espionage Action- Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, if you’re a stickler for titles, is a remake of the first Metal Gear Solid game for PS.

Snake is forced out of a seven-year retirement by Col. Campbell after hearing news of FOXHOUND, their former unit, taking control of Shadow Moses Island in Alaska. The military base houses a new nuclear-based prototype weapon, Metal Gear REX, a mobile version of its predecessor. Campbell sends Snake on a one-man infiltration mission to stop REX from activating, and to save DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Chief Donald Anderson and ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker.

Gameplay- 10/10

Before playing Metal Gear Solid, I had a vague sense of what a stealth-based game should be like. After playing Metal Gear Solid, I had seen that a game had perfected stealth-based strategy.

THEN I played The Twin Snakes, and everything was surpassed again.

If you went into this thinking it was another run-and-gun military game, you’d be rudely awakened in the first five minutes of gameplay. If you aren’t sneaking around, shooting out cameras, or subduing enemies and hiding them in lockers, chances are…. you’re doing it wrong.

I mean come on, it even says it on the box: Tactical Espionage Action.

There’s one hinderance that I had, but without it, Metal Gear Solid wouldn’t be Metal Gear Solid- the cutscenes.

While beyond crucial to the story, and very well-directed, the cutscenes sort of “break up” the game, making it a little less fluid than would it could be. I’m sure someone somewhere said that these games could do without the cinematics… at the sacrifice of a good plot. I just don’t feel like watching a 30 min (exaggerated, but pretty close to) cutscene before fighting the final boss.

For first-time players who are just getting their feet wet, you may find this game to be very difficult, especially if you’re cocky enough to turn the radar setting to “Off”. That’s just a setup for failure.

Even for the veterans, there are many nostalgic moments of “How the heck was I supposed to figure that out?!?!” i.e. Psycho Mantis, which soldier is Meryl in disguise, how to escape the torture room, etc.

“What do you mean ‘You have a :30 time bomb in your inventory’?!?!’”

Design- 10/10

If there’s nothing to conceal yourself within an area, you just aren’t looking hard enough. If you need a better weapon, simply go and find one somewhere.

As small as it is, Shadow Moses has plenty of places to explore. There are plenty of Easter eggs hidden throughout The Twin Snakes that push you to search and explore almost everything: there are a few Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem posters here and there, there’s bobbleheads of Mario and Yoshi in Otacon’s lab, even Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto and Denis Dyack have small cameos.

Weapons and items are littered everywhere, but it’s just a matter of looking for them. Even if you miss a weapon the first time, you can simply go back to that area and check again. Besides, the game will probably make you do that anyway…

Everything is incredibly detailed via the GameCube’s updated rendering: environmental conditions have been updated, blood doesn’t look like a C4+Ketchup contraption just exploded, and characters actually look like characters, not just weird compilations of polygons.

The inclusion of the first-person view from MGS 2 was a huge step up from the original, as you will use it more frequently than you think.

Control- 8.9/10

I’ve always wondered why “Start” wasn’t simply the Codec. Instead, “Start+B” brings up the Codec… Yeah.

The controls, albeit sticky at times, like crawling, get the job done. There isn’t much customization, so you’re stuck with what you got. most of the options have to do with switching into first-person view: reverse Y-axis, sensitivity and whether you wish to hold down Z, or tap Z to enter FP view. I could never figure out how to reload on the fly, and to be frank, you only use firepower in sticky situations.

Music- 10/10

The music does a swell job at capturing the essence of the game, though it lacks a little variety. Maybe “variety” isn’t the right word, but after a while, the background music gets repetitive. It’s a mixture of choral symphonics and robotic techno; doesn’t sound like it would mesh, does it. Every musical selection matches every in-game event perfectly; it enhances the games movie-esque quality to even higher levels of what you’d expect.

Fun Factor- 10/10

There are several references to actual, real world events in The Twin Snakes; yes, they’re crucial to the plot. I’m mentioning this, because games that run along a parallel reality generally turn into a chore to play; a boring, learn-about-politics game wrapped in a shiny wrapper.

This isn’t one of those games.

This, is one of those games that you pick up the controller with the intent of playing for about an hour, only to find that you’ve been playing for six.

Overall- 10/10

I’ve always been boggled as to why some people never liked the Metal Gear series; I suppose it’s the extreme emphasis on stealth.

Metal Gear Solid is a classic, a staple, a genre-defining piece of artistry. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes does just that again, but with better graphics… and it’s on GameCube.

…actually, it has been for eight days now. TAGJ’s very own form, The Astringent Gaming Community, is right here! Or you can just click “Forums” at the top of this very page! We have sections dedicated to BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, Monster Hunter, Starcraft, Starcraft II, Super Smash Brothers, Super Street Fighter IV, and Team Fortress 2 already.

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Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, GC, 2002

Published by Nintendo

Developed by Silicon Knights

Story- 8.9/10

Gameplay- 9.0/10

Design- 9.0/10

Control- 9.0/10

Sound- 10/10

Fun Factor- 8.9/10

Overall- 9.0/10

There’s scary games, and then there’s watching helplessly in horror as a game delete save files without your doing so. Welcome to the mindtrip that is Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem.

Cthulhu lore, skewed camera angles, the walking undead, an accursed book mended from flesh and bone, and a soundtrack that will haunt you forever, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (the first of three “Mature” rated Nintendo games in existence) will wreck any part of sanity you thought you had left.

Story- 8.9/10

Because of how the game is laid out, it makes the explanation of the plot extremely difficult. The game is played out through the historical events within an accursed book bound by skin and bone- the Tome of Eternal Darkness.

The story is told through 12 different characters over the course of 2,027 years. I need to be discreet with the story, because if I say anything about 11/12 of the characters, then I’d unintentionally give out spoilers; every character’s story is intertwined with another. All I can go with is this:

Alex Roivas, the granddaughter of psychologist Edward Roivas, is summoned to the family estate upon hearing of his grizzly death. Searching for clues in the mansion, she stumbles upon the Tome of Eternal Darkness, the accursed time-transcending book of The Ancients, four gods locked in war who plan to conquer all of humanity and purge the world in (get ready…) eternal darkness.

Gameplay- 9.0/10

Eternal Darkness plays like an early Resident Evil game; fixed camera angles, many claustrophobic areas, and plenty of undead. That’s where the similarities stop.

As far as staying alive goes, your primary concerns are health and magic (“magick” in game). I’d include sanity, but then the game isn’t as nerve-racking. Plenty of weapons are bestowed upon you; anything from scimitars to rifles are at your disposal. Magick is used for spells, which do anything from healing to summoning a Horror (See Design below) to do your bidding. The strength of a spell is based on what’s called the “Circle of Power”.

Spells are created by combining runes found throughout the game. There are three types of runes- Ancient, conditional and “Power”. The Ancient runes correspond with health, magick, and sanity; conditional runes are “Area”, “Self”, “Protect” and such. The “Circles of Power” work as thus: Circle of Power Level 1 uses three slots for rune input. A spell needs an Ancient rune and two conditional runes in order to work. For example, to cast Shield Level 1, the runes required are the Ancient rune for health (Chattur’gha), and the runes for “Self” and “Protect”. Later on, you’ll find level 2 and level 3 Circles of Power, with 5 and 7 slots. Let’s say you want to cast Shield Level 3. You need the three runes for Shield Level 1, but you still have four empty slots. This is where the “Power” runes come in (or “Pargon” in game). Shield Level 3 uses the Shield Level 1 runes, plus four Pargon runes. This yields a much stronger shield, but uses much more magick.

Now then, let’s talk about the real reason people are drawn to this game- the sanity meter. Many games, like Conker’s Bad Fur Day, break the 4th wall (where the player is addressed by the game) for comedic effect. Eternal Darkness breaks the 4th wall to #%$& with your head…..and #$& it does. To this date, Eternal Darkness is the only game to screw with the player’s mind as much as it does. This is where the sanity meter comes into play. When enemies see you, the sanity meter drops. It isn’t by much, but it adds up fast. When the meter reaches the halfway point, welcome to 4th wall hell. The first of the effects is a slightly tilted camera angle, enough to where you need to cock your head to the side to see straight. When the meter drops a little below that, the music is replaced with a woman and child crying. Eventually you’ll hear screaming, followed by the sound of blades hitting flesh, and something hitting the floor.

By this point, you’re freaked out enough as is, but the game isn’t done toying with you. Here’s a list of a some of the effects I had to put up with:

walking on the ceiling

using a healing spell, only to watch the character explode

the infamous “blue screen of death”

having random limbs fall off until death

watching save files delete themselves

being told  Controller 1 is disconnected while fighting a horde

footsteps (this one is scarier than you think)

knocking coming from behind a door that you just walked through

watching walls and ceilings drip blood

watching the game reset itself

pausing the game only to see that your inventory is gone- ALL OF IT

watching a fly crawl across the screen only to have it multiply into 100 more

simulated volume control and channel changing

sinking into the floor as if it were quicksand

“the bathtub scene“

Believe it or not, there’s still more effects, but some of them contain spoilers…

Design- 9.0/10

As far as levels go, deja-vu is at hand in the extreme. There are only a few landmarks in the game (4 to be exact), but each time you revisit as a new character, you’re in a different area. To clarify, let’s say Character I is in a temple. Her “level” consists of the western and southern areas of the temple. Character II’s story places him in the same temple, but his “level” may be the northern and eastern areas of the temple.

Each setting is beautifully detailed and scaled to perfection.

A good portion takes place inside a massive cathedral. There’s an area on the second floor where you have an option to look across the sanctuary from a balcony. It serves no purpose as far as gameplay goes, but the view of the architecture and the gigantic stained-glass window is simply astounding.

The two beefs that I had; you never see the outside world (the game is either indoors or underground), and draw distance.

There’s a city-like area underground that you explore a few times as different characters. Although it’s underground, the scale is immense. You can see that the buildings practically go on forever… and then you notice it; the foreground is in beautiful, textured 3D, but the backdrop….is a wall. Eternal Darkness was released in 2002; the technology was there- Metroid Prime did it, and it was a GameCube release title. A game with fixed camera angles shouldn’t need to have a flat, 2D wall as a background. I could understand if it was a boundary (a la Ocarina of Time), but this was 2002.

The game has three different endings, depending on which route you take at the beginning of the game (technically four, but the last one is interchangeable). Aside from the few mid-bosses that there are, enemies are the same no matter which path you take. The five enemy types are Trappers, a blind, bizarre cross between spiders and scorpions that will send you to what’s called the “Trapper Dimension” if approached; Zombies, lumbering brutes who are vulnerable to fire; Horrors, a combination of spell-casting and brute force; Guards, giant bird-like guardians with impervious wings; and Cloaks, headless possessors who take control of other humans.

Control- 9.0/10

The control scheme takes some getting used to, but it’s functional at best. The fact that the B-Button is used for interaction, instead of the A-Button, took quite a while to get. I was a little surprised the the C-Stick isn’t used. Spells can be mapped to the D-Pad and Y-Button, but the C-Stick has no use. The X-Button lets you sneak around, but you don’t really need it except for maneuvering around Trappers. The shoulder buttons are put to constant use; the left shoulder allows the character to run, while the right shoulder activates targeting, allowing the player to shoot off limbs and heads of enemies. It’s worth mentioning that you can also shoot friendly NPC’s, but I don’t condone it: doing so empties your sanity meter.

Sound- 10/10

What this game lacks in graphics, it makes up for in the sound department. The fact that it uses Dolby 5.1 Surround makes it even better. Most of the music is somewhat ambient- not real exciting. The situational music however, is awesome. The screams and other sanity effect sounds really get to your core. The voice acting, though cliché at times, is excellent. There’s plenty of talent to be recognized here; voice actors include Neil Dickson, Kim Mai Guest, and the legendary Jennifer Hale and Cam Clarke.

Fun Factor- 8.9/10

Eternal Darkness, though intense as heck at times, is actually a pretty fun game. There are moments however, where it’s unclear of what the game wants you to do, and it becomes very frustrating. There are plenty of magical puzzles that will grind your gears, but there’s a sense of accomplishment once you finally figure them out.

Overall- 9.0/10

While it may not be the scariest game of all time, it’s definitely one of the scariest titles for any Nintendo system. Eternal Darkness took breaking the 4th wall in a whole new direction, and set the standard for seriously terrifying the crap out of players. Well done, Nintendo. Well done indeed. Not bad for your first M-rated game.