The plot / writing feels like it was put together by a 13 year old, or maybe an AI. it's almost interesting, and almost makes sense, but doesn't. Things just sort of "happen", and they don't really make sense and aren't really explained. Character motivations are unclear. Also, the gameplay is shit.
The world they created is super compelling, which seems to always be the case with Final Fantasy games. I just wish they could make an actually good game to go with their top tier world building and art direction.
I wanted this game to be cool so badly.
It seems like when a company gets too big, they make narrative decisions that are safe and avoid deeper conversations about the themes in their stories.
Sterling's video covered a lot of my sentiments, but I can't emphasize enough the issue I have around writing in slaves without addressing the systemic issues around slavery and bigotry.
If they didn't feel comfortable exploring stories like that honestly, they shouldn't have gone in that direction. I don't know a lot about the creative team, but I wonder how much of the worldbuilding would have been fixed if they had input from descendants of slaves.
It just makes me sad, I guess. Fantasy and sci-fi are cool ways to bridge the gap in understanding between people by using allegory and metaphor.
I saw Final Fantasy X, while flawed, depicting a world with systemic issues addressing discrimination coming from the top down. Yevon, the state religion enforced strict rules and offered conditional support based on conversion. I think the depiction of the Al Bhed was clumsy, but it was a good effort for a 2001 game.
Despite its linearity, Spira felt like a real world where recent FF entries just feel like backdrops for aesthetically pleasing cutscenes. I really wish they would go back to a more cohesive style of worldbuilding instead of the recent entries full of codices and incongruous designs (Why do like none of the settlements have walls? Who would fucking drive a car in FF XV's world when monsters can come out of the fucking ground at night?!)
Anyone else have hopes for the Final Fantasy IX remake? At the moment, I'm between cautious optimism for the chance to delve deeper in the established history of the setting, and fear that they'll take a more modern approach with info dumping in texts.
Honestly I am afraid to see most Japanese writers explore this topic because they do not have exposure to it in Japan. Usually it end up like when white people write about it.
I don't think the writers at Square have the ability to tackle things like racism, but if they just had a black person on staff or something, that would go a long way to avoid obvious screw ups.
FINALLY some vindication for the FFX enjoyers. There were flaws but I thought final fantasy was finally pivoting in the right direction with regards to storytelling, and nothing that came after felt like it lived up to that standard.
God damn I remember being totally drawn in when the story reached the blitzball championship game. So many threads converging at once: chasing after the church goons kidnapping Yuna, while getting glimpses of Wakka holding the line for one last game, wondering if the al bhed girl is gonna make an appearance after seeing her crew skulking around, and FINALLY running into Auron when things seemed to be calming down, with the main character losing his composure after learning that Auron won't be able to fix everything like he'd been hoping for over the course of half the game's length. Societal and character drama all swirling together in one great "episode," it showed real understanding of pacing and drip-fed worldbuilding that, at the time, made it seem like no RPG franchise out there could match Final Fantasy's overall polish and professionalism.