Final Fantasy retrospective beginnings: Parts I & II

30 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Jul 23rd 2007 7:50PM
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, RPGs, MMO

We definitely enjoyed the Legend of Zelda retrospective and we're happy to see Brandon Jones, who wrote, produced and did the voice-over for that saga, is back to tell the Final Fantasy series in the same style. Due to the madness of E3, the first episode of the Final Fantasy retrospective got lost in the fray. You can watch the first episode above and then as a special gift from us, check out the second episode after the break. The other eleven episodes are expected to come out weekly.

Tags: brandonjones, episode1, episode2, finalfantasy, finalfantasyretrospective

(Page 1) Reader Comments

alexy: Jul 23rd 2007; 8:06PM

TBH....I'm getting sick of Final Fantasy Artwork...
Its getting so generic......but then what do expect from a series that up to its 13th sequel(if you include Versus 14)
Can't Square just make a new franchies instead of piggybacking on famous title, yeah its a good marketing Idea but as for some gamers like me who don't like endless sequels......it can get frustrating......
FF = RPG version of MADDEN.... :( milked to the core with endless sequels :(
When CGI movie(advent children) came out....FF died to me.....fell of a cliff(with awesome RagDoll Effects)

John: Jul 23rd 2007; 8:14PM

And your contribution to society is what?

Exo: Jul 23rd 2007; 8:17PM

Each Game has not only had a diffrent style to it, and All the games are completely diffrent from each other, teh only thing connecting them is their title.

The madden comparison is a total fail. Why insist on talking about games you have never played?

alexy: Jul 23rd 2007; 8:31PM

What in hell are you talking about, I said ARTWORK...
Not the Game it self...
You tell me the Protagonist in Versus doesn'tlook like Vincent mixed with Kadaj(from advent children) then tell me I'm wrong, and Don't tell me I havn't played FF
Because you don't know shit.. :\
Somewhere along the line Sony fanboys have become so
defensive against people that say anything to their title that they don't even let anyone have a bad opinion of it....
You guys are why I hate Sony tyvm for killing everything I ever loved about Psone&2

Exo: Jul 23rd 2007; 8:57PM

Not a sony fanboy, nice try though. I only have a ps2 and cant really be bothered to buy any more sony systems till they have what I want. Makes even less sense seeing as sony doesn't even make or hold any rights to FF.

And you are wrong cause those characters don't even look alike, and those are faces. you said the art as in a general term, why not try saying what you mean?

Im still not convinced that you have played any of them, you cant dig yourself out of your whole that you made with the madden comment.

SkyCroc: Jul 23rd 2007; 8:13PM

IMO anything post VI is garbage.

hvnlysoldr: Jul 23rd 2007; 8:17PM

My favorite was FFIX. But that was a throwback to the older style. Really weird. Also I love FFTA and logged over 260 hours on it.

tenchi221: Jul 23rd 2007; 8:57PM

i predict epic retrospective

Bucket: Jul 23rd 2007; 10:36PM

Ooh, I can't wait until they cover Final Fantasy Adventure for the GameBoy. Probably my favorite handheld game ever. (Yes, I'm aware it's actually the Mana series.)

Steve: Jul 23rd 2007; 10:57PM

Regardless of what you think about Final Fantasy, these retrospectives are great. They did a bang up job on the Zelda ones and so far these look to be just as good.

Christopher7xii: Jul 23rd 2007; 10:58PM

Heh, gotta love the haters.

FF13 has had different art directors throughout the series. I find it strange that you say they all look the same, yet Zidane looks nothing like Squall (who looks like a jpop star), who looks nothing like Cloud who looks nothing like barret who looks nothing like Cid... Who looks nothing like Auron who looks nothing like Cecil who looks nothing like Vaan who looks nothing like Basch who looks nothing like Zell...

You get the picture? Yes, similar features as in they're all pretty men, usually spiked hair of some sort is involved... but that's about the end of it.

Yes, the series will carry similarities through out the games. That's why it's a series.

Sucks that you can't enjoy a top quality game like Final Fantasy. Hope you're happy not enjoying AAA games. Me, I gotta go play some Final Fantasy III on DS. Ciao.

J: Jul 23rd 2007; 11:44PM

That was seriously the best. I was very happy that they made the distinction that it was a very hard RPG. Which honestly for a 9 year old (me) at the time, it was. I hated the rendition on GBA for the simple fact that they added MP. Took the challenge away. Oh yeah and no more ineffective hits. I actually like when game makers do that. It a) makes more sense and b) gives extra challenge to the game. Your supposed to get mad that you picked the wrong strategy and missed. Jeeze!

The Big L: Aug 13th 2007; 11:32AM

I don't mean to bash your comment but how does it make more sense if somebody doesn't think to attack another target if their original target is already dead.

Martin: Jul 23rd 2007; 11:51PM

Anyone know where I can grab a downloadable version of these movies? They are great narratives ... I'll have to check out the Zelda retrospective now.

KiraXD: Jul 23rd 2007; 11:52PM

These retrospectives are awesome... very very cool.
stop fanboying it up in here, its about the history of a great series.. not what consoles it was on.

Purple Haze: Jul 24th 2007; 1:47AM

This should be good, but I'm not gonna watch the first 3 because I haven't finished them. Also it's probably a stupid question but are they doing the spinoffs? I'd think no but some were quite good in a lot of ways.

Arkon: Jul 24th 2007; 3:54AM

After watching this I can't believe I haven't played one
final fantasy game.

Geist: Jul 24th 2007; 5:06AM

I'm pretty sure it's the law that you can't post on Joystiq unless you've played one.

I mean, how does one even call themselves a gamer without playing a single Final Fantasy game? Madness!

p3arl: Jul 24th 2007; 4:46AM

@ ARKON

NO WAY DUDE! you HAVE to play one of these. i find number 7 to be a little fated now but if you love a great story start there. 8 and 9 were a blast too. i bought a xbox over a ps2 so never got to play 10 10-2 and 12 (i refused to play that online shit 11)

Geist: Jul 24th 2007; 5:09AM

A little while ago I resolved to beat every numbered Final Fantasy game (none of that Adventures shit). And I did. You know how hard it is to play the original Final Fantasy on the NES, after being spoiled with the offerings nowadays? Daaaaayummm.

I remember playing the third one years ago, and then completely forgot about it. When the DS version came out, it was like playing a new game.

jeffx: Jul 24th 2007; 8:21AM

Please joystiq keep us posted on the future installments.

Sachiel: Jul 24th 2007; 8:23AM

I think Final Fantasy is by far the best gaming series ever. Every title in the series has something unique and special. No other long running series has that. Final Fantasy tells some of the best stories games have ever told, the games always look phenomenal (especially FFXII - that game just looked amazing!) and they're always fun and challenging to play! Final Fantasy deserves it's iconic status IMO.

Christopher7xii: Jul 24th 2007; 10:37AM

I wouldn't call them challenging at all now-a-days, it's all really just whether or not you want to invest the time to level up.

I do second the whole awesome storyline and unique feel to each game though.

Also find it strange that someone hasn't played a single FF their entire life. Not beat, but never to have even started one? Crazy. I think FFXII is by far the best place to start for newcomers.

Bardiel: Jul 24th 2007; 11:30AM

@Arkon,

Dude, you need to play some Final Fantasy! FF7 is an awesome game, probably one of my favorites ever, but I think FF6 and FF10 and FF12 are great places to start too! FF12 is my all time favorite game!

Sachiel: Jul 24th 2007; 11:33AM

I'm not so sure FFXII is the best place to start for newcomers, really. It's battle system isn't really turn-based, and the rest of the series has been, so getting into the series from FFXII is probably not the best way to go. I got into FF 2 years ago with FFX - that game is just pure awesome!

Chris: Jul 24th 2007; 12:44PM

I almost cried! So~ nostalgic. 超懐かしい～！

Willow: Jul 24th 2007; 9:21PM

If FF artwork is getting generic, its only because they've constantly defined how good the character models and CGI cutscenes can be. Very few other games come close to their CS quality (Onimusha series is a rare exception). Saying all the characters look the same is like saying most anime heros are. Well, duh.
BUT - its true that FF and its derivatives (Dragonquest etc) are a particular type of RPG, characterized by endless 'grind' fights, that although I enjoy, I need a break from now and then.
Although, kudos to FFXIII for changing the combat system to flow more with the rest of the game. Took 13 games to get rid of that FFI hangover.

To Skycroc: "IMO anything past VI is garbage": Err...ummm. No, sorry. I've really tried to see what I can do to my head to agree with you, but no. I'm sure the last 10 years of gaming have been a terrible disappointment to you.

FermitTheKrog: Jul 25th 2007; 9:41PM

Dear Gametrailers:

Please buy G4. Please?

Thanks.

-Fermit

Ants: Jul 26th 2007; 2:44AM

The FF's arn't really sequals, they are all different stories. FFX2 was one of the only ones that was an actual sequal.

Backslash: Aug 2nd 2007; 5:46AM

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to back out of this retrospective after it goes past the first few episodes or so. I only ever beat Final Fantasy I, II, V, and VIII -- the rest I kinda just laid around because something else came up.

I should probably go and beat them , huh? :/

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