{"id":80,"date":"2011-04-14T17:13:47","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T21:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chaoticblue.com\/blog\/?p=80"},"modified":"2011-04-14T17:15:29","modified_gmt":"2011-04-14T21:15:29","slug":"from-narshe-with-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chaoticblue.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/from-narshe-with-love\/","title":{"rendered":"From Narshe, with love"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I pretty much just said on Twitter<\/a>, any topic that reaches five Twitter posts’ worth of commentary from me is going to get a full-on blog post. We’ll see how long I stick to that.<\/p>\n

Lately I’ve had discussions in multiple arenas about what makes a good Final Fantasy<\/em> game. Co-GAMBITeer Matt Weise<\/a> and I were chatting earlier about how we both found FF8<\/em> to be one of the more enjoyable in the series, despite the hardcore types’ response to it typically being somewhere between “SQUALL SUX HE IS AN EMO” and cross-grabbing, holy water-dousing, exorcism-like bellows of “Anathema!<\/em><\/strong>” The reasons why there vary; the character of Squall and his dispassionate act 1 attitude are part of it, as is the game’s aesthetic focusing rather intently on sci-fi elements rather than traditional fantasy narrative (yet Final Fantasy IX<\/em>, which brought back the traditional fantasy narrative, was also not a fan favorite either).<\/p>\n

But the holy grail of FF<\/em>-dom appears to be Final Fantasy 6<\/em>. When Kotaku, with their typical caution-to-the-wind exaggeration, calls it “the most beloved Final Fantasy<\/em>,”<\/a> it’s a point I’m willing to concede them. Whenever I hear people talk about which FF<\/em> they love the most, FF6<\/em> is almost to an individual the one chosen. There are some exceptions (Kristen! hay gurl, shout out). I mean, just in language from that Kotaku story:<\/p>\n

Why do people love Final Fantasy VI, or Final Fantasy III as it was known in the states? Because it nailed every aspect of why we love Final Fantasy as a whole. The compelling characters, one of the greatest video game villains of all time, the rich, emotional story; Final Fantasy VI has just about everything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This phrasing is what made me go: “Whoa, step back there, Chocobo.”<\/p>\n

Now, do not get me wrong, mostly because if I ever implied I didn’t like FF6<\/em> in any way I’ll wake up tomorrow with a moogle’s head in my bed. I genuinely loved FF6<\/em> when I played it. I agree that the character design was great and the individual characters had distinct and interesting personalities, PC and NPC alike. Kefka is a good villain, too; it’s no surprise that his voice actor in the Dissidia: Final Fantasy<\/em> series has taken a distinctly Mark Hamil-as-the Joker in Batman: the Animated Series <\/em>approach to the character, because they have much in common.<\/p>\n