How "final" is the Final in Final Fantasy?

A wonderful silly browser-based RPG I used to play often, Kingdom of Loathing, had a parody of this called “Penultimate Fantasy.”

Now now @ETpro you’re looking for logic in video game names. That’s your first mistake.

If I recall video game history correctly, Square was doing really poorly at the time and this was kinda their break out game that saved the company. They probably thought this was the final game they’d be making. Turned out to be a hit. Then they just stuck with the name because it was already popular.

My question is why the hell do people keep playing these games? Havent they gotten bored yet? Its been around since 87…

Oh lord, I am haunted by the sound of F.F. from when my daughter was addicted to the game.
I am FINAL-ally living in a video game free zone, bliss out! haha

@uberbatman is correct

Anyway, it’s all about Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeros.

The first final fantasy was supposed to be the last game the studio ever made, before closing down. But then the game became a huge success.

The title doesn’t really mean anything in the series besides what @ragingloli and @uberbatman said. The creator, Hironobu Sakagucgi called it Final Fantasy specifically because that was going to be his last project. RPG’s weren’t popular much then, not over here anyways, so I guess he didn’t think it would catch on. But it did…rather well, at that.

But lo and behold lol. The games have changed from simple turn based combat driven games to…I don’t even know what the hell they’re about anymore, I pretty much stopped after number nine. (although I did try 10 and 12, hate both haha)
Keep in mind too, that most games all stand individually, and besides obvious trademarks and gameplay aspects, they never tie in to one another, besides a few, like the XIII series, X and X-2. Some of the games also take place in a kingdom called Ivalice, although they never have any relations with one another besides happening in the same land. (will stand corrected though, as I say I gave up on these quite a while back)

Rest assured though, the series is here to stay, at least for now. Not only that, but the FF formula was responsible for highly influencing what tons of role playing games were going follow from for years, in both gameplay and style. Fortunately, other developers have been doing their own thing instead of prescribing to FF. Although SE is kind of hurting at the moment, due to being a cash cow thinking it’s god, I don’t think we’re about to see the end of Final Fantasy anytime now…It’s a huge series with legions of fans.

PS; Sephiroth sucks.

I kinda liked 12.
I just wish they would make PC versions. Performance of the ps2 emulator is rather inconsistent, and there is no ps3 emulator in sight.

Fans love it a lot, too. The battles got really annoying for me though. I don’t like how three quarters of the time, I’m not really doing anything. And that license grid pissed me off. (as did the node thing in X haha)

EDIT Aren’t there PC versions for a lot of the games? I know VII and VIII have PC versions anyways.

In Japanese gaming/comics, “Zero” and “Perfect” have somewhat different meanings than what we are used to. It is not unreasonable to assume that, in this context, “Final” is likewise a word that doesn’t mean what we think it means.

@Symbeline VII just got a port announced, but for the most part all of the recent FF games (since 10 I think?) haven’t had PC versions at all.

I thought VII and VIII had PC ports for ages now.

@bookish1 Ha! I love the humor in that.

@uberbatman Aha. Thanks for enlightening me on why the word “Final” in something that’s obviously far from final at this point in time.

@Coloma Sorry to scratch old wounds.

@Michael_Huntington Thanks for the link. Lots of good info there.

@ragingloli Finally I understand why final isn’t final yet.

@Symbeline I don’t hold it against people who suck—well, if they turn me on I do. But Sephiroth doesn’t turn me on. Some features being big serve as a turn-on. But big feet, sword and ego are all massive turn-offs. :-)

@jerv Japan must be somewhat like Quantum Mechanics—the more I study it, the less sense it seems to make.

@DeanV Nice to be able to grant @ragingloli‘s wish, isn’t it?

@ETpro Everyone in FFVII wears big chunky combat boots. Was never sure what the deal with that was…and Sephiroth doesn’t have a big ego, he’s just butthurt. Cloud on the other hand…

@Symbeline How could someone think his rightful role is to take over as God of the planet, and not have a big ego? Bear in mind, I’ve never played the game, so you may well be right. I’m just asking.

Nah I’m just being funny, he does have an ego. Thing is, as I understand it, Sephiroth truly does believe that the world should belong to him. He follows JENOVA, an alien life form which, like Cthulhu, roams space and ’‘eats’’ planets. (it lands on the FFVII world) Essentially, JENOVA gave birth to him (lots more details, but this is essentially it) and Sephiroth views this life from as his mother, and attempts to finish her goal after she ’‘dies’’. So because he truly believes that what he does is what was meant to be, that doesn’t make him all that egotistical, rather than delusional, at least as seen by his more ’‘human’’ side. It isn’t like the protagonist, Cloud, who’s a lot wiser and street smart, but really doesn’t give a shit about anything or anyone for like, three quarters of the game.

They made Sephy too emo in my opinion though, and fans wouldn’t like him so much if they knew that, for most of the game, they’re actually fighting some braindead alien who assumes his shape, rather than the man himself. Lavos from Crono Trigger (another game by the same company) was a way better presentation of that idea than Sephiroth and JENOVA were…and not all emo, either.

@DeanV
FFVII and VIII already had PC versions.

@ETpro You obviously are not familiar with the, “Seriously, Japan, WTF?” meme.