| Final Fantasy Chronicles Since 1997, the year Final Fantasy VII debuted, and even further back, an arguement has raged between the old school gamers and the new school. Is it possible to be hardcore and not have played the old style RPGs? Graphics, gameplay, storyline, character developement, etc., which is the defining factor in RPGs? Are the new RPGs too easy, or the old too hard? These questions and hundreds more are the basis of the argument and, in my opinion, Final Fantasy Chronicles is the answer. One of the reasons that many gamers haven't tried there hand at the older Final Fantasy titles is avalibility. Many of the younger gamers simply weren't of age during Square's youth and now are too lazy to seek out a Super Nintendo. For this reason, many people who have only owned a PS simply don't know the joys of the older titles. Final Fantasy Anthologies (which contained final fantasy 5 and 6) was released sometime last year but it never really gained any momentum. This was in part the fault of Squaresoft because they failed to release it in the UK and other areas. Also, they didnt really up grade the graphics any, but the added cinemas were quite nice and well worth playing through the game for. Sadly, it appears that Final Fantasy Chronicles may suffer from some of these faults. Well, I will start off by telling you a little about Chrono Trigger. This game in and of its self is a master piece. First of all, it was a joint effort of Squaresoft and Enix (a big RPG company in Japan. They are responsible for the Dragon Warrior series and the Star Ocean games). Also, it gives you a lot of freedom and decision, boasting at least 15 different endings! Another perk about this game is length. Basically, all you need to do to beat the game is beat the bad guy, Lavos. You can do that at almost any point in the game making the game incredibly short if you want it to be or quite long! If you care to think about it, Chrono Trigger can be looked at from a religious perspective as well, alowing moral decisions to take a role in the game as well. In my opinion, this game has wonderful SNES graphics that could have been updated but werent. However, the graphics still remain decent and allow you to see clearly without deforming the characters too much. Now for Final Fantasy 4. This one could have been a contender if it weren't for square's lack of work on it. These graphics are really a pitty because, though I hate to admit it, they truely take away from the excellence of the storyline, especially to a Final Fantasy novice who is used to consistantly up to par graphics. It is really a shame to square not honoring its roots properly. In fact, the entire updating of these games (in Anthologies, Chronicles, and later in PS2 remakes of Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9) seems to be just to get a little more profit out of as little work as possible. But I digress. Final Fantasy 4 is one of my favorite FF titles regardless of the effort put in to its updating. It has everything that makes a good fantasy game, castles, dragons, airships, evil monarchs, and a little love. (It even has the good old crystals that veteran RPGers should be all too familiar with!) You know, the typical save the world formula that almost all RPGs are founded upon. This game has all of the good character development that is absent in so many of today's games.Cecil is a pretty average guy in rather extreme circumstances. Page 2 |