I posted this in my other blog, but...

I posted this in my other blog a while back, but feel it has a place here. Go ahead and read that blog too, at fultonrants@blogspot.com.

When I was but a young boy, I began playing those most epic of games, Final Fantasy. They have always been my very favorite RPGs, as I am sure is true of many of us, but the feelings of joy and unadulterated happiness I used to feel every time a release date drew near have become dread and horror. Some recent news about Final Fantasy XIII, which I until now hailed as a savior for the series, has turned my very blood cold. This is the last straw. You, Squeenix, have betrayed my trust for the last time.This is a chronicle of how I, a once die-hard Square fanboy, became a bitter, angry Squeenix-hater.

Long ago, when I was around nine or ten, I was a firly lonesome boy. I didn't really have a lot of friends my own age, so I knd of hung around with the younger kids who lived in my neighborhood. We had little in common, but at that age, you were where you were, so I made the best of it. Until I met Dan. Dan was a kid a little bit older than me who lived up the street from me, and had that most sacred of instruments; The Super Nintendo. We hit it off fast, and soon, I was spending hours in his basement, playing Mario and Zelda, talking about Star Trek, and that was that. Until, that is... that golden day, when Dan recieved something new, something I had never thought of before... Final Fantasy III. To this day I remember the first question I ever asked about it: "If it's a FINAL Fantasy, how can there be three of them?" Dan nodded sagely, scratched his chin, and imparted to me the sacred wisdom, that he had, in fact, NO idea. Grinning, we set about playing the game. Here was something i had never seen the likes of before... an overworld. Once you got an airship, you could fly it whereever you wanted. Zelda had had something similar, of course, but not on this kind of SCALE! The turn-based battles that allowed you to think things through, the magic spells, the use of multiple characters at once... it was incredible. I remember sprawling, monstrous summons, and a deep story that I felt like my parents would be mad if they knew I had read. In time, I didn't see so much of Dan anymore, but I will always remember those days, when I first began to become the gamer I would always be. From that day, I regarded Square on the level of godhood, like the great Nintendo or Sega themselves.

The next I knew of Final Fantasy was when Final Fantasy VII came out. I was young, and confuced as hell about the numbering system. Wasn't the last one Final Fantasy III? It would be years before I heard about the now famous numbering SNAFU that led to this, but I simply shrugged and went with it. Unfortunately, when faced with the choice between a Playstation or a Nintendo 64, I had decided to not repeat the mistake of the Sega CD, and went with the 64. This gave me little to no access to the game, but I do remember playing it in pieces at a friend's house. The new 3D graphics amazed me, and I remember being utterly amazed at the speed of the Highwind, and the size of the monstrous Weapons. The story was even better than III (now known to in fact be VI), with a villain driven insane by the awful things that had been done to turn him into a hero. Gone were the short, squat people I remembered; they had been replaced with graphics that looked like humans and were, dare I say it? ATTRACTIVE.

I heard nothing of this wonderful world of games for many years, until I was going to High School. There, I was good friends with a guy named Rick, who had played but not enjoyed his copy of Final Fantasy VII, and so, gave it to me. What ensued was a wave of years passing, during which I became obsessed. I played every Square game I could get my hands on. By this point, I had my own PSX, and a world of possibilities was open to me. I played the Anthologies, thus visiting the original games I remembered, as well as being introduced to many that were new to me. I played the untouchable Chrono Trigger, and it's amazing sequel Chrono Cross. I played Vagrant Story and Star Ocean 2. I played the incredible Final Fantasy VIII, of course, with mounting joy.

Then, it happened. Final Fantasy IX. The game that was then, and in many ways will always be, my favorite RPG of all time. It was not without it's flaws, but Zidane's bright attitude and Vivi's tragic story held me in sway. Backed up by classic gameplay with a few twists, it easily ate hours of my life. With a smile on my face, I couldn't wait to pilot my strangely literal airship on a sea of mist. Thus ended what I now call the golden age of Square, and began what is now tainted forever in my mind as the Age of Squeenix.

The Playstation 2. Arguably the most popular videogame console of all time, this system is still in production today, despite the PS3 having been released years ago. With it came a whiole new wavelength of games and graphics. One day, I flipped open my Playstation Magazine, and there, printed before me, were the three letters I felt I had been waiting my whole life for: FFX. With baited breath, i read the article, frantic for any word whatsoever on this wonderful game. I soon discovered that the battle system I had grown to love would receieve a few tweaks. I had no worries, though. How could SQUARESOFT make a bad game, after all? In the months to come, when the game was finally released, I found myself to be a strange mix of satisfied and dissapointed. The game had indeed been excellent, with voice acting, action scenes, music I adored, and fun, though simple, gameplay. However, a small but inescapable cloud fell over the game. There was no overworld. I had been looking forward to flying a beautiful airship around a lovely, ocean blue planet, eagerly landing in unexplored places to seek all the strange and new secrets the world was sure to hold. Instead, i got to pick locations from a menu, and play a built in sports game.

This sadness was cut short as Square again shot me full of joy, with one of the greatest games they ever made, Kingdom Hearts. This odd mix of Final Fantasy storytelling and art direction with beloved Disney characters and locations was a surprise hit, to say the least. The very idea sounds absurd! However, I loved the game, and my doubts about Square were set safely aside for the time being. Little did I know what awaited on the horizon. Final Fantasy X-2 (Yes, that's said Ten two) was coming. At first, it made sense. "AH," I thought. "THAT'S why they didn't let you fly an airship! They knew they were going to make a sequel, and they didn't want to leave a question as to why you couldn't find the locations you visit in X-2 in the first one!" Nodding to myself, I waited happily for the game... only to be tragically dissapointed. It wasn't a BAD game... it was simply silly and thoughtless, which felt harsh and strange after the fun, deep world of X. Still in denial, I chalked it up to the natural order of things. After all, not everything is perfect every time. Even Square could make mistakes, right?

Shortly after, the Squeenix incident occurred. Square was hemmorhaging money fast after they had spent so much money on their relative failure of a movie, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Personally, I found the film to be excellent, but fans in general were crestfallen. They didn't want this new story. Most of them wanted Final Fantasy VII, but on the big screen. (Ironically, they would later get just that, and proceed to complain about it, too. You simply can't please a fan.) This combined with a bunch of other things caused Square to be bought out by Enix, a rival developer, and one who's games I had NEVER enjoyed. With a heavy heart, I purchased the first game to be released under the SquareEnix label, and was pleasantly surprised. Kingdom Hearts II was fun and intriguing, a somewhat darker counterpoint to the original. Maybe, I said to myself, things weren't so bad after all.

Then came the dark ages, from which we have never risen. The days of Final Fantasy XI. The game was designed to be a completely online experience, much like WOW, and frankly, was doomed from the start. Not only did you have to buy the PS2's optional hard drive to play it, but you had to shell out a monthly fee to be connected. I know very few people who even bothered. Those who did paint a bleak picture. Gone were the wonderful characters and events of games past, gone were controlling your parties in a turn based battle, gone were the days where puzzles took time and thought. All of this was replaced with grinding. Grinding, for those not in the know, is when you fight monsters for hours to level up your character to a point where the game becomes easier. They took a beautiful, tried and true system, and abandoned it comepltely.

Heartbroken, I waited for the day when Final Fantasy XII would be released, hoping for something, ANYTHING to dull the pain. Finally, that day came. The classic system had not been restored, so it played exactly like an MMORPG. That was bad enough, but I musceled past it. Suddenly, it happened. I realized what had been removed this time; the story. Where before there had been lovingly crafted tales of fantasy and worlds we could never even imagine, now there was a 70 hour treasure hunt. The absolute low point came for me when, in the course of the "story", a term I use loosely, it became necessary that a world famous Captain, who was in your party, reveal that he was alive and well. Instead of having him do that, they have you, a 17 year old street kid, PRETEND TO BE HIM. The utter lack of logic so defeated me that I broke inside. Not only was Squeenix crushing my childhood, but they were assuming I was an idiot, too.

With that, I put up my Final Fantasy belt. Many games have come and gone since, mostly in the Final Fantasy Tactics and Crystal Chronicles franchises, but I don't have the heart to even rent them. My very soul cries out in torment at the thought of not being first in line for a Final Fantasy purchase, but there is nothing to be done. The only rays of light come from a strange place: the PSP. Oddly, the few Final Fantasy games released on that system, specifically Dissidia and Crisis Core, were actually pretty good. For a while, I thought that this was indicative of things to come.

Suddenly, there seemed to be a silver lining. Final Fantasy XIII was on its way, and it was supposedly turn based again. It seemed to me that they were finally listening to the outcry of the fans, but recent revelations indicate that it was, in fact, not to be. Though the gameplay is of a more classic nature, they have gone one step too far. There are no longer towns in Final Fantasy, because SquareEnix has decided that they are simply "too hard" to program. They also throw around words like "archaic". The joys of shopping, visiting the Inn, of seeing what life is like in a strange new world, are gone. The world map is insanely linear, with no exploration to be had. It has been said to me that the first six hours of the game are literally in a straight line. These accusations, should they prove true, are the death of this series for me.

Final Fantasy was, to me, about exploring a fantasy. I loved the exotic locations, I loved that there were complete worlds to explore, and above all, I loved the quality. I played these games as a child not because of the popularity, but because of what the name Square meant. It guaranteed quality, it guaranteed that even if I didn't enjoy the game, I would be able to see the love and effort put into it by those who made it. No longer. The games have become lazy, and too absorbed with trying to make money off of pretty graphics and shallow gameplay.

Every Final Fantasy since IX has lost some major portion of what once was the very core of the series. X abandoned the beautiful overworld. XI abandoned the classic party system and turn based gameplay. XII ditched the once lovely story in favor of mindless droning. And XIII... XIII has abandoned what was most important of all... the atmosphere. The towns and shops and random exploration that made the worlds fell ALIVE. I once believed that the new generation of systems would bring an end to shallow games.

I hope to the god of games that these thoughts are unfounded, and that, in a little less than a month's time, I can post a retraction with a song in my heart and a smile on my face. However, I can't help but think back to the day I was a small, lonely boy in his neighbor's basement. I can't help but feel that now I know the answer to the question I asked that day. In a world where swords and spells are fast being replaced by grinding and guns, maybe the day has finally come where it makes sense. Those worlds that meant so much to me are gone. Maybe they really were my Final Fantasy.