My favorite Games of All-Time #18: Final Fantasy VI- Originally published on 1UP - April 14, 2006

Final Fantasy is an epic series of games. Many young gamers only know of the series dating back to FF VII. They would tell you that it was the best in the series. Go ask a person that has played every version of Final Fantasy and you will get a different answer. Most will agree that the one prior to VII, the last on the Super Nintendo was the best in the lot.

Final Fantasy VI demonstrated what Square was capable at its peak. There were no long, boring drawn out cinemas. No pop music videos featuring the main characters. No androgynous characters. No complex and unnecessary combat systems

The battle system was straight forward. Skills and weapons could be combined into some fantastic attacks. Players that explored every inch of the map were rewarded with rare items and valuable back story. The graphics were outstanding for the time. Yoshitaka Amano's art direction has few rivals in any Japanese RPG. His style complimented the characters and world. Who could deny the musical genius of Nobuo Uematsu? A man that managed to turn MIDI bips and bleeps into something fantastic!

I dare say that the opera scene in VI was one of the most memorable videogame experiences in my life. People on both sides of the industry argue that the holy grail for videogame developers is to create an emotive experience. To get gamers to cry. Many within the industry believe that they can achieve that through next-generation, high resolution graphics and pre-rendered cinemas. The opera scene counters that logic.

Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi and Directors Yoshinori Kitasa and Hiroyuki Itou manage to craft a moment within a game, part PaRappa the Rapper and part Phantom of the Opera. A moment where we take control and play through a scene, one of the best ever written. By using the candy colored buttons of the Super Nintendo we become the main actor on the stage, we sing of heartbreak and promise. We are made to laugh, cry and overcome adversity. We are connected to the action, we are engaged performers and not a passive audience. The illusion achieved through some simple pixels and midi sound files, not Hollywood caliber special effects.

Final Fantasy games have since taken us out of that moment. Rather than letting us play through the game they now make us sit back and watch the action. It happened as a series of music videos in FFVIII, FFX and FFX-2. When FF XII comes out and we are forced to sit through longer and longer cinemas we will hear the complaints. "Too much watching and not enough doing..."

It was the story in FFVI that sold the game. A story that harkens back to the themes in all great Final Fantasy adventures. The crystal of life, the brave warrior, the wayward guard of the empire, the reluctant hero, the ancient magical creature, the generous soul and a traitorous villain.

If you were to ask a group of people from around the world, that have been playing for over 15 years, to name the top-5 console RPG's of all-time they would rank FFVI in that group. Some might easily put it in the top-3. Those same people might say that FFVII would barely crack the top-10. They are not ranking the games based on sales, graphics or fancy cinemas. They are not ranking the games on popularity either. They rank the games based on the whole package. Those are the games that delivered the best all-around experience, technology be damned!

Critics argue that the story is too corny, too simplistic and too neatly wrapped up. I argue that many of those critics have become cynical with the genre. They truly believe that every Japanese RPG has to end with sacrifice and heartbreak. No story should ever end with "happily ever after."

I counter that argument with what a gamer needs versus what a gamer wants. This applies to every branch of the entertainment industry. We have become saturated with media that satisfies the consumer at every opportunity. The popular music all sounds the same, entertainers are rappers with a rhyme and a hook, every movie is eye candy and every game a 15-minute fix. When the industry suffers they blame the consumer rather themselves. People will always have a need to be entertained. They will always want to share in an experience. It is up to the industry to figure out how to fill our needs without catering to our wants.

Pixar is good at entertaining in the way that Disney studios used to. This is because they give us fun, family stories rather than caustic, animated adult comedy. Pixar still believes in the magic of storytelling, rather than the business of animation.

Final Fantasy VI represents the peak of what the series used to give gamers. It represents the period where gamers basic needs were all satisfied. Before Square catered to the demands of the public and began putting longer and longer cinemas in their games. When we could take a coffee break when summoning Knights of the Round... before Square just about went bankrupt on the dismal Final Fantasy the Spirits Within?

Remember what I said makes for a great game? It is the bare bones, immersive experience? FFVI is a near=perfect RPG template. Contrary to popular opinion the game does not have any weak points. If you are willing to give the game a chance you will not be disappointed. In fact, you will cheer at the end of the opera. You will spit every time you hear the name Kefka. And, God-willing, if you wait until the very last second on the collapsing island at the end of the game you will be rewarded. With what I will not say. You just have to take the adventure for yourself.

The Game That Almost Was #18

I have to make mention of the game that almost went in this spot. The one game that in all honesty gives FFVI a run for its money. Persona by Atlus missed this spot by only a fraction, it too has an opera singer but not an opera scene. If this list was my top-10 RPG's then I might rank Persona ahead of FFVI. That is because it takes the grand adventure of Final Fantasy VI and contemporizes it. It makes it both mature and profane.

Persona, as part of the Shin Megami Tensei series, is the best example of the contemporary role-playing game. It is the battle between good and evil, angels and demons, men in black and illuminati set in the here and now. Localization issues aside it is a well written and well conceived series that appeals to our imagination.

The game has its own combat system, unique weapons and an unusual magic system. It combines arcane magic and pagan summons with the tarot and astrology. Persona has loads of style thanks to the talented art of Kazumo Kaneko, the Atlus equivalent of Amano. Few in the industry can paint humans and demons with as much sex appeal and personality as Kazumo.

Persona is no stranger to controversy. It raises some very deep questions and covers a lot of taboo subjects, including the Catholic ideas of purgatory, Hell and suicide. If anything the upcoming version will cross the line, as characters shoot themselves in the head in order to summon their demon counterpart. But that is Persona, perpetually crossing the line. Daring to raise questions about reality and then ask us to look within. Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? What is the nature of man? What is the nature of monster? Who pulls the strings and what happens when we cross over? The issues dealing with "awakening" and reality were better written and presented in Persona than in the Matrix trilogy.

Many gamers did not give this series a chance. Those gamers miss out on experiences and questions that no other game asks.

If you have only seen ads or trailers of the game you will notice a butterfly. The butterfly is a symbol in the series. The butterfly relates to the Taoist story of transformation. The meaning of awaking to truth and reality. Who would ever imagine that a butterfly could become one of the most powerful symbols in the history of gaming?

"I Dreamt I Was a Butterfly"
by Chuang Tzu

Once upon a time I dreamt I was a butterfly
fluttering hither and thither
to all intents and purposes a butterfly

I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly
and was unconscious of my individuality as a man

Suddenly I awoke
and there I lay
myself again

I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly
or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man

I’d like to hear your personal top-10, top-20, top fighting games, top sports games, or top games in any genre. Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The unlikely origins of some Mad Gear bosses...

I've been playing through a number of classic games recently, and have been focusing on the Final Fight trilogy. It got me thinking about the details that Capcom put into the title. It also made me wonder where some of the characters came from. I'm particularly fond of the villains in the series, and I want to share what I think were the inspiration behind some of the most unique. For example, did you ever notice that there was an evil technician that was a boss character in the series? If you are a designer then how do you get across that a character is an inventor of sorts? Is it because of wild facial hair? A lab coat? Maybe goggles, or perhaps a bald head? How do audiences know what a crazy scientist looks like? When you think of evil geniuses in video games who usually comes to mind? I usually think of Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, but even he had to come from somewhere. Eggman did come from somewhere. Brian Ashcraft noticed how some of the early Studio Ghibli characters looked like Eggman. Of course this was a topic of a Reddit thread, and VGDensetsu tweeted the observation as well.

The roots behind the evil scientist go back even further. Possibly to the story of Frankenstein almost 200 years ago. In pop culture however the template for the evil scientist probably came from the Mad Doctor. The villain appeared in a Mickey Mouse cartoon in 1933. He was sporting a bald head, and wild facial hair long before Studio Ghibli or Sonic Team were created. He came back in game form for Epic Mickey 2 in 2012. Have you ever wondered if there could be a good mad inventor archetype? Again taking influences from Japan there was such a character. Cid Pollendina, my favorite of all the Cid characters, debuted in Final Fantasy IV way back in 1991. The airship engineer was the former Captain of the Red Wings in the game. He was burly, with a wild beard, physically strong, and a genius with mechanics. I believe he was the inspiration for the Skull Cross boss mechanic Caine.

Caine was located in a junkyard. He could only be reached if players were careful not to break a bus stop sign in Round 3. The top-heavy boss was cut from the same cloth as Cid. Overly muscular with goggles, and wild mane of hair instead of a beard. He would pin players with his thick welding gloves and smash them over the head with an enormous wrench. Talk about a cheap shot! Thankfully like most Final Fight bosses he was more brute than brains. He lacked the fighting techniques of the heroes. As neat a design as Caine was he wasn't even remotely the oddest of the bosses. In previous blogs I talked about the heavy metal stars, and films that inspired the creation of Final Fight. Sodom was a German metal band that formed in the early '80s. Their name and use of a masked military character on the album covers inspired the creation of the Mad Gear boss.

Depending on your point of view Sodom was either a harcore Japanophile or a certifiable kook. Either way he took his obsession with Japanese culture to extreme lengths. This came through in his game appearances, cut scenes, and official art from Capcom. Sodom fashioned a helmet and samurai "armor" out of football pads, jeans and a jersey. In the original Final Fight he would fight opponents inside of a wrestling ring. He used two katana swords and called them Masamune and Muramasa, named after the legendary Japanese swordsmiths. In The Street Fighter Zero / Alpha series he switched to jitte, the steel batons that Edo-period Japanese officers used. What if I were to tell you that aside from the metal band there was possibly a real-world inspiration for this character? Peter Thornley aka Kendo Nagasaki was a British wrestler that was obsessed with Japanese culture, and tradition. He was one of the biggest wrestling draws in Britain in the late '60s and early '70s. He even wrestled through the '80s, around the formative years of the Capcom staff.

The Kendo "gimmick" was very earnest. Thornley did everything he could to keep his identity a secret. He wore a mask in ring, and didn't lose it in any matches. He never gave interviews, and his manager did all the talking for him. When a plumber found out his identity Thornley was forced to come forward, but on his own terms. He unmasked himself in the late '70s during an elaborate, pseudo-Japanese ceremony. To this day Thornley claims that he is a spiritual vessel, and the host of a 300-year-old Japanese spirit. I have no doubt that Thornley believes in his claims. Sodom is drawn from the same level of obsession as Kendo. Both sometimes miss the details of the culture they are emulating. In canon Sodom speaks with very rough Japanese pronunciation. To emulate Japanese he will sound words out phonetically, like "It's Toe Show! Show Sea Send Bang! and Die Job Death Car!" The last phrase is pronounced "daijōbu desu ka?" and means "Are you alright?" When he wins a match he will sometimes say "Yo Parry," which is supposed to be "yappari" or "I thought so!"

The kanji on his jersey is supposed to read "Shi" or death in Japanese, but he missed a brush stroke so the character doesn't mean anything. When Sodom tried reuniting his gang during the events of Street Fighter Zero he painted kanji on the sign that was phonetically MA-DU-GI-A aka Madgear, but the combination of letters doesn't actually mean anything in Japanese. Sodom, like Thornley, was obsessed with keeping his identity a secret. Possibly because he was ashamed that he was not actually Japanese. In the Street Fighter Zero manga his mask was broken, and he covered his face out of fear of being found out. He claimed that he could not fight without it. The scene explained a lot about the character without having to go into further detail. He was probably the best example of the creative process behind the Mad Gear bosses. The villains often had layers of detail that went into their development. These most memorable were revisted by the studio. Which were some of your favorites? If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!