Review: An Unforgettable Dream - The New Vision PlayStation Brought to “FINAL FANTASY” [1/2]

In December 1994, Sony released the long-awaited home gaming console PlayStation (PS). The console drew attention for allowing players to easily enjoy games with 3D graphics at home. Then, in January of 1997, two years and two months after the PS came out, the seventh installment of the FINAL FANTASY (FF) series, FINAL FANTASY VII (FFVII), was released. This was the FF series’ arrival into the 3D era. Several games followed, including FINAL FANTASY VIII (FFVIII) in 1999 and FINAL FANTASY IX (FFIX) in 2000 on the PS, and FINAL FANTASY X (FFX) in 2001 on the high-spec new console, PlayStation 2 (PS2). So, what did these PlayStation game consoles bring to the FF series? And what kind of changes did the PS-era FF games experiment with? I explore these questions below.

––The PlayStation enriched the worlds of FINAL FANTASY

The numerous advanced features of the PS revolutionized the FF series. First, with the transition to the PS from the Super Nintendo, the amount of colors able to be displayed on screen jumped from 32,768 to 16,770,000, dramatically expanding the range of colors used. FFVII also adopted a style wherein the 3D polygonal characters moved around the 2D cross-correlation field of a single rendered image, giving the map a more 3-dimensional feel. On top of this, the game took to depicting important events, such as interactions between allies and escaping the rubble in the ending, through pre-rendered movie sequences. This style of depiction has been carried on in later games of the series. With the sampling rate increasing from 32kHz to 44.1kHz and the number of channels going from 8 to 24, the audio quality became more vibrant as well. This allowed the games to use rich orchestral music to heighten moments, such as Sephiroth’s theme “One-Winged Angel” in FFVII.

Starting with FFVIII, the second PS game of the series, all of the graphics, including the backgrounds, were rendered in 3D. Both FFVIII and FFIX included advances in technological capabilities, and there allowed for greater texture to be used in the 3D modeling than there had been in FFVII, resulting in not only more details depicted in the characters’ faces, but also in their bodies and equipment. FFVIII was the first to include characters that look like real people, something that is commonplace in the series today. Built around a theme of “going back to the source” and paying homage to the series, FFIX brought back the emblematic “Crystal” plot and a fantasy world setting in the tradition of the original games of the FF series, doing away with a type of world filled with modern-looking buildings that was used in FFVII and FFVIII. FFX came out as the first game of the series on the PS2. The most distinctive characteristic of the game was that it included a more Eastern-style world, a rarity for the FF series, which usually features many European-style elements in its worlds. It was the first game to have full 3D backgrounds and to have voices for the characters. As we all remember, FFX was also the first of the numbered titles to have a sequel with FFX-2.

Continued in part 2.

Square Enix’s Official Site:
http: //www.jp.square-enix.com/ (Japanese)

FINAL FNATASY VII(PS)PV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C11CupDUPeo (YouTube)

FINAL FNATASY VIII(PS)PV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxECQlhUhYE (YouTube)

FINAL FNATASY VII:
©1997 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. 
CHARACTER DESIGN:TETSUYA NOMURA
FINAL FNATASY VIII:
©1999 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. 
CHARACTER DESIGN:TETSUYA NOMURA
FINAL FNATASY IX:
©2000 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. 
Illustration:©2000 Yoshitaka Amano

FINAL FNATASY X:
©2001 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. 
CHARACTER DESIGN:TETSUYA NOMURA
FINAL FNATASY X-2:
©2003 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. 
MAIN CHARACTER DESIGN : TETSUYA NOMURA
ALTERNATE COSTUME DESIGN: TETSU TSUKAMOTO

This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.

"FINAL FANTASY VII" Promo (Japanese) © 1997 Square Enix Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
"FINAL FANTASY VII" Promo (Japanese) © 1997 Square Enix Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
"FINAL FANTASY VIII" Promo (Japanese) © 1999 Square Enix Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
"FINAL FANTASY VIII" Promo (Japanese) © 1999 Square Enix Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Review: An Unforgettable Dream - The New Vision PlayStation Brought to “FINAL FANTASY” [1/2] 3
Review: An Unforgettable Dream - The New Vision PlayStation Brought to “FINAL FANTASY” [1/2] 4
Review: An Unforgettable Dream - The New Vision PlayStation Brought to “FINAL FANTASY” [1/2] 5
Review: An Unforgettable Dream - The New Vision PlayStation Brought to “FINAL FANTASY” [1/2] 6

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