Is Final Fantasy Overrated?

In the world of video games, it's nearly impossible to talk about RPGs (Role Playing Games) without mentioning Final Fantasy at least once. And what are the odds? I have no idea how exactly how many titles are out so far-suffice it to say that Final Fantasy makes up a good chunk of RPG gaming in North America, anyway.

I think it's safe to say that Final Fantasy is the longest chain of titles sharing the two words "Final" and "Fantasy" and a similar plot line with reoccurring characters, while each of the games themselves are not actually sequels (except Final Fantasy X and X-2).

So we all know how great the games were when they first came out, and when FF 7 came out, it was nothing short of an instant classic. But where did the franchise go from there? I seriously doubt that there is another Final Fantasy villain that even comes close to rivaling Sephiroth, and there's only so much I can take of this guy named Cid who owns what appears to be the only airship on the entire planet.

So...what is there to like about Final Fantasy? A lot, actually.

Final Fantasy is head and shoulders above its competition in the graphics department. I'll admit they had me there for a while, just gawking at the landscape of Ivalice in all its beauty in FF XII and wishing that our world was that perfect. But as any gamer knows, graphics aren't the only thing that keep a game interesting.

There's nothing I loathe more than an RPG with a nonexistent plotline. While it's easy to draw connections between all of the stories told in Final Fantasy over the years, somehow they're all beautifully well-told. Sometimes I like to think of RPGs like Final Fantasy as interactive picture books-bad writing, bad plot, and detached characters can ruin a good game as much as it can ruin a book.

So if you don't like a good fantasy story about the clash between good and evil, chances are you won't like Final Fantasy. And it's really a pity that so many people judge these games by that alone. By my way of thinking, that should give me the right to say that Halo is overrated because I don't like shooting games.

Gameplay is the only area that I find somewhat lacking in this series; the characters are so effortlessly developed as the story unfolds, and it takes something away when I see them all standing there like puppets in the turn-based battle system. That's not to say that the battle system is bad by any means, it's just not quite as brilliant as the graphics, for example.

Despite all this, I was getting a little wary of the franchise after the release of FF X. To put it simply, this game was bordering on average and nowhere near the quality that I had expected. The graphics were outstanding, and at first that was enough to keep me playing, but after a while no amount of breathtaking cut scenes was enough to make me want to continue when the main character lacked a certain amount of depth.

So then I thought: this huge hype over such a mediocre game?

This was sad and rather disappointing, and just as I was almost ready to give up hope after the release of FF X-2, my fears were calmed. Final Fantasy XII was released in North America in late 2006, and the world of RPG gaming was once again at peace.

With graphics, story, character, soundtrack, and innovative gameplay, there was just no way could I say that this game is overrated - it's everything I had expected of it and then some.

So here are two extremes, one good and one bad: is Final Fantasy overrated?

Unfortunately, it's mostly a question of personal opinion, but I will say something against labeling an individual title based on the series as a whole: don't do it. Some will be bad and some will be good. I'm also willing to guess that quite a few people who claim Final Fantasy is overrated don't like the genre to begin with and therefore should not be targeting a specific game.

So now that I have thoroughly not answered the question I would simply like to point out that the game itself is not overrated, but everyone's individual opinion that it is so.