Introduction

This is the first of what will hopefully be a multi-part series documenting my adventures in the world of Japanese video games. Notably, the Final Fantasy with others to (hopefully) come later.

A few things you should know before reading: I am new to Japanese video games in general, and JRPGs specifically. While I'll admit I have played a Pokemon game here or there, I haven't fallen completely into one since the original Game Boy games released. I have never played a Final Fantasy games, and outside of the first CGI movie (which 10 year old me thought was fantastic) know almost nothing about them. I gather you hit things with a sword while riding a big, yellow ostrich right?

I am fairly knowledgeable about western games, though, with a particular interest in RPGs. The Witcher series ranks among my favorites, as does Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to name just what I currently have installed on my computer.

However, with the start of a new year that finds my living in Asia for work, I decided it was time to look at games from the East. So where better to start than the (seemingly never ending) world of Final Fantasy.

Here's what I (think) know: With the exception of numbered sequels, none of the FF games take place in the same universe. This means I should be able to jump into any numbered game and be perfectly fine learning the rules and lore of that universe without feeling lost. Additionally, unlike many of the RPGs I've already named, I will mostly be playing out someone else's story, instead of inputting my decisions into every conversation and seeing where they lead. Finally, there will be a ton to do, and my first play through could find me spending 40-80 hours in game. No small feat, but then again you can't submerge yourself in a puddle. Might as well diver into the deep end.

Oh, and, spoilers. I know it's an old game, but the warning is out there.

The Rules

Yes, this trip will have rules. I want this to be as pure an experience as possible, and not ruin anything for myself or allow my judgement to be clouded. So, I will be trying to stick as closely to the following as possible:

1. No looking things up. If I can't figure something out in game and end up completely stuck, then so be it. I may have to hit my head against a wall to push through, but that influences the experience so I'll stick with it.

2. No skipping cut scenes/dialog. This may be a problem, especially if I start to get bored. Even in modern Western RPGs, if I think I know where a conversation is going, I'll start to skip it. Kill however many of highlighted enemies and return of a reward, got it. No, I don't really care why you need me to do this, I've got a world to save money to make, so just give me something I can sell and we'll move on ok? Not this time. I want to experience the entire story, so I won't be skipping anything. (one exception: If I accidentally trigger a conversation or tutorial twice, I'll skip it)

3. No writing things down. Yes, I'm doing a blog to document my progress, but I'm not taking notes to do it. This will become extremely apparent as I'm not good at remembering names so most of those will be wrong in the opening entries. But this is supposed to be an emotional experience, not a academic one. So, if I can't remember something, then oh well. Must not be that important, and if it is hopefully it will be repeated.

With that in mind...

X Marks the Spot

Finding the right FF game to start the series was a bit of a challenge, especially not knowing anything about it. And in order to stick with my own rules, it's not like I could just look up each one. So, I came up with a short list of ones I have heard about in passing or perusing forums. If it didn't make the list, it must not have been that great. The list is 7, 10, 13, 15. 15 is brand new, so easily fits Rule 1. But, being new, will be talked about much more than older ones just in general conversations. 7 is (from what I gather) considered one of the best in the franchise. However, I also know much more about it than any other since more memes are created on it than any other. 13 is possible, but everything I've heard about it boils down to: skip. Then there is 10. This is what I've been told about 10 from a friend who loves the series: "it's one of my favorites." I know there is a blond-haired main character, and I know he is not the main character in the sequel. That's it. Fits right into Rule 1, and comes recommended. Problem solved.

The Beginning

Introducing a new world is hard. Like, really hard. If you look at the beginning of popular movie series, you'll notice they start trying to set up ground rules as fast as possible, either visually or through dialogue. Star Wars opens with a space battle and a back and forth setting up the current political situation, and eases you into the force stuff gently. Lord of the Rings begins with an actual narrated sequence setting up backstories and introducing the main villain. Video game series can be just as guilty of this; Mass Effect has a text crawl that brings you up to speed, and then a codex to help you fill in information on everything else. The Witcher has an introduction sequence to the third entry to bring you up to speed for not only the universe, but the entire series. Meal Gear Solid has a dialogue sequence that sets everything up before throwing it all out the window after every boss fight.

So when FFX starts, it could be forgiven for using a bunch of words to describe what is going on. Instead, it spends no time on any of it and just goes. As it introduces the main character (whose name you can change apparently. I didn't, but the option was there) all I know is people are excited to see him. Tidus (since I'm sticking with the default name) is apparently a big name in blitzball, which is some underwater sport with an oddly-shaped ball. Literally nothing in the first half hour gave me a better explanation than that.

This world has a name, I'm sure, but I can't remember hearing it. Tidus states the name of the starting city later (Zakaria or something like that) but it literally doesn't matter. Because instead of spending so much time building a world for me to explore, FFX destroys it all and transport Tidus a thousand years in the future.

This is actually clever. Now, instead of needing to read codex entries, I can learn about the world as Tidus does. We can see this same technique utilized in movies all the time; take a character brand new to the world to act as a stand in for the audience, allowing for vast amounts of explanation to happen in world. Inception does it with the new architect, laying out all the ground rules of the dream state in a few short minutes by just explaining to her what is going on. FFX does the same thing. However, I still don't know if Tidus is just really good at holding his breath, or can breathe under water, or what is going on, but he can apparently swim for days.

My opening time with the game ends on that bombshell, but there are a few takeaways that I would like to address.

Lets start with killing enemies. While I'm new to JRPGs, the trope of killing things to level up is nothing new in the world of gaming. However, in most games, there is a health bar that lets you know how you're doing. Witcher does it, Pokemon does it, even Dark Souls does it. FFX, however, doesn't. In the few battles I went through, I had no idea how I was doing. There's a few context clues for some monsters, such as the first boss fight where the limbs are cut off as I dealt damage (got through about half of them before I realized that) but this didn't seem consistent. By the time I got to the big fish-thing (which I didn't even kill!) I couldn't find the clues anymore. This isn't currently mood killing, in fact it's kind of exciting. But I also wasted a potion during the dragon-thing fight with the Victorian Samus Aran cos-player (Rakku? I can't emember her name now...) just before the final strike.

Then there is the lack of context about what can be selected in world. While some items (such as the save globe) are easy to spot, others are not. Quest essential items it seems will give a nice "Inspect" prompt, but I also found a chest that didn't say anything and looked like it could just be debris sitting on the path. I really don't want to end up running up to everything in the game and hitting "A" just to see if it is something, so I'll have to restrain myself.

The first hour of FFX was entertaining, to say the least. The turn-based combat system reminds me of my Pokemon playing days, with some nice additions. Obviously, years of improvement on the system have occurred since FFX was released, so I'm not expecting the most modern combat system. The skill globe is an interesting change of pace as well, and I'm sure will provide much more depth as I get farther along.

So, one hour down, like a hundred to go, right? I guess I should just put my other games down then...