Final Fantasy is terrible at naming things.

 Final Fantasy has a problem with names. First character rarely have real names, and at best have names that could almost be real. It is not just characters, it is spells and items too. It seems to get worse as time goes on. 

In Final Fantasy 7 we had the character "Aeris". Its not "Aeris" any more, now it is the even worse "Aerith". Now back in 97, when the game was first released, I assumed "Aeris" was meant as pun, or hint as to what she was. "Aeris" was the last of her kind, or an "heiress" to her almost forgotten legacy. Once changed to "Aerith", now it is just a gibberish made up name. So it goes from being almost clever, to nothing. 

Then there is how the names of spells have changed. In the early games it was simple and logical, "cure 2" was more powerful than "cure". "Fire 3" was more powerful than "fire" and "fire 2". That stopped at some point. Now it is "Fire" followed by "fira" followed by "firaga", and so forth. It is all just gibberish. Worse as remakes and ports have been made, the older games get retrofitted with this nonsense.

Not all things get worse with time, something just start terrible. In Final Fantasy 8 your characters work for something called "SeeD", that is no typo they put a capital "D" at the end of it consistently. I remember a group of gamers debating how to pronounce that. Was it just meant to be "seed", or was it meant to be pronounced "See Dee". This was shortly after release, so none of them had finished the game yet. So some of them thought that might be a hint that "SeeD" was up to no good, like they were a "seedy" organization. 

It is odd that Final Fantasy has this problem, but other franchises from the same company don't. Dragon Quest doesn't suffer this. Sadly, I know it will never stop. and will just get worse with time.

Final Fantasy 7

I didn't intend to play more of Final Fantasy 7 then it took to make my video. I got it cheap on Xbox 1 during there E3 sale. Yes, I do own the original PS1 version (a very rare time I pre-ordered a game), but I have no way to record footage off a that.

I didn't really intend to play more than that first hour or so, however, I find myself being drawn in. This is the first time playing it in about a decade, and I find myself wanting to play more. I just finished the bit where you visit Red XIII hippie commune.

Not sure what is drawing me in, as I have many times in the past expressed that I think Final Fantasy 7 is one of the lesser entries in the series. However, I find myself driven to play more.

Also I find it odd, as I seem to have forgotten the order of events. I had in my mind, the hippie commune part happening very soon after leaving Midgar. Like it was just one town after Cloud tells his (wrong) story. I guess 10 years between playing will do that.

What do you call this?

Is there a term for a game that is very much like a "Legend of Zelda" game, without actually being part of that franchise? There are whole separate franchises that are like this, "Okami" springs to mind.  There however seems to be no single term that describes this.

I hear the term "action role-playing" thrown around, but it not nearly enough of the games in that category are in fact "Zelda-like". For example Square Enix's "Seiken Densetsu" (Secret of Mana) series is very much an "action role-playing" game, while being nothing like a "Zelda" game. Often these kind of games are much closer to true "role-playing" games, simply using a more action oriented style of combat.

Games which are "Zelda-like" are, but are not limited to, "Darksiders", "Recore", "Okami", "Beyond: Good & Evil". These games all feel so very much like "Zelda". They all involve progression based around exploration and the attainment of items of one sort or another. In these games every thing found allows greater access to the world in some way, might let you pass a barrier, might allow you to damage a formerly invincible foe. Often reward are there to be found if you backtrack with what you have newly acquired. 


The lack of a term for this phenomenon just struck me the other day, and it seems odd for the amount of time this has been happening. The first "Zelda" game came out in 1986, the first game to be "Zelda" without the name was also 1986.  It just seems we could use a simple term for this in gaming.

Let's Talk About Final Fantasy XIII

A goal that took over 10 year.

Finally did it. Found a copy of Dragon Warrior 7 for PS1. Been so very long since I started this search.

Feels good to reach a goal. Now if only I could find a copy of "The Misadventures of Tron Bonne".

Improving Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts is a fun series of games. For anyone that doesn't know it is an RPG (role playing game) that uses characters from various franchises owned by Disney and Square Enix. It is a fun, and lighthearted game series. However it could be improved.

1. Firstly, it would be nice to see more franchises used. Square Enix has used a few Final Fantasy characters, but it would be nice more. The Dragon Quest series comes to mind. Disney own Marvel comics, and Star Wars, be nice to see either one of them in the mix. The Silver Surfer seems like a good fit.

2. Character from franchises having character arcs that aren't identical to the ones they have had in movies.

3. Maybe a little darker tone. Huey Dewey and Louie are usually running a shop of some kind. What if we found out it was just a front for a drug empire, or a prostitution ring. It would give you a little more to think about after playing the game.

4. The ability to allow worlds that annoy you to blink out into nothingness.

5. An admission that everything that is happening within the universe of the games are just a fantasy a child is escaping to while being abused/molested. Deep down, you know that is what is going on. Poor Sora... might be why his name is "Sore-a".

Pokemon X and Y.

These are the newest in the games in the Pokemon franchise. They are fun little games. However, there is one thing that just doesn't add up.

Rather than talk about the problem, we will let two screen shots do the talking.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker from 2006 on DS

and

Pokemon X/Y from 2013 on 3DS

After 7 years and new hardware, shouldn't these games look a little further apart? What Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker that far ahead of it's time? Or is Pokemon X/Y just that far behind the times? It could be a bit of both, but that is doubtful.

Let's Talk About Final Fantasy

Yes, another video post. Next week will not be a video. This week however...