Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Dr. Aki Ross (Ming-Na)'s dreams hold the key to understanding an alien invasion.

Release Date: July 2, 2001. Running Time: 106 minutes. Written by: Al Reinert, Jeff Vintar. Directed by: Hironobu Sakaguchi. Produced by: Hironobu Sakaguchi, Chris Lee, Jun Aida.


THE PLOT:

It is the future, and it's a particularly bleak one. After an asteroid collides with Earth, it releases alien phantoms, ghost-like beings that kill anything they touch. Humanity has retreated to barrier cities, with the phantoms kept at bay with energy shields developed by the brilliant Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland). Attempts to reclaim the rest of the planet have been unsuccessful, and the human race is on the verge of extinction.

Gen. Douglas Hein (James Woods) has a plan. He wants to use the powerful Zeus cannon to blast the phantoms' crater and destroy the invaders. Sid believes this would be not only ineffective, but disastrous - driving the aliens further underground while harming the Earth spirit, "Gaia," at the same time. His Gaia theories make him sound like a crackpot before the ruling council... that is, until his assistant, Dr. Aki Ross (Ming-Na) reveals that she was herself infected by phantoms, and that Sid's research was able to stabilize her condition.

The council agrees to let the scientists continue to search for "spirits," sympathetic wave forms that might counteract the phantoms for all Earth the way they have for Aki. They are granted a military escort in their search, led by Capt. Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin), a combat veteran who was once romantically involved with Aki.

But Hein is determined to fire his big gun. He plants his own men on the mission, with orders to monitor both Gray and Aki. And even as the scientists succeed in capturing the next spirit, Hein prepares a plan to jolt the council into action...

The romance between Aki and Gray (Alec Baldwin) is lifeless and unconvincing.

CHARACTERS:

Dr. Aki Ross: She is singularly focused on finding the "spirits," and not just because of her infection. She recalls that one of the spirits she previously found was in a little girl, who told Aki that she was ready to die. Recalling a child who was so prepared for death causes her voice to break, one of the very few times that her composure fails at all. This and her respect for Sid play far more convincingly than the romance with Gray, which suffers from tepid writing. It's not so much that CGI creations are pretending to be people in love - It's that the dialogue makes them feel like CGI creations rather than like people who are in love.

Capt. Gray Edwards: The romance being something in the characters' past also makes a hash of Gray being assigned to protect Aki. Even if Gen. Hein wasn't a villain, he would be far more likely to assign someone without an emotional tie to her. Why am I harping on this rather than talking about Gray as a character? Well, because there isn't much to talk about. Gray Edwars is as generic as his name, a hero in the proper, morally upright, square-jawed mode. Rename him "Captain America," and the only thing you'd have to change is to give him a shield.

Dr. Sid: Not "Cid," for whatever reason. Sid is paternal toward Aki, and his determination to find the remaining spirits to suppress the phantoms seems to have as much to do with saving her as the Earth. He vows that he does not want to see her die before him. He's sensible enough to burn his old research papers in which he discusses his "Gaia" theories, but he's somehow not sensible enough to avoid talking about them to the council... which makes no sense, given that he could easily dress up his research in more purely technical terms (if they were searching for "wave forms," that would immediately sound less mystical - and crazy - than "spirits").

Gen. Hein: Around the midpoint of the film, it's revealed that he lost his wife and daughter when another barrier city was overrun. This has made him determined to do whatever it takes to defeat this enemy. Unfortunately, save for this one moment, Hein is written as the personification of a cartoon sneer. James Woods had been terrific as an animated villain in Disney's Hercules just a few years earlier, but he is absolutely awful here. There's no subtlety in his performance to make up for the lack of it in the script, but he's too subdued for entertaining scenery chewing. The result is a villain who is as dull as he is two-dimensional.

"The Deep Eyes": Gray's team, consisting of: Sgt. Whittaker (Ving Rhames); Neil Fleming (Steve Buscemi); and Corporal Jane Proudfoot (Peri Gilpin). They end up feeling the most like actual human beings, with the three actors giving enjoyably laid-back performances. Buscemi even earns a couple of actual chuckles, notable in a movie that is otherwise straight-faced to the point of joylessness.

Gray fights a giant phantom - essentially battling a dragon.

THOUGHTS:

From the standpoint of computer animation, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is an extraordinary achievement. Characters and environments are beautifully rendered. It doesn't quite "fool" the mind into thinking that these are real people rather than computer animated ones; there's a certain lack of full range in expressions, and the people all look a little too crisp, lacking the little physical tics and imperfections of actual human beings. However, the film presents its CGI characters well, avoiding the uncanny valley that would be occupied by most later attempts at similarly "realistic" animation.

The phantoms are also nicely realized. The angry red coloring makes them stand out from the rest of the frame in a movie that favors blue and gray hues, and there's a translucent aspect to them that makes it believable that they would have been dubbed "phantoms." They are of various sizes and strengths, much like the monsters a player might encounter in a fantasy game; the smaller phantoms are your standard goblins, while the larger ones may as well be dragons.

I can scarce credit that that, as of this writing, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is almost a quarter century old. Save for the limited range of character expressions, this would be impressive for something released today!

As a work of visual art, it's a masterpiece. As a story, however, it's a mess - and worse, a rather dull mess.

Gen. Hein (James Woods) stares, appalled, at a scan of the phantom virus Aki carries.

A STORY UNWORTHY OF ITS VISUALS:

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within seems to be trying to be two things at once. It was an expensive movie, with a final production budget of $137 million at a time when major motion pictures still usually came in well below $100 million. I suspect, in an attempt to maximize appeal to casual moviegoers, the script ends up hewing closely to "military sci-fi" tropes... a bit too closely, as the characters and their interactions end up coming across as entirely generic.

The first half generally works pretty well. Backstory is efficiently established, with the first action scene hooking viewer attention while also showing how the phantoms have overrun the old Earth cities. The barrier city is effectively presented as Gray and his time fly into it through a series of extremely eye catching shots. Then the council approves Aki's quest, with Gen. Hein assigning Gray to protect and watch Aki, setting the stage for what might have been an engaging quest story. If the film had just gone forward from here, with the team searching for Dr. Sid's "spirits" while Hein tries to thwart them, it could at least have been an engaging piece.

But that basic setup holds for less than ten minutes. Gray and Aki secure one spirit, after which Hein suddenly takes a blazingly idiotic "drastic action" that doesn't even entirely fit with his established motivations. This leads directly into the major action set piece, which is itself well animated and edited. But it also pushes the narrative off kilter. By the time Aki and Gray are back on their quest for the final Act, there's no time left for the movie to do anything but wrap things up in a rushed and slapdash fashion.

Throughout, I kept wanting to ask the filmmakers why they went with this script. The three Final Fantasy video games that preceded this movie's release were Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX, all of which featured multilayered characters, interesting themes, and moments of strong and convincing emotion. The Spirits Within offers... none of these. The script is an amalgamation of generic sci-fi action and pseudo New Age babble. Dialogue ranges from functional to leaden, and the voice cast seems to struggle to invest any spark of humanity. Even the great Donald Sutherland can't manage to sound convincing when Dr. Sid talks about "Gaia."

Simply put: If the script wouldn't have been considered good enough for the games, then why was it approved for a movie?

Sid (Donald Sutherland) and Aki present to the council.

FAILURE AND AFTERMATH:

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within landed with a disastrous thud at the box office. Critics generally praised its visual achievement, but were left cold by the story and characters. Its failure led to the closure of Square Pictures, and it also delayed the merger between Square and Enix, with Enix worried about merging with a failing company - worries that were assuaged by the performance of Final Fantasy X.

Probably the most notable impact this film had on the subsequent Final Fantasy game series was the departure of Hironobu Sakaguchi. The creator of the series, Sakaguchi had produced most of the mainline entries and had come up with the stories for several of them, including Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX. He resigned in 2001. While he continued to be credited as executive producer on projects until 2003, the last Final Fantasy that had a significant contribution from him was Final Fantasy XI. I think it's fair to say that Sakaguchi's departure greatly changed the trajectory of the series.

The movie has attracted a following, with many visual artists citing it as a major inspiration for their own work. I can't argue with that, as it remains an impressive visual experience. It's just a shame that the script squanders the potential of the artistry.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Release: Final Fantasy IX
Next Release: Final Fantasy X (not yet reviewed)


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Final Fantasy IX.

Original Release: Sony Playstation, 2000. Version Reviewed: Sony Playstation, 2000.


THE PLOT:

Zidane is a thief working with the Tantalus theater troupe, which is actually a cover for a group of bandits. The group plans to use its upcoming performance in the Kingdom of Alexandria to kidnap the beautiful Princess Garnet. To Zidane's surprise, Garnet is eager to be kidnapped, which should make this easy.

It proves to be anything but easy. Bumbling guard Steiner follows the princess onto the airship, and they somehow pick up a clumsy young black mage named Vivi at the same time. While escaping, their airship is shot down on the orders of Garnet's mother, the hideous Queen Brahne. It falls to Zidane to lead the princess to the neighboring kingdom of Lindblum to complete his assignment, with Steiner threatening him and bickering with him every step of the way.

In the course of their journey, they discover more black mages that look like larger versions of Vivi. They don't speak or respond when spoken to, and they appear to have been manufactured. This worries Vivi, and he becomes even more anxious when people in other villages respond to him as if he is a threat.

Garnet fears that her mother is plotting something terrible. Vivi wonders what role the black mages play in this. And when their paths intersect with a mysterious and powerful wizard named Kuja, Zidane starts to suspect that the stakes are bigger than they've imagined...

Zidane meets, and is smitten by, Princess Garnet.

CHARACTERS:

Zidane: He's instantly attracted to Garnet, and he spends the length of the game flirting (somewhat awkwardly) with her. Despite being a criminal, his basic decency constantly shines through, notably in his protectiveness toward both Garnet and Vivi. Additional dimensions are revealed in the story's second half, and he does get pushed past the "rogue with a heart of gold" archetype. Really, though, after two games of brooding loners, it's something of a relief to have a protagonist who's able to laugh at himself and others and who isn't afraid to make an idiot of himself.

Princess Garnet ("Dagger"): Her mother's behavior has grown increasingly erratic, which has prompted her desire to escape the castle. She hopes that if she talks to her "Uncle Cid," ruler of Lindblum, that he'll be able to do something, though she doesn't really have much of a plan beyond that. She initially enjoys the adventure, and an early cutscene shows her grinning ecstatically as she swings from a castle parapet to the theatre ship. That joy does not last. When her mother's actions start resulting in deaths, she berates herself for leaving, wondering if she might have influenced the queen's behavior had she stayed. Her guilt keeps growing throughout the story, with her only truly throwing it off near the end.

Vivi: When the first hour of gameplay focused on a childlike figure who kept falling over, I groaned. It felt like I was being forced to endure the misadventures of an unwanted comedy sidekick. It quickly becomes apparent that there's more to him than that, and I don't think it's an overstatement to say that he's the heart and soul of the game. Once he meets the black mages, he begins questioning first his origins and then the nature of his existence. By the second disc, it's the moments with Vivi that emerge as the most memorable and emotional in the game. Huge credit to the artists, by the way. Even in cutscenes, Vivi's face is no more than a black circle with two gold eyes - and yet somehow, his body language and posture are able to convey a tremendous range of feeling.

Steiner: The bumbling palace guard does qualify as a comedy sidekick. He's pompous and often dim, with both Zidane and Garnet seeming to put up with him as they go from place to place, and his reactions are regularly over-the-top. His main interaction with Zidane in the first half is to threaten him, and he seems to think it magnanimous to advocate for life imprisonment instead of execution for the thief. Even at the start, however, he treats Vivi with absolute respect, and it's clear that he defines himself through his sense of duty, which slowly infuses a certain dignity into him. He's also easily the best combat unit in the game. By the end, if you're equipping him well and keeping up on his abilities, he should be regularly inflicting max damage per turn.

Other Companions: Other party members join as the story unfolds. Freya is a knight from the Kingdom of Burmecia who has had previous dealings with Zidane and who seems to generally trust him. Quina is a creature whose only purpose in life is to discover new foods; its combat gimmick is that it gains abilities by eating monsters. Amarant is an assassin who joins Zidane after losing a fight to him. Eiko is a young girl who is the sole survivor of a village of summoners; at base, she's the best healer in the game, though Garnet can be made her equal (while also doing more damage in combat). All are firmly supporting characters, but they all get a couple of strong moments.

An ongoing true/false quiz is one of many, many mini games.

GAMEPLAY:

The basic gameplay is largely the same as previous entries. You explore areas to discover items, secrets, and mini games. When the character you're controlling finds a certain spot or interacts with a certain NPC, then the story advances.

There are a lot of mini-games and side quests, more than in previous entries. I will freely admit to not completing all of them. I delivered the Mognet letters, found the Stellazzio coins, fought all the monsters in the Treno shop/arena, and finished the talking mouse's quiz. I did not dig up Chocographs, however, nor did I hunt down every "friendly monster" in the game, nor did I jump rope or run races with the kid in Alexandria. My total play time clocked in about 60 hours. A player barreling through only the main plot could probably finish in half that time; someone wanting to complete absolutely everything would probably spend close to 100 hours.

Suffice it to say, there's plenty to do in Final Fantasy IX. And if one or more of the mini games doesn't strike you as fun, then at least most of them are optional.


COMBAT:

I played the PS1 version, which means I did not gain the benefit of any of the rereleases' Quality-of-Life improvements. Unfortunately, without those improvements, Final Fantasy IX has the most annoying combat in the series thus far.

The encounter rate isn't any worse than in other games, and it's actually lower than most of the Nintendo-era ones. But, at least in its original PS1 form, the combat is slow. Each battle has the camera swirl around for about 12 seconds before the fight starts. Over hundreds of encounters, that 12 seconds adds up to a teeth-grinding irritation. Early in the game, there is also a lag between ordering a character to do something and them doing it, though this becomes less of an issue as you unlock skills such as "Auto-Haste."

Skills such as that make the late game battles far more enjoyable than the early game ones. Also, if you keep up on your skills, Final Fantasy IX is relatively easy. But those 12 seconds per battle are enough in themselves to make me wish I had purchased a rerelease with a speed up option instead of the "PSOne Classic."

Princess Garnet feels guilt over her mother's actions.

SOUNDTRACK:

Another Final Fantasy, another gorgeous soundtrack. This 24-year-old game's music score is more varied and has more depth than most movie soundtracks. As per usual for the series, there are different themes for each character, each major area, and even for different battles. The world map music is an instrumental version of Melodies of Life, the end credits song, with other variations in varying tempos occurring in cutscenes and story moments throughout the game. The song itself is a lovely piece, its lyrics perfectly suited to the story and themes. Oh, and the music all fits nicely with the storybook presentation.

At this point, I think it would actually surprise me if a mainline Final Fantasy game didn't have a wonderful soundtrack.

An enemy watches the group's escape to Lindblum.

OTHER MUSINGS:

"Living in the village with everyone fills me with joy. The joy of living with them far outweighs the fear of death. Isn't it the same with you? Traveling with your friends gives your life meaning."
-Black Mage no. 288, with a lesson for Vivi.

At first glance, Final Fantasy IX resembles nothing so much as a fairy tale. In contrast with the more realistic style of Final Fantasy VIII, this game's art is patterned after storybook illustrations. It's bright and colorful; many characters have exaggerated features and expressions; the main character has a tail, while another main character has a black circle for a face with two gold eyes. It's as if after two entries that were predominately sci-fi, this game wanted to make no mistake in cementing the "Fantasy" part of the "Final Fantasy" title.

The characters' personalities seem to reinforce this as a whimsical tale, even a silly one. The main character is sarcastic. Vivi falls over for comedy effect quite often; Steiner is over-the-top in pretty much every way. Even the evil queen seems mainly to be a comedy caricature, complete with jester sidekicks who invert each other's sentences.

The first major break in this tone happens midway through Disc One, when a minor early boss takes a drastic action during a cutscene as the heroes look on in horror. This, and a follow-up moment involving Vivi, are a tipoff that this isn't going to end up being so simple or lightweight. That gets buried for a bit in some comedy antics in Lindblum - but once the characters leave Lindblum, the tale starts to darken. And why not? When you get down to it, fairy tales are pretty dark.

Structurally, the story somewhat resembles Final Fantasy VI in one respect: As with that game, you could subdivide this it into two stories. Disc Two largely closes out the story that began with kidnapping of Princess Garnet, while Disc Three represents a new start as Kuja - who mostly keeps to the shadows in the first half - emerges as a full villain.

The endgame takes place against a surreal landscape.

Settings are varied. Alexandria is the typical medieval fantasy kingdom. Lindblum is an industrial center, with airships connecting various districts to each other. Cleyra is a city that exists atop a giant tree. There's also a village of black mages who gained individual awareness and who now live in seclusion, surrounded by a forest. Toward the end, the game takes players to ever more fantastical areas, with the endgame occurring in a surreal world that is created from fragments of the characters' own memories.

The plot is well put-together and extremely well-told. Even more impressive are the themes. Characters grapple with questions about consciousness and memory, life and death. The black mages are artificial, and yet some of them become aware and form their own community - only to have to come to terms with a finite existence when some of them begin "stopping."

"Black Mage no. 288" never gets a name, but his ruminations are memorable. At one point, he tries to explain to a newcomer the purpose of a cemetery - that it's not for the dead, but rather for the living to remember them:

"We'll never forget you. We'll remember you every time we stand at your grave. And we won't let the fear of death, which each of knows, stop us from living our lives."

These are weighty ideas usually more explored in literature than in video games. It's startling to see such a direct confrontation of them in a bright, colorful fantasy that at first blush looks like it should be filled with Disney characters.

The story is well told. But long after I've forgotten about the machinations of Queen Brahne or Kuja, it's the themes that will resonate. That, and the simple sight of Vivi, staring up and absorbing a horrifying sight in that mid Disc One cutscene - an image that, in the simplicity of its design and the complexity of its context, could about stand in for the game as a whole.

Vivi witnesses a horrible sight, and the
previously light tone changes sharply.

OVERALL:

Final Fantasy IX was a commercial success, but its sales on release were far behind those of VII and VIII.  Time has been kind to it, however, with it emerging as a favorite within the franchise. I've seen many people refer to it as a masterpiece, and... I'm going to agree with that sentiment.

It's a bit of a slow burn. I was anything but gripped by the initial stages. It only really grabbed me after that cutscene with Vivi midway through Disc One. After that, I started to connect with it, and that connection grew throughout.

I'm going to distinguish this from saying that the game gets better as it goes. A replay of the first part of the game reveals that it's setting up its tonal variations and themes right from the start. It doesn't so much improve as reveal itself. Characters who seem silly are shown to be either monstrous or tragic. One apparent comedy relief character shows dignity and strength; another becomes the heart and soul of the story. And throughout, the themes gain in depth in a way that's impressive and ultimately quite moving.

Final Fantasy IX is an excellent game and an even better story. I'd also rate it as a genuine artistic achievement.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Previous Game: Final Fantasy VIII
Next Game: Final Fantasy X (not yet reviewed)

Next Release: Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within

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Final Fantasy VIII.

Original Release: Sony PlayStation, 1999. Version Reviewed: Sony PlayStation, 1999.


THE PLOT:

Squall Leonhart is a young man studying at Balamb Garden to become a SeeD, a force of elite mercenaries whose services are regularly requested by governments and citizens alike. Squall passes the final exam and becomes a SeeD, alongside fellow trainees Selphie and Zell. Squall's rival, Seifer, fails the test due to his own impulsiveness, leading to even more resentment between the two.

Squall's first mission is to assist Rinoa, the daughter of General Caraway, head of the Galbadian military. Galbadia's weak-willed president has sold his country out to the evil sorceress Edea. Rinoa wants the SeeDs to help her free her country, and Gen. Caraway has a plan to assassinate the sorceress during a public event.

The plan goes awry, and the sorceress launches reprisals against all the Gardens. But Balamb Garden has a secret, and Squall and his companions soon find themselves preparing for a war that will decide the fate of the entire planet!

Squall and Rinoa meet at a Balamb Garden dance.

SQUALL LEONHART:

When I play a game that I know I'll review, I jot down my thoughts between play sessions. This is far from a remarkable or unusual procedure, and I mention it only because looking over my notes about Squall reminds me of my journey with this game.

I have never been fond of the "broody loner" trope. I made more than a few digs at the characterization of Cloud Strife in my Final Fantasy VII reviews, and Squall makes early Cloud look accessible and likable by comparison. Squall isn't merely standoffish - He's deliberately rude to just about everyone around him, and most of the notes I took while playing through the first disc reflected my annoyance at such an unlikable main character.

It took a while, but at a certain point the character just snapped into focus for me. There's a moment in Disc Two, where the characters split into separate parties, where those in the "B" party wonder if Squall assigned them to a dangerous mission because he trusted them to accomplish it or because he simply didn't care about them. When they later return, after the others believed them to be dead, everyone is surprised at Squall's brief but unmissable display of relief.

The key to the character is that he really isn't the "cool, brooding loner." He's actually massively socially awkward. He doesn't quite know how to deal with the emotions he feels, so he puts up an emotionless front to avoid dealing with them. He's also wary of growing close to others or of counting on others, lest they be taken away from him. At his core, he's still the version of himself that the game cuts back to multiple times: a frightened child, alone in the rain.

All of which is to say that, over the course of the game, Squall went from being my least favorite Final Fantasy protagonist to being my favorite in the series so far.

Squall's first sight of Rinoa.

MAJOR CHARACTERS:

Rinoa: Though the series has featured romance before, this is the first game in which the romance is a primary focus. Rinoa is Squall's opposite, outgoing and socially confident. She spends much of the story trying to draw him out of his shell. At first, this almost seems like an amusement, with her teasing to get a reaction, any reaction. When she first approaches him at the dance, her primary interest still lies with his rival, Seifer, and she dances with him as much for something to do while she waits as anything else. As she gets to know him, she becomes intrigued, then alternately amused and exasperated. By the time he realizes his own feelings, she's already reciprocating, though it isn't until a (visually gorgeous) cutscene in the latter half of Disc Three that they are explicitly framed as a couple.

Laguna: "I dreamt I was a moron." Throughout the first three discs, there are various points in which Squall, Zell, and Selphie collapse and finds themselves dreaming of the life of Laguna. He is basically the anti-Squall, impulsive, friendly, and eternally optimistic. Across the string of flashbacks, we see that many things do not end up going his way. Even so, he is never less than cheerful, disguising his pain behind a smile the same way Squall does behind a scowl. Squall dubs him a moron after the first dream sequence; in almost the same breath, Selphie calls him "cool" and spends the rest of the game being a massive fangirl, even creating a website detailing his life (which gets updated every time you find an issue of Timber Maniacs during gameplay).

Seifer: Squall's rival at Balamb Garden. He's initially just a one-dimensional jerk, the "Big Man on Campus" who bullies others while pursuing glory for himself. Like most of the characters, he gains depth as the story progresses. He's always an enemy, but there is a core of something sympathetic in him. His needs aren't unlike Squall's. He desperately wants a place to belong (though, like Squall, he'd never admit it). He worries about the approval of others; Squall masks this trait by pretending to care about nothing, while Seifer masks it by being an aggressive glory hound. As the story unfolds, Squall gains respect, position, and friends; and while Seifer has friends who are every bit as loyal as Squall's team, I suspect that he can't help but look on in envy as his old rival accumulates everything that might have been - in his mind, should have been - his.

Seifer expresses his view of life to Squall and Zell.

SQUALL'S TEAM:

While none of the other squadmates receive the same level of characterization, most of them get at least a few moments to feel like more than interchangeable backup units. Selphie is enthusiastic in every situation. She spends much of the first part of the game trying to single-handedly put together a Garden social event, a thread that culminates in an impromptu concert. Unless you pick the exact right instruments, this ends up being a giddy display of incompetence... which actually strikes me as the most fitting result.

Zell matches her energy, though for him it manifests not in social situations but physical aggression. His weapon of choice is his fists, and he will punch the air or random surfaces at wildly inappropriate moments. Lest he come across purely as comic relief, he does get a couple nice moments when his parents' home is occupied by enemy forces during the mid-game. Oddly, his personal hero is his grandfather, who fought in the last war and whom Zell respects as much for his judgment and restraint as for his fighting prowess... which, as Squall observes, makes Zell's grandfather pretty much the opposite of Zell himself.

Irvine is introduced as an arrogant, womanizing lout, a sniper who boasts of his prowess. When he hesitates to take a shot during his first assignment with the group, it seems like cowardice... until a later reveal that gives his hesitation added dimension. It's difficult to talk more about him without talking about that reveal. Suffice to say, there's more to him than his initial scenes suggest, and he actually ends up being a fairly likable character by the end.

The least interesting member of the group is Quistis Trepe, Squall's instructor who becomes his subordinate. She's the youngest teacher at the Garden. She's close in age to the students, and as a result has attracted a flock of both male and female admirers who call themselves "Trepies." Sadly, that's really all there is to the character, with her development basically stopping about midway through Disc One. Not coincidentally, she was the party member I used the least.

The junction system: Not nearly as complicated
as the tutorials make it seem.

THE JUNCTION SYSTEM - NOT AS COMPLICATED AS IT LOOKS:

The Final Fantasy series has long experimented with different systems for controlling skills and stats. Final Fantasy III introduced the job system, which was later refined in Final Fantasy V. Final Fantasy VII and its spinoffs had characters equip materia to determine what spells they could cast.

Final Fantasy VIII continues the series' experimentation, introducing the junction system. Unlike other games in the series, enemies level up with you - meaning that you can't just blast through tough bosses by grinding for XP. Instead, you need to improve your stats by junctioning Guardian Forces (summons) and also individual spells to boost either defensive or offensive stats.

The in-game tutorials make this look horribly complicated, particularly since they dump a lot of information on you pretty much all at once. Fear not: While the early tutorials resemble study material for a graduate level course, it's fairly simple at its core. For the early game, just make sure you equip GFs to all your active party members and pick your command skills under "Ability."

That alone will get you through Disc One and much of Disc Two, because most of the game is surprisingly low difficulty. By the time you run into enough of a challenge to seriously worry about GF abilities, elemental junctions, or anything else, you'll have had several hours to play with the various options. Just don't neglect doing some periodic trial-and-error with the junction menus, and you'll pick most of it by yourself with relatively few problems.

An early boss battle against the Guardian Force Ifrit.

GAMEPLAY:

Combat is similar overall to that of the past several main series outings. There are a couple of additional features worth mentioning, however. This game features no MP limitation on casting magic. Instead, you stock magic the same way you do items. When you cast, say, "Fire," you lose one of your stock of that spell. You can stock spells from draw points, but the most common resource is the enemies. Equip "Draw" as one of your command skills, and you can hoover up spell after spell. In encounters with enemies with particularly useful spells (i. e., "Aura" or "Curaga"), I would keep that enemy alive as long as possible until all my characters had stocked as many of the spell as they could.

The game utilizes both summons (GFs) and limit breaks. Summons are so overpowered in the early game that you'll be tempted to just spam them on every enemy. I would recommend not falling into this trap. By the endgame, limit breaks are far more useful, while most summons take too long to be worth the trouble. Upgrade your weapons at every opportunity. Squall's final weapon will, in a limit break, one-shot many bosses, never mind regular enemies.

Most of the game's combat is not difficult. There is, however, a difficulty spike at the start of Disc Four. When the game prompts you to save just before switching to Disc Four, DO NOT overwrite your last save from Disc Three! The boss fight that begins the final disc is much harder than anything up to this point; in fact, I'd rate it as harder than the actual final boss. Worse, the fight comes just after you've officially reached the Point of No Return. If you overwrote your final Disc Three save, you cannot leave the dungeon to grind, upgrade weapons, and come back.

Fortunately, I had a save file from only an hour or so before that point. When I realized that I was not ready for this boss, I was able to load up my previous save and grind/upgrade until I was ready. After that point, the rest of the game was smooth sailing. I will note, however, that the final form of the final boss has a staggering store of hit points. After dealing thousands of damage per turn with no apparent effect, I began to worry that the fight was glitched and that I'd have to reload it. There was no glitch - The final boss is just such a bullet sponge that it takes a very long time to kill her.

Laguna inadvertently inspires his crush, club
performer Julia, to write the game's theme song.

SOUNDTRACK:

The Final Fantasy series has consistently been noteworthy for its soundtracks, and this game is no exception. The music is varied and wonderful. The waltz for an early dance scene that sets up the relationship between Squall and Rinoa is a match for the visuals: graceful and playful at the same time. Later, when the action goes into space, a piece plays that's deliberately reminiscent of the classical music used in Kubrick's 2001. In the Laguna dreams/flashbacks, the OST takes on a more lighthearted tone, mirroring the comedic atmosphere of these bits. Laguna even gets his own battle theme, the ridiculously catchy The Man with a Machine Gun.

For the first time in the series, the game has an official pop song: Eyes on Me. In-game, it's a song written by Julia, the nightclub performer Laguna has a crush on. The lyrics are tailored to fit Laguna directly, and to also act as a counterpoint to Squall's emotional journey. It's performed by popular Hong Kong singer Faye Wong, and it is a lovely piece on its own - and a genuinely moving one in the context of the game's story.

The entire OST continues the series' developing complexity in its soundtracks. At this point, I don't know how much further the series can go in this respect without just making one of its entries a full-on musical.

The evil sorceress Edea, the game's villain -
though, of course, it's more complicated than that.

OTHER MUSINGS:

Something instantly apparent about Final Fantasy VIII is its visual style. Unlike Final Fantasy VII, which was initially designed with the Nintendo 64 in mind before moving to the PlayStation, this game was always intended for Sony's then-powerhouse game console. Gone are the blocky, vaguely Lego-looking people, and in their place are correctly proportioned character models that strongly resemble the same characters in cutscenes.

The cutscenes are longer and more frequent than in previous games, with highly detailed art and animation. An early dance sequence is particularly impressive. As Rinoa tugs Squall onto the dance floor, we see humor and mischief in her eyes and gestures, and we see him responding to her. Then they begin dancing... with Squall hopelessly clumsy at first.

If you've seen a fair amount of computer animation, then you know that clumsiness is very difficult to animate well. Even big-budget movies can struggle with animating convincing physical bits of business. This sequence pulls it off seamlessly, from Squall stumbling into other dancers to exchanges of dirty looks. While all this foreground business is going on, additional dancers remain visible in the background of the scene. The whole set piece is gorgeous and full of life. I'd say it stands up today, never mind how mind-blowing it must have been at the time.

Our first sight of Rinoa, waiting in a field of flowers.

OVERALL:

Final Fantasy VIII is one of the more divisive entries in the series. Contemporary reactions split between those who loved it and those who found it disappointing. While its reputation seems to have improved over time, even now Entries 6 - 8 seem to divide into: Final Fantasy VI as the artistic fan favorite; Final Fantasy VII as the mainstream hit; and Final Fantasy VIII as... well, the curate's egg, loved by some and loathed by others.

As is probably clear, I fall firmly into the "loved it" category. The visuals and the soundtrack help, certainly. Mainly, however, it comes down to the characters. By mid-game, they became real to me in the way that happens with very good movies or television series. I genuinely cared about what happened to Squall, Rinoa, and their friends - and heck, even to Seifer.

There are some moments of clunkiness or outright weirdness (one word: NORG!). Even so, I would have to rank this among my favorites of the series thus far.


Overall Rating: 10/10. I originally rated this a “9” - but more than a year on, my mind keeps going back to it, which is enough for me to go back to award it that final point.

Previous Main Series Game: Final Fantasy VII
Next Main Series Game: Final Fantasy IX

Previous Release: Final Fantasy Tactics (not yet reviewed)
Next Release: Final Fantasy IX

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Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Original Release: Playstation 4, 2020. Version Reviewed: Playstation 5 "Intergrade" Version, 2021.


THE PLOT:

The Shinra Electric Power Company has revolutionized the modern world by mining Mako, an extremely efficient energy source. It allows them to provide power and comfort for the masses, making themselves extraordinarily rich and powerful in the process.

Environmental group AVALANCHE believes that Shinra's reliance on Mako is destroying the planet. Former Shinra military SOLDIER-turned-mercenary Cloud Strife accepts a job from them: an act of eco-terrorism, blowing up one of the reactors fueling the city of Midgar.

The detonation does untold damage within the city, but this isn't the work of AVALANCHE: Shinra's leaders magnified the explosion, attempting to use the attack to justify a new war with old enemy Wutai. Cloud, his childhood friend Tifa, and AVALANCHE leader Barret find unexpected aid in the form of flower girl Aerith, whose seemingly mundane life covers a mysterious past.

But Shinra isn't done. Cloud and his friends learn that the company plans to stage an even more devastating attack in the slums they call home. They race to try to prevent disaster - but another force seems determined to keep them from changing anything...

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret are ready for action.

CHARACTERS:

Cloud: I was dubious when I first read that the remake had recast all roles. It took all of ten minutes for the game to convert me. The new cast is excellent all around, with actor Cody Christian helping to make Cloud actually likable for the first time ever. Between Christian, the excellent character animations, and the script, we get a sense of the human being beneath Cloud's reserve. I particularly enjoyed Cloud's reactions to flirting, teasing, or displays of affection - He's outright baffled by both Aerith and Jessie, and yet it's clear that he becomes quickly attached to both of them.

Tifa: Cloud's childhood friend. When Cloud left to join Shinra with the goal of becoming a SOLDIER, she made him promise to rescue her if she ever needed it. Years later, Tifa (Britt Baron) feels trapped by AVALANCHE's escalating tactics, and yet it's no longer in her nature to ask for help. She's become a caregiver, watching over Barret, his daughter Marlene, and the Seventh Heaven bar - essentially acting as a mother figure to all despite still being quite young herself. She even helps Cloud build his reputation as a mercenary by finding jobs for him in the slums early on - a way of padding the game, but one that works in terms of building the characters and their world.

Aerith: The flower girl with the mysterious past. Actress Briana White's vocal deliveries provide just the right mix of chirpy innocence with flirtatious teasing for the character, making it easy to believe how quickly she both enchants and confounds Cloud. A refreshing carryover from the original game is that, while both she and Tifa are presented as potential love interests, there's no sense of rivalry between them; when Aerith and Tifa finally meet, they seem to instantly connect as friends even as they take turns vying for Cloud's attention.

Barret: The single most improved character. I (eventually) liked Barret in the original, but he was never high on my list of favorites. Remake transforms him into the cast standout, with voice actor John Eric Bentley alternating between very funny comedy lines to moments of shockingly raw emotion. There's a scene that sees Barret literally beating his one good hand against rubble, as if trying to move it by force of will, that is more memorable than many scenes from very good movies.

AVALANCHE: The trio of Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge are elevated from little more than extras to full supporting characters. Jessie (Erica Lindbeck) has a playful surface, but a visit to her family shows some of the layers beneath that; cautious and professional Biggs (Gideon Emery) left a job teaching children in order to join AVALANCHE; Wedge (Matt Jones) is cheerful, but his constant smile covers insecurities that he doesn't do as much as his colleagues, with him at one point deriding himself as useless. All three register strongly, which helps to make certain events in the story a lot more effective.

Sephiroth: The portion of the original Final Fantasy VII that this game covers did not even feature Sephiroth: He was named, and eventually we saw the aftermath of his presence, but we didn't actually meet him in person until much later. But he's the "fan favorite," so this was not an option for the remake... unfortunately. By holding him back, the original turned him into a larger-than-life figure long before we met him. Here, Cloud sees flashes and visions of him starting very early in the game - which has the effect of diminishing him, so that when he's finally encountered in person at the end, there's no sense of anything special about the encounter. I will say that the boss battle against him here is much more satisfying than the one in the original Final Fantasy VII (OG Sephiroth is not a hard boss fight) - but as a character, overuse has made him a lot less interesting. In fairness, this was already true from earlier spinoffs, but his treatment here doesn't reverse the trend.

Combat is energetic and intuitive most of the time,
but it can become hectic and frustrating...

COMBAT:

Unlike its namesake, Final Fantasy VII remake uses real-time combat. The ATB bar is still critical - but now it doesn't control your ability to do normal attacks, but rather your ability to use magic and special attacks.

Most of the time, the combat is energetic and intuitive. Against tough bosses or mobs of enemies with resistances to normal attacks, however, this ATB/real time hybrid becomes too frenetic for my personal tastes. Too often in the final stages of the story, combat becomes endless dodging while waiting for the ATB bar to fill - which then usually has to be used up with healing, because the AI teammates are (as usual) morons with no sense of self preservation.

Then there are the "gimmick" battles that are basically impossible until you figure out the right approach - at which point they instantly become a cakewalk. Yes, Rufus Shinra, I'm looking at you.


QUESTS AND EXPLORATION:

The combat may be a mix of fun and frustrating, but the exploration of environments is a consistent joy. Final Fantasy VII Remake recreates many of the environments of the PS1 original faithfully, but with new detail and scale.

This is a beautiful-looking game, from the organic beauty of Aerith's garden to the cold sterility of the Shinra building. The residential slums are vibrant and alive, with extras (many of them with recycled character models) everywhere. You pick up snatches of conversations as you run past, and these bits of chatter help to create the impression of a fully realized world. At many points, I found myself just stopping what I was doing to listen to side conversations, take in the soundtrack, and rotate the camera and gasp at the game world.

There are three main areas in which you pick up side quests. Tifa helps Cloud get mercenary jobs in the Sector 7 slums; later, Aerith does the same in the slums that are her home. Finally, Cloud (and later Tifa) will engage in fetch quests in the overcrowded, overlit Wall Market. Most of these quests are standard fare - though some of the Wall Market ones get suitably wacky - but it's fun to see people's evolving reactions to Cloud as he completes them, and they provide a good opportunity for practicing combat mechanics, learning how the maps work, and just building the sense of the overall world.

Aerith's garden: detailed and beautiful.

A PARTIAL TRIUMPH...:

Final Fantasy VII Remake gets so much exactly right. It feels modern and immersive, while at the same time showing respect to the 1997 original. The characters have depth, and the voice acting ranges from very good to outstanding.

Then there's the music score. Final Fantasy VII's score was already outstanding back in 1997. Hearing those same tracks brought to life with a full orchestra is a tremendous experience, and the handful of new tracks blend well with the remixes of old ones.

The story covers only the first 5 - 6 hours of the original game, so a lot of material is extrapolated. This isn't inherently a problem. The place chosen as the break point makes sense, and the city and its areas are varied enough to be worth exploring. Cloud taking on mercenary jobs is fun as a diversion, while at the same time allowing the game to chisel some much-needed cracks early on into his moody surface. A trip to the more affluent topside area, with Cloud tagging along for a visit to Jessie's family, is an entirely new sequence that opens up the world while adding further depth both to Cloud and to the supporting cast.

Finally, the Wall Market sequence is beautifully executed. This break in the action comes at the exact right point in the story. The first Act has ended, and the stakes have temporarily lowered - meaning that there's nothing interfering with enjoying Cloud engaging in squat battles and running increasingly bizarre errands for the market's outlandish denizens.

In the original game, this sequence was fairly short and culminated in a somewhat strained cross-dressing gag that seemed unlikely to translate well to 2020. I think a lot of people expected the remake to cut that out entirely. Instead, the game creators lean into it. Cloud's cross-dressing still happens... but now it comes at the end of a dynamic cabaret sequence, complete with a rhythm mini game, as the ultra-fabulous Andrea remakes Cloud while urging him to embrace the moment. It's not only more positive and meaningful than the same bit in the original game... it's a lot funnier!

Oh, and the Yuffie DLC included in the Intergrade edition is delightful from start to finish, turning comedy relief character Yuffie into a likable but fully realized individual, while still keeping her exasperating original personality intact. If I were to rate it separately, I'd probably give the DLC a higher individual score than the main game. It's long enough to be a substantial expansion, but not so long that it overstays its welcome - which unfortunately isn't something I can say for much of the main game...

Aerith communicates with a spirit, in one
of many sections that goes on way too long.

...IT'S JUST TOO OVERSTRETCHED:

The biggest problem with Final Fantasy VII Remake is that, in trying to pad 5 - 6 hours of material to fill a complete AAA title, the story is left feeling more than a little stretched out.

This becomes apparent early on. After the destruction of the first Mako reactor, Cloud flees through the streets of Midgar. In the original game, this takes up just a few minutes. This has been opened up, so that players now control Cloud as he flees through streets, up rooftops, down fire escapes, and into alleyways. At first, this is a good change, letting players experience Cloud's escape while exploring these incredibly detailed environments. The problem? The whole sequence goes on for what feels like an hour. The action becomes repetitive, and the story is mostly put on hold.

The pacing improves again after that... Until the second reactor mission. Instead of going straight to the mission, players now have to go through a network of tunnels, battling Shinra robots and giant monsters. Just as this starts to get old, Cloud, Tifa, and Barret reach "Sector G" for an entirely new chapter, in which they must divert energy from giant lamps to traverse the sector.

Meaning that after one overlong section of going through tunnels, players are instantly given another long section of going across bridges and up and down staircases. There are a few fun moments (if you divert to collect some shiny materia, Barret will sing-song that the group is "going on an adventure to find some treasure!"), but the entire segment feels like it was pasted in just to extend the runtime.

The worst offender comes in the final third, when the team infiltrates the Shinra building. Like most of the game, this is initially engaging. The corporate setting is enjoyably different from the slum, city, and warehouse environments of the rest of the game, while at the same time feeling like what it is: the center of the society we've observed up to now. Everything up to and including Aerith's rescue is fun to play, with a nice mixture of story beats, character bits, and varied gameplay.

But after Aerith's rescue, instead of going straight to the final confrontations with the Shinra President and Sephiroth, the game has to stretch itself out one more time. Gamers get to suffer through an extended sidetrip through the laboratory of the mad Professor Hojo. This section offers nothing new in gameplay terms - switch puzzles, enemy encounters, a boss fight - and in story terms it's an irrelevance.

As with other diversions and attenuations, once gamers get past it, the very last section is back to being enjoyable, with the Shinra President faceoff even managing a few surprises. But it's an ongoing issue that the game keeps stalling its own momentum, forcing the story to effectively jumpstart itself multiple times throughout, all in order to be that little bit longer.

Aerith has a secret. A few secrets, actually.

OVERALL:

Final Fantasy VII Remake is a good game by any reasonable standard. It's gorgeous to look at, with cutscenes and gameplay blending often indistinguishably. The story cutscenes are well-written, boasting dialogue that reveals character and builds the game world while entertaining at the same time. Voice acting is top-notch, and the music is magnificent.

It's just a shame that it's so badly padded. I think about games like I think about movies: They should be as long as they need to be and no longer. Unfortunately, modern AAA games are now expected to be lengthy, too often to their detriment, and that is very much the case here.

Had Final Fantasy VII Remake been 20 - 25 hours in length (maybe 30 for completionists), I'm pretty sure I would be raving over it. But add in an additional 10 hours, and it's left feeling sluggish. Too many of the major story beats are held too long, and the pacing regularly stops and starts for the sake of lengthy patches in which the characters do nothing but travel from Point A to Point B.

In the end, I'd say the good outweighs the bad, and I am looking forward to the next installment, Rebirth. Since it will pick up at the point the game world opens up, I'm hoping (against hope?) that it can provide a full experience without the stop-and-start pacing that marred this title.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Prequel: Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII
Sequel: Final Fantasy VII - Rebirth (not yet reviewed)

Previous Main Series Game: Final Fantasy VI
Next Main Series Game: Final Fantasy VIII

Previous Release: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (not yet reviewed)
Next Release: Stranger of Paradise - Final Fantasy Origins (not yet reviewed)

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Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode: Denzel

Denzel watches the fire that kills his parents -
only the first of the losses he will experience.

Release Date: Apr. 16, 2009. Approx. 28 minutes. Written by: Kazushige Nojima. Directed by: Shinji Iishihara. Produced by: Square Enix, A-1 Pictures.


THE PLOT:

A ten-year-old boy named Denzel (Kazumu Izawa) comes to a café for a meeting. The owner teases him about having a date. Instead, Denzel is meeting with Reeve (Banjou Ginga), a former Shinra executive who now runs the World Regenesis Organization (WRO). Denzel wants to join the organization as a soldier, insisting that he isn't worried about danger. Reeve responds by asking about the boy's background, prompting Denzel to recall the last four years of his life, from the deaths of his parents - killed when Shinra obliterated Sector 7 - to the devastation caused by the unleashing of "Meteor," and the painful aftermath.

Reeve listens stoically to Denzel's saga.

CHARACTERS:

Episode: Denzel is appropriately titled, as this story is seen entirely through Denzel's eyes. The filmmakers wisely don't shoehorn in recreations of the Final Fantasy VII events that created Denzel's hardships. Instead, everything is observed from the perspective of this little boy, watching helplessly as his world is destroyed around him. The artists and animators do a splendid job with the character, particularly his eyes. Repeatedly, the film returns to him watching events unfold, his large eyes seeming to take in everything.

Supporting characters are transitory, mostly only appearing for a couple of scenes, but each is given enough of a personality to make an impression: Denzel's father, a Shinra employee who seems to worry that warning his wife about Sector 7's destruction will cost him his promotion; Ruvie (Ikuku Tani), an old woman who takes Denzel in after his parents die, and who has a desire to grow flowers; Gaskin (Fumihiko Tachiki), a man who takes in the children orphaned by all the destruction and puts them to work as scavenger; Rix (Kaito Arai), another orphan whose background is very different from Denzel's; and Reeve, who mainly acts as witness to Denzel's tale, but who shows his own connection through his final reaction.

Amidst the ruins.

THOUGHTS:

Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile was a set of short stories. Each focused on a different character, detailing what happened to them between the events of Final Fantasy VII and its animated sequel, Advent Children.

Episode: Denzel was the opening story, establishing the changes to this fictional world from the point of view of a child. This animated adaptation, produced for release alongside the "Complete Edition" of Advent Children, is a very direct screen translation - and a surprisingly emotionally effective one. If the rest of the stories were of this quality, I wish they'd adapt all of them.

This is one spinoff that would probably still work for viewers unfamiliar with Final Fantasy VII. Though the uninitiated wouldn't comprehend why Sector 7 is destroyed, what "Shinra" or "AVALANHE" are, or anything about "Meteor" devastating Midgar, I don't think that information is really needed to appreciate the story. What matters is that Denzel experiences losses and hardships; he survives and perseveres, while coming into contact with others, both children and adults, who do not survive; and eventually, he is there to see the survivors rebuild. It's a universal tale, one that could easily be framed around a real-world war or natural disaster, and it's been animated in a suitably subdued and realistic style... all of which means that Denzel's journey is emotionally accessible, even to someone who missed out on the larger references.

The film is only 28 minutes long, but it never feels rushed. Enough time is given to each of Denzel's successive caretakers, and each new person he meets adds something emotionally or thematically: From the old woman who loves plants but lives in a place where they don't grow, to the little boy from the slums who resents Denzel's previous comfortable life, even though they are now equals in poverty. The focus is always on Denzel and those with whom he interacts; but in the background, we see a new city slowly emerge from the rubble, until the flashbacks finally catch up with Denzel's present conversation.

It culminates in a splendid scene. First, Denzel recalls all the people who kept him alive, many of whom did not survive themselves. His resolve to be strong for others, the way those people were strong for him, could come across as silly bravado. Instead, with the subdued animation and voice acting, it carries surprising emotional weight - as does Reeve's response. The final images are perfectly judged.  When the end credits rolled, I felt genuinely moved.

Denzel - The survivor.

OVERALL:

Episode: Denzel is the opposite of what I expected from an anime tie-in to a video game series. There is no over-the-top action. Instead, we get a child's-eye-view of a disaster and its aftermath, brought to life in a realistic art style and featuring subdued, naturalistic voice acting. All of this makes it the most "life-sized" Final Fantasy-related product yet, and also the most directly emotional one. Its viewpoint also makes it a full story in itself; Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children expand the context... but it is entirely worthwhile in itself, even without its connection to larger works.

Within the limits of its format, and possibly even disregarding those limits, I would rate this as an absolute triumph.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Preceded by: Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children
Followed by: Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII

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