the saga Final Fantasy, whose sixteenth “official” episode will be released this Thursday, June 22, is an emblem of video games, and more specifically of J-RPGs (“Japanese role-playing games”). With more than 173 million units sold worldwide, Final Fantasy It is the best-selling Japanese franchise after Pokémon and Mario Bros in the rest of the world, surpassing giants like The legend of Zelda. Was the saga able to impose the codes of Japanese video games on Western players?
A common mythology
The Square Enix series, born in Japan in 1987, was only later exported to Europe and the United States. is really with final fantasy 7 (1997) that became popular all over the world: the title then became a pillar of the video game universe, and also had the right to its remake in next-gen consoles in 2020.
Despite the episodes telling a completely independent story, there are no recurring heroes, all games Final Fantasy they are based on common symbols and images. Final Fantasy It is also the first series to offer games that do not follow each other at all, despite their increasing number.
foundational combat system
The stories of the different episodes actually revolve around the same principle: a group of people destined to fight against the forces of evil and save the world from a certain apocalypse, all in a complex setting enriched with their personal stories and universes of science. fiction or, more rarely, heroic fantasy.
The multiplicity of characters and the ability of the player to make them evolve according to his wishes is also one of the strengths of the game. Final Fantasy in particular, it popularized a specific combat system: “turn-based” team battles, with characters being able to evolve and assign specific combat roles.
Among the many elements common to the episodes, we also find summons, which can sometimes take alternative names, such as “Eidolons” in final fantasy XIII (2009) or “Espers” in final fantasy VI (1994), and that represent a deity, often inspired by Arab, Nordic, Greek or Christian mythologies.
worship music
The franchise is also distinguished by a particularly elaborate soundtrack, the first titles of which were produced by Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu. Its emblematic themes are already inseparable from the various episodes of the saga, although the torch has changed hands on occasion, as it happens with the sixteenth episode to come.
We find in particular, among the most famous, the theme of Sephiroth, antagonist of the 7th episode. Final Fantasy It is also one of the first video game sagas to shine in an orchestral concert with the Distant Worlds project, which transported Nobuo Uematsu’s melodies around the world.
In Japan, the victory theme (in-game music during a combat victory) is so symbolic that it was part of the various music broadcasts during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics.
final fantasy 16 It will therefore come, from this Thursday, June 22, to add a stone to this great cult building of video games, with a title that wants to reimpose the saga as a pillar of the sector.
Source: BFM TV
