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00:00It all begins here.
00:08Welcome to MojoPlays! And while we still love the modern Final Fantasy games,
00:13there's quite a few things the old school entries of the genre-defining JRPG series did better.
00:25Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
00:30about our latest videos. Animal Characters
00:46Final Fantasy games used to have a very distinct style. Their blend of futuristic steampunk tech
00:53alongside medieval fantasy helped differentiate the series from other JRPGs of the time. One of
00:59the most notable aspects of this design was the various non-human companions you could recruit
01:04into your party. Final Fantasy IX is a great example of this practice, with only a couple of
01:10characters in your main party being human, while the rest were either animal or something else entirely.
01:15Fran from Final Fantasy XII and Kamari Ronso from Final Fantasy X are some other beloved non-human
01:21characters, and outside of Final Fantasy XIV were some of the last non-human playable characters in
01:27the entire series. From Final Fantasy XIII onward, the only non-human playable characters have been
01:33the summons, and it feels like some of the magic and mysticism of the fantasy world is lost when
01:38every character within it is of the human variety. Sounds wild. It's easy work, and you'll thank me for
01:47it someday.
01:48Sense of Adventure
02:04One of the things that made the original Final Fantasy games so engrossing was they were more
02:09relatable. I know they're all still fantastical and mythical adventures, but most of the early games
02:14games started on a much smaller scale and gradually evolved into a world-saving quest. Modern Final
02:21Fantasy games rush into getting the player invested into their world and forget about the deep meaningful
02:26character and world-building that made those original adventures so memorable. In those games,
02:32few, if any, of the main characters started out trying to be heroes, let alone even knew about some
02:38world-ending calamity that they had somehow become involved in. These days, it's all the chosen one
02:43archetype rather than the simple character thrust into an unexpected and unforeseeable adventure that
02:50has them grow into the world-saving hero they never even believed themselves to be.
03:05No, voice acting.
03:16This one is going to be a bit controversial, but stick with me. The inclusion of voice acting was a
03:21big step for
03:22the Final Fantasy series, and while the early days were a bit rough, they eventually reached the level
03:27of true Hollywood productions. However, we do miss the old days when we were able to create the voices
03:33in our heads for some of our most beloved characters. What bothers me is if you're going to have voice
03:39acting in your Final Fantasy game, then have voice acting for your entire Final Fantasy game. It makes no
03:45sense that the biggest moments of the game are fully and brilliantly voice acted, but then interactions with
03:51NPCs are either text boxes, one simple line for the start of an entire paragraph of dialogue, or basic grunts
03:58and other noises. It has to be all or nothing, is what I'm saying. You probably shouldn't laugh anymore.
04:15Exploration
04:15Somehow, with the game worlds of Final Fantasy being bigger than ever, we've lost the sense of exploration the series
04:22used to have.
04:23With modern Final Fantasy games filled with maps, markers, and quest trackers, there's no real sense of discovery anymore.
04:29With the older games, you not only needed to manually keep track of all the side quests you'd taken on,
04:35but many, if not all of them, had no marker beyond the quest giver's vague directions.
04:40Oftentimes, you wouldn't even realize you'd picked up the clues for a side quest until you randomly
04:45discovered an item or location and remembered someone in the town mentioning it.
04:50Older Final Fantasy games used to let the players uncover the mysteries of their worlds on their own,
04:55rather than handing them detailed maps and quite literally holding their hand from one location to the next.
05:01Plus, we missed the overworld maps. The musical score.
05:08Listen to my story.
05:12This may be our last chance.
05:15Now, before anyone gets upset, we're not saying that modern Final Fantasy games don't also have incredible soundtracks,
05:22but there was just something more iconic and memorable about the older titles.
05:27The music of the older titles was simple, but it also had depth.
05:32These days, the musical scores are huge and bombastic, trying to compete with the best of Hollywood,
05:38but few, if any, have the same impact as hearing One Winged Angel to Zanarkand or the opera scene from
05:44Final Fantasy VI for the very first time.
05:46These pieces of music, and even more from the older titles, have remained timeless and a part of the gaming
05:53zeitgeist,
05:53while the more modern tracks are serviceable, but not nearly as memorable.
06:04Boss Battles
06:14Boss Battles are as iconic to the Final Fantasy series as the name itself,
06:19but the later entries haven't exactly delivered on the same scale as the older titles.
06:24While yes, Final Fantasy XVI went in hard on their boss battles and were equally eye-catching,
06:30they were more about spectacle and button mashing than the fight itself.
06:34Boss Battles in the older titles were a true test of your skills up to that point,
06:39requiring precise strategy to overcome insurmountable and, oftentimes, heavily mutated odds.
06:45The Boss Battles felt appropriately climactic.
06:48From everything about their scale, design, and music made these moments feel epic and world-altering.
06:54Whether it was the static images of the 2D entries or the 3D's ever-increasing spectacle,
06:59the Boss Battles of the older games were just better,
07:02and we truly felt like we'd narrowly survived the encounter by the end.
07:14Art Style
07:15In the pursuit of the uncanny valley and hyper-realism,
07:18the modern Final Fantasy games have lost what made the games so special.
07:23The over-exaggerated character designs of some of the series' most beloved characters,
07:27Cloud, Cecil, Squall, Vivi, are all memorable because they weren't chasing the uncanny valley.
07:33No one expects these characters to look like they were real people.
07:37They were the closest the game designers could get to the artist's concept art as they could,
07:41and this worked to each game's benefit.
07:44While later designs like Noctis or even Clive have their own style,
07:48they're too close to reality to sell the mythic nature of the series, and their realism breaks the
07:53immersion when seeing them perform acts no human is capable of.
07:57The modern games still have impressive artistic direction,
08:01but the older titles are true works of art that have remained icons of the franchise for decades.
08:07Quirkiness
08:15Even if you're not a fan of the old-school style of gameplay, art,
08:18or anything else that makes the older Final Fantasy games so beloved,
08:22there's no denying they have one thing the modern games don't.
08:25Fun.
08:26While modern games lean heavily into their political and Game of Thrones-style narratives,
08:31the older games managed to tell these same emotionally gripping,
08:34political-style narratives, but weren't afraid to have fun with it.
08:38Many characters have over-exaggerated anime-style animations that bring their
08:42characters to life in a way that modern games can't manage.
08:46These games also would routinely have pure laugh-out-loud moments of levity
08:50or ridiculous side quests that felt out of place in the overall plot,
08:54but ended up being some of the best parts of the game.
08:57Modern Final Fantasy takes themselves way too seriously,
09:00while the older titles could still find the fun even amid saving the world
09:04from imminent disaster.
09:11Job Systems
09:12Along with much of the art style specific to the series' characters,
09:16the job system of the older titles was also largely left in the past.
09:20While the more modern games make every character a jack-of-all-trades,
09:24the older Final Fantasy games gave each member of your party a specific role,
09:28and without at least one of those in your party,
09:30any strategy or chance of winning you once had was on the line.
09:34Each member of your team had a special role,
09:37and while later games would allow you to further customize your party with various abilities or
09:41upgrades, traditionally the system was still the same.
09:44That is, however, until the modern games streamlined everything,
09:48removed any real party system, and allowed every member access to virtually every spell or ability,
09:54making the rest of your party feel less important to the overall journey.
09:58Turn-Based Combat
10:04This choice isn't going to be for everyone, but turn-based games still have their place in RPGs,
10:10and the absolute GOAT of the game mechanic needs to bring it back.
10:13After perfecting the formula with Final Fantasy X, Square attempted to make the series appeal to a
10:19wider audience, and started moving away from the more traditional turn-based combat,
10:23before eventually ditching it entirely. However, recent hits like Claire Obscure Expedition 33,
10:29and even Square's own Octopath Traveler series, prove the players still love the old-school style
10:34of combat, if the gameplay is satisfying. With the strategy of battle in the more action-heavy and
10:40button-mashy entries we've had in the recent years, being lost almost entirely. Turn-based combat still
10:45has its place, and with all the improvements to the formula and game mechanics since FF10,
10:51the next mainline entry should bring turn-based back to its glory days.
11:02Do you prefer the older Final Fantasy games, or the modern ones? Share your reasons in the comments.
11:08Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from MojoPlays,
11:12and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
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