Shiai series

1987 One day, a small Japanese software company named Square Co. LTD (Squaewell) was in urgent need of a success to stabilize its position. Prior to this, Scoville mainly made smaller games for Famicom Disk (Nintendo's first generation home game console) system. The sales of those works are not too bad, but the ordinary users of Famicom disk system make it an unattainable goal to launch sensational new works on this platform. At this time, Sakaguchi Hironobu had an idea: Why not make a game similar to "The Brave Fight the Dragon" produced by Enix Company? This RPG on the home console has achieved great success among players, and Sakaguchi thinks Squawell can greatly improve its basic rules. So, the company began to specialize in it, which is a role-playing game that tries to change the type of RPG game, with a capacity of 1MB. All the company's resources, dreams and hopes are devoted to this game. If it fails, Squawell will disappear from the industry. This plan, which was also Squawell's last struggle, was named Final Fantasy.

On the Relevance of Final Fantasy Series;

Although the final fantasy series games are developed in sequence, each game is an independent adventure. Characters, regions, and story lines do not carry over from one game to the next. However, in many works in this series, there are some stable design or cycle themes. These characteristics help players feel at home soon when facing the new world and completely original characters.

Prelude and victory music

Debut: Final Fantasy I-IX, Tactics

Traditionally, every final fantasy game has a piece of music at the beginning, called a prelude. Players can hear high-pitched pipa and soothing chords, but the arrangement of each piece is slightly different. Victory music will be played after every battle victory. In Final Fantasy I-VI, the whole theme of victory is the same (although the arrangement is different). Only the original horn sounds in Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8 have changed, but Final Fantasy 9 has returned to its original design.

Final fantasy theme song

Debut: Final Fantasy I-IX

Sometimes it is called "the theme of crossing the bridge" because the music in Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy IV was played when the players crossed the bridge shortly after the game started. This musical theme appears in every final fantasy work from the first game. Sometimes it is a full schedule, which can last for several minutes; Sometimes it's just a few bars (usually the end). Anyway, this piece is one of the more memorable pieces in Final Fantasy.

symbol

Debut: Final Fantasy IV -XI (initial), I-XI (mixed)

Since Final Fantasy 4, the text symbols of Final Fantasy have not changed, but the emblem of each symbol is slightly different-Final Fantasy 4 is Kane the Dragon Knight, V is the dragon, VI is a set of magic armor, VII is the meteor, VIII is the storm hugging Reno, and IX is the crystal. The final fantasy X's model art and XI's logo indicate that this trend will continue. Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy II, and Final Fantasy III transplanted to WonderSwan Color PDA have recreated this logo in a "new" style.

Role occupation

Debut: Final Fantasy III-IX, Tactics

Although many innovations have been made in this series since final fantasy iii, most professions and ability systems have not changed. Although different works are realized in different ways, most team members adopt the characteristics of this basic career setting. Ordinary occupations include: knight, heavy weapon and protective gear user; Friar, a character who attacks with his bare hands with innate ability; Thieves can steal from their opponents; Dragon knight, can jump on the enemy's head to keep close to one turn, and can also cause extra damage when falling; Ninja, with the ability to endure and throw weapons; Samurai, can use the sword to exert special power; Berserker, uncontrolled but can cause a lot of physical damage; Archers, using bows and arrows to attack the enemy remotely; Magic knights can release black magic for their heavy weapons; White magic and black magic teachers can release white magic and black magic respectively; Green magic teachers can learn the techniques used by the enemy in battle; Summoner, can summon a huge monster in battle; Azazel's instructor has considerable physical strength and black and white magic; Animal trainers, catching enemies and using them to fight for their own; Pharmacist, proficient in pharmacy and alchemy; Fortune tellers and magicians who have different means of attack according to the terrain; Bards/dancers, whose songs and dances have various effects on the enemy; And imitators who can imitate the skills and occupations of other team members. Not every role happens to belong to one of these occupations, but at least part of the abilities of most roles come from these basic occupations.

Chocobo and Tian Fei pigs.

Chocobo's debut: Final Fantasy II-IX, Tactics

Flying pig debut: final fantasy iii, V-IX

How many RPGs can claim to have created a brand-new and unforgettable animal life? There is no doubt that any amateur can immediately recognize these two final fantasy races. Chocobo is a large creature similar to ostrich/chicken, and it is also a means of transportation in the final fantasy world. They have many different colors, and each color in Chocobo has its own advantages. Yellow is a traditional hue. There is even a "Fat Chocobo" in Final Fantasy 4, where players can store their unused items! The theme songs of all varieties are as easy to distinguish as the odd appearance.

Flying pig looks like a white teddy bear toy, with curved eyes, red bat wings and yellow antenna. They'll say, "Cooper!" In a lovely tone. And "mother-in-law!" . They also have a unique theme song "Small Animals, Travelers, Fried Food".

Biggs and Wedge

Debut: Final Fantasy VI-VIII

Sometimes translators translate it into "Vickers and Wedge", which are two characters in luke skywalker's Red Squadron. Obviously, there are also some Star Wars fans among the producers of Final Fantasy. These characters almost always appear in second-level gem missions, but their existence does bring fun to players.

Summon the beast

Founding: Final Fantasy III-IX, Tactics

The summoning system is suitable for some powerful demigods. Summoning animation has always been the highlight of Squawell's art design-more top, more incredible and better. In Final Fantasy 4, players can visit Summoner's Mainland, which is their birthplace. Every summoner is extracted from classic myths and legends, and most of them appear in multiple games. The summoning animals that have always been loved by players and designers are Leviathan (water system), Ramuh (electricity system), Ifrit (fire system), Shiva (ice system), Titan (earth system), Odin (killing) and Bahamut (million nuclear weapons! )。 In recent games, the once gorgeous animation has reached a new height in absurdity: Do we really need to throw the enemy out of geosynchronous orbit? But no one will deny that the effect of these animations is cool.

Four elements

Founding: Final Fantasy I-V, Mysterious Mission

Although it gradually fell out of favor in recent games, four elements (earth, fire, water and wind) played an important role in early games. Their forms are often evil elements or good crystals. Although these elements often appear briefly, Aristotle's four basic forms are not as important as before for the final fantasy series.

International Development Committee

Debut: final fantasy II-IX, tactics

Every final fantasy game has a character named Cid. Producer Sakaguchi Hironobu described Cid as "Yoda of Final Fantasy Series". He is slightly older, smarter and often grumpy than other members of the team. In any case, the role of Cid is almost always an engineer or a mechanic. Cid is a character that players can control in Final Fantasy 4 and Final Fantasy 7.

Flying empty ship

Debut: Final Fantasy I-IX

In the final fantasy world, flying boat is almost a wooden spaceship flying in the air, with several sails, many propellers and occasionally magic. These ships usually represent the technical peak of the game world. Cid is usually an indispensable role in manufacturing or maintaining flying boats. Final Fantasy 8 is the only final fantasy game without "traditional" flying boat. It is replaced by a futuristic spaceship Ragnarok.

Sacredness, Meteor and Extreme Studies

Debut: Final Fantasy III-IX, Mystery Mission, Tactics

"Sacred" is also called "white" or "pearl" in America. The most powerful white magic and black magic are almost all "sacred" and "extreme" or "meteor". In Final Fantasy 5, players have to complete a complex branch task to get these two kinds of magic. You can't really use "sacred" and "stream" in Final Fantasy 7. Quot spell, they were promoted to the center of the story.

Excalibur (sword in stone) and Masamune (real knife)

Debut: Final Fantasy I-IX

Almost all the best two swords in the final fantasy series are named Excalibur and Authentic. The name Excalibur comes from the legend of King Arthur. Authentic sword is named after an ancient Japanese sword maker. His weapon is famous for its versatility and power.

Starry ending

Debut: final fantasy III-IX

No matter how the story ends, a final fantasy game traditionally ends with a starry sky and the central word "end". A comfortable prelude is usually played in a loop before the game machine is turned off.

Final Fantasy-Chronicle of Crystal

Having said that, I have to talk about the feud between scovill and Nintendo and Sony: It is said that scovill, who left Nintendo to join Sony in the PS era, entered the film industry, and the fiasco in FF movies caused great pain to scovill. In order to rebuild the relationship with Nintendo, cross-platform, networking, low-cost, multi-software strategy can be said to be the core strategy that SQUARE is committed to after entering the new century. In March 2002, Akitoshi Kawazu, one of Squawell's directors, set up a subsidiary "Game Designer Studio", which is the same as Nintendo's concept and funded by the "Fund Q" Foundation established by Nintendo President Pu Yamauchi. "Game Designer Studio" will be responsible for the production of NGC and GBA games. The first released games are GBA Final Fantasy Strategy Edition and NGC Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle. These two games will also adhere to the concept of interaction between Nintendo NGC and GBA games. Squawell returned to Nintendo camp through its subsidiary, which is why The Chronicle of Final Fantasy Crystal was born!