Half the time I only continue playing this disjointed, barely-adequate game out of a desperate hope that I’ll stumble across something that will make it cohesive. It hasn’t happened yet; between the asynchronous, irritating soundtrack, poorly-timed dialogue featuring conspicuous conversation-killing lags and pauses, and stomach-turning cutesy “girl power” moments, most of the enjoyment has been bled from this game, and in the moments when I do enjoy it, that guilty pleasure makes me doubt my masculinity. It’s almost sad to see such an amazing upgrade to the combat system wasted on such a poor excuse for a Final Fantasy game; the real-time attacks and positioning, multi-character combo attacks, and yes, even the dress spheres—although I feel like I’m playing with my sisters’ Pretty Princess fashion playsets—make for the most dynamic and involved combat system yet. Why oh why, then, was it wasted on this target-audience spinoff that is basically nothing but 35+ hours of girl-on-girl fanservice threaded loosely into a mockery of a story?
My only hope is that X-2 was used as a testing stage to work out the kinks in the combat system for the upcoming Final Fantasy XII. It’s a thin, weak hope, but one that I cling to nonetheless, for if XII doesn’t redeem the series then nothing ever will. I admit, I’m panting for the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children DVD; it’s the one thing that can bring out the inner fanboy under my cool, composed, approaching-middle-age surface, and I’m praying to anything that will listen that it won’t flop as badly as Square’s last cinematic attempt and ruin my first love of gaming forever. I can’t, however, say that I’m really looking forward to the Final Fantasy VII spinoff games currently scheduled for release on the PlayStation Portable. I’m as fascinated by the idea of a Vincent-centered or Turks-centered game as the next RPGeek, but something about it just sits false.
No, a lot of things sit false. The pinnacle of Final Fantasy was when all of the development was focused on the main lineage and the occasional Tactics or Crystal Chronicles were a nice side diversion that had nothing to do with the main storylines. Now suddenly it’s spinoffs, sequels, and more fan service than, frankly, we need. If all game fans knew what was best for game development, then every game fan would have a job in a studio somewhere. Let’s face it: we know what we like, but we don’t always know where to quit.
It seems like Square Enix doesn’t know that, either.
I’m going to put myself on the line here by saying that the incorporation of Enix is 90% of the problem. Maybe I’m biased, but it seems like with that merger, the focus shifted from producing high-quality new games to capitalizing on the fan base of existing successes by exploiting spinoffs, sequels, and excessive merchandising. Suddenly it’s all about the marketing strategy, counting on the fact that rabid fans of previous high-grossing, popular games would jump at the chance for new material featuring their beloved favorite characters. Perhaps that would be true if the new material was of any kind of promising quality, but the sadly disassociated gameplay of X-2 has left me little hope for the upcoming slew of Final Fantasy VII-related material.
In the meantime, we’re still waiting nearly two years for the release of XII, and hoping that it will do something to redeem a series that has already enjoyed a phenomenal run but has taken some major blows in the past few releases. As much as I hate to admit it, I think that Final Fantasy is on its last legs. I’d love to see XII be the game that wraps it all up with a storyline, gameplay, animation and action so incredible that any sequel would be pointless; it would be a fitting end.
But even if XII completely bombs: it’s time to let the horse die, Square Enix. It was a good run, but now things are winding down, and at this point by digging your heels in you’re just dragging your feet in the dirt. If XII is a disappointment, then you can say that it was time, anyway. If the game is the sensation that I hope it will be, then it will be a last call before the series is laid to rest with dignity and fond memories. There’s no need to drag it out further. You’re not luring us in with the cannibalism of the corpses of old favorites. You’re just souring us on what was once great.
