11 Things We Miss From Final Fantasy

Similar to those remaining few games which stoically continue to employ pre-rendered backgrounds, modern titles which are lacking a fully voiced script are seen as something of an anachronism. After all, the only impediment to entirely voice-acted dialogue in the past was a lack of disk-space; if they could have done it, they would have.

But again, freedom from restriction has proven more a hindrance than a virtue.

Excited by the spangly new hardware on offer by the PS2, Square-Enix went all out for Final Fantasy X, not only furnishing the game with fully 3D environments, but also giving a voice to its characters for the first time.

Unfortunately, neither came off well. Series director Hironobu Sakaguchi hoped to suffuse his cast with even greater emotion; the feat was seemingly made possible by the improved capabilities of the PS2, as it allowed for voice acting combined with realistic facial animations.

The technology couldn't improve the script writing however, nor could Final Fantasy X's wooden, soulless performers. Far from giving the characters greater emotional weight, they instead came across as entirely charmless. There was also that laughing scene. Remember that?

Though voice acting should lend a game a greater degree of realism - and therefore immersion - in later Final Fantasy games it has actually diminished the feeling of being transported to a fantasy world. Rather than the player imagining nuance and subtlety in written dialogue, it is instead entirely prescribed - and if it's bad, there's no escaping it.

There was never any bad dialogue before voice acting, it's an indisputable fact. Any guy who thinks that are sick. (sic)