11 Things We Miss From Final Fantasy

5. Adult Themes

Final Fantasy IX Sexual Harrassment
Square-Enix

No, come on, stop tittering at the back there. I'm not talking about the sort of 'adult' themes briefly and disturbingly explored by Final Fantasy VII's Honeybee Inn, but rather the types issues that tend to affect real, grown-up people around the world on a day to day basis.

That is to say, emotions, relationships, and questions about the human condition. Not time travel.

OK, Final Fantasy hasn't always been a bastion of subtle or mature storytelling. Much of this can be explained by some fairly shoddy localisation; Nintendo's strict US censors ensured many of the series' more challenging themes were cut. Despite the lifting of these restrictions, writing in the franchise has inexplicably worsened as time has gone on, such that more than ever it resembles the work of a cliché-intoxicated teenager.

There's really no excuse in today's highly globalised industry. The business has grown bigger than one ever could ever have expected, yet it has paradoxically become infantilised in the process. Gone are the challenging themes of old. Final Fantasy VI grimly confronted the appeal of suicide in the face of abject hopelessness. Final Fantasy IX questioned the very purpose of existence, asking if our lives are meaningful if we're treated as nothing but numbers. Final Fantasy V pondered over the trustworthiness of a tree. It was all good stuff.

It's a far cry from modern Final Fantasy games, where the most searching question raised is: "what if I turn into a crystal?"

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.