105. The Destruction Of Cleyra (IX)
'Where have you been all these years? To what corners of the world have you traveled? My dear Fratley...I climbed the highest mountains only to hear rumors of your victories...I searched the deepest valleys only to find your footsteps. But I never found you'
If there's one criticism that can be made of Final Fantasy IX, it's that some of its supporting characters receive little in the way of development. Freya is one such character, despite joining the player's party quite early on in the game. A warrior from the Kingdom of Burmecia, Freya is estranged from the love of her life, Sir Fratley, who left their homeland to try and maintain peace around the world. Though promising to return, he never did, causing Freya to leave the country in search of him, failing and becoming somewhat empty in the process. When Queen Brahne of Alexandria begins her quest for continental domination by attacking Burmecia, Freya meets and joins with the game's lead character Zidane in an attempt to save it, though the city has fallen by the time they arrive and its surviving refugees have fled to the nearby city of Cleyra, which is located atop of a tree trunk. Despite the city being protected by a permanent sandstorm, it too comes under Alexandrian attack, prompting Zidane and Freya to fight for its survival. All seems lost when they are pushed back to the tree's summit, until a mysterious figure comes to the rescue. It transpires that this is Fratley, though he does not remember anything about Freya, having become stricken with amnesia. The revelation devastates her, whilst her emotional state is not improved by the destruction of Cleyra a few minutes later, when the Eidolon Odin is summoned by Brahne to obliterate the tree-trunk settlement and almost everybody within it. The player's party survives, as does Fratley, though he is bizarrely not seen again until the game's ending (him being the focus of a side quest would've developed Freya further as a character), where he is still suffering from amnesia but is willing to work with his onetime love to rebuild their home, giving hope to the prospect of their relationship blossoming once more.
104. Operation Mi'ihen (X)
'This plan won't work, you know that. We'll just let them dream a little longer'
Other than summoners, there are few entities across the world of Final Fantasy X that actively oppose the destructive Sin. Some individuals that do, however, are the Crusaders, a group of knights affiliated to the Yevon religious order. Throughout history, the organisation has strived to protect civilisation from Sin's destruction, unaware (like the rest of the world and the player at the start of the game) that the faith that 'supports' them knows that Sin will constantly be reborn no matter how many lives are given up in battle against it. Shortly after a Blitzball tournament where the character of Seymour is first introduced, the Crusaders ally themselves with the Al Bhed race to use Machina (technology forbidden by Yevon, who do not officially approve of the operation despite the fact that is unofficially commanded by Seymour and another leader by the name of Kinoc) in a mission to lure Sin and overwhelm it with sheer force and manpower. The player's party bear witness to said operation, which is named after Lord Mi'ihen, the Crusader's founder. Given how early in the game the event occurs, it's not difficult to ascertain that it will be a failure, but the scale of the destruction is unfathomable as Sin fends off the relentless assault thrown at it and decimates almost all of the infantry and machinery fighting it with apparent ease. Even the involvement of the player's party, who fight alongside Seymour (who hasn't been revealed as the culprit behind the attacks at the Blitzball stadium at the time), does nothing to affect proceedings. Most poignant is perhaps the involvement of Gatta and Luzzu, two Crusaders that travel with the party for a period in order to take part in the operation. One will always die and the other will always survive, though which individual fills each role depends solely on the actions of the player, giving them the unenviable task of choosing who should perish.
103. The PS3 Tech Demo (VII)
'Let me give you an example of a technical demonstration that our creative team has put together...'
The date was the 16th of May 2005. Consoles such as the Playstation 2, which games such as Final Fantasies X and X-2 had been released for, were entering the latter stages of their lifespan as the world's gaming journalists converged on E3, the annual Los Angeles-based trade fair for the gaming industry where new wares have been showcased and demonstrated since 1995. The upcoming release of the Playstation 3 was officially announced by Sony, but it was the video that they used to showcase the system's graphical capabilities that made the date memorable for Final Fantasy fans, as it was high definition remake of Final Fantasy VII's opening scene, which briefly incorporates the characters of Aeris and Cloud. Gamers around the world have long been clamouring for a remake of what to many (though not myself) is considered the franchise's finest entry. The release of such a video fuelled false speculation that such a project was in development, yet eight years later the game (along with Final Fantasies VIII and IX) is still yet to be remade, despite the fact that an endless array of remakes of Final Fantasies I through VI have been released in the same timeframe. Given the sheer scale of the game, it's possible that we will never see a remake; however, the upcoming HD re-releases of Final Fantasies X and X-2 for the Playstation 3 have once again resulted in intense speculation about future remake projects. Until anything becomes certain, however, we will have to make do with the one minute and forty seconds of stunning footage that teases what could be.
102. Getting The Band Back Together (VI)
'I'd given up hope... I thought everyone else had died... But...I was wrong! I'm sure we're not the only ones! We need to find everyone!'
Shortly after his murder of General Leo and his absorption of the power of several Espers, Kefka takes on the role of Final Fantasy VI's lead villain when he uses his newfound enhancements to double cross his superior, Emperor Gestahl, and acquire a godlike power that gives him the ability to not just conquer the world, but to reshape it. The aftermath of this event separates the party of characters controlled by the player, leaving them in command of just Celes, the former general of the Empire that saw the error of Gestahl's ways some time before his demise. Beginning with the martial artist Sabin, who she encounters lifting a burning building effortlessly in the air (rivalling his suplexing of a train in terms of both brilliance and ridiculousness) with his strength, she vows to reunite her friends in order to oppose Kefka, inheriting Terra's mantle as the game's lead character in the process. This results in an epic journey that spans the entirety of the now-obliterated world (known as the World of Ruin, in contrast to the original World of Balance) and sees Celes re-recruit her allies one by one in what would make for a great if somewhat lengthy montage sequence in a film.
101. Serah's Apparent Death (XIII-2)
'Serah, no, not now, please! Serah! Snap out of it! No!'
Final Fantasy XIII-2 improved greatly on its predecessor in a number of ways. Whilst Final Fantasy XIII was linear and featured little to do outside of the main story, its follow-up allowed players to proceed through events in the order of their choosing and added a considerable number of side quests for players to complete. Its downfall was that this main story was awful, placing much emphasis on a character that wasn't particularly memorable (I'm looking at you, Noel) in a confusing and convoluted plot. The innocent Serah is something of a saving grace, lightening the mood somewhat as she and Noel traverse a number of different time periods in search of Lightning (who disappears following the events of Final Fantasy XIII, which released Serah from crystal stasis), collecting artefacts and becoming locked in conflict with the antagonistic Caius Ballad. All seems well as Caius is defeated and the ending cinematics begins to play, until Serah, the character that players have invested around fifty hours into the development of, seemingly drops down dead in Noel's arms, a negative side effect of the ability to see into the future that she develops. The shock factor is high, and there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered about this depressing turn of events that will assumedly be resolved in the upcoming Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, which is released in North America and Europe in February 2014.