Final Fantasy: Building The Perfect Sequel (1 Feature From Each Game)

Which Final Fantasy game is the best? It’s an impossible question to answer.

Every fan of the series undoubtably has their own subjective opinion, but the beauty of Square Enix’s flagship franchise is how it constantly evolves between titles, adding, removing or modifying a myriad of gameplay features and series staples with each new release.

As a result, each title has its own show-stopping positive aspects, offset by drawbacks that are more apparent in some titles than others.

Over the next few pages, I'll compile a ‘greatest hits’ of the series. One feature or piece of content from every single-player game, beginning with Final Fantasy IV (when the simplicity and narrowness of I-III was built upon to create something breathtaking), all the way through the saga, with the hope to create a ‘perfect’ Final Fantasy game.

Supplemented further by inclusions from selected RPG spin-offs, including X-2, Type-0, Tactics and the XIII sequels, this deep dive into the franchise’s greatest successes is built from more than twenty years of love, disappointment, bewilderment and frustration with Square-Enix’s one of a kind creation.

Long may it continue.

There are a number of names that are synonymous with the Final Fantasy series, such as series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, designer and director Tetsuya Nomura, former head of studio Hajime Tabata and director and producer Yoshinori Kitase to name a handful.

Few are as renowned as composer Nobuo Uematsu, who is responsible for almost every audial masterpiece ever heard across the series.

Working at a music rental shop in Tokyo when he was approached to compose the music for FF1, Uematsu went on to singlehandedly compose the soundtracks for the first nine games in the series. His creations include everything from emotional tearjerkers like Aeris’ Theme and Aria Di Mezzo Caratterre to high octane battle pieces like Dancing Mad and Clash On The Big Bridge.

Something has certainly been missing since his departure from Square Enix to become a freelancer in 2004, three years after he shared credit on a title for the first time on Final Fantasy X. He contributed just one track to XII but none for XIII and XV, with his initial first set of tracks for XIV largely removed following the game’s A Realm Reborn relaunch.

The new breed of Hitoshi Sakamoto, Masashi Hamauzu and Yoko Shimomura are all hugely talented individuals, but the most popular tracks from the series remain those composed by Uematsu. He has now appeared alongside Bach and Beethoven in the Classic FM Hall Of Fame on five occasions.

Bringing him back would be a win-win for all parties.