Game Creativity v. Final Fantasy

Every time a new game gets a good review the reviewer always seems to mention that the game "revived a genre" or "reinvented" something. These are both absurd and true accusations. What these games really did was try something new and got it to work, something games don’t try enough of these days. One can only circle-strafe and shoot Nazis so many times before it becomes tiresome. Today games suffer from a lack of creativity, so when one breaks out a little bit we tend to notice.

Creativity was once the industry's life-blood has taken a backseat to the almighty dollar. Back in the good old days when games were more easily developed and for cheaper game houses could do crazy things they thought were fun and not worry. Today every game is trying to be a blockbuster with voice acting, cut scenes, huge budgets, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with having good production values, but time and time again we've seen amazing looking games fail miserably because despite everything they had going for them ultimately they were just not fun to play.

We must acknowledge that fact that game making is a business. Game makers wouldn't make games if they couldn't make some money on them. So to hedge their bets developers are opting for tried and true methods of play, as opposed to taking a chance and losing money.

As a result, the gaming landscape of today is a never-ending sea of licensed schlock and sequels. Not that the games are bad. Most are average, but the fun of discovering something really unique and enjoyable takes considerably more effort than it used to.

The Final Fantasy series represents this concept more than any other franchise. This is one of video games oldest and most hallowed franchises. It has spanned most generations of consoles and is practically the benchmark by which other RPGs are measured. As good as the games are, though, next spring will mark the 12th installment of the series. Frickin' twelve!

It's supply and demand, though, and if people would stop buying Final Fantasy games they'd stop making them, but Final Fantasy knows how to market itself and the familiar name and quasi-familiar gameplay of each edition make it a no brainer for consumers. Final Fantasy will succeed sequel after sequel because of its pedigree. This is what makes the industry bad. Consumers won't take the time to do any research on their games, and at $50 a pop it's too expensive to take chances on new games. Familiar licensed products and sequels, like FF, are driving the creativity down.

But Final Fantasy also offers a glimmer of hope. Each game in the series is entirely different from the others, aside from sharing part of its title and a few in-jokes. As such, there's no pressure to maintain story arc or characters across multiple games. This gives the developers a fresh start every time they embark on another Final Fantasy game. It also means they can add new features, change the look, and tweak other aspects of play and not have to worry about whether their game will succeed or not.

The guaranteed success the game will have allows more freedom to pursue new types of play, as opposed to the success a game hopes to guarantee by being as much like a successful game as possible. It's a freedom few franchises have.

Is there hope? Absolutely, but it rests with us; the consumers. If you want changes and new types of games think before you pick up Grand Theft Auto Clone IV and try something quirky like Katamari Damacy. But if you really like your games the stagnant and boring and feel spending $50 on the same game of Madden you bought last year is worthwhile then go ahead, you sheep.

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