Quote Originally Posted by Chezen View Post
This post is written in response to the posts of Betelgeuzah and Malakhim, although I will not be quoting any specific part of them.

I was 20 when FFVII came to America. 21 before I was able to play it. Before that, I had never heard of Final Fantasy. Although I was amazed by what was then cutting edge graphics and 3D world like everyone else, it was the story and gameplay that truly caught my attention. I love that game, and it's successor, so much that I have played each several times over the years.

The notion that appreciation for the story and game goes in hand with age (and to some degree implying the level of one's education), I think is a little bit insulting to the players here, even if unintentional. While I would hardly consider myself to be an intellectual, I am by no means uneducated in literature. When I was younger, I was an avid reader, not only of (then) modern books, but of many classical stories as well. I was the only person in my high school English class who didn't need Shakespeare explained to me. The only reason I do not read as much today, (or for that matter, play games as much as I used to) is because I have very poor eyesight, and my eyes strain easily.

I wouldn't say that FF stories have as much depth as a classical book. Movies are not able to recreate the depth a book can give, imo (and thus why VOs are not the greatest thing to happen to games since sliced bread, again imo). But you can certainly create something very special within a game, being it's own medium. And I can very much recognize the craftsmanship that goes into FF games, both in gameplay, and in story. Even in the titles I personally didn't care for such as XII.

If one cannot recognize the depth that went into VII and VIII's story, then I would surmise that you weren't looking hard enough, or that it at least went over your head. The ending of FFVII is probably the easiest to point out for example. That confused a lot of people for a long time. There was never supposed to be a definitive answer as to whether Midgar suvived that day. Obviously the planet did, and Red XIII did. There was also no definitive answer as to whether Aeris/Aerith had anything to do with it the planet's survival. If she had not have died, would the planet have been saved, or was her death truly senseless? Did she call forth the lifestream, or did the planet save itself? It wasn't until later that official stories were written to answer these questions and more, because of popular demand. But these things were originally left out on purpose, for the players to interpret for themselves.

In conclusion... my choice of stories and games has changed little throughout my life. There are things that I understand better now than I did as a child, but it didn't change my enjoyment of those things. In any case, I wasn't a child when I became a Final Fantasy fan in the first place, which renders that idea as moot in regards to myself. The only thing that changed as I played FFVII over and over was my continued understanding of the story and game. There was enough depth to it that there were things I missed or that went over my head the first or second time through, and I appreciated the craftmanship of it all the more.
quoted for the truth +a million

if you can't see great story telling in FF games, then you have a problem identifying storys