Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

[Dunedain]

Jeesh! Can you say "CRAP".
Ahem, I can be more intelligent about this.

The folks at Squaresoft need to be commended; they put out quality games and revolutionized an entire genre. This is the reason I expected their breakthrough into movies to be marvelous!

Sadly... In order to explore the blunder of this movie... one must go back a little.

Final Fantasy VIII: Major mistake. The once vigilant company caved! They ceased appealing to roleplayers and loyal fans, and decided to turn their attention to the general moron public (No offense to anyone who enjoys the game).

The game was.. ok.. much like the movie. It, however, was not Final Fantasy. Many key elements were non-existant (chocobos, for one). It was a purely futuristic RPG, which, were it not for the presence of Espers (yes, Espers, I'll call them that, FF6 was, and is, the best RPG game ever), the game would not have been called Final Fantasy.

Now, Squaresoft saw the moronic public enjoying the game, so they decided to base their movie on it; as far from the truth of Final Fantasy as they can. This cost them, for the morons were really just passive gamers, and couldn't care less about another video game movie.

The true fans did go see it, but quickly spread word to other Otaku that the movie was dreadful, the movie then fell apart... Squaresoft lost $30,000,000... An expensive, but possible worthwhile lesson.. Stick to your fans..and I have to say.. in FFIX.. you did just that.. back to the basics, and I love it!

*Hugs Squaresoft*

I WUB WU!!

[Wshmaster0]

You make some good points there. Although Squaresoft made a fantastic 'graphically animated' movie, the storyline and the voice acting were simply horrible. The money was put too much on eye candy and not enough on the talent of a good story writer.

[Dunedain]

Thanks for adding that, I got sidetracked with FF8.. yes, voice acting did stink too!

[Kasera]

in my own and innane personal opinion, Squaresoft has totally went to crap within the last 4 years.

rehashed, overdone, played out, lack of innovation are some phrases i'd use to describe their recent efforts (or lack thereof)

spirits within didn't even feel like it had anything to do with Final Fantasy at all. hell with the format they used, you could have just slapped any movie together and planted a Final Fantasy tag on it and that would be that.

bleh to Squaresoft.

[Saikono]

Yeah I agree with Kas, although following FF6 must have been hard, they still did well with 7, but 8 and 9 were a bit more disappointing..but still good rpgs as for the movie, I never saw it and from everyone's review...I'm glad I didnt

[Armiatge]

Hah, I didn't even bother to see the movie... In my opinion, everything squaresoft has made after ff7 has been crap. Espeacially FF9, GAWD I hated that game, it had as much storyline as any random Mario game! Anyways.. FF10 and over look a bit more promising, maybe square is getting their act together again. ^_~

[Mistress Pred, the Almighty Tecchi]

As a good friend of mine put it "FF8 is too much like homework."

I saw the movie, good eyecandy, shallow and easy to guess plot. It was pretty, and I liked the ideas behind the plot, they just didnt do very well with fleshing it out and making it work well.

[ickabod147]

No see this is the thing, Squaresoft has found a marketable product and now they're driving it into the ground. The thing that boggles my mind is why FF (the video games) is considered anime, yes, I know there was a FF series, typical magical group of teenagers whisked away to do something marvelous. But what we're focusing on are the video games, ugh. And not the good ones either. But what do I know. I only casually graze the Final Fantasy landscape I'm not hardcore. so with that.... and

[Mantis]

Ok, first off I'd like to say that FF7 was my first foray into the Final Fantasy series. Now that was a game. The storyline, man was that good. And the characters, aside from the designs being great. I don't think I've ever cared about anything imaginary that much before. When Aeris died, I almost cried, and I don't think I've ever wanted to kill a character more than Sephiroth. Anyhoo, I'm getting off track.

Since FF7, I've played FF2, 3, 8, 9, and the commonly under appreciated Tactics. Now many purists say FF3 is the best and I'd just like to say, it wasn't that good. FF2 of course wasn't all that great either. And of course, I'm not taking graphics into account, that just wouldn't be fair. Of course, with 8 I couldn't get passed the first disk. 9 I enjoyed, but I think it was more that it kinda reminded me of 7 (strictly in engine) than anything else. Tactics was a great game, second only to FF7 as far as PSX games go, even if it didn't follow the usual FF "formula" for gameplay. I guess what I'm trying to say is the Final Fantasy series has never been that spectacular. Frankly the only thing that's gotten me to play as many as I have is my neverending quest to find another as good as 7.

As for the movie, it was significantly better than I was expecting. Granted, it wasn't the mind blowing storyline that was found within 7. Sure, it didn't have anything to do with the Final Fantasy universe beyond the use of a character named Cid. But it did have an almost decent storyline. And of course, at least in my oppinion, storyline just didn't matter in that movie. I spent so much time being floored by the computer graphics that I barely even paid attention to the storyline. Also it had one of the best audio tracks I've heard, the sound just completely engrossed you in what was going on, much more than most movies. Granted, I'm into that sort of thing (that being both computer animation and surround sound) and it may not work for everyone, but it did for me, so I say the movie is a-ok!

[-tetsuo-]

wow, this has to be the most interesting flaming forum ever! everything is SO long lol..... anywase i dint mind the movie it was very good with the animation and all, nuthin really to complain about...i enjoyed it

[Dunedain]

*sigh*
Now I have to disagree with Mantis.

Final Fantasy 6 (3) was by far the best, in my opinion. I'm willing to repect yours when you say that it isn't the best.. but you said it's "Not that good."

As a fan of storyline, you should appreciate the many characters and layers to the story -- for the time period. I think, though most of us won't admit it, that we can more easily relate to characters who are well designed in a hi-res world -- we can relate.

In FF6, this benefit was non-existant. Each character was a blob, simply differentiated by their name in text boxes, and the colors of their pixels. Personally, as far as video game emotions go, FF6 carried enough twists.

The thing which made FF6 amazing is their in-depth involvment of the Espers. Call them what you will, summons, materia -- they are still Espers. They are a part of every Final Fantasy game (and of course, were excluded from the movie.)

Final Fantasy 6 took the once-weapons and transformed them into real characters -- with an indepth history which can be applied to the summons in any Final Fantasy game.

I for one, am always glad to get my first summon, see Shiva, Ifrit, Ramuh -- they are the bonds of the games (Yes, I am getting repetative, don't worry -- I'm almost done). Final Fantasy 6 made them real, and incorperated them into a long and amazing storyline.

Seven was also amazing.

I won't get into a flame about the negative thoughts here on FF9.. I enjoyed it, the storyline is slightly thin at the surface.. but it has everything a true storyline needs.

Vivi -- the search for truth.
Garnet -- The search for identity.
The main character (whose name escapes me) -- the search for the past.
And of course.. general greed.

It went back to the roots established in FF2 and FF3.

well... I feel.. better

[Dunedain]

*bump*