Regardless of what people think of the most recent game of the franchise, the Final Fantasy series has been the dominant player in the role playing genre for the past twenty years. The level of quality Square Enix pumps into their games is top notch and the story telling is some of the best in gaming. One thing that stands out about each game is how it's never a continuation of the story that came before.

While talking to Nintendo Power, Akitoshi Kawazu an Executive Producer at Square Enix, explains why each game is different:

"It wasn't so much a personal decision as it was driven by the fact that the entire team had the mentality of wanting to challenge something new. Mr. [Hironobu] Sakaguchi who was leading development on Final Fantasy II, he said himself, 'there's no point in doing the same thing." That was intended to mean we should keep trying to create new things, but the other side to it was that he was not completely satisfied with the first Final Fantasy."

I applaud any developer who takes the risk of trying something new. Sure, not every Final Fantasy was a smash hit but even those who didn't receive critical acclaim were better than other games of the genre. Square Enix set the standard and many followed in their footsteps. The best things I like about the Final Fantasy games is that you know you're getting a new story. When a sequel to a game comes out many people ask "do I have to play the previous one in order to get into this one?" Or, people play the last entry in the series just to prepare for what's to come. With the exception of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 you don't have to do any of that.

In fact, if you've played any Final Fantasy game you're pretty much set. The basic gameplay (except for the battle system) and themes such as magic, Chocobos and that stupid Tonberry stabbing you in the shins, haven't strayed far from their origin. Kawazu goes on to say:

"When Final Fantasy II was released, some people offered opinions like, 'as long as you change scenario for RPGs, you don't have to change the rest of the system.' But I don't think that the Final Fantasy series would be where it is today if we had followed that advice."

Ranters, are you glad Square didn't follow that advice, or are you wondering where the heck Final Fantasy VII-2 is? Which Final Fantasy story/character is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Nintendo Everything