Sci-fi fantasy is a complicated genre to nail down. By definition, it’s a mixed genre that combines both science fiction and fantasy tropes and elements within a conventional science fiction story, where the world is presented as full of fantasy mysticism mixed in with scientific explanations. Still, it’s something that’s easy to sway one way or the other, and it can be even harder to nail in games. Tales of Arise comes to mind as one of the most recent examples and one that nails the genre to a tee, but another popular sci-fi fantasy game is Final Fantasy 13.
Now, certainly, every Final Fantasy game has had technological advancements like airships, but where most Final Fantasy games allow the fantasy to dominate in a unique, mostly fantasy setting, Final Fantasy 13 tries to blend science fiction and fantasy into a cohesive story. Yet, in comparison to Tales of Arise, it’s clear that Final Fantasy 13’s particular blend doesn’t work out so well. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Blending Sci-Fi and Fantasy in Tales of Arise
Tales of Arise presents its dichotomy of science and fantasy as a split between two people: the technologically and scientifically advanced Renans and the more general mid-fantasy Dahnans. It’s always present, such as Alphen asking Shionne about her ability to pull her gun out of nowhere, and throughout the game. However, the focus almost always stays on fantasy elements in the first half or so of the game. It feels like a fantasy game where the sci-fi elements are there but not major components, like early Final Fantasy games.
However, as players hit the game’s climax and decide to venture beyond Dahna, the sci-fi element is introduced more heavily but it fits well in the story because it was always present if not at the forefront. This makes travel to Lenegis via Alphen’s space ship and the technology of the space station Lenegis (and how it transforms from there) much more believable. It really shines through when Tales of Arise pushes its sci-fi elements in the latter half of the story.
When Tales of Arise introduces its alien race, the Helganquil, it slowly reveals how Lenegis operates as a space station and explains the origins of the Renans. The science doesn’t explain away the fantasy elements, but it tries to reconcile them. The Helganquil aren’t a scientific explanation for what’s going on, but add sci-fi elements to the explanation of the fantasy plot related to the Great Astral Spirit. Renans on Lenegis don’t question the Sovereign or their homeworld, Rena, because both the science and the fantasy assure them of their way of life. And, when the origins of the Renans are introduced, it helps reconcile the party’s belief system in its fantasy world.
Tales of Arise launched to great reviews, partially because it is a story told in pairs: Alphen and Shionne go hand in hand, Law and Rinwell go head to head, and Dohalim and Kisara represent belief for a peaceful coexistence. Just as these characters give a powerful pair of perspectives for the player to see the world through, the science and fantasy elements present themselves as a pair as well.
Blending Sci-Fi and Fantasy in Final Fantasy 13
As aforementioned, elements of sci-fi have been in every FF game. In early games, they served as a convenience for background reasons; in games like Final Fantasy 7, there’s a heavy emphasis on a specific type of sci-fi. Final Fantasy 15 even takes modern, slightly advanced science and interjects it into its world. Final Fantasy 16, on the other hand, appears to have more traditional fantasy roots. So, it’s Final Fantasy 13 that really pushed the envelope for a general Sci-Fi fantasy entry.
The only problem is that it’s not in connection with its fantasy. Across all three games, there are fantasy storylines such as preventing the end of the world, coupled with scientific advancements in NPCs and areas like Cocoon (FF13); sci-fi storylines such as traveling through time to correct anomalies, while also bringing along general fantasy monsters along (FF13-2); and an escape from the fantasy world into a modern one, which seemingly abandons the fantasy elements while telling a story that is focused on fantasy elements (Lightning Returns).
One of its most common critiques is its linear storytelling, and in doing so, the game manages to railroad both its sci-fi and fantasy elements. Indeed, the collection of games can feel a bit contradictory at times, with highly sci-fi oriented aesthetics, visuals, and enemies in the middle of a super high fantasy story, while looking like a highly fantasy oriented game with major sci-fi story elements. It’s not consistent, no matter if its visuals are one of its most impressive elements.
Whereas the sci-fi and fantasy in Final Fantasy 13’s games seem to grind against each other like gears to tell one half of the story to jump to, at one moment, the other half the next, Tales of Arise’s sci-Fi and fantasy elements are like well-oiled cogs in an impressive machine. In Tales of Arise, it works without a heavy suspension of disbelief (beyond that required of a video game world in general); in Final Fantasy 13, certain allowances are always required on the player’s half to get some inkling of what the game is and what the game isn’t.
Tales of Arise is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.