Final Fantasy - don't forget about the 2nd part of the title

[Torzelbaum]

Another thing that separated Final Fantasy from other games was the setting - from the beginning it shown a predisposition to mix fantasy and science fiction

I can't remember if we ever discussed this on TT 2 but even if we have that's never stopped us from doing it again here.

So there has always been that mix in the Final Fantasy games but the balance of that mix has changed from title to title. So which Final Fantasy is the most fantastic i.e. has the most fantasy and the least sci-fi?

For the purposes of this thread I don't think airships would automatically qualify as sci-fi. For me if it is based on a sailing ship then that is more fantasy than sci-fi. But if the airship is like a space ship or modern ship or airplane then that is definitely more sci-fi to me. An airship based on a a sailing ship but that can travel to another planet is also more sci-fi, IMO.

(Also don't forget that spin-offs are fair game in these threads.)

 

[Mogri]

Likely FF3, which has very little technology and lots of crystals and magic.

 

[Falselogic]

I'm trying to think if there is any scifi in Mystic Quest.

 

[Torzelbaum]

I can't remember any sci-fi in Tactics Advance. About the highest tech there are the guns.

Tactics had the Worker robots and the guns but I think that's about it.

Conversely, 6 is chock full of sci-fi / relatively high tech stuff. You even start the game in mech suits.

 

[Purple]

9's pretty solidly fantasy. The plot largely centers artificial people but I don't think they're supposed to be robots? I'm honestly fuzzy on if their exact origins are ever really tackled.

And I mean there's a bit with the planet of the Gokus but even there they don't get all tech-y with it.

 

[nataeryn]

FF1? Its got elves and dwarves and goblins.

 

[ThornGhost]

Been a while since I played Crystal Chronicles but maybe that? Unless we count GBA link cables technology?

 

[Falselogic]

FF1? Its got elves and dwarves and goblins.

It also has flying ships and a Warmech.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Been a while since I played Crystal Chronicles but maybe that? Unless we count GBA link cables technology?

I meant the technology in the game not what's used to play it.

 

[air_show]

There's a lot of reasons I didn't pay Final Fantasy 15, but the fact that the NPCs in that game walk around wearing cargo shorts and dockers disgusts me. It is the least sci-fi and fantasy at the same time.

 

[gogglebob]

I'm trying to think if there is any scifi in Mystic Quest.

It kind of depends on your definition of sci-fi/tech. The Wind Tower has a working elevator and seems like the most mechanical area you see. Additionally, the way the central "Elemental Tower" works seems like it really wants you to think that there is some kind of ancient civilization that built the thing with "modern" sensibilities and tech-magic ways to control the elements. All that said, you never fight a "robot" enemy anywhere in the game (best you deal with is a golem), and bots seem to be the usual sign of sci-fi in a Final Fantasy game (like a certain errant robot hanging out behind a waterfall in FF1).

9's pretty solidly fantasy. The plot largely centers artificial people but I don't think they're supposed to be robots? I'm honestly fuzzy on if their exact origins are ever really tackled.

And I mean there's a bit with the planet of the Gokus but even there they don't get all tech-y with it.

And this is the other "what are we calling sci-fi" here, as the Airship Invincible is scary because it has a giant laser to overcome the eidolons of Gaia, which are supposed to be the biggest bruisers on that planet. I always thought the clone vats of Terra combined with the airship that may as well have come from Independence Day were supposed to be high tech to contrast with the high fantasy world of Gaia... but who the heck knows? Maybe I'm just using this as an excuse to plug the Wild Arms 3 Let's Play, where that is definitely happening in the backstory.

In short: sci-fi and fantasy are a land of contrasts.

 

[ThornGhost]

I meant the technology in the game not what's used to play it.

Me too though!

 

[estragon]

And this is the other "what are we calling sci-fi" here, as the Airship Invincible is scary because it has a giant laser to overcome the eidolons of Gaia, which are supposed to be the biggest bruisers on that planet. I always thought the clone vats of Terra combined with the airship that may as well have come from Independence Day were supposed to be high tech to contrast with the high fantasy world of Gaia... but who the heck knows? Maybe I'm just using this as an excuse to plug the Wild Arms 3 Let's Play, where that is definitely happening in the backstory.

I think it's even less ambiguous than that in the case of FF9. The Japanese word used for the artificial humans means android or something else sciency 99% of the time (it's the exact same term for the DBZ androids and Evangelions, for instance), and the proper noun for them (in the localization and the original) is Genomes, which along with the very sci-fi vats puts them firmly in the world of advanced technology. This also means that 2 of your core party members that the story spends a lot of time revolving around are androids, so it's arguably one of the most sci-fi heavy games in the series, despite initial appearances.

 

[estragon]

I can't remember any sci-fi in Tactics Advance. About the highest tech there are the guns.

On the other hand, FF:TA also includes the real world circa 2003, which is pretty high tech. It features cars, streetlights, TV, electric indoor lighting, neon signs, and video games.

On the other other hand, the real world as of 2003 is less high tech than the implied ancient forgotten sci-fi society in the background of every other Final Fantasy game mentioned in this thread. I guess it comes down to how you treat Ivalice there. FFXII and FFT Ivalice contains ancient advanced tech that goes beyond the real world circa 2003, but if FF:TA Ivalice is considered to be a dream world, then the most advanced existing technology there is just real world tech in 2003, instead of ancient technology that is indistinguishable from magic.

edit: Edited to reflect that FFTA does mention video games.

 

[Paul le Fou]

If we're going to talk about Tactics Advance, what about FF Tactics (original flavor)? I may be forgetting details, but it seems like the highest tech in Ramza's Ivalice is like, musket-level guns, maybe some other simple machines. ---Oops, looks like I forgot the worker robots. But even then they seemed pretty low-tech as far as robots were concerned. More like magical golems than circuitry and machinery.

How about FF5? I probably have the weakest memory of all about that one, beyond FF3 as mentioned above, but I don't recall too much of the sci-fi stuff happening there...?

 

[estragon]

How about FF5?

Ancient flying tech city.

(Something like this is at the very least implied in the background of every Final Fantasy game, they're all Laputa. FFIII's ancients are also high tech. FFT worker robots shoot lasers and are part of another implied Laputa high tech society that used to exist in Ivalice.)

 

[Paul le Fou]

Just goes to show how big an impression FF5 made on me, I guess.

 

[estragon]

I think it's such a normal fantasy beat (and especially in JRPGs) that it's easy to forget. You play your third or fourth Final Fantasy game and it existing on the ruins of a an implied ancient sci-fi society barely registers anymore unless you think about it consciously.

 

[ThricebornPhoenix]

it's arguably one of the most sci-fi heavy games in the series, despite initial appearances.

I think IV is the first FF to really make sci-fi elements a meaningful part of its makeup, although VI-VIII would go progressively further. In most other games in the series, advanced technology is just a bit of spice in the soup. The ancient flying city is pretty high-tech, but it's just one dungeon in a long game full of fantastical or natural dungeons, and the technological aspect doesn't really matter in the story.

If we're going to talk about Tactics Advance, what about FF Tactics (original flavor)? I may be forgetting details, but it seems like the highest tech in Ramza's Ivalice is like, musket-level guns, maybe some other simple machines. ---Oops, looks like I forgot the worker robots. But even then they seemed pretty low-tech as far as robots were concerned. More like magical golems than circuitry and machinery.

There's also a machine that teleports protagonists from other games, but that may be sufficiently advanced to leave off the list.

 

[Paul le Fou]

There's also a machine that teleports protagonists from other games, but that may be sufficiently advanced to leave off the list.

...non-canon! I'm calling that non-canon...!

 

[Torzelbaum]

On the other hand, FF:TA also includes the real world circa 2003, which is pretty high tech. It features cars, streetlights, TV, electric indoor lighting, neon signs, and video games.

Wow. Those scenes made so little impact on my memory that I had forgotten about them until you reminded me.

There's also a machine that teleports protagonists from other games, but that may be sufficiently advanced to leave off the list.

Well, that is an optional side quest which is only a small part of the game.