Final Fantasy: How The Franchise Defined the JRPG Landscape
With the imminent release of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin on March 15, the seasoned Final Fantasy series is, once again, the topic of much chatter in the industry. With a history dating back to 1987, Square Enix' crowning franchise has seen many installments across many systems, and has continued to evolve the JRPG formula with each new entry, though not always necessarily in the right way.
Final Fantasy's lineage is littered with genre-defining titles, memorable characters, gorgeous music, and storytelling that still has the capability to bring a tear to players' eyes some 35 years after the first game's release. From the steampunk scenes in Final Fantasy 7 and Cloud's quest to bring Sephiroth down, to the upcoming Final Fantasy 16, which looks set to bring players to the medieval-inspired Valisthea, the series has been the reason many find comfort in turn-based combat, spiky-haired protagonists, and amazing scenery. It shares a genre with numerous other franchises, but none are quite as pivotal to the JRPG landscape as Final Fantasy.
The Perfect Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 Release Date Seems Obvious
Though many may believe that Final Fantasy was the series to forge the JRPG formula many know today, it was actually publisher Enix that got there first with Dragon Quest (localized in North America as Dragon Warrior) just one year prior. It was a release that provoked action from SquareSoft, and after some thought, game designer Hironobu Sakaguchi set to work creating the very first entry in the Final Fantasy series. Its success spawned another, releasing in 1988. With 15 mainline entries to date, not including sequels, remakes, spin-offs, and re-releases, suffice it to say that Sakaguchi's brainchild was a
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