What Is The Golden Era Of Final Fantasy?

Final Fantasy was a dream, or more like a gamble, for Squaresoft in 1987. Would this be their final game? Fans of the series know the story, as the franchise hasn’t stopped pumping out sequels since the 80s. It’s a JRPG staple at this point, and most fans of the genre have probably played one or two Final Fantasy entries in their day.

Series fans all have their favorite adventures, but what era of Final Fantasy was the best, based on consoles and not decades? This topic will consider the games themselves, what they brought to the table, and what else was going on at the time. Were there books, movies, and anime adaptations, too? All that said, a case can be made for the PS1 being the golden era of Final Fantasy, and here’s why.

The Mature Sci-Fi Settings Of Final Fantasy 7 And 8

Two Knockouts Back To Back

Final Fantasy 7 was a drastic rebrand for the series, going full cyberpunk with its Midgar setting, and then branching out with a more fantastical world outside the city. People walked around in business outfits within Midgar. They drove cars, had cellphones, watched TV, and so on. It was the most modern and mature the series had ever been at the time. Final Fantasy 8 did not start in a dazzling metropolis like Midgar, but it still had an engrossing setting.

Squall and his fellow cadets were stationed in a military school called Balamb Garden, which could eventually be moved around like an airship. Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8 embraced the technology boom of the 90s, albeit with future tech, which helped resonate more with that generation. This, in turn, is why more people started to play Final Fantasy games by jumping in with one of these titles, along with sleek advertising that made them look like must-play touchstones of gaming culture. Also, the more mature stories of each game appealed to players who had grown up in the NES days.

Final Fantasy For A New Generation

Sleek Advertising Brought Final Fantasy To The Forefront

The mature storytelling is not what drew players into buying Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1; they only found out about that aspect once they started playing. Instead, it was the advertising. Promotions for Final Fantasy 7 used a lot of the CG seen in the game to portray a different product (slightly), which made it seem like a more groundbreaking PS1 game.

While the game didn’t look as good as the CG, it was still a remarkable step up from what the PS1 offered up to that point, like Beyond the Beyond, Wild Arms, and Suikoden. It’s thanks to this ad campaign that more people checked out this RPG than any before it, and that’s a positive for this generation. It’s also likely why Final Fantasy 7 is considered a favorite by many, as it could have been their first RPG, if not their first video game.

Final Fantasy 9 Rings In A New Millennium

A Final Farewell To Traditional Fantasy

Contrary to Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy 9 went back to a traditional fantasy setting. There were still wild machines like airships, but the technology was all toned down. Instead, it was a love letter to the entire series up to that point; a farewell to classic Final Fantasy, the PS1, and an embrace of a new millennium in the year 2000.

It’s a beautiful sentiment, and even though it pulled back on the modern tech, Final Fantasy 9 still managed to tell a gripping narrative full of dark themes, including a genocide that players had to witness several times over. It features an astoundingly vibrant world full of diverse characters who all belong to creative races. If there was ever a game to be nominated as THE Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy 9 would be the one to best represent what the series stands for.

Final Fantasy Tactics’ Strategic Dominance

The Spinoff To End All Spinoffs

Final Fantasy Tactics was bizarre for anyone who grew up with Final Fantasy or turn-based JRPGs in general. It was a new format to many, as players could move their characters across grid-based maps and create characters based on their Jobs. Like Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy Tactics also told a darker tale, perhaps even more so than the mainline games. It dealt with themes of political intrigue, religious corruption, and plenty of pixelated blood.

It was also easily the hardest game in the franchise on the PS1, which was great for those seeking a challenge. After being dormant from the gaming sphere for years, at long last, Final Fantasy Tactics is returning to modern consoles with Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. Come September, a new generation can learn how important Final Fantasy Tactics was for the series and for tactical RPGs as a whole.

Forgotten Final Fantasy Games

Playing For The First Time

Final Fantasy was released in 1990 on the NES in North America, followed by Final Fantasy 2, which was technically Final Fantasy 4, on the SNES. Final Fantasy 3 was actually Final Fantasy 6 on the SNES, and then things bizarrely jumped to Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1, reestablishing the series’ chronological order. Thanks to the PS1, fans could finally play two games that had previously eluded them. The real Final Fantasy 2, which was an NES game, was re-released within Final Fantasy Origins, a collection that also contained the series’ first game.

Final Fantasy Anthology collected Final Fantasy 5, originally a SNES game, and Final Fantasy 6. This made almost the entire mainline series up until the ninth installment playable for Western gamers, as Final Fantasy 4 was included in Final Fantasy Chronicles alongside Chrono Trigger. Unfortunately, the real Final Fantasy 3, which was also an NES game, wouldn’t make it to North America until 2006 via a DS remake. Still, that’s a pretty good collection of games for one console.

The First Era Of Spinoffs

Squaresoft Got Experimental

The NES and SNES eras played Final Fantasy pretty straight, but on the PS1, things got more experimental. Praises have already been sung for Final Fantasy Tactics, but there were other interesting spinoffs to note from this console generation. Mystery Dungeon is a huge roguelike series, mostly in Japan, with games featuring other IPs. For example, there were two Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon games on the PS1, with only the second ever crossing over to the West.

Beyond that was Chocobo Racing, a sort of Mario Kart clone. None of these games even came close to the level of Final Fantasy Tactics, but it shows how experimental Squaresoft was willing to be on the PS1. For example, Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring was not directly a Final Fantasy game, but it featured many Final Fantasy 7 characters, including Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth. Overall, the PS1 was Squaresoft’s golden era for trying all sorts of new things beyond Final Fantasy.