Since we are gaming, many franchises changed, we played many platforms, the way we play changed and even whole genres changed. Some new kids came who surpassed the old group of gamers with there reflexes and concentration. The market got bigger for so-called "Casual" gamers and even for non-gamers. But non matter which group of gamer you are, everyone agrees that Final Fantasy is one of the rare great constants in the gaming industry, providing a unique feeling which no one else can. In the mid 1980's, Square (now Square Enix) was facing bankruptcy. In those times Hironobu Sakaguchi decided to create one more fantasy based Role-playing game since he said that he isn't good at making action games and decided to tell people a story, inspired by Enix's Dragon Quest, Nintendo's The legend of Zelda and the Ultima series. Since he was planing to retire after that game, he decided to name the game Final Fantasy. The development team was counting 7 people, while the other team at Square had about 20. It was originally planed that the first shipment will consist of 200000 units but Hironobu pleaded the company ship 400000 and they agreed. Aside of Hironobu as designer, other noteable people working on that game werecharacters and title logo designer Yoshitaka Amano, Akitoshi Kawazu and Kenji Terada were the writers, programmer of that game was a Iranian-American freelancer programmer Nasir Gebelli and the music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu.
This man though Final Fantasy is going to be his last game.
The game was critically very well accepted, especially in Japan selling the whole shipment. Nintendo made the localization of the game for the North American market, after the success of Dragon Quest. Unlike how it was in Japan the game was mild received in NA. The gameplay is like from any RPG from that time. It consisted from an overworld map on which you move across the world, the battles were turn-based and only possible through random encounters and the level-up system was based on experience points you get after every battle to level-up and to raise your stats which was done automatically. There was a story, but because of the limitations the consoles had in those times, it was very basic. The first installment of the series is regarded as one of the most influential early console RPG. And all that was enough to spawn a sequel, but since Hironobu planned the game to be a stand-alone tittle, they decided to create an all-new story, but keep some elements from the first one. The sequel came just a year after, and it had a more complex story, a little of character development and a lot different level-up system which was based on the using of weapons and not experience points, and it introduced Chocobo's. The main people behind the game were the same as behind the first one, but it wasn't localized to NA until 2003. The last Final Fantasy game that came out for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was Final Fantasy III, which also wasn't localized to the rest of the world until the DS remake that came out in 2006, 2007 in Europa. The original Final Fantasy III came out in 1990 in Japan. It returned the level-up system from Final Fantasy I, it introduced the job system which allows players to change c l a s s whenever they want, and have the players an even more complex story and more depth character development.
Final Fantasy III was probably the first FF that had memorable characters
The NES retired, the Super Nintendo (SNES) came, and with it a new Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy IV, released in 1991 was localized to NA as Final Fantasy II. It was very story-based and many fans still regard it as the best story a Final Fantasy game had. The character development was very deep, but Final Fantasy IV is remembered also for the introducing the Active-Time battle (ATM). What not very well known is that the original script was reduced to one fourth because of the catridge storage limit. Once more, just a year after and without a NA localization, Final Fantasy V saw the light of the day. The ATB returned, and even thought experience points returned, there were not the only factor because the job system played a major role for getting stronger in this game. It is regarded as a great Final Fantasy but with less character development and story. People waited 2 years to get Final Fantasy VI, known as Final Fantasy III in NA. It didn't introduced nothing innovating, and although it had less character development then Final Fantasy IV, the story is regarded also as one of the best in the series and overall as one of the best Final Fantasy's.
Final Fantasy VII was the first Final Fantasy in 3D
Final Fantasy VII abandoned Nintendo, and went to Sony's new console, the PlayStation. It was the first Final Fantasy in 3D, it had prerendered background, CGI animations and a lot more and to write everything that it introduced would take a whole blog. It is the best selling Final Fantasy till date, selling about 10 millions units, and it is also one of the best accepted by critics. The story is the most important part of the game, but for many it is a very hard story since it has about 200 A4 paper script without any voice acting. Final Fantasy VIII came 2 years after, and it didn't introduced anythingrevolutionary but a great story which became a synonymous for Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy IX returned to the roots and was based on crystals, like the first games but all in 3D, and it is one of the best rated Final Fantasy games. Playstation 2 came, and once more a new Final Fantasy came. It was Final Fantasy X (which was also the first Final Fantasy that spawned a real sequel, Final Fantasy X-2), which was the first Final Fantasy to introduce voice acting to the series and boosted the sales of Sony's console. It also introduced a new battle system called Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB), but it also was the last game from Square, which after this game, became Square Enix. That act changed a lot, since Hironobu and some other staff left and created there own studios. The composer, Nobue Uematsu did the same but he still makes music for Final Fantasy.
Square Enix is formed from two RPG gaints, Square and Enix
Final Fantasy XI is an MMORPG based game and by many not regarded as a true Final Fantasy and it came out in 2002. 5 years after the original release of Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII came with the biggest development time for a Final Fantasy game. It featured amazing sound and CGI animations, but it also took out random encounters and it was the first Final Fantasy were you could see enemy's walking on the map. It was very good received by critics and was sold in impressive numbers. And 4 years later we are standing here, playing Final Fantasy XIII, as the latest installment in this long running franchise and enjoying it. If we can believe to Square Enix, it is the most expensive Final Fantasy to date, but it is also one of the worst received Final Fantasy's by critics. But never less, Final Fantasy will stay an impressive franchise with a lot of hater but even more fans.