For all FF fans

[sabin]

Have you noticed how a lot of the games seem to be based on old english history/folklore with the concept of magic epsers crystals and spells.
Castles and royalty,guards,soldiers and sinister leaders,etc!

I think the keyword is loosly based?

The legend of a famous sword?

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

Yes, I would say the more traditional games are based on more traditional stories. Not necessarily just old English folklore, but folklore from around the world. It is interesting to read articles and such about the influences of the game, because there are a lot of them, and I really like reading about the stories that shape the stories of things I play or watch.

I mean even the more scifi games still have loosely based folklore references. It's one of the things I enjoy about the series.

 

[Dionysos]

There are a lot of things in Final Fantasy which are inspired by English / European medieval history and fantasy. These are RPG staples. The original Final Fantasy was modeled very much on Dungeons and Dragons, among other standard tabletop RPGs and fiction. Over the years Final Fantasy has at different times branched out from this as well, but the medieval-era fantasy elements are still very strong.

On top of that there are some other things inspired by ancient civilisations (although usually with the aesthetics of medieval fantasy or steampunk - unless they go for ruins, in which case people are more comfortable with drawing from the ancient world for some reason). There are also others which draw from Asian cultures, and there are some other things which draw from the New World as well.

This gets reflected in the games’ bestiaries (heavily drawn from ancient mythologies, and others drawn from medieval and modern bestiaries), names of characters and towns, the appearances of characters and towns, and so on.

Final Fantasy draws its inspiration from the timeless waters of a global pool. Old and modern. Popular and obscure. The Final Fantasy creators seem to mix concepts in creative ways which become characteristic in their own right for Final Fantasy.

 

[Josef Hare]

It's a complex pattern. The original Final Fantasy was intended to just be Square's last try at a good JRPG, therefor it is a little generic. Because of this, it borrows heavily from the general feel of JRPG's at that time, which were inspired by Tolkien-esc fantasy novels and Medieval English lore. Ba-boom, you got your Elves, Fairies, Dragons, ect. As the series progressed it started to divulge from this formula a little bit here and a little bit there, until eventually Final Fantasy was known for doing the unexpected.

Medieval English lore went out of fashion, so Final Fantasy created it's own hybrid style. What's is interesting that now, thanks largely to Game of Thrones, Medieval English lore is coming back into fashion. I wonder if we'll see the effects of this on the franchise?

 

[Mark57Raider]

That's the great thing about final fantasy. Once you've seen a different weapon, accessory, interesting character or point of interest, there's another thing in the next installment you can look forward to getting to in the other. Summons were a major staple in my getting to like Final Fantasy because I enjoyed the effects, but now after playing it for so long there's always different strategies and ways of defeating enemies and bosses and powering up your characters. It makes it such a grand series to play.

 

[Busta]

To me that's what makes Final Fantasy unique to its series. Magic, Espers, kings and princesses, castles... That's why I believe 2 of the truest FF games are FF6 and FF9. When Square - Enix tries to stray away from that and go more modern, it just feels like a different franchises Sci-fi RPG.