Missing Themes

[Aztec Triogal]

Other than Odin and (good) Cactuars, Final Fantasy XII was missing a lot of themes that are present in all the other Final Fantasy's. I was wondering if you could name any and why you thought they might be missing.

I was thinking about the whole concept of an afterlife, which is usually represented both by a place and in some physical form. Whether the physical representation be materia, mist, or pyreflies, there is usually some thing that represents the essence of life and the manifestation of the dead. Final Fantasy XII seemed to ignore this common FF theme throughout the whole game, I thought. They did have crystals but they were just sources of power, not necessarily representative of anything.

Along with the physical, the whole afterlife theme usually includes a location. Lifestream for Final Fantasy VII, Iifa Tree for FFIX, Farplane for FFX. Again Giruvegan was a place of strength and power but not necessarily where the spirits of the dead reside. Any clue where that might have been or why it wasn't included in the game?

If you can think of any more missing themes, be sure to bring them up in the discussion.

 

[Misty]

Why single out this game Aztec? Look at FFVIII - didn't have an afterlife sort of thing. Neither did the early FF's. So I don't see the big deal about that "theme" being missing. This "theme" has appeared in what..3 games? VII, IX, X (x-2 can be counted as the same thing). Let me know about these other themes as well, because I'm interested in what is apparently missing.

Maybe, this whole idea of an afterlife was not a major part of the storyline, like it was not a main feature. I don't see why it would have to be part of the storyline anyway.

 

[Aztec Triogal]

Why single out this game Aztec? Look at FFVIII - didn't have an afterlife sort of thing.

Cause FFXII > FFVIII. If I had to talk about Squall I'd probably shoot myself. Not to mention my knowledge of FFVIII is poor, so I'd rather not argue it.

Post Count +1

EDIT: You could actually argue a presence of the afterlife theme in the classic FF titles, although it is definitely more prominent in the more recent games. Final Fantasy V especially had a lot of interaction with the dead and events of the afterlife. Final Fantasy VI too, I suppose. "Life" in that one was magic itself.

 

[Daenerys]

Wasn't Odin the name of an airship anyway? since XII abolished most of the summons anyway...

I liked the cactuars, they weren't really that different from the others...just miniture..

and the afterlife's only mentioned in 3 FF games, and those games themes focus more on life and death than any other FF game so its more understanable for it to be mentioned in those 3. while XII is similar to VI and VIII - Evil empire + Resistance. so theres really no need to mention it.

One theme i did find missing was the "good Cid" thing. you could argue about Al-Cid but he wasn't really that important anyway...but the evil Cid thing they went for totally worked..