Re-hashes for
the masses

by ERIK LEIJON

During a summer where console and PC publishers largely hid in the shadows in preparation for the cataclysmic holiday season that could literally shift the Earth off of its axis, I was hoping to spend more time getting to know the two oft-neglected, remarkably consistent portable systems: the PSP and the DS. Unfortunately, I got a new television and doubled my PC’s memory, so that didn’t happen. Slowly but surely, though, the quality portable titles are trickling down, including the excellent PaRappa remake, mentioned in this column two weeks ago.

The Final Fantasy I and II (PSP/Square Enix, Square Enix) 20th Anniversary edition re-releases are cut from the same cloth as PaRappa: faithful reproductions of excellent titles that are devoid of new options. Since I lauded the return of one, I must do the same for the other, even if Square Enix could have included more.

Since I have no actual memories of 1987, I didn’t feel nostalgic playing FFI or II, which I must point out are actually sold separately—the main deterrent for a wholehearted recommendation. I did own an NES and I played my fair share of FFI in the early ’90s, but, by then, Square (pre-Enix merger) had moved on to bigger and better turn-based RPG’s, including the genre-defining FFIII. The hazy memories make it hard to identify a new dungeon from an old one, but each game does have new dungeons included.

Final Fantasies have received the re-release treatment a few times already on the portables (including cell phones), and these two follow the same format: updating the old NES graphics to look more like SNES, with 3D effects for magic and random enemy encounters. There are a few cutscenes taken from the PS remakes, but since the stories still originate from the old NES games, there is very little of the character development and expansive worlds that the later FF’s are known for.

Actually, both games are as generic as RPGs come, since Square was writing the book on turn-based adventure when they were made. Both stories consist entirely of going from town to town and solving the problems of the kings or nobles in each place. Each town has new weapons and magic to pick up, and eventually your characters develop some impressive-looking attacks. There are no plot twists or storyline worth following—this is merely the blueprint for every RPG ever, though.

Perhaps that’s disappointing, since returning to these games with such fuzzy memories will only result in shock at how simplistic they are. Strangely enough, I found it most liberating to have such a limited number of options and for it to be so effortless to optimize one’s party for action. There’s little worry about missing something important, since the games were developed to be rigidly linear. It may be difficult to remember an FF game in the pre-gambit world (if you seriously haven’t played FFXII, please do so now), so a game with the bare essentials (the turn-based combat is the standard attack/magic/item system) will either enthral you with its minimalism or remind you of why mankind likes progression.

For those with photographic memories, who have each map permanently entrenched in their skulls, the updated graphics might actually be enough to warrant playing these or the million other FF rehashes over the past few years. Square Enix should have given us penny pinchers a break by selling FFI and II in one affordable package; that would have made it an irresistible deal for game-starved PSP players. The early Final Fantasies are important, historically-speaking, even if they’ve aged prematurely.

Far cry from the original

When an IP changes developer, it rarely signals good news for fans of the old game, so I’m hoping Ubisoft Montreal does the Far Cry series justice with their upcoming sequel, due in 2008. The original Far Cry, a PC shooter, was developed by Crytek, who are currently developing the spiritual sequel, entitled Crysis, which comes out later this year for the PC.

Louis-Pierre Pharand is the producer on FC2, and my hotline is always open if anyone at Ubisoft Montreal forgets why Far Cry was cool. By making it non-linear and setting it in Africa, I dare say they’ve taken a radically different approach already.