FF:VII Advent Children
Square promised awhile back to never continue a individual Final Fantasy title. Each FF series is one game and one game alone. This of course ended with Final Fantasy X:2, “dress-up doll Combat Evolved." Now we get this glorious dose of Square animation to its fullest, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. This is suppose to be a follow up to the video game, almost 10 yrs ago. I think most fans of the series would know that FF:VII was a milestone in the gaming history.
Final Fantasy VII, it was a important game in many aspects. Mostly it was the eye opener of what the technology of PS1 can do for RPGs. The Wang remember a relatively boring day during my college years, when I drove down to Software etc. (some sort of gamestop chain now…) and got my pre-ordered FF:VII and the free t-shirt. The Wang still have that t-shirt, a little worn, but still got clouds polygon faces all over the back of it. Being a fan of the FF series, getting the first FF for the PS1 was the thing to do.
We all thought that what more is there to a RPG then 2d polygon grids? What more is there to the mindless humors in small talk bubbles? The Comical wackiness of flatly animated characters with nothing but moving arms and the only facial emotion was eye blinks.
Then it hit.
FF:VII came out swinging. From the opening sequence with Aerith selling flowers. Zooming out in full FMV to the city of Midgar. (The wang get goose bumps just imagining that scene) Before this, FMVs were the realm of opening videos, something cool, something to watch to catch the ideas of the creators for the game in a much cooler rendering. But FF:VII took the FMV and layered them with the little polygon characters and created action sequence never done before. The Wang cant help but remember when a section of Midgar exploded, and the characters all swung towards the camera infront of an FMV, that was a moment of action. The Wang jumped up and cheered in excitement. But I think many gamers of our age shared this experience with FF:VII, and thus the greatness of Advent Children.
Square has always been great at creating worlds. I cant say they r the best storytellers, but they know how to make a world come to life, and make it memorable. The first line of Advent Children, was asking the viewers, those who fell in love with the world, to go back for a moment and share with friends another story. Square likes this new theme of “friends", much like their current FF concert tour, "More Friends." this worked for Advent Children. It wasn’t till the end of this movie did I realized, that 10 yrs ago, I sat on my bed glued to my, then 16" TV playing FF:VII. Now that last night I sat there watching it again… How the world of FF:VII is grew up in its own way and stayed the same. How each of the characters u came to love and dislike all show up once again. It makes u look back at ur own live and think, “wow has it been 10 yrs?!" At very end of this movie, u find ur self thinking, “Yes. Hello everyone from FF:VII, thank you for another story, thanks you for another journey." And it does leave u a conclusion. It does leave u an ending… to something FF:VII kinda of needed. For how much a kids game it was, FF:VII had grown-up themes and stories. Only looking back now, can the Wang truly appreciate the greatness of the game. And this new movie is the best “part II" to a great moment in the memories of all those who grew up with the FF series.
