It’s been a long road in coming, but the last Final Fantasy Retrospective is finally complete. If you missed the Final Fantasy Retrospective Part 12, it looked at the remakes in the series.
For the final installment in this 13 part video retrospective, they take a look at the parts and themes of Final Fantasy that make the whole. In other words, what makes a Final Fantasy game a Final Fantasy game? What separates it from the plethora of other RPGs?
While the answer is long-winded and complex, there’s quite a bit of fun tidbits contained in this FF Retrospective soundoff. A great closing to an outstanding series of retrospectives.
The History of Final Fantasy Retrospective Part 11 takes an in-depth look at three Final Fantasy-related spin-off games (like the Final Fantasy Retrospective Part 10, which looked at the Chocobo titles, FF: Mystic Quest, and every other FF-related piece of media).
First up is Final Fantasy Legend I, II and III for the Game Boy. An offshoot series that really has nothing to do with Final Fantasy and were actually the first games in the “Saga” franchise, which finally got it’s original name back in the United States when the 7th installment, for the PS1, was released in the US as “Saga Frontier” (the last game in the series being Unlimited Saga on the PS2, which received mixed reviews).
They then look at Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2004 (US). Created by Game Developers Studio, a company made specifically to work on the game, it marked Square’s glorious return to Nintendo systems. Square had entirely skipped the Nintendo 64 era for Sony exclusivity when the cartridge-based N64 format became a limitation to game-development. But with the power and disc-based GameCube system, Square could once again unleash their creativity to the joy of Nintendo consumers.
Finally, the retrospective takes an in-depth look at the Kingdom Hearts games, including the original, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on the Game Boy Advance, Kingdom Hearts II, and the three upcoming Kingdom Hearts games in development.
Overall, once again a great, great retrospective that no fan of the Final Fantasy titles or any of these games should miss! Enjoy.
The 10th Final Fantasy Retrospective takes a look at the fringes of the franchise. This includes the Game Boy installment named Final Fantasy Adventure, which would actually end up being the first game in the Mana series (It was called Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden in Japan), Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (the “easy for Westerners” FF), the long list of games starring Chocobo, including Chocobo Racing, the Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon series and Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales and a look outside the realm of video games as Final Fantasy enters the world of animation.
It’s particularly interesting getting a look at the earliest Final Fantasy animation, Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, which I had never heard of. They also look at the short-lived TV anime, Final Fantasy Unlimited, and then dive into the disastrous big-screen debut: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Before tackling Final Fantasy: The Last Order and the franchise’s glorious return to feature film with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (the FFVII:AC Limited-Edition set includes Last Order in the extras for those that want to check it out). Give the History of Final Fantasy Retrospective Part 9 a look if you missed it.
It’s been a long road in coming, but the last Final Fantasy Retrospective is finally complete. If you missed the Final Fantasy Retrospective Part 12, it looked at the remakes in the series. 
