Material presented at MCAD's 2001 "Girls and Mobilesuits" Anime Seminar. All images are properties of their respective artist, publisher, or distributor, and used for academic purposes only.
Music:
The music (by composer Nobuo Uematsu) ranges the gamut
from the whimsical to the sublime:
"Uematsu's music imbues Final Fantasy games with grandeur and depth,
much the way John Williams' score helped propel Star Wars into
hyperspace." (Time Magazine's Christopher John Farley)
One player's mother insisted he turn down FF VI's music because
it was "too depressing." (It matched the characters, below)
Characters:
FF VI perhaps wins the award for most traumatized characters:
One lost his entire family
One had failed to save his girlfriend from death
One had been abandoned by his insane father
FF VII isn't to be outdone, however:
One of our hero's love interests is killed off halfway
through the game!
FF VIII and IX had their shares of character woes,
struggles, and triumphs too.
Locales:
As the name implies, there's "fantasy" (magic, swords), but technology too.
Settings range from fairy-tale castles to high-tech fortresses
Dreary rainy towns, quaint hamlets, distant misty mountains, etc.