Final Fantasy: Advent Children Rant

The current "big thing" in anime fandom is the recent Japanese release of FFVII Advent Children. While the NA release is still a month or so off, any anime fan worth their salt has downloaded it already in order to gaze upon this alleged "triumphant return to the world of FFVII".

Let me preface this commentary with a bit of backrground. I've played every NA FF release starting with FF on the NES. I have finished FF, FFII (SNES), FFIII (SNES), FFVII (PS), FFVIII (PS), FFIX (PS), FFX (PS2), and FFX-2 (PS2). While I have not finished FFV (PS) I have played it through about 12h. I've seen the FF: Unlimited anime and wasted good money seeing FF: The Spirits Within on opening day.

I have played dozens of other "traditional" RPG's. Dragon Warrior I,II,III (NES), Chrono Trigger (SNES), Chrono Cross (PS), Secret of Mana (SNES), Legend of Mana (PS), Tales of Destiny II (PS), Tales of Symphonia (GC), Lunar I & II (PS), SaGa Frontier I & II (PS), Valkryie Profile (PS), Rhapsody (PS), Arc the Lad I, II, III (PS), Star Ocean II (PS), Star Ocean III (PS2), Legend of Legia (PS), Persona II (PS), Thousand Arms (PS), Threads of Fate (PS), Grandia I (PS), Grandia II (DC), Skies of Arcadia (DC & GC), Vagrant Story (PS), Xenogears (PS), Xenosaga I & II (PS2), Quest 64 (N64), Wild Arms 3 (PS2). I figure I have a pretty good idea of where FFVII sits in the overall scheme of things and how important that game is in the history of RPGs.

I recently watched Advent Children and that extra show Last Order and I was appalled.

Starting with the shorter traditionally animated Last Order I was not wholly disappointed. I don't remember the specific events in the game that this show recreates but I'm assured it's reasonably close to the original game. As far a a regular anime goes it looks alright but it's a little dark as in not very colourful. Being it's only about 25 min. you really have to know the characters to consider it anything other than a mediocre action title. Verdict: Package this it with something else as a bonus.

On to Advent Children.

This show is animated in the CG style of FF: The Spirits Within. AKA Not very great looking. Remember the really great, simple look of the animated scenes in the original game? Not present here, anywhere. This show suffers from a case of failing to make CG characters look human, thus they have this creepy waxy skin look. As well, the dark feel present in Last Order is here as well. It's like watching everything through a smoky filter. SquareEnix can do better than this. We've seen it in the beautiful CG scenes from FFX and FFX-2. What happened?

As far as the story goes I won't comment on it other than to say that the original FFVII can be summed up ias two major parts.

1) Aeris dies

2) Everything else

Take out the dramatic death of Aeris halfway through FFVII and you have a VERY mediocre plot at best. The characters lack the humanity exhibited in other FF efforts such as FFVI, FFVIII and FFX/X-2, the overall plot is somewhat borrowed from FFIV and the overall story gets lost in a morass of annoying sub-characters and side-quests towards the end of the game.

The question I must ask is "Why make Advent Children in the first place?"

Money.

FFVII sold like gangbusters and a whole lot of people got their first taste of rendered CG and fancy rendered backgrounds with this game. Add onto that all the people who had their "first on-screen death" cherrys popped with this game makes for alot of sentimentalists out there more than willing to shell out a few bucks in a vain attempt to recapture the magic.

This is not a good movie. You deserve better for your dedication to this game. Remake the game with updated cut scenes. Even do the in-game graphics if you want. Make a CG movie about a game with a GOOD story such as Chrono Trigger or FFVIII. Hell, make a CG movie about the events surrounding death of Aeris. I'd pay for any of those.

Advent Children is a joke and I would like to see how many people are willing to watch it again 2-3 weeks after they've seen it the first time. Play the game again, it's better.