Poll: Final Fantasy: Fantasy or Sci Fi?

[Maxtro]

Steampunk as seen in Final Fantasy VI, that's what I prefer. Gimme more of that and I might play again.

Exactly what I was going to say.

Final Fantasy VI had the perfect mix of fantasy and technology.

The setting seemed modern enough where it would be comfortable to live in, but you could be attacked on your way to work while riding your Chocobo.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

Steampunk as seen in Final Fantasy VI, that's what I prefer. Gimme more of that and I might play again.

Exactly what I was going to say.

Final Fantasy VI had the perfect mix of fantasy and technology.

The setting seemed modern enough where it would be comfortable to live in, but you could be attacked on your way to work while riding your Chocobo.

So you equate magitech to steampunk, but still consider it fantasy as opposed to sci fi? I've always liked the airships in them, they seem so close to actually being feasible.

 

[Ranorak]

To me, Sci-fi means that there is a new technology, or a new way of using old tech, that was previous unknown, and base a setting on that. For example the Mass Effect fields.

Sci-fi does not simply mean that it looks like technology instead of magic.
The blitzball stadium in FFX might not be magic (a forcefield that holds the water in place, etc) but it's never expandid upon, it's just there.
FF8's setting might be really technological advanced, but the tech it's self is never really part of the setting, it's just there.

Even the materia in FF7 might look like science, we know how it's formed. But how do they grand those powers is never explained.

It's all fiction, no science. Ergo; Fantasy.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

To me, Sci-fi means that there is a new technology, or a new way of using old tech, that was previous unknown, and base a setting on that. For example the Mass Effect fields.

Sci-fi does not simply mean that it looks like technology instead of magic.
The blitzball stadium in FFX might not be magic (a forcefield that holds the water in place, etc) but it's never expandid upon, it's just there.
FF8's setting might be really technological advanced, but the tech it's self is never really part of the setting, it's just there.

Even the materia in FF7 might look like science, we know how it's formed. But how do they grand those powers is never explained.

It's all fiction, no science. Ergo; Fantasy.

Did we play the same FF8? The Gardens, the Ragnarok, the space cannon, time travel? The entire game is set in the technology of that world? Yours is an interesting viewpoint. All sci fi has a cutoff point between explanation and assumption. So for you, sci fi is set on and expanded on from a core scientific principle?

What if (for discussion sake) I point out FF8 core principle to the story was Time Travel? (a bit of a stretch, since you don't find out til the end)

 

[Ranorak]

Yes, like you said it was based on Time travel, space ships and lazer shooting robots. But never at one point do the mechanics of those sciences become clear. They could as well be magic (and they are) because it's never explained how the science work.

I bring my favourite example back: Mass Effect.
We know how their ships fly, we know how their magic works, we know how their technology allows those "impossible" feats to happen.

in FF8 we know there is Time travel, but it's caused by a magic pendant and a future sorceress. The ships fly because they do, and the magic spells happen because of magic beasts. None of that is science. It's all fantasy.

But I don't even think that Star Wars is Sci-fi.
Not until they (poorly) try to explain how the force works. And that only ruined the movies.

 

[Johnny Impact]

I like the mix. There's no reason magic and technology can't exist side-by-side. Besides, who is to say the "magic" isn't some kind of ubertech like commanding clouds of nanites in the air, or that the "technology" isn't powered by mana?

It does lead to absurd situations where a guy with a sword defeats multiple missile-launching tanks in rapid succession, but on the other hand, tanks should really know better than to mess with a FF protagonist.

 

[Ranorak]

I like the mix. There's no reason magic and technology can't exist side-by-side. Besides, who is to say the "magic" isn't some kind of ubertech like commanding clouds of nanites in the air, or that the "technology" isn't powered by mana?

It does lead to absurd situations where a guy with a sword defeats multiple missile-launching tanks in rapid succession, but on the other hand, tanks should really know better than to mess with a FF protagonist.

Because it is not mentioned in the game, or even hinted at.
Science-Fiction is about a Fictive science that is different from that world then ours.

If no science is mentioned or is barely mentioned, or even handwaved, it;s not science, it's magic.

The Avatars in the movie with the same name is Science-fiction. Because we're told you control them with some neuro-link, it establishes it's rules and limitations.

We know how the Borg work.
We know how Stargates function
We know that the Heart of Gold flies on Improbability.

But nothing in Final Fantasy games acts like it's major plot points are scientific.
They might not look like typical magic, and more like sciency stuff. But in the end I still don't know HOW the Lunatic Pandora attracts monsters from the moon. I don't know how, why or because of what [Spoiler-Girl] gets to send Squall and Co to Laguna. How do Draw points work? Guardian Forces make you forget stuff how?

These points are never addressed, not because of poor writing, but because they're fantasy elements.

Besides... It's already, sort of in the name, right?

 

[OrpheusTelos]

I'm a fan of both, though I think the blend of fantasy and sci-fi elements was what first made Final Fantasy appeal to me.

 

[RandV80]

In general I'm more a fantasy fan than sci-fi in general, so that makes it an easy choice for me. Though I've also enjoyed sci-fi JRPG's like Xenogears/saga/blade or Star Ocean.

With FF though I would call some of them more Fantasy-modern. FFVII for example uses more modern technology than sci fi (trains, bikes, helecopters, etc), that gets mixed up with the magic of the world. Now this is a genre I actually like, where the existence of magic is intelligently used and incorporated into a more modern or advanced society. But like others have mentioned, when you're game is based around the typical JRPG turn based combat, it's kind of disconcerting when you have characters use sword, fist and teeth to beat hordes of armed soldiers and mechs.

FFVI did a much better world building job here with it's 'magitech' angle. If you want to have sword fights mixed in with modern and futuristic technology, you really need to write in a reason for it to work. Like the sci fi book series Dune for example, the use of personal force fields are common place and negate bullets and lasers, it takes a knife to drive through it and kill someone. Hence you get swords and knife duels as common place in a space faring setting.

 

[Maxtro]

Steampunk as seen in Final Fantasy VI, that's what I prefer. Gimme more of that and I might play again.

Exactly what I was going to say.

Final Fantasy VI had the perfect mix of fantasy and technology.

The setting seemed modern enough where it would be comfortable to live in, but you could be attacked on your way to work while riding your Chocobo.

So you equate magitech to steampunk, but still consider it fantasy as opposed to sci fi? I've always liked the airships in them, they seem so close to actually being feasible.

Very very few people had access to magitech. And even then the uses of magitech seemed to be very limited.

I would most definitely not count FFVI as sci-fi, especially compared to VII, VIII, X, XII, XIII.

Here's the thing, I don't believe that average person living in FFVI's setting even had electricity. The marvels of technology were Figaro Castle, airships, steamships and what ever the empire was working on.