Starting with Final Fantasy VI, each title in the numbered, main
series shifted progressively further from the traditional fantasy
settings that had adorned the classic installments. Indeed, as
TheOnionKnight observed, Final Fantasy VIII featured the most
technologically advanced setting of any Final Fantasy at that point
in time -- a trend not universally well received by longtime fans
of the series, even among those who liked VI, VII and VIII.
FFVIII was the greatest departure from tradition yet seen. Despite
FFVI's steampunk setting, that title still offered a number of
elements that planted it squarely amongst its predecessors. Airships
still looked like flying versions of ancient marine vessels, crystals
still figured in prominently, and -- perhaps most importantly -- magic
was still abundant, even if it had begun to lose its typically
primordial place in the setting.
With FFVI, in fact, the supernatural had begun to find itself not so much
supplanted by technology, but co-opted by it. While those with the innate
ability to use magic were relatively few, technology allowed the
possibility for anyone to possess it. Not only Magitek Knights such as
Kefka and Celes, but ordinary citizens of Vector -- children even, such
as the one who will use Cure on the player's party -- had been infused
with magical power from magicite crystals.
Even in the cyberpunk setting of FFVII with its mako reactors, mega
corporation Shin-Ra, and technology that made launching a manned
rocket into space a possibility, magic was part of people's daily
lives. Anyone could buy and sell materia crystals, and -- like the
Magitek Knights of FFVI -- Shin-Ra's elite SOLDIER unit was comprised
of individuals infused with the same raw power found in crystals.
The magical energy coursing through the planet even powered everything
in FFVII's world, from cars to televisions and lightbulbs. The worldwide
infrastructure was entirely dependent on magic, even in smaller towns.
And yet, the eldritch was even further subsumed by the technological
here.
That brings us then to FFVIII. Technology is advanced and plentiful.
It also, by and large, runs in much the way one would expect to find it
in the real world. No mako-powered cars here -- they burn gasoline.
Trains travel across an entire continent, while chocobos live in the
wilderness and would hardly be considered practical for travel. And more
than something long aspired to and just within reach, breaching the
atmosphere with a manmade vessel before returning safely to the earth
is easily performed.
It should come as little surprise, then, that in this Final Fantasy
world closest to our own, magic is widely shunned, and those who
possess it inherently are feared and outcast.
Though it still maintains a presence amongst military units, this magic
("para-magic" as it's known) was produced by Dr. Odine studying the
witch embodiment and developing a mechanism to simulate the real thing.
It's not nearly so potent, however. Squall's in-game study panel even
says "it is difficult to achieve power levels that are comparable to
conventional weapons" with it unless it's used in conjunction with
Guardian Forces.
And that's just the beginning of how magic has been relegated to the
bench in the society. As TheOnionKnight noted in the discussion that
led to this article, Guardian Forces can be housed in computers,
the powers of those with inherent magical abilities can be simulated
by machines, and magic in general is approached scientifically -- and
in that context, it's not even considered real magic within the
setting itself.
All that in mind, let's look at the following numbered entry in the
Final Fantasy series. With FFIX, we saw a return to the classic
style of world establishment, as well as its standardized themes. This
is readily apparent even in the marketing tagline attached to the game
in North America: "The Crystal Comes Back."
Indeed, this underscores the minimal role crystals have in FFVIII's
world. Other than the Crystal Pillar, they barely figure in at all.
The crystals that appear in the Deep Sea Deposit and resonate when the
hoist on the final level of the area is activated are the only others of
any significance to be found in the game's world.
Though their resonance before Ultima Weapon appears led these authors
to the conclusion that the hoist was trying to pull a larger crystal out
of the water, even were its presence confirmed, magic is still relegated
not to the backseat, but to the trunk. And all the while, the treasure that
lay so near at the bottom of the Deposit remains out of reach. Neither
Squall and co. nor the player is ever rewarded for their efforts with
knowledge of what the lost facility researchers had found.
But suppose for a moment it is a crystal -- one that remains lost amid
all this other loss of the truly mystical in FFVIII's world, the title
before FFIX, where "The Crystal [Came] Back."
Has a discernable message of some sort begun to emerge from the
seemingly aimless elements that were thrown at us with the Deep Sea
Research Center? Was this area the developers' way of acknowledging and
commenting upon the shift Final Fantasy had taken from its roots? As
they would know what we would see with the next entry in the series,
were they saying something about where Final Fantasy had come from,
where it had gone, and where it was going?
Examining the story's ironies, it seems quite possible.
Despite the loss of the Ragnarok 17 years earlier, Esthar had since
established a comfortable presence in space, and humanity's greatest
living enemy -- a witch, of course -- had been set there like a trophy
on a wall. On Battleship Island, even the majestic Bahamut -- a classic
staple of the series, routinely among its most powerful presences, and
an ever-applicable example of its more fantastical side -- had been
subdued, stuck in a test tube like a science experiment, and placed at
the gate as though he were the facility's leashed guard dog.
After being referred to as a GF at the beginning of the battle with him,
Bahamut even expresses fear of Squall and his companions: "...GF? I...?
Using my powers... It is you humans... I fear..."
From this, TheOnionKnight made the following observations:
"Bahamut expresses disdain at being called a 'GF.' That's another
scientific term. He considers himself to be something greater than the
term denotes. And yet he also fears the term 'GF' being applied to him.
His Yoda-speak can be reconfigured to say 'I fear you humans using my
powers.' Take note of the word 'fear.' Humans don't anger him. They
actually make him fearful. Science has already conquered and contained
him in his cylinder. He's also saying that he's afraid of humans when
they use his powers (or powers like his, from other GFs). Humans have
become stronger by harnessing Bahamut's magical kin. There is a
paradigm shift going on that makes Bahamut nervous. But his opinions
are perhaps outdated. GFs are already harnessed. He simply hasn't
seen how widespread this practice has become, because he's been trapped
in a tube for unknown years."
Yet here in the ocean's depths, something more primal still reigns, and
it bears little concern for the technological advancements men bring
with them.
Whatever the researchers found, their undersea towers, test tubes,
steam pressure-controlled locks, and other sophisticated equipment
hadn't mattered. They had entered a realm only a sorceress would have
been at home in. Unable to control this newest discovery, they faded
into history as soundly as the fantastical had everywhere else in the
world.
After traversing the ancient ruins concealed in the Deposit in search of
its secrets, Squall and co. expect to discover a treasure of some sort --
but neither they nor the player is granted any such thing. While true that
the game's most powerful Guardian Force, Eden, can be drawn from Ultima
Weapon, the same GF can be acquired from Tiamat in Ultimecia's Castle.
Once Bahamut has been acquired, there is very little rewarding a player
who decides to fully complete the sidequest.
Perhaps the GF -- who is itself quite the perplexing figure -- is even a
hint to the theme we've begun to explore. Though often assumed to be of
some relation to the Garden and SeeD taxonomy, as a reference to the
mythical Garden of Eden, there's nothing else associating the naming
scheme with Eden. But there may be a little more tying it to this theme
in light of what we've uncovered in our analysis.
For all their trouble in getting to the bottom floor of this lost
realm (another tie to the Garden of Eden?) in which men have no place
trespassing, Squall and co. are greeted as one could expect to be if
approaching the mythical Eden: with the point of a sword and a mighty
foe.
Though Squall and co. do manage to conquer the powerful beast Ultima
Weapon, firmly positioning them as the most powerful living creatures
in the Deposit, they move no closer to unearthing the facility's lost
secrets. The question, posed to us, is left for us to answer.
Have we found the answer in a theme of calling our attention to magic's
triumph over technology before Final Fantasy turned its attention back
to magic? While we cannot say for sure, this author feels confident that
we have at least found one answer.
