Latest opus of Final Fantasy, a series of video games in perpetual evolution

DISPLAY— Created 36 years ago, the iconic Japanese video game series “Final Fantasy” has a special place in the hearts of gamers. Here are five things to know about this franchise whose new opus, Final Fantasy XVI, was released on Thursday.

1. Cult video game series

With 15 main numbered episodes, but also dozens of other titles, the series launched in 1987 on the Nintendo console has sold more than 173 million copies worldwide to date.

This institution of Japanese RPG (role-playing game) helped popularize outside Japan a genre generally characterized by random encounters with monsters, turn-based combat and a team of customizable heroes whose statistics progress after each battle.

The series, known for its complex plots in fantasy or science fiction universes and renowned for its rich bestiary and its constant renewal, was initially a last chance game for its creator Hironobu Sakaguchi — which after several commercial failures considered leaving the industry — and for the game publisher Square (which has since become Square Enix), in a delicate financial situation at the time.

2. A franchise that has experienced crises

Despite its past successes, its rich heritage and the love capital devoted to it by its fans, the franchise was at its worst in the early 2010s, marked by commercial failures, the development of the 15th episode which dragged on, and above all the strong criticism against the massively multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG) Final Fantasy XIV released in 2010, weighed down by technical and playability problems.

Faced with the failure of this game which aimed to compete with the benchmark of the World of Warcraft genre, Square Enix adopted a radical solution: completely redesigned under the leadership of the visionary Naoki Yoshida (also producer of FFXVI) , it was relaunched in 2013, this time to unanimous acclaim among critics and players. This title, one of the most profitable in the series, still has an active community of players.

3. Successful symphonies and cinema oven

The action of the Final Fantasy games is punctuated by the grandiose music created by Nobuo Uematsu, first accommodating the limited sound palette of Nintendo's first console before being performed by symphony orchestras around the world, including even in the playlist of the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The FF universes have also been adapted into novels, mangas, anime and films, including “The Creatures of the Spirit”, a feature-length computer-generated images film with a gargantuan budget of 137 million dollars. Released in 2001, it received disastrous reviews and proved to be a financial drain for Square. The adaptation of “Final Fantasy

4. Final Fantasy XVI and “Game of Thrones”

Despite a cast of developers including several veterans of the series, Final Fantasy XVI, released Thursday, completes the evolution of the franchise towards action games, abandoning turn-based combat to target a wider audience in the face of costs of ever heavier development.

It also introduces a darker and more adult atmosphere with its share of political intrigue, betrayals, violence and sex inspired by the series “Game of Thrones”, which Naoki Yoshida said forced his team to look.

The result is a game classified in Europe “PEGI-18” (“intended for adults”) of which a two-hour playable demo accessible since last week has received generally positive opinions from players, even if some consider it too linear.

5. Another FF planned this year

Final Fantasy VII, which marked a turning point in the series when it was released in 1997 and the abandonment of Nintendo consoles for the Sony PlayStation, will return this winter in the form of the second part of a remake .

The first 3D episode of the franchise, FFVII took players' breath away with its cinematic sequences, its story taking place in a science fiction universe, and its characters. It remains the most successful episode, also imposing the series on Western audiences.

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