Final Fantasy Recipe

Written by Omer Ali on July 13, 2001

Final Fantasy Recipe: CAUTION: Ingestion of a Final Fantasy game may cause extreme delusionsЕor just death

Making a great game is very similar to making your family's time honored apple pie or grandmother's chocolate cake. There are certain ingredients that will never change and always have to be added in the right amounts to be able to create a culinary masterpiece. If you don't know what you're doing you can lead yourself down the long dark tunnel to disaster, but with my help you too can create a great tasting, mouth watering Final Fantasy (FF) game.

First, you will need a few cooking utensils. I recommend the following but you can substitute anywhere you wish:
1. A Creative design team
2. An orchestra
3. A good programming team. I suggest the one from Final Fantasy IX
4. A budget of over $20 million, give or take a few million
5. A Producer and Director. Hironobu Sakaguchi would be perfect

After you have all the utensils, begin adding in the following ingredients. No particular order of mixing the ingredients is necessary. NOTE: If any of the ingredients are left out your FF will be nothing more than a paperweight.

The Ingredients AreЕ
A great story: This is probably the most important ingredient of all in the your FF. Not having a great story is like forgetting to add the milk or water to a cake mix. A great FF story usually consists of lots of twists and turns. The people who will consume your FF should start out by believing that the story is quite simple and is all laid out on the table by the end of the first disk. Your FF consumers should also be taken on many side quests that will all connect to the main plot. The entire story should not become evident in the taste till after FF has been savored in the players mouth for some time. Having all the taste burst out at once or too early will shorten the enjoyment period. The big picture should not be shown to the player until after at least two disks have been played. The story should be savored from sight to smell to taste. The story is the Уpiece de resistanceФ of your FF.

Great Characters: These are what draw your players into enjoying your FF even more. The characters are the sugar and spice of your FF. Without great characters you'll have a very bland tasting FF. You should have a variety of character types. Here are some of the most common.

A lead male or female, whom the bigger story will somehow revolve around or connect to, a love interest of the lead male or female who will also bring out deep emotions in your players. A comic relief character, who will give your players hours of laughter throughout the consumption of your FF. A rough and tough mean to the bones character that will be the brawns of the group. Next you will need to have a magician or wizard of some sort, usually either a young female or a black mage plays this character. The last character you will need will be the main villain. The villain should be cold, calculated, and maniacal, the villain should also be directly related to the main story. For an added touch throw in a few moogles, they go great with any FF game, but they're not essential. Also a character named Cid should be put in for the best possible FF experience.

Graphics: This will be the presentation of your culinary masterpiece, and as all of us know presentation is everything. The graphics should make your FF come to life and enter into the hearts of your players. Every little detail in your FF should be as perfect as it can be. You should incorporate a good variety of lush and memorable environments. The game should have an equal amount of good and evil locations that will each tell their own story. The graphics should also bring out the characters qualities and further enhance the FF experience.

Music: The music is the icing on your FF cake. The music should tie together all the other ingredients. The musical score should heighten the emotional experience that will be brought on by the story and the characters. The variety of the music should be broad and not limited to classical or typical fantasy type music, adding in some techno beats or dance music can really make the game move at a faster pace, FFIX used this method and received some great reviews. A good musical score will make your taste buds dance and sing.

After you have all the ingredients mix them all in a large development studio, then pour into 3-4 disks and bake for one to two years at a temperature of 350°F (180°C). After the FF is finished let it cool for one to two months then serve and enjoy all the compliments and reviews.