Morphing the Challenge: A New Outlook

And so, a new adventure begins...

Over the last few days, I've had some really engaging conversations with some folks about the scope of the FF challenge I will be undertaking over the next year and given second thought to the idea of playing the FF games in a random order versus playing the games in the sequential order in which they were released.

Originally, the goal of the challenge was to play through 12 Final Fantasy games over the next 12 months without regard to the sequence of how I strung the games together. I figured that by keeping the game order random, it would stagger the various play styles, game mechanics, music arrangements, and graphics, which come with the games being developed on different game systems over the past 25 years. Additionally, if readers were particularly interested in FFXIII, for example, they may not necessarily have to wait until next August/September to actually see how the game played out or to play alongside me. That said, simply reading along with someone as they play a game could be somewhat....unenlightening? Further, maybe rushing through one game every thirty days wouldn't allow me (and readers) to fully explore the intricacies of what makes each title so special.

And so I have decided to morph the scope of this project. As others have stated, and I now agree, I am probably missing a wonderful opportunity here to fully explore not only what makes each individual title great, but also to explore the evolution of the series from a simple 8-bit Nintendo "last-ditch effort" to one of the greatest and most highly regarded roleplaying game series of all time. I am therefore changing the scope of this project to play each numbered Final Fantasy game in sequential order.

By playing the games in sequential order, it will give myself (and the readers) the ability to discuss changes to gameplay mechanics, character development, music arrangements, combat systems, graphics, etc and how those influenced (or were influenced by) current events and/or technology at the time. Removing the one year time constraint takes away some of the "challenge", but it also provides the opportunity for us (readers included here!) to really roll up our sleeves and dig into the nitty-gritty of these games and why they are important, not only to the video game industry, but to each of us on a personal level.

I'm looking forward to hearing (and playing along with) you all! Can't wait to get started.