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Steampunk Platypus

No, I haven't built a world-destroying mech powered by a mysterious orb.  Alas...  However, imagining a society in the throws of the Industrial Revolution that has also discovered magic is what Final Fantasy III (Japan VI) is all about.

Final Fantasy III was developed by Squaresoft (now SquareEnix) as part of their hugely successful Final Fantasy Series.  In fact, I believe Final Fantasy XIII is just now coming out.  At the same time Final Fantasy III was in development, Squaresoft was also working on its hugely popular Chrono Trigger.  While the Final Fantasty series continued from one epic success to another, however, the Chrono Trigger series spluttered and died.  In fact, the re-release of the original game for the DS has largely been responsible largely for driving up the price of used copies of the orginal SNES release, rather than urging SquareEnix to create a sequel (which is what fans had hoped).  Why the two series took the paths they did is an interesting question since the two games are visually and game-play-wise quite alike ( the main differences being Chrono Trigger's move away from the static battle stage of the Final Fantasy Series and its slightly more sophisticated renderings of the characters so that Akira Toriyama's art design could have its full effect).  The main question, then, seems to be why did one series flourish while the other floundered.

There are probably multiple bureaucratic answers for that having to do with logistical and legal realities and the political innerworkings of Square.  On a story level, however, it seems that the sweeping, open, and sometimes amorphous structure of the Final Fantasy games allows for an infinite number of sequels that are all only loosely connected.  Chrono Trigger, on the other hand, with its tight characterization and narrow scope lends itself to being a one shot.  Put another way, for a game to be considered a true "Final Fantasy" it must simply incorporate a few key elements, the rest is left up to the whimsy of the creators, while to be a true Chrono Trigger sequel a game must successfully extend the story of Chrono and his companions in a compelling way.  To Sum up: Final Fantasy games, in their structure, lend themselves to sequels while Chrono Trigger is set up as a stand-alone.

I'm ok with that.  Ultimately, Chrono Trigger is a reminder that each of us have our own little stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end.  The Final Fantasy series, on the other hand, reminds us that while our little stories soon come to an end, The Story, like The Road, continues on.  Those are both truths that we need to be reminded of from time to time.

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