Final Fantasy and Progress

In my recent efforts to have the complete anthology marked off as played, I have been working on Final Fantasy II. Story wise, I don't have many remarks, as it's pretty classic as far as FF (Final Fantasy) games go. Evil ruler threatens the world because he/she will destroy/rule the whole of it, and you and your unexpected band of heroes show up to save the day to prevent utter destruction/tyranny. Don't get me wrong, there are many profound things in FF story lines that I have learned throughout the years as I've played through the five or six that I have--for example, FF Tactics is by far the best video game story I've ever experienced. Period. Maybe I'll write about that later, but not now--my focus here is on the progress that happens in these games, not the nature of their stories. Leveling up in Final Fantasy games (and many/most other RPGs) is akin to real life.

Leveling Up

One of the major elements of gameplay in FF games is the grinding nature of them--for example, in FF2 you can't just walk right into the recently-lost castle and take it back from the villain's army, you have to build your characters up first.

One of my favorite video-game-to-life analogies is that of leveling up. You start at many points in life figuring things out, and after practice or whatever you did to adapt, you get used to the situation. Then, at some point, you'll (hopefully) cross some bridge and suddenly life is hard again and you have to grind through this new thing. Thus, when life gets hard for me, I often think along the lines of "GREAT. I don't remember crossing the bridge, but okay." Then I get over the change, adapt, and continue to level up in this new stage. I always think of the bridges in Dragon Warrior, shown below.

A map I borrowed from IGN's site. I circled all the bridges in red.
You bet your booty It Gets Real every time you cross one of those.

Manner of Leveling Up

I've mentioned FF2 a few times already, partly because it's the most fresh on my mind, but also a large part is because of how leveling works in the game. Most FF games require a certain amount of experience (aka XP for the two of you out there reading who are unfamiliar with the lingo). You hit the threshold and boom, you're one level higher. This more typical manner is still relatable enough with real life, but I prefer FF2 when it comes to analogy, as it's more gradual. Instead of having a number affixed to your level, there is no level indicator, but about 10 stats which gradually increase as you use them. The enemies hit you during random encounters, or fight a long battle? More hit points (HP). Cast spells in battle to increase your mana and intelligence. Use a sword and become more proficient with it, or an axe, a bow, a spear, fists, whatever you want that character to use.

There is still an arbitrary number affixed to these stats because players need to see them for the purpose of planning and strategics, but this game's style works better with the life analogy. You get better at things in increments. I'll also give a shout out to FF13, which also works with a more incremental change with each character, but it's still not quite as good a fit for the analogy as FF2, because it doesn't level up what you use, or do more of.

I hope you enjoyed my probably-not-so-original analogy about video games and life! Coming soon: my thoughts on Terraria.