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Final Fantasy/History: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Final Fantasy series logo.jpg|right|190px]]'''''[[Final Fantasy]]''''' is described as one of the seminal games of the electronic Role-Playing (RPG) genre, but the seeds for the genre were sown many years before. Tabletop RPGs, which entail cooperative improvisational storytelling done within complex systems of rules, grew out of the timeless practice of "wargaming" and were a prominent part of youth subculture during the 1970's. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax Gary Gygax] is widely credited with the development of the first tabletop RPG, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_and_Dragons Dungeons and Dragons], released in 1974, but the ideas for this grew out of the dice-rolling of a clique of wargamers (including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson Dave Arneson], one of the "unsung heroes" of RPG history) at the University of Minnesota, as well as the gaming conference "GenCon". (Given the roots of RPGs in wargaming, it isn't surprising that, in almost all RPGs, the player characters are warriors, and the combat system is often the most sophisticated part of the game.) | |||
[[Image:Final Fantasy series logo.jpg|right|190px]] | |||
'''''[[Final Fantasy]]''''' is described as one of the seminal games of the electronic Role-Playing (RPG) genre, but the seeds for the genre were sown many years before. Tabletop RPGs, which entail cooperative improvisational storytelling done within complex systems of rules, grew out of the timeless practice of "wargaming" and were a prominent part of youth subculture during the 1970's. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax Gary Gygax] is widely credited with the development of the first tabletop RPG, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_and_Dragons Dungeons and Dragons], released in 1974, but the ideas for this grew out of the dice-rolling of a clique of wargamers (including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson Dave Arneson], one of the "unsung heroes" of RPG history) at the University of Minnesota, as well as the gaming conference "GenCon". (Given the roots of RPGs in wargaming, it isn't surprising that, in almost all RPGs, the player characters are warriors, and the combat system is often the most sophisticated part of the game.) | |||
Since the same individuals who flocked to D&D also tended to be the same individuals that pursued interests in the then-fledgling field of personal computing, there would inevitably be attempts to translate D&D-style rules systems into computer programs. This alleviates the sometimes tedious calculations involved in playing RPGs, and potentially allows a single player to engage the computer as a (albeit non-intelligent) Game Master. The first widely recognized development of a computer-based RPG occurred in 1980, when a Texas teenager named Richard "Lord British" Garriott, who had developed fantasy-based computer games as a hobby for several years, arranged for a local computer store to distribute his game "Akalabeth" for the Apple II. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD MUDs] (Multiple-User Dungeons) had existed for several years before that thanks to the availability of modems, and terminal-based games such as dnd (1974) had a strong following at universities. Also, "Rogue", a text-based "dungeon crawl" game that has to date spawned many derivatives, also appeared on Unix machines in 1980. Akalabeth was, unlike the others, graphical (though crudely so) and therefore of singular influence on modern games. (It was also more than successful enough to put Garriott through college.) Garriott would go on to create a more sophisticated game, "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima Ultima]" (1981), which included an action element (players had to obtain a spaceship and shoot down enemy ships), but was still an RPG at heart, as players built up their (single) character, uncovered clues and solved puzzles, and proceeded to the game's final confrontation with the evil wizard Mondain. Also in 1981, three Cornell University students had their dungeon crawl game, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizardry Wizardry], published. Wizardry featured first-person graphics as opposed to Ultima's bird's-eye view, and allowed players to control six player characters (PCs). | Since the same individuals who flocked to D&D also tended to be the same individuals that pursued interests in the then-fledgling field of personal computing, there would inevitably be attempts to translate D&D-style rules systems into computer programs. This alleviates the sometimes tedious calculations involved in playing RPGs, and potentially allows a single player to engage the computer as a (albeit non-intelligent) Game Master. The first widely recognized development of a computer-based RPG occurred in 1980, when a Texas teenager named Richard "Lord British" Garriott, who had developed fantasy-based computer games as a hobby for several years, arranged for a local computer store to distribute his game "Akalabeth" for the Apple II. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD MUDs] (Multiple-User Dungeons) had existed for several years before that thanks to the availability of modems, and terminal-based games such as dnd (1974) had a strong following at universities. Also, "Rogue", a text-based "dungeon crawl" game that has to date spawned many derivatives, also appeared on Unix machines in 1980. Akalabeth was, unlike the others, graphical (though crudely so) and therefore of singular influence on modern games. (It was also more than successful enough to put Garriott through college.) Garriott would go on to create a more sophisticated game, "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima Ultima]" (1981), which included an action element (players had to obtain a spaceship and shoot down enemy ships), but was still an RPG at heart, as players built up their (single) character, uncovered clues and solved puzzles, and proceeded to the game's final confrontation with the evil wizard Mondain. Also in 1981, three Cornell University students had their dungeon crawl game, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizardry Wizardry], published. Wizardry featured first-person graphics as opposed to Ultima's bird's-eye view, and allowed players to control six player characters (PCs). | ||
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