Why Theatrhythm is a celebration of not only Final Fantasy, but an entire genre
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer.
When I put together my Mt. Rushmore of Japanese RPG developers a few months ago, one of the more controversial picks was Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. The general argument was that Hironobu Sakaguchi, the guy who actually created Final Fantasy, should be up there instead. I don’t think that argument is wrong exactly – Sakaguchi has certainly done a lot for RPGs in his time – but it felt wrong to have a JRPG Rushmore without a top composer.
At the time, it was hard to really put my finger on why that was, other than that I’ve always found good music to be an especially important quality in RPGs. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, however, has crystallized things for me. How many established franchises can you think of that can support a rhythm game of this magnitude? I can think of only a handful, most of which are RPGs: Dragon Quest and The Legend of Zelda could manage the same feat (though the latter isn’t a traditional RPG, it’s close).
Of them, Final Fantasy is the series best suited for its own rhythm game. The genre jump makes sense with a franchise packed with such a dense library of memorable tunes, but it’s also Final Fantasy’s longevity as a series that makes it a prime candidate for the rhythm genre.
Gallery: Theatrhythm Final FantasyContinue reading Why Theatrhythm is a celebration of not only Final Fantasy, but an entire genreWhy Theatrhythm is a celebration of not only Final Fantasy, but an entire genre originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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