How the 'Final Fantasy' series introduced race to black gamers
OPINION - Recently, from the acclaimed series Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy X and its spin-off Final Fantasy X-2, will be released together as the Final Fantasy X | X- 2 HD Remaster...
Recently, from the acclaimed series Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy X and its spin-off Final Fantasy X-2, will be released together as the Final Fantasy X | X- 2 HD Remaster.
The popular Role Playing Game (RPG) franchise has had a long run of successful entries, and has been a force in the gaming community.
The interest for the series hit its peak once it spanned its own full-length animated movie, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, in 2001.
Dating back to 1987, the Japanese game series has over 20 titles in their discography, with the more popular entries being held close to gamers’ hearts.
As someone who grew up with video games his entire life from the Atari to the PS4 , gameplay meant more than graphics, and the slow action that RPGs boasted steered me away. It wasn’t until the announcement of the Playstation One and its true 3d engine, that Final Fantasy would make a major impact globally.
Enter Final Fantasy VII. Considered to be one of the greatest games in the series, the 1997 classic was a turning point for the franchise. FFVII also had some of the memorable characters associated with the brand including the blonde haired Cloud, and the sinister bad guy Sephiroth. By finally merging gameplay with amazing visuals, RPGs games were beginning to rival Madden, Sonic and Mario, for popularity in the States.
Video games are the among the first forms of media that children can let their mind run free to explore.  While FF takes place in many fictional worlds, religion was prominent, often paralleling Christianity  but was rooted in the main story.
FFVII introduced the world to Barrett, a machine gun carrying, foul mouthed, good guy who made history for being the series first black character.
Though he’s considered to be a racial stereotype now, Barrett was the first minority people could identify with. That’s powerful to see considering, this was a product not conceived in the USA. FFX had Waka, an ethnic islander, who had a Caribbean accent, which in 2001 was considered to be a head of its time.
Recent studies have shown African-American and Latino males are among the highest consumers of video games.
It seems that HBO has recognized there is buying power in the minority community when it comes the fantasy world. The cable giant even created a mixtape, Catch The Throne, which featured Outkast’s Big Boi and Wale rapping over Game Of Throne instrumentals.
“Game of Thrones centers around battles for power and rap is definitely a battle for power,” Common said in a statement to Vibe.
Final Fantasy X | X- 2 HD Remaster is an indeed a must have if you want to reminisce about your time in the amazing world of Spira, but more importantly it represents the connection between RPGs in the black community.
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