Thank you!

Another kind of terminus

So, this is it. The end of the line. The terminus, as it were. Not to be confused with Elidibus’s secret Elixir distillery, of course.

What can I add to round off this entire journey? I had fun, of course – that is the whole point of playing a game. I’ve learned a lot – both with regards to the game, to its canonical history, and to writing blogs. I’ve conquered a lot of challenges, both in the game and to present something quasi pleasant to read. I just hope that you, my dear readers, have also enjoyed this year-long journey through Ivalice with all of the squires and our forgotten heroes.

Thank you, creators!

Of course, where would we – and all of this – be without the people who have made it possible for us to play Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions? The triad of the Ivalice alliance comes to mind here, with Yasumi Matsuno as creator and director of FFT leading the group. Without his masterful storytelling (though I assume he will play it down when confronted, judging by the interviews I’ve been able to read), the story wouldn’t have lodged itself into so many gamers’ minds and hearts. But there is more to a game than just the storyline.

I make it no secret that I am partial to Akihiko Yoshida’s art. Even as we speak, the background on my computer is showing me a slideshow of concept art and other things that have been borne from his pencils, and thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve been a fan of his work since the first time I had been confronted with it and I will certainly remain such.

But that is not all. Where would a game be without a musical score? In the case of Ivalice-related games, one could contest that the sound makes a lot of the atmosphere, and I feel that this is pretty accurate in the case of FFT. Because this blog has been mostly focused on the story of FFT, and because I used stills from the game and concept art, I felt it only right to credit the authors of both aspects on the main page. However, the music of FFT is just as masterful, and the creator Hitoshi Sakimoto has all the credit for it. Responsible for at least the music in FFT but also FFXII, he has worked together with both Yasumi Matsuno and Akihiko Yoshida in many more occasions, including, but not restricted to Vagrant Story of course.

If it wasn’t for the collaboration of these three masters, I do believe the specific atmosphere that is given rise in Ivalice, would not exist. But behind every master, there is of course an entire team, and therefore – from the very bottom of my heart – I would also thank everyone who has worked hard on bringing FFT to life. Everyone.

Just one more thing…

Those of you who are intrinsically more perceptive than the average human being, may have noticed that throughout my playthrough of FFT:WOTL, I’ve used a guide. Because I didn’t want to use a guide full of spoilers and really just wanted the essentials that I could cross-reference to make sure I missed as little as possible (and even so I still missed things), I started out my journey looking for guides to do just that.

And just that, I found in this guide. It has been most helpful and I am blatantly recommending this now for whomever wants to play through FFT:WOTL. You really don’t need more than this – unless maybe a poaching guide, but this one covers most of that too.

Just leaves me one more thing: how did I even think about presenting Memoirs of a Squire the way I did? What drove me to see things through the eyes of a generic character? Well… All credit for that goes to the unbelievably hilarious comics of Life in Aggro. Seriously, give them all the love! They’re amazing artists, and there are several more FFT related comics in their repertoire. But the comic I’ve shared the link to is what started the idea. It made me wonder: “but what if? What if the entire journey is a look into how the squires would experience being on a journey with Ramza?”. Add to that that I needed an excuse to finish the game as I already had so much going on and was more likely to just leave it to simmer for too long, and the idea for Memoirs of a Squire was born!

Leaves only one more Thank You. You, my dearest squires. You, who enjoyed reading these memoirs and in some cases were prompted to play FFT again, or discuss the aspects of the game. Thank you!

Thank you for reading my tales, thank you for sticking with me throughout other trials (a certain phone with a love for water comes to mind), thank you!!!

And this, now, concludes Memoirs of a Squire. It has been fun!