But at the same time, I had this nagging feeling that this was nothing but a niche product. I could not see this underpowered, gimmicky console deliver the kind of experiences I wanted. I like my graphically intense FPS-es and stat-heavy RPGs. I want to see graphics get better and better, and play (admittedly badly) against others online. Wii obviously wasn’t for me.

I don’t need to tell you Wii is currently outselling every ‘hardcore’ console out there. Seems there are a lot of people who just want to play tennis and Mario, and don’t care about anything else.

That Nintendo’s machine apparently appeals to just about everybody and their Nan is the reason both Microsoft and Sony ordered their R&D departments to crank out their own motion controlers. And bless em for it. At the very least they are trying something ‘new’, even though they’re just ripping off someone else’s successful idea.

But I think they are kind of missing the point. Nintendendo Wii isn’t a traditional console. You might as well call it it’s own ‘genre’ of product: an activity machine with a rather limited selection of activities.  Most Wii games out there are variations of Wii Sports and Wii Fit. The few exceptions rarely sell well (except if Mario is in it).

So this makes me wonder why Sony and Microsoft want to turn their machines into something they clearly aren’t. It’s as if the manufacturer of traditional mobile phones releases an add-on touch screen to make their product behave like an iPhone.

I just don’t see how Joe and Jill Casual-Gamer are going to be interested in this kind of Frankenstein’s Monster. One of the reasons Wii is so appealing to them, is its simplicity. Now Sony and MS are trying to sell them a console they previously did not want for its threatening amount of features, by adding another feature.

I am not saying Joe and Jill are dumb, or won’t understand. I just think they won’t care. They can just play on their Wii and have a blast.

A couple of weeks before FFXIII arrived in my office, I remembered I still had Final Fantasy V in my DS. I had played about seven or eight hours of it before putting it away. Now seemed as a good moment as any to pick it up again. After booting it up, I  was immediately confronted with what I call ‘Final Fantasy Syndrome’. These old games do not have quest logs or markers or anything to tell you where you are supposed to go next. My party awoke in an Inn on Crescent Island without any clue of what they where supposed to do.

I spent a good 20 minutes roaming around the tiny island, speaking to its inhabitants, hoping to be pointed towards my next destination. I once again realized Final Fantasy worlds are inhabited by autistic villagers, stuck in their three square walk, spouting the same useless line over and over. Hopping on a Chocobo only compounded the problem. I was now free to fly anywhere, to any autistic villager on this huge world map.

Thank goodness for GameFaqs. By following one of the walkthroughs, I mentally retraced all my steps and found out where to go next. Turns out there was only one NPC in one specific location who progressed the story.

I called this ‘Final Fantasy Syndrome’ for a reason. All of the FF games before XIII have had this in one way or another. To be honest, I should just call it JRPG Syndrome. There are several PSOne JRPGs I have not finished because of this same exact problem: not remembering where to go next. In any case, this problem shows that what Final Fantasy games offer isn’t freedom. There is only one path to follow. This path, however, is so wide, that we can get lost on it, and mistake it for free roaming.

If we look at Final Fantasy XIII, the path is narrow. This means we don’t have to bother with GameFaqs to find our next destination. It’s somewhere ‘just ahead’. All the pointless wandering has been taken out of the equation, with emphasis now firmly on progressing the narrative and discovering the battle system.

Now, mind you, I am not saying all games should do away with exploration. I am just pointing out Final Fantasy games have never been about freedom. They have been about telling a story and experimenting with the many different battle systems.

Freedom is such a powerful concept. We want to be masters of our fate and be free to decide what we want to do at any given time. Real life rarely grants us this freedom. Perhaps this is why we as gamers are often looking for this in our pastime. But games can never offer true freedom, only the illusion of it. Some games succeed in hiding their fences better than others. And some others do away with the smoke and mirrors entirely.