The Psychology of Final Fantasy: Surpassing the Limit Break

By: Anthony M Bean PhD - editor

Narrated by: Gabriella Pitchford

Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

"No matter how dark the night, morning always comes, and our journey begins anew." (Lulu, Final Fantasy X)

From its initial release in 1987, Final Fantasy has gone on to become one of the most beloved series of role-playing games in history. With narratives revolving around grandiose stories of good versus evil, Final Fantasy has allowed us, as players, to witness heroic battles, experience hard-won victories, and create treasured friendships for almost 40 years.

The Psychology of Final Fantasy guides gamers on a real-world quest of self-discovery so that they can surpass their own limit break. And, as part of this examination, psychologists, clinicians, video game researchers, professors, and enthusiasts who love this franchise ask:

• How does the storyline in Final Fantasy grab and keep our attention for so many hours of gameplay?
• Why do the symbols in the game, such as crystals, magic, and weapons, hold meaning about our own psychological inner workings?
• What are the feminine warrior and archetypes found in the game and how are they living in all of our everyday lives?
• How does playing Final Fantasy connect us with a larger sense of spiritual guidance as to who we are?
• Why is it that, by creating a group, we become whole more than we do when playing as individuals?
• How do the musical interludes affect our psyche and push us to become better versions of ourselves?

Think you know Final Fantasy? The Psychology of Final Fantasy explores how the game resonates with a player's psychological drive toward an emotional sense of wholeness, bonding, and completion as they take part in this epic quest.

©2020 Leyline Publishing (P)2020 Leyline Publishing

Amazing book for RPGamers and Psychology Lovers!

As a fan of The Final Fantasy series and a psychology student, reading this book from cover to cover was an incredible experience! I could relate to a lot of the characters from the series that was used as case studies throughout the book, while simultaneously having a sense of nostalgia and gaining perspective of different characters mindset that I didn’t quite understand while playing through the games when I was younger! I want to thank the author for this wonderful masterpiece and the narrator for presenting it. Definitely adding this to my favorites list!

Kind of all over the place

This book is a collection of essays that examines different aapects of Psychology/Sociology and how they apply within the stories of the Final Fantasy games. There does not seem to be any sort of flow or organization to how the essays are compiled. Further, they seem to rely heavily on certain titles (namely 6, 7, 10 and 13). While theee are certainly the more popular titles (and to be fair the first three FF games don't have the same depth of character development), it would have been nice to see some variety. Two chapters about trauma and amnesia are nearly identical. Also it should probably go without saying but it's full of spoilers so if you have only played one or two titles definitely avoid this.
The editing is also a bit weak. There are pauses which seem like they don't belong and occasional background static and swallowing (which may just be a personal pet peeve).
Still I did enjoy looking at some of my favorite games in a new light and I am looking forward to playing them with fresh insights.

Undergraduate-level Analyses

Good attempt at applying critical and psychological analyses to FF, and video games in general, but the majority of these essays seemed typical of work done in response to prompts given in undergraduate literature or video game course. To their credit, they were clearly earnest and well-intentioned, demonstrating a true passion and appreciation for the games. But frustrating overall in their treatments of the topics at hand, including trauma, signification, and legacy.

A bright spot of the production for me was the narrator, however! Her bright interpretation and energy made the essays far more engaging than the material alone.

I am glad this exists

So it's super academic, which makes sense. I feel bad for the narrator, who at times struggles through some of the names and terminology. this is a collection of essays, some of which contradict others. there are are few mistakes here and there. Overall, I am glad this exists and hope more things come. It was an interesting listen.

"Clerith" fixation

Overall, amazing. But the fixation on Clerith took me out of it. Cloud and Aerith's relationship, as well as Cloud and Tifa's, are misrepresented by this text and present false justification for the points they do in fact support.

An enjoyable deeper look at Final Fantasy

This book is a collection of essays that look at assorted topics in the field of Psychology through the lens of the Final Fantasy video game series, with Final Fantasy 7, 9, and 10 featuring prominently. As it is a collection of essays by a variety of authors, it can, at times, offer takes on the same game that differ from each other. This is to be expected when looking at a collection of essays by multiple authors. At other times, the essays offer similar opinions to each other and retread some of the same ground for the setup of those opinions. While this causes some of the material to end up becoming a bit redundant if you are listening to multiple essays back-to-back, I think that leaving such material in makes sense. If you consider that someone may not read the essays in the printed version in order, not including the repeated setup information would make it exceedingly difficult to follow some of the essays, especially if the reader was not already intimately familiar with the plots and themes of the games.

The narrator does an admirable job injecting enough emotion into her performance to keep the text from becoming dry as some readings of more academic texts can be. I do wish that someone had provided her with a pronunciation guide for some of the terms that are unique to the series, but there's nothing that's too egregious. Outside of that, there are a few times when non-series specific words seem as though they were either mispronounced by the narrator or were incorrect in the text (ex: the word "Desperate" is said when the essay clearly meant to use the word "Disparate"). This doesn't occur enough for it to really be much of an issue, as it only happens a handful of times, and it's easy to figure out what should have been said when it happens, so it didn't bother me too much. Without having the text to compare to, I have no idea if it's more due to the narrator or the original text, and it's really only a few times that it occurs.

If you enjoy the Final Fantasy series and/or have an interest in Psychology, this book is an enjoyable listen that doesn't overstay its welcome. While I do believe that those who enjoy both the games being examined and the field of study that they are being examined through will get the most enjoyment out of this book, it offers a fair mix of topics and opinions and presents them in a way that both fans and non-fans can enjoy.

felt a tad hamfisted

i feel like this was layered with the centet trying to not nesseccarlay push a message, but it felt like they played the game barebones and didnt do anything outside the game (ff15 anime/movie for example). i felt the pin pointing of some stereotypes were on the ball but others were "judged the book by its cover". good listen but i dont think ill recommend

Hate for what?

I was worried about getting this after reading so many bad reviews on it but after getting and listening to it a few hours in I felt really engaged to it and don't see why this got so much hate. there was times where the narrator had some trouble pronouncing words and some parts were pretty boring but overall this is very enjoyable so far don't let all the bad reviews drive you away from this.

Great story

Felt it could be longer and dwell more into each game. Definitely could definitely be into each iteration of the Final Fantasy series and make great companion studies for games.

Gauche

In many places this book seemed to be combing a giraffe instead of breaking down the psychology of Final Fantasy.