5 reasons to hate Final Fantasy

Few videogame franchises have as rabid a fanbase as Final Fantasy. Stretching all the way back to the series’ NES debut, the intense love FF fans have shown the series has made its title increasingly oxymoronic over the years. But you know what? We’re not here to love your favorite game. And as 2010’s Week of Hate officially draws to a close, we offer…

1. Giant novelty swords, hair

After Final Fantasy VII, the series became the standard-bearer for ridiculous weapons andfantastically stupidhair. What started with Cloud’s ginormous Buster Sword and emo spike-top would later give us such laughable implements of destruction as Squall’s Gunblade, Lulu’s stuffed-animal sidekicks (and belts masquerading as a dress), the folding weapons of FFXIIIand whatever that bluething is that Tidus fights with.That's to saynothing ofWakka's towering red cowlick or Kuja'sshaggy blue plumage. Does all that stuffmake Final Fantasy’s designs memorable? Yes. But it also makes them impossible to be taken seriously by grown humans.


Breathtakingly accurate art by Tyler Wilde

Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.