Square Enix and Luminous Productions' hotly anticipatedForspokenwas shown off at Sony’s PlayStation Showcase 2021. The game looks great, with all of the visual flair the Luminous Engine is known for. It looks likeForsakenwill be revisitingFinal Fantasy 15’s attempts at limited third-person shooter mechanics for its magic, using various spells with different types of projectiles, area-of-effect attacks, and the occasional melee strike. The special effects are polished, and the open world also looks like a blast to navigate. Being able to run, jump, and glide through the magical land of Athia at superhuman speeds looks to be a compelling experience that will keep players hooked throughout the duration ofForspoken’s runtime.
There was a wrinkle in all of this, however.Forspokenis taking a “Western blockbuster” approachto its dialogue, leading to some viewers finding themselves disinterested by its characters speaking. This is not in regards to the vocal performances, which match the rest of the game’s presentation. The words that the actors were directed to say, along with the situation the protagonist found herself in, just didn’t sit right with a number of people. Even if many could not quite put their fingers on why, there are a few reasons that explain what feels so off about the script.
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The Forspoken Trailer Felt Straight Out of Hollywood
Forspokenfocuses on the disgruntled New Yorker namedFrey Holland who is transported from her home apartment into the magical land of Athia. There, she is bestowed with phenomenal magic powers and a talking bracelet named Cuff. It’s a classicisekai “trapped in another world with an advantage"setup that may already put off those bored of the genre’s popularity. The script, brought to players by a team of writers consisting of Gary Whitta (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Amy Hennig (theUnchartedseries), Allison Rymer, and Todd Stashwick, is raising more eyebrows, as the lines chosen for characters felt off-putting to some, and at odds with the grand fantasy adventure theme.
This can probably be chalked up to what the trailer, andForspoken’s opening scene, are going for. Many video games have aspired tolook and feel like a playable movie. While this trend is often decried, there’s no doubt it has been a successful practice in the industry over the last console generation.Forspokentakes this to the logical extreme by presenting itself as a Hollywood movie for teenagers and young adults, with a dash of childlike wonder and some swearing thrown in. The lines and shots picked out for this trailer attempt to convey information about the game in a way that every demographic would understand, somewhat like a recent Marvel or Disney movie.
Frey talks through her thoughts, Cuff is a quirky sidekick played by English actor Jonathan Cake in an otherwise American cast. The trailer, in general, felt like it was trying too hard to sell the audience on playing the game. Unfortunately, the public has become very familiar with trailers like this in the past decade.
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Forspoken’s Dialogue Clashes With Its Setting
There are some other problems withForspoken’s dialogue. The lines felt at home in a coming-of-age superhero story, and whileForspokenmay be going for something like that, that’s not how the game has been previously shown.Forspokenwas advertised in past trailers as an epic, gritty fantasy adventure from the in-house Square Enix team Luminous Productions. This game is, by all accounts, intended to fulfill some of thepromises originally made forFinal Fantasy 15. It will be an open-world action game, with plenty of combat and movement dictated by the player. The juxtaposition of what this new trailer is presenting and whatForspokenhas been previously shown to be feels off to many.
There is also the matter ofForspoken’s lines feeling similar to movie trailers in a way that game dialogue usually isn’t. While the “games as movies” comparison has often been said in the past decade, it’s rare to see a game advertise itself with so many parallels to modern popular cinema. Even in the same PlayStation presentation that the trailer was shown in, players also got to look atGod of War Ragnarok, which looks like a natural extension of theprevious narrative-heavyGod of War, and other games likeProject EveorSpider-Man 2that presented themselves in their own ways.
A through-line in all of the other games was that they confidently demonstrated what they were about to players, even that was just through CG visuals with narration. The way game trailers and movie trailers tend to speak to their audiences is very distinct, and Sony andSquare Enix fansalike weren’t used to hearing such a style from a game they were excited for.
How Forspoken’s Script Could Turn Things Around
However, this is not the end forForspoken. Far from it, in fact; many came away from the trailer impressed at how the visuals and gameplay look. While worries about the script will persist for now, the final product may prove to be in a better state. Voice lines and scenes chosen for theForspokentrailer clearly focussed on the cinematic opening scene to better introduce viewers to the world. Once the main characters and direction of the story are established, things will begin to flow more naturally, andFrey and Cuff will be able to banterbetween themselves and with others on a variety of subjects.
Players will probably start to feel better about the characterization of the main cast once they spend time with them, and can get their hands on the compelling gameplay.Forspokenstill has some time leftbefore it reaches those hands, but that is enough time to preview other scenes that more accurately represent what the rest of the game’s writing and storytelling will be like. All in all, Square Enix seems to have another excellent fantasy title on its hands, andForspokenshould impress the masses once it completes its landing - even if that landing starts a little shaky.
Forspokenis set to release in early 2022 for PC and PS5.
