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[Ventilaator]

Looking back on it now, there are tons of people saying VIII was complete shit and other people saying IX was utter shit and some insane group saying VI was overrated. So why exactly does the tepid response to XIII mean the series needs saving? There's always a bunch of people saying that any number FF game was the best/worst one.

 

[Oldschool]

Looking back on it now, there are tons of people saying VIII was complete shit and other people saying IX was utter shit and some insane group saying VI was overrated. So why exactly does the tepid response to XIII mean the series needs saving? There's always a bunch of people saying that any number FF game was the best one.

I don't really think is the same. Those games are now see as cult classics, with I doubt will ever happen to FF13.

 

[Arklite]

Of course, how else will they make it to this

predetermined

 

[Imm0rt4l]

Final Fantasy needs better writing and art design to become relevant again. Basically they need to bring back the FFXII team and fire everyone who influenced the story, art direction of FXIII and FFXIII-2. And hell, even FFXII was kind of a mess story wise, but at least it sounded sophisticated. Whereas FFXIII was just a giant pile of "what the fucking is going on" paired with every horrendous anime trope in the book.

1. Fire anyone who has written a FF game in the last 10 years
2. Stop aiming it at 14 year old Japanese kids
3. Eliminate the anime tropes

There, franchise saved.

What's series needs my help next, Castlevania?

I like these guys.

 

[thepotatoman]

I honestly don't know why people are saying that previous final fantasies are all about exploration. Pretty much from IV on everything was super linear. The dungeon design for pretty much every single one in all the games is just a linear path spattered with some cuts to dead ends that ocasionally contain chests, and there is almost never good reason to explore the world map out side of finding the next closest city. Besides they all practically punish what little exploration there is thanks to the random battle systems.

And I'd like to add it's not like the battle systems were especially complicated either, and most non-boss fights consisted of hitting attack over and over, its just instead you had to go into the menu and waste some ethers and potions between each battle. At least here they get rid of the grinding and give you a stagger bar to manage to make each fight be a little more dynamic.

I also think its great that XIII gave each character flaws, with detailed reasons behind the flaws and some character developement to get past those flaws. It really troubles me when people complain about Hope and Snow because of thier flaws when those flaws are essential parts of the characters. It may not be done super well but at least they are trying to tell a story thats contains. Hell I'd rather they try to do that then just redo the super 1 dimensional Nathan Drake character who people only love because of the witty dialog, and so every single developer thinks a couple lines of witty dialog is all one needs to create a good character.

I think some people have some understandable complaints but when people start talking about XIII like its the death of square enix and the entirety of Japan it just really feels like a people are jumping on some sort of hate band wagon for no good reason other then its fun to find something to rag on and there aren't a lot of easy targets at the moment. Do we really need to blow up nitpicks like a couple cheesy lines of dialog and some linear design decisions in a 50 hour game to be the death of an industry?

To me the reasons given by the haters never seemed to warrant the absolute vitriol that was thrown at the title.

 

[Rahxephon91]

Final Fantasy needs better writing and art design to become relevant again. Basically they need to bring back the FFXII team and fire everyone who influenced the story, art direction of FXIII and FFXIII-2. And hell, even FFXII was kind of a mess story wise, but at least it sounded sophisticated. Whereas FFXIII was just a giant pile of "what the fucking is going on" paired with every horrendous anime trope in the book.

You do realize that the person behind the awesome art direction of XIII is the same guy behind the art direction of XII? It's also such a great idea to fire the people that have been hugely responsible for the popularity of the franchisee and get back those who made XII. One of the most divisive installments that also took forever.

Gee, what a great idea.

And really what were the anime troupes of XIII? And which ones weren't in every other FF?

 

[jeremy1456]

The battle system in 13 was the reason I sold it after 7 hours of gameplay. So I am with you on that. I still dont get how people call the battle system of ff13 "good". I simply cannot understand their argument.

But FF12 had some nice mecanics, I fiddled around with the gambits a lot and auto-casted protes and haste and tried different weapon types that all felt different. So there was a lot of meat to the battle system and it was really satisfying to basically own mobs that gave you trouble when you tried to beat them with the wrong stategy.

If square is happy with the current state of the franchise, fine, there are plenty of other games I can enjoy. But in my opinion, Final Fantasy needs to be saved.

Gambits were more in depth than paradigms, but same basic idea.

By default both battle systems are auto-pilot. Paradigms, like gambits, are really more focused on pre-planning. Aside from the pre planning both battle systems suck. They are similar in premise so I can't see liking one but hating the other. To me this makes little sense.

 

[Hamplin]

I still dont get how people call the battle system of ff13 "good". I simply cannot understand their argument.

It's got more depth than in previous installments, and the game oftenly rewards you if you choose to dwelve into micromanagement of your skills and abilities during combat.
One might have the ability to play the game semi-automatically, but that is of one's own choosing and does not always give optimal results. This makes for enjoyable gameplay...at your own choosing ofc.

 

[electroplankton]

1. Fire anyone who has written a FF game in the last 10 years
2. Stop aiming it at 14 year old Japanese kids
3. Eliminate the anime tropes

There, franchise saved.

What's series needs my help next, Castlevania?

 

[ULTROS!]

Square Enix should stop porting FFI and FFII, too many ports of those games.

 

[Rad-]

You do realize that the person behind the awesome art direction of XIII is the same guy behind the art direction of XII? It's also such a great idea to fire the people that have been hugely responsible for the popularity of the franchisee and get back those who made XII. One of the most divisive installments that also took forever.

Gee, what a great idea.

And really what were the anime troupes of XIII? And which ones weren't in every other FF?

He probably meant character art. XII's environmental art wasn't that great but the character art was the best in the series. I don't think Yoshida worked in XIII.

 

[Xilium]

I love how all the love for FFXII is coming well after the fact.

That game wasn't received with near universal praise either (FFX was the last to get that) so I don't know why so many are turning to that game as being the template to move the series forward.

 

[Ventilaator]

And really what were the anime troupes of XIII? And which ones weren't in every other FF?

Yup. This complaint about XIII is completely insane. The characters are apparently terrible, but you could easily draw comparison between them and other characters in the series. Lightning=Cloud, Snow=Zell, Vanille=Selphie etc. The story is also apparently nonsense...in a series that's been about magical hyper-important crystals since day one, and then went on to be about clowns destroying the world and kids from a fighting school fighting a sorceress who

Spoiler

was really a puppet for another sorceress who lives on the moon.

 

[jaxword]

I honestly don't know why people are saying that previous final fantasies are all about exploration. Pretty much from IV on everything was super linear. The dungeon design for pretty much every single one in all the games is just a linear path spattered with some cuts to dead ends that ocasionally contain chests, and there is almost never good reason to explore the world map out side of finding the next closest city. Besides they all practically punish what little exploration there is thanks to the random battle systems.

And I'd like to add it's not like the battle systems were especially complicated either, and most non-boss fights consisted of hitting attack over and over, its just instead you had to go into the menu and waste some ethers and potions between each battle. At least here they get rid of the grinding and give you a stagger bar to manage to make each fight be a little more dynamic.

As has been said, rose-colored glasses.

The early FFs are NOT as perfect and holy as people want them to be. They're good, but they have the EXACT same flaws as the current ones. FF4 was incredibly linear, it just had the ILLUSION of exploration since you could spend 4 minutes exploring the wrong forest...but inevitably have to follow the pattern of dungeon-town-next town.

And the dialogue complaints? The early FFs are full of the same nonsense. Which FF had teenage girls going on about what love is and finding love and singing songs about love?

Spoiler

Final Fantasy Six

The complaints are really just an angry lamentation: We're no longer 13 years old anymore and no longer can experience that same newfound sense of wonder.

 

[jeremy1456]

I love how all the love for FFXII is coming well after the fact.

That game wasn't received with near universal praise either (FFX was the last to get that) so I don't know why so many are turning to that game as being the template to move the series forward.

Come on, when the game was released GAF was absoluted flooded with 'best FF ever' posts.

That doesnt equate to the entire media, but to call the praise after the fact is revisionist history.

 

[Cromat]

Cancel Versus?! WHAT?

Versus probably isn't going to be good. I have no reason to believe otherwise.
They need to scrap all the sideprojects and focus on making a high quality main installment. The last great game in the series was released six years ago.

 

[Xilium]

Yup. This complaint about XIII is completely insane. The characters are apparently terrible, but you could easily draw comparison between them and other characters in the series. Lightning=Cloud, Snow=Zell, Vanille=Selphie etc. The story is also apparently nonsense...in a series that's been about magical hyper-important crystals since day one, and then went on to be about clowns destroying the world and kids from a fighting school fighting a sorceress who

Spoiler

was really a puppet for another sorceress who lives on the moon.

Apparently the terminology (Fal'Cie, L'Cie, Cieth, ect.) was the straw that broke the camel's back. That's one of the most common complaints I hear about the game.

Come on, when the game was released GAF was absoluted flooded with 'best FF ever' posts.

That doesnt equate to the entire media, but to call the praise after the fact is revisionist history.

Not sure about GAF (don't remember this board specifically) but there was a lot of complaining about the game being an offline MMO, the battle system playing itself, not being able to directly control all party members, trying to be open-world but not doing it right, no sidequest variety/mini-games, so on and so forth.

 

[GenericUser]

Gambits were more in depth than paradigms, but same basic idea.

By default both battle systems are auto-pilot. Paradigms, like gambits, are really more focused on pre-planning. Aside from the pre planning both battle systems suck. They are similar in premise so I can't see liking one but hating the other. To me this makes little sense.

You can probably play like at least 50% of ff13 with "auto pilot" and the game does its best to hide the so called complexity of the paradigm shift system. In FF12 you will see game overs early on if you not adjust your strategy.

For me, ff13's battle system felt much more passive than ff12's. As I mentioned, I roughly played it for 7 hours and it was an unbelieveable borefest. For me the battle system was more or less "wait till the gauge is full, hit x, repeat". Ok, a paradigm shift was needed from time to time - but thats it.

I just like to tell my characters to cast fira and not "do some spellcasting, I would be nice if you could burn the enemy, but freezing them is also cool and if you heal that other guy in your party, thats fine as well". I want them to follow my scrict orders.

 

[Hamplin]

I have no reason to believe otherwise.

Except the slim amount of media released on the game that looks awesome in every way

 

[jeremy1456]

You can probably play like at least 50% of ff13 with "auto pilot" and the game does its best to hide the so called complexity of the paradigm shift system. In FF12 you will see game overs early on if you not adjust your strategy.

For me, ff13's battle system felt much more passive than ff12's. As I mentioned, I roughly played it for 7 hours and it was an unbelieveable borefest. For me the battle system was more or less "wait till the gauge if full, hit x, repeat". Ok, a paradigm shift was needed from time to time - but thats it.

I just like to tell my characters to cast fira and not "do some spellcasting, I would be nice if you could burn the enemy, but freezing them is also cool and if you heal that other guy in your party, thats fine as well". I want them to follow my scrict orders.

You will see game overs just as often in 13 if you disregard strategy.

Hating the battle system in 13, but loving it in 12 to me is like loving the job system in 5 and hating it in 3.

Paradigms arent as deep as gambits, but the switching mid battle requires you to actually pay attention in 13.

 

[jeremy1456]

Apparently the terminology (Fal'Cie, L'Cie, Cieth, ect.) was the straw that broke the camel's back. That's one of the most common complaints I hear about the game.



Not sure about GAF (don't remember this board specifically) but there was a lot of complaining about the game being an offline MMO, the battle system playing itself, not being able to directly control all party members, trying to be open-world but not doing it right, no sidequest variety/mini-games, so on and so forth.

As I recall those that didnt like it were in a very obvious minority amongst series fans.

 

[Xilium]

You can probably play like at least 50% of ff13 with "auto pilot" and the game does its best to hide the so called complexity of the paradigm shift system. In FF12 you will see game overs early on if you not adjust your strategy.

For me, ff13's battle system felt much more passive than ff12's. As I mentioned, I roughly played it for 7 hours and it was an unbelieveable borefest. For me the battle system was more or less "wait till the gauge is full, hit x, repeat". Ok, a paradigm shift was needed from time to time - but thats it.

I just like to tell my characters to cast fira and not "do some spellcasting, I would be nice if you could burn the enemy, but freezing them is also cool and if you heal that other guy in your party, thats fine as well". I want them to follow my scrict orders.

In XIII at least, you could slow down the atb gauge and play the game using manual command selections. Ditto with XII.

The option was always there to play those games in a more traditional fashion but nobody ever did and just complained about the new system instead.

As I recall those that didnt like it were in a very obvious minority amongst series fans.

Like nearly every FF, XII had a pretty evenly split fanbase. VII and X are the only ones that truly got near universal praise.

 

[Rahxephon91]

He probably meant character art. XII's environmental art wasn't that great but the character art was the best in the series. I don't think Yoshida worked in XIII.

He said anyone who influenced the art. I disagree compelty. The world design of XII is amazing with an incredible sense of context. Places like Dalmsca are overrun with atmosphere and feeling and mostly because of the way they look. It's art direction is incredible. Same for XIII, but then again I like the high tech fashion look.

But the point always seems to be get rid of Nomura and now it's because his character designs hurt the franchisee. Why? What is the explanation here? You don't like them? Tough. You think it scare's off people? Well I'm sure you can make an argument there, but I don't think it's full proof. You just can't claim every gamer wants dudebro whatever. There are tons of people who play games, tons of people who seek variety. There is an audience who will buy games with pretty girly people. And even your gamer who don't think will may be caught up in the flash. Regardless, if they changed to Yoshida is that going to automatically appeal to more people? Give some evidence here. People say anime is dead and this anything that has anime sensibilities are less popular. Is this even a fact? You say oh it's because anime companies have gone out of business? Well duh. The dvd market has mostly dropped and for companies like Bandai Ent, that was most of their business. On the other side Anime Cons continue to have record attendance and anime streaming becomes bigger and bigger. I'm not sold on the idea of anime and anything that looks like it being dead. Perhaps some actual expert could drop the facts.

But that doesn't even matter to me. Nomura's art never looked like anime to me. Outside of VII, they have always looked something obviously Japanese and something obviously influenced by Japanese fashion and culture. Not easily anime like say Bleach or DBZ. He has his own distinct style and it's very high quality. I can't help that some think it looks stupid. And while he perhaps needs to dial it down a bit, it by no means is bad. It has became a big face of the franchise and yes XIII, X, VIII, Dirge, AC ect ect are sold with the face of Nomura. And they all do well. And his designs then probably also boost the sales of other things like toys and artbooks.

Regardless, I like pretty people with feathered hair. I don't think every series needs to be grity and dark. I have enough western games that attempt that.

Apparently the terminology (Fal'Cie, L'Cie, Cieth, ect.) was the straw that broke the camel's back. That's one of the most common complaints I hear about the game.

I never really got that complaint. They explain what they are in the beginning and even then it wasnt hard to understand what they were.

 

[Crash Station]

As I recall those that didnt like it were in a very obvious minority amongst series fans.

Nah, it was definitely polarizing. Probably the most polarizing game in the series before XIII. Plenty of people outright hated the changes made to the battle system as well as the rather oddly paced story.

 

[jeremy1456]

Nah, it was definitely polarizing. Probably the most polarizing game in the series before XIII. Plenty of people outright hated the changes made to the battle system as well as the rather oddly paced story.

There were complaints, but they were lost in the sea of praise. If it was in faact polarizing you must be a mind reader for those not speaking up because the praise was overwhelming.

FF8 was way morei polarizing.

 

[Nibel]

As long as there are people who like and defend the worst RPG of the gen, they'll be fine.

 

[jaxword]

There were complaints, but they were lost in the sea of praise.

FF8 was way morei polarizing.

Every FF is polarizing, man. Every single one is the WORST FINAL FANTASY EVER until the next one comes out and it takes that title.

FF fans are seriously some of the most proudly vocal about their opinions. Every franchise has this, of course, but FF fans put serious amounts of effort to make sure people know how much better things were 5/8/10/15 years ago.

I seriously wonder if in 2020 the same people will be posting about how the series died with FF6, almost 25 years later.

 

[Rahxephon91]

As long as there are people who like and defend the worst RPG of the gen, they'll be fine.

I don't think I've meant people who defend Eternal Sonata. And well, this isn't a Namco thread anyway....

 

[Xilium]

As long as there are people who like and defend the worst RPG of the gen, they'll be fine.

Enchanted Arms?

Every FF is polarizing, man. Every single one is the WORST FINAL FANTASY EVER until the next one comes out and it takes that title.

FF fans are seriously some of the most proudly vocal about their opinions. Every franchise has this, of course, but FF fans put serious amounts of effort to make sure people know how much better things were 5/8/10/15 years ago.

I seriously wonder if in 2020 the same people will be posting about how the series died with FF6, almost 25 years later.

I think it is because the games in the series are only loosely related to one another and for some reason fans of the series still seem to think that the next FF is going to be like their favorite FF. So of course when it inevitably isn't, it becomes the worst FF ever made.

I take each title for what it is and don't bother trying to compare it to a previous title in the series. XII and XIII couldn't have possibly been any more different from one another and that is one of the primary reason why I like the series. For better or worse, SE is always trying something new with their flagship series and that isn't something that can be said for pretty much anyone else in the industry.

 

[Rahxephon91]

Enchanted Arms?

Excuse me. That game is by our new found messiahs, From Software.

 

[Hamplin]

As long as there are people who like and defend the worst RPG of the gen, they'll be fine.

Sadly though, there's not much more options if you really hate the obnoxious tone of core anime.

 

[Ventilaator]

I never really got that complaint. They explain what they are in the beginning and even then it wasnt hard to understand what they were.

Totally, saying Fal'cie, L'cie and Cieth is also apparently too insane for a series that has The Lifestream, Materia, Mako, the Jenova Project, Shinra, AVALANCHE, SOLDIER etc in one game.

And SEED, Gardens, GF, Drawing, Triple Triad, Junctioning in the next one.

 

[Neko Mimi Mode]

Enchanted Arms?

He said worst, not best.

Worst would be like Eternal Sonata, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean 4 etc.

 

[Hayeya]

in game visuals have improved to the point that CG isn't really necessary anymore. All it does is pull you out of the game when it shows up...and chew up disc space in the process.

In game visuals and CG are improving in parallel,, you will never EVER have in game visuals equivalent to the CG of its time, thats why it will always be a wow factor and special, especially from the talented folks at SE.

 

[The Emperor]

Excuse me. That game is by our new found messiahs, From Software.

LOL

I face palmed when someone said hand the FF franchise to From Software

Dark Souls/Demon Souls is about as far away from what FF should be as anything.

 

[Xilium]

Excuse me. That game is by our new found messiahs, From Software.

You've got to start somewhere.

He said worst, not best.

Worst would be like Eternal Sonata, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean 4 etc.

I give that game crap but I didn't actually think it was offensively bad (ditto for IU). Never bothered to play ES (it looked pretty boring). SO4 though... I liked the gameplay but Edge and Lymle's dialog were pretty brutal.

 

[Mario007]

Give the main protagonist a gun and make a TPS with RPG elements, people will forget all about a poorly paced story, linear level designs, awful characters (bar that one cool on) and the lack of mission variety.


...worked with ME2

 

[Rahxephon91]

Give the main protagonist a gun and make a TPS with RPG elements, people will forget all about a poorly paced story, linear level designs, awful characters (bar that one cool on) and the lack of mission variety.


...worked with ME2

Almost there man.

You've got to start somewhere.

Well, they have a history of crap. But it was more of a joke about how everyone seems to be on From's nuts because of the Soul games. Regardless that they have a history of pretty meh games. But I guess someone will pull the reverse and say Square has a history of great games and look at them now. The diffidence is I have an incredible bias and don't care about the Soul games.

LOL

I face palmed when someone said hand the FF franchise to From Software

Dark Souls/Demon Souls is about as far away from what FF should be as anything.

Yeah I'm not a fan of the Soul games, but it does grind my gears that people think From is some god and that basicly the Souls games should be the rpg saviior and be everywhere. I mean threads go like this it seems.

OP-"Hey, I'm looking for a good party based jrpg with a colorful world and exciting story like say FFVII. I really loved that game back in the day rolf"

Peeps-"FUCKING DEMON SOULS IT WILL CUT OFF YOUR DICCKKKK"

I get it. People like them and they are good games. I myself had some fun with Dark Souls. But they arent like FF games. They aren't even attempting the same thing. From's talents in that game have nothing to do with FF. Old or New. Good or BAd.

Totally, saying Fal'cie, L'cie and Cieth is also apparently too insane for a series that has The Lifestream, Materia, Mako, the Jenova Project, Shinra, AVALANCHE, SOLDIER etc in one game.

And SEED, Gardens, GF, Drawing, Triple Triad, Junctioning in the next one.

Yeah FF games have had made up words as stand ins for normal concepts/things before. At least XIII had a datalog!

 

[Thoraxes]

Give the main protagonist a gun and make a TPS with RPG elements, people will forget all about a poorly paced story, linear level designs, awful characters (bar that one cool on) and the lack of mission variety.


...worked with ME2

Sega basically already beat you to that:

 

[Hero]

The brand is damaged and I would say is in great danger of being relevant at all in the upcoming generation jump.

The quality of the various FF titles this gen has been all over the place but mostly bad but you also have to take into account how many years some of these games are taking to get released. Versus is almost a fucking company embarrassment at this point if it doesn't release to universal praise and perfect reviews. Let's also add into the equation the series oversaturization between all the FF spin offs. Revenant Wings, FF Type 0, FF Dissidia, Crystal Chronicles, XIV, 4 Heroes of Light, Theatrhythm, Crisis Core, etc. How the hell do they expect people to keep up with this shit?

They need to totally start over with their next mainline FF game. Anybody who has involved in any of the XIII-related shit needs to be fired or at least not have a single god damn thing to do with the next game. Start over, stop focusing on the shit that doesn't matter like making pretty CGI, get back to the roots and don't announce it more than a year or two before it's out.

 

[Xilium]

Give the main protagonist a gun and make a TPS with RPG elements, people will forget all about a poorly paced story, linear level designs, awful characters (bar that one cool on) and the lack of mission variety.


...worked with ME2

You forgot the most important part...Dating Sim elements!

 

[Thoraxes]

The brand is damaged and I would say is in great danger of being relevant at all in the upcoming generation jump.

The quality of the various FF titles this gen has been all over the place but mostly bad but you also have to take into account how many years some of these games are taking to get released. Versus is almost a fucking company embarrassment at this point if it doesn't release to universal praise and perfect reviews. Let's also add into the equation the series oversaturization between all the FF spin offs. Revenant Wings, FF Type 0, FF Dissidia, Crystal Chronicles, XIV, 4 Heroes of Light, Theatrhythm, Crisis Core, etc. How the hell do they expect people to keep up with this shit?

They need to totally start over with their next mainline FF game. Anybody who has involved in any of the XIII-related shit needs to be fired or at least not have a single god damn thing to do with the next game. Start over, stop focusing on the shit that doesn't matter like making pretty CGI, get back to the roots and don't announce it more than a year or two before it's out.

I take it you didn't like VII - XIII-2 for this then?

 

[Xilium]

I take it you didn't like VII - XIII-2 for this then?

The diehard 2D fans will always point to CG as being one of the primary reason for FF's demise.

Never mind the fact that it was the CG of VII that catapulted the series into popularity and made it stand out from other RPGs of the time.

Not saying it is an absolute necessity for the series but it is disingenuous to claim that CG doesn't have a significant historical relevance to the series.

 

[Rahxephon91]

Yeah pretty CG doesn't matter. You know the fucking thing that has served as the huge marketable aspect of the series sense fucking VII and perhaps a big reason why the series has been popular.

Not it's so pointless. It's so shitty. So shitty and pointless that even companies like Blizzard look silly when they use cg to get attention.

Remember those Star Wars MMO Cg videos? Pointless. I mean those did'nt get fucking attention for that game at all. Silly EA.

 

[Mario007]

Almost there man.

Haha almost forgot about that. That looks very much like T3B from what I can remember. Still TPS elements could actually sell the game, even though I was joking with my original post.

Sega basically already beat you to that:

Haha forgot about that

The brand is damaged and I would say is in great danger of being relevant at all in the upcoming generation jump.

The quality of the various FF titles this gen has been all over the place but mostly bad but you also have to take into account how many years some of these games are taking to get released. Versus is almost a fucking company embarrassment at this point if it doesn't release to universal praise and perfect reviews. Let's also add into the equation the series oversaturization between all the FF spin offs. Revenant Wings, FF Type 0, FF Dissidia, Crystal Chronicles, XIV, 4 Heroes of Light, Theatrhythm, Crisis Core, etc. How the hell do they expect people to keep up with this shit?

They need to totally start over with their next mainline FF game. Anybody who has involved in any of the XIII-related shit needs to be fired or at least not have a single god damn thing to do with the next game. Start over, stop focusing on the shit that doesn't matter like making pretty CGI, get back to the roots and don't announce it more than a year or two before it's out.

They're not. The reason for so many spin offs is basically because there's a lot of platforms out there and simply if I own a PSP I can play an FF game. If I own a DS I can also play an FF game. Which works out great for the gamers.

Also SE did fuck up with Crystal Tools and thus had to release spin offs to keep the revenue flowing.

You forgot the most important part...Dating Sim elements!

True that! Incredibly badly written dating sim does help to sell meh RPGs these days.

 

[jaxword]

Give the main protagonist a gun and make a TPS with RPG elements, people will forget all about a poorly paced story, linear level designs, awful characters (bar that one cool on) and the lack of mission variety.

Forgotten that S-E already tried that?

 

[DarkMehm]

So, a "FF needs saving"-Thread without actual information?

The last relevant entry, and that is Final Fantasy XIII, sold around 6 million units worldwide and shipped quite a bit more than that. (contrary to the popular consensus of the so called sales-agers here, there isn't that many unsold units on shelves)

That's ahead of FFXII and FFIX, to name a few of the more recent ones. The reason why FFXIII-2 is unpopular is because FFXIII wasn't liked that much, it's as simple as that. A FFXV will sell over 5 million again.

That is if SE doesn't do the crazy thing and release FFXIII-3. That would damage the brand a bit more on the longterm, but even that would not be the end of the world for the franchise.

 

[Mario007]

Forgotten that S-E already tried that?

but that was last gen when rpgs were actually considered cool, this gen the definition of an rpg shrunk to Mass Effect which is incredibly disheartening.

also this gen is the shooter gen

 

[Cromat]

Except the slim amount of media released on the game that looks awesome in every way

It always looks awesome in the trailers. XIII also looked amazing because we want it to be amazing. But deep in your heart you know that Versus is not going to be good.

It's soulless, and has been that way since 2006. Versus is tainted by the long development period, the mediocre XIII and XIII-2 and the general decline of the franchise and company.

They need to purge and start over, so that their games have the magic it used to have. No spinoffs with weird titles. Just a new FF, with a new world, new battle system and an original story.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

I think XIV's legacy will hurt the brand much more than XIII's ever will. The mismanagement of that disaster is disgusting.

To be honest, I also think XI was an abomination fir different reasons. We've got that thread where people are playing through the FF games to celebrate the 25th Anniversary and XI is on no one's list.