I want to return the series to that sort of 'mysterious world' that you couldn't wait to explore ala Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana and FF6. I'd keep Hamazau on the soundtrack or bring in Mitsuda. I'd get Nomura off the art. No more trenchcoat wearing prettyboys/dolls. I'd get amano in there or even Toriyama ala Chrono Trigger for the art direction. There'd be a lot less CG cutscenes. My key would be to focus on just the sense of exploration, to where players just can't wait to see what locale is next. I'd definitely take the series back to its 'fantasy' roots.
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Can Square save the Final Fantasy brand?
- Thread starter Averon
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He's working on Guardian Cross for iOS/Android.
RPGCrazied
Member
Remake 7, 8 and 9. Like the tech demo they showed for 7 on the PS3.
djplaeskool
Member
These threads are great because the summation of them is always: No one knows what the fuck to do with Final Fantasy.
Augemitbutter
Member
i'd let the guys of V, VI and X take over and use the money to make Shenmue 3.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
I love this idea.
hbkajshdvfbkjhvgkahsgdfka
Member
Pay the Yakuza to take care of Nomura.
RockTurtle
Member
this man knows his stuff
Disgaeamad
Member
Lets kill the one man who keeps creating games that are popular and characters that tons of people love and ignore he had almost nothing to do with the last two divided games.
Totally makes sense.
Rahxephon91
Banned
Well then it was a shitter FF then XIII.
XIV and it's Dev team likely wouldn't have anything to do with the team that would be working on FF XV so it's release on PS3 wouldn't likely have anything to do with XV's development.
I think my current suggestion would be... stop pushing FFXIII. It's been their focus for 6 years now and to be honest I'm tired of seeing the characters from those two games. Whether I'm alone in those thoughts is yet to be seen but I feel like they've really run those characters into the ground.
They weren't even that interesting to begin with.
Separate from the XIII name and stigma associated with it and I think fans will be more than happy to see what's next.
The problem with creating a laundry list of ideas into a game is we end up with something like FFXIII-2, which while a decent game... still isn't anything all that amazing. It still feels empty to the point where playing it feels like checking off a list.
They weren't even that interesting to begin with.
Separate from the XIII name and stigma associated with it and I think fans will be more than happy to see what's next.
The problem with creating a laundry list of ideas into a game is we end up with something like FFXIII-2, which while a decent game... still isn't anything all that amazing. It still feels empty to the point where playing it feels like checking off a list.
This leads into a bigger problem that they have a huge mindshare problem. It's not just 13 either but every man game since ten has some portion of the fanbase up in arms.
X-2=Pretty princess dressup
XI=MMO borefest.
XII=Took far too long for a single player MMO.
XIII=Took far too long to be, well, FF XIII
Versus=What the hell is that?
Type Zero= They make PSP games? (west) Oh, its that cellphone game (Japan)
XIV=Take everything good about XI. Throw it away. Also plenty of will never play because its an MMO carryover.
XIII-2= More XIII, yawn.
I'm not saying there wasn't major bitching about the games pre ten but its nothing on this scale. The triple whammy of XIII, XIII-2 and XIV though might have really put the company in a bad bad place.
Crash Station
Member
Continuing to divide the fanbase can't be good, even if they say stuff like "we're trying to reach new audiences." At this point, I think they should focus on recapturing the audience that have long since lost interest.
They need to make shorter games. Gone are the days where "90 hours of gameplay!!!" is a solid bulletpoint in the eyes of gamers. 12-20 SOLID hours of gaming with no fluff/no tedious grinding is PERFECT for an RPG these days.
As great as Mass Effect is, I wouldn't be able to stand it if it were any longer. And the same goes for just about every game.
As great as Mass Effect is, I wouldn't be able to stand it if it were any longer. And the same goes for just about every game.
X-2 Was still recieved well, or at least as well as VIII and IX before it where it had a split but it wasn't so big that it damanged FF as awhole.
It starts with XI or if you go single player XII.
Regardless though I believe that XIII proves that the Fanbase was still strong and willing to try out something new if given the chance. If that base is still there after XIV or XIII-2 I have no idea, but regardless of them being there or not they need to leave XIII behind.
If they really want to pimp Lightning then do it in spin off's like Dissidia/Theaterythm and if Nomura wants her to show up in KH III, but let this cast die and move on to a new cast as far as FF's are concerned.
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
Or design a RPG around an empty world with almost no narrative where your choices don't matter worth a damn since even conflicting quest lines are still doable. Then 200 hours is fine and it's instant GOTY.
Well, by "them" I just meant SE as a whole. I don't think SE will announce any into pertaining to XV until XIV is squared away. However, this is the same company that unveiled X and IX all at once, so maybe well get something at E3.
To that end I feel like some of their efforts to expand their fanbase recently haven't been much help at all, which of course a lot of comes down to marketing.
A recent example... they marketed FFXIII-2 on Spike TV while giving them an exclusive trailer. That's nice and all but I have doubts that FF's main audience watches that channel and the audience that DOES wouldn't care about a pink-filled JRPG starring a magical girl. All the while they continue to ignore the fans that actually care.
"going back to roots" is probably one of the worst things people can ask for, whether it be an artist who's strayed far from what made them popular (music), a film series (Star Wars), or in this case video games.
Primarily because the people behind what made it great are no longer there. See; Silent Hill.
They need to find something NEW and exciting, not try and revisit what worked in the past.
Are you just ignoring the fact that half of the games since VII have been that way?
Just having a more High Fantasy style game won't be enough. IX, XI, XII, XIV prove this.
If people want them to go back to their roots they need to play FF Type-0... which still hasn't been officially been announced for the west...
But I really love that game and wish they would have gone with that as XIII proper and made it a console game. It expands on a lot of classic FF themes while using a more modern action RPG battle system. It's a shame Square Enix has been so quiet about it.
But I really love that game and wish they would have gone with that as XIII proper and made it a console game. It expands on a lot of classic FF themes while using a more modern action RPG battle system. It's a shame Square Enix has been so quiet about it.
Disgaeamad
Member
The most depressing thing for me is that they nailed both styles perfectly with IX, but if they went back and tried to emulate that now I just couldn't see them ever pulling it off well or making it feel original again.
Even a game just like IX wouldn't solve this problem. It could make things worse, IX is the lowest selling Main 3D FF Entry and it met with many problems despite the love it gets now.
Even games that are directly influenced by IX haven't me with overwhelmingly postive reception.
Vane_MagicCity
Banned
IX is the worst of the PS1 games. It is slow and the ability system is dumb and non productive. I really don't like keeping weak weapons equipped until I learn an ability.
I did like IX ten years ago but even then I thought it wasn't as good as 7, 8 or Chrono Cross (if that counts). Playing it today on the PSP is painful, it moves at a snails pace. For not having a world map and that stupid sports game, FF X atleast picked up the pace.
XIII is a good game. The amount of customization for weapons and accessories is mind boggling (or maybe the upgrade system is needlessly complicated). If you play XIII then try to pick up IX, you will feel the speed drain. XIII had it's problems, it was too linear, held your hand for too long and the missions could have been designed better (too much running from place to place).
XIII-2, what little I played of it, felt like it was made up more of quests, than of a central stroyline. Is that the case?
Remake VII. It's what people want. It would create excitement for the franchise again. Release XV relatively soon after and make sure its good. Easier said then done of course.
My view on modern JRPGs in general:
What people traditionally valued highly in JRPGs were the emotional stories and lush worlds. Pre-Ps2, FF games were more like books (text based). Ps2 and beyond, they're more like movies (acting and voice overs). And movie stories and worlds are never as fleshed out as their book counterparts. Modern game design, or rather budgets, have made it hard for JRPGs to remain relevant.
(I think I already expressed my thoughts earlier in the thread with the online games diluting the brand too)
My view on modern JRPGs in general:
What people traditionally valued highly in JRPGs were the emotional stories and lush worlds. Pre-Ps2, FF games were more like books (text based). Ps2 and beyond, they're more like movies (acting and voice overs). And movie stories and worlds are never as fleshed out as their book counterparts. Modern game design, or rather budgets, have made it hard for JRPGs to remain relevant.
(I think I already expressed my thoughts earlier in the thread with the online games diluting the brand too)
Disgaeamad
Member
I can see what you mean, mainly because I think that just taking concepts from previous FFs isn't going to help them much in terms of creating something that can blow people away again. They need to build on that sort of stuff and somehow make it even better than it was before.
Problems I've never had in my many, many FFIX runs. The game's always seemed balanced in terms of giving you enough time to master abilities while just progressing far enough to get new equipment, although there definitely rare occasions where you could get pretty overwhelmed by a million new pieces of equipment being available through regular shops and synthesising. In regards to it being "slow", I have no idea how you could even think that.
First off, @_@
Second, XIII-2 fixes a bunch of little problems from FFXIII while making the big ones bigger.
The battles in FFIX move at such an ungodly slow rate compared to...well any other FF game in existence.
APZonerunner
Member
Disgaeamad
Member
Maybe I was just having too much fun and thus never noticed.
Now excuse me while I take this pent up dissatisfaction at people talking badly about my favourite game and run outside and scream a curse upon the haters in the street rather than let it loose in this thread.
Conciliator
Banned
I could complain about JRPGs all day, but for the most part I'm down with their indulgent mechanical experimenations...and FFXII is one of the greatest examples of this. It has stellar gameplay. It's story-telling is...less bad, I think in large thanks to improve voice acting, which again Square deserves some real credit for making sure the American localization is decent. But, yeah, more than anything what I would be thrilled to see, and what I think would be very successful, is an evolution of FFXII with the writing and character design removed from the anime culture.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
We know we can't have nice things like this any more. It's as if the world itself is against it.
I highlighted the important word here.
W..whoa... This... whoa.
Okay, I can get past putting Chrono Cross and 8 above 9, somehow. And even 13 being a good game... but complimenting the customization system for 13? Calling it even close to being "complicated" when all you do is feed weapons items by paying asinine amounts of gil on them? Holy christ.
'The best way to make Japanese RPG's more appealing is to make them less Japanese!'
FF9 is boring as hell. It's still the only FF game (besides X-2, which I really should finish and 13-2 which I don't own) that I haven't completed from Start to Finish. excluding the MMO's.
To answer the question: Look at FF8 and FF12: They have interesting character customization systems along with iteresting battle systems. Sure, those (the Junction System in particular) aren't for everyone, but they're a HELL of a lot better than CTB/ATB-ing YET ANOTHER FF game. FFXIII just further showed this problem because it went for "active time" but it's basically "suicide run your characters if you want five stars since getting five stars is the key to getting item drops. LOLOLOLOL"
Along with FF12's smooth transitions from battle and exploration since they're both on the map. I know most people hate the "MMO" nature of it, but it was the breath of fresh air that FF needed.
Vane_MagicCity
Banned
It's a little more complicated than that. Study up on the system before you try to tell us how simple it is. Now I am not saying it's a good system, just that it's more complicated than simply feeding items into the upgrade system.
Chrono Cross is better than 9 and probably better than 8.
Meccanical
Member
This is funny, I played IX right after playing XIII and was awed at the drop in quality we got with the most recent entry.
Vane_MagicCity
Banned
Opinions will vary and you can pat yourself on the back for hating Final Fantasy XIII like most other gamers. I, on the other hand, sit proudly on the other side.
IX wasn't really that great game when it was released, where is all this new love coming from? Maybe I should give it another try.
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