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Square Enix Wants To Release A Major Final Fantasy Game Every 1-2 Years

Opiate said:
I tend to agree that Final Fantasy isn't the type of game that lends itself well tot his sort of development.

To be specific, FF is not like Call of Duty or Battlefield; it is more like Grand Theft Auto and Elder Scrolls. The fun seems to come from a vast universe and world for users to explore. And indeed, both those later franchises have significantly longer development times.

Perhaps I've got those comparisons wrong, as I don't play FF. I'm not saying it's impossible to accomplish, but it's very difficult.
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Skyrim began actual development in 2008. Released in 2011. While it may have flaws, they exist mostly in game design/balance areas that aren't related to 'time in development'. The sheer quantity of uniquely designed content with beautifulart design in that timespan shows how much can get done if you have the right workflow in place with good iterative tools.

FF XIII was a beautiful game with almost no level design at all. They took a bunch of art and painted some tunnels for you to run through; there's a reason some people absolutely hated that game even if it's not easy to articulate.
 
Opiate said:
I tend to agree that Final Fantasy isn't the type of game that lends itself well tot his sort of development.

To be specific, FF is not like Call of Duty or Battlefield; it is more like Grand Theft Auto and Elder Scrolls. The fun seems to come from a vast universe and world for users to explore. And indeed, both those later franchises have significantly longer development times.

Perhaps I've got those comparisons wrong, as I don't play FF. I'm not saying it's impossible to accomplish, but it's very difficult.
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It's worth noting that Bethesda's development cycle went from Oblivion (2006), Fallout 3 (2008), Skyrim (2011), and they noted that the reason they needed an extra year for Skyrim was to improve their technology much more so than making more content.

A while back they also kind of hinted that their next game (presumably Fallout 4) would be out by 2013, since they wanted to slot it in before the next generation, which they were speculating as 2014.
 
i remember when they took two years to release a game and it was still a great game

god theyve become a shell of what they used to be
 
If they were capable of making Final Fantasy titles that were up to the (five year old) generation's standards without a time constraint then I would say yeah, that's a reasonable schedule.

Unfortunately they don't seem to be, and with the hollow crap that they release now they should be shooting for once a year not every two.
 
I'm not pleased with this at all. While I think 6 to 8 years is too long to leave a game in development the wait for the next FF game always kept me excited, and save for XIII the hype never let me down. If SE turns FF into COD or Assassins Creed I will likely loose interest, just like I am with AC and well COD is Madden with guns so I never had any interest to begin with. Yearly releases make the series feel disposable and always increase the number of bugs while decreasing the overall quality; just look at the number of reused assets/monsters in XIII-2, that in combination with little to no change in design or graphics engine and you have a series that could become irrelevant, fast.

What they need to do is take the series back to its roots and craft stories that are compelling (imo like 6 through 9) or just fire Yochi Wada and bring back the Gooch, I am pretty sure that would fix a lot.
 
If they have the personnel for it, why not?

So long as they've got the engine made, it shouldn't take too long to develop them. I just hope that they have them play differently instead of regurgitating the same game mechanics over and over, which is the real problem I have with yearly franchise releases (sports, COD, etc.)
 
If the alternating means they can allow people to jump from Final Fantasy games to different or new IPs before they have to work on a Final Fantasy game again, I'm totally for it. I'd like to see a return to the older days when people got to work on various projects that had a small (if any) connection to Final Fantasy, where they could play around with some crazy idea and/or display what they would be capable of if they were given the freedom to show their talent and vision.

If it means certain groups are stuck in a constant cycle of Final Fantasy games, then I don't really care, but it should be possible.
 
odd_morsel said:
If they have the personnel for it, why not?

So long as they've got the engine made, it shouldn't take too long to develop them. I just hope that they have them play differently instead of regurgitating the same game mechanics over and over, which is the real problem I have with yearly franchise releases (sports, COD, etc.)
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Yep, my thoughts as well. I wouldn't mind something like FFVersusXIII(action RPG) then 2 years later FFVersusXIII-2(ATB).
 
It wouldn't surprise me if we got a mainline a generation, but with several sequels. XIII is this generations FF but we are also getting XIII-2 and wouldn't surprise me if we got a XIII-3. XV on next gen.
 
So i guess they'll go the western dev route:release a game unfinished,let your fans beta-test it for you,and then patch it to death.
 
How do some of you feel about what Miyamoto said when discussing Skyward Sword development?

I had wanted to keep it within three years, really. When you have a development period of five years, it's often the case that around two of those years wind up being completely wasted effort.
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Do you think that would be appropriate when discussing a game like FF?



TheBanditKing said:
What they need to do is take the series back to its roots and craft stories that are compelling (imo like 6 through 9) or just fire Yochi Wada and bring back the Gooch, I am pretty sure that would fix a lot.
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You do realize that 6 through 9 were developed and released in less time than it took them to develop 12 and 13, right?
 
I wish this was square from back in the day =(. They really need to get there shit together and put their resources in the proper departments. They've been focusing on CG way too much for the past decade.

I really have no confidence in them pumping out quality titles every 2 years anymore.
 
To be fair, if you think about the gaps between games like FFXII and XIII, the gap between XIII and XIV was probably the shortest in the whole series. But everyone dismisses XIV because it has more problems than FFII did, making it the most recent black sheep of the franchise.

I don't mind yearly FF games if they're at least consistent. I mean, we already get that, but in terms of major FF titles? I think this may be hard for the company, considering it takes them years to get any major title out now. How many years and engines has Versus XIII been on?
 
TheJollyCorner said:
I know I'm probably in the minority here, but let's try going back to pre-rendered backgrounds. Amazing high-res, HD, fully animated pre-rendered backgrounds. :D
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If that means they can take the time saved to conjure up classic FF stories like FF6, I'm all for it.

Give me an epic story like FF4 or FF6 with modern day graphics, and I would need no other games for a very very long time.
 
FrontalMonk said:
Edit: To stay with Nirolak's topic, I honestly think that a new FF every year or two is vital to keeping the franchise fresh in people's minds. If you think about it, there was only a year and change between 7 and 8 and 9, then there was a decent gap between 9 and 10, a decent gap between 10 and 12, and a loooong gap between 12 and 13. This could be the shot in the arm they need, and the realization of the vision they had with 12 of creating franchises out of the numbered worlds.
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The gap from 10 to 12 was five years; the gap from 12 to 13 was only four.
 
All I want is a new FF Tactics that's not throw-away kiddie bullshit like the portable titles. They need to be pumping them out like Disgaea titles.
 
I didn't know Square merged with Activision.

Sad to see what was once my favorite company turn into a house that I care almost nothing about what they put out. Bioware is getting there too, but they are still a bit better than Square.
 
Where's that list of yours, Nirolak? The one that looked so depressing, with everything bar Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts crossed out? If Square Enix had better management, they would not be thinking this at all. Get some of those crossed out games inbetween Final Fantasy realeses and things might just be better.

Every 1 or 2 years? Bah! Maybe you should stop announcing games years before they come to fruition...
 
I thought it was weird that they stopped the remakes at IV.

I think we'll be seeing V and VI in the near future. And I don't even want to see the shitstorm
(jk I'd love to see it)
if then VII gets announced for a non-Sony platform.

I'll be waiting for VI personally. Would be almost a dream come true.
 
Square Enix is the perfect example of a creative entity that's in love with its ideas but hates the work involved with actually bringing them to fruition.
 
Damn it, they could do it back in the PS1 days. Make it happen!

I would also like to add the demand that they stop trying to reinvent the genre/series with every iteration. I appreciate the idea of changing gameplay systems, but I'm rather fond of the ATB system.

Actually, upon further reflection I say go ahead and go crazy with the gameplay innovation every now and then. If we're getting yearly/biyearly games I can handle every other one being wacky in some way. Hell, I loved FF12 and that was pretty different.
 
Nirolak said:
There's a reason I said "a spin-off like" instead. :P
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Well, to me, Final Fantasy XIII was the spin-off, in comparison to Versus, in my eyes, Versus is the REAL '13' FF iteration, not the SPIN-OFF.

To me FFXIII feels like the Greatest Hits album which came out when I expected a new hit album with NEW SONGS from my favourite artist, metaphorically speaking, SQUARE ENIX.
Does anyone understand what I mean by this??!! :(

I expected original FF Content, and received a character which emulated Cloud, a man which reminded me of Barret (trying to convince me to fight, whilst also having a child), a 'Hero' Snow who was a mash of Seifer and Zell. The sister, which 'died' (OMG Aeris-Ancient)

To me, the success in character design was only Fang. She was the breath of fresh air I looked for. I expected originality in this iteration, at least sevenfold with a fruitful cast.

To avoid annoying anyone here, I just wanna say that I am disappointed as a fan of Final Fantasy. XIII is going to make me suffer more with it's 2nd iteration, a kid who looks like he was a copied asset from Kingdom Hearts, and a Chocobo Race mini-game and a 'Golden Saucer' to boot. I want to enjoy it, but I don't want to feel like I am playing a game made lacking originality in design, risks taken with fresh efforts, and a boldness to reward your audience which has played your series through the years. You want to please new non-FF gamers, don't dumb it down, and if so, make it optional.

Wanna implement a materia-similar system again??? RE-INVENT IT!!! Look at how Skyrim does enchantments, Look at how Xenoblade allows for similar weapons modification, they are utilising the charm of a materia system without simply and blatantly copying and renaming it. (Yes, I am aware they are all from different developers)

I don't want to revisit the Golden Saucer with "Roxasora", unless it is FFVII related. You want new ideas, create a sequel which exists in space, where people believe in a second crystallic "earth", and find it. have a town which exists inside a large tree. [Just wrote a badass synopsis I would have loved to be a Final Fantasy and decided to hold back and work on it. So far it beats FFXIII's story by Aeons :P]

I have to send Square Enix a letter, I have too much to say regarding Final Fantasy.
 
If they can make a quality RPG every other year, more power to them, but given their track record as of late. They should try to make Dragon Quest every year or every other year. Hell, even good remakes of games they HAVEN'T remade or re-released yet would be welcome. I'm looking at you FF IX.
 
Satoho said:
Well, to me, Final Fantasy XIII was the spin-off, in comparison to Versus, in my eyes, Versus is the REAL '13' FF iteration, not the SPIN-OFF.

To me FFXIII feels like the Greatest Hits album which came out when I expected a new hit album with NEW SONGS from my favourite artist, metaphorically speaking, SQUARE ENIX.
Does anyone understand what I mean by this??!! :(

I expected original FF Content, and received a character which emulated Cloud, a man which reminded me of Barret (trying to convince me to fight, whilst also having a child), a 'Hero' Snow who was a mash of Seifer and Zell. The sister, which 'died' (OMG Aeris-Ancient)

To me, the success in character design was only Fang. She was the breath of fresh air I looked for. I expected originality in this iteration, at least sevenfold with a fruitful cast.

To avoid annoying anyone here, I just wanna say that I am disappointed as a fan of Final Fantasy. XIII is going to make me suffer more with it's 2nd iteration, a kid who looks like he was a copied asset from Kingdom Hearts, and a Chocobo Race mini-game and a 'Golden Saucer' to boot. I want to enjoy it, but I don't want to feel like I am playing a game made lacking originality in design, risks taken with fresh efforts, and a boldness to reward your audience which has played your series through the years. You want to please new non-FF gamers, don't dumb it down, and if so, make it optional.

Wanna implement a materia-similar system again??? RE-INVENT IT!!! Look at how Skyrim does enchantments, Look at how Xenoblade allows for similar weapons modification, they are utilising the charm of a materia system without simply and blatantly copying and renaming it. (Yes, I am aware they are all from different developers)

I don't want to revisit the Golden Saucer with "Roxasora", unless it is FFVII related. You want new ideas, create a sequel which exists in space, where people believe in a second crystallic "earth", and find it. have a town which exists inside a large tree. [Just wrote a badass synopsis I would have loved to be a Final Fantasy and decided to hold back and work on it. So far it beats FFXIII's story by Aeons :P]

I have to send Square Enix a letter, I have too much to say regarding Final Fantasy.
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Honestly feels like you're judging FFXIII-2 before you've even played it. That's a weird mentality to have.
 
One mainline game and several sequels.
I'm for it only if the mainline game is interesting and can lead potentially to even better sequels.
Also they should change the way they name their sequels. It feels stupid to read X-2 or XIII-2. Juts give them subtitles like Dragon Quest.
 
ZephyrFate said:
Honestly feels like you're judging FFXIII-2 before you've even played it. That's a weird mentality to have.
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I like some things about XIII-2 but to be honest, I prefer to be proven wrong in the first place, that way I would get a good game. I felt Versus was a valid next iteration before FFXIII was released, now I am even more disappointed, but more sure of it than ever. I am not waiting on good RPGs from square-enix anymore. They seem to have forgotten what is charming about Final Fantasy. Next year, I expect a good RPG, not to be queueing for a Final Fantasy just for Nostalgia's sake. I want a new World, with mystery, characters with attitude, opinion, and no clones. I want a difference.
 
Honestly, at this point I just want a mainline entry instead of the XIII versus, agito, 2, buncha crap.

Bring on FF XV because XIV was a total disappointment.
 
erragal said:
I'm sorry I'll be more specific: It was bad because of their terrible archaic design practices which inherently lead to a long devleopment time. If they had a set of tools which allowed for fast turnaround on iteration the game would have taken less time AND been better better because they could actually test more ideas and how they work before having to finalize plans. Spending 3 years having people just create art for a game that you have no functional prototyp/vertical slice for is a joke; that vast amount of wasted time/work could have been an entire game.
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Right. This is the entire problem at Square-Enix in a nutshell: they don't have an iterative, parallel development methodology and it means that pretty much every single practice they learned over years (and that worked just fine on SNES and, to increasingly lesser degrees, PSX and PS2 games) falls apart on the budget and scale they're trying to work at now.

LiK said:
Cuz I think having more time allows them more time to come up with better scenarios and better plots.
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It doesn't and it won't.

[Nintex];32858047 said:
They could fix it by sharing tech or having multiple studios working on mainline FF games instead of what else they're developing, like MMO's that flop horribly or Crystal Chronicles games that no one buys.
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FFXI pretty much singlehandedly subsidized the entirety of Square-Enix throughout the PS2 generation. It's true that making MMOs that flop is indeed a terrible idea, but I can't blame them for trying to make a sequel to the most profitable Final Fantasy of all time.
 
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