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[DragoonKain]

All the way up through the PS2 days, for my Final Fantasy was pretty much the Mecca of JRPGs. Each entry was greatly anticipated and I'd count the days to their release. Now, while I will always buy Final Fantasy games and always keep one eye on what Square has planned next, it's more mild interest. I know there is a decent contingent of people who liked the XIII trilogy and liked XV, but the consensus seems to be that those titles are inferior to the titles of previous gens. So if you're in that boat, do you feel that FF can one day return to days of previous glory or do you think that true greatness is lost forever or changed forever and this is what FF will be now for the foreseeable future?

Or maybe you are in the camp where you love where it is now and don't get those who think the series isn't as good as it used to be.

 

[Vawn]

I think I care more about Octopath Traveler than I do what used to be, by far, my favorite frachise, Final Fantasy.

 

[CJY]

Don’t care anymore at all. I keep wishing every new final fantasy really was the final one. I have had no faith in the franchise since 8. I’m holding out hope for 16 but if that sucks, it will be truly dead to me. There are too many other great series out there these days go focus too much attention on sub standard series’

 

[120v]

warts and all i think FFXV was a genuine effort towards turning things around. i think they have an understanding of where they went wrong the last decade, so i'll see where it goes with FFXIV now they got all the fabula crystal nova whatever stuff out of their system, even though that'll be like 3-5 years from now

 

[Cranberrys]

I really liked the XIII Trilogy, XV not so much. I didn't even finish it. But my favorite episodes are IV to X. I never played I, II, III, XI, XIV. I finished XII but I'm not a big fan. I really hope for a FF game similar to X. I loved this game so much. VII and X are very special games to me.

 

[JORMBO]

XIV is one of my favorite FF games. Other then that I haven’t been too impressed with any of the games since X. I’ve enjoyed all the main FF games, but the last few have not impressed me as much as the older games. Plenty of other RPGs have come along and impressed me more.

I am hoping they learned from XV’s messy development, but I don’t expect much.

 

[mikestrife]

Every game since 10-2 has been such a weird change-up trying to figure out what works in the modern era. 13-2 was my favorite because it called back to some of square's old school design philosophy and I think it should have been better received except that it was a follow-up to 13 so people immediately wrote it off.

I'm not sure what to expect anymore. They just seem to keep throwing design ideas at the wall to see what'll work. I know they think that modern gamers don't want something like the old games, and maybe they're right, but no other high budget franchise tries to re-invent themselves so much with each title.

They should do what they used to do best, focus on plot and presentation, and not try to find some amazing new gameplay concept that everyone will love.

 

[Dunki]

While I though that 13 was a good game and the rest 13-2 and 13-3 were absolute garbage because they did listen to media critics and basically did insert in 13-2 every mechanic these critics wanted 15 is kind of a two edged sword.

What I absolute love is the Party in FFXV its one of the best in this games history and you really felt the bond they shared not only in tory parts and cutscenes but most importantly in the battles. The interactions with each other were fantastic and set the bar for upcoming party games. Also I love how they supported the game and still do. They are very open now with the fans as well.

Also FFXIV is probably the best MMO ever created right now and the mobile Brave Exvius is a really great nostalgia flashback to the old school FF games.

 

[elmalloc]

I think I care more about Octopath Traveler than I do what used to be, by far, my favorite frachise, Final Fantasy.

Odd that you care about a game that much that hasn't been released yet, yikes.

 

[royox]

My faith is in FFXIV. Heavensward made me BELIEVE the FF storytelling was still in YoshiP's team. StormBlood is not being as epic and "FF adventure" as Heavensward but let's see how the next MSQ goes.

FFXV was a game released unfinished and they are trying to fill the gaps with paid DLC and patches. Just let's stop giving Nomura and Toriyama FF games. Find a person that loves the franchise as much as YoshiP does.

 

[Ka-Kui]

The series is dead to me. I'm noteven getting FFVII Remake. I don't want anymore action RPG's from my FF games.

I just want the classic formula (FFI-X) evolved, which means turn based and semi open world with lots of NPC's to talk to, towns to explore and I want the game to be bloody long. Also I want the art style to take a risk and be different each instalment.

 

[Vawn]

Odd that you care about a game that much that hasn't been released yet, yikes.

I'm not getting your point.

I'm more excited to play the full Octopath Traveler after the demo and the possible future of that franchise than I currently am interested in seeing Final Fantasy XVI and beyond.

 

[Grinchy]

It's been dead since XII, and it was on life support by that point.

I don't think it will ever be a good series again and that is a huge shame. Few companies could ruin such a great IP as well as SE has.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Back in the day Final fantasy lost me when they went action oriented battles in 12, now im willing to give 12 a shot, but i loathe anything attached to final fantasy

 

[Toe-Knee]

For me personally it lost its soul from X onwards.

It just feels like a cheap knockoff now.

I do keep checking them out in the hope they'll click but they just feel wrong now.

 

[Danjin44]

I personally like to see mainline Final Fantasy that has Turn base combat. But if they planing to keep making action RPG then they need to learn how to make better combat. I did not like the FFXV combat at all. this was first time I played action JRPG that I felt like I barely had any control over my character's action. When I first heard Nomura is the one making FFXV I thought we gonna see more grounded version of KH combat.

 

[jshackles]

I liked XV, it was pretty good.

My favorite recent game was Final Fantasy Dimensions II, very good.

I played XIV up through Heavensward - really, really good (I wish it had the same model as ESO, aka no subscription, I would continue playing).

Final Fantasy is great, even still.

 

[Hinedorf]

I've played almost every FF game. In some regards I'm the old man on the lawn yelling at clouds because I tend to feel the older games are superior in every way. FF3 on the SNES is the pinnacle of the series and if any game should ever be remade to new graphics it's this one. *stepping off soap box*

FF15 to me is the end, the first 40 hours I found myself loving it like a new favorite but the way the story breaks down is something that cannot and should not be overlooked. I completed the Resident Evil level that ruined the game but in doing so I chose not to continue any further. I have no idea how it ends and I don't care to find out. I would personally rather them stop using the Final Fantasy title because that's just not what these games are.

If you need a Final Fantasy fix then you should be playing the Final Fantasy 14 which is the best and most challenging MMO of it's variety around. It's probably the best homage to the entire series you could ever find with so many nostalgic elements the original series just doesn't know what it wants to be anymore.

 

[kunonabi]

I'm just done with it. I enjoyed World of Final Fantasy a lot but the mainline series just isn't what i want out of an rpg anymore. Sometimes I feel an action game and sometimes I feel like a turn-based rpg but I'm never in the mood for some half-baked combination of the two.

 

[-MD-]

XIII was bad enough to kill my interest in the series. X was the last entry I'd call great and that was what, 17 years ago?

 

[Vawn]

XIII was bad enough to kill my interest in the series. X was the last entry I'd call great and that was what, 17 years ago?

It's weird how opinions differ on FF. I think X is one of the worst. It's like XIII, but worse in every aspect.

I liked FFXIV, but I was obsessed with FFXI and consider it 10x better than DIV.

The boy band and open-world stuff needs to die though.

 

[-MD-]

It's weird how opinions differ on FF. I think X is one of the worst. It's like XIII, but worse in every aspect.

I liked FFXIV, but I was obsessed with FFXI and consider it 10x better than DIV.

The boy band and open-world stuff needs to die though.

Truthfully I haven't played X since like 2002 when I was a teenager, it could be terrible now for all I know. I do know that IX is still fantastic though as I played through most of that again recently.

 

[xwez]

I've only played two FF games (XII and XV), and XII was way better than XV. I hated the "hold X to attack" in XV. People compare the combat to Kingdom Hearts, but at least there was legit magic attacks in KH, as well as special moves.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

XV was fun enough that even if VII is one of the weakest games in the franchise (except dat OST dear Lord is it good) I am mildly interested in playing the remake. X and XIII were garbage so the fact that XV was fun is encouraging. VI and IX are the franchise's peak.

I am too old for JRPGs I think. They seem to be a "young man's game".

 

[MagiusNecros]

Bravely Series as well as Octopath upcoming are where I feel the traditional Final Fantasy games I grew up loving ended up. So that's where I will go. Played and liked FF1-9. FF10 felt eh to me. Wasn't into XI or MMO's like I am now. XII was decent for me. XIII series games were intolerable or avoided entirely. I took interest in Type 0 because I liked the lore. FFXV ultimately cutting scenario concepts turned me off from it. And I guess I enjoy the traditional turn based battle systems over an action oriented one for the FF series.

Oh yeah I did enjoy XIV for a year or two before I felt the content offered just tapered off. Plus the feeling they can't ever get a feel for Tank balance. Or classes feeling good one expansion and feeling like garbage the next.

 

[Vawn]

Truthfully I haven't played X since like 2002 when I was a teenager, it could be terrible now for all I know. I do know that IX is still fantastic though as I played through most of that again recently.

Probably so, because I replayed it when it came to ps3 and was shocked how poorly it aged. I agree VII and IX hold up, as do all the Super NES games.

 

[Danjin44]

I've only played two FF games (XII and XV), and XII was way better than XV. I hated the "hold X to attack" in XV. People compare the combat to Kingdom Hearts, but at least there was legit magic attacks in KH, as well as special moves.

I WISH it was like KH2FM combat.

 

[Halo0629]

It sucks. Give me my turn based jrpg back.

 

[Fbh]

They started losing me with FFXII which I know lots of people like and consider to be a great game, but I could never get over the offline MMO feeling to it. Then came XIII which was pretty bad and they turned that into a trilogy.

As for XV, I had fun with it but it's a deeply flawed game, I like to think of it as the most fun 7/10 game I've played in recent years. It felt like a first try by a promising but new and inexperienced developer, not the fifteenth main entry of one of the biggest JRPG franchises made by one of the biggest names in the industry.


If you ask me, I feel like they need to rethink their budgets and how they invest them. Both XV and XIII felt like too much focus was put into making them look great and somehow there wasn't enough money or time for everything else.
Like, look at Xenoblade 2, that game had supposedly a lower budget and shorter development cycle than the previous one and was made by a core team of less than half of the devs at monolith since the rest was helping with Zelda (lots of outsourcing though). And yet when you compare it to FFXV it has a more complete, longer and better told story, more enemy and weapon variety, more locations with more variety in them , more towns with their own NPC's with unique dialog, more sidequest quests (though for the most part equally crappy), etc.
Why does FFXV despite probably having a bigger budget and bigger dev team feel so half assed compared to recent lower budget japanese games like Nier Automata, Yakuza 0, Persona 5, Tales of Berseria?.... the only thing that makes sense to me is that they are just focusing too much on presentation.

So I hope for the future they rethink their priorities with the franchise because personally I'd prefer a worse looking follow up to XV that has more effort, time and budget put into everything else.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

Things are far better now after 15 than they were in the bleak days following 13, but it's still not as popular as it was during the peak days from 7 to X.

 

[xwez]

I WISH it was like KH2FM combat.

When the original concept came out for versus XIII, and they had the "Command" window in the left corner (ala Kingdom Hearts, w/ Attack, Magic, Summon, etc. prompts), I was excited because I thought the combat would pretty much be a carbon copy of Kingdom Hearts. Instead they changed it up, and for the absolute worse. I think they felt like they needed to simplify it, but they screwed it up. I may be misdirecting the blame, but I think Tabata is the culprit, as the combat is no-frills/"meh" just like crisis core and type 0.

 

[orborborb]

3, Mystic Quest, 5, 6, Final Fantasy Tactics, 7, 8, The Spirits Within, 10, 10-2, Crystal Chronicles, 11, 12, 13, 13-2, 13-3 and 14 all got rid of more and more of what I loved so much about my still favorite FF1, FF4, and FF9, but they were also all great games in their own right. They all had stuff I hated but also stuff I thought I'd hate but actually liked.

But FF15 is not part of that tradition, it belongs with crap like FF2, Kingdom Hearts, Dirge of Cerberus, Dissidia, Advent Children, and all those phone games.

 

[brap]

I like it. I'm glad they don't do turn based shit anymore. It's not the 80s guys! LOL!!

 

[Danjin44]

I like it. I'm glad they don't do turn based shit anymore. It's not the 80s guys! LOL!!

You can not seriously believe this kind of BS!! You may not like it but turn base combat it not out dated mechanics. Its different type combat just like any other gameplay out there.

 

[brap]

You can not seriously believe this kind of BS!! You may not like it but turn base combat it not out dated mechanics. Its different type combat just like any other gameplay out there.

I was somewhat trolling. If every FF game for the last ~30 years was turn based that would be really fucking boring imo. I'm glad they've changed it up. Imagine Noctis and the squad just standing there while each other gets attacked. Would look so goofy lmao.

 

[Sakura Doritos]

Well I suppose you have two camps. #TeamMMO which feels like a natural progression of 9 or #TeamSkyRim which is a natural progression of 10. Technology for sure is the driver for each where the MMO feels like the tech adds connective tissue to the world and the main series tech has moved from corridor to open world.

I think the story is better for the MMO. I had great fun with it foe a long time.

 

[Danjin44]

I was somewhat trolling. If every FF game for the last ~30 years was turn based that would be really fucking boring imo. I'm glad they've changed it up. Imagine Noctis and the squad just standing there while each other gets attacked. Would look so goofy lmao.

I honestly disagree with you on that. Good turn base combat can be more exciting than action RPG, At very least more exciting what we got with FFXV.

 

[Zog]

I was somewhat trolling. If every FF game for the last ~30 years was turn based that would be really fucking boring imo. I'm glad they've changed it up. Imagine Noctis and the squad just standing there while each other gets attacked. Would look so goofy lmao.

Well they look goofy flying all over the place too.

 

[Halo0629]

I honestly disagree with you on that. Good turn base combat can be more exciting than action RPG, At very least more exciting what we got with FFXV.

This. I enjoyed persona 5 turn base combat more than FF XV combat.

 

[brap]

Well they look goofy flying all over the place too.

Idk I think it's cool.

I honestly disagree with you on that. Good turn base combat can be more exciting than action RPG, At very least more exciting what we got with FFXV.

Disagree but I respect your opinion.

 

[Eliciel]

My general feelings towards Final Fantasy are negative. I do not have any comparable feelings towards the series as FF VII, VIII, IX, X gave me. It is basically a completely different game just carrying the name Final Fantasy.

 

[Damigos]

DIdnt want to bring this up but in my view DLC and season passes and royal editions destroyed FFXV. This continued trend in the gaming industry to keep asking for money after a title is released is what kills it. I think it is a lot better to release a game even 1 year later and to be completed, with all of the “extra” stuff, like old times.

We all have older great games so dear to our heart because it was one full comprehensive exprience through an interesting narrative. I remember every char name from all FF games until X, but none after that. I remember every char i assassinated in AC 1, 2 and brotherhood but none after that (i finished all except Origins). The more the lootboxes and monetization through cosmetics, DLCs are implemented the more forgetful the experience will be.

I wish the gaming business stopped being a “business” and innovate in new ways to create art and not charge us for generic content

 

[Airola]

Have had zero interest to the franchise after FFIX.
Lost my interest when FFX came and haven't got it back.

 

[ScrapBrain]

I think the brand is hurting and has been for some time...the long spans between games really hurts them in the long run. I think part of the issue for XV was that after 10 years there was an expectation about what we were going to get that just didn't fit the bill for a large portion of the fanbase, and for the most part it's really hard for a fan to go 'maybe they'll get it next time' when you have no idea when the 'next time' will actually BE. They need a new mainline game every 2 or 3 years, not every 7 to 10. I would love to see a return to a more medieval setting, more castles and swords with a dash of magic, but that's just my personal preference.

If we're talking about what they can do to strengthen the brand beyond mainline titles, their back catalog desperately needs some love. Games like Crisis Core are now only available for obsolete systems and are not commercially available for people to throw money at, and they would. Games like Crisis Core, the older Dissidia titles, the Crystal Chronicle games (etc) need to be touched up and re-released for PC so people that missed out can experience them if they want to. While we're at it, they need to stop pissing away the good will of their consumers with cash grab mobile ports on PC and start treating those games the way the Chrono Trigger PC release team is and patch those games when issues arise. It's a fucking crime that FFVI, considered by many to be one of the greatest games ever made, languishes in it's current state. It's almost like they don't know and/or believe that Final Fantasy should be treated as a prestige brand that's worth something to the fans that love it...

 

[TannerDemoz]

I really wish Mistwalker were still going with console games - Lost Odyssey was the last amazing Final Fantasy game I played.

 

[Ka-Kui]

I was somewhat trolling. If every FF game for the last ~30 years was turn based that would be really fucking boring imo. I'm glad they've changed it up. Imagine Noctis and the squad just standing there while each other gets attacked. Would look so goofy lmao.

By that logic the next Street Fighter/Devil May Cry/Souls/Uncharted etc. should become turn based.

I feel square should just make a spinoff FF in the classic style. I think us fans of the old style should start realising we've become a vocal minority, or at least that's how it seems to me.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Final Fantasy ended with IX. IX was the last great Final Fantasy, since then it became worse with each installment. I have only seen a few minutes of gameplay of XV and it's basically a western action game for me, not a final fantasy. I fully expect XVI to have a Battle Royale mode....

 

[Vawn]

I was somewhat trolling. If every FF game for the last ~30 years was turn based that would be really fucking boring imo. I'm glad they've changed it up. Imagine Noctis and the squad just standing there while each other gets attacked. Would look so goofy lmao.

The boy band managed to look goofy enough on their own.

 

[NahaNago]

am I crazy in thinking that squareenix went bad when trying to go for the bleeding edge graphics or have they been doing that since ff7 , and I didn't notice it due to the weakness of the machines.

 

[GenericUser]

Went from a huge fan back in the ps1 days to....

FF15 was ok/good, but I feel like square lost its mojo.

am I crazy in thinking that squareenix went bad when trying to go for the bleeding edge graphics or have they been doing that since ff7 , and I didn't notice it due to the weakness of the machines.

ff7 was AAA back in the time. I think square always went for best graphics possible. The difference is, back in the day, the "best possible" was still fairly easy to achieve and most importantly, doable in a timely manner.