Topic: About Final Fantasy XV...

[Inccubus]

Am I the only one that is completely uninterested in this "innovative" new game that is basically Kingdom Hearts without any of the characters we know and love in it? Not to mention detesting the real world elements? I mean, really, am I the only one that sees that they have finally strayed so far from the spirit of Final Fantasy that we're now playing Kingdom Hearts with a different skin?

[zangetsu468]

Not sure but I think the more a series progresses the more technology advances, the more it will try to imitate reality in order to create a cocoon of it's own version of reality.

I'm looking forward to it but not in any rush to play it.

[X]

Am I the only one that is completely uninterested in this "innovative" new game that is basically Kingdom Hearts without any of the characters we know and love in it? Not to mention detesting the real world elements? I mean, really, am I the only one that sees that they have finally strayed so far from the spirit of Final Fantasy that we're now playing Kingdom Hearts with a different skin?

You're not the only one here with a similar opinion about that game. I too, don't see any real interest in it, and the game itself no-longer resembles Final Fantasy as I knew it (let alone some of its predecessors for that matter). FF to me was never about the real world. It was about magic, mysticism, dungeons, Dragons, castles, caves, monsters, light against the darkness, and vice-versa. It was a Fantasy world -hence the title of the game: Final Fantasy. The creators whom now control the series have obviously jumped ship and are just using the name to milk the franchise; believing it'll sell because it has the final fantasy name stenciled onto it. And perhaps they're right. But not to me. It's not final fantasy. Not anymore.

[BMC_War Machine]

With the exception of crisis core (which imo wasnt a final fantasy by any stretch), I haven't been impressed with anything after 10, and even 10 was pretty dull and repetitive IMO. Now ff7 remake, lets talk 

[Inccubus]

I would be interested in the FF7 remake if they weren't completely butchering it in a very real sense. Plus it seems like they are trying to Kingdom Hearts-ify the game play to some degree too. I don't see how they can keep the flow of the original intact releasing it in parts that are going to feel like "a complete game". Plus having to wait as much as 2 years between releases is a huge mistake. It's the equivalent of taking Star Wars Episode 4 and remaking it as an entire trilogy of films. I'm just not feeling that one either. All the excitement promised by the ending of Crisis Core so many ages ago has become ashes in my mouth.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I don't really mind the Kingdom Hearts gameplay but the game has been delayed for so long, the hype is dead.

[zangetsu468]

Honestly I can semi understand why the purists are upset, but seriously a real purist will tell me that nothing beyond FFVI is an excellent game. People used to hero-worship X, now this generation of gamers have pushed the envelope - brimming with complaints - to a whole new level, saying X was decent or okay. Honestly I think people have it too good, gamers quickly turn to whingers and it doesn't reflect well on the gaming community as a whole.

The same thing goes for the FFVII remake Inccubus, I'm not singling you out but we've had this discussion in another thread which was specifically about FFVII remake. It's a remake, a re-imagining of the original sequence of events set in the original game. Purists who loved turn-based style battles should not expect great things from this as it will not live up to their expectations or the little hype they may have. It's not a game for purists is what I'm saying in essence, it's a game for supporters of the franchise (which is not the same thing as a purist, even though purists initially did support FF). I'm not having a go I'm just telling it like it is. At the time VII came out and went 3d, purists may have thought this to be unheard of to stray from beautiful sprite-based graphics to polygons, yet it was so and the games which succeeded it have given all gamers alike the series which FF has become today, love it or hate it.

The same exact thing has happened with Zelda, the "Zelda cycle" is so common that people assume it's normal to expect Zelda Wii U to be a flop. Does anyone have any shred of hope left for the series which they cherish?

I'm not fussed what people are saying, but I supported the series with VII, VIII, picked it up again at XII and XIII and the last game I was playing was XIII-2. I've like all of those experiences in different ways and I'm no purist but I'm also a blunt person, so if something sucks ass I will say it outright. I'm not saying it's my opinion or the highway, I'm just being real with the games that I think are good games and in my eyes there hasn't been a terrible FF game, particularly not on a major console.

Is anyone still hyped to play this?

[Abnormal Freak]

I'm excited for it.



Note that I do not really care for turn-based RPGs.

[X]

Note that I do not really care for turn-based RPGs.

I dunno, it looks like you're ready to take a turn with her, lol.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

I don't really mind the Kingdom Hearts gameplay but the game has been delayed for so long, the hype is dead.

This is exactly me. I'm well past caring at all about the game. I was interested a decade ago. Since then, I've watched Final Fantasy slide into irrelevance and self-referential delusions of former grandeur. Had this game released 4 years ago, I'd have hailed it as the game that would have saved the franchise.

But now? The only extent to which I care at all about it is that I am willing to explain why I do not care at all about it.

[Here, I shall begin to ramble and rant about S-E as a whole.]

I am giving this game and the FFVII remake the most wistful glares and searing silent judgment I've ever given anything -- it's a barometer for how absolutely desperate Square finally is to have people still love them for anything at all.

Think about it.

They had essentially shelved Versus 13 indefinitely, never committed to an English translation of Agito XIII I mean "Type-0" (a name that makes SO MUCH SENSE), and had said for YEARS that they would NEVER make an FFVII remake.

And then, (only) after their popularity nosedived faster than a Blitzkrieg Dive-Bomber over 1940's London, they did a prompt about-face, unshelved Versus XIII and gave it a rebrand to separate it from their... less-than-popular Final Fantasy XIII sub series, and then green-lit the English translation of Agito XIII I mean "Type-0" well after the system it was released on was phased out completely, forcing a PS4/Xbone remaster. Furthermore, they also grew so desperate that they committed to the one course of action they had definitively, publicly and verbosely ruled out in every way: a remake of Final Fantasy VII.

At this point, they can't afford a single bad review of either FF7 Remake or FFXV -- their reputation is (rightfully so) teetering on the edge of a knife.

It doesn't help Squeenix that Cracked.com actually managed to describe the problem with Final Fantasy so effing gloriously and correctly.

[zangetsu468]

Honestly I know people are probably de-hyped or some previous hardcore fans are hating the series right now, but the sad thing is that the same thing has happened with EVERY major series that I can think of has suffered highs and lows, criticism, divided fan bases and very few have stayed on top.

Mario is one of the few games that seem to never get bad reviews. Uncharted would probably be another.
Sonic has gone completely down the shitter after Generations.
MGS as a whole has received critical reception, but purists will state the last few entries have not remained true to the series as much as the first 3.
Our beloved Castlevania has perhaps suffered the most divided fan base of all games with LOS as a series (even just at LOS1 to some extent, but I'm not knocking it nearly as much as the trilogy).
FF is a lot like Zelda, everytime a new FF comes out, people hate the predecessor. Although the first half of XIII's linearity left a divided fan base, people were hating XII, when another game came out I.e. XIII, people hated XIII.

Yeah, SE admitted they would basically never REMAKE VII, but they also stated they would never remake it unless they would make it rather than breaking it; there's no option but to succeed. This generation is one of blockbuster titles and big business but it also means that development cycles of games are very long (as we've previously seen), so if they use one game engine to make multiple games (which they've been doing noticeably since Zelda OOT/ MM) then I'm all for it. Just don't expect to sell me FFVII Remake Chapter I, II etc. I'll be buying that shiz in a collectors pack when it's all been released already.

As for FFXV, I have a discount on ozgameshop and I think I'm going to go for it. It's either that or NMS and I think I'd get a lot more enjoyment out of FFXV.

There's nothing wrong with not feeling the hype or feeling indifferent, but for those who have a lot to say you all obviously still care. Otherwise if you didn't you would be indifferent.

[Inccubus]

I should state that, like how some of you are not fans of turn based RPGs, I have a blasphemous confession to make.
I never got into Kingdom Hearts. I tried playing the first 2 and I just didn't feel it at all. That is was the nail in the coffin for me when it came to FFXV.

I have no confidence in the success if FFXV not for my personal reasons, but because of a point of view I saw in a video that I had never considered beyond my distaste of the real life junk and the play style...

https://www.youtube.com/embed/OvjjQP5GIm0

..Yeah. If this is the average feeling of Japanese players, then that does not bode well.

PS-
My overall stance on the series as a whole is that there are several games in it that should have been titled as spin-offs instead of mainline games.

FFXI = Final Fantasy Online
FFXII (a spin-off of a spin-off) = Final Fantasy Tactics: Ivalice Alliance
FFXIII = Final Fantasy XI
FFXIV = Final Fantasy Online II: Disastrous Mistake Edition
FFXIV ARR = Final Fantasy Online II: Actual Effort Edition
(^ See what I did there?)
FFTZ = Agito: Final Fantasy XI
FFXV = Versus: Final Fantasy XI
DB:FF = Final Fantasy XII
DS = Final Fantasy XII-2

I've had this opinion ever since FFXI was announced. Back then I didn't have the money to play an online subscription based RPG, and I was pissed at Square for making XI online only. I was pissed because it would be the first FF game that I would not be able to play. Then I realized that it didn't play anything like a "normal" FF game and I just ignored it, but was annoyed at the title. I always argued and sill do that it was a blatant milking of the franchise name and was a dishonest attempt to pull long time fans in who would have played a game titled FF: Online in a heart beat anyway. I firmly believe this move deterred just as many players as it brought in. I also always pointed out that they didn't title Final Fantasy Tactics as a mainline game because SE had confidence in their product then. Who wouldn't have wanted to play a TRPG based on Final Fantasy? If anything the naming of FFXI shows the beginning of SE's lack of confidence. And it got to the point where the creators of Dravely Default were not allowed to put the Final Fantasy subtitle on their game and had to resort to the ridiculous Flying Fairy one instead.
In closing for me Final Fantasy basically lost it's soul after FFX-2 more or less. Then that soul was reincarnated as Bravely Default.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Gonna share this quote from the Cracked article because I think it sums up how us de-hyped's are feeling.

Even by the standards of first-world problems, "The re-release of my beloved childhood game is ugly and overpriced" is difficult to make people care about. And, honestly, you shouldn't care. I find it hard to, and I just wrote 3,000 words on the subject. There are countless better games you can buy for 16 bucks. Square released this junk because they still think slapping Final Fantasy onto something is a license to print money. But it's not -- III and IV sold better than V and VI on Steam because they actually had thought and effort put into them.

Square might figure that out and the Final Fantasy name might mean something again, but it's OK if they don't. The originals are still classics. Indie developers are making the kinds of games that Square shaped their childhoods with, and they put more passion into them than Square's shown for a long time. Maybe it's a sign of how far the industry has come that we don't need Final Fantasy anymore -- there are more than enough other games telling good stories now.

Simply put, we'll always have Paris.

We'll always love the old games, but we don't really need more Final Fantasy anymore. It's done its part, or at least it has for me. Square should move on the way so many of its fans have. If Blizzard can come up with a new IP after 16 years of staying in their comfort zone, then so can Square. Whatever they come up with will be better cared for than what has happened to this former titan of RPGs.

For that reason, I want FFXV be the game that wraps up the forward progression of the series, and FFVII be a somewhat bittersweet goodbye to the classic franchise as a whole.

Sort of a "Hey fans. Before I go, I want you to know something. You were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And you wanna know something else? So was I." to send the whole thing off on a good note.

[zangetsu468]

I should state that, like how some of you are not fans of turn based RPGs, I have a blasphemous confession to make.
I never got into Kingdom Hearts. I tried playing the first 2 and I just didn't feel it at all. That is was the nail in the coffin for me when it came to FFXV.

I have no confidence in the success if FFXV not for my personal reasons, but because of a point of view I saw in a video that I had never considered beyond my distaste of the real life junk and the play style...

https://www.youtube.com/embed/OvjjQP5GIm0

..Yeah. If this is the average feeling of Japanese players, then that does not bode well.

Because 1 Japanese guy was interviewed?
Sorry but the subject matter in this link was so superficial and vague with 95% being focused on the characters' physical and aesthetic design, the interviewer sounded like he's never played any JRPG that weren't turn based and the video has over 15% dislikes because it reeks of disinformation.

Furthermore the interviewer stated he actually liked the real time style of gameplay being applied, so this is somewhat discrediting the argument you're attempting.

I appreciate you admitting you didn't like KH and perhaps this is not helping your pre-conceived notions of how this game will be. But I also find it ironic you have so much disdain for a game that you've never played. Not sure why that is, pretty sure I don't want to get to the root of the issue.

Seriously though.. Please play the game or at least wait for the metacritic score before passing such judgement, right now it seems like you're waiting for doomsday on 30/09/2016 and pre-emptively saying "Told ya so..". Why? As if you also want other people to dislike the game with you. Again I don't see why or how anyone benefits from this type of vilification.

Dare we suggest play the game, you may actually like it, if not then let it rest. But no, you've probably already made your mind up right. So is there any point to having an open forum about it.

I for one will not be negative about this game. I'm openly a big supporter of FF on most if not all forms including XIII. #hatersgonehate #versusxiiilives

[Laina]

I for one will not be negative about this game. I'm openly a big supporter of FF on most if not all forms including XIII. #hatersgonehate #versusxiiilives

Sounds like you've made up your mind too...

FF has left a bad taste in my mouth since FFXII onward (I did not play XI, so I cannot & will not say regarding it), but I'm willing to give it one more shot for old time's sake. That being said, I understand everyone being a little more than apprehensive regarding their latest title - we've been burned too many times before, like a wayward lover returning with a bevy of promises regarding our fantastic new lives together after a heart breaking letdown that prompted us to end the relationship last time.