Topic: Is Squeenix killing Final Fantasy, or is the modern market?

[Ratty]

Maybe it's a bit of both? As someone who can still get chills from "Terra's Theme" and "The Place I'll Return to Someday" I know the Final Fantasy name used to be a stamp of quality hardcore and casual gamers alike could trust. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I've been thinking about this since seeing the series in the news several times lately. Squeenix has released an HD collection of X and X-2 in Japan (wider release later) with hints of an X-3 if enough interest is shown. Also threatening saying that another FF13 sequel is down the pipe. I also saw the disgusting, exploitative and insulting Final Fantasy: All the Bravest microtransactionapalooza mobile "game" top at least one worst games of the year list.

With FF13 Squeenix abandoned the core exploration based gameplay that had defined the series from day one, maybe X-3 would be more of a return to gameplay roots? It's understandable why they changed the gameplay, because making a vast world with today's shiny graphics would be prohibitively expensive. But the indie market has shown that there's a demand for more traditional exploration based games with less snazzy visuals, do you think Squeenix should have spent more time looking for a happy medium between shiny graphics and rewarding open world gameplay? Maybe they'd find a decent story in such a place outside the box?

It just seems to me that the combination of alienating their core fanbase with one hand while picking said fanbase's pockets with the other is destined to bite them in the arse. The name continues to get more and more cheapened to the point that I wonder if the series will still be around in 15 years, and if it isn't will anyone care? What do you think?

[crisis]

Realistically, the only way the "Final Fantasy" brand will ceize to exist is if, and ONLY if, Squeenix declares complete bankruptcy and goes under, forcing them to sell off their assets. But even then, the series will inevitably be revived one way or another. So I have no doubt that the FF brand will still be around in some form 15+ years in the future.

Love it or hate it, FF7 still remains the biggest and most successful title in the franchise. To this day there are still people that want a full-blown remake, or better yet, a FF7-2, and Squeenix is fully aware of this.

The formula has evolved, and perhaps more accurately devolved, and yes I believe the suits in Japan are solely to blame mainly because they, like many other once-great companies, are completely out-of-touch with their fans. But there will never be a day that we'll read "Due to poor sales, Square Enix will no longer produce Final Fantasy games." That's like despite the Knicks being the absolute worst team in the NBA, the powers at be decide to dismantle the team and remove the New York Knicks from Basketball. That scenario will never happen, same with Squeenix and Final Fantasy.

[Inccubus]

I'd say the two are inextricably connected as reasons. Personally there hasn't been a "real" FF game (barring remakes) since FFX-2 and Dimensions. XI/XIV are different beasts. XII is really more akin to FFT than the main series. And XIII is... I don't know what the hell XIII is, but it doesn't have much of anything in common with FF and the obvious milking of the modern Transformers movie trend is blatant and insulting to both the integrity of FF as work of art and consumers alike.

[X]

To me FF stopped being FF after 6. FF7 took the series in a direction that Squear Enix will never return from. Aside from remakes I doubt we will ever see another old school FF like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ever again. And that is a damned shame. I think it's more about the cash flow then the quality that the name had once held for fans' hearts.

[Ratty]

To me FF stopped being FF after 6. FF7 took the series in a direction that Squear Enix will never return from. Aside from remakes I doubt we will ever see another old school FF like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ever again. And that is a damned shame. I think it's more about the cash flow then the quality that the name had once held for fans' hearts.

Have you played 9? You might be pleasantly surprised. It was intended to be a farewell to the old Final Fantasies and what a farewell it was. A touching story, gorgeous visuals and some of Nobuo Uematus's best work in the series add up to a masterpiece that Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has said is his favorite.

[crisis]

One thing I'm sure that everybody can agree on, is that there probably isn't another series as polarizing amongst it's fans than Final Fantasy. I disliked FFIX, I really don't see why everyone likes it so much. Just never got into it. I feel Zidane's design was probably the lamest design for a protagonist the series has seen. Some feel the series "died" after FFVI, I feel it started going downhill at FFVIII (well actually.. FFT). But all that is another topic altogether.

I think the "classic feel" the series once had left when all the old producers & programmers left to form their own companies. I mean, there's a lot of "spiritual successor" RPGs to Final Fantasy out there, from companies that employ a lot of former Squaresoft employees. To us old guys, of course things will never be the same as they once were in the 90's. But who's to say the newer, younger generation doesn't absolutely love the new style? To them, FFXIII is Final Fantasy. It's selfish of us to rob them of these experiences, just because it's "not what we grew up on." The direction the series took was inevitable. There will always be opinions like "yeah, while this new stuff is objectively 'good,' it just ain't for me," to "the series died once ____ was released," and everything in between.



But really, guys, in the end, every single Final Fantasy game is a fucking miracle. Wanna know why? Because we're no longer stuck in the stone age with 2-bit graphics playing Pong and Asteroids. It's amazing how technology progressed to offer these new experiences. We're all just spoiled rotten and everyone too often forgets how lucky we all are to have the stuff we have lol, it's true!

[KaZudra]

To me FF stopped being FF after 6. FF7 took the series in a direction that Squear Enix will never return from. Aside from remakes I doubt we will ever see another old school FF like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ever again. And that is a damned shame. I think it's more about the cash flow then the quality that the name had once held for fans' hearts.

The spin in the new direction to me is 10, Art direction for every mainline Final Fantasy game after 10 seems to borrow heavily from it...

I dislike XIII, XIII-2 was just too busy with Kingdom Hearts and FF1-10 reverences, and XIII-3 is too busy making costumes and Voiding the existence of XIII-2

Type-0 was fucking brilliant, and it brings tears to my eyes that this game never got localized, and go figure it was made by the same people who brought you Crisis Core FF7, a game so fucking good I played FF7 and watched Advent Children (complete) because I felt like I owed it to Zack to carry his legacy.

XIII-3 will be the worst thing SE is going to put out, we all know this, but it's not that bad... Those guys who made Type-0, THEY are the ones in charge of FF14, which I hope that game will be uber successful so these guys can start being the main-stream Final Fantasy Devs, and the Fucking idiots behind XIII can be put in spin-off or even shovel-ware hell.

[Super Waffle]

Everything I've read about XIII-3 sounds just absolutely godawful.

[X]

Have you played 9? You might be pleasantly surprised. It was intended to be a farewell to the old Final Fantasies and what a farewell it was. A touching story, gorgeous visuals and some of Nobuo Uematus's best work in the series add up to a masterpiece that Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has said is his favorite.

I've played FF 9 and was pleasantly surprised by the game. I got quite far into it too which is unusually for me and newer RPGs. However I didn't finish the game as that stupid overly-tough boss under the giant tree kinda killed it for me.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I think they are not killing FF.
They are just reinventing the franchise to suit the newer gamer demographic.

And that just means we are getting old and stuck on nostalgia (FF1-6). Hehehe.

[Kingshango]

The fact that FFX-3 is likely to be a thing says alot.

[Dark Nemesis]

Up to this point, i have enjoyed FF5, FF6, FF7, FF8 and the last FF game for me was FFX. While i have finished FFXII, i've never got back to replay it. FFXIII, i gave up half way through the game and trade it for some other game and FFXIII-2, while it starts boring, it gets a little interesting later, only to end up repetitive, so while the series may not end up, i doubt that there will be a new FF game that it will pick my interest.

[affinity]

It's all the fault of the people involved in the writing, directing, design, etc.   Toriyama is responsible for ruining PE, and the FFXIII reputation, 3 rpgs and they all suck and fall short of FF standards.  even FFX was horrible and a step down from what FF7-9 refined.   FFXII had its issues but it's a better FF than FFX and FFXIII combined. It's really SE's fault letting idiots like Toriyama ruin the series, as well as allowing Nomura to work on various projects instead of finishing KH3 first, then Versus/XV,  they take too long to make a FF and it's unlikely that FFXV will be any better than the PS1 FFs aside from graphics and combat (it's party is already looking sucky and sexist).  So yea it's all SE's fault allowing those fools guide the franchise.  They are also at fault taking so long to localize FF Type 0, that should get console HD remaster priority over FFX and KH games. 

[Inccubus]

One thing I'm sure that everybody can agree on, is that there probably isn't another series as polarizing amongst it's fans than Final Fantasy. I disliked FFIX, I really don't see why everyone likes it so much. Just never got into it. I feel Zidane's design was probably the lamest design for a protagonist the series has seen. Some feel the series "died" after FFVI, I feel it started going downhill at FFVIII (well actually.. FFT). But all that is another topic altogether.

I think the "classic feel" the series once had left when all the old producers & programmers left to form their own companies. I mean, there's a lot of "spiritual successor" RPGs to Final Fantasy out there, from companies that employ a lot of former Squaresoft employees. To us old guys, of course things will never be the same as they once were in the 90's. But who's to say the newer, younger generation doesn't absolutely love the new style? To them, FFXIII is Final Fantasy. It's selfish of us to rob them of these experiences, just because it's "not what we grew up on." The direction the series took was inevitable. There will always be opinions like "yeah, while this new stuff is objectively 'good,' it just ain't for me," to "the series died once ____ was released," and everything in between.



But really, guys, in the end, every single Final Fantasy game is a fucking miracle. Wanna know why? Because we're no longer stuck in the stone age with 2-bit graphics playing Pong and Asteroids. It's amazing how technology progressed to offer these new experiences. We're all just spoiled rotten and everyone too often forgets how lucky we all are to have the stuff we have lol, it's true!

Technology does not a good game make. And one could argue that the newer generations are just as spoiled rotten by flashy graphics with actual substance falling by the way side. And if I hear another little bitch belly aching  at RHDN begging for easy versions of classic games... I'm going to continue generalizing the gamers of today as a bunch of sorry ass pansies. T_T

On a side not, one of my guilty pleasures is whenever a younger relative bitches about a modern game being too hard, I make them play the first stage of CV1 and then laugh as they inevitably either fail to reach the end of the stage or are murdered by a giant bat that barely moves. Then I laugh and show them how it's done as they watch in awe. Then if they whine about it I make them play Ninja Gaiden.

[Aridale]

Then if they whine about it I make them play Ninja Gaiden.

Thats just mean lol