Only if they kill the love interest by the end of the first disc.

Cloud had Aerith*

yup, we have known it's a romeo and Juliette love story since 2006, the girl has been shown in small screenshots from Famistu.... just the game still hasn't come out, and when it does NOW it's dragons and jumping on walls. Probably still have to wait 3 more years till this game is finished.

Oh, is that still a thing? I remember them saying how it was connected when this was still called Versus XIII, but for some reason I just assumed they scrapped that whole idea after the name change.Well, I suppose that's not a terrible thing as long as the connection doesn't go much deeper than that.

@jakob187: Because I play games and especially JRPGs because of the story. I couldn't care less about the battlesystem in JRPGs. And I really miss a cheesy and corny Love story in a JRPG. I want to see something like the kissing scene in FFX again which is my most favorite scene of all time in video game history. And I have not seen anything like that in years.

@darji: I like the stories in JRPGs as well, but there's also a substantial part where I have to PLAY that game. I want the part where I PLAY it to be just as enjoyable and complex as the story that is presented.

With Final Fantasy, the stories I've cared about the most were FF6, FF9, and FF12 (which follow a rather odd pattern, now that I've noticed). Everything else just doesn't tickle my fancy.

I mean, if they do a love story, fine. If not, fine. However, there are WAAAAAAAAAY bigger fish to fry when it comes to making the next Final Fantasy game. FF13 was a lousy excuse of a GAME, and I feel that Square Enix just really doesn't know what to do with the gameplay. When I look at the way that many publishers seem to view their audiences, it seems like they believe they need to make their games as dumb as possible and as hands-off as they can get to ease the audience along, and I feel like FF13 was one of the most egregious examples of this.

So as long as they can actually have gameplay that is actually gameplay, it's already a massive improvement. Until then, I just think that a love story in the game is the last thing that genuinely matters.

Really? I haven't played more than ten hours of it, I'm trying to finish FF12 first, but that battle system is probably the best part of FF13 so far. I guess if you're looking to explore and do sidequests, you're kind of boned, but fighting things in FF13 was pretty fun for the most part.

@believer258: All I seemed to do was push one button and things did what they did. I was rarely needing to do much else except walk forward. In the beginning, it seemed novel, but you eventually get your core setup and just don't do anything else. I never beat the game, so maybe it changes? I don't know.

Meanwhile, I felt like FF12 was the best of both worlds: a great story (inside a world that I personally adore - Ivalice) as well as great gameplay. It was a fresh take on how to handle Final Fantasy gameplay, and they handled it so well.

That man's first love will always be his hair, he's got no time for some girl who's less pretty than he is, with her fuckin black roots showing smh

I really like a lot of FF12, but it's unfair to complain about FF13's "push one button" battles when, for the majority of FF12, you only really needed to get within range of enemies and then you could just let the Gambits you had set up do the rest. In an area where you were slightly under-leveled or against a boss, it was a different story, but that doesn't account for most of the combat in FF12.

FF13 has a certain rhythm to its fighting, almost like they made a turn-based game feel like an action game. You had to use magic and stuff to stun things, then you could get a lot of damage in on it, but you had to balance that with changing character classes and staying healed and all. FF12 is probably the better overall package but, from what I've seen of both, it's hard to say that it had the better battle system.

But, hey, opinions.

Since I haven't actually said anything on-topic in my posts in this thread, I'll just mention that Final Fantasy XV doesn't "need" to be anything except what the developers want it to be. If they want to put a love story in there, go ahead. I can't say that's what I want out of the series, though.

Later in the game you need to switch a lot and use a lot of builds- What 13 does perfectly is dealing with trash mobs in a very very fast manner while bosses and optional stuff actually require strategy and techniques. Comparing it with 12 I must say that FF12 requires way less involvement in the end thx to the Gambit system and of course except a few side bosses.

i am really never worried about the battle system. Hell Suikoden is one of my most favorite JRPG series and I use Autobattle all the time there but what I really miss and what we have not seen in a while is a full fledged love story.

They need to revisit their character design imo. But yes, a well written super Japanese love story would be nice.

Meh. There are way better love stories out there that don't require needless grinding on easy things out in the wild.

...that came out wrong.

Anyway, I don't have much interest in love stories at all. I'd rather be given a game with a solid set of challenging and original mechanics set in an interesting world with fun things to see and do.

@believer258: care to name these games? I would love to play them if I haven't already....

Eh. Overall, it honestly doesn't matter that much to me. I just like it when they can be more creative than using a love story. I just know what I like in my RPGs.

With that said, the chances of me playing another Final Fantasy in ever again is slim, although I AM stoked for FF15. I've grown sick and tired of cutscenes as a whole, and JRPGs (as well as most Japanese games overall) seem to have way too many of those fuckers. If you can't deliver my story within the game, then what the hell are we honestly doing with this interactive medium? = /

You heard it here first! FF15 comes on 5 blue ray disks

Yeah, not sure if that's still accurate. They said that like 6 years ago or something

I meant there are better love stories in general. Aeneas and Dido, Romeo and Juliet, that messy tangle in As You Like It. Or maybe you could go for something more modern like... The Way of the World!

OK, OK! Casablanca was all right. And of course the first ten minutes of Up.

Anyway, love stories aren't what I want my video games to be about. I do want to sit down and play Final Fantasy X someday, maybe on the Vita or the PS3 sometime in March 2014, or I might actually crack open this PS2 version I've had sitting around for ages. And that's largely because I think what I've seen of that world looks pretty amazing, not because of Tidus and Yuna's love story that ends in his death. Serves him right for wearing such an ugly fucking outfit.

Still, Tidus's outfit is way outclassed by this Noctis motherfucker's hair.

@believer258: of course there are in other mediums but not really in video games anymore like they used to be in JRPGs at least. As for the term good. I think it is a matter of taste since I do not define good on how complicated or how written it is. Love stories need to touch me and I love corny ones like Pretty Woman, Notting Hill. Love Actually and of course the hundreds of Jdramas I watched so far^^

First he needs a barber to let him know how much of a helmet he looks.

Yeah, no. I love a good romance, but good romances are very hard to find in video games, especially Japanese RPGs, and especially especially modern Final Fantasy.

I guess Locke and Celes in FF6 was alright, but that could have a lot to do with its lack of voice acting and my selective memory. I guess I just can't stand the cheesy idealistic romances of modern Final Fantasies. Love needs more nuance and connection, and the inorganic dialogue in most JRPGs makes it difficult to believe any two characters could even be friends, let alone in love.

Does it really NEED alove story to have potential?

Naw, the game can be fine with or without a love story.

Would I like a cheesy anime romance between Noctis and Stella?

Hell yes, sign me up.

No thanks.

I'm pretty sure it's true. I do remember reading something about how Nomura said that those ties are still there. Now the whole part of it being set on Pulse in the future is something that I made up myself as something I'd like to see, but it's connection to the lore of FFXIII i'm pretty sure is still a thing. I will try to find a statement. I think I heard while watching an E3 2013 Nomura interview. I remember it because the host was INSANELY awkward and unprofessional and had no idea what to do to the interpreter and there were tons of awkward silences.

EDIT: Just found the interview and it's not the one I was thinking of. Basically what he said in the interview was that they've been developing the game for years upon years now, and during that whole time it was developed with Fabula Nova Crystallis in mind. Despite the "bad" reception of FFXIII (which they don't see it as because it was one of the best selling games they're ever made), they are still setting under the FNC universe, with ties to crystals (Fabula Nova Crystalis - New Crystal Story) and the goddess Etro. I have read some things about how the l'Cie and stuff will still be in the game but that was just a bunch of Wikipedia stuff, not sure where it came from.

I know this is months old at this point but I think this is a great point. Voice acting has sorta ruined most JRPGs for me. When you hear that shit read aloud you realize how dumb it is. Whiny anime voices don't help, either.

No it doesn't.

Eh, the only Final Fantasy romance I ever liked was Cloud and Tifa....and that's mostly because it just felt way more natural than pretty much all the others. I'm hoping Noctis and Stella are more like that, and less like, say, Tidus and Yuna or Cloud and Aerith.

That said, I'm not asking for something like Tales of Xillia where their love for each other is constantly hinted at, but never actually evolves into anything other than hints and occasional flirting/jealousy. I want it to be something more than that, I just don't want be overly cheesy and forced down our throats I guess.