What IS Final Fantasy in 2012?

What IS Final Fantasy? After finishing FF13 in preparation for FF13-2 I asked that question.

Originally, Final Fantasy was the last ditch effort of SquareSoft to remain a video game company. Back then, the company was in dire straights and only could produce one more game. Thankfully FF1 was released and it was a smash hit. Heck, I finished it on IOS a few months ago and I have to say that game still holds up really well.

I digress.

What, in 2012, is Final Fantasy? In 8-bit age it was was introduced me to RPG’s. In the 16-bit era it was what showed me what kinds of story telling video games were capable of. In the PSOne era it pushed graphics to a new level. And in the PS2 / PC era it pushed the graphics even further, explored on-line worlds and showed me lots of zippers.

Over the recent years the Final Fantasy brand has taken a few hits. Most noticeably the release of the atrocious MMO, Final Fantasy 14. That game release was marred by multiple bugs, lackluster graphics, outdated features and the ‘reassignment’ of the entire production team. But the MMO was not the only game to have troubles. Final Fantasy 13 was released in January of 2011 to an eager public, but to many the game felt only half baked.

The reasons for the 13th franchise installment’s nearly five year production cycle are varied. Bad management, the switching of consoles mid-development, multiple changes in direction and story, etc.

Again I ask, what the heck is this series now?

I think that Final Fantasy is a story. I think it is a story about characters that have been given a challenged that is much greater then they are and the journey to complete. In my eyes this is what Final Fantasy should be. But that is not what is has become.

Sure, the last several games have had that element. In 13, the characters have been given a crazy task that, if they don’t complete it, then they will be turned to monsters. But where 13 fell on it’s face was that there was no time spent on diving into what made the characters tick. Now it could be argued that some other characters in the FF universe are the same (FF7’s Yuffie for example) but the main characters usually have some time dedicated to them in order to flesh out their story (and level them up).

That didn’t really happen in 13. Yes, we got some character development, but why was Lightning so cold to the world? Why is Snow the eternal optimist? What the hell happened in the past with Vanille and Fang? And why are the all the big bads in this game giant, evil faces?!?!

Along with the characters development the series has fallen into a rut artistically. Final Fantasy 10, 10-2, 11, 12, 13, 13-2, and 14 all have the same exact art and character design. In fact, the most radical difference in the art was having a black man as a main character in 13. I realize that in 11 and 14 you can make your skin tone very dark but I don’t think you can make someone with actual African features. What I’m trying to say is that the character design style has become stagnant. I believe what is needed in this respect is to turn to some other artists and see what they can come up with.

And while they are at it, I think that (1) control of all characters needs to be returned to the play and (2) the battle/leveling systems need to be simplified greatly. You know, the materia system for FF7 was pretty straightforward, why can’t that be built off of a little bit?

I’m starting to ramble now so let’s try and bring this to a close.

In 2012 Final Fantasy is, sadly, over complicated. What I mean by that is I believe that SquareEnix has lost site of what has made the series great. Meaningful and complex characters that are on a fantastic journey to stop evil from destroying the world. That and Chocabos.

What IS Final Fantasy? After finishing FF13 in preparation for FF13-2 I asked that question.

Originally, Final Fantasy was the last ditch effort of SquareSoft to remain a video game company. Back then, the company was in dire straights and only could produce one more game. Thankfully FF1 was released and it was a smash hit. Heck, I finished it on IOS a few months ago and I have to say that game still holds up really well.

I digress.

What, in 2012, is Final Fantasy? In 8-bit age it was was introduced me to RPG’s. In the 16-bit era it was what showed me what kinds of story telling video games were capable of. In the PSOne era it pushed graphics to a new level. And in the PS2 / PC era it pushed the graphics even further, explored on-line worlds and showed me lots of zippers.

Over the recent years the Final Fantasy brand has taken a few hits. Most noticeably the release of the atrocious MMO, Final Fantasy 14. That game release was marred by multiple bugs, lackluster graphics, outdated features and the ‘reassignment’ of the entire production team. But the MMO was not the only game to have troubles. Final Fantasy 13 was released in January of 2011 to an eager public, but to many the game felt only half baked.

The reasons for the 13th franchise installment’s nearly five year production cycle are varied. Bad management, the switching of consoles mid-development, multiple changes in direction and story, etc.

Again I ask, what the heck is this series now?

I think that Final Fantasy is a story. I think it is a story about characters that have been given a challenged that is much greater then they are and the journey to complete. In my eyes this is what Final Fantasy should be. But that is not what is has become.

Sure, the last several games have had that element. In 13, the characters have been given a crazy task that, if they don’t complete it, then they will be turned to monsters. But where 13 fell on it’s face was that there was no time spent on diving into what made the characters tick. Now it could be argued that some other characters in the FF universe are the same (FF7’s Yuffie for example) but the main characters usually have some time dedicated to them in order to flesh out their story (and level them up).

That didn’t really happen in 13. Yes, we got some character development, but why was Lightning so cold to the world? Why is Snow the eternal optimist? What the hell happened in the past with Vanille and Fang? And why are the all the big bads in this game giant, evil faces?!?!

Along with the characters development the series has fallen into a rut artistically. Final Fantasy 10, 10-2, 11, 12, 13, 13-2, and 14 all have the same exact art and character design. In fact, the most radical difference in the art was having a black man as a main character in 13. I realize that in 11 and 14 you can make your skin tone very dark but I don’t think you can make someone with actual African features. What I’m trying to say is that the character design style has become stagnant. I believe what is needed in this respect is to turn to some other artists and see what they can come up with.

And while they are at it, I think that (1) control of all characters needs to be returned to the play and (2) the battle/leveling systems need to be simplified greatly. You know, the materia system for FF7 was pretty straightforward, why can’t that be built off of a little bit?

I’m starting to ramble now so let’s try and bring this to a close.

In 2012 Final Fantasy is, sadly, over complicated. What I mean by that is I believe that SquareEnix has lost site of what has made the series great. Meaningful and complex characters that are on a fantastic journey to stop evil from destroying the world. That and Chocabos.

Final Fantasy in 2012 is a franchise with games that I continue to enjoy playing.

Pretty sure it will still be an RPG with high production values, loyal fans, and vocal detractors.

Final Fantasy is still a franchise I could care less about.

I'm looking forward to Final Fantasy in 2027...

But in all seriousness, I think the brand has become too diluted over the years. The MMOs (11 and 14) should *not* have been part of the numbered titles, just because the experiences they offer are so different from the other games in that series.

I'm still willing to enjoy a Final Fantasy title, but Square-Enix really needs to take care of that brand. They need to reconsider when they want to put that name on a "spin-off" series (which are never really spin-offs, except for the use of chocobos), because the Square-Enix name is usually enough to make people take notice.

@Turambar said:

Final Fantasy in 2012 is a franchise with games that I continue to enjoy playing.

And this thread is yet more wankery from someone that thinks the series is somehow in need of saving.

It's a brand.

I think the question you ask is a really valid one, and one that the developers at Square-Enix should really be asking themselves at this point before they take the franchise any further.

You say you've recently played the original Final Fantasy (which, I agree, holds up very well), and you propose that Final Fantasy is about the story and the journey. I definitely agree with you on both of those points, but I'd also go further and say that a big part of that journey is a sense of scale and opportunity for exploration. I certainly didn't have as many problems with FFXIII as a lot of other people seemed to, but one of my biggest gripes with it was the lack of exploration. I didn't mind the linearity itself, but I did take issue with the fact that the game only ever seemed to move in one direction. It's a real shame, because the worlds of Cocoon and Pulse feature some of the series' most interesting locales. I just wish we could have fully explored those worlds and environments, because the game really made me want to.

FFXIII's characters were also pretty weak, in my view - I had a lot of time for Lightning and Fang, and Sazh is without a doubt the best-realised character in that game, but that still leaves Snow, Hope and Vanille, none of whom I particularly empathised with or related to. I think part of the problem was that FFXIII moved along at such a break-neck pace that there wasn't really any time for character development or story exposition. Sure, all that stuff was available to read in a codex in the menu, but isn't half of the fun of a Final Fantasy game actually gleaning information about the characters and world through the progression of the story? That's certainly what older Final Fantasy games seem to do. FFXIII's character development felt almost auxiliary to the story, and made for some really unnatural and out-of-place interactions over the course of the game.

There are some points of yours that I don't agree with, personally. For one, I think it's unfair to say that the games are stuck in a rut artistically, because there are some very distinct stylistic differences between FFs X, XII and XIII. The art style of FFX is very heavily influenced by East Asian culture and architecture, while FFXII is much closer to a pseudo-Early Modern European vibe. FFXIII boasts a futuristic cyber-punk style that's probably more closely tied to FFs VII and VIII than it is to X and XII. I don't think the battle systems are in need of a great deal of simplification, either. I loved FFXIII's battle system, largely because for the first time it made me feel like support abilities and status debuffs were not only useful, but essential. I'd much rather see a system like FFXIII's than something as bare-bones as, say, the Dragon Quest series, but then I guess that's an entirely subjective issue that will vary from player to player. I'd also argue that the Materia system in FFVII is pretty much the antithesis of 'straightforward', given just how crazy-deep it can go and just how little information the game gives you about how it all works.

I'm not the kind of gamer who typically goes in for wish-lists, or rants saying "the developers should do this in the next game", but I'm going to break that here and say on-record that I'd love for Final Fantasy XV to be another Final Fantasy IX. More than any other game in the series, I think FFIX totally nails what the essence of a Final Fantasy game really is. It's got the band of interesting and unique rag-tag adventurers thrown together by outrageous circumstance. It's got the requisite evil empire/kingdom trying to expand its borders forming the basis of its narrative backdrop. It's got the pseudo-Medieval, slightly-steampunk aesthetic. It's got a simple-on-the-surface, deep-under-the-hood combat system. It's got moogles, it's got chocobos, and it's got crystals. As a long-term fan of the franchise, it's everything I associate with the Final Fantasy name. I'm not sure it would appease the average consumer, who seems to be crying out for JRPG innovation (and then paradoxically rejecting any attempt at doing just that), but it would make me a very happy man indeed.

Final Fantasy in 2012 is a franchise with games that I continue to enjoy playing.

Outside of the tactics series, I have never cared for any of the FF games. I still hold out hope to one day see a HD modern tactics game. It could be god dam jaw dropping if they put the effort into the art with today's tech. I'm sick and tired of turn based strategy games being relegated to crappy handhelds and old 2d sprite art that they keep rehashing from decade old versions of the games.

Final Fantasy is a brand not a set identity. And you know what, that's ok. Just looking at the future of it, it looks pretty good:

• For the main franchise they are saying they are taking Western ideas for FF15 as the head producer has spent the last 2 years around the world getting ideas - Patrick did a good interview, but their was more information recently..
• For Spin offs - Versus 13 should come out in the next 2 years and it has a different setting that you want.
• Handheld titles are great: The 4 Heroes of Light is a fantastic Final Fantasy title everyone forgets about that came out in 2010 that doesn't fit into your main problems and reminds me of the original 8 bit ones; and Type-0 should be moved over here too.
• Final Fantasy X is being remade and pretty much any other Final Fantasy title is available on at least one of the current consoles if you want to play them.
• Final Fantasy 14 is being broken down and restarted (even if it doesn't look so bright, but at least they are trying and at the same time putting the resources in to change it right - rather than just canning it and screwing over all the fans of 11)
• Final Fantasy 13-2 has a much better story than 13 and is being built on in almost every way. [Fantastic Blog post here about one of our other Giantbomber's time with the game]

They are trying lots of different things with the titles and heading a new route - Final Fantasy hasn't meant just the main series for over a decade now and trying to betend it should is really not the way to go. You are also generalising the term, insulting every game (including ones you don't even reference, being really unfair to some pretty great titles) which I am not ok with. It is nothing personal and I can see how people keep saying these things, but this is such a naive thing to say about them that it kind of makes me sick.

(Also to argue that 10, 12 and 13 have the same art style is kind of ludicrous)

*I sound way too harsh in this, but it is true*

I loved Final Fantasy XIII, and XIII-2 will be even better. It did have problems, and those are all addressed in Final Fantasy Versus XIII. That game is truly amazing in every way. The setting, the lead character, the amazing graphics and CG. The design of the gameplay is better than anything I've seen in the bulk of Japanese RPGs. The combat system is real time, you can even use a gun in real time free aim, and it's an open world game.

I think Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be a monumental game that will be on GOTY short lists. And it's been in full production for some months now, though it's hard to say when we will see it. It could quite easily be 2013, though I could be extremely optimistic and say 2012. So much of the game is actually done that, really, now it's just filling in the content. The graphics are fundamentally there, the engines (plural) are there, the CG has been in production for a long time, and yeah, I could see it coming within the next 18 months.

You know what Final Fantasy in 2012 doesn't look like? Versus 13. That game is never coming out, is it?

A sad pile of broken dreams.

When i first played FF10 (my first FF). I played it having never played any RPG, hating turnbased rpg's like pokemon. Somone once offered me FF7 in 1999 in exchange for one of my games.

I declined to take it saying FF is a shitty turnbased game.

2 years later. I played FFX by chance, immediately i said to myself "this is the best thing ever, i love the battle system and i love the story".

I couldnt wait to get my hands on FF11. Until i heard it was an MMO. So then i couldn't wait to get my hands on FF12 in 5 years. In the mean time, i played every single FF game in existence and i was satisfied.

Then came out FFX-2 and i felt the series was going in the wrong direction, as the game didnt feel epic like the other FF's. Then came out FF12 which had a poor story, another non-epic FF. Then came out FF13, at that point i stopped being a Square Enix fan buying anything that their name was written on.

Because the company is no longer what it used to be. Before they used to make THE games, when they were squaresoft. Now they only make average games..

So the question, "What is final fantasy". my answer is "FInal Fantasy isnt what it used to be" thats the best answer IMO. As i cant really explain what it is now any better.

what i would like to see is a bold move. sure each of the recent games (from X forward) has taken different steps to distinguish itself (ie. battle system, setting, style, etc.), but all of these changes just seem like a variation of the comfortable formula. ff needs to do something to really get people talking. something like a retro revival might be cool, taking the world and quest maps to a more stylized, 16-bit sprite inspired look, and then tricking out the battles and FMVs with the fancy graphics. this might make development less intensive, allowing them to focus more on what we would like to see, like a good battle system, story and characters.

Dudes with $$$ in their eyes and a lack of passion to push the boundaries and make an immensly epic game the like we have never seen before

@dudeglove said:

Final Fantasy lost the plot in art design in FFX. Tidus is literally the worst designed video game character in existence. Beach-blonde surfer douchebag hair, dainty waistcoat with a hood, leather lederhosen with whatever those trouser things are called and some sort of fancy metal claw... thing.

I loved FFX, even if art design was bad (i didnt htink so), i could put that aside. And look to the awesome story and gameplay that makes up for it.

Also Auron was the best character in that game.

Sad to say, i cant put the bad characters, and art design aside in the new FF's and look at the story and gameplay. Since its not that good

I can tell you what I want Final Fantasy to be in 2012, I want it to be Versus 13 finally being released. And I want it to be good. Real good. Good enough to make up for FF XIII. Although, hopefully XIII-2 will be able to make up for it. Still, I'd like to play Versus some time this year.

@Hailinel said:

@Turambar said:

Final Fantasy in 2012 is a franchise with games that I continue to enjoy playing.

And this thread is yet more wankery from someone that thinks the series is somehow in need of saving.

The past few games have been terrible. Even if you personally think they were good, they still took years to develop, cost millions and were met with massive fan backlash and poor sales. That's not a good position for any franchise to be in.

I think there's still a place for Final Fantasy, but Square have completely lost sight of what drew people to the games in the first place. I always point to Dragon Quest as the shining example of what Final Fantasy needs to be. It's been an equally long running series, but has managed to evolve while still sticking to its traditional gameplay and RPG tropes (and I don't think we know enough about X to make any fair comments, so let's ignore that one for now). XV needs to be something along those lines. Bring back the classic gameplay, simpler, less melodramatic storylines and teen romance, hire better art directors and world designers and go back to having actual interesting and likable characters.

As it is, the series has become about as relevant today as Sonic the Hedgehog. Sure, some people still care.. but those people have brain problems or are desperately holding onto nostalgia.

@WinterSnowblind: Poor sales? Didn't FFXIII outsell most of the other games in the series? And FFXII wasn't terrible; it was weird, and maybe not to my tastes, but not terrible. I've been meaning to return to that game for a new perspective. Other than that, 11 was a competent MMO from what I've heard, and 10 was one of the best in the series. Hell, 13 wasn't as bad as the anti-hype would have you believe. That leaves only 14 as the only terrible game of the recently released games, unless you're trying to tell me 9 was in anyway bad. In which case I would have to fight you.

I'm pretty sure I'm not brain damaged, but you're free to perform a check up on me.

@Beforet said:

@WinterSnowblind: Poor sales? Didn't FFXIII outsell most of the other games in the series? And FFXII wasn't terrible; it was weird, and maybe not to my tastes, but not terrible. I've been meaning to return to that game for a new perspective. Other than that, 11 was a competent MMO from what I've heard, and 10 was one of the best in the series. Hell, 13 wasn't as bad as the anti-hype would have you believe. That leaves only 14 as the only terrible game of the recently released games, unless you're trying to tell me 9 was in anyway bad. In which case I would have to fight you.

I'm pretty sure I'm not brain damaged, but you're free to perform a check up on me.

Not it didnt. FF3 sold 6 million.

Less than FF7-10 on their own.

FF13-2 had record breaking poor sales for a main series FF game.

First Week Launch Numbers (JAPAN ONLY SALES):

FF XIII-2 ...... 524,217 Units

FF XIII.......... 1,516,532 Units

FF XII........... 1,840,397 Units

FF X-2........... 1,472,914 Units

FF X............. 1,749,737 Units

FF IX............ 1,954,421 Units

FF VIII.......... 2,504,044 Units

FF VII........... 2,034,879 Units

Wake up call for Square Enix. My opinion is that they need to go back to their roots, possibly bring back turn based gameplay. Stop making crap like FF13.

@dudeglove said:

Final Fantasy lost the plot in art design in FFX. Tidus is literally the worst designed video game character in existence. Beach-blonde surfer douchebag hair, dainty waistcoat with a hood, leather lederhosen with whatever those trouser things are called and some sort of fancy metal claw... thing.

nope, the worst is this guy:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Nooj

Every time someone says that Final Fantasy needs to go back to their roots, an angel dies. Going back to the roots is a terrible idea. Square Enix is literally damned if they do damned if they don't when it comes to the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy 13 was a good game, all the complaints about linearity and extended tutorial sections is fucking horseshit. No one knows what they want when it comes to Final Fantasy, they only know they don't want it to be like the one they don't like. It's easy for people to complain about the "dumb teen romance shit" but that has been in Final Fantasy since Cecil was way the fuck into Rosa and Locke kept his comatose girlfriend in a creepy fucking shrine. Final Fantasy 13 was handle well when it came to giving the characters actual arcs and development, which was sorely lacking in 12, X-2 and some of X.

Final Fantasy may not be propeller based airships and kings and princesses but that doesn't mean it has forgotten where it came from or anything. Final Fantasy games have always been super dumb. It's only now that fans are older that they can see how dumb the games really are. Even the classic games in the series are really dumb. Like super dumb. To the point that when they try something serious people call it 'melodramatic' because they are also dumb.

@Xel said:

@dudeglove said:

Final Fantasy lost the plot in art design in FFX. Tidus is literally the worst designed video game character in existence. Beach-blonde surfer douchebag hair, dainty waistcoat with a hood, leather lederhosen with whatever those trouser things are called and some sort of fancy metal claw... thing.

nope, the worst is this guy:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Nooj

agreed. nooj looks weird

@DonChipotle said:

Square Enix is literally damned if they do damned if they don't when it comes to the Final Fantasy series.

No they aint. Even if they didnt go back to their roots and did something different.

I wouldn't mind if it was just a GOOD GAME.

Back when FF7came out, it went away from the normal medieval setting of FF. Away from its roots a little. But they actually made a good game out of it. I dont complain

You can't bring up awful character designs in Final Fantasy unless you mention Dirge of Cerberus because that game has the dumbest designs ever.

@cloud360 said:

@DonChipotle said:

Square Enix is literally damned if they do damned if they don't when it comes to the Final Fantasy series.

No they aint. Even if they didnt go back to their roots and did something different.

I wouldn't mind if it was just a GOOD GAME.

Back when FF7came out, it went away from the normal medieval setting of FF. Away from its roots a little. But they actually made a good game out of it. I dont complain

With the exception of Final Fantasy 12 and 14, the Final Fantasy games have been good. It's easy to pick apart a game like Final Fantasy 13 but it doesn't make it a bad game. Telling Final Fantasy to go back to its roots is essentially asking for Final Fantasy 9 all the time.

Final Fantasy is irrelevant as long as Square remain as the developers. But that's fine with me, Atlus make much better RPGs with characters and writing Square seem incapable of matching.

Just realized the most time I spent with a Final Fantasy game was FFX-2.

BESTEST

The Final Fantasy series has always consisted of, and will continue to consist of, JRPG's with varying game play system and high production values. How people feel about Final Fantasy and it's relative market success depend, at least partially, on the time and place in the industry that the series finds itself. Much like super successful athletes or business, Final Fantasy's incredible success through the 90's is partially because of where the series was at, and what it's strengths were, relative to the state of the video game industry at that time. Many forum posters grew up during this time and have difficulty accepting that even trends that defined their tastes as children are cyclical and go through change.

This is where threads like this come from, and where "PC is dying?" threads originate from as well. Final Fantasy may still make perfectly good JRPG's with high production values like it used to, but the strengths of the rest of the wider video game industry, and the perspective of many younger (and older) gamers that have changed since Final Fantasy's halcyon days of yore have resulted in the series not residing on the same pedestal it once enjoyed, even though many of the games have not necessarily dropped in overall quality too much.

@WinterSnowblind said:

@Hailinel said:

@Turambar said:

Final Fantasy in 2012 is a franchise with games that I continue to enjoy playing.

And this thread is yet more wankery from someone that thinks the series is somehow in need of saving.

The past few games have been terrible. Even if you personally think they were good, they still took years to develop, cost millions and were met with massive fan backlash and poor sales. That's not a good position for any franchise to be in.

I think there's still a place for Final Fantasy, but Square have completely lost sight of what drew people to the games in the first place. I always point to Dragon Quest as the shining example of what Final Fantasy needs to be. It's been an equally long running series, but has managed to evolve while still sticking to its traditional gameplay and RPG tropes (and I don't think we know enough about X to make any fair comments, so let's ignore that one for now). XV needs to be something along those lines. Bring back the classic gameplay, simpler, less melodramatic storylines and teen romance, hire better art directors and world designers and go back to having actual interesting and likable characters.

As it is, the series has become about as relevant today as Sonic the Hedgehog. Sure, some people still care.. but those people have brain problems or are desperately holding onto nostalgia.

You really have no idea what you're talking about if you're comparing its relevance to Sonic.

@WinterSnowblind said:

@Hailinel said:

@Turambar said:

Final Fantasy in 2012 is a franchise with games that I continue to enjoy playing.

And this thread is yet more wankery from someone that thinks the series is somehow in need of saving.

The past few games have been terrible. Even if you personally think they were good, they still took years to develop, cost millions and were met with massive fan backlash and poor sales. That's not a good position for any franchise to be in.

The only FF game in recent history that was a disaster was 14. 13 sold gangbusters, despite being decisive, and 13-2 is doing well for itself as well even before it's seen US release.

@Brendan said:

The Final Fantasy series has always consisted of, and will continue to consist of, JRPG's with varying game play system and high production values. How people feel about Final Fantasy and it's relative market success depend, at least partially, on the time and place in the industry that the series finds itself. Much like super successful athletes or business, Final Fantasy's incredible success through the 90's is partially because of where the series was at, and what it's strengths were, relative to the state of the video game industry at that time. Many forum posters grew up during this time and have difficulty accepting that even trends that defined their tastes as children are cyclical and go through change.

This is where threads like this come from, and where "PC is dying?" threads originate from as well. Final Fantasy may still make perfectly good JRPG's with high production values like it used to, but the strengths of the rest of the wider video game industry, and the perspective of many younger (and older) gamers that have changed since Final Fantasy's halcyon days of yore have resulted in the series not residing on the same pedestal it once enjoyed, even though many of the games have not necessarily dropped in overall quality too much.

Spot on.

@cloud360 said:

@Xel said:

@dudeglove said:

Final Fantasy lost the plot in art design in FFX. Tidus is literally the worst designed video game character in existence. Beach-blonde surfer douchebag hair, dainty waistcoat with a hood, leather lederhosen with whatever those trouser things are called and some sort of fancy metal claw... thing.

nope, the worst is this guy:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Nooj

agreed. nooj looks weird

Have you guys SEEN Kuja? He is the ugliest piece of shit in any of these games, and I really like most of the art in IX.

@Hailinel said:

@Turambar said:

Final Fantasy in 2012 is a franchise with games that I continue to enjoy playing.

And this thread is yet more wankery from someone that thinks the series is somehow in need of saving.

The past few games have been terrible. Even if you personally think they were good, they still took years to develop, cost millions and were met with massive fan backlash and poor sales. That's not a good position for any franchise to be in.

@Turambar: The Sonic games all sell really well too, and are still praised by the fanbase.

And to reiterate, I never said XIII sold poorly, only that it didn't met expectations. It lost Square an insane amount of money.

Hironobu Sakaguchi is no longer a Square employee. Final Fantasy XIII is in my opinion a disgusting mess of melo-dramatic nonsense. Lost Odyssey is my favourite JRPG in around 9 years (sans Persona 4 perhaps).

This is not a coincidence.

@DonChipotle said:

@cloud360 said:

@DonChipotle said:

Square Enix is literally damned if they do damned if they don't when it comes to the Final Fantasy series.

No they aint. Even if they didnt go back to their roots and did something different.

I wouldn't mind if it was just a GOOD GAME.

Back when FF7came out, it went away from the normal medieval setting of FF. Away from its roots a little. But they actually made a good game out of it. I dont complain

With the exception of Final Fantasy 12 and 14, the Final Fantasy games have been good. It's easy to pick apart a game like Final Fantasy 13 but it doesn't make it a bad game. Telling Final Fantasy to go back to its roots is essentially asking for Final Fantasy 9 all the time.

Not necessarily all the time, but 9 is the last main series FF I cared about. It was awesome.

@Baltimore said:

And while they are at it, I think that (1) control of all characters needs to be returned to the play and (2) the battle/leveling systems need to be simplified greatly. You know, the materia system for FF7 was pretty straightforward, why can’t that be built off of a little bit?

The materia system was boring and stupid. Moving around a bunch of colored balls was tedious and completely unnecessary.

What is FF in 2012? The same thing it has been almost nonstop for the past decade. A model of overhyped, overmanufactured mediocrity.

@BaneFireLord said:

Final Fantasy is still a franchise I could care less about.

So you quite like them then?

@BaneFireLord said:

Final Fantasy is still a franchise I could care less about.

So you quite like them then?

I've only played 2 FF games. FFX and FFXIII. I've only beaten XIII and I like it way more than the time I've spent with X. I look forward to XIII-2 and Versus 13 looks interesting too.

I've enjoyed Final Fantasy games in the past. However, for me the only aspect that has maintained quality wise is the music of the Final Fantasy games.

@Beforet said:

You know what Final Fantasy in 2012 doesn't look like? Versus 13. That game is never coming out, is it?

It is indeed coming out. Probably not this year, but next year is quite likely. It is simply that Square-Enix showed the game too early. They were marketing the Fabula Nova Crystallis series quite heavily, and this is one of the core parts of that. Nevertheless, they have been in full production since early fall, so it is coming out. The technology is all there at this point, so all it takes is creating content. So 1-2 years is the range we're looking at. In Playstation world, this is obviously not a big deal, since FFXII came out in 06, the year that the PS3 launched.

FF is a brand and an outdated style.

The real successor to the crown is Last Story. The European localization of it is going to be awesome.

@xplay25 said:

@Beforet said:

You know what Final Fantasy in 2012 doesn't look like? Versus 13. That game is never coming out, is it?

It is indeed coming out. Probably not this year, but next year is quite likely. It is simply that Square-Enix showed the game too early. They were marketing the Fabula Nova Crystallis series quite heavily, and this is one of the core parts of that. Nevertheless, they have been in full production since early fall, so it is coming out. The technology is all there at this point, so all it takes is creating content. So 1-2 years is the range we're looking at. In Playstation world, this is obviously not a big deal, since FFXII came out in 06, the year that the PS3 launched.

They'll still have to delay it for the 360 port.

@dabe said:

Hironobu Sakaguchi is no longer a Square employee. Final Fantasy XIII is in my opinion a disgusting mess of melo-dramatic nonsense. Lost Odyssey is my favourite JRPG in around 9 years (sans Persona 4 perhaps).

This is not a coincidence.

This man speaks the goddamn truth. I don't like where JRPGs have gone since the glory days of the SNES, but holy damn was Lost Odyssey a treat.

@dabe said:

Hironobu Sakaguchi is no longer a Square employee. Final Fantasy XIII is in my opinion a disgusting mess of melo-dramatic nonsense. Lost Odyssey is my favourite JRPG in around 9 years (sans Persona 4 perhaps).

This is not a coincidence.

This man speaks the goddamn truth. I don't like where JRPGs have gone since the glory days of the SNES, but holy damn was Lost Odyssey a treat.

@Turambar said:

Final Fantasy in 2012 is a franchise with games that I continue to enjoy playing.

I agree.

Also OP, if you edit the BOLD out of your post to make it less visually grating, I may actually read what you have to say.