I know why Square decided to number their two Final Fantasy MMO's as it would create marquee value to the title and would get players who normally would play an MMO to try it out.

But I was wondering would it have been better if they kept the MMO's separate from the main games in the series? And have them as their own thing, like they've done with Tactics for example and all the other spin-off games.

Your thoughts?

I always would have preferred that FFXI and FFXIV were called Final Fantasy Online and Final Fantasy Online 2. Like Phantasy Star Online is to Phantasy Star. Or, alternatively, if "Online" alone sounds too stale, then make up a flavorful subtitle. Just no mainline number.

But then, I don't like MMOs, so I'm not a natural advocate for those games.

I think it's fine, people mostly recognize which numbered final fantasy games are the MMO's and don't really get them confused. There is certainly enough love and craft into the mmo's that they certainly are mainstream FF titles and not spinoffs.

No, they should've never been numbered. Not saying they suck or anything, it just doesn't make sense with what the rest of the series is. That's like if they called Elder Scrolls Online "The Elder Scrolls VI". I second the notion of just calling it Final Fantasy Online.

There is more than a little oddity over the years regarding the Final Fantasy naming scheme, not the least of which is that none of them are actually final. That said, I don't see this as an issue. Both still trend towards traditional FF gameplay, and offer bizarre overwrought stories in strange and fantastical worlds. I am more inclined to be annoyed at the FFX-2, FFXIII-2 and FFXIII-3 madness. While FFX-2 was novel in that it was the first direct sequel, it and the Thirteen series were the mainline series continuing. Interestingly enough the games being made at the same time being labeled 14 and 11 were the mmos.

In short though, no. I have no issue with them being in the mainline numbering.

I mean personally, I don't like it but "should" from their perspective is purely marketing driven and 11 and 14 both seem to have done well and is doing well so I'm sure they are happy with the decision. Given how much they probably cost to produce, bestowing them with the weight of a numbered FF is clearly a calculated move.

Again, it does feel weird to me though.

On sort of a related note, I recently pulled this clip from an old Bombcast:

I have no opinion on 11 since it was weird and I could never get into it, but as someone who has played a lot of FF14: Yes they damn well should.

Take all the "mmo" stuff out of 14 and just hold it on the merits of it's Main Story Quest alone, and it's the best FF story in the last decade, 15 included. A lot of people won't ever see it cause they don't want to play an MMO, but it is MUCH better then everything since at least X.

Final Fantasy Online and Final Fantasy Online 2 would have been better, I think. FFO is a good abbreviation, rolls off the tongue.

I played a trial week or so of 14 and liked it a lot. Not enough to pony up for a subscription, though.

It`s not really a big deal, but I think it would probably have made more sense to give them their own subtitle. This has nothing to do with the quality of the games (I am not an MMO guy, but from my understanding people like those games), but instead as mentioned by a few people that the other spin off series have had their own subtitles. FF Tactics is a great game, but it would have been weird to call it FFVIII.

No, especially as they get into the less recognizable roman numerals. I honestly got confused when i saw the final fantasy 14 expansion on steam thinking a port of 15 was coming or an offshoot, then realized it was the wrong number lol.

Never thought of it before but FFO would have worked great for an MMO.

I don't think so, I think they should be their own subseries like Crystal Chronicles or Tactics

But I gave up that fight long ago. It's not like it can be changed now.

Yes. Despite what you think their is a story in all of the superfluous bullshit that is an MMO. I call it superfluous but I enjoy the shit out of both of those games.

Yes. Each new numbered Final Fantasy game comes with a new story and new characters . This is still the case for 11 and 14. Sure, it was annoying when i played 8,9,10 and then learned that the new final fantasy was something i couldn't play, but it still deserved to be a mainline game.

There's no reason for them not to be. They are Final Fantasy games that borrow heavily from Final Fantasy history (arguably more so than most of the later games). Calling them XI and XIV tells people they're being treated with a certain level of importance. Calling them anything else wouldn't have benefited anyone. People wouldn't buy FFXI or XIV not realizing they were MMOs but may have decided to try them out because Square thought they were important enough to number.

Resident Evil 4 wasn't very similar to the previous RE games but calling it Resident Evil 4 let everyone know this was a serious effort from Capcom. They were putting their best foot forward. Repeat later for the release of Resident Evil 7