How To Fix Final Fantasy

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-to ... 0-6417822/

Here's another interesting gamespot article where the author talks about the pitfalls of the recent Final Fantasy games, and how they should go about fixing them.

There are a lot of people that are up in arms about Lighting Returns not being very good, and they are starting to show concern for the series in general.

Some questions for you all.

1. Do you think Final Fantasy XV can save the series?

2. What was the last Final Fantasy game you played?

3. What was the last Final Fantasy game you enjoyed playing?

My answers:

1. While it's still too early to really know if FF XV can save the series, I think it has the potential to revitalize the series. However, talk is cheap, and there were a lot of similar promises with other Final Fantasy games that did not deliver. So I would take a wait and see approach.

2. The last Final Fantasy game I played was Crisis Core.

3. The last Final Fantasy game I enjoyed was Crisis Core. I thought it was a pretty good game. I have yet to play any of the FF XIII games.

I really have no idea if FF XV can save the series, honestly. I haven't played anything past VI, but I've heard about the general concern about malaise in the series, so I guess we'll have to see.

The last one I played through was FF VI. It was also the most recent one I enjoyed, not having played the more recent ones. I am still in the Stone Age. I do really enjoy classic Final Fantasy, though.

I think the problem with Final Fantasy, like with anything that gets wildly popular, is that franchises start to become really commercialized and overexposed as time goes on, which would account for why no one is really excited for Final Fantasy anymore. You run into the problem of delivering the same predictable experience people are looking for while struggling to maintain a sense of innovation and novelty.

The Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD collection released in Japan two weeks ago and it already outsold Lightning Returns.

http://gearnuke.com/final-fantasy-xx-2- ... two-weeks/

So there is still interest there, but it's just not in the current FF 13 series.

The last Final Fantasy I played was VIII. And that game made me so angry I haven't touched an FF game since. I've basically fallen out of modern JRPGs thanks to that game.

The last one I beat was FF VII and I did enjoy that one.

It's hard to "fix" a franchise that is essentially a string of rpgs held together by brand name only.

The only thing the games have in common with each other is that they're named Final Fantasy. Past that, you could rename each FF game something else and no one would suspect they're apart of the same series.

Each FF game is substantially different from one another, so "fixing" it has to do more with the fact that there really is no baseline for the franchise.

That's a good point Hukos. If there is one thing I do respect about the Final Fantasy series it's that they are not afraid to try new things and reinvent the games from the ground up. It seems like the name itself and Chocobos are the only things that you will always have. Even if the Chocobos don't seem to fit into some of the games.

Some game series play it safe and don't change much, but the makers of the Final Fantasy games are not afraid to change things up, which is nice. For better or for worse.

My favourite FF is undoubtly the fourt one ! What a game, this FFIV ! The first one I've ever finished Great one !

I think a problem is, as the article writer points out, the bubble Square-Enix has put itself in regarding open world and storytelling. There seems to be an odd perception that you need to guide players on a closed, linear path to tell a good story. Yet anyone who's played a Rockstar game, or western RPG, knows this is simply not the case. You can have a big open world with a huge amount of freedom and tell awesome stories, and Square-Enix just can't quite seem to figure out what makes games like Red Dead Redemption so successful. So they try to take inspiration in the wrong ways, while missing what makes those games so loved.

I think one thing to fix is a lot of unnecessary complexity. Again, I haven't played an FF game since VIII, but the 'draw' system and all the micromanagement in that game felt like a complete chore to me. Unnecessary complexity, to me, just bogs games down.

WB : it's true that open World games are great (but not GTA : I hate this serie but I think I've already told this to you before !) but it's also great to have all sort of games : if some series want to continue with games thar are not too open, for me it doesn't matter at all : the best is that the games are great and have a good feeling :! (I think about the Phoenix Wright serie, the best serie ever for me with PS : it's absolutely linear but it's so great.. )

Linear is not necessarily a problem. What I'm saying (and what the article is saying) is that you can have an open world and a great story, but Square-Enix is kind of boxing themselves into linear story while simultaneously trying to do more open-world. The most recent FF title is an example of this the article cites - it had an open world, but a weak story compared to its predecessors. If I'm understanding right, they seem to have a mistaken notion that open world games are loved for the sake of their open world (and they cite Red Dead Redemption as the primary example) when the open world is only part of that overall experience. Red Dead still tells an awesome, compelling story with interesting characters. They're sort of missing the point about what makes Red Dead appearing, and as such, missing the mark themselves when drawing inspiration from it.

But linear is not necessarily problem. I'm currently playing the Last of Us, which is pretty linear, but I'm definitely loving it (even if I can only play it for about an hour at most because of how tense and creeped out I get). It's about how each element contributes to the overall experience, which is something that Square seems to be missing on some level.