I've never seen more people whine about the setting of a story in my life.
For what it's worth it looks nice, however without actually having played the game, or seen any hands on reviews, it's impossible to know if the game handles well.
Questions left to be answered:
Is it clunky?
Are the load times awful?
How is Lightning going to be shoveled into this game?
Will the story suck more than Guild Wars 2's story?
How has the ignorant crowd not realized that FF8 is set in a world that is further technologically advanced than the entirety of Fabula Nova Crystallis branch of Final Fantasy?
Does anyone remember when the MMORPG website was the go to place for MMORPG information, both east and west?
Non MMO FF has been dead since VIII (IX is the exception) to me. Unlikable characters, horrid and poorly written stories, George Lucas level bad dialogue, obtuse game systems... the list goes on. XV looks like it might be decent, but I'm not holding my breath.
I will say that I don't think it could possibly be worse than XIII though, since that was pretty much rock bottom for the series. No place to go but up at this point.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
I can't believe the arrogance of the author. Whois he to decide what is Final Fantasy and what isn't? Especially when the series has seen settings and stories that are fundamentally different to each other! In fact that only undermines the fact that Final Fantasy can mean different things to different people.
Squaresoft nor Square-Enix has never limited their franchise to such a narrow mindset as some of the fans have. As an individual everyone may feel free to not be thrilled about the setting of FFXV, but to say it isn't Final Fantasy to anyone but the individual him or herself is just incredibly arrogant.
I can almost guarantee the discourse wasn't any different back when FFVI (and later FFVII) came out, the first Final Fantasies that differed significantly from it's predecessors - that were anchored in medieval fantasy settings.
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
I think what is happening here is they are trying to find a new audience whilst using the FF brand to sell to the old school fans.The new generation of cars and fashion is what seems to be aiming for.
Square has imo ruined this franchise all because they got greedy and it started a few years ago in FFXI.There is no way they can blame Tanaka,i don't buy it,they have a hierarchy that gives orders and seeing what the board said a year ago really turned me off.
They sent out a memo to not be creative anymore but instead use ideas that sell,basically meaning copy everything from their brand and other game developers,instead of being creative.I said many years ago while playing FFXI that they used up too many ideas too fast and would burn out of ideas.Instead they should have moved slower and put more depth and tweak current systems.They already got it right with grouping and group mechanics they just needed more tweaks,more depth and add in some systems that were missing like mounts "aside from Chocobo" ,better housing ,better graphics and better physics.
The problem is that somewhere in their brass they did not and still do not belie they can make simple changes and still sell it,instead they figured that is only content that is "update worthy" and would not warrant brand new games.They already used up tons of classes,now what they do is just make new names but rehash all the same mechanics.
IMO it is the hierarchy that is ruining Square Enix,some big shots are greedy as heck and ruining the entire brand because of it.What made FFXI great is they used actual known Mythology and religeon,it made for plausible ideas and stuff gamer's could understand and relate to.Now it is like they just slap the FF title on their games and make some creature that looks like SIN and figure good enough.
If i was running Square Enix i would promote Tanaka to head cheese and demote the rest.The Fantasy genre is not dead it just needs a great producer with freedom to do it right.I don't wan't double jumps or Hoverboards nor pixel digging into the ground and i certainly do not need WOWish choppers or FF choppers,stick to the Fantasy genre and get back to making A1 games.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Originally posted by ElRenmazuo Are people forgetting Final Fantasy 7 and how amazing it was and still very final fantasy ish despite all the technology because that had cars and bikes too.
I know how popular FFVII was but it has always been the worst game in the series for me.That is because it is a wash of ideas,i prefer the old Tanaka stuff from FF3-5,t hat is what they used to make FFXI,the best game in the entire franchise.Best console form was FFX,then the ybegan cheapening their games with tons of cheap looking assets that had nothing to do with the game.If you are going to topss in some vegetable cart,don't bother,it means nothing to me,just a fake backdrop on the screen.
I think everyone knows what is lacking and that is depth and effort.I can point to just one idea that SHOULD have been in EVERY game by now.It is called world interaction,meaning everything in the world can be moved,manipulated or picked up and used.Developers are just too cheap and too lazy to do it right.
I am not buying into any more games selling me old tech with fancy cars or choppers or anything else cheesy.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Final Fantasy as we know it is dead. Somewhere along the line, developers abandoned fantasy and intrigue for Lincolns and high technology. Is the series better for it? Fans are clamoring for more after the reveal of the Final Fantasy XV trailer at this year’s Tokyo Games Show but our author isn’t so sure it spells good things for the franchise in the long term.
FF as a series, has been dying a cruel & painful death for YEARS now. This is just the final 'nail in the coffin', out of a list of final nails. Everyone has a different game, after which the series died. For me it was somewhere around FF8/FF9, though I also really enjoyed FFXI as an MMO.
Recently, SE seems obsessed with Lightning, who as a character is basically Cloud with boobs. So much so that they've made a game designed around playing dress-up with the character.
But realistically, to anyone who's been seeing what's been going on, this shouldn't be surprising. For years SE seems to have struggled with what they want to do w/ the franchise. They obviously want to make money. And they know that if they want to continue to do so they need to start making games for a younger market. However, by attempting to do so they also alienate the current fanbase for FF.
It's a tough spot to be in, and tbh, I think Square really needs to start looking at a 2ndary franchise. They've had some really amazing MMOs in the past that they just forgot about for some reason.
FF as a series, has been dying a cruel & painful death for YEARS now. This is just the final 'nail in the coffin', out of a list of final nails. Everyone has a different game, after which the series died. For me it was somewhere around FF8/FF9, though I also really enjoyed FFXI as an MMO.
It's a tough spot to be in, and tbh, I think Square really needs to start looking at a 2ndary franchise. They've had some really amazing MMOs in the past that they just forgot about for some reason.
Yeah, which is probably why every new trailer and/or news for FF15 receives massive hype in the communities. The TGS FFXV trailer has had over 3 million views since it's release a week ago. "Dead" franchises do not receive this much attention. The thirst is real.
It's funny that you think SE doesn't have a secondary franchise. Kingdom Hearts has not seen a mainline game in ages, but that doesn't mean it's not also widely popular and can easily be seen as their second franchise (along with Tomb Raider and Deus Ex).
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
we all change with time .we have to adapt to the new situation . or else we fail . same is with the games . i see nothing wrong with final fantasy 13 or final fantasy 15 .if it means disappointing small minority crowd .so be it .
Final Fantasy may be on the decline but that's got little to do with the setting. As their past games will show, a great story, memorable characters, and solid gameplay is what made the series so outstanding for so many years, not the window dressing.
The great thing about Final Fantasy games is they can take place in any place, any time, any type of technology or magic. The combat constantly evolves and yes, some games are hit or miss. Loved FFX, hated FFX-2. Loved FFVII, hated FFVIII loved FFVIIII. FFXIII was a pile of garbage. It was never the settings that I loved about the games, it was the stories and the characters. They could make a FF game that took place inside someone's colon and I'd still love it if the story and characters were great.
You never know what the next FF games will bring. I'm sure if every FF games that had come out since 7 played exactly like 7 people would be complaining about that as well.
Thankfully we can still replay all the other FF Games from <FFX. Bravery Default was extremely good, in my opinion. Seems JRPGs will only appear on Handhelds now, such a shame.
I'm glad I'm not the only one tired of this kind of hypocrisy. FFXV, like FFXIII and just about every other entry before it, will surely have its problems as Square Enix continuously changes the formula. And while I've had issues with lots of aspects of the games in the series (Nothing in the more recent games was as infuriating to me than FFVIII's Draw mechanic), I would never be so pompous as to declare the series ruined because I didn't care for them.
I really wish people could take the rose-colored glasses off long enough to realize that these more recent entires are any more of a divergence than what we've been getting from one game to the next since the beginning.
I don't have a problem with the setting. The Final Fantasy series has been exploring how fantasy transcends time periods for years. Steampunk, cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic, and so on have been touched on by the franchise. A true contemporary fantasy is well within bounds.
My problem is that what I've seen looks like the gameplay from the Batman Arkham games with some AI companions fighting alongside you.
I guess turn-based and pseudo-turn-based RPG encounters are dead?
Its the gameplay of kingdom hearts but more improved upon which has the same director and creator Nomura. He was also the character designer of majority of the classic final fantasy games including Final Fantasy 7.
Not anymore. Nomura already left FFXV to go back to finishing KH3.
FF as a series, has been dying a cruel & painful death for YEARS now. This is just the final 'nail in the coffin', out of a list of final nails. Everyone has a different game, after which the series died. For me it was somewhere around FF8/FF9, though I also really enjoyed FFXI as an MMO.
It's a tough spot to be in, and tbh, I think Square really needs to start looking at a 2ndary franchise. They've had some really amazing MMOs in the past that they just forgot about for some reason.
Yeah, which is probably why every new trailer and/or news for FF15 receives massive hype in the communities. The TGS FFXV trailer has had over 3 million views since it's release a week ago. "Dead" franchises do not receive this much attention. The thirst is real.
It's funny that you think SE doesn't have a secondary franchise. Kingdom Hearts has not seen a mainline game in ages, but that doesn't mean it's not also widely popular and can easily be seen as their second franchise (along with Tomb Raider and Deus Ex).
I also see a lot of people saying that it's been dying since around 8 or 9 when in reality all the games sold well up to 13. It was at that point that people really started in with the hole franchise is in a downward spiral. However with XIV , Bravely Default being out, new Kingdom Hearts, FFXV coming out, Tomb Raider and Deus Ex they are doing well and it shows in their financial reports.
FFXIV ARR alone is responsible for pulling them out the red last year. They were hemorrhaging money due to FFXIV's failure and closed a lot of previous projects because of it. While they aren't in the red anymore thanks mostly FFXIV ARR and now Bravely Default, it hardly means they're in the clear.
Each FF game is different; different story, different setting, etc. Granted, the last FF game that I actually liked was FFX (XII was a disaster and I never played XIII) but I may give XV a shot. The FF series has always been about the story and if the story is there in XV I'll play it for sure.
Aside from the weird side characters, i don't like that blonde screamer already and i only watched 2 minutes of gameplay, instead of the "funny guy" he seems more like the "annoying guy".
I'm glad I'm not the only one tired of this kind of hypocrisy. FFXV, like FFXIII and just about every other entry before it, will surely have its problems as Square Enix continuously changes the formula. And while I've had issues with lots of aspects of the games in the series (Nothing in the more recent games was as infuriating to me than FFVIII's Draw mechanic), I would never be so pompous as to declare the series ruined because I didn't care for them.
I really wish people could take the rose-colored glasses off long enough to realize that these more recent entires are any more of a divergence than what we've been getting from one game to the next since the beginning.
Agreed. However, for the terrible writer of this hack piece, that would require stepping back and examining what he said. The idea of the original Final Fantasy having deep characters or epic story is hilarious in the most pathetic of ways. The original story was a notch above generic, and serviceable enough to let four non-character sprites run around and whack and or singe things for however long it took to play and beat. As the series went on, and actually started to expand what it was doing, yes... Characters started to develop, better stories were involved, etc. etc. Yet that wasn't for a few titles afterwards however.
And trying to argue that not being turn based instantly means it isn't Final Fantasy is hilarious as well. The games have shifted towards a more active system even while turn-based (enemies attacking while you were making your choices, etc.), and to argue that the mechanics of the original FF isn't there moreso because what we saw there has been twisted or outright dropped well before 13 hit shelves. One Final Fantasy forced you to level stats up by abusing mechanics and battles to try and milk out stat gains, another had multiple jobs you could switch, others had characters locked into specific roles of varying styles (and inputs).
Final Fantasy wasn't started to be a franchise. It was one last desperate act by Squaresoft to stay afloat, and it just so happened to work shockingly well for them. They kept with the name, obviously, and built along with it a bit of... not exactly lore, but a definite set of terms that all apply to every game. Certain themes carry through, as does the more iconic creatures (mogs, chocobos, cactuar), and summons as well.
The most hilarious part of this schlock of a piece though? That he believes there was nothing of note at TGS aside from this. Unless he's too busy burying himself underneath his nostalgia, he missed a lot of interesting news. Last Guardian devs forming their own little indie game, more MGS5, Resident Evil news, more Persona, a spiritual successor to Clock Tower. All of which he conveniently ignored I bet just to whine about his thoughts on what he thinks a game should be. He couldn't even be arsed with that though it seemed since he had to cop out and use more than half the space in the article for other things.
I've played damn near every single Final Fantasy out there. If it came to America, I more than likely own it. The only game I haven't put more than 10-15 hours into would of been 11, since that was far too much a time commitment when it came out for me to ever really be interested. I liked some of what it did though, but that's it. And aside from that single game, I've enjoyed every one of them. 13 had its faults, serious ones at that, but I found it fun. 13-2 tried to fix those faults, succeeded for the most part but had some stumbling issues that held it back, and Lightning Returns? Fun as well. I've said the same about Final Fantasy 12 when it was hip and rad to hate on that, or 8 when people wanted to kick it for not being 7 or 9 what with its cumbersome draw/junction mechanics and slightly unrefined triple triad game.
Heck, I can even stand Tactics Advanced... Not much, but at least enough to acknowledge what all it does do well enough. It's no original flavor Tactics that's for sure, but that's far from a fault I can hold against it. I bet Mr. Coke would whine about Xenoblade (or Xenoblade X) not being anywhere worthy of having "Xeno" in the name simply because it isn't a sprite driven, turn based game where you hit buttons to make combos, then do the same thing when in a mech. Going so far as to ignore how... convoluted a mess that game's story could be at times.
Because I sure as hell remember that game. And despite how much love I have for it, you'd have to be a bigger idiot than this to try and tell me disc 2 of that game isn't a giant steamy ten ton turd of exposition shoved down your throat as soon as you put the disc in.
FF as a series, has been dying a cruel & painful death for YEARS now. This is just the final 'nail in the coffin', out of a list of final nails. Everyone has a different game, after which the series died. For me it was somewhere around FF8/FF9, though I also really enjoyed FFXI as an MMO.
It's a tough spot to be in, and tbh, I think Square really needs to start looking at a 2ndary franchise. They've had some really amazing MMOs in the past that they just forgot about for some reason.
Yeah, which is probably why every new trailer and/or news for FF15 receives massive hype in the communities. The TGS FFXV trailer has had over 3 million views since it's release a week ago. "Dead" franchises do not receive this much attention. The thirst is real.
It's funny that you think SE doesn't have a secondary franchise. Kingdom Hearts has not seen a mainline game in ages, but that doesn't mean it's not also widely popular and can easily be seen as their second franchise (along with Tomb Raider and Deus Ex).
I also see a lot of people saying that it's been dying since around 8 or 9 when in reality all the games sold well up to 13. It was at that point that people really started in with the hole franchise is in a downward spiral. However with XIV , Bravely Default being out, new Kingdom Hearts, FFXV coming out, Tomb Raider and Deus Ex they are doing well and it shows in their financial reports.
FFXIV ARR alone is responsible for pulling them out the red last year. They were hemorrhaging money due to FFXIV's failure and closed a lot of previous projects because of it. While they aren't in the red anymore thanks mostly FFXIV ARR and now Bravely Default, it hardly means they're in the clear.
Please list any company that is ever "in the clear" in this world where unless you constantly increase profits year over year you get annihilated? Even the best companies of today may be in ruins tomorrow. The struggle never ends. FFXV, FFXVI & KH3 doing well won't change this.
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
Final Fantasy hasnt been Final Fantasy since X/X2, in my humble opinion. And even those were really stretching.
FF has turned into what i generally can't stand about jrpg's, which is all the psuedo sci-fi / spiritual gaia earth hippy stuff. Now, don't get me wrong, if someone likes that, fine, good for them, but while early FF games did have elements, they were still fantasy games. Now, FF has literally 0 fantasy in it, its all exploding building, hippy robots and asexual characters.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
Comments
I've never seen more people whine about the setting of a story in my life.
For what it's worth it looks nice, however without actually having played the game, or seen any hands on reviews, it's impossible to know if the game handles well.
Questions left to be answered:
Is it clunky?
Are the load times awful?
How is Lightning going to be shoveled into this game?
Will the story suck more than Guild Wars 2's story?
How has the ignorant crowd not realized that FF8 is set in a world that is further technologically advanced than the entirety of Fabula Nova Crystallis branch of Final Fantasy?
Does anyone remember when the MMORPG website was the go to place for MMORPG information, both east and west?
All these question remain yet to be answered.
Non MMO FF has been dead since VIII (IX is the exception) to me. Unlikable characters, horrid and poorly written stories, George Lucas level bad dialogue, obtuse game systems... the list goes on. XV looks like it might be decent, but I'm not holding my breath.
I will say that I don't think it could possibly be worse than XIII though, since that was pretty much rock bottom for the series. No place to go but up at this point.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
I can't believe the arrogance of the author. Who is he to decide what is Final Fantasy and what isn't? Especially when the series has seen settings and stories that are fundamentally different to each other! In fact that only undermines the fact that Final Fantasy can mean different things to different people.
Squaresoft nor Square-Enix has never limited their franchise to such a narrow mindset as some of the fans have. As an individual everyone may feel free to not be thrilled about the setting of FFXV, but to say it isn't Final Fantasy to anyone but the individual him or herself is just incredibly arrogant.
I can almost guarantee the discourse wasn't any different back when FFVI (and later FFVII) came out, the first Final Fantasies that differed significantly from it's predecessors - that were anchored in medieval fantasy settings.
I think what is happening here is they are trying to find a new audience whilst using the FF brand to sell to the old school fans.The new generation of cars and fashion is what seems to be aiming for.
Square has imo ruined this franchise all because they got greedy and it started a few years ago in FFXI.There is no way they can blame Tanaka,i don't buy it,they have a hierarchy that gives orders and seeing what the board said a year ago really turned me off.
They sent out a memo to not be creative anymore but instead use ideas that sell,basically meaning copy everything from their brand and other game developers,instead of being creative.I said many years ago while playing FFXI that they used up too many ideas too fast and would burn out of ideas.Instead they should have moved slower and put more depth and tweak current systems.They already got it right with grouping and group mechanics they just needed more tweaks,more depth and add in some systems that were missing like mounts "aside from Chocobo" ,better housing ,better graphics and better physics.
The problem is that somewhere in their brass they did not and still do not belie they can make simple changes and still sell it,instead they figured that is only content that is "update worthy" and would not warrant brand new games.They already used up tons of classes,now what they do is just make new names but rehash all the same mechanics.
IMO it is the hierarchy that is ruining Square Enix,some big shots are greedy as heck and ruining the entire brand because of it.What made FFXI great is they used actual known Mythology and religeon,it made for plausible ideas and stuff gamer's could understand and relate to.Now it is like they just slap the FF title on their games and make some creature that looks like SIN and figure good enough.
If i was running Square Enix i would promote Tanaka to head cheese and demote the rest.The Fantasy genre is not dead it just needs a great producer with freedom to do it right.I don't wan't double jumps or Hoverboards nor pixel digging into the ground and i certainly do not need WOWish choppers or FF choppers,stick to the Fantasy genre and get back to making A1 games.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I know how popular FFVII was but it has always been the worst game in the series for me.That is because it is a wash of ideas,i prefer the old Tanaka stuff from FF3-5,t hat is what they used to make FFXI,the best game in the entire franchise.Best console form was FFX,then the ybegan cheapening their games with tons of cheap looking assets that had nothing to do with the game.If you are going to topss in some vegetable cart,don't bother,it means nothing to me,just a fake backdrop on the screen.
I think everyone knows what is lacking and that is depth and effort.I can point to just one idea that SHOULD have been in EVERY game by now.It is called world interaction,meaning everything in the world can be moved,manipulated or picked up and used.Developers are just too cheap and too lazy to do it right.
I am not buying into any more games selling me old tech with fancy cars or choppers or anything else cheesy.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
FF as a series, has been dying a cruel & painful death for YEARS now. This is just the final 'nail in the coffin', out of a list of final nails. Everyone has a different game, after which the series died. For me it was somewhere around FF8/FF9, though I also really enjoyed FFXI as an MMO.
Recently, SE seems obsessed with Lightning, who as a character is basically Cloud with boobs. So much so that they've made a game designed around playing dress-up with the character.
But realistically, to anyone who's been seeing what's been going on, this shouldn't be surprising. For years SE seems to have struggled with what they want to do w/ the franchise. They obviously want to make money. And they know that if they want to continue to do so they need to start making games for a younger market. However, by attempting to do so they also alienate the current fanbase for FF.
It's a tough spot to be in, and tbh, I think Square really needs to start looking at a 2ndary franchise. They've had some really amazing MMOs in the past that they just forgot about for some reason.
Yeah, which is probably why every new trailer and/or news for FF15 receives massive hype in the communities. The TGS FFXV trailer has had over 3 million views since it's release a week ago. "Dead" franchises do not receive this much attention. The thirst is real.
It's funny that you think SE doesn't have a secondary franchise. Kingdom Hearts has not seen a mainline game in ages, but that doesn't mean it's not also widely popular and can easily be seen as their second franchise (along with Tomb Raider and Deus Ex).
The great thing about Final Fantasy games is they can take place in any place, any time, any type of technology or magic. The combat constantly evolves and yes, some games are hit or miss. Loved FFX, hated FFX-2. Loved FFVII, hated FFVIII loved FFVIIII. FFXIII was a pile of garbage. It was never the settings that I loved about the games, it was the stories and the characters. They could make a FF game that took place inside someone's colon and I'd still love it if the story and characters were great.
You never know what the next FF games will bring. I'm sure if every FF games that had come out since 7 played exactly like 7 people would be complaining about that as well.
I really like the way FF15 is heading.
Finally doing away with the boring and archaic turn based combat and going for a more skill based action combat.
The setting is a non issue for me as you know not to expect anything less than crazy with FF games.
I haven't been this pumped for a FF ever, very keen to get my hands on it.
I'm glad I'm not the only one tired of this kind of hypocrisy. FFXV, like FFXIII and just about every other entry before it, will surely have its problems as Square Enix continuously changes the formula. And while I've had issues with lots of aspects of the games in the series (Nothing in the more recent games was as infuriating to me than FFVIII's Draw mechanic), I would never be so pompous as to declare the series ruined because I didn't care for them.
I really wish people could take the rose-colored glasses off long enough to realize that these more recent entires are any more of a divergence than what we've been getting from one game to the next since the beginning.
Not anymore. Nomura already left FFXV to go back to finishing KH3.
FFXIV ARR alone is responsible for pulling them out the red last year. They were hemorrhaging money due to FFXIV's failure and closed a lot of previous projects because of it. While they aren't in the red anymore thanks mostly FFXIV ARR and now Bravely Default, it hardly means they're in the clear.
Aside from the weird side characters, i don't like that blonde screamer already and i only watched 2 minutes of gameplay, instead of the "funny guy" he seems more like the "annoying guy".
I quite enjoyed the gameplay video.
Agreed. However, for the terrible writer of this hack piece, that would require stepping back and examining what he said. The idea of the original Final Fantasy having deep characters or epic story is hilarious in the most pathetic of ways. The original story was a notch above generic, and serviceable enough to let four non-character sprites run around and whack and or singe things for however long it took to play and beat. As the series went on, and actually started to expand what it was doing, yes... Characters started to develop, better stories were involved, etc. etc. Yet that wasn't for a few titles afterwards however.
And trying to argue that not being turn based instantly means it isn't Final Fantasy is hilarious as well. The games have shifted towards a more active system even while turn-based (enemies attacking while you were making your choices, etc.), and to argue that the mechanics of the original FF isn't there moreso because what we saw there has been twisted or outright dropped well before 13 hit shelves. One Final Fantasy forced you to level stats up by abusing mechanics and battles to try and milk out stat gains, another had multiple jobs you could switch, others had characters locked into specific roles of varying styles (and inputs).
Final Fantasy wasn't started to be a franchise. It was one last desperate act by Squaresoft to stay afloat, and it just so happened to work shockingly well for them. They kept with the name, obviously, and built along with it a bit of... not exactly lore, but a definite set of terms that all apply to every game. Certain themes carry through, as does the more iconic creatures (mogs, chocobos, cactuar), and summons as well.
The most hilarious part of this schlock of a piece though? That he believes there was nothing of note at TGS aside from this. Unless he's too busy burying himself underneath his nostalgia, he missed a lot of interesting news. Last Guardian devs forming their own little indie game, more MGS5, Resident Evil news, more Persona, a spiritual successor to Clock Tower. All of which he conveniently ignored I bet just to whine about his thoughts on what he thinks a game should be. He couldn't even be arsed with that though it seemed since he had to cop out and use more than half the space in the article for other things.
I've played damn near every single Final Fantasy out there. If it came to America, I more than likely own it. The only game I haven't put more than 10-15 hours into would of been 11, since that was far too much a time commitment when it came out for me to ever really be interested. I liked some of what it did though, but that's it. And aside from that single game, I've enjoyed every one of them. 13 had its faults, serious ones at that, but I found it fun. 13-2 tried to fix those faults, succeeded for the most part but had some stumbling issues that held it back, and Lightning Returns? Fun as well. I've said the same about Final Fantasy 12 when it was hip and rad to hate on that, or 8 when people wanted to kick it for not being 7 or 9 what with its cumbersome draw/junction mechanics and slightly unrefined triple triad game.
Heck, I can even stand Tactics Advanced... Not much, but at least enough to acknowledge what all it does do well enough. It's no original flavor Tactics that's for sure, but that's far from a fault I can hold against it. I bet Mr. Coke would whine about Xenoblade (or Xenoblade X) not being anywhere worthy of having "Xeno" in the name simply because it isn't a sprite driven, turn based game where you hit buttons to make combos, then do the same thing when in a mech. Going so far as to ignore how... convoluted a mess that game's story could be at times.
Because I sure as hell remember that game. And despite how much love I have for it, you'd have to be a bigger idiot than this to try and tell me disc 2 of that game isn't a giant steamy ten ton turd of exposition shoved down your throat as soon as you put the disc in.
Please list any company that is ever "in the clear" in this world where unless you constantly increase profits year over year you get annihilated? Even the best companies of today may be in ruins tomorrow. The struggle never ends. FFXV, FFXVI & KH3 doing well won't change this.
It's pretty silly to keep arguing about something that amounts greatly to personal preferences.
Some love X, some hate it.
Some look nostalgically at VI and lower.
Some think VII was the pinnacle. Etc., etc.
Fact is, the company keeps pumping out interesting RPGs and each and every one is beloved by a certain group more than another.
Had it not been so, we wouldn't have seen so many sequels to X and XIII alone.
Lightning was more popular than I ever could have anticipated though.
FFXV is finally coming! I cannot freaking wait. I mean geez, the Versus trailer was 5 years ago!!!
Final Fantasy Versus XIII Trailer
I'm glad OP said it.
Final Fantasy hasnt been Final Fantasy since X/X2, in my humble opinion. And even those were really stretching.
FF has turned into what i generally can't stand about jrpg's, which is all the psuedo sci-fi / spiritual gaia earth hippy stuff. Now, don't get me wrong, if someone likes that, fine, good for them, but while early FF games did have elements, they were still fantasy games. Now, FF has literally 0 fantasy in it, its all exploding building, hippy robots and asexual characters.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche