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The Final Days of Final Fantasy
An anonymous reader writes "Could the Final Fantasy series have finally come to an end? About.com's Adrien-Luc Sanders thinks so in his article The Final Days of Final Fantasy. I'm sure many people here remember Final Fantasy VII and how it helped Sony win the console market away from Nintendo. The article contends that Final Fantasy's glory days are over, that with the release of Final Fantasy X-2, the underwhelming EverQuest clone Final Fantasy XI, and the much-delayed Final Fantasy XII (finally confirmed for a 2006 US release), we've effectively seen the end of Final Fantasy. Is it time for Square-Enix to give up on Final Fantasy?"
With the huge success of FFXI and the continued sales, I don't think final fantasy is going anywhere. Why would a series still making a large ammount of money for them be canned?
I, like many others, I'm sure, have enjoyed many hundreds (possibly thousands) of hours of Final Fantasy over the years...replaying them time and time again. However - and this is barely arguable - it's all been downhill ever since FFVI. I would like to see SqareEnix branch out and truly deliver on the innovation that should have been bourne out of their union...but, as with the Star Wars franchise, I'm sure they will continue to go back to the little black box that gives them two dollars for ever quarter they put in.
"How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
Final Fantasy can not realy end , its non sequential and the games are just difrent RPGs with a commen evolving system. .
I am not a major FF fan but i do enjoy the games , honestly its just a small dip which hapens to anything long running
I never take Death reports/predictions in the Tech industry to seriously.
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Throwing around pointless doom-and-gloom predictions when the next sequel to the franchise is still highly anticipated deserves an anti-award.
Even if SE completely abandons offline games they will still paste the Final Fantasy name on their games, though I expect to see a Dragon Warrior MMO before the next MMO FF.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
That's like saying that the end is near for Nintendo's Mario/Zelda/Metroid, or Polyphany's Gran Turismo. It doesn't matter whether the quality dips or rises across the series or console generations... In marketing class if I learned anything, if your product is in "Cash Cow" corner, you hold on to it. As long as people keep paying for Mortal Kombat, Midway is going to keep turning the crank and popping them out.
//Nothing to see here, please move along.
Nope. Not gonna happen.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
You really think they're gonna end their cash cow series? Honestly, the FF series looks to be more interesting than ever, now that they shifted developers. I was really burnt out on FF8-X2, but now it looks to bring interesting gameplay to the plate and not just have a bunch of fancy cinemas with androgenous leads.
the answer is a resounding no. However, they need to go back to what made it so special in the past. That is, back off of the convoluted plot, the rediculous looking and uninteresting characters, and the complicated and boring skills systems. Instead, bring back the spirit of adventure. Those that have played it will remember the magic of getting to finally pilot the air ship in FFIV, where you could FINALLY go over mountains and such, and visit those remote places in the overworld. It was the gameplay, the original and loveable characters (even characters we may idolize to some extent... it'd be nice to be as cool as Locke) that makes FFIV and FFVI the best in the series for so many of us.
SquareEnix needs to take a step back and return to its roots. FFIX was a step in the right direction, if you ask me. FFX was a supreme dissapointment, and FFXII looks to be much of the same. A gorgeous soundtrack will only take you so far.
We have a long running series, the next release, while late, is still highly anticipated by fans, the last release is still played by hundreds of thousands of people around the world and it makes Square-Enix a ton of money.
Yep, its time to call Final Fantasy dead.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Final Fantasy VII came out when I was in high school, back when the only exposure that I had to video games (due to a sheltered life and a technophobic parental unit) was an extremely old SuperNintendo system with Mario 2that I got when I was...five, maybe?
.... that Final Fantasy is dead. Wuhzuh? How does that make sense, in a money making sense? Last I checked, people are drooling on themselves for the FF7 spinoffs and FFX-2 made money. I personally liked FFX-2... More than FFX, even. FFX-2 was a lot more fun than FFX.... I believe this is just a fanboy that doesn't like the way the series is going. I can't say I blame him on the account of the 4 thousand FF7 spinoffs and FFXI, but.... The series is probably not dead any time soon.
Sorta off topic, but... wow. I'm wondering if he meant NES or SNES... The game and age make me think NES, though.
The pinnacle of Final Fantasy was when all of the development was focused on the main lineage and the occasional Tactics or Crystal Chronicles were a nice side diversion that had nothing to do with the main storylines.
Since when did the FF games have a main storyline, anyway?
On topic now....
His entire arguement is that because he didn't like FFX-2 and FFXI, and that because Square is making a few sequals
Square-Enix declares that About.com's Adrien-Luc Sanders' days are about over.
Sounds just about as plausible, which is to say not at all
But then again, chances are About.com or at least Mr Sanders will be gone long before Final Fantasy is.
http://www.mmogchart.com/
a in_job.html
last valid datapoint (550k) was before WoW came out.. however:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/event/survey/02m
suggests that there are still around 500k accounts active in the game, as of March.
what this means is, until WoW came along, FF11 was one of *the largest* MMOs in the world (behind RO, Seal, Lineage, L2, and a few other korean MMOs that count subscribers in different ways).
It might've been an underwhelming experience to play (level downs, annoying mechanics, huge amounts of downtime when rezzing, etc) but the game itself was an overwhelming success.
There's an interesting debate to be had about the future of the franchise, but sadly, this won't be the article to spark it off.
The author's main problem is that he didn't like FFXI or FFX-2. As far as I'm concerned, that's his problem. Far from being a failure, FFXI still has a commanding position in terms of the size of its user-base. Last I saw, it was only behind WoW and the Korean MMORPGs (for which figures should be treated with a degree of caution due to the methodology used to count players there). Indeed, before the release of WoW, it had been the biggest MMORPG played outside of Korea for quite a while. User figures have been steady for a long time, with the release of WoW not making any significant dent. In the highly competative, dog-eat-dog world of MMORPG publishing, I'd call that a resounding success, rather than a harbinger of doom.
FFX-2 has always been contraversial among Final Fantasy fans. I'll admit that it's never been my favorite installment in the series (this would be FFX - and yes, I've played the whole "main" series, including FF6). However, this isn't to say it's without merit. In many ways, it's a return to more traditional gameplay, with a much steeper difficulty curve than other recent games in the series and a job-based character system. If you approach it without expecting it to be "more of the same" from FFX, then it's actually a very good RPG. A lot of tormented, gothy Final Fantasy fans felt they had to dislike FFX-2 out of principle, because it's actually quite upbeat. Personally, I'm secure enough that I can play a game like this without it making me "doubt my masculinity" (author's words).
The most significant issue the author raises, in my view, is the wait for FFXII. This has certainly been longer than I expected. However, I think this is largely a reflection of the fact that development times and costs have risen, to match customer expectations. When you completely rework your graphical engine, combat system and game world for each installment of your series, you can't be expected to stick to a Madden-style production schedule. At any rate, I'll reserve judgement on FFXII until I can actually play it.
Bleh... this guy didn't grow up with Final Fantasy like I did. I remember sitting in my 4th grade classroom, reading the Nintendo Power Final Fantasy strategy guide for silent reading time, then trading my Super GameBoy and some games to a classmate in 8th grade so I could get my hands on the coveted Final Fantasy III (6j) since none of the rental stores carried it.
I remember saving allowance money for months to afford Dragon Warrior IV, with its hefty 59.99 price tag from Toys R Us...
I played the heck out of these games, and cannot say the same about the 'next gen' iterations (Dragon Warrior VII as an exception, but just because the game is so damn long, and seemed to hold my attention)
I don't think the problem is that Square-Enix is stagnating... I think it's getting increasingly more difficult to hold the gamer's attention who grew up with these games. I remember crying when Celes lept off the cliff in FFIII (FF6), but the famous 'death of Aerith' in FFVII completely failed to evoke the same reaction. It was too predicted, and scripted... though the music was tear-jerking.
Anyway, I don't think the games are going anywhere. Square-Enix needs to reach harder into the younger market though, and bring in new fans to the series.
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Considering that the last good FF was FFVI and that this guy started playing the series with FFVII, it's pretty obvious he has no idea of what is going on.
Score:-1, FFlamebait MXIII
Just because he didn't like FFX2 and FFXI doesn't mean that it's all over for Square/Enix. I personally haven't been able to get exited about any FF game since VIII, but does that mean that I won't spend my hard earned rent money on FFXII when it comes out? Not a chance!
Since the first FF came out, I have been a huge fan on Square and this bozo will NOT be the doomsayer that brings it all down around Square/Enix's ears. I'll be out there, supporting my favorite RPG maker by spending my money, until they DO go under.
It's more likely that we'll all be riding to work on the back of Chocobos before that happens though.
Stupid people hurt my head.
No.
But I'm just glad this isn't another "Nintendo is doomed" stories.
I'm one of the RPG curmudgeons that learned early on what an RPG is supposed to be, so think that anything that doesn't fit that mold is automatically junk. I'd love to see them take a step back and create a newer prettier FFI, but I realize that perhaps the more sophisticated gamers of today might not want that. My hope is they do both.
The meek shall inherit the earth, in 3 by 6 plots. - Lazerus Long
His whole argument is that he didn't like Final Fantasy X-2, and therefore Final Fantasy Is Dead.
And golly gosh, what is the reason? It must be Enix because the merger happened around the time that FFX-2 sucked. You want some real evidence? Come on, he's busy trying to make a point here!
But maybe this is just the current state of affairs for Video Game Op-Ed.
I'm not going to pull any "more retro than thou" shit, but come ON man! The graphics and voice-overs made this game better than any of the previous 9, which featured better combat systems, better magic systems, better inventory management, non-linear exploration, better characters, and a more interesting background story?
If better graphics and voice overs are what make Final Fantasy great in your book, I suspect this series will just get "better" and "better" for you. The rest of us just wish Square|Enix would have a little faith in us, and give us a challenging story and a world and inventory system we can freely explore and exploit (jobs, materia, i don't care, anything is better than that stupid parcheesi board in FFX), instead of running around on rails.
I dont think Final Fantasy is going anywhere, as there are too many rabid fans of Square-Enix.
It doesnt matter that for years there have been superior RPGs on the market, the latest Final Fantasy is always better in their eyes. Hell, Square-Enix knows this already. Why make a TRUE Chrono Trigger sequel or finish another RPG of a different name (Xenogears) when they could divert most of their time and effort to Final Fantasy? They did the latter and it has done nothing but paid off for them.
Personally, I gave up after I realized I loved 7 so much solely because it was 3d and all shiny. I have since played 4, 6, and Chrono Trigger more times than I can remember (on my real SFC, no emulators).
It's not going to happen, though it probably should. Final Fantasy has been on a downhill slide ever since that soap-opera mistakenly named Final Fantasy VIII.
I was a huge Final Fantasy fan, and am still an avid fan of the older games. But I no longer care about any FF after FFT, which was definitely the best of the series. FF7 seemed to suggest that Square could enter the 3D era without completely screwing their games up by over-dramaticizing plot and over-emphasizing graphics. FF8 proved that suggestion wrong. The final straw was FFX-2, which I didn't even buy(unheard of for me for an FF game - I own them all) because the mere existence of it made me want to hit someone.
That article hit the problem right on - Square has turned its attention from making NEW good games to make money, to trying to leech off of existing markets - thus not spending as much and not working as hard, but still making money. Why bother making a completely new game when you can make a FFX sequel with scantily-clad females? Why bother making original games when you could just make 38740395 variants of FF7?
And now we had to wait for years for FFXII. I'll probably buy it - but if this one's not good, I'm not going to buy another FF again.
While I do feel the FF line is over-saturated, now branching off into cellphone games that really don't interest me, I don't think it's time to just put it away and forget about it. Granted, I wasn't a fan of every installment (I hated the system on VIII, though the cinematics kept me going as long as I did.) I always found the storylines intriguing, not to mention the settings and art. Even if I didn't like the game, I put up with it as much as I could just to further the plot or immerse myself in new environments. FFX-2 was more of an expansion pack than a sequel, and FFXI, while entertaining, was, for the casual gamer, boring and frustrating. If FFXII can be as well-thought out and written as FFVII, then it does not necessarily mean that the series should end, just that there should be a significant amount of thought and creativity put into future volumes. No more -2 sequels, no more rehashing storylines. Make it interesting, make it beautiful, make it fun, and the fans will make it a hit.
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
Lower that bitch into the ground.
square will NEVER decomission its flagship product.
like he said, the last few have not been good... its just a stage.
Hopefully, like some people said that after VI, the series has declined, after this bad spell the series will improve
By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
I dont know about you guys, but the "main stream" of final fantasy started to stagnate right after 7.
;p
The spinoffs seemed to get more interesting, I spent countless hours playing tactics and tactics advanced, and my friends and I cant get enough of crystal chronicles for the cube (its great once you finally get into the story in year 5.)
Well I could get into a rant, but I'm supposed to be working
Oh crap, I'm on fire again.
"Final Fantasy, in fact, was what got me into computer animation and sent me haring off to art school; Final Fantasy VII came out when I was in high school, back when the only exposure that I had to video games (due to a sheltered life and a technophobic parental unit) was an extremely old SuperNintendo system with Mario 2 that I got when I was...five, maybe?"
He had the same video game system from the time he was five until high school (what? 9 years at the least) and in that 9+ years he can't even get the name of the game or the system he owned correct? Was it Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo or was it Super Mario 2 for the NES? I'm being anal but that was enough to make him sound like my mother or father do when they describe every video game system I own as a Nintendo.
My Xbox Live Gamer Card
The answer is No. In fact, the quality is remaining quite high. Like it or not, the lowest points in the series are from a LONG time ago.
The thing is, that the FF team are VERY ambitious when it comes to what they do. They make very wide changes for every game. Trying new things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So I don't blame them for the misses. The harder you throw the more you can miss. But for the misses...and most of them were oh so close....
2J:A very clumsy level up system. Just didn't work at all. The biggest miss.
6:Yes, you heard me right. A wonderful game that fell apart for the second half of the game. The fact that the game is so wonderful for the rest of it makes it even more painful.
8:A broken combat system made most of the game a timewasting chore. (You can convert Tents to Curegas which you can junction for a near invincible amount of HP through most of the game)
X-2:A wonderful combat system, and the episodic nature of it..but yet...
Ok I'll be frank. The tone of the game was wrong. It tried to be light and airy, but frankly, it was just painful. It was too depressing. After playing through X, (best story of any of the games), watching the hidden depression of Yuna was WAY too much. way way WAY too much.
But I liked that X played like a pilgramage. It worked for that game. It felt way more personal than any other game in the series. As well, I liked the micro-level ups.
And theres Advent Children due out in september, a FF7 sidestory game for psp and one for ps2. FF is far from dead.
Yup. Is gonna happen.
A B A C A B B
I only think it's been downhill since Final Fantasy IX. I know most people don't agree with me, but I think that IX stands alongside VI as one of the the best actual Final Fantasy games ever made.
I say "actual Final Fantasy games" because Final Fantasy Tactics and FFT: Advance were both great games (I still play FFT on my PS1 constantly), but more side-games than anything else, brilliant as they may be.
OFFTOPIC: By the way, am I the only person who doesn't have problem with the new "confirm you're not a script" thing?
"Think you can take me? Go ahead on. It's your move." --Joe Don Baker in Final Justice
died after 5/6.
fmv and pointless 3d + the teenie bopper soap operas = dead.
fair well, i hardly knew ye.
Science : Proprietary , Knowledge : Open Source
Nah...
While I may not like its incarnations after FFVII (the best was FFVI), I find the games innovating and charming. They always put some weirdo new magic system, and they always have some convoluted history. This, together with great graphics in new consoles, will keep it alive.
The problem I see, is that FFVIII, FFX and FFX-2 have been love histories above anything else, which may have alienated their core fan base. Same thing with FFXI, which wasn't everybody's coup of tea. But FFXII is being developed by the guys that made FF Tactics (AFAIK), so I expect big things of it.
I guess that the lack of Hironobu Sakaguchi at the helm made the series a little different from what we had used to expect. We will have to see his work in Mistwalker to see if he was the magic behind FF.
I would expect that as the Game industry moves toward being more like teh movie industry that a new DIRECTOR will pick up the franchise and remake all the games with a different slant on the story. Perhaps darker or more developed in story. Perhaps a new fresh take on the series will be a refreshing trend in gaming. Mods are popular as you can take an existing game engine and modify it, why not take the game as a whole and remake it? I'll be more then happy to take wither Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy and remake em, it's would be fun as a fan to take his childhood games and apply his adult life to it and re-introduce it to the fans geared towards their current age.
Perhaps "Final Fantasy: 2nd Generation" is due. It's been done for He-man, Transformers, and countless franchises to re-introduce the series to a new generation of fans, why not re-introduce it in a updated format to the orginal generation.
Current Remakes of movies off the top of my head (not measuring quality here)
The Avengers
Incredible Hulk
Zorro (Too many to count)
Robin Hood
Oceans 11
Batman
The Manchurian Canidate
Just off the top of my head.
Why not pass the torch to a new "Director" and take the franchise and re-do it with a new vision and style.
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
The current generation of gamers views Final Fantasy the way many geeks view star wars. They played them when they were little and view with nostalgia everything about the past games giving the series no room to evolve.
Personally, I liked a lot of the games in different ways. I loved the skill system and difficulty of FF5. The freedom to choose characters in FF1 added diversity and replayability. FF6's system allowed both customizability and uniqueness to each character. FF8 had the worst ability system of almost any game I've played which is entirely what made it a bad game (the plot actually wasn't too bad).
Plot-wise, I thought FF4 fell flat on its face in many respects. The entire storyline was based on "We must find the last crystal" and then later finding out it wasn't really the last crystal after all through a contrived plot "twist". The plot of FFX (gather all the summons) was very similar in many respects (and I thought it too sucked).
Plot-wise FF7 or FF Tactics anyday. I want a good plotline with twists that can be a little confusing at times but provides the player with a clear direction as where to go next from a gameplay standpoint.
What would I like to see is a new Square RPG with an original ability system, an original plot, and original characters. I don't want them to become the Disney of RPGs and continue to make FFX-2 just like the Lion King 1 1/2 or Alladin 2. I want them to innovate. If they make another god-awful ability system like FF8, I'd actually rather have that than the recycled/very limiting (FF9).
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Everyone has to have an opinion on a series so large, old and involved. I thought I would hate X, because I want real, freakin' medieval settings.
Then I played it.
The plot was a good as any writing, really. It blew me away. I always thought VII was a little hammy- and VI was the best in my mind, but now X is better, no doubt.
But she's right, the franchise is in trouble. It's getting too convoluted with different platforms, spin-offs, etc. AND there's a conflict of interest with the Enix part of Square Enix. We probably don't have XII yet, because no one is in a hurry with Dragon Warrior still selling. We can expect longer waits between releases, no doubt, and while I can't wait for the first FF on PS3, I'm no longer excited about the series.
They should take FFI-whatever # it was when they were 2d or 1d, whatever, and make them into 3d realms. I'd enjoy looking at the city of Elfheim(sp) from FFI, or the castles they had in that game, as well as the bosses. The drawings they use for those games is nice as well, and I think they should incorporate those into the games. I'd really enjoy a 3d version of FFTactics, complete with the tactic system is has now, same world too. I know FFXII is going to be that world, but it's not the same game, and that is the ugly part. I love FFTA, but put that into a 3d world and it'll be even better.
Flat Screen TV for F
Final Fantasy is just a name anyway. As far as I can tell, the stories don't necessarily follow on from each other - and in some cases the gameplay isn't an evolution from the prequel. So, why is it so hard to imagine that another FF game will be released. New story, new characters, new gameplay. Hey, it'll be like a new game - only with Final Fantasy tattooed across the box.
My Mind Is Rewired. Is Yours?
with Sakaguchi gone, this new guy (who did Vagrant Story I believe) is going to turn FF into something completely different from what it has been. Add to that the fact that numerous sources (including EGM) have been reporting internal development problems with FFXII for some time now, It seems the Final Fantasy as people once knew it is over now. Even Umatsua and Amano have moved on.
And I KNOW I'm not the only one getting tired of Nomura's increasingly girlish and fruity male character designs. You all know what I mean.
Final Days? FFXI has more active subscribers than any American MMO, save WoW. I don't think they did too bad on that one.
How do you kill an idea? How do you kill a name? There's no connection between (most) Final Fantasy games and what came before them, plot or mechanics wise, so how can newer ones be dragged down by older ones? The developers of any new Final Fantasy games are totally free to rock or suck on their own terms.
The fact that the comment thread is all about past Final Fantasies rather than future ones says a lot about how discussion worthy the original news post was. 'Death of Final Fantasy Predicted, Internet to Follow Shortly' *rolls eyes*
Web journalist ____
a.-Picks up "hyped" product and dislikes it after playing it for 3 seconds. and since He is not sept off his feet and has a HUGE opinion about himself as a gamer this spells doom for any item. (regardless is a world wide top seller)
b.-Notices someone didnt bought it in the first attempt, considering geeks should be killing each other, over X item this spells "D O O M" for the product.
c.-Teen relative drops a acid/derrogatory remark on the product. Teen angst: the undeniable sign of doom!
d.-Has nothing better to do.
Determines the product is going to die, like a pup with terminal testicle cancer. Creates long pointless, speculative article with a catchy title on why and gets it published on the net.
The article gets slashdotted.
Geeks, read and realize is a pointless, speculative (with a catchy title though) in 3 nanoseconds, instead of walking away and letting the article die, they deploy a huge comment explaining in quirurgical detail why every single aspect of the article is speculative and pointless.( A few of them in order to raise some flames agree to the article).
The slashdotted pointless, useless articles, receives 300+ comments.
The next time the moderator reads another "X product doom" article, remembers "hey! the last time I posted something like this got a huge response! Im so slashdotting this baby!"
Repeat, cleanse, rinse.
And yes I know I contributed with this to the damn "doomed" cycle.
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
...but were Square-Enix to remake any (particularly FFVI) of the 2d FF games, I would surely be a fan of theirs again.
Imagine the World of Light being torn in half shown using some modern graphics engine, while set to a fully-orchestrated version of the original score.
Remake the classics, new stuff obviously isnt their strength any more.
Let's not forget FFXI of course which has its 3rd expansion pack under development, record subscription rate, and high popularity.
Not to mention promise of Final Fantasy on every major next-generation platform and handheld.
So doomed they're even making another movie, the way it should have been the first time.
Yes, I'd say Final Fantasy certainly has nothing going for it anymore. ;-P
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
FF VIII started the trend of romance between the two main heroes being a major part of the plot. But they never did it right, it was never a Han Solo/Princess Leia romance. The male hero was always moody and emotional and the female lead was even more pathetic.
Consider Cloud in VII: in the beginning, he explains the battle systems to you, bragging about how he prefers the more difficult modes. He's a total badass, even when his big-ass sword is sheathed. Cloud would crush the VIII-X girly-man heroes, steal their women, and not think twice about it.
That's why the later FFs are less appealing, though you don't consciously think about it. The whole point of an RPG is to see yourself as the hero. So do you look forward to being an emotional, whipped pretty-boy who spends long amounts of time brooding and agonizing over a difficult relationship with a pathetic woman? Probably not. Personally, I'd rather be a silent protaganist.
So my hope is that FF XII will give us a badass hero, so I can really look forward to spending some time in his shoes. Maybe I'll run into a woman here or there, but she won't mean too much. Unfortunately, I don't think this is likely, but we'll see.
Square(and SE) have consistantly tried something new. 8 was not 7, 9 was an old school title, X was defining, and X-2 was fanservice. Beelieve it or not, I know a number of people who LOVE X-2 (and hate every other game made by SE.) It's just that the obsessive compulsive gothy types who complain about everything oin their blogs griped about it. Guess what? Those other few hundred thousand voices you don't hear? Satisfied Gamers.
Whether they like it or not, the author should get used to seing FF for a good long time. Although I really don't approve of the milking of 7, its generated a good deal of buzz. And 12 looks awesome.
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
First you bring up the dog-eating MMORPG publishing market and then you exclude Korean games?
Don't get me wrong, I love the series. But Final Fantasy 8 really made me think it's time for it to take a Star Trek-esque nap for a while. Every time I hear Squeenix pipe up about a new Final Fantasy game now, I'm no longer intrigued and rushing out to find out all the information I can about it. I cringe at the thought of another by-the-numbers game featuring the same old combat dynamic, regurgitated storyline and societal overdesign.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
First, I have to say that I've played every FF I've been able to find, except X-2 and XI.
;-P)
I really do appreciate and enjoy Square's history of making each FF game different from the game before, but I don't play online games (I have a family) and I can't buy fanservice games (I have a wife
(Actually, the thing I don't think I could stand is my son making comments while I'm trying to find just the right outfit to wear into battle...)
Anyway, FF isn't a series, like LOTR or Star Wars, it's a brand, like Dreamworks or Pixar. As long as there are new story lines, there is room for new FF games.
The only thing I hold against Square is that boring movie. What were they thinking?
Clear, Dark Skies
Could the Final Fantasy series have finally come to an end?
But... with Final Fantasy gone, what game series will continue to define "dead horse" oh so well??
Maybe he means the final days of the good final fantasy games. ;)
I was like many of you: sick of Final Fantasy, after FFX (which, admittedly was better than what I consider the worst in the series, VIII). So much so that I decided not to pay attention to the hyped surrounding FFXII (as an MMO, XI didn't appeal to me anyway). I did, however, enjoy Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (my loss of interest in FF helped me find more tactical RPGS, a la FFTA, Disgaea, and others).
And then the info on FFXII started coming out. Set in the same world as FFTA it has moogles, airships, chocobos, swords - a lot of what has been lacking in the recent FF games.
Now, I'm not betting the farm on this game and I'm not buying it at release - there's too much room for the game to suck (plus S-E still needs to release games with the Japanese audio tracks over here). But I am paying attention.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
They used FFVIII as a tech demo for the PS2.
And we all remember the FFVIII remake...
To me, and to most of my friends who have similarly been playing since before most of us agree it went "mass market," Final Fantasy was done some years ago. But with their impressive visuals and trashy teen romance plotlines, Squenix is well aware that if they make a Final Fantasy game, ridiculous amounts of people will buy it. Many of today's gamers consider FF one of the defining standards of RPGs, if not the entire industry.
And if there's money, they'll make it. An ironic twist of fate I think considering the series' beginning.
Glog!
The reason online game play sucked in FF11 is that its a new genre. Give it 10-30 years and online play will be so sickenly addictive it will be used in methodone clinics.
God spoke to me.
FFX-2 may not have been what people would have expected from a Final Fantasy game, but it's a fun game. It has a good battle system, a pretty cool job system, and a lot of variety in gameplay.
.. it uses the traditional Active Time Battle system, as opposed to FFX's turn-based system, and it's extremely non-linear .. about as far from FFX's linear progression as you can get. (I think they went too far here ... I like my games to be at least somewhat linear. Actually, I think most people prefer games with a fairly high degree of linearity, even if they think otherwise. Perhaps FFX vs. FFX-2 will help people realize this.)
.. I'm only halfway through) but I don't think it's supposed to be .. that's what FFX was after all. FFX-2 is just supposed to be fun. And trust me.. if you start playing the game right after you finish FFX (as I did .. I just finished FFX earlier this month, and then went out and bought FFX-2 right away) it's a nice break from the big story of FFX and it's non-"happy ever after" ending. Yuna was my favorite character in FFX (Tidus can get to be a bit annoying, actually) and it's nice to see how her character develops after she saves Spira.
.. well, if you don't like Yuna, then that's too bad. She was my favorite character (by far) in FFX, but not everyone will agree. But it's pretty clear that she and Tidus were both considered by Square to be the main characters in FFX (all of the early promotional material made it clear that Tidus and Yuna were both considered to be the main characters) but FFX was Tidus's story (although obviously Yuna played a large part) so now Square is telling Yuna's story.
.. at which point she mostly just let Tidus decide what to do. In FFX-2 she is forced to decide for herself what to do (as her previous training is rather pointless now) and we really get to see her character grow in this story. I really like the way Square has handled this, giving Yuna a chance to have her own story. I think the lack of male player-controlled characters is important in allowing Yuna to do her own thing. If a dominant male character were around, she might be tempted to just let him control things as a Tidus substitute.
It addresses a few shortcomings in FFX
The minigames are pretty fun, and for the most part you don't have to complete them. (Unless you want that perfect ending, but I'm content to just read the dialog from the extra scenes on gamefaqs)
The story in FFX-2 isn't a big epic story (at least not yet
The people who hate FFX-2 mostly fall into three groups: those who can't stand playing any game with female protagonists, those who don't want a "lighthearted" FF game, and those who don't like Yuna.
We can ignore the sexually-insecure teenagers who can't handle playing a game with female characters. They'll hopefully grow up someday.
The second group needs to realize that a) they don't have to play the game if they don't want to play it and b) this wasn't intended to be a standard FF game (which is why it has that funky X-2 name instead of being XII or whatever).
The third group
In FFX we were able to watch Tidus grow and develop emotionally, coming to understand his father and himself, as he made the hard choices which were necessary to save Spira. Yuna was mostly just doing what she had been trained to do, and didn't really start to consider other options for her life until pretty far into the story
Now I must admit, I would have liked to see something a bit more similar to FFX in terms of the basic game structure (because I am not a big fan of minigames, and I prefer a more linear story) but I really enjoy FFX-2. I like the whole girl power thing, and Square's decision to have a cheesy Charlie's Angles type of attitude. The only thing I'd change would be to make it more linear and with fewer minigames. I find the cheesy humor to be a wonderful break fro
-- Tim Buchheim
I have been a fan of the FF series since its inception. Yes there have been a number of great titles in the series. But what I've noticed as a steady trend, with IX being the only exception (I Haven't played X-2 or XI so I can't speak about those). Is that ever since the fifth game, all of your characters are essentially the same. Sure, they may use different weapons, but they all get the same abilities with the exception of their limit/special. In VI it didn't bother me that much, because this idea was new, and the characters did had their own personalities and skills to make them more adept at different things, for example Cyan's magic was considerably weaker than Terra's. Once you hit VII, the materia system closed the gap between characters, and your party choice boiled down to limit breaks/personal prefernce. VIII was more of the same. In IX we saw a return to the designated roles, which definitely made things more interesting. X did try to give each character a use, but their uses were negated if you managed to work the sphere grid. A side note has to be mentioned for FFT, while most of your party were generic, and for the most part every body had access to the same skills. Why this approach succeeds where the rest have failed, is that A) They're not trying to hide the fact that nearly everybody is the same, B) There were limits in place as to how they were used, and most of the game required a varied team. FFTA tried to eliminate this problem, but in a critical design flaw they dropped the timed aspect of the original FFT. Which is large part of what made the game so deep. Final Fantasy may not be dead, but if it continues as is, it might as well be. S-E should take a look at other franchises/well received games. FF I[V|X], Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Earthbound, Wild Arms were all great games because each of your characters didn't come from the same cookie cutter, sure some of them were cliches and stereotypes, but therein lies the difference. In regards to plot, which what really sets these games apart from each other. I've stopped expecting much from an RPG plot any more, having played most of them most of the plot twists don't come as a surprise. That doesn't mean that a game is any less enjoyable nor does it mean I require an absurdly convoluted plot that makes even less sense on the 4th playthrough to enjoy a game. Something coherent will do, even if it is simple. To recap (and insert a few recently thought of points), for there to be another successful FF game IMO it will need: - A hero that is completely unlike anything we've had before. - A party in which every member is unique beyond sprite, useable weapons a special attack, and is unable to acquire the entire skillset of another no matter how many hours are put into the game.
OR
A generic party that does not attempt to be unique, and a skill system set up in such a way that no body can know AND have all skills useable at any time. - A plot that doesn't rely on something like "We all grew up together but none of us remember" to try and add another level of nothing to nothing. - More exclusive choices, this is one thing that the Pokemon series got right. Sure gamers like to get everything there is to get, but when one choice affects your party for the rest of the game, things become more interesting (see Star Oceans 2 and 3) I've ranted enough. I'm hungry.
Laziness is a virtue, anyone who bothers to tell you otherwise, is clearly lacking it.
Im talking about at e3 of this year theres a ps3 tech demo using ff7
I haven't played FF games since FFII (US) and FFA for the GB (the Zelda clone), but my brother has played most of the newer ones, and I have done my fair share of reading from varied web sources on them.
The last RPG that I played to completion, and I would have to say the RPG that I enjoyed the most was Fallout on the PC. Mainly because of its insane amount of dialogue options coupled with its non-linear options of befriending/fighting/etc that all combine to affect your karma rating. This system has since been co-opted Knights of the Old Republic.
Finally, I get to my point which is that if S-E doesn't want to mess with a good thing then fine. But if they want to innovate they can look around to other games (RPG or not). Of course their lies the possibility that FF fans will reject whatever change they do make.
As for myself, I think the only way I would end up playing a FF game is if EITHER the game was just amazingly innovative, dubbed the best RPG of all time by Gamespot, had a 15 hour express version under the options, OR the game was renamed Grand Theft Chocobo.
Is it time for Windows to be abandon the business market?
Spinoffs aren't a damn thing new.
Mario, who's often brought up, has been appearing in sports games for longer than some people on this site have been alive---yet no one gripes about NES Open, even when they bring up (GC or GBA) Mario Golf. Even beyond that, things like Dr. Mario or the truly wretched edutainment titles for the SNES featuring him are ignored by people hoping to improve their retro street cred at the expense of reality.
For that matter, -three seperate- unrelated properties have appeared under the Final Fantasy name in various places; the first SaGa series -and- Seiken Densetsu were marketed as such in the US, while the first SD also was marketed as "FF Side Story" in Japan; and then there's FF: Mystic Quest. All of these back in the idolized 8- and 16-bit eras.
Hell, Dragon Quest 8, in its Japanese release last year, managed to sell about 1 copy for every 30 Japanese citizens---this from a series with only one other entry since the SNES, but a huge pile of spinoffs ranging from top-down action games to monster-trading Pokemon clones to graphical takeoffs on Nethack during that period.
As for FF11, in particular...
Even ignoring the fact that the average pretender "oldschool" gamer's complaint is "WTF, why's it so hard, take so long to play, need play sessions so long, and have a loose mission structure? I want the old FFs back, where there was actually a challenge, a good amout of playtime, long dungeons without savepoints all over ruining the challenge, and it wasn't so cinematic!", the fact remains that over the past year, S-E's grossed about $90 million directly from it---that's more money than changes hands directly to retail stores, never mind their lower wholesale price, of a 1.5 million seller. Love it or hate it, you can't complain that it's harming the odds of putting more money into more FF titles.
I hope Final Fantasy 13 is some sort of psychological Silent Hill-esque thriller with a creepy soundtrack.
I'm not holding my breath.
YES.
"The newly born animals are then whisked off for a quick run through a giant baking oven." --heard on Food Network
FFXI has always seemed to be a lot more fun to me than EQ ever was, yet still manages to be 100 times more challenging. I figure a lot of people agree, which is why aside from Korean MMORPGS and WoW FFXI is one of the most popular games out there, with a userbase far ahead of EQ when it was in its prime.
Just seems the author just doesnt like MMO's.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
Is the pope Catholic?
Since 2002 he has been designing websites for various clients, often utilizing animated interfaces in Flash and Shockwave or creating branded 3D-animated logos. He is also currently working on several small indepenent animation projects.
Not exactly an expert or valued opinion in my book. Scary that one independent animators opinion on a few games he didn't like would spark everyone so much. Got a bad feeling this is the future of web marketing...
I'd really like to see FFVII remade for the PS3. The graphics would be amazing and the gameplay of FFVII has yet to be bettered.
The chances of Square Enix giving up on FF any time soon is about as likely as seeing Halo on gamecube. At the end of the day, yes, among the opinion of the gaming hardcore (including myself) things have gone downhill. Opinion varies on the apex of the series between 6 and 7 (personally I believe 7 to be the best, closely followed by 4, but thats just me). 8 was alright. 9 was alright. 10 was bland. 10-2 was awful. 11 is apparently pretty lacking in the scheme of things. However despite having produced what could be construed as mediocre titles, the games have all sold bucketloads. Due to a ridiculously devouted fanbase (Blizzard have a similar one, thats how they get away with releasing shit games, and only doing it when they're good and ready) S-E can guarantee shifting a few million copies of even the most dire game, so long as they package it in FF. In fact i'm pretty sure that S-E could sell turds in boxes for $50 so long as a picture of Cloud was on the box. Sadly it would seem that the fanboys aren't tired of this stuff yet, so it looks like the games are gonna have to get a LOT worse before we see the end of Final Fantasy. Nonetheless, I disagree entirely with the outlook of the article. Yes, the games have gone steadily downhill since 6 or 7, but does that mean they will continue to be shit? I don't see any logic behind that, In fact the argument structure of "its happenned before, therefore it will happen again" is a formal logical falasy of some sort. People should have a little faith, game series have been succesfully ressurected before now, and it might well happen to the FF series. Besides, if you think the new ones are shit, just don't buy em!
"Everlasting peace will come to Earth when the last man kills the last but one." - Adolf Hitler
Nooooooooooooooooooooo! /shakes fist melodramatically
M$ it's whats for diner!!!!!
....but I may be the only person who reads /. and has never played or "gotten" FF. I have no issues with the games, but I never quite understood the story or even the concept, unlike, for example, Zelda, which is basically the same characters in different stories. I got the impression that each story was different and had its own characters and situations (a la Silent Hill) but shared a common theme.
So at the risk of being flamebait, I ask: What is the gist of FF that is so compelling that the games are greeted with the same amount of fervor as a Zelda title on Nintendo, or a Halo title on Xbox (trying to be platform agnostic so I'm not accused of being a fanboy).
Though I haven't played any of the games, I did see the movie, and it really raised more questions that I still haven't been able to answer.
I've had a similar conversation with dozens of people of all ages. The question? What's the best spaghetti sauce you've ever had?
Many talk about various restaurants they've been to as having the second best. But the best is always the sauce their Mom made. Why?
Because it was the first they encountered, and it defined what spaghetti sauce was for them. All others fell short in one way or another.
FF fans are like that. "FFn is the best FF. After that, they series fell apart. FFn+1 and FFn+2 were crap. None of them are any good any more."
I suspect that, for the vast majority of these speakers, FFn was the first FF they played. All others will be compared to FFn, but come up short because they were different in many ways from FFn. And that's a good thing - I'd hate to think SE won't try anything new or different for FFXII because they'd never ever be better than FFn.
Give it up, folks. FFn isn't the ultimate FF. What appeals to you doesn't necessarily appeal to me. The next FF, and the one after that, will be very different from what came before, and from each other. Personally, that's why I like the series.
The only reason it is going downhill is because all the moronic fanboys want more FF7 and nothing new and improved.
FF7 is the most overrated crap ever.
Final Fantasy is Squenix's flagship product. Why would they ditch it?
At the moment they're milking the FF7 cash cow. That's not necessarily a good thing in itself, but it proves that FF is definitely still popular and profitable, and they're not going to drop it any time soon. Based on FF7 we now have Advent Children, Before Crisis, Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus in development... that's 1 movie and 3 games right there. Then of course you have FF12 coming, and initial indications show that it might've gone back to a 'dark' theme which is a very positive step IMO.
They do have problems, but axing FF is definitely not the answer!
What they do need to do though is stop milking the hell out of FF7. Because...
a) It's diverting their attention away from developing new titles such as FF12, which still wasn't even playable at E3 because they're so busy milking FF7 dry.
b) Rehashing old titles gets boring. I took my online name from FF7 I liked it so much, and even I'm getting tired of hearing about all its Pokemon-style spinoffs and merchandise and yadda yadda every time Squenix opens its corporate mouth. It won't take much more to convert FF7 from the best game of all time to the most annoying over-hyped product since crazy frog. I'd like to see a PS3 remake, but no more spinoffs pleeeeease!
I agree with other posters in that bringing FF back to its roots would be a very good idea. X-2 was light hearted and fun so that was good, but it still missed several things that used to make FF what it was - and their previous "new" FF (X) was little more than an interactive DVD.
Bringing back the overworld between towns, and later a proper pilotable airship - would be a very, very good start. Take good ol' FF7... the ultimate in exploration. The story was great, but that was only a part of the game - more than half of what made it fun was exploring every corner of the map, every hidden area (you know, hidden behind waterfalls and things), doing all the sidequests etc. It's just not the same when you find hidden areas by inputting a code into the autopilot. X-2 at least got rid of the extreme linearity that X had, but it's still not enough.
There was also the immersion factor. The game feels truly epic when you can see the overall effect of your actions and/or the course of the story on the whole world as you walk/ride/fly around it. FF6's world being almost completely destroyed / transformed, FF7's world becoming overshadowed with meteor, a huge gun disappearing from one town only to appear in another etc. FF9's world losing its mist, cities being converted to holes in the ground etc. It's not the same when you can only see one part of it at a time - much better to feel like you're flying around it.
And there's nothing like the feeling of progression as you go from travelling on foot (tedious) to chocobo (better), to boat (new contintents!), to airship (go anywhere - teh w00t!).
If they start doing old-style FF again with an overworld and free moment, non-linearity, mildly technical but not to insane battle system, lots of sidequests etc. They'll have a hit.
Didnt most final fantasy fans get over this whole "x-2 is too girly" thing back in 2003 when it came out? it was supposed to be light hearted. and I cant bring myself to respect any "fanboy" that doesnt mention 6 in their diatribe. that being said, square has never really focused solely on the final fantasy series as he seems to think. square has always had its finger on countless buttons. the super mario rpg, the chrono series, einhander, the tobals, countless chocobo dungeon games, sub par racing games, bushido blade1 (i refuse to recognize 2) threads of fate, musashi, ergheiz, sub par sports games. squaresoft is not a one trick pony and the final fantasy series is not where all of their attention goes. true many of their games arent mainstream good, but most are VERY GOOD for devations from the norm. einhander is a great shooter. threads of fate has one of the best story lilnes Ive ever seen in a game. two playable characters with intertwining stories? I dare you to play Rue's story arc without feeling moved at the end. it gets pretty intense. no squaresoft will not die because its branching out. squaresoft has always spread itself thin. but as it gets larger it will have more room to spread and only then will the spreading become noticable.
"That is, back off of the convoluted plot, the rediculous looking and uninteresting characters, and the complicated and boring skills systems. Instead, bring back the spirit of adventure."
What the hell is "the spirit of adventure?". Leave it to human beings to be nice and vague without thinking something through. For 80-90% of the game you are fighting and collecting goodies and playing mini-games with FMV intermissions along the way. RPG battle systems used to be important until the populace started gorging and whoring itself out for graphics and interactive movies. The fact is the battle system is what you spend the most in usually in an RPG, the games should not be movies, ever. Why do I want to pay $50-60 for uninnovative non-interactive stuff that I just sit there and watch? I couldn't stand FFX because I spent most of the time watching stupid non-interactive cutscenes, with the most unlikable characters imaginable for great lengths of time to the point where I'd just want to shut off the game completely.
Cinematics are nice but they should support a game that is fun to play minus it's story and movie like qualities. When the movie aspect becomes the main part of the "game", it becomes less and less like a game and more and more like a passive movie experience with a "dash" of interactivity.
Diablo and Guild wars is a shining example of good gameplay design, the game is fun to play on its own if you took out the story and FMV elements completely, most final fantay games would not be anywhere as highly rated without those FMV's and story elements because its gameplay has become so poorly thought out.
People complain about the "grind" in RPG's but if you took the grind and mini-games out no one would play the games, why exactly is there any reason to fight anything without a "convoluted" rpg battle system with rewards?
FF9 and FFX were in my opinion the worst final fantasy games to come out in a long time. FF9 butchered and barely had any references to the original final fantasy 1 and it's characters which started the whole series. I think I speak for peopel with Fond memories everywhere that they'd love to see Squares story and graphics capabilities merged with a sequal or remake of the original FF1 because FF1 was so devoid of any story, they add whatever they want to the entire game and no one would care because there wasn't much besides fighting bosses and collecting goodies in FF1.
The series for me reached it's pinnacle in FF2(US), FF3(US) and FF7 and ever since has been sliding down the path of simplifying the game for its rather stupid audience, who goes "Yay graphics!" and then realizes two seconds later that they are bored out of their minds grinding in a badly designed battle system just to get to the next FMV scene.
I agree that the FF series should come to an end.
.... are they going to destroy a classic ?
The more they extend it, the more they destroy what people like in FF. It really could've stopped after IX, IMO.
Cheap plot lines, fancy graphics (its not bad..but...shouldnt take so much importance), shallow characters, stupid endless mini games, all of these gradually contributed to destroy my love of Final Fantasy.
I'm excited and very very afraid to see what FF VII will look like on the PS3
If you look like your passport photo, you're too ill to travel. - Will Kommen
Final Fantasy may be stinkers right now, but the true pinnacle of the game was Final Fantasy Tactics. With a pitiful sequel (which I was absolutely thrilled about at the time) on the GBA, Final Fantasy Tactics is the gold mine that if they put a little more sweat and elbow grease into would bring superb characters, awesome weapons and armors, and the best gameplay ever. From what I've heard, too, FFXII may be taking a tiny step in that direction, though. But I want to see an all out remake of FFT.
Peace out, homies.
...is that the series has been going downhill since FFX, and that this somehow means that FF is heading for imminent doom. Hey, buddy, don't you think you're being a bit quick on the draw here?
Really, though, he might be right that FF's glory days are over. But not because the recent games are bad (which is debatable; even he admits that he dislikes FFX-2 despite its gameplay).
We have the first sequel in a series of games that was never supposed to have sequels. We have a bunch of compilation discs where Square simply adds a couple of FMVs to an old game and puts a $20 price tag on it. We have an MMORPG in the main series, which makes about as much sense as putting an FPS in the main series. And now we have a myriad of sequels to FF7, a game that should never, ever have had a sequel, in our near future.
If the glory days of FF are over, it's because Square has left behind everything that it used to stand for in the name of profit.
Rob
In this age of rehashes, prequels, remakes, etc... no franchise this succesful will end. They may put it down for a while, but the words "Final Fantasy" are worth a LOT of money. They'll never stop...
Since one of the more frequent comments here is "FFXI wasn't underwhelming, it was a great success!" I need to explain why it was entirely underwhelming.
First off, let's remember that Star Wars Episode I was also a great commerical success. It can hardly be called anything but underwhelming.
Final Fantasy XI was an EverQuest clone. It didn't bring anything new to MMORPGs, it just rehashed what had already been done, just with an anime style and ultimately bland graphics.
The graphics look nice in screenshots, until you realize that every zone looks the same. Zones are all basically a uniform color. The desert zone is sandy. The forest zone is a dull olive green. The mountain zone is a dull orange.
The mobs don't even change. The same blue crab that spawns in the streams of the starting area also exists in the uniform-green "moss cavern" areas. They look identical and have the same abilities. Except the first crab is level 5 and the second is level 70.
Actually, FFXI did bring new things to MMORPGs. Unfortunately, they were all bad things.
Like the Inconvenience Fairy, which ensured you and your friends would waste the first week after buying the game before ever seeing each other. (Blizzard's server problems have more to do with their "auto-choose server" system misbehaving, so a lot of people wound up on the same servers.) Then there's the ridiculous con system which marks targets that can kill you five times before you hit the ground a "decent challenge".
Oh, and the job system. This is had the most promise, but it essentially forces you to play the same content several times (which you're really going to do anyway due to the zones all being alike and the mobs being basically identical). Ultimately the job system was a brilliant way to force people to replay content, since every job has a "support job" that must be leveled separately from the "main job". So if you reach level 40, you'll also need to have effectively played an alt to level 20, too. Yay.
Then, of course, there was the forced grouping. I can understand that groups are important to Japanese gamers. I think that grouping should be more effective than soloing. However, in FFXI, there was nothing to do outside a group. You spent all your time actively looking for a group. Want to move the "story" (yes, there's a story you can play through) along? Find a group! Want to quest some? Find a group! Want to level? Find a group!
What's worse is that you really can't do anything else while looking for a group. Want to fish while waiting for a group? You'll fish up monsters that kill you. Want to craft? You'll run out of materials very quickly. Most of your time is spent spamming "/shout 40 (Dragoon)/(Samuria) (Party) (Yes, please.)" while standing around the central city enjoying the lag as players laggily bounce past you.
Which brings us to class balance. Since the job system means any player can choose another job at any time, Square-Enix has absolutely no need to balance the classes. So they haven't. Dragoons? Useless. Melee? There are something like 8 jobs that are simple melee jobs. This leaves 2 tanking jobs, 1 healing job, 1 nuking job, and 3 support jobs. If you're a melee, prepare to wait. Especially if you're the wrong type of melee.
And, of course, certain features that MMORPG players are used to are just missing from FFXI. PvP? Only in a minigame. (Of course, with the classes being as unbalanced as they are, this isn't an entirely bad thing.) Kill stealing? Against the TOS and programmed to be impossible. Of course, this also means that higher level players can't help lower level players who are about to be killed.
Then there were FFXI's "linkshells" which are their versions of guilds. FFXI is the only game I know of where guilds take up inventory space. You have a "linkpearl" in
Ever since the advent of 3-D graphics in these games, the level of quality seems to have slipped; don't get me wrong -- great cut scenes and production values, but there seem to be so many little things cut because they'd take much more time and resources than in the days of just slamming a few more sprites in there would. I mean -- look at FF2/4 for the infamous 'porno programmers room' .. think you'll see that today? In those days it was a few sprites recycled and some new text.. now it'd require the level designer to really sit down and set things up; perhaps some new assets etc. Maybe not the best example -- but it just seems that games lack those little touches that they had when someone could think of an idea over lunch, write the script when they were having dessert and then code it into the game over a break or two.
Gomen kudasai, Sanders-san, Zonk-san. It is not the end until the end has happened. Until then, everything still has potential. We fans of Final Fantasy, iiye, all RPGs, we enjoy this genre because at some point an RPG amazed us, ne? Why, then? All you who doubt it, why are you willing to write off the single most remarkable RPG series in gaming history over what you think are not such good games? First, even in whichever FF you dislike most, there was always some element which kept it above the average RPG, was there not? Second, I do not believe Square-Enix will surrender the most legendary series in gaming. Third, for my part, I do not believe future employees of the industry will allow the series to suffer a final decline. Those who have taken the most inspiration from Final Fantasy will no doubt raise their skill with hope of advancing the power of each story. The series may falter, it may even reach a critical low point. But, so long as so many people expect wondrous things of it, there will be others constantly seeking to create great things for them. Final Fantasy, it has not been just a game for many years. All the best points, even in the worst releases, have coalesced into an honest and spirited guide for a still fledgling art. That's what I think.