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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?"
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.
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.
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.
But I'm just glad this isn't another "Nintendo is doomed" stories.