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Ten Years of FFXIII?
IGN is reporting that the next game in the Final Fantasy series will probably be around for quite a while. If Square/Enix has anything to say about it, we'll be playing the FFXIII family of games for the next ten years. "Although speaking with a Nintendo magazine, Hashimoto brought up Final Fantasy XIII as a comparison for Square Enix's decision to expand upon the FFVII storyline through the Compilation project years after the game's original release. 'Different from something like VII, which we expanded upon afterwards, with Fabula Nova Crystallis FFXIII, we've thought about an expansive world setting from the start. Under the idea of wanting everyone to be sucked into the world for 10 years, we're preparing a number of categories.' He likened this approach to films like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings." Chris Kohler took the time to point out that, in the same interview, the Square folks stated they're still not entirely convinced about this whole Virtual Console thing. "We feel that the Japanese game market still requires [physical] media. Also, FF and Dragon Quest are played by a wide range of users, from children to adults, so there are limitations when you consider the problems that we would have with billing systems."
The "ineffective" feature is actually the best part of FF1. Adds a bit of tactical depth, rather than the "hit A until you win" battle system of all the other FF games.
FFT: Lion War for psp
FFT: advance 2 for DS
The FF's are a little different than your normal series. They are all (until now, apparently) entirely different games with entirely different settings. Each game is a brand new experience, nd are driven by their plot and battle system.
The main difference in all of the games is usually how you learn your techniques. For instance:
FF1 has set jobs
FF4 has jobs that you can change
FF7 has Materia that you equip to use abilities
FF8 has a finite supply of spells that you collect from certain spots on the map.
FF9 has you learning abilities by using weapons and armor for a while
FF10 has the Sphere Grid
FF12 has the License board
The characters all usually fall into four categories:
- Caster (Black)
- Healer (White)
- Fighter ("Main Tank")
- Support (Abilities)
The way each game is set up, in terms of learning abilities, slightly alters the gameplay. They also all have different forms of super-attacks. Usually you fill up some kind of bar through damage taken, magic, and various other rules. They results of these special attacks are different in each game, and sometimes require a mini-game like challenge to make them more powerful.
Because they all have different settings and characters, they do not get dull and the game is kept fresh. They have high-quality, borderline (if not) epic stories that can really draw you in. They way everything works out is like a great movie that's 40 hours long. But they are not movie games (Xenosaga...) and the battles and gameplay in between are often exciting enough to hold you over. There is certain level of strategy needed (mostly in boss battles) because Square makes the enemies (mostly bosses) so unique. Each boss (usually) requires a different strategy.
Because they are all different, you should not think of them as sequels, but more of a continuation of an idea. That idea being incredible story-telling combined with fun gameplay, that (recently) pushes the envelope in terms of console graphical power. They look pretty and do it in style.
I hope that explained a little bit.
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I'm not sure if I like this idea. The fact that the worlds are ever-changing is a big draw for FF. You never know what to expect next in terms of story, or (to a lesser extent) gameplay. sticking with the same universe for an entire decade seems like a bad idea. I don't want FF to morph into all the other RPGs by loosing the unique worlds it brings with each game.