Will The Last Story Be Final Fantasy Creator's Last Game?

[Andy Chalk]

Will The Last Story Be Final Fantasy Creator's Last Game?

The Last Story [http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-Origins-Remastered-Editions-Playstation/dp/B00008RUYZ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293568131&sr=8-1] won't necessarily be his last game but if it doesn't perform well, it might be.

Sakaguchi apparently ruffled some feathers with comments on his development blog that The Last Story, the RPG he's currently developing for the Nintendo Wii, could be his last game [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6269037.html?tag=latestheadlines%3Btitle%3B5]. There was apparently something lost in translation, however, as he later clarified that what he actually meant is that he's simply approaching it as if will be his final work. But during a Q&A following a recent presentation of the game, he revealed that depending on how it flies, The Last Story could in fact be his last game, at least for a long while.

"If the game is received poorly, perhaps my sense does not match with the times," he said. "In that case, while I won't go as far as 'I won't ever make games again,' it would be meaningless to make games for a while. With that feeling, I've given my all."

"Received poorly" can mean many things; critics may love it and it could bomb at the register, or as might be more likely for a Wii game, it may take a critical drubbing and sell a truckload anyway. And there's no point in reading too much into the title, since there have been 14 Final Fantasies and numerous spin-offs. Being The Last Story doesn't mean it'll be the last story - unless, of course, it is.

The Last Story is due out in Japan on January 27 exclusively for the Wii, but there's no word yet on when, or even if, the game will get a North American release.

Source: Andriasang [http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/12/28/last_story_qa/]


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[Mstrswrd]

Not necessarily a bad thing. He's taking a bit of a gamble with how "The Last Story" plays (at least, from the standpoint of Japanese RPG's and Japanese gaming in general), so he's basically admitting that he may need to rethink how to make games in the modern age. If all marquee designers and developers took breaks eery now and then to immerse themselves in modern stuff, I feel like they could allow their own sensibilities to evolve; we would get the skill of these people who have done so much, with a modern flair that'll get more people playing.

 

[Racthoh]

There was apparently something lost in translation, however, as he later clarified that what he actually meant is that he's simply approaching it as if will be his final work.

Given that he was taxed with saving Square under a similar mindset this gives me high hopes for the game.

 

[AlwaystheUnlucky]

If he pulls this off, he should be inducted into the Video Game Pantheon.

 

[Electric Gel]

Impressive tash! Don't let that facial fluff down by pandering to modern audiences, make the game you wish to make. Keep making games. Artistic vision never dies, or becomes obsolete and every idea has its place within global culture if executed well.

In a nutshell, rock my goddamn world!

 

[xNaturalMystic]

I understand why he would stop. FF games have progressively gotten worse the last good one was Dissidia which wasn't even an RPG. the newest one on the console isnt that great and their new MMO is pure s**t so the next game better be damn good. Or it will be time for another company to take the RPG spot light. *crosses fingers for fallout*

 

[D_987]

I understand why he would stop. FF games have progressively gotten worse the last good one was Dissidia which wasn't even an RPG. the newest one on the console isnt that great and their new MMO is pure s**t so the next game better be damn good. Or it will be time for another company to take the RPG spot light. *crosses fingers for fallout*

He hasn't worked at Square for a long time...

Sakaguchi left Square-Enix after Final Fantasy 9 [well technically 10 but he had little to do with it], since then he created his own games design company "Mistwalker" who, alongside a parent company AQ interactive [as in the game development companies within this partner group made the games Mistwalker designed], created Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey - both old-school styled JRPG's that received mixed reviews primarily due to this old-school style of gameplay.

With The Last Story it's clear, at least in the battle system, he's attempting to put a more modern swing on the gameplay style.

Spoiler: Last Story battle system trailers here

 

[ShenCS]

Well he said that about Final Fantasy and look where that landed him. Maybe he's just trying to stir up some hype.
Of course, a big question to ask is "if so much is riding on this, then why make it for the Wii?". Build a huge, epic world like the ones we knew and loved! Not something cramped into the Wii's poor processor.

 

[ultimasupersaiyan]

If he thinks I'll let him stop making games for a while he's got another thing coming! I'll personaly buy a copy per day if I have to to make sure he keeps making games. If he stops then the JRPG genre is gonna be nothing but Square-Enix garbage since no one really wants to distribute the other games very often.

I don't hate Square-Enix but they keep making crap lately and it seems like they really should just stick to rereleasing until they get some people with hearts of gold and love instead of souless robots. Maybe get the Dragon Quest staff on more games for some actual quality as well.

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

I can see why he would do it, though I do wish that The Last Story will be a success.

In a way he is JRPG. (Well, him and the people he worked with at Squaresoft)

The Final Fantasy series has changed dramatically since he left.
In fact I'd go as far to say that Lost Odyssey is more of a FF sequel than 11-14 were!! XD

I think the main issue with JRPGs is that the systems that define it also limit its growth as a genre.
Thats not to say there has been no innovation at all, thats certainly not true.
But it seems many Devs (or Publishers! *cough*) stick rigidly to an industry defined template.

In the case of Squarenix, sure they have been experimenting with the gameplay recently, almost to the point of suicide.
(And there seems to be more of a focus on "high quality" graphics rather than design, (I still think FF6 still is one of best designed JRPGs).

But the problem is that it seems that the Story, the World, the Music seems to be ignored.

(I mean FF13:
Story = fine
Characters = had good potential, but they fall kind of flat (at least from the 10 or so hours I've been playing it (probably develop a bit further on, but by this point they should have been fleshed out ALOT more!))
Music = its ok (no where near as great as Uematsu work though...)
World = Ok this is where its bad. The design of the world is good, but the game is so streamlined (almost literally walk in a straight line throughout (my experience), and lack of towns/extra stuff to find and do (from what I've read).
Overall, the game feels more like an interactive movie than a living breathing world. Theres no sense of exploration and interaction that is pretty much the point of RPGs.)

Taking a step back from the marketing, the making, and the time restraints, and looking at the design of the systems themselves may provide some true innovation.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Wasn't the first Final Fantasy suppose to be his last game? Why it was called FINAL Fantasy???

 

[ultimasupersaiyan]

Wasn't the first Final Fantasy suppose to be his last game? Why it was called FINAL Fantasy???

It was originally the last game Squaresoft was going to make but it sold enough copies to save the company and started a great franchise that died in 2003 with the merger of Squaresoft and Enix and Hironobu Sakaguchi leaving the company after working on FFX, FFXI original game prior to expansions(which Squre-Enix killed it in 2008 by making money harder to get) and FFX-2.

 

[ultimasupersaiyan]

Well he said that about Final Fantasy and look where that landed him. Maybe he's just trying to stir up some hype.
Of course, a big question to ask is "if so much is riding on this, then why make it for the Wii?". Build a huge, epic world like the ones we knew and loved! Not something cramped into the Wii's poor processor.

It's cheaper to make games for the Wii and takes less time. A lot of people also own a Wii all around the world and Nintendo don't dictate to developers as much. Also there is a pretty good chance it will be a multiple disc game with the epic huge world and story we're expecting. I am buying it no questions asked as a fan of every game Mistwalker released. Also he didn't say Final Fantasy will be his last game either.

 

[ultimasupersaiyan]

I understand why he would stop. FF games have progressively gotten worse the last good one was Dissidia which wasn't even an RPG. the newest one on the console isnt that great and their new MMO is pure s**t so the next game better be damn good. Or it will be time for another company to take the RPG spot light. *crosses fingers for fallout*

He hasn't worked on a Final Fantasy since 2002/3 and Final Fantasy started sucking with XI being an MMO and XII(which he had nothing to do with!) just being a giant ball of suck. As for another RPG studio taking the spotlight Namco Bandai will do that with JRPGs if Mistwalker can't take Square-Enix down and Bethesda has the WRPG spotlight. JRPGs and WRPGs can't be compared and I don't think most people will ever learn that.

 

[Pr1de]

really lone quote

Agree, i couldnt even finish ff 13 cuz honestly i found it rather boring compared to my fave final fantasy, 8, with their long linear and rather boring corridors and there overly simplified sphere grid wanna be thing, and why did it have to be turned based. I know that turn based combat is a key gameplay mechanic in JRPGS but put some real strategy in a game if its going to be turn based.

As far as as The Last Story, I hope him great success, though if it does fail, it would give him the chance to look back and see if he really does need to get in tune with todays gamers

 

[Naheal]

Considering that this was the basis of the first Final Fantasy, he'll probably write something really quite good.

 

[CyberAkuma]

I can't see why people are comparing this to Final Fantasy.
This game has absolutely nothing to do with Square-Enix.

Sure it has Hironobu Sakaguchi as the game producer but that doesn't neccesarily mean that it will be a FF-clone.

I would argue that the only concerning thing about this is that JRPGs have recently... well... not been very good and this one might fall into the same category.

The dominance of Eastern RPGs have finally ended and western developers have taken of the reign of RPG-games, much to our western gamers advantage.

 

[Cheesepower5]

Watch it be a hit and generate thousands of sequels; this man's cursed he is.

 

[Pr1de]

Watch it be a hit and generate thousands of sequels; this man's cursed he is.

lol yea soon we going to see the last story 13

and its going to suck lol <---joke btw