Poll: Has the Final Fantasy franchise been saved?

Vlado

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XIII also looked great before it was actually released. XV could follow the same path. And the FFVII remake will probably be botched. I am a pessimist.
 

CritialGaming

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With XIII it certainly sold based on how good it looked. It seemed that after playing it that Square had put all the effort into the graphical beauty and it left the story a wonky mess. Hopefully FFXV wont suffer from that as well.

Honestly I am on the fence with the battle system for the FF7 remake. While a part of me hopes they keep the ATB system, another part wouldn't mind something a bit more action based. In the spirit of the original I figure they should keep the ATB system. People who say turn based doesn't work now-a-days are dumb. Just look at how insane Pokemon sells, Braverly Default also sold well.

Speak of Braverly Default, they had a random battle system that could be tweaked by the player from buffed the encounter rate, to simply turning it off completely. This allowed you to grind when you wanted, and sprint through dungeons when you felt powerful enough to take down the boss. I think the FF7 remake could benefit from a system like that, and make the random battle system feel a bit more in the player's control.
 

Atmos Duality

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GZGoten said:
it's a loaded question

despite how bad XIII, XIII-2, and Lightning Return were they still sold through the roof. Also for as horrible and boring as XIV is it has a lot of subscribers and the game has sold incredibly well warranting it an expansion that has a bunch of pre orders already... so I guess monetary wise, no it didn't need saving

for whatever reason people were claiming that XIII Versus was the game that ould save the franchise and we're getting that with XV now so I guess the series is save?

the VII Remake while cool and awesome let's be honest this is SE here, that game won't be out until Q4 2017
Yup. Despite being a fucking atrocity as a game, FF13 did sell gangbusters thanks to its megahype and overwhelmingly positive initial "critical reception". They're the Star Wars prequels of video games (actually, the Star Wars analogy fits Final Fantasy better than it should, if you think about it).

I personally lost hope that Final Fantasy would be great again after FF12 (I loved half that game, and was bored to tears by the other half); FF13 was amusing to watch unfold until I actually had a chance to play it...and yeah, if it wasn't obvious, I think the game is horrible. (not even Xenosaga had as much pretentious blathering and Fridge Logic cutscenery about nothing as FF13)
 

Lightspeaker

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WolvDragon said:
Nomura already stated the story will be modified to some degree, they may add, change, or take out some story elements. And you already have a split between fans who want to keep the traditional turn based battle system, and those who want to see some changes to it.
If they change the battle system or modify the story too heavily they've totally lost their minds honestly. Because it won't be the same game anymore and the fanbase will riot.


Fox12 said:
That said, I'm optimistic about the future of JRPG's. The king of the genre has returned, after all. They're called Atlus, and they're releasing a new Persona. Square can fuck up their franchises all they want for all I care.
Now you've reminded me I really need to be getting on with playing through Persona 4.

That game is amazing.
 

Fox12

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Lightspeaker said:
Goddamn that game is good. Just, wow. One of my favorite game casts of all time.

Square may be hurting, but between Atlus and From Software I really think Japan has made a come back.
 

Odbarc

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Final Fantasy really took a leap away from it's classic roots since 7 when they introduced guns. Final Fantasy was never about a world of technology. It used magic instead. The appeal of Airships was that you had a balloon on a boat that let you fly. You may as well have an airplane of helicopter now.
And I've always been really against the cosplay designed costumes for every character. There's so much Japan in the JRPG I can't mostly related to anything that's happening in the games anymore. It's changed too much.
 

Someone Depressing

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Really, the franchise hasn't been untainted for me since 6. After that the games just stopped being good, and they took shelter under having insane anime plots and forcing as many unlikable characters and elements into them as they could.
 

CritialGaming

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Someone Depressing said:
Really, the franchise hasn't been untainted for me since 6. After that the games just stopped being good, and they took shelter under having insane anime plots and forcing as many unlikable characters and elements into them as they could.
No memorable characters after 6? Did you play any of the games beyond 6?

I mean even if you hate them, the games, or whatever else, saying that the series had no memorable characters beyond 6 is foolish.

7 = Cloud, Sephiroth, Aerith, Tita..err Tifa.
8 = Squall, Rinoa
9 = Zidane, Dagger
X = Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, fuck the entire cast
XII = Ok yeah this one I'll give you. I mean Fran was neat but the rest of that game was a mess, which has continued to be a theme.
I wont even bother with 13.

The point is the PS1 and PS2 era Final Fantasies had tons of great characters and stories. Whether you liked them or not is up to you but you absolutely cannot say that you couldn't point out Cloud in other games he has appeared in, all coming from the reputation of FF7.
 

CritialGaming

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WolvDragon said:
I myself wasn't fond of FF7's cast, they looked pretty shallow to me in my opinion. If he found them unmemorable as well, then that's his belief.
I'd would be fine with that if he had said only FF7, but he said ALL FF's beyond 6. I don't care if you liked the characters or but I would but you my left Testicle that he could name later FF characters from a line-up, which means that even if one didn't like them one does REMEMBER them.
 

KarmaTheAlligator

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It really never needed to be saved in the first place. All we had is some people not liking one (or three, in FF13's case) entry, that's not the end of a series. Every FF entry basically divides the fanbase until the next come out (kinda like the Zelda games).
 

Seaf The Troll

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Am just going to type a little. Looking at 15 and playing the demo... I hope. There's more to it the ln just fighting. A deep story that don't shove it all in the text in the option menu. To me final fantasy should be about discovering a new world. Getting involved with shaping of it and being the ultimate badass.
 

kyp275

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Lightspeaker said:
I mean lets review shall we...11 was an MMO...14 was another damn MMO
...and what's wrong with 11 and 14 being MMOs? as far as I'm concerned those two more than holds their own against any other entry in the series, if not outright eclipse them.
 

FakeSympathy

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Although FFXV looks stunning, I have major problem with the party members. Not only is it all male, but they are supposedly staying together for the entire game.

Remember all the FF games in the past that had gender diversity? And female party members such as Tifa, Celes, Terra, Riona, and Yuna all kicked ass and were not useless to have around.

XV is definitely on my "maybe" list
 

Link55

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I do feel as if the franchise has been saved, but hear me out. Now yes the XIII was not up to expectations but not every game can be, the launch of FF XIV was terrible but it's redeeming itself, now most people are just all over FF VII and yes i know it's not everyone and i love the game too but the reason why everyone has been so, how should i say, disapointed in the other FF games is becuase when they think FF they think FF VII. I know the remake is coming out and I can't wait, but here comes FF XV and it looks verry promising. I've heard some people say they won't like how its so open world, well guess what most FF games are open world, and others say they might not like the battle system well the battle system looks like an updated version of FF XIII's battle system. Honestly I feel as if the monster franchise will be saved since XIV is doing better, fanboys will get the remake of VII they've been drooling for, and XV will pull some new-comers in as well as shine some new light and bring more diversity in how FF games work.
 

Dalisclock

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Someone Depressing said:
Really, the franchise hasn't been untainted for me since 6. After that the games just stopped being good, and they took shelter under having insane anime plots and forcing as many unlikable characters and elements into them as they could.
Wait, there were numbered final fantasies without insane anime plots? Even the first one had that incredibly convoluted time loop thing.
 

chaser5000

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I don't think the FF series needs to be saved, yet. They've been in a downward spiral for a while but even if XV crash and burns, we will still get a XVI and probably a XVII. They definitely need to turn it around in the near future, but I'm not sure if XV can do that after playing the demo.

Personally I really liked the demo, I'll still wait for reviews before buying it. I just don't think many FF fans are going to like it because of the more action focused gameplay, which I get since it started out as a spin-off and not a main game.

But as long as the stupid Fabula Nova Crystallis saga ends I'll be happy.
 

Unspoken_Request

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To me, FF lost its soul a long time ago. Not sure Square has what it takes to bring the magic back.

The only concrete positive is the rebirth of FF14 (apparently; not played it). The rest is mostly announcements. It is therefore too early to tell.

From a very personal stand point, they have to move away from their emo art style and their stupid haircuts to get me to play another one. I cannot relate too much to characters who seem to spend that much time on their appearance. FF should not be a fashion show.
 

asdfen

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so you going to be speculaing about stuff that has not happened yet... judge games on their merits after their release.
rgarding mediocraty of FF games. FF7 was the last good game in this franchise imo and it has been released almost 2 decades ago but we are still buying lukewarm crap that are FF games since 7 still. Why? Personally even thought FF games are lukewarm crap their competition is either worse or absent. There is a serious lack of quality rpgs ever since PS2 era has ended which has gven rise to small budget PC productions but they are not able for most part to fill the void and arent really in the same league as huge buget games.

Will ff15 be any good? No one knows right now not even developers. We will see when it comes out.

Re remake of FF7. I think this project is doomed. I am highly doubtful that any fans of the original will be pleased as there is already a graphical patch made by fans that is able to display the game in any resolution and it looks great. As much as I love ff7, the game is almost 20 years old and new auience is doubtful to get into mechanics of old like frequent random encounters. If they decide to alter games mechanics the many fans of orignal will consider it as a betrayal. Its a loose loose situation. Square should be making new games that bring something new not remaking decades old game in exact form. They could for instance have made something like FF7-2 and kept the gameplay or made alteration as they saw fit if they had to stay with FF7s world which I am not sure why would anyone be attached to as FF7 story/setting is far from perfect.