Square Enix Wants a New Final Fantasy Every Year

[VondeVon]

but what do Final Fantasy fans really want: consistency or innovation?

Well seeing as they're failing at innovation, I'll take the consistency.

Seriously, better odds of there being something enjoyable.

I don't know, you have to give them credit for being so bold as to try and change the series mechanics somewhat in every game. XII and XIII being the most major.

Hopefully XIII-2 will surprise alot of people, XIII's battle system had a lot of potential, if they've ironed out the flaws for the new game and also addressed narrative and story issues there could be some life in the series yet.

At the very least you can't knock the games graphically, XIII was stunning. Also the music is always fantastic.

Besides consistency is the tired formulas of WRPG sequels, people buy them in droves but they don't do much innovating in the genre nor massively redefine their series'. Skyrim being the newest example. I appreciate what Squeenix are trying to do and I hope they find their feet and produce something that will get them back on the gaming map again.

Another story of the same quality of FFX would definitely do it.

That's true, and I am a big fan of good-looking games. That's always my first hook.

My major problem with FFs in recent years has just been the (kind of important) plot and the characters. Hopefully they'll widen their writers' pool in this bid to make more games, faster.

I don't plan to buy XIII-2 simply because most of the characters would need complete personality overhauls before I'd be remotely interested in them.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Square-Enix. How about you release a real KH sequel, and not these crappy handheld knockoffs?

 

[shadowmagus]

NO! NO NO NO NO NO! For $%^# sake Square-Enix! Thank you for ruining my !#$%ing day!

You know, I played FF games when they actually meant something. I mean, I'm not a huge fan of 7-10 but FFS at least they didn't come off as androgynous crap! I played FFXI for 5 years! Five freaking years and NOW you want to be pump out FF titles like it's CoD?!

Yes trolls, I'm mad. #$%^ you too. I feel like a hitler "Downfall" video is necessary for this. God dam.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

"because that seems to be the best way to keep our fans interested and attracted to the franchise." NO. The best way to do that is to make QUALITY games.
And you cannot make the best quality game if you cut the time you spend on it in half or more.

How dumb can you get? Oh wait, the first 20 hours of FF 13...

 

[AbstractStream]

No! No, don't do it Square! Why in the world would they think that?!

Square-Enix. How about you release a real KH sequel, and not these crappy handheld knockoffs?

I second that.

 

[Rect Pola]

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure none of those titles mentioned are exactly reinventing the wheel each time.

 

[TheLoveableMuffin]

Oh really?! Look release Versus and XIII-2, then give the whole series like a three year break to create some new series or titles and then get fans saying, "whatever happened to Final Fantasy, I miss it." and the BLAM! Final Fantasy XV.

Oooooor, divert all Square-Enix money towards the development of Just Cause 3 and Hitman. Just an idea. Or Kingdom Hearts 3. I hear that's missed.

 

[Scrustle]

I feel like a hitler "Downfall" video is necessary for this. God dam.

I think that would be appropriate.

 

[Woem]

[...] However, between flagship title [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114149-Final-Fantasy-XIII-2s-Collectors-Edition-Revealed], [...]

Let's not forget the plethora of mobile Final Fantasy games, and the ones for PSN.

 

[silent-treatment]

FFS just give us Kingdom Hearts 3 and we will be happy. No need to overcompensate.

 

[kyogen]

Personally, I prefer innovation to consistency, and I would rather see S-E take time on its projects. Kitase is right to say that they took a little too much time with XIII, but a main series game every year will probably be a bit much. Good luck to them if they can pull it off, but I think 2-3 years would make more sense.

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't think so. The problem is that even their own fans were complaining about the quality issues in 13, and if I recall correctly (and there's a good chance I don't) it didn't sell nearly as well as they had hoped. If the quality keeps dropping, obviously there will be those hardcore fans who buy every game, but they'll lose a large part of their audience bit by bit and won't be able to bring in any new players.

It sold like, a million units on day one in Japan. It sold another million by year's end. It sold a million in the US launch month. It has like an 85 aggregate on Metacritic and Gamerankings.

People may have complained, but they bought it. They'll probably buy the "fix," rewarding SEQUENIX for screwing up in the first place, and they'll continue to buy even if that sucks.

 

[masticina]

Not sure if this works with JRPG's but at least it will do one thing. It will yearly tell if they are on the right path or not

With FF XIII and FF XIV they had so much work with a whole new engine that when the games came out the market had changed allot.

With a two yearly thing one might had fixed a few small things.

 

[sturryz]

Wha... You know what, I don't care anymore. with the PC scene going so strong with such great indie titles, I stopped caring about mainstream gaming. Later nerds.

 

[Manji187]

Oh really?! Look release Versus and XIII-2, then give the whole series like a three year break to create some new series or titles and then get fans saying, "whatever happened to Final Fantasy, I miss it." and the BLAM! Final Fantasy XV.

Oooooor, divert all Square-Enix money towards the development of Just Cause 3 and Hitman. Just an idea. Or Kingdom Hearts 3. I hear that's missed.

That's actually not a bad idea from a customer perspective, but I bet the suits at HQ would start waving quarterly reports pointing out how much of a financial mess SE is in. So they are likely to milk the poor cow silly.

Considering it's money they want...why don't they release a FF7 remake (or sequel) with Versus XIII graphics and KH/ Dissidia style battle mechanics? If they did this and KH3 they would probably be swimming in cash.

They could still do that as a last resort but the real problem is that their creative well has run dry. It's not hard to create a new battle system, rehash old content and concepts and paint some tourist landscapes...writing an immersive story with round, growing characters, on the other hand, IS. It's time they started hiring professional writers. Heck, amateur writers would probably suffice.

Totally aside: if they will manage to shit out an FF game every 12-18 months, I wonder how soon we'll be playing FF XXX . Or will they have preemptively dropped the roman numerals by then?

 

[Daumantas Kasperavicius]

Thats what happens when activision is allowed to take a genre and then turn in into an anual thing. now we have EA , The dudes that made assasin creed( dont play it dont know it ) and Square enix wanting to follow the foot steps of activision. NOW i know sports game come out yearly, but EA wants to make BF and MoH a yearly thing. They want to release moh one year and bf the next. how fckd up is that !

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Oh for the love of... considering how bad the last few games were, couldn't they take a bit longer to work on the games than one year?!?!

But then again, I lost my faith in Square-Enix after they failed to make Kingdom Hearts 3 and instead resorted to stretching out the story. *SIGH*

 

[Pearwood]

So long as you can recreate the joy of Final Fantasies 12 and 9 go for it.

 

[TheLastSamurai14]

Oh no...no, no, no, no, no!

Square, I've respected you, I still do, but I will not watch you turn my beloved series into Call of Duty: RPG Edition.

Though, if this is going to be like FFVII through X, where you release consistently good games within a small time period, I'm all for it. Use the same engine for each game like you did then, so that it will cut down on development time and costs.

Considering it's money they want...why don't they release a FF7 remake (or sequel) with Versus XIII graphics and KH/ Dissidia style battle mechanics? If they did this and KH3 they would probably be swimming in cash.

They've stated numerous times that an FFVII remake would be in development hell for a long time if it was to be modernized like that. Much as I'd like to see it, it's probably not going to happen because it's such a huge timesink and will probably only cater to the about 50% (low estimate, here) of the fanbase that actually cares for FFVII.

I'd much rather see a V or IX remake anyway. Hell, how long did it take to make IV's DS port? Considering that the SNES versions of IV and V use the same engine, I'd say do the same for the remakes. Use the IV DS engine, recreate the FFV assets, and slap the game together. They could have that done in a year and a half.

 

[Kachiporra]

They should stop making games and start making movies.