Square Enix Wants a New Final Fantasy Every Year

[mireko]

This is actually a pretty good idea.

Hear me out. Assuming they let different teams inside the company handle every other installment (like the Infinity Ward/Treyarch setup), they could make it easier to tell which Final Fantasy games will be worth your time. People who like Toriyama's horrible characters and horrible stories get to play those games, and people who like literally anything else get to play those games just a year later (or earlier).

The result could be more Square-Enix games by different creators. Possibly even creators who don't love their own writing so much they bash you over the head with it. I know this assuming a lot, but I'm sure it will work better than their current model. After all, what are they doing now? Where's Versus? Is Type-0 coming over here? I'd rather have a decent Final Fantasy on the off years than get a terrible one every three years.

Then again, they might just mean that all the games will be handled by the same studio on incredibly short schedules. If that's the case, this plan will crash hard. Do they really hate money enough to try it?

[sub]Granted, they did try FFXIV...[/sub]

 

[MammothBlade]

-facepalm-

I want a new, good Final Fantasy when it should be ready, which is about every 3 years.

Actually, maybe Square has a point. They need to stop the trend of generating massive hype for games with forgettable stories which cannot possibly meet fan anticipation, and get back to the sort of development cycles that were seen for PS1 Final Fantasy titles. That way peoples' disappointment is reduced, and less attention is paid to graphics and elaborate overhauls. We might just start seeing better games.

 

[lord.jeff]

I don't see a problem with this each Final Fantasy game is very different, all you need is a guy named Cid in a random fantasy land and a airship bingo Final Fantasy, and that would keep the series from getting old like other games tend to with this release schedule. In fact they could just change a few names in there other RPGs and it be able to pass as a Final Fantasy game.

 

[Nuke_em_05]

Funny how it was named Final Fantasy because the developer thought it was their last game. Now they can't stop making them.

The problem with the CoD comparison is that the games are mostly just expansion packs. There is some new campaign stuff and tweaks to the multi-player, but there's not a whole lot that needs to be done. With less to do, there is shorter turn around.

Final Fantasy games have, I think, suffered from rushing. I think more frequent releases would just mean poorer quality FF games.

 

[aashell13]

so we are officially admitting that there is nothing final about final fantasy?

 

[lacktheknack]

Oh God. When I said "Final Fantasy XXXVIII", I was KIDDING, dammit!

Oh well. They still don't release most of them for PC, so its not like I have to play them.

 

[Soundchekz]

Because that's just what we need: another single game template franchise like Call of Duty.

 

[Epona]

so we are officially admitting that there is nothing final about final fantasy?

That was obvious 20 years ago.

 

[BrionJames]

I'll tell you what they need to do, leave Final Fantasy alone and work on these damn games instead.

1. Einhander 2

2. Another Chrono trigger or Chrono Cross

3. Secret of Evermore 2

4. Another Secret of Mana or Legend of Mana game

Yes I would like very much to see that happen. The last decent Final Fantasy was IX.

 

[kuzaro]

Number of good final fantasy games = 10. Number of good final fantasy games made by square enix = 0. GO AWAY SQUARE ENIX.

 

[aashell13]

so we are officially admitting that there is nothing final about final fantasy?

That was obvious 20 years ago.

Well, yeah, but "obvious" and "officially acknowledged" aren't the same.
Besides, I'm mostly taking advantage of an opportunity to chuckle at the fact that a series with "final" in the title is on its what, 15th installment?

 

[zombieshark6666]

Linear, formulaic, cliché, boring AND rushed? These games will sell well.

 

[Seives-Sliver]

They can make a new game any year, as long as I don't have to buy it

 

[Volothos]

You know... does anyone remember that Final Fantasy 27 poster in Deus Ex Human Revolution? Think that might happen?

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I think this could be good for them, and it just might work.

They are notorious for not making games quickly and I remember watching Sony's E3 conference in 06 when they announced FFXIII and I was intrigued. Then I completely forgot about the damn thing until they showed a release date in 09(?), so this could help them.

I really don't understand the hate for this considering none of us knows exactly what's going to happen. Who knows? Maybe the reason FF games take forever is that they keep fiddling with the story and what not, and maybe if they can set a specific timeline then we might see something great and not rushed. But I'm just speculating.

 

[Charli]

Shoving shit at us in the hopes we'll swallow it now and then won't be as effective as taking your time and putting out quality.

Please do not go this route SE, I know we haven't received your recent releases quite well but this is just going to dig you a hole you cannot crawl out of. Take time, go back and look at your history and really find the elements that made the final fantasy games entertaining.

Here's a hint, six hour tutorials, bland characters and linear progression were not it.

Final Fantasies were something to be explored, alternate occurrences and items discovered upon doing something different to what was expected. Jumping straight into the action in a battle and just playing by ear. And the characters were mostly colorful and unique. Not hollywood cutouts.

 

[Louis Demella]

How about they finally finish kingdom hearts 3 BEFORE they try to needlessly expand a series whose only redeeming quality is its improved cinematics?

 

[ultimasupersaiyan]

A new Final Fantasy every year? That it! It dead! Final Fantasy still had a chance and now with a new on each year we'll get sequeltitus and poorer quality games. Call of Duty and Battlefield can pull it of because they never change the game, just the maps and Assassin's Creed is doing the same damn thing and is poorer for it, even though they actually planned the Desmond epic before going into making 1 a year.

Final Fantasy back before 2003 was worth waiting for but once Hironobu Sakaguchi left everything went to shit. He was the QA department like Shigiru Miyamoto is at Nintendo. The story is what suffered most and now Square-Enix want to jeperdize everything else? I say screw Square-Enix and keep and eye on Mistwalker.

You want t know why they are doing this? It's because Final Fantasy is circling the drain and they are hoping to squeeze every penny from hardcore Final Fantasy fans like me but here's the thing, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Versus XIII will be my "Final" Fantasy! I give up on them! I'll just buy remakes of Hironobu Sakaguchi's games and that's it.

Be warned Dragon Quest fans... if they lose key development staff from that series it will suffer the same fate as Final Fantasy! Cherish it while you can!