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Post by TonberryKing on Feb 13, 2018 10:14:30 GMT
Square Enix for some time now has been struggling to engage fan interest in The Final Fantasy Franchise, maybe no just that but some of their other games. For the later half of a decade Square Enix focused alot of effort in to a trilogy that really nobody cared about, They had to undo what was a good ending to Final Fantasy XIII to continue the sequel. The rut Square Enix is in right now I really thing is lacking good leadership. Taking a look back at the playstation era when it could be argued that square Enix (then Squaresoft) was a its peak. You had Yoshinori Kitase, whom was directing Final Fantasy games left and right, directing Chrono Trigger and others, You had Takahashi whom was soul responsible for Xenogears, Tokita whom made Parasite eve and Matsuno Whom was responsible for Tactics and Vagrant Story. Square Enix was on fire so many great minds working for them so mnay great stories, and concepts. But what happened. They left to pursue other things, Sakaguchi was forced to leave the company, some became freelancers, Kitase became a producer and stepped out of the directors chair. Square Enix for the better have of 15 years has lacked leadership in there own projects they are just at this point a shell of there former selves.
The Problem Square Enix is running into isn't the fact that they don't have creative minds, I think the could gets some fresh blood and makes some amazing titles,
Hell at this point Tabata proved he is capable helming a project, but XV didn't show his full potential because it was a project that wasn't his baby. This leads me to what is killing Square Enix right now and the Final Fantasy Franchise. Square at this point is so focused on pleasing the fans that the studio is never sure what direction to take the series in. Square Enix is so focused in trying to please the western audience they have forgotten the most important thing in there games. Passion. The series could evolve to new heights I think if Square Enix would let there developers make the games that they wanted to rather than force the to fit the mold of what they think fans want and there newly implemented "games as a service" model. I think if Square Enix showed passion in their own work that would carry over to there games, and fans would be more willing to enjoy them, because that passion would flow through. I take a look at the past Final Fantasy titles, from 10 and down. Each Final Fantasy, was a project made of passion, its characters resonated with the player, its world was interesting and unique,
each game tired so hard to add new elements to the gameplay, all while keeping what fans expected. I think they really just need to stop worrying what fans want at this point and develop the games that they want to make. That would in turn show and I think their relationship with their fans would be better off.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Feb 14, 2018 7:41:33 GMT
I agree. Square Enix are allowing fans to decide how games should be made,and it's contaminating SE's vision. I used to feel sorry for SE,because I know sometimes fans are never happy regardless. But,when it's become obvious SE are focusing mainly on making money nowadays,I think they've brought their own downfall themselves. As someone who enjoyed FF12 and FF13,I felt as if SE tried to accommodate for the demands of both traditional JRPG fans and action gamers. I even enjoyed the first sequel to FF13,and saw it's potential,even though I do think FF13-2 would have made an awesome stand alone game with totally new characters,rather than trying to force it's story into the FF13 universe as an easier alternative.
However,Lightning Returns left a bitter taste in my mouth,and it's story became to cheesy I could see SE were milking FF13,rather than making the effort to make something fresh.
I really enjoyed Crisis Core,and that was a game SE made without listening so much to other people,they made that game how they wanted to make it,and it turned out to be a game regarded as one of the most emotional story experiences ever,with an awesome battle system that focuses on being fun,rather than revolutionary.
As for FF15,well I like open world,and other JRPGs have done a good job merging narrative and open world,but the fact SE purposely cut out story content so they could sell it as DLC is greed.
Then there's the FF7 remake,which will be sold as a trilogy. As for SE saying the game won't fit all on one disc,they would have known beforehand due to the amount of money they're spending on development,they want to release the game as a trilogy to make it profitable enough to be worth their while. However,personally I think FF7 doesn't need a remake. I'd love a FF7 remaster with modern graphics,but why do they need to tinker with the story?
If Sakaguchi was still with SE,this BS wouldn't be happening. He hates sequels. Sakaguchi also makes JRPGs the way he wants to,hence he made Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey turn-based,and he made The Last Story feel like a true JRPG,and he didn't listen to critics or whiny gamers. On the other hand,Tabata and Kitase said they place a big importance on westernizing FF. It was Kitase's idea for the FF13 trilogy since he said FF13 sold well in the west,and Tabata said he wants future FF games to become more like MMORPGs and Breath of The Wild.
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Post by TonberryKing on Feb 14, 2018 12:50:26 GMT
One of the youtubers I talk with frequently said this. Square Enix has been putting such an emphasis on graphics and realism in the Final Fantasy Series that somewhere along the way it lost its magic. Final Fantasy X really set that bar and they need to go back and find that magic. He went on to say that would it really be a bad thing if Final Fantasy went more along the lines of downgrading its graphics somethign more akin to anime or something in the veins of I am Setsuna, but perhaps a but more graphical. He said he would love to Final fantasy VI style. This is why i'm kinda looking forward to Dragon Quest XI so much because its not trying to set itself in realism.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Feb 14, 2018 12:57:36 GMT
One of the youtubers I talk with frequently said this. Square Enix has been putting such an emphasis on graphics and realism in the Final Fantasy Series that somewhere along the way it lost its magic. Final Fantasy X really set that bar and they need to go back and find that magic. He went on to say that would it really be a bad thing if Final Fantasy went more along the lines of downgrading its graphics somethign more akin to anime or something in the veins of I am Setsuna, but perhaps a but more graphical. He said he would love to Final fantasy VI style. This is why i'm kinda looking forward to Dragon Quest XI so much because its not trying to set itself in realism. Definitely. FF13 is linear,but it took 6 years to make because of it's graphics. I'd personally be happy with graphics like those in Lost Odyssey,which have realism,but not over-the-top CGIs,and Lost Odyssey combines realism and art style beautifully. Or even something like Blue Dragon,which is cartoony,but looks colorful and polished,and it has enjoyable CGIs,but not over-the-top. |
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Post by TonberryKing on Feb 14, 2018 13:11:39 GMT
One of the youtubers I talk with frequently said this. Square Enix has been putting such an emphasis on graphics and realism in the Final Fantasy Series that somewhere along the way it lost its magic. Final Fantasy X really set that bar and they need to go back and find that magic. He went on to say that would it really be a bad thing if Final Fantasy went more along the lines of downgrading its graphics somethign more akin to anime or something in the veins of I am Setsuna, but perhaps a but more graphical. He said he would love to Final fantasy VI style. This is why i'm kinda looking forward to Dragon Quest XI so much because its not trying to set itself in realism. Definitely. FF13 is linear,but it took 6 years to make because of it's graphics. I'd personally be happy with graphics like those in Lost Odyssey,which have realism,but not over-the-top CGIs,and Lost Odyssey combines realism and art style beautifully. Or even something like Blue Dragon,which is cartoony,but looks colorful and polished,and it has enjoyable CGIs,but not over-the-top. If memory serves me correctly Square Enix spend a good four years trying to make headway with the engine because they were having so much trouble with it. Another bad example of leadership comes from Kingdom Hearts III. Kingdom Hearts III had made some progress, but for some reason or other Square had them switch everything over to the Unreal Engine 4 which meant reworking alot of segments and recoding alot of the game. This made the project longer than it should have been. There have also been interviews with people form square stating that the Final Fantasy VII Remake's character models were redone to fit the way they looked in the original. This tells me two things one The Final Fantasy VII Remake is nowhere near completion, its still in the early stages. This also tells me that Square Enix at some point questioned what fans were saying and changed things significantly to please the fans, probably because of backlash. Final Fantasy XV is still updating its story and adding additional story updates to the game, so much so that I'm starting to actually loose interest. Between the movies, anime, 3 DLC's, and constant updates they are adding to this game it makes me sick. Square Enix is treat XV like a Live service, Like an MMO that constantly gets updates. They listen to fan feedback and pacth things according to what fans want, and what the want to see in the story. Any Series that is in this boat is in a bad state. I'm worried for how Square Enix will treat Final Fantasy XVI at times point. It disgusts me, but more than that I think its time for them to shelve the Final Fantasy Project for good and move onto making games that are maybe more westernized, and open world if they want. I think people would flock to and gravitate more towards a new IP from Square Enix that implimented that then using the Final Fantasy namebrand, because at this time its only refelcting badly on the series. They now have me question this, someone who stood with them with XII, and XIII, welcomed XIII 2 and Lightning Returns (though the later was just a big fat turd that should have never happened). Square wants to see how a game needs to be done they need to look no further than Nier Automata, that game in itself should be a shining example of how Square needs to make a game. It had passion and a complete story that didn't feel chopped, it was a game that fans had no say or part of. It was a game because of that, that resonated with fans because you could feel Yoko Taro's passion for the project, Platinum Games attention to detail and world building, and suttle hints and nods to the original that made that game such a masterpiece. |
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