What's wrong with Square Enix's current direction?

FF12 was a great game. not perfect but great game.

I'm only saying the story wasn't good.
 
Razberry Knight said:
FF12 was a great game. not perfect but great game.

I'm only saying the story wasn't good.
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Agreed. No argument their. There were things about the battle system I liked that were better than X even.
All they needed was a world map to travel using vehicles such as airships. I'm not a fan of fast travel.
And, a better story-told narrative.
It would have been awesome then. The story however drags it down and makes the game less interesting.
 
its a final fantasy title as much as ff1-10. ff11, 13, and 14 aren't the best example, but 11 and 14 have an excuse of intentionally being an MMO. ff15 is also one that we would have to look into. but 13....the first one didn't know what it was, 13-2 tried to fix it, and LR tries so hard to bring back classic ff features but instead it twists each one so much its not even an PRG anymore.

but vehicles isn't something necessary to travel in an overworld to be ff.
 
The way I see it, failure in this sense is normal. You can't formulate a brilliant game every time you launch a new title. You'll always have a risk that your product won't break water. The risk gets higher with sequels: Not only do you have the task of bringing new fans to the franchise, but you also need to appease the older generation.

You also have the creative desire aspect. Who really wants to keep doing the same type of game, over and over? Of course you're going to have developments in a series and they're certainly not all going to go in the right direction.

I can't say that the XIII series were good games in relative to the rest of the series. They took a step in the wrong direction in many ways with that game itself. It left many of the older fans in the mud with its battle system and relative linearity.

However, MANY newer fans actually enjoyed and loved the XIII system and characters. That makes me think they probably ended up sticking with the XIII series since Versus was having problems with development and-with the problematic launch of the original XIV- it made sense, budget wise, to stick with a series of games they knew would have at least a half cemented fanbase.


I think that Square Enix prolonged the XIII series out of necessity rather than of desire. They would've had to have decided on the Versus change some before it was announced.With XIV already a MMO project, they had very few paths to go to push forward with the series. Turning XIII into its own series would seem to be a viable and worthy venture when you have few other ways to go.

Sure, they could've went about remaking some of the PS1 games for the consoles, but that in itself would be problematic in many ways-aging issues with the games themselves, transition of code and so on. Voice actors are a necessity in today's gaming world, they'd need to be added. The project would be huge.

The XIII sequels? Less of a burden. A large part of it would've already been coded- basics of the battle system, interfaces. Hell, many of the characters didn't even get costume updates. Reusing that code seems like the simpler task to me.

All in all, I don't think that Square Enix are going down a path to utter ruin. The company's other departments have shown their ability to make games of a good quality(Tomb Raider is one example). I think XIII and its related media are hiccups in a series which-perhaps- has had too long of a good streak to begin with. I'd like to hope that XV will mark a return of form to the series.

I don't think that we'll see a return to the style of battle we've seen in earlier games for some time, however. Action-based gameplay will be the way forward, imo.
 
Razberry Knight said:
its a final fantasy title as much as ff1-10. ff11, 13, and 14 aren't the best example, but 11 and 14 have an excuse of intentionally being an MMO. ff15 is also one that we would have to look into. but 13....the first one didn't know what it was, 13-2 tried to fix it, and LR tries so hard to bring back classic ff features but instead it twists each one so much its not even an PRG anymore.

but vehicles isn't something necessary to travel in an overworld to be ff.
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chuckle...Well I sort of agree with you. Their on-line games XI and XIV shouldn't have been a part of the numbered series. Then again they shouldn't have numbered any of them. The first Final Fantasy was supposed to be the swan song of Squaresoft but because it was such a good game they made more. Still numbering them wasn't the best choice. Of course vehicles aren't necessary. Nothing is necessary lol. It's not about what is necessary in any game. It's about what's creative. I would say since the worlds that developers can create are so big today, fast traveling becomes an easy choice. Such as in Elder Scrolls games since Oblivion. Morrowind had a lot of travel that wasn't fast travel but it also didn't use real time stilt riders though there is a mod for that now on pc. Those large areas of land mass and go anywhere do anything formula is a Western Staple in many RPG's. It runs into a problem though when it tries to tell a story that can't pull a player along. Therefore a big world map is fine but only certain areas should be accessed guiding the player but soon opening the world up to the player to eventually explore everything. As I said you can fast travel, but why not offer traveling through vehicles as an option as it's fun to traverse a world map at faster speeds and see the expanse of the world. I think they should have both options.
 
i think eidos is completely irrelevant to SE. whether they bought them out or not, SE only provides distribution rights mainly. Eidos still feels like a completely different company from SE
 
Cookie McGee said:
The way I see it, failure in this sense is normal. You can't formulate a brilliant game every time you launch a new title. You'll always have a risk that your product won't break water. The risk gets higher with sequels: Not only do you have the task of bringing new fans to the franchise, but you also need to appease the older generation.

You also have the creative desire aspect. Who really wants to keep doing the same type of game, over and over? Of course you're going to have developments in a series and they're certainly not all going to go in the right direction.

I can't say that the XIII series were good games in relative to the rest of the series. They took a step in the wrong direction in many ways with that game itself. It left many of the older fans in the mud with its battle system and relative linearity.

However, MANY newer fans actually enjoyed and loved the XIII system and characters. That makes me think they probably ended up sticking with the XIII series since Versus was having problems with development and-with the problematic launch of the original XIV- it made sense, budget wise, to stick with a series of games they knew would have at least a half cemented fanbase.


I think that Square Enix prolonged the XIII series out of necessity rather than of desire. They would've had to have decided on the Versus change some before it was announced.With XIV already a MMO project, they had very few paths to go to push forward with the series. Turning XIII into its own series would seem to be a viable and worthy venture when you have few other ways to go.

Sure, they could've went about remaking some of the PS1 games for the consoles, but that in itself would be problematic in many ways-aging issues with the games themselves, transition of code and so on. Voice actors are a necessity in today's gaming world, they'd need to be added. The project would be huge.

The XIII sequels? Less of a burden. A large part of it would've already been coded- basics of the battle system, interfaces. Hell, many of the characters didn't even get costume updates. Reusing that code seems like the simpler task to me.

All in all, I don't think that Square Enix are going down a path to utter ruin. The company's other departments have shown their ability to make games of a good quality(Tomb Raider is one example). I think XIII and its related media are hiccups in a series which-perhaps- has had too long of a good streak to begin with. I'd like to hope that XV will mark a return of form to the series.

I don't think that we'll see a return to the style of battle we've seen in earlier games for some time, however. Action-based gameplay will be the way forward, imo.
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If they want to make an action game fine but don't name it Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy is an RPG. All you teenagers and early 20 year olds aren't used to good gameplay and storytelling in your games for the most part. You don't see Elder Scrolls changing their formula very much. You confuse change from game to game with an entirely different premise. Each game is supposed to be different. Actually most NEWER generations hated XIII's series. You are right about one thing. Squinex cares more about milking a franchise. They didn't have to make more XIII games. They just need to make one game. Make it good and stick with the formula. If they are tired of it they should just step away from it and give it to someone else.
 
spoonyrogdrumps said:
You don't see Elder Scrolls changing their formula very much.
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I bloody wish they would, because the combat is utter, utter, utter cat piss.

They didn't have to make more XIII games.
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No they didn't, but that would have meant between the fiscal years 2011-3, aside from an hugely expensive and resource-sucking MMO reboot from its disastrous earlier incarnation, what else could Square Jpn have conceivably released as flagship console releases for those empty fiscal years?

The sequels were part of a problem, but a different sort of problem. Had they functioned like how a well-structured and organised company should with good communication channels between teams and staff, without the delusions of grandeur when they first entered the generation back in 2006, there wouldn't have been any need for a whole trilogy. FFXIII would have been standalone. Versus would have come out in a much more timelier manner. FFXIV would be up and quickly making money. A non-Versus FFXV could have even been released by the twilight years of last gen. FFX|X-2 and FFXII HD would be real by now.

Perhaps we could have had at least one new ambitious IP aside from The Last Remnant. Bloodmasque was allegedly going to be an Unreal Engine 3 action RPG, but because everything went to shit by 2010, it was relegated to the status of a mobile Infinity Blade-lite RPG.
 
I agree they need to work on their communications between teams and staff. Their whole structure is a mess at least during that whole process. I really liked Skyrim's combat for what it was but yeah.
Regardless of peoples views on where Final Fantasy is going they need to get the company running more efficiently stat
 
i dont think it has to do with staff and communication, its just that they lost sight of their own series. XIII could've been hated but tolerable series if they really stayed true with what they introduced and expand on it. but they just made it awkward series that likes to reinvent itself completely.

They just lost sight of what they were even making, or simply just wanted a cash cow.
 
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