Final Fantasy X - The last 'Final Fantasy' ???

[Scarlet]

I had a discussion about Final Fantasy with my boyfriend the other day. We were discussing about Final Fantasy, and I said wanted to continue to play the series. As for him, he is done with Final Fantasy. He doesn't want to bother with XII or any new Final Fantasy game that isn't made by Hironobu Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi is the producer for Final Fantasy I through X. (In X Sakaguchi was the executive producer actually, and he did produce FFXI.) My boyfriend said this: "Final Fantasy X is the last Final Fantasy." He believes that there will be no more after that, and it is owned by Square Enix now.

I agree with his statement. I hate thinking about it but I do believe that Final Fantasy X was the last Final Fantasy. I did not think FFXII has a Final Fantasy feel to it. I enjoyed the hunts, the license grid was great, and battle system was fine. What FFXII didn't seem to capture me was the story and characters I believe. It wasn't like the other Final Fantasy games where you get sucked in and cannot stop playing. After playing FFXII for a bit I felt I had to put down the controller and walk away. FFXII didn't have the same feeling as the past games. I can't put my finger on it... I'm not saying FFXII is a terrible game, it was alright, but it didn't seem like a Final Fantasy to me.

As for FFXIII, from what I have seen so far it seems like a wannabe Devil Man Cry or action game. It seems a little drastic that Square Enix is taking the title Final Fantasy to different directions.

What do you guys think? FFX is the last true Final Fantasy?

 

[Dincht]

Unfortunately, I agree
FFXII really didn't feel like the more original FF's of the past; it was too innovative if anything. I can't quite put my finger on what has changed, but that certain piece of magic is kind of dissapearing.
Maybe Square Enix is trying to change too much, too fast.
It makes you appreciate the little qualities, hell, the little imperfections that FF I-X actually had.

 

[Rockman X]

I would have to agree.

XII is a great game as a game, but as a Final Fantasy, no. When you have something with a prestigious name like Final Fantasy, it has to live up to certain expectations. Some of those include endearing characters and a good, well-paced storyline. XII had neither.

Another thing about XII is that I don't think it should be called Final Fantasy XII. Each of the main Final Fantasy games is set in its own world, yet XII is set in Ivalice, which before had been exclusive to spinoffs. And I'm not saying it didn't have to be a full game or large project, just look at Vagrant Story. It just shouldn't be in the main series because now that drags in the whole Ivalice Alliance into the main series.

There was something else I was going to say too but I forgot. Oh well, I'll probably remember later.

 

[Sephirothalpha]

I disagree, FFXII is a little different yes but still a great game. And what about Final Fintasy XI, a brilliant on-going on-line Final Fantasy game which does have that FF feel to it.

 

[Misty]

Well, there's no right or wrong answer to this. As for the post starters boyfriend, it's his loss. *shrugs*

I don't think it is. FFXII is an FF, has the qualities of one. If you don't see them, then, well, that's unfortunate.

The whole issue of change is a double edged sword. Too long have we stuck with the similiar layout of FF games, and when we dont get change, people complain. When we do have change, people find problems with it.

FFXII was a step forward. It retained traditional values, but obviously each FF game doesnt please everyone.

 

[Lionheart3k]

I agree with this aswell, i bought FFXII about 2 months ago and i havent played it in about 5-6 weeks. Got to the Salikawood and i havent played since. X-2 is another one by SE that was just not Final Fantasy..rather..Tomb Raider..

 

[Prince Oberyn Martel]

X-2 is another one by SE that was just not Final Fantasy..rather..Tomb Raider..

Tomb Raider? what the fuck have you been smoking.

I kinda agree, but not intirely. The seires has evolved. X may have been the last one to have a more traditional feel in term of gameplay but XII still comes about as a true FF in many areas. The only real diversion from the older games is the battle system. If the game had kept 'random' battles, I bet this topic wouldn't even be dreamed of.

 

[SapphireStar]

Yuna jumping around in hot pants and wielding pistols? I can see what he meass by Tomb Raider.

And I agree. My ex said that FFX was the last well Final Fantasy also and anything after that he said would basically be a failure in the eyes of true FF fans. I do liked X2 and 12, dont get me wrong. But I did prefer Square Soft over Enix.

 

[Cecil The Paladin]

hmmm fanboys. the series DID need a change. the whole walk for 2 seconds then boom a encounter did get old.ff12 was a great way to send the series in a new direction. as for that girl or guys boyfriend i say ohhh well his problem i guess he never was a true fan in the first place

 

[Lirael]

I think it's the last classic Final Fantasy, but not necessarily the last Final Fantasy. They can keep on using the name for as long as they want, really...

To be honest, they just need to throw in some chocobos and moogles and it becomes part of the Final Fantasy collection because everyone knows chocobos and moogles are from the Final Fantasy games. They could take any RPG, such as Tales of Eternia, and make it into a Final Fantasy game just by adding them. Of course, Final Fantasy is also knows for its in-game Full Motion Videos, which aren't found in many other games. They, too, would need to be present.

What makes a games part of the series? They're all set in different worlds, and use different characters, unlike the Zelda series. Truly, what makes Final Fantasy Final Fantasy, other than moogles, chocobos and FMVs? Wonderful stories? Plenty of games have those.

 

[Sugosuke]

IMO FFXI and XII are much closer to what FF originally was than X is. I think so many people are just afraid of change and usually arent willing to welcome it no matter what.

 

[Mitsuki]

Well, I have mixed feelings about this. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing to anything, but I will state my views.

While I think that Final Fantasy XII had some changes, it was still a good game to me, and one that I appreciate as a whole. I admit, it didn't quite capture my interest the same way that the other series did, but it had great potential, in my opinion.

Now, about Final Fantasy X being the last Final Fantasy...well, I wouldn't say that as a factual statement. In fact, I don't really think that's the case when it comes to my own opinion. Final Fantasy XII was different, yes...but I accepted those changes and still viewed it as part of the main series - that it is still a Final Fantasy no matter what...even though the "Final Fantasy feel" to it was a bit off.

So in a way, I'm kinda in-between about the topic. Yes, FFXII didn't exactly live up to my expectations, but it is what it is...a Final Fantasy nonetheless, and one that many people like and dislike. Just like the other series. Typical. =)

I do understand where most people in here are coming from though. For awhile, I suppose I did feel the same thing, but I tend to change my mind a lot. I like to be optimistic when it comes to Final Fantasy games, and try to find what's good about the games rather than finding the bad.

 

[Rockman X]

I disagree, FFXII is a little different yes but still a great game. And what about Final Fintasy XI, a brilliant on-going on-line Final Fantasy game which does have that FF feel to it.

Nobody said it wasn't a good game. We're saying it doesn't have the Final Fantasy feel to it. I don't think XI should have been given a number title either, it should have been outside the main series.

I don't think it is. FFXII is an FF, has the qualities of one. If you don't see them, then, well, that's unfortunate.

The whole issue of change is a double edged sword. Too long have we stuck with the similiar layout of FF games, and when we dont get change, people complain. When we do have change, people find problems with it.

FFXII was a step forward. It retained traditional values, but obviously each FF game doesnt please everyone.

No, I don't see the FF qualities. Actually, please tell me how a story that has bad pacing and parallels Star Wars (only with characters that have the collective personality of a single brick) is a step forward?

And I really don't know why so many people complain about the traditional RPG gameplay. You know what? I am perfectly happy with random encounters and I know lots of others are too.

If the game had kept 'random' battles, I bet this topic wouldn't even be dreamed of.

No no, the underwhelming storyline, bland characters, tedious dungeon-crawling (5 hour dungeons are not a FF quality, Judge Rulia), lack of mainstay summons, deformed cactuars, malboros and moogles, and the ending that obviously tied straight into Revenant Wings so we'd rush out and buy it would have still instigated this topic.

 

[Scarlet]

To be honest, they just need to throw in some chocobos and moogles and it becomes part of the Final Fantasy collection because everyone knows chocobos and moogles are from the Final Fantasy games. They could take any RPG, such as Tales of Eternia, and make it into a Final Fantasy game just by adding them. Of course, Final Fantasy is also knows for its in-game Full Motion Videos, which aren't found in many other games. They, too, would need to be present.

I wouldn't say just throwing chocobos, moogles, and other qualities that Final Fantasy has not just make it a Final Fantasy it is something else. Besides XII, it seems to me that every Final Fantasy followed a similar formula.

As for throwing chocobos, moogles whatever in the Tales series still doesn't make it a Final Fantasy. Tales has it own feel anyways I can tell weather or not I'm playing a Tales game because it has their own formula.

What makes a games part of the series? They're all set in different worlds, and use different characters, unlike the Zelda series. Truly, what makes Final Fantasy Final Fantasy, other than moogles, chocobos and FMVs? Wonderful stories? Plenty of games have those.

I disagree. It as if your comparing Warcraft III and Half-Life 2. Both awesome games, both have awesome stories, characters, etc, and they're both Western RPGs. They're completely different games. Both of these games are famous but Half-Life 2 topped PC games. The game received many, many awards.

Final Fantasy one of top JRPGs. Final Fantasy is superior in Japan for a reason. Sure, Tales series and Lunar games are great but they're no where near Final Fantasy. FF series always top charts in Japan, and even top charts in the US. Tales, Lunar, Star Ocean, never gone close to Final Fantasy. Hell, even Final Fantasy IX had a Coco Cola commercial in Japan. Coco Cola is obviously huge a company, I find it to be quite impressive that there was a FF Coco Cola commercial.

I think Final Fantasy after X SE will probably keep changing their formula. Sakaguchi and most of the old staff has left. These games will be developed by different people, and will pick and choose what they want to do with the next Final Fantasy title. I guess I would say Square Soft is Final Fantasy I through X and Square Enix is Final Fantasy XI and beyond that.

IMO FFXI and XII are much closer to what FF originally was than X is. I think so many people are just afraid of change and usually aren't willing to welcome it no matter what.

No offenese, meh, I wouldn't really count XI as a Final Fantasy roman numeral number. Square should have named it Final Fantasy online and that is how I usually refer it to. =/ FFXI is too different, there are some similarities but it's a MMORPG.

 

[F. F. Fan]

I completely agree with X seeming like it was the last Final Fantasy, it certainly seemed like the last “True” one in the series for me. I enjoyed FFXII as a game in whole, but that was it... XII never left that lasting impression like all the others had in the past. In short, you could clearly see the absence of Hironobu Sakaguchi and other previous staff's style and talent… especially in the half-assed storyline and cold character interaction.

Every FF I’ve played to date thus far, I’ve loved for many different reasons, mostly for their amazing storylines or characters. However, XII was the first to truly disappoint me in those areas; I thought the core storyline itself was good, but poorly done and incomplete for my idea of what a Final Fantasy should be…

Take the Occuria, the true villains and in my opinion, one of the most important elements to the story, right...?

.........Yeah... um... this is who we are and this is what we do when we’re bored and don’t care for the current political structure of Ivalace... Why? Oh... c...a...u...s...e... we can... Besides, it’s not like we have anything better to do (lack of story to explain otherwise). Oh wait; yeah one of us is currently rebelling right now, family disagreement on how to kill all of you down there. You understand, right, Ashe? Anyway, we’re too busy interfering to interfere - Psst, the truth is, we can’t tell you because we’re busy doing the same shit manipulating you, so here’s a sword... go kill him for us.

Anyway, with all of that said, I still liked the game; but it was certainly far from what I expect (character and story wise) out of a Final Fantasy.

I think so many people are just afraid of change and usually arent willing to welcome it no matter what.

Afraid of change…? No, I wouldn’t say that fans were afraid of change when came to this game, certainly not me. If anything, I’d say it was the amount of change… as in… too much. I understand they were trying to re-innovate the series and take it into a different direction - trying to attract a whole new audience of gamers to the genre. But in my opinion, it was too much change... or lack thereof in terms of the games completeness.

Tomb Raider? what the fuck have you been smoking.

I do agree with Lionheart3k... I... in a crack free state-of-mind, have to agree that X-2 did remind me of Tomb Raider and Charles Angels as well. The only thing missing on Yuna was the big boobs.

 

[Sugosuke]

The only thing that makes XI any different is that you play it online with other people. It probably has the most FF exclusive content out of any FF ever (see summons, characters, FF classes, storytelling, crystals, music, moogles, chocobos, airships etc.). It feels like a Final Fantasy world.

As for XII. I happen to love the story, its one of my favorites and it is very FF, and all the gameplay changes between X-XII were necessary. You cant expect them to stick to the same thing forever if they want the series to live on. It has to evolve, and thats pretty much what its doing as I see it.

If I had to say any FF stood out to me as not being normal as far as final fantasy goes it would probably be VII,VIII and X.
they are just the least Final Fantasy feeling games in the series imo.

 

[Scarlet]

The only thing that makes XI any different is that you play it online with other people. It probably has the most FF exclusive content out of any FF ever (see summons, characters, FF classes, storytelling, crystals, music, moogles, chocobos, airships etc.). It feels like a Final Fantasy world.

Yeah I and could say that about the Warcraft series and World of Warcraft. The thing that is linking between the series and WoW is the overall plot, races, setting, and main charcters. Both games are related to each other. Plots in each game are linked. They're just both different types of games to me. The series is not an MMO and the other is.

That is the way I see with FFXI as well. I have no problem with XI. I just strongly believe it should have been called Final Fantasy Online. It is a MMORPG, it is similar to Final Fantasy and it makes you like your playing in an FF world. That doesn't change the fact that is still an MMORPG. It game will continue each after expansion. MMORPGs don't have an ending but each player has their own ending. That is another difference I see, player chooses their fate...not as freely non Western RPGs though.

 

[Rockman X]

The only thing that makes XI any different is that you play it online with other people. It probably has the most FF exclusive content out of any FF ever (see summons, characters, FF classes, storytelling, crystals, music, moogles, chocobos, airships etc.). It feels like a Final Fantasy world.

No. The story is just an extremely broad overview to set the stage for the world. There's no intricate plot, no main characters you play as to save the world from an evil villain with a love subplot thrown in. It doesn't feel like a FF world either, it just feels like a normal, fantasy MMO world.

As for XII. I happen to love the story, its one of my favorites and it is very FF, and all the gameplay changes between X-XII were necessary. You cant expect them to stick to the same thing forever if they want the series to live on. It has to evolve, and thats pretty much what its doing as I see it.

It's not very FF at all, it's star warsy. The pacing in the story is godawful, that's never happened before in a FF. The characters are dull and impersonal for the most part. The Occuria subplot, which should have been expanded on since they're the driving force behind the entire world, was briefly mentioned then forgotten.

If I had to say any FF stood out to me as not being normal as far as final fantasy goes it would probably be VII,VIII and X.
they are just the least Final Fantasy feeling games in the series imo.

Praytell, have you played I through VI or IX? Because while VII and X (maybe not so much VIII) are dissimilar in setting, with story and characters they definitely have more of a FF feel to them than XII does.

Now, I would like to point out something else as to why X is the last true FF. What has SE been doing ever since they obtained the rights to the series? Mostly spinoffs and randomass games. Granted, Squaresoft would make little spinoffs things, but not to the extent of SE. Lets look at all SE has done and are doing:

X-2
Tactics Advance and it's upcoming sequel
Kingdom Hearts CoM and KH2 (and the upcoming sequels)
XII and its sequel Revenant Wings
Crystal Chronicles and its sequel
VII Complation (which is going to continue for another 9 years, at least thats was SE wants to do)
XIII compilation...three so far, not even sure when the main XIII is coming
Remakes of Tactics and the classic main FFs
Chocobo Tales...is very ghey
Dissidia

So as we can see, SE is lots more concerned with spinoffs and making main games that will tie into sequels so SE can milk more money. Squaresoft generally didn't purposefully milk its fans for money. When they made a story, they straight up ended it (after all, the games are called Final Fantasy for a reason, each game is its own seperate story and is meant to be ended when the game is completed) so it didn't need sequels. And their spinoffs were generally quality games as well, not halfassed like Tactics Advance (entirely too easy, crap story) or KH2 (more of the same, all added features were useless).

 

[Scarlet]

Now, I would like to point out something else as to why X is the last true FF. What has SE been doing ever since they obtained the rights to the series? Mostly spinoffs and randomass games. Granted, Squaresoft would make little spinoffs things, but not to the extent of SE. Lets look at all SE has done and are doing:

X-2
Tactics Advance and it's upcoming sequel
Kingdom Hearts CoM and KH2 (and the upcoming sequels)
XII and its sequel Revenant Wings
Crystal Chronicles and its sequel
VII Complation (which is going to continue for another 9 years, at least thats was SE wants to do)
XIII compilation...three so far, not even sure when the main XIII is coming
Remakes of Tactics and the classic main FFs
Chocobo Tales...is very ghey
Dissidia

So as we can see, SE is lots more concerned with spinoffs and making main games that will tie into sequels so SE can milk more money. Squaresoft generally didn't purposefully milk its fans for money. When they made a story, they straight up ended it (after all, the games are called Final Fantasy for a reason, each game is its own seperate story and is meant to be ended when the game is completed) so it didn't need sequels. And their spinoffs were generally quality games as well, not halfassed like Tactics Advance (entirely too easy, crap story) or KH2 (more of the same, all added features were useless).

You have made a very valid point there. If you look through each Final Fantasy game they were made 1-2 years apart. Although Square Soft released other game at the time they were made by different developers. For what it seems is that Sakaguchi and his crew made one game at a time. Not to mention Square Soft seemed to have quite a few quality games such as Chrono Trigger/Cross, Secret of Mana, Xenogears, and Parasite Eve.

You're right, Square Soft did not make any spin-offs. The only spin-offs Square made were Final Fantasy Legends, Mystic Quest, and Chocobo racing games. Even then, those games were made by different people and weren't similar to the Final Fantasy series.

Square Enix does seem to be too concerned with spin-offs. They're working on too many projects at once. Hell, I find it odd for them to be releasing three XIII games. Not one has been released yet, and we don't know much information about these games.

Heh, Square Enix new major project is Infinity Undiscovery....Let see how well that goes.

 

[Pineapplenipple]

I think many people don´t like FFXII because they thought it was going to be FFX story with different characters.

"OMG! why Ashe isn´t like Yuna???

Ashe could cut Yunas head off any day while she was just summoning. FFXII story didn´t center around its characters it was centered around Ivalice and I like it. Good old political scheming and no stupid Tidus and Yuna flowing in a lake and having sex.

And characters have development in FFXII. At least Ashe,Vaan and Larsa has. Balthier, Fran, Reddas and Basch have interesting back stories. Only really lack is Penelo who is with main team for no reason. Well Vaan is too but I guess Basch see he has potential.

FF X is good Final Fantasy game but many other FF-games surpass it in my books. FFX biggest downfall it is too easy and the characters are annoying IMO. Tidus was annoying because he always was such a whiny bitch if things didn´t go as he planned. I can´t relate to main hero who whines if he can´t just accept some things that can´t be changed.

And FFXII was also good because it had no main hero just like my favorite FF-game FFVI. Although I would have like sometimes more storytelling changing the focus on main characters.

And FFXII has much more older FF-feel than FFX. FFXII had moogles, items which appeared in very early FF-games like Bacchus wine and many Espers had previous FF-names like Zeromus. In FFX no moogles and no familiar items and only link to older Final Fantasies I found is certain monsters, Lulus weapons ( big plus for this) and Ronso making statue of Yuna with a big horn( old FF-games and IX have summoners with horn) .

Shame on FFX.

// True that SE is milking fans with numerous spin-offs. It is nice to see more of the awesome worlds but still they have broken something that FF-franchise was unique: no direct sequels.