What is your personal opinion about the current state of the franchise and why?

[Chocomog]

There has been a lot of talk in the last 25 years.

A lot of controversal topics like identity crisis, decreasing sales numbers and wether or not the latest releases are the start of a new beginning or rather the final nail to the coffin.

But even though there is all this talk, I miss a place where you can do it seriously. Because on Reddit or Twitter people get quickly rejected for their doubts. I hope we can do it a bit here without getting personal.

That said, I don't want to talk so much about what strategy will save the franchise for Square Enix. But about what you personally think and feel about your experiences with the old and new games.

And if you think Square is on the right path for you personally.

Thanks for your thoughts

 

[Ghost X]

I can't speak for FFXIV, which people seem to like, but the franchise has been hit and miss since FFIX in my view, and increasingly of the miss variety. I have hope given that the fix is relatively simple, though it is unlikely, but that goes into commentary on SE's strategy, so I'll leave it there .

I enjoyed the old FF games for their RPGness and their well-developed and engaging stories and characters, which seemed to be the product of inspiration that no longer exists. There are still some good things about the latest FF games, but it is not like the old games, and so I haven't bought any since FFXII (which was actually one of my favourites). Granted, I rarely buy games at all, so... .

 

[Elkazor]

It's complicated for me.

I thought FFXVI was great. The story was terrific, everything you want in a good Final Fantasy game. I thought the side-quests were fun too. Gameplay was good fun, but I sorely missed the more fleshed out RPG elements and sense of exploration in the world.

FFXV, with all its hiccups, was still great fun, it's just a shame we had such a strong promise for an amazing experience in the trailers only for the final game to have an altered vision.

FFXIV is still awesome.

The Remake project seems to have really fun and good gameplay but I was disappointed and mixed about the directions they went for the story.

Like Ghost, it's hit and miss for me. But I give grace that there were more hits to me than there were for Ghost.

I think less gacha and aggressive monetization, and more focus on the actual full games is a good step forward. That way there can be more quality put into the full games. I know that seems a pipe dream considering what the industry is atm though.

I'm just really not sure where the series would go from here. Just endlessly coming up with new different mainline entries? Focusing more on fun spin-offs? (Another Dissidia with Clive would be pretty cool)

My final note is: If they ever intend to end the mainline series, the last mainline entry shouldn't have a roman numeral, and instead should have the prefix "The". Calling it "The Final Fantasy"

 

[Theozilla]

Regardless of one's opinions on the games themselves, I think it can be stated that the Final Fantasy franchise is in a better place compared to PS3/PS4 times simply due to no longer being in the development hell of Versus XIII/FFXV and the disastrous mess of the original FFXIV 1.0 product and launch.

 

[Cthulhu]

XVI was a step in the right direction imo for mainline games; the combat system and open world concept could've been a lot better but story/storytelling/visuals were great. I didn't like XV at all. XIII series was alright. XIV is also alright, even if I put hundreds if not thousands of hours into it at this point

But! the Remake project is great (better than XVI) and I really hope they shift the series in that direction more for the next mainline game.

 

[Elkazor]

I will say, yea I'd like if they took the gameplay of the Remake project as the blueprint going forward for original mainline games, with FFXVI being a shining example of how they could make great original stories.

 

[Wanderer]

Critically, it's the best it has been in years. FFVIIR, FFXVI, and FFVIIR are back-to-back GOTY nominees with both positive critical and user reception, The problem is they are limiting themselves sales-wise by only launching on PlayStation. Porting the games to Xbox won’t solve anything, as most of the sales of both FFXIII and FFXV were on PlayStation, and that was when Xbox was relevant. They are making smarter moves now by cancelling unnecessary projects and focusing on bringing their games to the Switch 2.

 

[Cthulhu]

Given modern game engines and development, there's little to no practical reason to not launch on all platforms at once; I suspect they either get some money from Sony to launch on PS, or it's because of some kind of loyalty to Sony. But it's probably money . Remake is a system seller.

 

[Retro Roy]

Loved XV, haven't played XVI yet, have zero interest in XIV (not an MMO guy) and enjoying VII-R so far.

We're better off than we were in the FFXIII days, but it's still a long ways to go. So I'd say it's complicated

 

[Nandemoyasan]

I think I lost the patience for teeny bopper characters getting romantically involved with each other by FF9. From there, I feel that this storytelling angle has hijacked the series, much in the same way having a big, hammy, moustache-twirling villain who gets blowed up real good has kind of hijacked the Star Trek Franchise.

Consider; Cecil and Rosa (at the beginning of FF4) are in an adult romantic relationship. She visits his room at night. She worries for his safety. He comforts her when she is afraid. The relationship is already established from the word 'go.' Cecil and Rosa are already adults and they are already dating, and they do not push the 'Kain as a romantic rival' angle until later on in the story. It is wholesome, it's a bit tragic, and it does serve well to illustrate the problem of the story, that Cecil's profession is literally and figuratively eating his soul. It is plot relevant.

That kind of worldbuilding, interweaving and layering is far more potent as drama. Further, it's more romantic than this "will they or won't they" teen drama dross that has seemed to just never be put down by the FF series after FF6.

Bartz's goofy hijinks aside, there really is no romantic subplot to FF5. Locke and Celes were not the focus of FF6 in the same way as Cecil and Rosa were of 4. Cloud and that lady he hangs out with were far more the focus of 7. Squall and Rinoa are on the freaking cover...

Not that I don't enjoy FF8. I do. But by that point, I was like 'okaaaay!' And it didn't stop. I just feel like this whole Knights and Swords and Sorcery and Exploration stuff has been sidetracked in favor of the couple du jour. There's other problems too, but that's my main one. It's become too soap-opera-ish.

I've kind of given up on games after 2000, anyway, and FF is no exception. But I was formed by the years spent playing 1-8, and by the time 9 rolled around, I was into other things. So, it was just the natural progression of my life, I guess.

 

[Wanderer]

I think I lost the patience for teeny bopper characters getting romantically involved with each other by FF9. From there, I feel that this storytelling angle has hijacked the series, much in the same way having a big, hammy, moustache-twirling villain who gets blowed up real good has kind of hijacked the Star Trek Franchise.

Consider; Cecil and Rosa (at the beginning of FF4) are in an adult romantic relationship. She visits his room at night. She worries for his safety. He comforts her when she is afraid. The relationship is already established from the word 'go.' Cecil and Rosa are already adults and they are already dating, and they do not push the 'Kain as a romantic rival' angle until later on in the story. It is wholesome, it's a bit tragic, and it does serve well to illustrate the problem of the story, that Cecil's profession is literally and figuratively eating his soul. It is plot relevant.

That kind of worldbuilding, interweaving and layering is far more potent as drama. Further, it's more romantic than this "will they or won't they" teen drama dross that has seemed to just never be put down by the FF series after FF6.

Bartz's goofy hijinks aside, there really is no romantic subplot to FF5. Locke and Celes were not the focus of FF6 in the same way as Cecil and Rosa were of 4. Cloud and that lady he hangs out with were far more the focus of 7. Squall and Rinoa are on the freaking cover...

Not that I don't enjoy FF8. I do. But by that point, I was like 'okaaaay!' And it didn't stop. I just feel like this whole Knights and Swords and Sorcery and Exploration stuff has been sidetracked in favor of the couple du jour. There's other problems too, but that's my main one. It's become too soap-opera-ish.

I've kind of given up on games after 2000, anyway, and FF is no exception. But I was formed by the years spent playing 1-8, and by the time 9 rolled around, I was into other things. So, it was just the natural progression of my life, I guess.

This sentiment is nothing new; if you go back and read contemporary reviews from the time, some critics were already saying that FF had run its course when IX rolled around, with some even calling it very formulaic. Even though I love FF, it has always been such an inconsistent and terrible series at times, even during the Square-Soft days.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I dropped off from mainline FF things during the MMO-sandwich (XI through XIV) so I can't really comment on what things were like then as a point of comparison. While I don't play MMOs, I do know a boatload of people who have played XIV and love it to bits.

That being said, XV & XV Comrades were both things I massively enjoyed, and fed into the VII Remake era to deliver the sort of things that I think really FEEL like modern Final Fantasy. While I do have my gripes with XVI like being a single character game rather than a real party, there's a ton that it does well, and you can tell that they're exploring the series at a lot of different levels in how to explore the types of storytelling that they're doing with the series. Rebirth has really pushed all of that and gotten to a really spectacular experience.

The weaknesses of those things are largely driven by overall weaknesses in software/game development that's not solely limited to SE, but feels like they're managing to really nail making Final Fantasy feel like it's a name that still carries weight for the mainline series, and crossovers like Noctis & Clive showing up in Tekken games show that there is a reach that those things have outside of the JRPG world. I think that when XVII gets announced, it'll carry a lot of weight of anticipation that feels sort of like how I remember the old Squaresoft days being.

I do expect the final part of the Remake project to set a lot of expectations for what sort of things that the series is capable of (given how they've talked about things like the Highwind, and how it'll be handling things like the Weapon battles). I'm hoping that as the end of the series, there'll be a refocus on giving the sort of endgame content that is lasting and memorable from launch, which both XV & XVI did with DLC (or cancelled DLC put into a novel) that felt like it just never got to be a part of the core experience in the way that it should have.


While the games industry in general has me nervous, I feel like Final Fantasy is holding its own and has some great heights that it's still capable of reaching in the future. With games like Baldur's Gate III and Expedition 33 doing amazingly with turn-based it feels like the stage is really being set for a lot of possibilities with however the series continues in ways that I think I'll be very much into.



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