Concepts/Ideas you wish FF games implemented but haven't yet.

[Obsidian Fire]

I'd like to see summons interact more with the person they're given too, it'd be really cool if they had a conversation every now and again with their summoner in their mind or something, gave them advice on battles I feel like they only touch briefly on this idea, it'd be kinda cool to explore it more.

The primals (summons) in FFXIV do this a lot. Granted, they are the PC's enemies, but literally every single fight with them has them emoting all over the place about the ideals they embody and most of them have BGM with lyrics that are written from the point of view of the primal in question.

Actually, part of the lore for Summoner in FFXIV is that summoners ended up getting hunted down in eras past because people thought they were being influenced by what they were summoning, which is a really bad thing in that game.

 

[Sprites]

oh that's pretty cool, I've never played XIV so I didn't know they did that.

I remember years ago someone did an FFVIII fanfic and they did the concept of the GFS speaking to the person they were connected with really well, they even gave a reason for why GFs were responsible for memory loss something about needing to eat their memories to sustain themselves and their connection, it was really well done, wish I could remember the fic.

 

[Blade]

This too:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlockable_games

 

[Blade]

Was just thinking about how "thick" RPGs tend to get, to a point where it's hard to just pick up and play them (cerebral gameplay and guide-dang-it scenarios)...

So, has anyone made an RPG you can just pick up and play without thinking much about it?

I mean, something that maybe had micromanagement at the outset, but once you settle in to the character you're going to play as you can keep going without touching stuff... or at least a game where quest explanations or items can be "noted" or marked as priorities so you can remember them later?

I just think there should be some degree of that for people who don't want to do a whole lot of thinking but still want that Fantasy experience, you know?

 

[Blade]

Mode 7, and why I wish more games used it.

 

[Blade]

A different "Take" on Mode 7: Terranigma's Underworld Map.

Like having the sky become an "inverted mirror" of the ground.

I think it's really cool in concept... and if a modern RPG implemented a twisted approach to this, it'd be awesome!

Bonus: The map's theme in question is ALSO very dark.

 

[Claudius Caesar]

Personally, as weird as that may sound, I'd like to see a Final Fantasy game with a modern military setting (though with some sci-fi and fantasy elements, of course) and gameplay similar to FFXV (although I would not be opposed to classic turn-based combat either)

I'm thinking along the lines of Late 20th Century and Early 21st Century military technology, particularly the Cold War era stuff from the 1970's and 1980's (after Vietnam but before the Gulf War) and it could even be set in a re-imagined version of the setting for The Death Trap (Square's very first video game, which was themed around spies and the military)

Maybe even do an epic, near-apocalyptic World War III setting for the game!

Basically, this theoretical Final Fantasy XVI would be to Twilight 2000 what Final Fantasy I was to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

For those unfamiliar with Twilight 2000, it was a role-playing game about World War III.

Of course, here is a relevant link....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight:_2000

 

[Roger]

Type-0 already achieves a lot of that aesthetic.

 

[Claudius Caesar]

Type-0 already achieves a lot of that aesthetic.

I'm not too familiar with Type-0 but I will definitely check it out.

 

[Blade]

You might also want to consider the Front Mission games, though those are more mecha-based, the earlier ones are pretty good as well.

 

[Claudius Caesar]

Heck, I wouldn't mind writing a Cold War Military AU fanfiction with Final Fantasy characters.

I could see Noctis, Cloud, Squall, and the like as US Army soldiers fighting the Soviets in the 1970's-1980's era Eastern European countryside during a theoretical Third World War.

 

[Clement Rage]

The lead character is already in a stable romantic relationship when the game starts and this does not change by the end.

 

[Roger]

The lead character is already in a stable romantic relationship when the game starts and this does not change by the end.

Cecil and Rosa?

 

[Clement Rage]

Never played that one.

 

[Nandemoyasan]

If you look at the kinds of conversations that characters have with each other in FF, they are very rarely about anything but the main plot that is moving forward. People don't tend to have casual, personal conversations in FF very often. I can think of only a couple of examples off the top of my head:

1) Bartz and Krile talking/beating each other up outside of Tycoon Castle after the merging of the two worlds in FFV. That whole sequence is one of the bright spots of FFV's story which has always stood out to me as a good thing about what I otherwise consider a somewhat bland tale.

2) Cloud and Yuffie discussing motion sickness on the Highwind after he has come back from his zonked-out episode. It's a weird little bit of character-building between two characters who never really develop much in the way of a relationship beyond whatever plotline involves Yuffie.

3) Terra and Setzer's optional conversation on the Blackjack after the Imperial Banquet, but before Thamasa. This almost doesn't even count, since technically it is just a bit of foreshadowing of Setzer's backstory, which later is involved in the main plotline, but it's an example of Setzer/Cid/Terra having a bit of a discussion.

I wish Final Fantasy could have more of this stuff. The characters seem like they're just monotonously moving towards the end credits scene, at times. FF9 tried to do it a bit, but the characterization in that game comes off as so one-dimensional (Steiner, wake the F### up) that it seldom seems to matter.

Video game characters that can have a lot of dialogue have the potential to seem like real people... RPG storylines, strangely enough, rarely deviate from moving the plot forward. Tales of Phantasia is absolutely GREAT about this. It's one of the things that really makes an ensemble cast come alive. Think of all the non-essential conversations that happen in a show like Star Trek. The characters seem like they are real people inhabiting an actual universe, when in fact all they are are inventions of a screenwriter.

Final Fantasy comes close at times, but it's easy to be reminded that you're basically playing a glorified action figure simulator when there's not a whole lot to think about besides mindlessly grinding EXP and abilities in order to beat the game.

 

[Claudius Caesar]

I would like to see a modern Final Fantasy game take on a late 19th Century style setting, with the appropriate steampunk and magitek elements that we all know and love.

I know Final Fantasy VI was steampunk, but I would like to see a modern FF game in the style of something similar to the Wild West, Victorian Britain, or The American Civil War.

Red Dead Redemption and its sequel proved that the Western genre is more than viable as a source of inspiration in video games.

I would really be interested in a Final Fantasy game with a steampunk aesthetic modeled after the American Civil War, something like the video game equivalent to movies like Gone With The Wind and Gettysburg. You'd have a mix of melee weapons, black powder guns, and the earliest repeating firearms.

There would be cool stuff for transportation like horses, covered wagons, steam trains, ironclad ships, hot air balloons, and of course, airships and chocobos.

I'd even bring back the photograph system from Final Fantasy XV, only it'd be old black-and-white tin type photos instead of smartphone pictures.

 

[Roger]

I would like to see a modern Final Fantasy game take on a late 19th Century style setting, with the appropriate steampunk and magitek elements that we all know and love.

I know Final Fantasy VI was steampunk, but I would like to see a modern FF game in the style of something similar to the Wild West, Victorian Britain, or The American Civil War.

Red Dead Redemption and its sequel proved that the Western genre is more than viable as a source of inspiration in video games.

I would really be interested in a Final Fantasy game with a steampunk aesthetic modeled after the American Civil War, something like the video game equivalent to movies like Gone With The Wind and Gettysburg. You'd have a mix of melee weapons, black powder guns, and the earliest repeating firearms.

There would be cool stuff for transportation like horses, covered wagons, steam trains, ironclad ships, hot air balloons, and of course, airships and chocobos.

I'd even bring back the photograph system from Final Fantasy XV, only it'd be old black-and-white tin type photos instead of smartphone pictures.

You're not gonna see horses and chocobos in the same setting is the problem.

 

[Ite]

In FF7 there are pictures and statues of horses, and Odin rides Sleipnir in multiple titles. Kirin is a horse I think and “horse” appears in dialogue throughout the series. Lots of monsters are basically horses, too.

Also, my D&D setting has horses and chocobos, conceptually speaking each has their strengths and weaknesses.

edit: that said if I saw a horse walking around in FF I’d be like wut

 

[leadmyskeptic]

Controllable, hardcore sex scene, with limit breaks

 

[ChipNoir]

Chocobos feel a little more sentient than simple farm animals depending on the game. Chocobos like Boko in V and Chicabo in XIII pretty much count as secondary protagonists.

 

[Kuja9001]

Give Yoko Taro a shot at an FF game....maaaaay not have a "happy ending" tho

 

[Nandemoyasan]

Has a woman ever been the showrunner for FF? I don't believe so. Not much chance, considering Japan's 'boys club'-ishness, but it would be fascinating to see what would happen. It'd be different, at least.

 

[ChipNoir]

Depends on what you mean by showrunner. If you mean the POV character, only Yuna in Final Fantasy X-2. Lightning, Serah, Reynn and Terra all have image-character status, but the games they belong to tend to have ensemble casts that are all equally as important and given point-of-view status. It seems like Square just isn't ready to let a female character hold the spotlight on her own. I'm even thinking about how quickly they took the leadership role away from Tifa and tossed it to Cid ASAP.

As for it happening in the future, I'm not sure anyone at SquareEnix is capable of doing it justice. Toriyama's kind of a sexist idiot, and Nomura vastly prefers dealing with male characters if given the choice. Even Sakaguchi made some pretty uncomfortable commentary about how he feels about the roles of men and women in combat. I can't really say what Itou or Kitase would do, but they're all kind of in that older demographic. Japan doesn't exactly have the most progressive ideas about the female role in narratives, and FF is VERY mainstream in it's writing tropes.

It 'could' come up though with newer directors that'll be rising through the ranks over the years.

 

[Ite]

I think they meant "showrunner" as in the creative role behind the development of the game, it's a TV term for someone who is above the producers/directors and has final artistic control over the product. I'm not sure how different it would be, since FF seems to connect with a large female audience to begin with. I'm admittedly not super tapped-in to current Japanese social trends, but I assume that any cultural sexism dictated by the patriarchy is widely accepted by women in power roles, no matter the country, since they succeeded using the hand they were dealt, so to speak.

It's funny, whenever I see this thread updated, I always read the title and think: "All of the things I wish FF implemented are things they used to implement and don't anymore." Such as:

*world map and Mode 7, controllable airship flight, etc.
*turn-based battle system where you control the actions of several playable characters
*100,000+ words of dialogue, comprising a very long story and plenty of optional content
*secret characters and replay value

I will always look for these in a new FF and will always be disappointed.

 

[Nandemoyasan]

I think the closest FF ever came to having a female in charge of anything story-related was when Kaoru Moriyama was their Translator. I think she did Final Fantasy 1, started Final Fantasy 2, then got moved to Final Fantasy 4 with Ted Woolsey as her assistant. She may have left/been let go during the preliminary phases of Final Fantasy 5's abandoned English translation, making Ted Woolsey the entire translation staff for Final Fantasy 6, Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger (which he says nearly killed him).