Final Fantasy XVI

ForceStealer

Double Growth
FFII: Maria
FFIII: Refia
FFIV: Rosa, Rydia, Porom
FFV: Lenna, Faris, Krile
FFVI, with it's 20 million characters: Terra, Celes, Relm
FFVII: Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie
FFVIII: Rinoa, Selphie, Quistis
FFIX: Garnet, Freya, Eiko
FFX: Yuna, Lulu, Rikku
FFX-2: Yuna, Rikku, Paine
FFXII: Penelo, Fran, Ashe
FFXIII: Lightning, Fang, Vanille

And it's not just FF:
Xenosaga: Shion, KOS-MOS, MOMO
Persona 3: Yukari, Mitsuru, Fuuka
Tales of Xillia: Milla, Elize, Leia
Phantasy Star IV: Alys, Rika, Kyra
Chrono Trigger: Marle, Lucca, Ayla

and on and on and on
 

Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
....So I guess VIII and XIII just doesn't exist. :monster:

The main casts of those games were balanced. 3 men. 3 women.

Squall, Zell, and Irvine. Quistis, Selphie, and Rinoa.

Snow, Sazh and Hope. Lightning, Fang, and Vanille.

FFIX is a wildcard because while there are 4 men and 3 women, Quina is nonbinary or maybe genderless. Quina can fall under either category given their appearance and demeanor. They simply are just Quina.
 

Obsidian Fire

Ahk Morn!
AKA
The Engineer
Although I note this is only going over the playable characters. When it comes to the main NPCs, it starts looking different... in some ways better, in others worse.
 

Clement Rage

Pro Adventurer
I kinda rebel against the idea of 'no generic fantasy settings' because there is significantly more to it than that, and really, when was the last time you saw those tropes played straight?

LOTR itself doesn't- the battles and kings are diversions so that the important mission to destroy rather than wield the artefact of power can succeed.

I'm not wedded to any particular vision. I would prefer if they stopped destroying the world, though (As in, basically everyone dies except the lead characters, as happened in XIII and XV.) I don't care what happens to the leads once everything else is gone.)
 

Odysseus

Ninja Potato
AKA
Ody
Doesn't matter to me, FFXV tried to tell a brotherhood centered story and it did it extremely well. Their relationship was genuine and realistic, one of the best depictions of friendship... I'll never forget their story.
FFXV, despite its flaws, did that one thing very well. The last scene around the camp fire made me feel a way no other scene in final fantasy has.
 

Roger

He/him
AKA
Minato
I want societies where Chocobos are the primary mode of travel, where people are trained in many different types of weapons both melee and long range, ectera. It looks weird and forced in supermodern settings like FFXIII and FFXV, a medieval setting just lends itself better. I'm happy to also travel outer space and have robot partymembers and whatnot.
 

FFShinra

Sharp Shinra Shill
I want a Laguna-esque gun-wielder. Hell, I want a Laguna-esque main hero. I don't mean simply not moody (we had that with Tidus and Zidane). I also mean a bit of a goofball without having his circumstances be the reason for it (a la Tidus).

Also give me a villain I'd love to hate. Ardyn was fine, but frankly there was not enough of a slow burn with him to make him memorable to me. They did way too much too fast with him.

Same goes for secondary villain. I did not care about Niflheim at all. Nor PSICOM. There is a reason my user name references the Shinra company. I love to hate them. I also loved Galbadia, Alexandria, and the Church of Yevon.

As for setting, I say neither European Medieval, nor cyberpunk futuresque. Give me the 20th century, be it world war, cold war, espionage, dictatorships, republics, etc. FF8 was the only mainline title to try this, and I feel like it's high time they tried again.
 

Obsidian Fire

Ahk Morn!
AKA
The Engineer
I'd argue FF8 was pretty cyberpunk futuresque in places. Garden and Esthar in particular. Timber had a more steampunk feel to it. However, none of the governments we see in FF8 are kingdoms either. They are all presidencies (or at least claim they are) so that makes the setting feel a lot more modern than it otherwise might feel. Even stuff like Garden are mercenaries and will work for anyone willing to pay for them. So that setting's socioeconomic situation makes it feel a lot more modern than other titles I guess.

FF15 was a lot more modern in certain ways than FF8 even was when it came to the setting. But even so, it has kingdoms, empires, and people using magic to combat what is essentially a magical problems. It's pretty much about how the Royal Line of Lucius fixes the world as the gods deceed they do so. Which... contrasts with the setting in a lot of ways. It honestly feels like the FF15 story would fit a fantasy setting better if it wasn't for how the backstory took place over 2,000 years ago....

My go to Final Fantasy games for crazy politicking is Tactics, FF12 and FF14, which takes a lot of inspiration from lot of Matsumoto's stuff when it comes to political situations. While those have a lot of fantasy in them, the politics is a lot more important to those games than it is for others when it comes to the overall story and setting.
 

FFShinra

Sharp Shinra Shill
Well nothing will be one to one, since some fantasy will always be involved. But I would like FF to try it again and stick with it. But yes, ultimately I want politics to have more front and center focus.
 

Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
....Wait, what was FFXII and FFXV then? :huh:

LOL see this is what I'm talking about. The fact some fans seemingly grasp onto arbitrary (and I mean arbitrary in the sense that it's held as the paragon of a trope/setting/etc) entries yet memory hole others that do precisely what they seemingly say they look for or want, speaks to the futility of "wanting" an FF for a particular reason or "need."

A future FF could literally do every single thing every person in this threads states they want. Let's say hypothetically S-E is listening to this very thread and 8 years from now FFXVI is released and it is a massive, content rich 4 disc Blu Ray game that within the story covers numerous settings, weapon styles, incorporated numerous political dramas, carries a fantasy AND high tech aesthetic, and tells the most compelling, well written character story that is simultaneously timeless yet cogent to the times we live in. It's without question, a critically acclaimed masterpiece of storytelling and gameplay.

....Half of the people here would still hate it anyways or find it to be lacking. :monster:

Why? Because the inclusion of any arbitrary standard or trope isn't going to magically make a game good or appealing. Plenty of bad games have good elements fans like, yet they still are terrible. FF games aren't good because they are more of X, or Y and less of Z or A. I don't care how similar FF games may be back to back, if they are good, they will be good because they will be good in their development and writing.

Coming out of the double critical acclaim of FFVII and FFVIII, the masses were not clamouring to a return to old school Nintendo FF roots. Some may have been, but the majority were not. They wanted to see the modern technological and futuristic setting juxtaposed with reality pushed further. The last thing on their minds were call backs to the NES or SNES. It was the cusp of the transition to next gen, where graphics and tech were on the rise. FFX was what people were salivating for, not IX. Yet IX stands as one of the greatest entries in the franchise. Because it's phenomenal.

I'm going to put one of my favorite games on blast but Resident Evil 6 is a cautionary tale of what happens when you take a heavily invested fanbase too seriously. Resident Evil has the problem if needing to evolve the franchise and maintain it's identity as a survival horror franchise but grow market liquidity and interest through appealing to a broad demographic. Which creates at least 3 opposing camps of fans that are on the RE train. Fans of pure survival horror, fans of heart racing action, and fans who like lore, puzzles and story. Capcom got the bright idea to mash EVERYTHING together in the largest, heaviest, most content rich and varied RE installment which included the most popular characters in the franchise. It literally has everything fans explicitly said they wanted at the time and the result?

They pleased very few. They got hammered for it. I personally believe it was a reactionary backlash but the fact is that because they listened to their fans and formulaically tried to cater to the wants and needs of their fans they paradoxically displeased them in the process. If you'd have asked me what the next main RE game I would have wanted after 6, I'd have told you a game that features Jill and a game that looks at what the fuck happened to Jake Mueller. I certainly wouldn't have said a first person game starring a random fucking nobody named Ethan that takes place in Louisiana and the most threatening monster is a goddamn sadistic nutbag Louisiana Southerner who chases you through a house with a shovel and then tries to kill you with his car.

But it is what I wanted. It's my favorite! I just didn't know it at the time!

Aside from rare exceptions like FFVII Remake, no one's favorites spawn from an audience placing an order like at a restaurant. It happens because the artists and workers exhibit a creative talent and skill that resonates. I was cold towards FFIX, and FFXIII because the entries that came before them made me want more of what I just consumed. Yet, when I engaged with the title on its own merits, I loved them. Because while they weren't what I wanted, they were what I needed.

It won't mean a damn thing if XVI has a sword wielding angsty protagonist who rides a Chocobo out a medieval castle surrounded by orcs, to prevent a world ending cataclysm that inevitably ends with him dying gruesomely at the end. As long as it's good, genuine and tells a meaningful story with entertaining gameplay, those choices will mean nothing. You can argue that them reaching those quality goals might be more difficult because they (the writers) choose to go that direction, but people play on hard mode all the time. Throwing down absolutes like, that would be the deal breaker for the game, makes no sense. Final Fantasy isn't a menu curated experience. They're going to create something, that will not be based on some arbitrary standard. It will reflect fantasy. It'll be like a dream. Some dreams are so good you never want to wake up from. Some dreams are obviously dreams that leave you knowing you're dreaming. And some dreams are nightmares. But they're all fantasy, and that's what we will get.
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
Great post, @Makoeyes987

But I think, that since IX was not originally intended to be a mainline FF but rather a card game spinoff being developed alongside their flagship PS2 title, they weren’t under the same kind of pressure that FFX (or hell, FFVIII) was. It was only when they realized that what they had with IX was fucking amazing that it got bumped to “mainline” status.

That’s the legend as I remember it. Although XV got a much more publicized mainline promotion and by its release it was still scrutinized beyond all reason.

That’s why I think they should just ditch the name Final Fantasy, make a new Final Fantasy and call it “Kingdom Science War” or something.
 

FFShinra

Sharp Shinra Shill
12 I loved the politics in. It is why its one of my favorites. I just want it against a modern backdrop with this one. And I loved 8 for having a mostly modern (veering slightly into fantasy with witches and cyberpunk with Esthar) background, but the politics don't really play in as much after the first disk. 15, the politics (and the world as a whole) felt nonexistent to me, despite often discussing it, it meant nothing.

At the end of the day, if they do a well executed FF, whatever the background, I will be happy. But I am allowed my preferences until we know more.

EDIT- I do not want them to ditch the FF name until after 30 because I am a child.
 

Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
That’s why I think they should just ditch the name Final Fantasy, make a new Final Fantasy and call it “Kingdom Science War” or something.

They've actually already played that game before.

That's what Bravely Default: The Flying Fairy is. :monster:

Bravely Default: FF
 
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