I see what all of your are all saying, and just people's opinions should tell them "................... we failed". Think about it. If they were to come to these forums, they would feel like idiots lol. This forum is filled with (more-so) turn-based junkies. Everybody says that X (or even X-2) was the LAST good Final Fantasy game.
I'm a dude, and I can tell you straight that if a Final Fantasy story never made me shed a tear, then nope nope. It's not a "(recurring) Final Fantasy" to me! LOL I kid, kind of. But all the Final Fantasy games have just been EPIC until 11 (which shouldn't be even counted, so let's just pretend I said 12).
Here is all the Final Fantasy games listed, if I've actually played them and my experiences from it (note I'm not a Final Fantasy collector ANYMORE, just FF7 exclusively since my dumbass ex probably set up her house to get "robbed", thus taking my whole collection) (which is what happened to my FIRST Pc discs of FF7 I explained about a week ago,
)
Final Fantasy: Never played
II: Never played
III: Never played
IV: OwnED, never got to play it (
)
V: Never played
IV: Actually want to really play
VII: ....... do I have to say something? lol was stolen, and re-bought 3 times (1 used pc, 1 new pc, 1 new ps1). That should say something.
VIII: I thought it was okay... wasn't feeling the card system (unless mixing up with IX, but sure it was here too) (still own a brand new copy green label for ps1 if anyone would like to purchase) (stolen, but bought back for good price).
IX: Great. Liked it mroe than VIII, but once again, didn't like the card system)
X: Epic. Never beat it yet, and regret it everyday. Got stolen.
XI: Never played, looks meh. Not really a fan of MMO's. Just a good story
XII: ... I hated it, rented once, bought later (when I collected; limited edition game and guide) and it got stolen. I don't miss it lol.
XIII: Topic of discussion
Tactics: I had alot of fun with this one when I was a kid. Just bought it again the other day
The rest I didn't list, I simply haven't played except for X-2. It got stolen
lol
If I can be honest with you guys about something, but if the soundtrack is on point, then it makes the game more epic to me. Music was pretty good for XIII, but I didn't get the feeling with that game, and that's not good :O
Maybe it is just bad taste. Everyone is welcome to like it but the fact is, it is a subpar effort full to the brim with flaws.
I have nothing against people liking the game (it is possible to like something which is flawed. It is possible to like anything), but I do when they make tired excuses for its flaws or pretend that the game had as much quality and content as 7-10.
One needs only to look at where the user reviews are heading to see the trend is downwards. People are getting sick of the crap that Enix is firing out.
To sum up:
1. Literally linear for most of the game. No way to go back on yourself.
2. Minigames almost non existent
3. Side quests that there are revolve around more fighting and grinding.
4. 2 AI characters, and auto battle doing most of the work. No real brains required. Dumbed down. This happened because people accepted XII's battle system.
5. Over use of graphics and cutscenes. Whole game is another failure in balance.
6. Story is a joke, and even requires you to read a manual for exposition.
7. Traditional towns gone. NPC relegated to near gone. Nothing to do to break up the monotony of battles. This is not a good thing. This is against JRPG format, and it forces everyone to like it or lump it. In the past some quests or places or shops could be skipped.
That's what I think about it.... SquareEnix now know that they can get away with doing this. They learned that X-2. XII and the cash in spin offs of FF7 will sell like hot cakes no matter how bad the game or how flawed. So... expect more of the same. Graphics before substance, bloat before quality.
Since the merger, the quality of games has definately gone down in favour of pure greed. We had X-2, the first sequel and a joke. We have had FF7 turned into a cash cow with the spin offs. We had XII where a battle could play for you while you sit there with the controller. And now this flashy graphic fest XIII. XIV is a disaster and I don't hold up much hope for XV. It has all come down to the drive sorely for money rather than creativity since that merger.
And Kitase sums up the problem that he and his buddies have:
"If you're talking about the main Final Fantasy titles, one of the strong focuses of the series is cutting edge graphics. That's what people enjoy and that's what people associate Final Fantasy with."
"In that sense I would like to assure our users of this top quality artistic visual achievement. To do that we have to stick with high definition consoles."
All he cares about is graphics.
"That's what people enjoy and that's what people associate Final Fantasy with."
Err no it isn't Mr Kitase. It is 1 aspect but most people buy FF for the gameplay and for the miniquests and story. The graphics are not a priority and I wish you and your team would learn that. Todays graphics will be sh*t tomorrow, and then where does that leave a game which was bsed on graphics? Hardly anyone will replay XIII in 10 years.
If that's all fact about what they were saying about the graphics, then that just changed the way I look at my used-to-be favorite developers. Read THAT Mr. Kitase.
The view you just made on XIII was 100% to me though.
1. It really IS linear, and I don't like being forced into one direction when I should be EXPLORING the beautiful graphics in the world instead of sitting on a tour bus...
2. It SHOULD have minigames... damnit. All we can do is sit on the tour bus I guess... I'd rather the card system back lmao.
3: If by side quests, you mean collect the floating orbs with potions and other worthless goodies that you won't need if you mastered the easy battle system of the game? Then damn. Lots of side-quests. Good work S-E. I love orbs.
4. ...
5. Did anyone really take in that this game IS Heavy Rain? Just longer and you're forced to do one thing lol.
6. If it's not the music, it's the plot I want. And I didn't like the main protagonist being such a bitch lol. She didn't like nothing.
7. Oh, don't worry buddy! You can explore the new next-gen online menus scattered along your ONE path
they're even given fancy names and pictures to heighten the experience!!!!
To sum everything up though... we want FF7 gameplay in a next-gen game. How can you mess that up???
FF series is a perfect example of the Dragon Ball Z Budokai series.
They had a good run, then Tenkaichi (FF7) came along, took over, made the BEST game out of the series Tenkaichi 3 (FFX) and then they went to shit when they made Raging Blast and Shin Budokai and all those games (... all games past XI). Came back with a remake with new features Tenkaichi Tag Team (FF7, 8, 9??) but only on PSP... they're on the same pattern lol. I just fear the making of Type-0... don't know much about it, but it was said it's based off FFXIII??? They're really attempting to give this the next-gen FF7 hype? LOL wow.