Ben-DutkaThis isn't about that popular rumor ; I have no idea if it's true and I don't really care.
But it has once again prompted an ire-laced article, in that Square Enix has once again confused and annoyed a loyal following that has been with Final Fantasy since the beginning. That being said, I must clarify my stance on sequels, just in case this rant is misinterpreted:
Many of the greatest games of all time have a number in the title. That includes everything from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to Super Mario 3 to Metal Gear Solid …oh, just pick one. There are few – if any – video game franchises where the majority of gamers would agree that the original title is the best of the bunch. I have no problem with this; unlike in Hollywood, sequels in gaming often equate to higher quality (if only due to better technology as time goes on).
But regardless of the numbers at the end of the Final Fantasy adventures, none were actually "sequels" until Final Fantasy X-2 . That wasn't bad, despite what anyone says, and I also enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII-2 (although for all the wrong reasons ). Still, one of the biggest reasons FF was so well loved centered on each entry's freshness . A whole new world, a whole new set of characters, and yes, even a whole new intricate combat mechanic, even if the turn-based architecture was mostly intact.
Everything was different from one title to the next, all the way up through FFX. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And this was a big part of this franchise's allure; what other series can claim this? The RPG fans adored this because they not only knew they'd get a masterpiece, they also knew they'd get a new masterpiece. Truthfully, what can we really say this about today? Anything? Maybe instead of focusing on sequels, Square Enix, you should focus on that which made FF stand out in the crowd. You know, the quality no other franchise could really attest to, the quality that kept everyone coming back for more…?
Freshness. A new world to explore with new characters to learn about and a new gameplay style to experience. Sequels? Leave that to everyone else and focus on what you do – or rather, did – best. Don't worry. We'll wait. No, we don't need FFXIII-3. We need FFXV and we need it to be…well, you know. You know, but Square Enix doesn't. Obviously.
Why Square-Enix keeps pumping out sequels for an FF installment that has extremely polarized its fanbase is a mystery to me. But then again, most of what they did this generation did nothing for me but to draw invisible question marks above my head, if not the trademark Japanese sweat drop.
How about a Metal Gear Solid-like question mark above your head with a 'Huh?'. xD
Last edited by Ludicrous_Liam on 5/28/2012 2:35:23 AM
……….honestly square enix needs to get back on their game. Its proven that they CAN in fact make great games, even now, if only on handhelds. Games like kh3d and even type-0 prove that square has it in them. xiii-2 shows that they actually listen to the fanbase(somewhat)and on top of that versus shows great potential(albeit being vapourware). Games like versus should be able to get square back up to at least respectable status if they do it right, and if they intend to do 13-3 ,they could do it well. 13-2 setup a great premise for a sequel, they could bring lightning back in a war-torn ravaged kind of world, get back the full xiii crew, cue an epic story and either step up their combat system to kh-style, or back to their roots in turn-based/atb and it may be enough to bring back fans of the series. And if they manage to do FF xv right, well square could probably sit back atop the jrpg throne and maybe even re-revolutionize jrpgs.
Stop speaking for everyone else, many would love to see a Sequel to Final Fantasy XIII-2 including myself otherwise way the way it ended, it would be a major disappointment to leave the story as is, which would be a case of poor closure. Square Enix promised a happy ending what kid of happy ending is Sarah dying and Lightning crystalize wakes up to Humanity being dead! The ending for xiii-2 was terrible.or was it intended to be a joke to fans of the series. No-one is laughing they want to see xiii-3
I'm speaking for just about every VETERAN Final Fantasy fan…and based on your post, I don't think you necessarily qualify.
WTF, no spoiler warning.? Now I will never play this game…not that I was ever intending to.
I'm sorry but your reasoning as to why there needs to be a XIII-3 is laughable.
Ohhh Animeboy415 lol… Either you are young or you are one of those who will defend S.E. to the very end. I need not explain anything else to you as everyone can like what they will but just realize, you are a very slim minority and there is a good reason for that.
While he went about it the wrong way he does raise an important issue… we do need a Final Fantasy XIII-3. As Animeboy stated the conlcusion ends in peril, the serie cannot just finish there, I have yet to play the Lighting DLC but I refuse to accept that as a conclusion. If it is to be concluded it must be done right, in a new title XIII-3… Of course I saw no need for XIII-2 in the first place but like 'Alien:Resurrection' it has now continued the series after a good conlusion and left it unfinished.
One thing is crytstal clear. Square has totally blown off the opinions of VETERAN Final Fantasy fans almost for a generation now. I don't think they care about the opinions of greybeards like Ben's anymore. I know that is harsh, but if you can't see it you are in denial.
We can have all the "fresh" FF games one can dream of but the current make up and leadership of Square is more likely to deliver a western like action RPG than to give us the the epic JRPG experience we had grown to love in the PS1 to early PS2 era.
Ask yourselves this. Would you even trust the often requested FF7 remake in the hands of Square? I know I sure would not.
I do have some sympathy for Animeboy's request(yes, he could have phrased it better and put a spoiler alert warning in his post) for a sequel since it's obvious he cares about the game. I have even more sympathy for Ben because he comes from a dying breed of Final Fantasy/Square fan that is even less likely to see his wishes fulfilled in the long term by Square unfortunatley.
I'd rather be a grey beard than have all my opinions formed based on "facts" in grey areas! XD
Hmm. Nothing wrong with most grey beards. I know they mean well and are just frustrated. I always appreciate passion about gaming. No doubt there are some passionate veteran FF fans out there but there numbers are dwindling. There is definitely some apathy creeping into what's left of the FF fanbase that's reflected below when some just say let FF die. I am guilty of it when I say I think Square would totally blow a FF7 remake. I would not have said that at the start of this gen.
Anyways, veteran FF/JRPG fans convinced me to look outside the Playstation brand for some great JRPGs like the The Lost Odyssey, The Last Story and Xenogears. I do not regret it for a second.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 5/28/2012 6:53:05 PM
Xenogears is my second favorite game of all time. Excellent.
In Solaris, did you find the poster of Tifa in a child's room?
Square-Enix just needs to stop making Final Fantasy games because they know that's not what people want but instead by giving the modern feel that its going to appeal to the masses. It most certainly not. They might as well cut the games their making right now and save their money that way they can stay in business from their other games in development. IMO, it's just a waste of money and time..
Don't get me wrong, I think Tomb Raider looks amazing and it's definitely going to be great along with some of their other titles but anything having to deal with final fantasy is just not working out..
I guess we're only talking about games that S-E actually developed and not just publishing.
Please, put Final Fantasy to rest. It died a long time ago. As in… it died when they rid of the traditional formula that worked for a decade. Someone answer me this… Why was it that FFXIII is hated by most Final Fantasy fans for it's linearity and bad combat but when compared to FFX which was very linear as well, it was loved by most? Was it the storytelling? Was it the traditional game play? Also, in this scenario, not many liked X-2 but I know more people liked X-2 than XIII-2. Why? I honestly believe the traditional game play is the factor. People do not want this new action-y game play.
I loved FF X and, surprisingly, I also liked X-2. Not as much as X, but I liked it anyway. I'm not crazy about the story in X-2 but the gameplay is still very good. The battle system for X-2 is possibly the closest that S-E got when it comes to a fast-paced combat yet still giving the player control over everything. That alone makes it so much better than XIII-2.
FFX had Auron…
FFXIII didn't…
There is your reason.
I feel FF XII was the last of the great Final Fantasy games.
While the story was confusing and too political, and the characters weren't that memorable, I think XII had the best combat system by far!!!
It had a great mixture of real-time movement coupled with turn-based combat and complete control over all party members. You could even set up pre-emptive actions for characters to automatically perform, such as a healing character automatically healing a characters below 30% health, the tank always positioned closer to the enemy and first to strike to keep attention on them… it was like an offline story-driven MMO on a PS2!!!
I'd be happy with a return to FF XII's battle system, if S-E don't want to go back to the oldest traditional turn-based system from FF's I – X.
As usual great posts above me. I share some of the sentiments of Galbadia. I miss the old Square but can see they are not coming back…at least not in the ways many of the veteran Final Fantasy fans want them to. So, how long can we beat on this tired topic when Square shows so little tangible interest in what long time FF fans want? They won't even give us FFvs13.
Zettai is spot on about FFX-2's battle sytem which is my favorite in the series. When I think about it the dress sphere changes are similar in some ways to the paridigm shifts in FF13…anyways I digress. Granted, FFX-2 was nowhere near the game FFX was when it comes to the story and characters but I still had a lot of fun with the game.
It's always nice to see a fellow Auron fan Gunblademaster. I know it might sound juvenile but let's just say Auron rocks.
Now, I did not like FFXII at all but I do respect the fact others do. I never could get into it mainly because I did not like the dull story. Call it mature or whatever…it just did not feel very Final Fantasy like to me. Dull is the very first word that comes to mind when I think of Final Fantasy XII. I'm also not a big fan of MMO type battle systems so I really strained to finish the game. I enjoyed the bonus disc that came with the collector's edition more than the actual game. Sorry. I would even go as far to say FFXII ranks as the biggest dissapoinment in my gaming life. I was so hyped and left so dissapointed. I know I'm not alone. Ultima, and bebestorm said the exact same thing the other day.
Even when I try hard to strip my bias away from FFXII because of my dislike of MMO type batlle systems I still think it was missing the qualities that make an epic FF game like a good story and strong character development. There was defintely something missing when it comes to that FF charm. Balthier was excellent but the rest of the cast was just awful in my humble opinion. Terrible pacing to the game as well.
Reading this thread and the other one the other day about a possible sequel to FF12 makes me realize just how decimated the FF fanbase is. What used to be a pretty powerful fanbase has almost turned apathetic towards the franchise. Anybody can see that when it comes to thread counts on the major gaming sites. Interest in the FF franchise is nowhere near where it used to be. There is still some passion there when it come to long time fans but it's defintely dying out fast. There is no way Square has not noticed this so they must have made a calculated choice to move on whether we like it or not.
@Galbadia
You are 100% correct about the gameplay aspect. A game can thrive or die on that part alone. When it comes to horrendous gameplay or excellent gameplay, things like graphics, sound, and sometimes even story, take a backseat.
Even I won't play the world's best story if the gameplay is horrendous.
For God's sake Square Enix!! What the hell is wrong with you?!?!?
Finish a game before you announce another one!!! Put all your time and resources into each major title, and have the handheld title be the sequels and spin-offs!!!
It worked in the past, so why ignore that successfull formula now?!?!?
FF fans have been waiting on FF VS XIII for too damn long now!!! When FF VS XIII is released, it better damn well be worth the wait!! The longer you put it off, the higher your fans expectations and the more you have to lose!!
Square Enix has officially gone CooCoo if they release a FF XII sequel BEFORE Vs XIII.
I am so close to giving up on S-E for good. I hope somebody replaces the boss of S-E soon, cos that guy is a moron!! (sorry, fogotten his name)
Wada. That's his name. Can't believe I remembered that, but I'm with you that he has to go!
I couldnt agree more, SE needs to stop with the easy lower budget sequels and pump out a good FF title soon, I'd hate to see SE die off, no matter how much they deserve it.
While I havent played XIII-2, and dont plan to either, I cant believe you find X-2 a good title ben, imo it's easily 1 of the bottom FFs ever made, maybe even worse than XIII, the story was BAD, the characters were boring, and I think the only saving grace of the whole game was the combat…… funny, it's kinda like Grandia 3 that way…… another SE title….. O.O
Marilyn Manson has been dead to me since Golden Age of Grotesque just as Final Fantasy has been dead since X. And Marilyn Manson has gotten worse with time as has Final Fantasy, so I don't have any hopes for things of getting better, and frankly I don't care.
It's time to let go.
technically though they all were sequels!
just because a games not set on a predecessors events or world or whatever does not mean its not a sequel.
if anything this just perfectly lines how the industry has changed this gen.
previously sequel meant whole new game within a franchise, now it more means same old same old with just a new coat of paint.
or for some cases same old same old with a old coat of paint!
the GTA series would be another perfect example.
every numbered title has been a completely different game!
does that mean there not sequels?
exactly what i was saying the other day about sequels being too much like their predecessors.
sequels these days are less sequels as they are DLC packs!
games need to get back to the idea of sequels being a reinvention, taken a well known beloved franchise and taking it to new heights.
dont get that mixed up with turning it into something it should not be!
like what crapcoms done with RE and others.
perfect example of what sequels should be would be assassins creed 3.
its such a different game from assassins creed 2, literally everything has been changed!
new story, new characters, new environments, new timeline, new gameplay.
everything!
a perfect example of how sequels should not be done would be ACB.
nothing significant added to the series, well except MP but who plays AC for the MP!?
exactly!
no one!
developers really need to get back to creating totally different games but that still feel relevant to the franchise.
another perfect example of that would be the reboot of prince of persia.
SUCH a different game, it could not of been any more of a departure!
but it was so successful and beloved simply because it was a totally new game yet it felt familiar, relevant to the PoP franchise.
FAR too many sequels these days feel like extended versions of their predecessors.
or at the very most vastly improved versions of their predecessors.
when they should be completely different games, but yet still relevant to the series.
not reinventing the wheel, just finding a new way to use it.
Great article, fully agree with it 100%!
Part of the charm of Final Fantasy was the constrast between each game built around athe similar JRPG formula and Iconic FF features like summons, chocobos ect.
The FF series has to have the biggest devide in fans between any series, just because how different they are from one another, example many fans of VII, VIII, dislike IX for is retro atmosphere (I personally love all three!) or some dislike the battle system in XII as it feels more like an MMO or Dragon Age.
When it comes to sequels, there has not been anything substantial, X-2 added nothing to what X built but sidetracked from it until giving us the ending we wanted… if you completed it 100%. As for XIII-2 That did start from the original and expand on the universe, but it did seem a bit over the top in comparision. However It did add an interesting antagonist, something XIII-1 seriously lacked.
But as an FF fan I am against sequels, the charm of FF is to be brought into a completely new world, new characters, new story but keeping the RPG gameplay we love and true sense of an adventure. I personally feel S-E now need to conclude XIII with a XIII-3 or find some clever way to link Versus XIII in to conclude it. other than that I'll be waiting for Final Fantasy XV.
I agree with the article, absolutely, except that Final Fantasy no longer has a reliably loyal fanbase. For myself, FFXIII-2 is the very first canonical Final Fantasy that I have no desire or intention of ever playing, and I know that I'm not alone.
The only reason FFX-2 worked at all is because FFX was a massively loved entry in the series. "Please, sir, I'd like another," was completely fitting. Yet with FFXIII, I'm still flabbergasted at their decision to have another go with the most hated FF in the history of the franchise. You don't patch a broken and sinking ship; you build a new ship!
For all the good times that Square(RIP)Enix has given us with this series, I'm sure that most everyone would have been able to forgive them if they had said, "Whoops, we screwed up. We'll get it right next time." Instead we got, "Wait, wait, you just don't understand why this is so good! Here, have another one!" They shot themselves in the foot, and then immediately did it again with the other foot; now they have nothing upon which to stand their reputation.
With the way Versus (sans XIII, please) keeps getting pushed to the side, I'm starting to doubt that even that could be decent. The market analyzers and penny-pinchers are running the show now, and not the artists.
Question is, do they even have enough material to make a ff13-3 that everyone has been worrying about? I believe they are just going to give us more downloads for ff13-2 to finally close it up.
umm when you purposely give a game a "to be continued" ending then yes it does need a sequel but other than that yes youre right FF games do not need sequels
this is all due to this fast, cheap and brainless cash generating scandal and shameless scheme. fuuxxxxxxxk Wada and co.
They'll never revert back to their old ways because Sakaguchi is gone. It's disheartening, but I look at Sakaguchi's 3 previous installments and I predict he'll rise high again with Mistwalker, if he wishes to continue that path instead of solely make games for the iPhone, that is.
Take your time, Gooch. I'll await your next major installment and chant to it. Just like I purchased a Wii to play the Last Story (and Xenogears) – it was worth it.
haha, two thumbs up bro, cuz I did the exact the same — bought a wii just to play the last story and xenoblade, done last story, will start xenoblade after I am done with Diablo 3, lol
How poo is it that you have to revert to playing a whole different platform which, portrays only LAST GEN visuals?!
Anyway. Simple and quaint. I'll be joining with you two. Xenogears & Last Story xD
They should do away with Final Fantasy for at least 5 years. Then they should make a new Chrono Trigger sequel. Then they should make a new Secret of Mana game. Then they should do a sequel to Vagrant Story. Then they should do a sequel to Brave Fenser Mushashi. Then they should do a sequel to Chrono Cross.
THey they should do a sequel to the story line of Final Fantasy: War of the Lions.
After all this, then they should redo Final Fantasy 1 into a MMORPG for all systems, using the very simple fire magic, ice magic, and battle systems. It should be quick and fun to play. It should be free to play, much like Guild Wars.
Then after all of THIS, they should come out and make a TRUE FINAL FANTASY that fans would love.
And they should fire the person running SquareEnix now and bring back the original chreater of FF.