I recently read that FF12 is under attack from critics for a couple reasons (its not even out in the states yet!) The top four seem to be that the music is bad, its too branded, the plotline runs too close to Star Wars (they loves themselves some Star Wars) and it’s too hard (referring to the gambit/leveling system). referring article
Keep in mind though that it got 40/40 in a reputable Japanese gaming magazine.
But it got me to thinking about Square’s recent FF projects: Crystal Chronicles (failed due to all the equipment you had to buy), TA (and the miscellaneous re-releases on GBA), the tedious FF11, the practical joke of FFX-2, and so on. Meanwhile, fans are clamoring for revisitations of the old characters from the favorites - Kingdom Hearts, Advent Children, and the series of FF7 games including the upcoming Dirge of Cerberus, not to mention fans have been begging for a FF7 remake since the dawn of time (not that I want it to happen but that’s beside the point).
The point is, do you think Square’s business plan should be to focus on making new games or making new material out of the existing franchises that have already won over fans?
I think Squeenix needs to take a happy medium. It should be trying to create a new game or two which, while not as amazingly revolutionary as FFXI or FFCC, is still new material. That’s all they need to do to reassure their fans while still probably being able to grab new ones.
Having said that, I’m having a blast with all those FF characters in KH2. ^^;
The problem with revisiting old material is that most people who buy it will have already played it, and those who haven’t probably won’t buy it; remakes will look dated and sequels will confuse them. For those who do buy it, they’ll inevitably find somthing to gripe about (the translation is different! The screen’s too small!).
FFX-2 was actually a good game if you gave it a chance.
Now about FFXII: we shouldn’t worry about it until it gets to the states. Wait until the game gets here and see for yourself, is what I say.
No argument on either of those points (I personally played FFX-2 more than FFX), but FFCC pretty much tanked, and FFTA, FFXI and FFX-2 alienated a lot of people.
Sequels, remakes and the like are okay, the problem is that lately that’s all we’re seeing. Think of most major RPGs that came out lately and you’ll see that most of them have a number in the name.
There’s nothing bad about this, but it doesn’t hurt to come up with some new settings. The last two new series I’ve played were Radiata Stories and, WAY before that, Golden Sun.
Having a number in its name doesn’t make it a sequel; FF9 was not a sequel to FF8. KH2, though, was a sequel to KH1, and if anyone hadn’t played KH1 before trying out KH2, they’d have the entire game spoiled for them in the first three hours. Ditto for FFX and FFX-2.
By “having a number in the name” I meant that they are the sequel to something.
Lessee… Star Ocean 3 was technically a sequel but could easily be played by anyone. Ditto for Shadow Hearts 3, Suikoden 4/5, Grandia 3, and Wild ARMs 4. And then there’s Radiata Stories and the myriad Nippon Ichi games (which I will admit I’ve never played).
You’re right in that there’s a marked lack of Squeenix material there. Hmmm…
I never judge anything until I have had a chance to play it myself. Which is true for FFXII, so I’ll wait till I see the final game over here.
Hopefully, Squeenix will go back to using some more classic elements, while still trying to find new ways of doing things, so that the games don’t become stale. Because that is more than likely what they are worried about. Everything being to similar to their earlier stuff. And fans thinking they are not trying anymore.
Oh well.
I think they need to make something cyberpunk
There’s not enough of it out there now.
Ditto.
Remembers Shadowrun.
Shut up. I miss that game so much 
First of all, let me say, cyberpunk ROCKS.
FFCC, the only reason I played that for more than five minutes, is that I just so happened to own three GBAs at the time, so the cables were just a small step, and I also just happened to have a pretty tightly knit group of friends willing to play, and we all had basically the same work schedules, so, we got to play, with four players, all the way through, and even make it up to the 25 year in the game, we made it last that long, because we just kept wanting to play, even though we had already beaten it. Had that particular situation not been available, then I would have barely been able to give it the time of day, since the single player was difficult and terribly frustrating at best. I think the simplest solution, would be to take the 300 ( I just picked a number, as the number is irrelavant) or so directly common characteristics of ff1-ffx, and continue to proliferate with those characteristics the title, “Final Fantasy #” and everything else needs a different title, if FF11 had just been called Final Fantasy Online, then it would have been fine, one would expect the game to go in a completely different direction, ie the tiresome tangent it did entail, but it having bore a number, in this specific series, one expects a certain number of things to be true that simply weren’t. I personally feel the same way about FFX-2, while a good game in its own right, should have been called, “Final Fantasy Search for Light” or “Final Fantasy Treasure Hunters”, but puting a number, even though it was a sequel did not seem appropriate, the mere inclusion of new game plus, made it not a candidate for the number, the extremely exclusive player character party, also warranted it to have a different name. As for the specific question, New franchises always have chance of tanking, it is merely the way the game is played, (Unlimited SaGa for instance) but the remaking, or rehashing of old stuff, in one way or another, is a gauranteed success, because everyone who bitches about how the old games are better, must either eat their words, or buy a copy.
Hey hey, hold it right there. I’ll be the last person on earth to defend X-2, but what does having a New Game+ have to do with it? A mode that allows you to go through the story at ease whenever you want should really be mandatory in story-driven games, I always considered the fact that the FF series lack it as a horrible miss. I’d LOVE to have this in games like FFIX.
Besides, “X-2” isn’t a number per se. It’s a sequel to FFX. What else would you call it? O_o
I mistated the point, sera. The inclusion of new game+ it is not a bad thing, but none of the other Final Fantasy #'s have had it, (unless I am grossly mistaken?). I personally believe that would be farking cool, especially, as you said, in IX, or even X, for me, to perfect those wholly awesome sized ability grids. And while FFX-2 may have been a sequel, it did not seem to continue the storyline of X, so much as gleen more entertainment from the same story lines and locations, much more like a spin off, in my opinion, thusly my case of suggesting it to have had a different name.
A sequel, by definition, occurs after the one that comes before it. Since that’s what happens, FFX-2 is therefore a sequel. If it was an action-dating sim it would still be a sequel.
Please, explain this to me in detail. I really have no clue how it didn’t follow the storyline.
It changed the characters and the way the story was told a bit, but it picked up almost exactly where X left off.
SE has had a lot of success with subscription based online titles, and will focus more in that area. Along with FFXI, they have 3 other online games running in Japan: Front Mission Online, Fantasy Earth: Ring of Dominion and Cross Gate.
Wada went on to make an even bolder statement for Square Enix’s future. After explaining that he sees the next 10 years as a period where the “fun” in networked communication will begin to surface, Wada predicted that online games will be Square Enix’s main source of income in the future. “I think that over half of our income and profit will be based on network content [including games] by 2008 or 2009.”
Square Enix really needs to create a balance between old and new. And seeing as there hasn’t been a traditional FF game in the past 5 years, they have failed to create such a balance.