Poll: is Final Fantasy circling the drain?

[JoJo]

"Oh, fans are still buying the games in droves and will be as long as there's confirmation bias in the world. As internet reviewer Noah Antwiler put it, no addiction is as easy to exploit as Final Fantasy."

I would disagree, as a Pokemon fan I know my series is a very exploitable one indeed! (even more than FF...)

 

[ZombieGenesis]

It would seem it. Sadly their ambitions have dipped and now the latest installments really seem to be stacked on formulae, and are incredibly slow to start- losing that dip in and enjoy element from earlier games. This could be widely because they keep adding new and pointless interface and battle functions, despite the fact you can't even really control much in battles anymore! So yeah, I'd say it's going downhill fast.

In my opinion there are only three great FF games anyway.
The first one, naturally.
Six, also known as III to those in the states, which followed a different idea and really made the mark for the quick paced story, even with simple functions.
And VII, which combined more in depth story and optional paths with the more modern systems.

Sadly nothing since has really been fresh enough or interesting enough to make me stretch my list.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

FF13 is supposed to be the last in the base series, not because their games aren't selling well, but because Square-Enix agrees that they've been going for long enough. There isn't going to be a time where Final Fantasy is circling the drain because they're stopping after the next MMO out of their own free will.

Could you link me to the info where the guys in charge of Square said that? Because that's "I'll believe it when I see it" news.

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

Final Fantasy has been circling the drain pretty havily since FFX2. Although the rot started to set in arround that god awful game FF8. Bleh! what a horrible experience in every facet.

thank you,that was the day my faith was shattered lol

It got big just as it got bad. I don't get the contunied dedication to a series which is capable of such horrid stories/ dialog/ characters.

Take a later example, Titus, how could anyone like that guy? How could anyone sit through that laughing scene and still think FF was REALLY deep.

Oops. You've just proved you never played the game. Had you done so, and not listened to the rest of the internet, you would know that the phoney laughter was wholly intentional. Puzzled looks from the characters follow moments after.

 

[mad825]

10 (X) onwards seems to me that they pulled the trigger. ever since they introduced voice acting into the games, I got a habit of taking off my headphones or pressing mute button and putting my head down in shame because some scenes were just too awfully embarrassing to watch/listen...even when I play alone

 

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Yeah, it's about as dead as PC gaming is in general.

You should ask Dice about that BTW.

False. PC gaming rules. FPS, for one, is awesome on PC. Online is, for some reason, better on consoles, but the control response and coordination on a keyboard and mouse is better, plus a good rig can surpass consoles in visual quality. RTS games are meant for PC's. Console RTS are pretty hard to do remotely well.


OT: I only ever played FFI, but these new ones look fairly bad to me...

 

[Raikov]

Yeah, it's about as dead as PC gaming is in general.

You should ask Dice about that BTW.

False. PC gaming rules. FPS, for one, is awesome on PC. Online is, for some reason, better on consoles, but the control response and coordination on a keyboard and mouse is better, plus a good rig can surpass consoles in visual quality. RTS games are meant for PC's. Console RTS are pretty hard to do remotely well.


OT: I only ever played FFI, but these new ones look fairly bad to me...

Hmm, I seemed to have forgotten to put an 'extreme sarcasm' mark on my statement. Sorry.
But those of you who actually know why I'm pointing at Dice would know that anyway.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

Well I liked 9, 10 was pretty decent, 10-2 lets never speak of that one. I loved 12, and as for 13...
Ouch.

That's probably why it will die. You can only rely on fans buying a game's name for so long. When your series is as up and down in quality to different fans as FF is, you can't please everyone, and it will lose you fans in the long run.

Look at Call of Duty: 1 Great, 2 Awesome, 3 Shit, 4 Astounding, 5(WaW) crap, 6 (MW2) C student, 7 Not looking too good.

And FF has a longer run then CoD when it comes to this thing.

 

[Lullabye]

It's cocked and loaded. If anything, Versus will eithr pull the trigger, or show it was one of those gag guns that says "Bang"

 

[NoElixir]

I believe they need to focus on different themes and perspectives (switching narrative modes) while testing other archetypes. Final Fantasy XII was one of the mature entries for me, albeit half the cast's motives are manifested during our journey.

Regarding Versus XIII, there's some ambivalence in me trusting Tetsuya Nomura to explore 'human emotions and psychology' when it might not turn out as I expect.

 

[irequirefood]

I'm a fan of the more recent ones, having played all of them but XI. I don't think it's down the drain. I really liked XII because of how different the combat was from the previous games. X would easily be my favourite. After playing the earlier ones, V and VI being the ones I put effort into, I decided yes they are really great, but honestly if they were released now they would not stand a chance unless they made the change that VII had, which is why it was so successful. I'm not saying i'm a fan of VII, in fact it's my least liked one after X-2. Sadly though I was heavily disappointed with XIII, so i'm not holding by breath for Versus XIII, though I will still buy it.

 

[Striker501]

FF has been dead for a long time.

 

[Red Bomb]

"Is the Final Fantasy series circling the drain?"

God, I hope so.

 

[starhaven]

8 was a bit shakey
9 settided a bit
10 was great main char sucked but blitzball ruled
10-2 was a massive dog trud
12 was a bit shaky but workable
13 they may as well kicked me in the ballsits was so bad i lost a great deal of respect for a game i have always loved

unless the next one recovers it then yes they have shot them self in the head with a shotgun

 

[SmartIdiot]

8 was fairly mediocre, 9 was fantastic, 10 was alright, 10-2 was... what the hell, 11 I haven't played, 12 was a huge exercise in covering up a contrived plot with pretentious dialogue and 13 I still need to give a chance.

Sooo... in conclusion I'd say it's definetely gtetting close to that. We may still be surprised yet. If I can afford to get a copy of FF13 anytime soon and it doesn't disapoint me then it may have some fight left. However, considering the series is even adding numbers like 13 to the end of its title kinda suggests it needs to be put to rest.

 

[vivec710]

People are complaining that it's gone down the drain but that is not true and has never been true. It may eventually become crap but for now it's still brilliant. The only thing Final Fantasy has done is evolve and change, and become more modern with each successive instalment, and because it's different to the earlier ones (not necessarily worse, nor better, but merely different), people complain. If the series was the same as it was, or hadn't changed much from, the games like VII and VIII, then everyone would complain that the series was stale and generic. Instead, they've made an effort to change things around every time and people complain about that instead. Final Fantasy is by no means dead, nor down the drain, and I see it becoming even better and stronger in subsequent titles. Eventually it will die, as all good things do, but we are a long way from that yet.

I have to agree with you on this for the most part, but too much change froms the original formula can and will eventually bring the series to it's knees.It will be a sad day when that happens but we can't do anythign to change so just enjoy it while it's here and ;et the whiner's whine.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

It's loaded the gun, pulled back the hammer, and has it resting on its temple.

I'll go one further and say the trigger's been pulled and the bullet that is 13 is coursing through gray matter right now.

 

[starhaven]

i dont mind change i hated 8 and 12 at first i gave them some time learnt their systems and had alot of fun but i gave 13 the same chance and i still hatted it if anything is gonna put this game away it will be that none of my mates like it ethier graphics are nice though