Final Fantasy XIII may have been a success on the market, but many long-time fans of the franchises had some major – and arguably valid – complaints against the titles. In an interview with Gamasutra, Yoichi Wada, President of Square Enix, mentioned a possible reboot of the franchise to be on the design table for the next entry in the franchise.
“When it comes to customers’ reaction to the quality of the game, some value it highly and some are not very happy with it,” said Wada. “I think this is a product that was able to meet the expectations for those who know Final Fantasy…There are all kinds of games around in the market today. Should Final Fantasy become a new type of game or should Final Fantasy not become a new type of game? The customers have different opinions. It’s very difficult to determine which way it should go.”
Got a feeling on the Final Fantasy franchise’s evolution, and where it should go next? Give some IP directions to Wada-san in the comments section below!
I kinda like the paradigm shift system, but it could be fleshed out by having a gambit system al la FFXII. Also, bring back towns. I understand why they did it in FFXIII and I have no problem with that, but they could flesh out the towns to be awesome, maybe even give you a base for you to decorate and do stuff with. I don’t want FF to go full action RPG, cause you need a good turn based RPG every now and again, but they can make the game better by tweaking the system.
The gambit system was my biggest problem with ff12… I dunno if I want them to bring that back… but I do agree that in future FFs I would like the return of towns.
They tried something new and they got burned on it… which is fine. But my biggest gripe isn’t with the combat system, but instead, in the story (and characters). I can play a bad game with an ok story, but FFXIII’s is terrible and convoluted and annoying.
I want SE to try a new combat system (but keep it in the JRPG realm), and I want a better story with characters that don’t make me want to tear my hair out.
Agreed. For some reason they can’t seem to get the two in sync. They either have great stories and terrible characters or vice versa.
I truly feel that the last one to get it right was 9.
I haven’t played 9 yet (it is in my large RPG backlog), but I thought 10 was fantastic, and 12 wasn’t bad (the story had some big dead spots).
I disagree completely… I thought 13’s story was above average – perhaps slightly behind the best of the ff games out there, but still well above the crap that western developers call ‘stories’. And really, all 10 had going for it was story and music… the game was terrible, most of the characters were really flat… and did I mention that the gameplay was terrible? ’cause it was. lol Really really terrible.
But overall the gameplay of ff13 really made it shine. That combat system was far and away the most fun I’ve ever had in an rpg in combat… no questions asked.
I guess we are opposites… The pacing and storytelling of FFXIII completely off set the interesting gameplay. And while the gameplay is really interesting, it still feels like they completely toned down the depth of what it should be. And the killer of the game (for me) were the characters. I am fine with Snow… and Vanille is a good character… but Lightning and Hope made me hate myself for sitting through their scenes. It was the worst melodrama I have seen since Appleseed!
Where in FFX, I thought the characters were a bit compelling (but nothing special), and they didn’t make me want to rip out my eyes. The gameplay was a much needed progression on the classic turn based combat. And the storytelling was well ahead of its time, throwing set pieces and plot twists where they should be, and it still stands (my GF loved it a year ago).
We have opposite opinions, and I’m sure neither one of us will change… that’s cool though =)