Here is what Final Fantasy needs to do in order to redeem itself in my eyes

[Powerslave]

- bring back world maps
I dont want any of that mmo style crap

- STOP FUCKING USING REALISTIC CHARACTERS.
Either make some chibi game again like FF9 or make it some other fantasy style. Or even the semi-anime style of FF7. But enough with the same artstyle ever since FFX damn you.

- Option to turn VA off and/or add textballoons.
I want it to feel as a classic rpg as much as possible and I never cared for VA in rpg's anyway.

- Bring back the goofy jokes and gimmicks
FF7 and 9 was a good example of this.

- Minigames! Tons of 'em please
Final Fantasy needs to stop taking itself seriously or turning it into a Metal Gear game. Give me silly minigames like the CPR game in Junon for Priscilla in FF7 or the swordfight in FF9.


yes I'm very old-fashioned but I just like it that way so fuk uuuu

[Himu]

the mini games in the psx ff's owned

[MCD]

Blue Dragon is close to this.

[Powerslave]

^dude only one post away from your 1337 post! Think LONG and HARD what you're gonna post next.

[Himu]

Blue Dragon is close to this.

Blue Dragon's mini games suck though. There was nothing cool like the dolphin in FFVII...I mean...THE DOLPHIN

[Van Cruncheon]

no mini-games ever

more CONTENT instead

[Powerslave]

Content is what's ruining Final Fantasy these days. It's the only thing they focus on and everything else is neglected.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

- STOP FUCKING USING REALISTIC CHARACTERS.
Either make some chibi game again like FF9 or make it some other fantasy style. Or even the semi-anime style of FF7. But enough with the same artstyle ever since FFX damn you.

Amen.  Square doesn't have the writing talent to make a halfway decent story and dropping in "realistic" characters and settings makes the whole thing even more awkward.  Jesus, with all the money they pour into development you'd think that someone over there would come up with the idea to perhaps outsource their story to a professional screenwriter or author.  Either go back to the "happy style" of FF9 or get someone to actually write a script that doesn't read like it's coming from the mind of a fevered mental patient.

[Van Cruncheon]

why would you focus on anything BUT content? you want useless shallow side games? BUY A WII

[demi]

sounds like blue dragon is what you need

let sakaguchi plunge his asian genius into your membrane

[Oblivion]

- STOP FUCKING USING REALISTIC CHARACTERS.
Either make some chibi game again like FF9

Ugh, god no. I don't want ultra realistic stuff, but the chibi shit won't work in a non-2D type FF game.

[Powerslave]

^Ever played FF9?

[Powerslave]

Amen.  Square doesn't have the writing talent to make a halfway decent story and dropping in "realistic" characters and settings makes the whole thing even more awkward. Either go back to the "happy style" of FF9 or get someone to actually write a script that doesn't read like it's coming from the mind of a fevered mental patient.

Here's someone who gets it! Give me another happy FF game  Squaresoft. 

[demi]

it's time to remember a new name - Mistwalker

[Smooth Groove]

Get rid of the fruity male characters.  I bet even TVC thinks Tidus, Cloud, Sephiroth, etc, are too gay. 

[Himu]

Amen.  Square doesn't have the writing talent to make a halfway decent story and dropping in "realistic" characters and settings makes the whole thing even more awkward. Either go back to the "happy style" of FF9 or get someone to actually write a script that doesn't read like it's coming from the mind of a fevered mental patient.

Here's someone who gets it! Give me another happy FF game  Squaresoft. 

FFX-2 was pretty happy.

[Powerslave]

Get rid of the fruity male characters.  I bet even TVC thinks Tidus, Cloud, Sephiroth, etc, are too gay. 

You mentioned Cloud and Sephiroth instead of Zidane and Vaan? Wow. FYI Sephiroth is one of the best characters the series ever had.

FFX-2 was pretty happy.

But FFX-2 sucked tremendously at everything else, not just because it was a sequel to the shittiest FF ever either, so....

[demi]

wtf, Zidane is a pimp

You meant to say Kuja, i'll let it slide

[Powerslave]

I'd fuck Kuja, no joke.

[Himu]

Get rid of the fruity male characters.  I bet even TVC thinks Tidus, Cloud, Sephiroth, etc, are too gay. 

You mentioned Cloud and Sephiroth instead of Zidane and Vaan? Wow. FYI Sephiroth is one of the best characters the series ever had.

FFX-2 was pretty happy.

But FFX-2 sucked tremendously at everything else, not just because it was a sequel to the shittiest FF ever either, so....

FFX is not the shittiest FF ever. FFII and III would like to say hi.

Sephiroth wasn't that great. Guy was a wimp and went WAH WAH WAH because he found out about the ancients.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Crisis Core goes a long way towards redeeming Sephiroth as a character

anyways, I pretty much disagree with everything the OP says

[recursivelyenumerable]

Jesus, with all the money they pour into development you'd think that someone over there would come up with the idea to perhaps outsource their story to a professional screenwriter or author.

actually SE does outsource a lot of their game scenario writing these days (KH1-2, Crisis Core, recent Mana games were all done by freelancers)  albeit mostly to former employees. 

[recursivelyenumerable]

who else is notable?

for the FF series?

Hiromichi Tanaka (FF11 producer, FF3 DS director, FF1-3 game design, Secret of Mana/SD3/Xenogears/Chrono Cross producer/battle system design.  invented pop-up damage numerals used in FF3 and like every RPG since)

Koichi Ishii (FF11 director, FF1-3 game design & graphics, Mana series creator and director/producer.  introduced Chocobo and Moogle characters  )

Kazuhiko Aoki (FF3/4 battle design, FF7/9 event design, FF3 DS battle design, Crystal Chronicles director, Chrono Trigger producer, Chocobo's Dungeon series director, Hanjuku Eiyuu 1-2 director, Code Age Commanders lead designer.  founded Square's development group together with Sakaguchi & Tanaka)

Takashi Tokita (FF4 lead designer, FF4 DS director, FF7 event design, Chrono Trigger co-director, Live A Live/Parasite Eve/Chocobo Racing/The Bouncer director/scenario, Hanjuku Eiyuu 3-4 producer/director/scenario)

Hiroyuki Ito (FF4/5/8/Tactics battle design, FF9 director & song lyrics, FF6 co-director, FF12 co-director & battle design, Chrono Trigger event design, Tom Sawyer/Hataraku Chocobo game design.  invented many game systems such as ATB, FF5 job system, FF8 Junction system, FF8/9 card games, FF12 ADB & Gambit systems)

Yasushi Matsumura (FF4 map design, FF7 battle design, Crystal Chronicles map design, TSW storyboard, Secret of Mana map design, Mario RPG original concept & event design.  apparently won a national Rubik's Cube competition in Japan and has appeared on TV as a Rubik's Cube master.)

Akihiko Matsui (FF4/5/11 battle design, Chrono Trigger co-director, Romancing SaGa 2/SaGa Frontier map design, Legend of Mana lead game designer)

Kazushige Nojima (FF7 scenario and event design, FF8/10/13 scenario, FF10-2/Advent Children/Crisis Core scenario, Bahamut Lagoon/Glory of Heracles IV director, KH/KH2/Glory of Heracles 2-3/Deltora Quest scenario)

Motomu Toriyama (FF13 director, FF7/10 event design, FFX-2 director, Revenant Wings director/scenario, Bahamut Lagoon event design, Racing Lagoon/3rd Birthday (PE cellphone spinoff)/FFCC WiiWare scenario)

Takatsugu Nakazawa (FF7/8/10 battle design, FFX-2/Crisis Core battle design, Bahamut Lagoon battle design)

Jun Akiyama (FF7/12 event design, FF Tactics/Vagrant Story/Kingdom Hearts event design)

Hiroki Chiba (FF7/8/10 event design, Dirge of Cerberus scenario/event design, Chrono Trigger/Cross event design)

Takeshi Endo (FF7/8/9 map design, Kingdom Hearts 1/2 map design)

Takayoshi Nakazato (FF8/10 map design, Dirge of Cerberus director, FF10-2 map design)

Toshiro Tsuchida (FF10/11/13 battle design, FFCC WiiWare producer, Front Mission series creator and producer/director, Arc the Lad 1-2/Cybernator producer)

Masato Kato (FF11 scenario & event design, FF7 event design, Chrono Cross director/scenario/event design, Ninja Gaiden III NES game design, Ninja Gaiden II NES graphics, scenario & event design, Chrono Trigger scenario/event design, Xenogears event design, Baten Kaitos/Deep Labyrinth/Children of Mana/Dawn of Mana/Heroes of Mana scenario, Ninja Gaiden NES graphics)

[Himu]

uhhhh

[AdmiralViscen]

How the hell is Zidane fruity?

Square needs to hire some white people.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

less space cigarillo/new romantic warriors in magic vs tech horror show Star Wars rip shit
and
more ork / dragon slaying Fantasy shit, i cut off all the villagers heads,you want some? yee old tradish style please.

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww no

we have enough "traditional" fantasy RPGs, thank you

the SF/fantasy hybrid helps set FF well apart. it's not always done WELL, mind you, but it's a great aesthetic

orcs and dragons are boring as fuck. Tolkien can blow me

[ananus]

they need demons and characters like heat and shinjiro.

and world maps are overrated.

[recursivelyenumerable]

The ONLY thing setting SE products apart from anything is the huge budget and elabourate CG

there have been and are plenty of SE products with neither huge budgets nor elaborate CG.  many of which are greatly enjoyed by people who enjoy this stuff in the first place.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

"roots"? FF has been a fantasy/SF hybrid since the very first one, thank you very much

hell, the beloved SNES ones are some of the most SF-heavy titles in the series ones out there--IV in particular, with its spaceships, the Giant of Babel, etc.

the way to save Final Fantasy is not to make it less like Final Fantasy? fuck "high fantasy," who wants to play a goddamned Tad Williams novel

[recursivelyenumerable]

also, I like mini-games, but the OP in citing the CPR game is obviously just being an agent provocateur for the anti-minigame side

[bud]

they're both cg, duh, but the vs trailer has some awesome art-direction going on, and overall, i like it. i also like the xiii trailer.  i say this without having any aspirations to live in japan.

[recursivelyenumerable]

i luv overdesigned shit.  especially naora's overdesigned shit, but kamikokuryo will do almost as well.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I consider the fantasy/SF blend to be the very foundation of "Final Fantasy" -- if you don't like it, great, but if "redeeming" FF means making games that have no connection at all to the past 20 years of FF games, well, that's an awfully pyrrhic victory

[Himu]

I consider the fantasy/SF blend to be the very foundation of "Final Fantasy" -- if you don't like it, great, but if "redeeming" FF means making games that have no connection at all to the past 20 years of FF games, well, that's an awfully pyrrhic victory

this.

[Valcrist]

I love 8 and 10, although alot of people find the characters to be unlikable, I played them both back in high school, so the whole identitiy shit vibed with me.  I found that the "space cigarillo" games are also more character driven than story driven.  I hope for something more in the vain of 8.

[tiesto]

-More lighthearted atmosphere, don't take everything so seriously all the time
-Memorable characters
-No more Nomura zipper-happy character designs
-No Matrix style flipping around gun kata bullshit
-Bring back Uematsu for the music
-Job system
-Cut back on the minigames
-Bring back world maps
-Either FFX's system or an ATB system would work fine, just nothing like FFXII's for the love of God
-Kill the voice acting, or at least hire competent actors

[Himu]

-More lighthearted atmosphere, don't take everything so seriously all the time
-Memorable characters
-No more Nomura zipper-happy character designs
-No Matrix style flipping around gun kata bullshit
-Job system
-Bring back world maps
-Either FFX's system or an ATB system would work fine, just nothing like FFXII's for the love of God
-Kill the voice acting, or at least hire competent actors

This.

Except...you didn't like FFXII's voice acting? I thought it was the best localized game I've ever played. THe presentation was amazing.

[pancakesandsex]

I like it better when the tech involved is more steampunk / airship level than when its like....cars and motorcycles.  Tech is also cool when used as a plot device like an ancient super weapon sought after by the main villain, or like a floatin island in the sky where they have futuristic supertech etc....   I dont like when its TOO prevalent throughout the world of the game, its not what i look for in an FF game.

[Powerslave]

Yeah, basically they should make another Steampunk (FF9)  or Cyberpunk (FF7)  Final Fantasy game.

Sci-fi style like Star Wars just doesn't suit FF, and it fucking ruined the whole franchise for me.


Holy damn I can't believe I once thought that Squaresoft was my God. Now they're are at the same level as EA for me.

[Himu]

Holy damn I can't believe I once thought that Squaresoft was my God. Now they're are at the same level as EA for me.

Final Fantasy used to be my favorite game series.

[muckson]

How the hell is Zidane fruity?

Square needs to hire some white people.

werd. 

someone else posted that the script was from a "fevered mental patient," but that's not quite right.  most japanese manga, anime, or movie scripts are overdramatic storylines that come from fevered 18 year old boys which is why they are childish and overdramatic in the wrong ways.  a lot of times good games get -george lucased- straight to hell.

[Powerslave]

Holy damn I can't believe I once thought that Squaresoft was my God. Now they're are at the same level as EA for me.

Final Fantasy used to be my favorite game series.

Final Fantasy changed my view on life in a positive, and then in a negative way 

[bluemax]

Yeah, basically they should make another Steampunk (FF9)  or Cyberpunk (FF7)  Final Fantasy game.

Sci-fi style like Star Wars just doesn't suit FF, and it fucking ruined the whole franchise for me.


Holy damn I can't believe I once thought that Squaresoft was my God. Now they're are at the same level as EA for me.

Did you call FF7 Cyber punk?

William Gibson am cry.

[Powerslave]

Midgar is pretty fucking cyberpunk. Also the whole lifestyle of people, living in poluted towns etc. and futuristic vehicles and airships.

[disgruntled_jojo]

Crisis Core goes a long way towards redeeming Sephiroth as a character

anyways, I pretty much disagree with everything the OP says

!QFT.

FF is moving in the right direction.  Square, don't listen to these guys!  Stay as fucking far away from 'traditional' as you can.  Right now, you're one of the last companies in Japan that I can count on to make something the pushes the envelope even marginally.  If I want more animu 'traditional' jrpgs, then I'll buy any of the other dozen that come out every year.

[Powerslave]

^ /r/ a b7 on this guy 

[Himu]

Crisis Core goes a long way towards redeeming Sephiroth as a character

anyways, I pretty much disagree with everything the OP says

!QFT.

FF is moving in the right direction.  Square, don't listen to these guys!  Stay as fucking far away from 'traditional' as you can.  Right now, you're one of the last companies in Japan that I can count on to make something the pushes the envelope even marginally.  If I want more animu 'traditional' jrpgs, then I'll buy any of the other dozen that come out every year.

I've found people who say this haven't actually played many jrpgs outside of Square. THey have not played the Dragon Quest's, the Shin Megami Tensei's, the Y's. No, they think all jrpgs are animu and Final Fantasy isn't. 

[tiesto]

Crisis Core goes a long way towards redeeming Sephiroth as a character

anyways, I pretty much disagree with everything the OP says

!QFT.

FF is moving in the right direction.  Square, don't listen to these guys!  Stay as fucking far away from 'traditional' as you can.  Right now, you're one of the last companies in Japan that I can count on to make something the pushes the envelope even marginally.  If I want more animu 'traditional' jrpgs, then I'll buy any of the other dozen that come out every year.

Whenever Square tries to "push the envelope", we get stuff like the Laws in FFTA, the Gambit system in FFXII, collabs with Disney, simplified RTS spinoffs of core series, cell phone sequels, and cinematic/CGI heavy spectacles with weak gameplay. You can't get enough traditional RPGs as far as I'm concerned, especially since the genre is starting to go on life support.

[Himu]

What Tiesto said.

[Himu]

I dunno... FF has always seemed like a fusion between fantasy and sci-fi for me, and I like that. If I want old school traditional fantasy, there's always DQ. I like airships, space talk, summons and stuff. That's what I love about FF, and I didn't quite like FFIX as much as the other recent stuff because it lacked that modern ingredient.

It really did. There was..um...Lindblum though. That place owned. Trains and shit.

[Smooth Groove]

I just want another decent LOTR type of fantasy RPG.  It's been a long time since Baldur's Gate 2. 

[recursivelyenumerable]

FF9 had great towns period, so did Xenogears.

FF8 had pretty cool towns, up until the disappointmenton of Esthar  :'(

[muckson]

then when these spastic 18 year old kids get stuck on that bitch love mood swing shit they focus on the script gets WORSE.  this love interest shit is pulled through the whole story meant as a tease when in reality it's annoying like it was for all of us when we were in high school.  we all thought the same thing: "can't we just have sex and get it out of our system?"  the characters NEVER do that when in reality i think a couple final fantasy characters banging in the middle of the game would create a good humor aspect for the latter half of the story when things get awkward for the party knowing that they had sex. 

but NO it's always the same shit with long drawn out schoolkid crushes and then one of them dies or something along the way.

[Himu]

how can anyone be disappointed with esthar........

[Trent Dole]

then when these spastic 18 year old kids get stuck on that bitch love mood swing shit they focus on the script gets WORSE.  this love interest shit is pulled through the whole story meant as a tease when in reality it's annoying like it was for all of us when we were in high school.  we all thought the same thing: "can't we just have sex and get it out of our system?"  the characters NEVER do that when in reality i think a couple final fantasy characters banging in the middle of the game would create a good humor aspect for the latter half of the story when things get awkward for the party knowing that they had sex. 

but NO it's always the same shit with long drawn out schoolkid crushes and then one of them dies or something along the way.

It was pretty obvious that Tifa and Cloud fucked that one night they were together outside of the airship, wasn't it? Also Aeris does him in the cable car thing in ..whatever the fuck that carnival minigame area was called if she ends up being the one to ride with you..

[Himu]

I got Aeris, Tifa, and Yuffie to go on a date with me. I've always wanted to do Barret.

[youtube=425,350]D30JDkDHWZk[/youtube]

[recursivelyenumerable]

how can anyone be disappointed with esthar........

There were like three places to go in the whole maze of skywalks, and none of the townspeople said anything amusing.  After how Esthar's mystique was built up through the awesome Salt Flats sequence and indeed throughout the entire game, that's a letdown.   The music was neat though.

[Powerslave]

I agree, Esthar was so stale.

[disgruntled_jojo]

Crisis Core goes a long way towards redeeming Sephiroth as a character

anyways, I pretty much disagree with everything the OP says

!QFT.

FF is moving in the right direction.  Square, don't listen to these guys!  Stay as fucking far away from 'traditional' as you can.  Right now, you're one of the last companies in Japan that I can count on to make something the pushes the envelope even marginally.  If I want more animu 'traditional' jrpgs, then I'll buy any of the other dozen that come out every year.

I've found people who say this haven't actually played many jrpgs outside of Square. THey have not played the Dragon Quest's, the Shin Megami Tensei's, the Y's. No, they think all jrpgs are animu and Final Fantasy isn't. 

I'm not saying it's not animu!

I've played all of the above series.  And Y's isn't an RPG, it's an Adventure game.  It has more in common with LTTP than FF/DQ/SMT.

Also, note that you picked three of the largest luminaries in the JRPG pantheon outside of FF.  I'm referring to the dozen or so OTHER games that come out every year, the pablum, the recycled crap that's killing the Japanese game industry.