Final Fantasy 13 the last of its kind? Square Enix interested in western devs

[Himu]

http://www.next-gen.biz/magazine/an-audience-with-yoichi-wada?page=0,0

Edge: That period really set in stone a certain style of Japanese development, which some might say has reached its culmination with Final Fantasy XIII. How do you think these kinds of big-budget, long-in-development Japanese games stand up in the current climate?

Wada: I believe Final Fantasy XIII is going be something special, and that it’s going to be well received by the audience. But whether we are going to continue to internally create this type of game remains to be seen, because I actually feel that the team that was involved with Final Fantasy XIII should next move on to create and generate some ‘next generation’ forms of play. Internally and externally I feel there’s an expectation of Square Enix to offer something new, and I really think that the Final Fantasy team could create something completely different, but at the moment they’re strictly catering to the particular audience they have now.

I would love to see a jrpg try to tackle on modern wrpg conventions. It has been Ultima/Wizardry/DQ/FF/D&D for the past 20 years.

I mean, take Fallout, and put a Japanese spin on it. That would be so awesome.

[The Fake Shemp]

That sounds like a horrible fucking idea. Jesus, Himuro.

[Himu]

Take Baldur's Gate, put a Japanese spin on it.

What would the result be?

[Stoney Mason]

I love how people are going to spin that statement to mean whatever they want it to mean.

[Mr. Gundam]

Before closing their doors, GRIN was working on a FF spin-off title that took place in Ivalice (FF XII) and it's apparently still being worked on by someone else. That's probably what they're talking about.

[ananus]

jrpgs aren't as good this gen as they used to be, but i don't understand what's with the brainwashing that's happened over the last couple of years where jrpgs are suddenly the "wii" of all genres

either way i like variety, so i hope jrpgs don't die

[Mr. Gundam]

I want more turn-based JRPGs on consoles. 

[Himu]

Take Baldur's Gate, put a Japanese spin on it.

What would the result be?

[Himu]

jrpgs aren't as good this gen as they used to be, but i don't understand what's with the brainwashing that's happened over the last couple of years where jrpgs are suddenly the "wii" of all genres

either way i like variety, so i hope jrpgs don't die

Same.

[MCD]

fuck no himu you stupid fuck

do not want dirty gaijin touching my final fantasy

[magus]

Take Baldur's Gate, put a Japanese spin on it.

What would the result be?

ATTAKKU MINSC ATTAKKU!

[Himu]

fuck no himu you stupid fuck

do not want dirty gaijin touching my final fantasy

Baka gaijin doko doko doko doko desuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

[Himu]

Take Baldur's Gate, put a Japanese spin on it.

What would the result be?

ATTAKKU MINSC ATTAKKU!
(Image removed from quote.)

GO FOR THE EYES, BOO-CHAN

[WrikaWrek]

I don't know.

[Himu]

Seriously, I stand by what I said in the gaf thread.

Give this shit to Blizzard, have them make Final Fantasy Tactics 2, make it a turn based strategy game and include what Blizz does best, but keep the core strategy rpg principles and rules and enhance them.

Release it for pc, ps3, and 360.

It would be glorious.

[recursivelyenumerable]

They already kinda-sorta did this with FF9.  OK, not really the same thing at all, but, um, yeah.

[Sho Nuff]

What was Parasite Eve? 

[tiesto]

From what I gather out of the article, it just seems Wada wants quicker turnover times for American/European localizations (something that should have happened LONG ago), and they will be more open to comments/criticisms from their western divisions.

I'd love to play a western style RPG with some flash a healthy dose of animu though.

[Mr. Gundam]

Keep yer damn RTS out of my Final Fantasy.

[magus]

to be serious i don't understand you guys
"I WANT A FINAL FANTASY THAT DOESN'T PLAY LIKE FINAL FANTASY"
then what's the point?

[Himu]

to be serious i don't understand you guys
"I WANT A FINAL FANTASY THAT DOESN'T PLAY LIKE FINAL FANTASY"
then what's the point?

But every Final Fantasy plays different anyways so your argument is dumb.

[Himu]

That would be an AMAZING fucking game.

OH GOD PLEASE LET THEM DO THIS

Also get BioWare to work on Final Fantasy: Dark Renaissance or something. Have it mandatory Chocobos, Cid, Flans, Blizzagas etc. but be mature and shit.

THIS WOULD FUCKING R U L E

I'd prefer Obsidian over Bioware.

Obsidian is made up of total FF geeks. I mean look at Torment.

With a little more time to put into the game so it's not a buggy, incomplete mess, I think Obisidian could really turn out a great FF side game.

Keep yer damn RTS out of my Final Fantasy.

Turn based strategy > rts

And Blizzard hasn't made a turn based strategy game. I think they're good fer it.

[magus]

to be serious i don't understand you guys
"I WANT A FINAL FANTASY THAT DOESN'T PLAY LIKE FINAL FANTASY"
then what's the point?

But every Final Fantasy plays different anyways so your argument is dumb.

yea and when they tried to be too much different final fantasy 12 happened  :'(
never again  :'( :'( :'(

spoiler (click to show/hide)

and final fantasy 2 and final fantasy 8

[close]

anyway the next one is a mmorpg so we can all agree it's going to be crap,no reason to have this argument

[Himu]

to be serious i don't understand you guys
"I WANT A FINAL FANTASY THAT DOESN'T PLAY LIKE FINAL FANTASY"
then what's the point?

But every Final Fantasy plays different anyways so your argument is dumb.

yea and when they tried to be too much different final fantasy 12 happened  :'(
never again  :'( :'( :'(

spoiler (click to show/hide)

and final fantasy 2 and final fantasy 8

[close]

anyway the next one is a mmorpg so we can all agree it's going to be crap,no reason to have this argument

What about games like 10 where there's no levels?

[magus]

i don't mind the lack of level as long as it's not replaced with something dumb
so basicaly you are okay with me unless kawazu is involved

[demi]

Yeah, this is a shit idea.

[Himu]

i don't mind the lack of level as long as it's not replaced with something dumb
so basicaly you are okay with me unless kawazu is involved

I hate Kawazu.

[Mr. Gundam]

Yeah, this is a shit idea.

Total shit idea.

[Himu]

And why is getting more developers to develop FF side games so we can get more FF main series games a bad thing?

[demi]

Because those games are garbage in the first place.

[Third]

R.I.P. Final Fantasy

[Nintendosbooger]

The writing was on the wall for jRPG developers when their western counterparts slowly trickled to the console arena from their PC haven, backed by rich developers (unlike the old 8-16 bit console days). Similar to first-person-shooters, the Perfect Darks and the GoldenEyes (EA) didn't stand a chance when the PC heavyweights migrated to home consoles en masse.

[ananus]

money isn't everything. the smt games are el cheapo and they're better than most games out there who cost billions and stuff. heck, ps2 jrpgs are still better than most of the crap this gen and they were most likely cheaper as well. many cheaper jrpgs last gen were better than ff12 too.

and borys, you are distinguished mentally-challenged for wishing for bioware to put their shitty hands anywhere close a decent series, even if ff is overrated

[Himu]

SMT

The only jrpg series worth any salt these days

[magus]

.....
bah i've spit enough atlus hate in another thread
you get a free pass this time atlus fans! *shakefist*

[cool breeze]

Make a new Soul Reaver

[WrikaWrek]

Square Enix is a dinosaur.

They dyin, they trippin, fightin' fo thei livin.

[Himu]

I still don't get what you have against Atlus games, Magus. Your post in that other thread just said to me,"These games aren't perfect, thus they suck."

[OptimoPeach]

Give this shit to Blizzard, have them make Final Fantasy Tactics 2, make it a turn based strategy game and include what Blizz does best, but keep the core strategy rpg principles and rules and enhance them.

Release it for pc, ps3, and 360.

It would be glorious.

Definitely wouldn't be worse than the GBA sequels

[tiesto]

The writing was on the wall for jRPG developers when their western counterparts slowly trickled to the console arena from their PC haven, backed by rich developers (unlike the old 8-16 bit console days). Similar to first-person-shooters, the Perfect Darks and the GoldenEyes (EA) didn't stand a chance when the PC heavyweights migrated to home consoles en masse.

Quite a number of smaller RPG series are financially successful, though, even if they don't pull in big big numbers, they still don't cost an arm and a leg to make. You of all people should know this.

[magus]

I still don't get what you have against Atlus games, Magus. Your post in that other thread just said to me,"These games aren't perfect, thus they suck."

i don't like atlus game that aren't nocturne,it pains me to see persona heralded as the greatest ps2 rpg ever what there is to get? i even explained the reasons why i think they aren't good games!

[demi]

I still don't get what you have against Atlus games, Magus. Your post in that other thread just said to me,"These games aren't perfect, thus they suck."

i don't like atlus game that aren't nocturne,it pains me to see persona heralded as the greatest ps2 rpg ever what there is to get? i even explained the reasons why i think they aren't good games!

Dont worry magus, I think the recent Persona games are garbage too. We call them "Himusona" around here. It's also meant to signify when a JRPG goes completely twee and shit.

See: Persona PSP

[Nintendosbooger]

The writing was on the wall for jRPG developers when their western counterparts slowly trickled to the console arena from their PC haven, backed by rich developers (unlike the old 8-16 bit console days). Similar to first-person-shooters, the Perfect Darks and the GoldenEyes (EA) didn't stand a chance when the PC heavyweights migrated to home consoles en masse.

Quite a number of smaller RPG series are financially successful, though, even if they don't pull in big big numbers, they still don't cost an arm and a leg to make. You of all people should know this.

Oh, true jRPGs will always be around, but my point is their relevance and influence in the West will never reach the same high water mark established during the PSX era as a result of the influx of prolific western rpg developers entering the console market and competing for the same audience.

[Beezy]

For once I think nboog might be right.

They already kinda-sorta did this with FF9.  OK, not really the same thing at all, but, um, yeah.

[Himu]

Why do people always say jrpgs were ever relevant or highly influential in the west? They weren't. Even in the psx days, you had Final Fantasy games that sold megabusters, and Poke'mon. That's really it aside from the occasional game like Parasite Eve, and I'm not sure about that game's sales. The more niche stuff like Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Suikoden, Persona...those games didn't do well at all in the west!

So why do people continue act like a niche genre who had the OCCASIONAL success (read: any main FF since 7, Poke'mon) ever had any influence in the west? Note: it didn't!

[Nintendosbooger]

Why do people always say jrpgs were ever relevant or highly influential in the west? They weren't. Even in the psx days, you had Final Fantasy games that sold megabusters, and Poke'mon. That's really it aside from the occasional game like Parasite Eve, and I'm not sure about that game's sales. The more niche stuff like Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Suikoden, Persona...those games didn't do well at all in the west!

So why do people continue act like a niche genre who had the OCCASIONAL success (read: any main FF since 7, Poke'mon) ever had any influence in the west? Note: it didn't!

Are you saying FFVII didn't influence a plethora of Japanese and Western RPGs? Aside from its blockbuster sales, it boosted the genre AS A WHOLE to a whole new plateau. That most likely won't happen again.

[Himu]

You said jrpgs. I said FFVII was influential. But that's one game. Outside of Final Fantasy, those games are not influential (for the most part) in the west. And FFVII didn't really influence anything, game-wise, it was all presentation. The one thing FFVII brought about was a jrpg boom which allowed more jrpgs to be released in the west than before; but that doesn't say anything overall about relevance or influence if most of them bombed or sold average numbers.

[Nintendosbooger]

You said jrpgs. I said FFVII was influential. But that's one game. Outside of Final Fantasy, those games are not influential (for the most part) in the west. And FFVII didn't really influence anything, game-wise, it was all presentation. The one thing FFVII brought about was a jrpg boom which allowed more jrpgs to be released in the west than before; but that doesn't say anything overall about relevance or influence if most of them bombed or sold average numbers.

I think you've answered my question for me there. FFVII, a Japanese RPG, changed the RPG landscape in both Japan and the West. Whether that change was in presentation, content, or simply the availability of more jRPGs in the West is a moot point. What is my point is that a phenomenon like that is unlikely to happen again by a jRPG as a result of western RPGs saturating the console market. Remember, what FFVII brought to the table was a PC-like RPG (movies, graphics, special effects on CD) that wasn't seen before on a home console, but now the developers that actually made a living making PC RPGs (western) are making their way to the living room, thus dissolving the novelty of FF games and all the jRPGs strongly influenced by it.

[Himu]

I never said FFVII wasn't influential. But you said jrpgs held influence, which is to say, more than one, and entire genre. That's not really the case.

[tiesto]

Did FF7 change the WRpg? I dunno, all the recent WRPGs have much more in common with either table top D&D and the super old school stuff like Ultima.

It was popular, and we did see an increase in production values in RPGs afterwards, but that was an inevitablility - FF7 perhaps forced the issue early, but i think Jrpgs and Wrpgs still remained distinctly different and remain so.

I don't think so, but we did get some western-made games strongly influenced by it - Septerra Core, Silver, Anachronox (though I believe that it was more influenced by Chrono Trigger, if I remember my PC Gamer mags from 1998).

[Ichirou]

It's funny to see Himuro desperately running away from his japafag past.

[Himu]

Have you read this thread? I love jrpgs. But I like wrpgs too. What's wrong with liking both?

I mean, you're talking about someone who played 4 hours of FF13's jp version, and even IMPORTED THE 70 DOLLAR DEMO.

It's funny to see Ichirou desperately throw snide accusations.

[Third]

I consider myself a "japafag". I still prefer Japanese games over Western games. Especially when it comes to rpgs.
When FF becomes like a Bioware game, a part of me shall die.

[Ichirou]

Have you read this thread? I love jrpgs. But I like wrpgs too. What's wrong with liking both?

I mean, you're talking about someone who played 4 hours of FF13's jp version, and even IMPORTED THE 70 DOLLAR DEMO.

It's funny to see Ichirou desperately throw snide accusations.

Ichirou annihilated.

Then again, if you were a real japafag, you would be playing Bayonetta right now, and instead you're playing fucking Lemmings.

Face it, you can't win.

[Himu]

Have you read this thread? I love jrpgs. But I like wrpgs too. What's wrong with liking both?

I mean, you're talking about someone who played 4 hours of FF13's jp version, and even IMPORTED THE 70 DOLLAR DEMO.

It's funny to see Ichirou desperately throw snide accusations.

Ichirou annihilated.

Then again, if you were a real japafag, you would be playing Bayonetta right now, and instead you're playing fucking Lemmings.

Face it, you can't win.

You're right. Most of the games I play these days are western games.

I've been playing Torchlight, Uncharted 2, Lemmings and that's it for the past week. Before that it was Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

I'm installing Folklore to my ps3 right now, so don't worry!

[Ichirou]

BUY BAYONETTA

[recursivelyenumerable]

Quote from: recursivelyenumerable on January 06, 2010, 11:13:33 AM
They already kinda-sorta did this with FF9.  OK, not really the same thing at all, but, um, yeah.

FF9 was developed in the US (Hawaii), albeit with a Japanese core design team (directing a lot of American and otherwise international graphics/movie people).  Same for Parasite Eve, Chocobo's Dungeon 2 and Chocobo Racing.

[Himu]

I'm not ashamed of being a homojapual.

[Raban]

Seriously, I stand by what I said in the gaf thread.

Give this shit to Blizzard, have them make Final Fantasy Tactics 2, make it a turn based strategy game and include what Blizz does best, but keep the core strategy rpg principles and rules and enhance them.

Release it for pc, ps3, and 360.

It would be glorious.

What? What the fuck are you talking about? FFT is the only thing Square can do right anymore!

[Bebpo]

Quote from: recursivelyenumerable on January 06, 2010, 11:13:33 AM
They already kinda-sorta did this with FF9.  OK, not really the same thing at all, but, um, yeah.

FF9 was developed in the US (Hawaii), albeit with a Japanese core design team (directing a lot of American and otherwise international graphics/movie people).  Same for Parasite Eve, Chocobo's Dungeon 2 and Chocobo Racing.

Wow, that explains...a lot.

I do not look forward to this future :\