Valiant Saga: Final Fantasy (Another sequel?)

[Elpizo]

Saw this posted on a gamenews website:

http://www.gamed.nl/messages/173565.jpg

Real? Fake?

Approve? Disapprove? Want FF XV or Versus XIII instead?

[Gamblet]

Anything with Ivalice sounds good to me.

[CimminyCricket]

Anything with Ivalice sounds good to me.

[ShinGundam]

It is obviously Fake.

[Mirage]

What's with the windings symbols?

[Roogle]

I don't think valuable information on a title like this would be put out in a simple image with no press release or other information coming directly from the company. The concept is a nice thought.

[Wolf Kanno]

It's probably fake but then again, Hiroyuki Itou (FFXII's director) hasn't been working on anything significant since FFXII International. It's possibly a leak from a planned press confernece that was to be held in the coming months or at E3. Still, the plot hits too many elements of the Ivalice storyline, it basically sounds too good to be true because the story sounds like it would tie up all the connections between XII, Tactics, and Vagrant Story. So that's where I find it really implausible to be real. It sounds like a juicy fanfiction story by an avid Ivalice fan.

[ShinGundam]

It's probably fake but then again, Hiroyuki Itou (FFXII's director) hasn't been working on anything significant since FFXII International. It's possibly a leak from a planned press confernece that was to be held in the coming months or at E3. Still, the plot hits too many elements of the Ivalice storyline, it basically sounds too good to be true because the story sounds like it would tie up all the connections between XII, Tactics, and Vagrant Story. So that's where I find it really implausible to be real. It sounds like a juicy fanfiction story by an avid Ivalice fan.
He is making an IOS game called Guardian Cross.

[Mercen-X]

@ Gamblet: Seconded.

@ ShinGundam: Also seconded.

@ Mirage: They're wingdings. But seconded anyway.

1) plot hits too many elements of the Ivalice storyline... 2) too good to be true... 3) would tie up all the connections between XII, Tactics, and Vagrant Story... 4) implausible... 5) sounds like a juicy fanfiction...

1), 2), 3), & 4) agreed, Square Enix hasn't done well in the area of reliable continuity. Maybe if Nomura was in charge?

5) :mad:

[Wolf Kanno]

It's probably fake but then again, Hiroyuki Itou (FFXII's director) hasn't been working on anything significant since FFXII International. It's possibly a leak from a planned press confernece that was to be held in the coming months or at E3. Still, the plot hits too many elements of the Ivalice storyline, it basically sounds too good to be true because the story sounds like it would tie up all the connections between XII, Tactics, and Vagrant Story. So that's where I find it really implausible to be real. It sounds like a juicy fanfiction story by an avid Ivalice fan.
He is making an IOS game called Guardian Cross.

That's why I said he hasn't worked on anything significant. :D

The man should be put in charge of FFXV and then SE could hire Soraya Saga(FFVI/Xenogears) and Masato Kato(Chrono series/ FFVII) to write the plot and scenario. Alas, tis but a fantasy...:cry:

[ShinGundam]

It's probably fake but then again, Hiroyuki Itou (FFXII's director) hasn't been working on anything significant since FFXII International. It's possibly a leak from a planned press confernece that was to be held in the coming months or at E3. Still, the plot hits too many elements of the Ivalice storyline, it basically sounds too good to be true because the story sounds like it would tie up all the connections between XII, Tactics, and Vagrant Story. So that's where I find it really implausible to be real. It sounds like a juicy fanfiction story by an avid Ivalice fan.
He is making an IOS game called Guardian Cross.

That's why I said he hasn't worked on anything significant. :D

The man should be put in charge of FFXV and then SE could hire Soraya Saga(FFVI/Xenogears) and Masato Kato(Chrono series/ FFVII) to write the plot and scenario. Alas, tis but a fantasy...:cry:
Play FF11 or FF14 ( FF14 got some cameo from Xeno i don't know why and) and battles are as close as it could be to ADB.

For FFXV, hmm i don't know and i don't think these guys or even Sakaguchi or Matsuno will change anything at all to be honest.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think they could. Sakaguchi has resisted the MMO hybrid model that other people have tried with the genre over at Mistwalker, hell even SE tried to move away with XIII. Squenix issue is that they've allowed Kitase Jr. (Motomu Toriyama) to keep pushing the series into interactive film territory. One of the things that always held Kitase and Sakaguchi's desperate attempts at making the games into cutscene extravaganza was always Hiroyuki Ito who is about the only guy at SE who believes people should be playing a game and understands the concept that sitting in your chair and watching cutscenes between dungeons is not an immersive experience. Their cinematic vision, combined with his fundamental game design philosophy as well as some good writing by some well loved veterans of the genre like Kato and Saga to help some of SE's less experienced writing staff; and I feel SE could make an FF that blow everyone's mind.

SE has two problems imho.

(1) The current team lacks real experience making hit games due to lack of guidance from older staff members. From what I've gathered, once you hit executive producer, status, you're basically dealing with upper corporate more than the design team. Apparently Ito turned down a promotion to executive producer because it would have kept him from being able to really work on the design part of games, so I now question what Kitase has really been bringing to the series since FFX.

(2) They lack balance. Its pretty easy to spot each of the designers "style" when they work on a game. Sakaguchi likes to keep things somewhat comical and lighthearted, Kitase and Toriyama likes big cinematic set-pieces and drama. Nomura is a shameless subscriber to the Rule of Cool (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool), Ito is heavy on game mechanics and gameplay as the main show, and Matsuno is heavy on topics of history, ethics, and philosophy. They each bring something unique but I feel problems arise when you have too many of one type, which is why XII fell short for many fans. I mean I love Ito, but the man's philosophy about gameplay trumping everything leaves those who got in the series for the cool plots and characters a bit cold. Had Matsuno stayed behind to guide the writing team, it may have been the game every fan would have loved. Toriyama (FFXIII) and Kitase (FFVIII) learned the hard way what happens if you don't have a person working on the gameplay side (Ito) to keep it balanced with all the cool designs and cutscenes. Even Sakaguchi is learning the hard way with Mistwalker what it's like to create games without the strong support of other highly talented designers that have scattered since the merger.

I'm not saying that in order for FF to retake its crown it needs Sakaguchi or Matsuno, rather SE needs to start pulling their strengths together. I mean Ito still works at SE, and god know Toriyama's more visual/story focused style would balance out Ito's gameplay centric view, and vice versa. I'm terribly surprised they have never really worked together on former projects. After that its just a matter of finding a new strong writer to tell their games story. This is probably the trickiest part because I feel this is where SE has really fallen short. Still, its not like they can't hire a 3rd party writer, I mean they still commission Nojima to write for them and he hasn't worked at SE for years, just once again, I feel Nojima needs someone else to balance him out. His plots get overly convulated for no good reason if he's left to his own devices. His best stories are usually teams efforts (FFVII and KH1). I feel this would be a great start for revitalizing the series, and the thing is, it can be easily done. I just don't know why SE hasn't done it yet.

[The Captain]

If the "lone mercenary" is Balthier, I'm in.



Take care all.

[chionos]

I hope it's true, but it reads fake.

[CimminyCricket]

What's with the windings symbols?

Can't tell if serious:

Those are the zodiac signs XD Remember in FFT the Zodiacs were a big deal? I think that's what they're referencing.

[Mercen-X]

The summons are supposed to represent the Zodiac including Zodiark who represents the debatable sign of Ophiuchus/Asclepius/Serpentinus...

I would wager a guess the mercenary is somehow tied to Ashley Riot.

[Gamblet]

I would wager a guess the mercenary is somehow tied to Ashley Riot.

That... I would like.

EDIT: But, ten years after FF XII... I think not...

[Wolf Kanno]

The few references that Vagrant Story has to Ivalice are ones connecting the game to FFTactics (which takes place 1000 years after FFXII) and are obviously meant to place the game as the last in the Ivalice timeline since some of the things are a holy relic belonging to Agrius and a reference to Historical King Hyral's (Delita) grave.

Though I do remember the Tactics team saying after they finished War of the Lions, they wanted to return Vagrant Story. They've worked on Tactics Ogre remake since then but it may still be possible Vagrant Story may be in our future as an updated port like WotL.

[Gamblet]

it may still be possible Vagrant Story may be in our future as an updated port like WotL.

If that happens, I would love to see new cutscenes like WotL had and maybe some voice-acting too.

[Mercen-X]

Ashley Riot is a Valendia Knight of the Peace. Could the VKP have potentially been 1000 years in the making?

[Bolivar]

and then SE could hire Soraya Saga(FFVI/Xenogears) and Masato Kato(Chrono series/ FFVII) to write the plot and scenario.

Hells no.



J/k, I'd like to see it.

But Ito never broke up a lot of hte FF games from custcene-fests. He just made and tweaked the battle systems to add the customization and addicting combat that made a lot of the games so great (you have him to thank for the Junction system, btw). But what stopped the games from being battles and watching cutscenes were the mini-games and unique scenarios along the way. The event planner on FFVII was, ironically, Motomu Toriyama ;)


Anything with Ivalice sounds good to me.

[Wolf Kanno]

and then SE could hire Soraya Saga(FFVI/Xenogears) and Masato Kato(Chrono series/ FFVII) to write the plot and scenario.

Hells no.



J/k, I'd like to see it.

But Ito never broke up a lot of hte FF games from custcene-fests. He just made and tweaked the battle systems to add the customization and addicting combat that made a lot of the games so great (you have him to thank for the Junction system, btw). But what stopped the games from being battles and watching cutscenes were the mini-games and unique scenarios along the way. The event planner on FFVII was, ironically, Motomu Toriyama ;)

You're incorrect, Event Planner only deals with the scenario of a scene, in other words, the dialogue and how the scene looks, it's usually sscoaited with cutscenes more than mini-games. Notice how Motomu Toriyama's major titles (FFX, FFXIII, and Revenant Wings) don't have too many interactive story sequences or events throughout the storyline. You're interactive moments in FFVII are more likely a result of Kitase's input, who learned to do that trick while co-directing FFVI and Chrono Trigger with Ito. ;)

Besides being the father of ATB and the most of the series customization systems, Ito is also credited as both Director and Game Design Director of FFVI and FFIX. He's actually credited for making the interactive elements in the Opera Scene as well as the Ultros event that proceeds afterwards, and designing the dialogue tree event/talking to soldiers quest when you speak to the emperor in FFVI. According to Ito himself in the Ultimania commentary for IX and XII, Kitase's original scenario was pure dialogue on both scenes. In Chrono Trigger, he's responsible for creating the entire morality mini-game at the Millennium Fair, as well as the entire Trial scene. He created the Chicken Knife/Brave-blade sub-quest and he wrote the Event Scenes involving Gilgamesh in FFV. He also created Triple Triad in FFVIII, and Mognet quest and Chocobo Hot n' Cold in FFIX, as well as rewrote Zidane as a skirt chaser. He was also responsible for the pacing and basic story structure of all four games he directed (FFIII, FFVI, FFIX, and FFXII). So while it's true he's the father of most of the gameplay systems of FFI-IX and FFXII, he's also done a hell of a lot more than just reinvent Turn Based gameplay. The man's philosophy as a game designer is to balance the story with the gameplay, as well as to intertwine both of them in order to add immersion to the game for the player.

So I would argue Ito is more of the real mastermind behind a lot of the fanbase's favorite entries in the series than the like of Toriyama. :p