Let's talk about the future...

[Wolf Kanno]

So recent world events aside, it seems like long time series Producer and SE marketing guru Shinji Hashimoto was in Italy for the Lucca & Comics 2016 convention and had a bit to say about the future of Square-Enix in the soon to be post FFXV world. While there is no English transcript yet and only a video in Italian, Siliconera has a short write up on his talking points. This is what he had to say:


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Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
The game still doesn't have an exact release date but Hashimoto wants to release it really soon. Especially since this year marks the games 10th Anniversary.



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Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8
There will be no "2.9" and the next new installment will be KHIII. Aqua's new chapter in the game may sound like it will be short, but it will depend on how the player plays the events. He doesn't consider it short.



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Final Fantasy VII Remake
Hashimoto didn't bring any info to share but said that the game is still being worked on and it's too soon to be talking about a release date and recent rumors about it being released in 2017 are simply rumors because the company hasn't even discussed a release date yet.



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Final Fantasy X-3
Hashimoto understands that the audio drama has given fans certain expectations but any plans on going forward with it will have to wait until Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshinori Kitase's schedules clear up, which will likely not happen until KHIII and the VII Remake are finished. Square-Enix is focused on finishing games that have been announced and won't make any announcement concerning a possible third installment of FFX.



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Final Fantasy XIII
No plans for the moment as SE is pretty content with how the trilogy wrapped up and did commercially. They do recognize that Lightning is still a very popular character and will try to figure out more ways to expand the brand of the character.



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XVI has apparently not even reached the planning stages yet and still has no confirmed director, but Hashimoto was quick to mention that fans who are unhappy with XV's setting and being an Action-RPG should not fret over the next installment following suit. The games setting and battle system are determined by its director and he pointed to how all three installments in the PSX generation were all radically different settings. With that said, he said that when the company chooses to work on a new installment in the flagship series, they do so with the mindset of releasing the ultimate fantasy for each generation.

[Fynn]

I was honestly never worried that XVI would go the action route, as the action/RPG thing was what FFXV was supposed to be from the beginning, even as versus, as simple a totally different take on FF. I'd be happy if XVI had a XII-like system, honestly.

But seriously, people want an X-3? What?!

[Mirage]

I'd go for a x-3 simply to get rid of the shit show that the official canon technically is. x-2 was fun to play, x had a decent story. if they could combine both into one game, sure why not.

[Rocket Edge]

Hell yeah give me X-3! Though I'm fearful that Enix might screw it up. And for the future, please FOR THE LOVE OF GOD get rid of the action-rpg gameplay. The reason I enjoyed the gameplay of previous FF's was because of the turn-based combat. Even something like FFXII's I loved, just not anything like I dunno, God of War or something.

[Mirage]

why would enix screw it up?

[Fynn]

Maybe they'll be confused, give us a game, the fans will be outraged that it's an MMO expansion, and they'll be like "OH, I thought you meant DQ X-3!"

[Shauna]

They're also being really vague and non-committal about X-3. Maybe it won't happen.

[Wolf Kanno]

Fans on the message boards are fretting over watching them expand the audio drama because as far as I can tell, no one liked what it did with the continuity since it largely reset everything accomplished in the story thus far.

[Yubel-Lover]

Mmmm... That's interesting. Honestly though I'm not sure FFXII needed a remaster, I mean to me it was almost perfect the way it was, but maybe this will be a good chance for a lot of players who didn't like the game to give it a second chance. And the idea of soloing the five judges with Ashe still intrigues me....
As for FFX-3 I'm all in for the hype, however I don't want it to be another game about Tidus and Yuna. Their story is complete and it'd be redundant to keep it going. Hence why a prequel would be a lot better. Maybe something set during the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle with different perspectives on the matter, like the first part with Shuyin and Lenne as main characters and then a second part with Yunalesca and Zaon. Or maybe I'm asking too much lol :D

[Vermachtnis]

Where's Crono Brake/Break!? Where is it Square!?

[Yubel-Lover]

Now that I think about it, a good question would be: where is Valkyrie Profile 3?

[Old Manus]

I fancy a return to an FF9 style game.

[maybee]

They do recognize that Lightning is still a very popular character and will try to figure out more ways to expand the brand of the character.



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[Rocket Edge]

why would enix screw it up?
Because since the merge they haven't made a decent story and we got the mess that was FFXIII. X-2 could have been done so much better. And then there's the audio that hints at a possible sequel. I actually thought it was interesting, but I just don't have any expectations for SE currently.

[Fynn]

But the people at Enix had nothing to do with any of that.

[Elly]

But the people at Enix had nothing to do with any of that.

of course they didn't, but there are those that draw the correlation that since the merger with Enix some of their most hated/reviled games have come out, and therefore must be the fault of Enix... for example, FFX-2, the Compilation of FFVII, or the FFXIII FNC saga... personally i like all those games i listed, but i can not deny that those are the sentiments i have been hearing from others since the Square-Enix merger and the release of FFX-2...
i may not agree but there are those out there that truly believe it's Enix fault Square has "gone downhill"... i myself prefer to see the company progress and try new things even if they aren't amazing ground breaking works... i loved Crisis Core and Advent Children, i loved FFX-2, and the FNC Saga, despite all the hate those titles get, they tried something new, they dared to be different, and i loved every bit of it... but there are those that hated it and trace it back to the merger...

[Sephiroth]

But the people at Enix had nothing to do with any of that.

of course they didn't, but there are those that draw the correlation that since the merger with Enix some of their most hated/reviled games have come out, and therefore must be the fault of Enix... for example, FFX-2, the Compilation of FFVII, or the FFXIII FNC saga... personally i like all those games i listed, but i can not deny that those are the sentiments i have been hearing from others since the Square-Enix merger and the release of FFX-2...
i may not agree but there are those out there that truly believe it's Enix fault Square has "gone downhill"... i myself prefer to see the company progress and try new things even if they aren't amazing ground breaking works... i loved Crisis Core and Advent Children, i loved FFX-2, and the FNC Saga, despite all the hate those titles get, they tried something new, they dared to be different, and i loved every bit of it... but there are those that hated it and trace it back to the merger...

And considering how the merger had nothing to do with X-2 I hate how people always use that argument. After all X-2 in Japan still has "Squaresoft" written on it. No wonder of course. After all X-2 also needed a bit of development time.

So: X-2 was not made after the fusion.

And about one of the TSW comments: Square did not go bankrupt. Just almost.

[Yubel-Lover]

But the people at Enix had nothing to do with any of that.

of course they didn't, but there are those that draw the correlation that since the merger with Enix some of their most hated/reviled games have come out, and therefore must be the fault of Enix... for example, FFX-2, the Compilation of FFVII, or the FFXIII FNC saga... personally i like all those games i listed, but i can not deny that those are the sentiments i have been hearing from others since the Square-Enix merger and the release of FFX-2...
i may not agree but there are those out there that truly believe it's Enix fault Square has "gone downhill"... i myself prefer to see the company progress and try new things even if they aren't amazing ground breaking works... i loved Crisis Core and Advent Children, i loved FFX-2, and the FNC Saga, despite all the hate those titles get, they tried something new, they dared to be different, and i loved every bit of it... but there are those that hated it and trace it back to the merger...

This. :handshake:

[Wolf Kanno]

To be fair to Enix, the real issue concerning the merger is that Square lost some key employees and restructured their development into several studios which largely took the really talented people who made all the games loved in the pre-merger and place them in positions where they are somewhat out of their element. Granted, much of this was happening before the merger even happened so it's very likely had the merger not happened, we would still be feeling the same way now. The main thing to focus on is that while many prominent designers still work there, most of them are doing upper management BS instead of all the stuff they were good at. While I consider some of his contributions to the franchise a bit overrated, I would still love to see Kitase step back into the director's chair for a new title but he's pretty much stuck as Executive Producer for the brand, which gives him some creative control but it feels like he hardly uses it.

The other issue here is the combination of factors which was Spirits Within failure (bankrupted the company), Yoichi Wada being promoted to SE President (Not a game designer, he's more of a financial expert) and the success of X-2 (proved that SE could easily make back their money by taking advantage of the FF Brand and seriously expanding the franchise) which all accumulated into a scenario where SE needed money and took the most logical avenue to gain it. While many fans (myself included) have not said many nice things about the direction Wada took the company when he took over, you can't argue that his policies of placing all of SE's financial burden on the successful marketing and branching out of its three pillar flagship titles (FF, DQ, and KH) were able to turn the company around from financial ruin to one of the more prominent Japanese developers still relevant today.

The success of X-2 and the merger was kind of the beginning of the end of Square as a creative game design studio and in turned fueled its transformation into a powerful financial gaming company, yet I feel it's safe to say Square was probably heading into this direction regardless. It was just the fact the financial pitfall the Spirits Within placed on the company rushed what would have likely been a slow process into something more tangible and quick. Yet I feel the bigger issue here is still many of Square's top talent were already making plans to leave the company to start their own creative ventures before the merger. Of anything, it's more of an annoying coincidence a lot of these factors came into play around the same time.