Do you think Final Fantasy is innovative?

[Wolf Kanno]

The term innovation gets thrown around a lot when discussing FF both past and present, but do you believe the franchise is actually innovative or is this just a buzzword we throw around because Western audiences never had a full picture of the JRPG scene until more recent times?

[WarZidane]

It's hard to say if it's truly innovative without looking up the first appearances of certain gameplay mechanics and systems, but it certainly isn't afraid of trying things that are new to the series itself. Which is why opinions on individual entries are always so divisive, they don't always have what got people into FF in the first place.

[Lord Golbez]

I'm not sure if it is anymore, but yes at some point I definitely think it was and certainly that it tried to be. Do O think it was really innovative in the sense that it did thongs never done before? I don't know that. I'd have to have more confidence that I was aware of the full scope of contemporary games, but I don't really have reason to think differently.

[Galuf]

yeah i may not have been really alive back then but, i'd say FF hasn't really been innovative since FF7. Ofcourse that doesn't mean any of the future entries are bad. but its hard to innovate a genre that as old as earth itself!

[Lord Golbez]

Since FF7? Like or hate it can you think of many games with a system similar to FF8? I can't even now, let alone one that predates FF8.

[Galuf]

Since FF7? Like or hate it can you think of many games with a system similar to FF8? I can't even now, let alone one that predates FF8.
Thats true, although i was under the thought that innovative was kind of like pioneering, as in it makes something popular.
If we are saying that. I havent seen anything like the gambit system either, but i havent really played much rpg's outside of FF so...

[maybee]

Final Fantasy I: No that was just following in Dragon Quest's footsteps...

Final Fantasy II: Maybe? It did try and branch out away from DQ and be its own thing.

Final Fantasy III: Nope. Just followed Dragon Quest's footsteps again.

Final FantasyIV : Yes? It did try again to be its own thing and even improved the classic turn-based system.

Final Fantasy V : Gone back to that DQ III shadow.

Final Fantasy VI : Yes, Final Fantasy VI is very innovative.

Final Fantasy VII : Yes, very.

Final Fantasy VIII : Yes and whether that's a bad thing or good thing here is still up to debate years later.

Final Fantasy IX :Yes in a Final Fantasy sense, not sure in a JRPG sense as a whole?

Final Fantasy X :Yes again.

Final Fantasy XI :No. Would say that's Square trying to catch on that WOW trend and get some money from that.

Final Fantasy XII :Maybe? It's very WRPG and offline- RPGish.

Final Fantasy XIII : Nope. It tried too hard to be FFVII X FFX.

Final Fantasy XIV : Look at FFXI

Final Fantasy XV :lol no. Not in the slightest.


Would say that FFI- FF3 ( and FF5 ) was Square trying to rival Dragon Quest and was within their shadow. FF6- FF10 ( and FF4) was innovative because they broke away from DQ's shadow and even created the ATB system which every other RPG used almost during the 90's. Final Fantasy in this stage became themselves.

FF11- FF15 is just Square, now Square- Enix again, following what's hot. FF11- FF15 did have some innovative creativity, but I wouldn't call those games innovative as a whole. Maybe that's why so many people feel like Final Fantasy died with either FFIX or FFX?

[WarZidane]

Final Fantasy XI :No. Would say that's Square trying to catch on that WOW trend and get some money from that.



That's an interesting take, considering FFXI predates WoW by 2.5 years and is way different beyond being an MMORPG :p

[Galuf]

Final Fantasy XI :No. Would say that's Square trying to catch on that WOW trend and get some money from that.



That's an interesting take, considering FFXI predates WoW by 2.5 years and is way different beyond being an MMORPG :p

woah really? i always thought wow was like the mastermind grandad of MMOs

[Lord Golbez]

If you replaced WOW with Everquest though...

[WarZidane]

Everquest is far more like FFXI yeah, and predates it. Everquest wasn't that big of a smash hit though, it was successful but it didn't make everyone go "we gotta make an MMORPG" like WoW did.

Anyway yeah, as far as actual innovation goes, it varies per title. XIV and XV weren't innovative, but how many JRPGs like Lightning Returns do you know? Quality is debatable, but I think it's a pretty unique game. XII having more of an open world and the active battle dimension thing, which I can't recall any single-player game before it using (Xenoblade would of course use something similar later)

Also have to keep in mind it's pretty damn hard to be innovative in games anymore, at this point most ideas have been covered in one way or another, every mechanic and system you can think of has probably been used at least once in some game.

[Loony BoB]

Short of pulling a Flower/Journey style game as we saw in thatgamecompany or coming up with a new genre, I would say that Final Fantasy definitely innovates within it's genre. The problem is that we look at innovation in the same way we used to, which isn't fair. It's like comparing innovation in music these days with the days when rock and roll was born. Back then, when there was practically nothing, there was so much room to show off something new. These days, most major things have already been done.

I think, with the above in mind, Final Fantasy still does manage to do things new far better than any other established series out there that I can think of right now. Of course, I don't play as many games as most.