Too complicated

[LunarWeaver]

I remember reading a very long time ago from who-knows-where that Final Fantasy V didn't get localized around its initial release because then it was thought to be too complicated for Western folk. Scanning about Wikipedia as the nerd I am, I was reminded of that when I came across this concerning why it took until the Playstation days to get released elsewhere:

Translator Ted Woolsey explained in a 1994 interview, "it's just not accessible enough to the average gamer."[30] Plans were later made to release the game in 1995 as "Final Fantasy Extreme," targeting it at "the more experienced gamers [who] loved the complex character building." For unknown reasons, Final Fantasy Extreme never materialized either.

I don't get it...What's so complicated about FFV's job system? Surely the plot isn't a riddle nobody can solve, so that must be what the riff-raff is all about.

If I was the age I am now back then, as many gamers were, it would not have been complicated at all. Does Japan just think we're retarded or something? Did anybody actually find this game "not accessible" .

Edit: I also love how they considered bringing it over as "Final Fantasy Extreme". I MUST BUY ANYTHING WITH EXTREME IN THE NAME!1!!1!!!111

[Bunny]

We al dum.

[Mirage]

Far easier than learning how to junction and set up good gambits :p

[Bahamut2000X]

It's probably because the majority of all games, and any popular ones at the time were action based in some way more so then RPG. So in short I think it was just Square think Americans were too dumb.

Though I dunno why they thought it was too confusing, there were other RPG's released that were WAY more complicated I thought. Like Ultima 6 and 7 and Arcana.

[Kefka_Almighty]

If you really want to know what Square thought of America's intelligence when it came to RPGs, Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest was supposedly referred to as Final Fantasy USA.

Yeah, I think that shows how highly they thought of us during the SNES age...

[Mavander]

Well, actually the job system CAN get a little cofusing, when you get to chose the best... and also what ability give to who. I had a little problem with it around Mua forest.

[Paul]

it's just the fact that there were no mainstream RPGs in the west. you think you americans had it bad? FF7 was the first game thought worthy of europe!! we didn't get the other six, or chrono trigger, or xenogears or any other number of classics.

if you consider that they made an easier version of FF4 for the USA, it's easy to see how they didn't make an FF5 at all, it's much, much more complicated than FF4. i'm not saying it shouldn't have been released tho...

[KasaiDraco]

The Japanese think we're retarded because most of them are geniuses, for our standards!

[Mirage]

No, they thought that because they were prejudiced, not because they were geniuses.

[Takara]

Wasn't it actually the American division of Square that decided which games would be released or not?

[Mirage]

Good point. Maybe Americans are prejudiced against their own people?

[Takara]

Either that, or they decided not to release it because of Faris. The truth was so shocking that them censors were all "OMG WE MUST THINK OF TEH CHILDREN!!!!!11!!1".

[Mirage]

they could just have changed every instance of "he" before that ship graveyard scene to "she". No one would notice any difference.

[Bolivar]

I wouldn't say they're prejudiced as much as focused on what would sell and what wouldn't.

You have to remember that at the time, RPG's (there's exceptions of course) didn't have a whole lot of customization, characters basically had one function, this is a time coming off of the heels of Final Fantasy IV. If you look at FFVI it was the same way, except they stepped it up a little bit with customization with 2-accessories/equipping espers.