Future Fantasies

[Depression Moon]

I was kind of bored looking here on the forums and seeing a lot of them about old FFS that I haven't played in a while and couldn't properly remember them to converse about them so i thought I'll just post this.

So what things in Final Fantasy that you would like to see changed in future installments or maybe stay the same?
It could be anything dealing with plot, character design, gameplay, monsters, spinoffs anything bussiness related.

For me I would like to see a sequel to Dissidia and after hearing Kanno said, I would like a more involving story. Something that that would infrom us about the status of our heroes' worlds and friends after the events of their games. I would also like the game to be for home console as well as portable.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm really not sure where I would want the series to go from here. The few interesting ideas I can think of for them to go would turn off a majority of players and then I would have to listen to them groan about how it isn't an FF.

First thing, I would cut all ties to Nojima.

I guess I would have them pull the plug on the VII Compilation cause its more embarrassment than awsomesauce and just make a PS3 remake of VII so fanboys will shut up about it until they make the next console generation. Also, because it is what all the fans really wanted anyway.

I feel the Ivalice Alliance needs to make another Tactics game built in the same vein of the original FFT or XII. I'm starting to have doubts they can pull off an Ivalice title without Matsuno.

I would probably want a future FF to continue the work of XII and move away from cheesy melodrama, plots that are more about plot twists (even if they don't really make sense or contradicts itself), flashy cutscenes and stop making love stories the main focus of their plots. I want more mature and thought provoking plot and characters, not just a slightly new flavor of the same RPG cliches.

Game wise, I just want an open world to explore that's big and doesn't feel fenced in. Horrible attention to detail, cause I get a kick out of that stuff. I want battle systems that are built around using strategy and I want enemies that force me to use it. I want my games challenging and I need less hand holding. Sometimes, I don't want to do the plot, I just want to explore so let me have my moments.

I'll think of more later, but right now I have a headache.

[NeoCracker]

Start including the FF and DQ DS remakes party talk/thought feature. It done as well as those games, it adds a lot of depth to the characters, making them seem more like real people.

As for something new? Let me and Kanno write it. I'm sure we'll turn up an 'interesting' story at least.

[Saber]

Well I'd like them to make a game with a world map and random battles. I liked those a lot. Plus I wouldn't mind them to focus more on main titles then spin offs. If anything though I would love to see a FFVI remake. That would draw a huge crowd in I think. It is one of the best imo.

[Christmas]

More toliets, more Honey Bee Inns, more playable character getting impale by a katana!! This is all I can think of right now!

[Loony BoB]

Open World - More use of a proper world map. None of this "oh, but you are on the world map all the time, sort of like in FFXI!" crap. I want to see the world, particularly when I'm flying around on a spaceship. Bring back FFVII/VIII style world map movement. I love world map exploration rather than field map exploration, and I feel that this should be more significant, at least on some level.

Subplot options - In FFVII, small things would affect the storyline. You could go on dates depending on how you'd spoken to other characters, who you used in your party, etc. This should continue. Your characters should build relationships with one another based on your actions. This could allow for what I see as the "best of both worlds" when it comes to romance subplots - You don't want romance in your game? Choose the non-flirty options, don't have deep conversations with the other characters, etc. You want romance? Do the opposite. Which brings me on to...

More options in conversation - Bioware do this brilliantly and I think it would go a long way for SE to bring back a more personal feel to the main character. I'm not sure if this can be done effectively with voice acting that they have these days, but if you look at how Mass Effect combined the ideas of multiple conversations, voice acting and actions/choices resulting in differing storylines while still keeping the same primary plot.

Better minigames - More chocobo breeding/riding and other such things which require time, effort, preferrably tactics/strategy of some sort and give suitably useful rewards. That don't involve, you know, fighting. Because we obviously have the game itself for that.

Random battles - I know a lot of you dislike this but the least they could do is set it up so that you don't see the monster miles away and can be surprise-attacked like it would be in the real world.

Grand Scale - Following on from the world map thing, it should never be a matter of nations, but always the entire world.

Multiple worlds - Might be going overboard on this end but they've gone to the moon before, and in FFVII you went into space, too. Why not two worlds? It would be a pretty neat twist to have this hidden until release during a major game and for you only to be able to get to the second world halfway through, or something. Then you have a whole new place to explore! Mwahaha! Okay, I'm done with my map/world/exploration begging.

Less kiddy characters - PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

[Rantz]

What BoB said. Except for the last one

[Formalhaut]

What BoB Said. All Of It.

[Depression Moon]

I am sort of tired of random battles though especially after replaying some of the older games when I can't take two steps before a monster comes and some of those random battles are difficult to run away from. So if i'm trying hard to run away from a fight, but the game won't allow me for whatever reason, I'll lose all but one character who is in critical health and then the game decides to let me escape.

That stuff becomes as hell as annoying. XII for me was perfect in gameplay. I agree with the multiple worlds part that would just make the game and story more epic. I'm not sure if Square would add in a deeper conversation mechanic. It seems to me that japanese developers really aren't too concerned about it.

To Bob on your last line./ Which characters are you referring to when you say kiddy?
Just the child characters like

Palom, Porom, Eiko, Hope, Relm, and Rydia
or do you mean the little perky girl types like

post X Yuna, Rikku and Selphie?

[Raistlin]

...just make a PS3 remake of VII so fanboys will shut up about it until they make the next console generation.

But that's part of the fun.

I agree with BooB about the big open world maps. I love the old school world maps, and it saddens me when they go away. Perfect example: Suikoden V -- I don't think I've played another game with as massive and epic a classic-style world map.

I want more complicated, serious storylines, on the same vein as WK's "mature plots" point. The RPG plots I've liked the most tend to be very indepth, political plots full of realistic characters. I think FFXII was moving in the right direction with this, though I'm very critical of the application in that game.

[Bolivar]

If the Fabula Nova Crystalis series is about trying different FF's in different styles then there needs to be a true sequel to the FFI-VI style made for the Nintendo DS (or PSP).

I really think that is something that needs to be done in the FNC series. Random battles, maybe ATB, but maybe hide the bar like in FFIV so it's more intense/you don't know what's going to happen. Multiple worlds, similar music styles with synthesizers, battle systems without too much depth, cliche RPG storyline. This is something I've though of for a while, but especially since 3D Dot Game Heroes has been making noise.

Even if that doesn't happen, I'd still like a battle screen to return. You don't even necessarily need random battles for that, just have all the monsters and heroes jump into place a la Chrono Trigger and have a dynamic or fixed camera ensue after that. The battles in XII felt really devoid of the "actiony" feel that began in FFIV and was perfected in FFVII.

The cutscenes also felt very removed from the game engine in FFXII, even moreso than when they were using FMV's, so that needs to stop as well.

The music needs to be more in the forefront again. It was very subdued in FFXII, although I love nearly everything Sakimoto touches, it was part of why FFXII did not feel like a Final Fantasy.

[NeoCracker]

I actually don't want FF to include multiple options for Dialogue like the Mass effect games, or The Elderscrolls and Dragon Age

Don't get me wrong, I love Dragon age and Fall Out, but those are generic starting characters in which you build the personality.

FF, on the other hand, I love the stories that fold out of the Pre-Made characters, and seeing the plot unfold as they were intended too. Not saying it wouldn't work, or that I wouldn't enjoy it, just that there are enough companies that make games like that, and I want my games with one solid story too.

[Loony BoB]

They don't have to do it for everything. Just for smaller things. They actually did allow you to choose what your character said much more often in VII and VIII than they have in recent games, where it's all basically a film where you push buttons in order to get to the next scene. They didn't do it with everything, but they definitely did it more often, and in some cases your answers affected how parts of the story played out. I think that's a fantastic way to do things.

[VeloZer0]

I like having small choices you can make in dialogue, but only occasionally. And, likewise, the options (imo only two) should both be something that would be in character to say.

As in, you don't get the choice between being a nice guy and a jerk, but you could chose between being a big jerk or inconsiderate. Or pick whichever one you found funnier.

I'm not a big fan of having the choices affect the storyline though. I usually tend to look down the line at the long term implications of any choice I make (in real life and games), so having choices affect the plot usually amounts to me trying to read the developers minds, as things usually have repercussions you can't possible predict.

[Slothy]

More options in conversation - Bioware do this brilliantly and I think it would go a long way for SE to bring back a more personal feel to the main character. I'm not sure if this can be done effectively with voice acting that they have these days, but if you look at how Mass Effect combined the ideas of multiple conversations, voice acting and actions/choices resulting in differing storylines while still keeping the same primary plot.

This is the last thing I want SE to even try to attempt if only because it's done so poorly even by Bioware who do it better than possibly anyone else.

My problem with giving dialogue options isn't with the idea of giving dialogue options as I'd love to see dialogue choices have a dramatic effect on characters and relationships, as well as the over all story. I have a problem with the fact that there are usually three real options; I can be a douche, a paragon of morals and virtue, or I can be neutral, and regardless of what I pick, there's little change to the story barring perhaps having an ending where I'm good or evil. If developers aren't going to put in the time to make some dramatically different character and story paths based on my choices then they should stop dicking me around and give me one compelling, albeit linear story. If I don't feel like most of my choices matter then I just feel cheated by the end of the game (as I have in every single game to feature options like this lately).

Aside from that, I agree with everything Kanno said. Especially about the battle systems.