Future Fantasies

[Loony BoB]

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned Bioware - I only did that to show how well voice acting can manage different options, which otherwise would be seen as an obstacle. As I pointed out earlier, the choices would be on par with what they were in VII - Not every sentence, far from it - but on occasion you would get to make a choice that would alter a subplot slightly.

The best example I can think of is how, as Cloud, Tifa asks if you slept well. One of the options is something like "Next to you, who wouldn't?", which increases your chances of having a date with her later on (if I recall correctly). This didn't change the overall storyline, but did change part of what happens to that particular play-through. That's what I'd like to see more of, as they simply don't do anything like that anymore that I can think of.

[Wolf Kanno]

If its done like it was in Chrono series or VII, I can agree with BoB. Have it affect small things, though I wouldn't mind if it caused a few major branching arcs like it does in the Suikoden series.

[Depression Moon]

I would also like to see different artwork for the games too. I know Nomura will eventually stop being the lead designer, but I'm sort of getting tired of him already. I would also like to see another Final Fantasy that is set in modern day, but I would like the characters really resemble and feel like the people of our world with the exceptions that they can cast magic and fight dragons and evil wizards.

Some of the designs for VII and VIII did still feel a little distant like Squall's awkardly short jacket, Yuffie and Vincent's hear and Cloud's uniform.

[x~Agita~x]

Real time combat, REAL TIME COMBAT!!!!!!!!! Or at least an option to switch to and from turn-based stuff. And the more the interactive the environment the better. Can I hack any vine off a tree and use it to lasso the rampaging shoopuff? Yes I bloody can!

Um... I would kill to get FFVII on Ps3. I sure as hell am not going to get a PSP, but to play that awesome game again... With my HD... Oh my god, Cloud... *drools all over controller*

[BG-57]

I can't think of an FF as a FF without some core elements: the spellset, summons, chocobos, airships, and the like.

Flexible job system (FFT did it best but FFV and FFX-2 get honorable mentions).

Visible enemies (I think random battles have outlived their usefulness by now).

Being able to explore the entire world limits the potential of sequels, but Ivalice and Suikoden series both give a fraction of the world each game. That has a lot of potential for connecting direct sequels.

[Raistlin]

If its done like it was in Chrono series or VII, I can agree with BoB. Have it affect small things, though I wouldn't mind if it caused a few major branching arcs like it does in the Suikoden series.

It's always amusing to wander into a situation where you suddenly get an ending 10 hours before expected.

Flexible job system (FFT did it best but FFV and FFX-2 get honorable mentions).

I've always loved the job system and I think FFT is a great example of it, but I don't see that returning to Final Fantasy. Unfortunately.

[Loony BoB]

Ooh, yeah, I have to agree with Agita in that I'd love to see a more interactive environment.

Regarding BG-57 and how an entire world limits sequels: So? I would much, much rather another FFVII/FFVIII styled game than a FFX with "oh but you get FFX-2 too!". Uuuuurgh. Final Fantasy games should never be designed with a sequel in mind. Also, I don't see how it limits sequels - FFXII? Limited world - no sequels. FFVII? Entire world, more sequels than a lot of people could tolerate.

Also: Jumping. This would actually satisfy me when it comes to interactive environments - if you could jump up onto boxes and so forth, that would be half the battle when it comes to being able to do more.

[VeloZer0]

Final Fantasy games should never be designed with a sequel in mind.

Also: Jumping. This would actually satisfy me when it comes to interactive environments - if you could jump up onto boxes and so forth, that would be half the battle when it comes to being able to do more.

I agree with the first point so strongly I can't express it sufficiently in one sentence.

I know it has gone completely out of vogue, but I really liked the traditional pre-rendered background/omniscient camera (or whatever that camera angle is called) compared to the now standard fully rendered/third person.

I remember playing Tales of Legendia for the PS2 (fully rendered game) , which I would say is definitely not to be held up as an example of high quality terrain and character models. However, despite the fact that all the areas were fully rendered it had a traditional camera. And all I was thinking as I was running through the games largely uninspired dungeons was how good the game looked. There was nothing on the field screen. Another example is WoW, in which I can't understate how amazed I always am at how much better the game looks if I hide the UI. (Impossible to play, but looks several times more impressive.)

Whenever I play a 'modern' camera styled game I am always completely underwhelmed by the scenery. I blame this on the other stuff cluttering up the field screen. The mini-map is the worst of all. In FFXII I probably spent more time looking at the mini-map than the actual map. Way to waste the developers months/years of efforts modeling terrain textures when I miss half of them because I navigate with the mini-map.

[BG-57]

Sequels of games with complete worlds (FFVII and FFX) have most of the towns, dungeons and locations already known going into the sequel. True, you can add a few new dungeons and hidden locations, but a lot of time is spent retreading over familiar ground. EDIT: I'm not such a big fan of direct sequels myself for this reason.

I prefer having totally new areas to explore, so if a series is going to take place on the same planet, it is better to break it into sections. The Suikoden series does this well, but it was planned that way (from at least II and on).

Although FFXII has no direct sequel, it is a part of Ivalice (notably introduced in FFT), and the maps of both games connect nicely together. So the Ivalice games are the closest FF equivalent to the Suikoden series.

I'm fine with a new world in every installment of the FF series, but I feel doing an unplanned direct sequel to a game with a complete world limits the creative possibilties.

[Loony BoB]

Ivalice's map is custom-made to a certain degree in FFTA so I'm not sure it's a world that can be called concrete in any way, at least not if you include FFTA as canon to Ivalice's overall story.

[BG-57]

No, I meant just the Ivalice of FFT. I wouldn't consider the FFTA map any more part of Ivalice than the places in Cloud's head the party visits in FFVII as part of Gaia.

Quite different of course is Dream Zanarkand which is physically in Spira but mainly inaccessable.

[Wolf Kanno]

FFTA is not considered canon to the historical Ivalice (FFT, XII, TA2, RW)so it does actually work out nicely though I feel Suikoden still does this scenario better.

As for sequels, I'm with BoB in that the series should never have them especially since SE has shown utter incompetence when dealing with the subject matter. I still prefer thinking of each installment as the "Final Fantasy" of that specific world. The last great epic, coming back to it and saying some new threat has appeared always makes me feel all the effort from the first title was all for naught and I'm now trapped in a Superman book where every other week a new evil threat from beyond threatens the annihilation of the world.

As for fully rendered worlds, I actually prefer them, I enjoy actually looking and exploring the world and as I get accustomed I look less and less at the mini map. I've killed hours in XII by just exploring the cities and dungeons just looking around and panning the camera about to see the level of detail. Its also has excellent gameplay applications if done right like in Xenogears. I just find fully rendered worlds to be much more immersive, I can't tell you how often I get annoyed in IX or X when I want to look around and see the area cause it looks gorgeous but I'm stuck looking at one point of view.

Another thing I would love to see is that I just simply wish SE would put the amount of effort into their console games as they do their handhelds. I keep getting blown away how well done many of their handheld titles are and how perfectly balanced they are in terms of both story and gameplay. TWENWY, Dissidia, and KH:358/2 have all been amazing titles for me so far and I can't bring myself to put them down as opposed to most of the actual console entries I've played in the last decade from them of which I can only say this about a small handful of titles. I just find their handheld entries far more balanced. They also bring back much more experimental qualities to their gameplay in droves as opposed to one or two new things. Basically, the stuff that used to draw me to Square titles seem to only appear in the handheld efforts anymore and I'm trying to figure out why.

[Raistlin]

Final Fantasy games should never be designed with a sequel in mind.

This deserves repeating in every post.

FFTA is not considered canon to the historical Ivalice (FFT, XII, TA2, RW)so it does actually work out nicely though I feel Suikoden still does this scenario better.

That's like saying gourmet filet mignion is better than hot dogs.

[Bolivar]

My major qualm with sequels and spinoffs/compilations is that they divert resources to projects that don't deserve them. If you want to do spinoffs, that's fine, but at least have junior developers make their bones on them instead of having the main teams do them.

I mean, I was thinking, if we didn't have all these franchised jawns out we could've had at least a classic trilogy of single player FF games on the PS2. On the NES, SNES, and PSOne, developers were able to play around with the technology and experiment with ideas on them. Instead, we got a game that struggled to be a showcase of the technology (FFX) and one that mastered it, but introduced a radically different design philosophy than what we've come to expect (FFXII).

But then again I might be the only person on these forums that liked both X and XII so maybe the classic trilogy ideal doesn't hold up for most.

[Formalhaut]

One Tiny Thing. Music Could Be Improved. Only Abit. Most Music Is Decent And Good, But Some Is Just Dreadful... A Few Tracks Of FFXII When You Constantly Have To Say Farm A Item In A Area, God Makes Me Want To Cut My Ears Off Sometimes...