Final Fantasy XIII director speaks out against lower-than-expected review scores.

[Future Esthar]

It´s funny that they said that considering past FF´s were non linear.

[ANGRYWOLF]

Pardon me for asking, ANGRYWOLF, but isn't FFV kinda already long made? 0_o"

I take a wild guess that he meant FFXV

must have been a typo..

By then we can only hope that Square has resolved it's difficulties and we will have the things in it they left out of FFXIII.

[Loony BoB]

SE were capable of making FFXII and FFXIII. Individually, these games were seen by a lot of people as sub-par. But if you think about it, for the most part the flaws of one game are strengths in the other. With this in mind, I still hold a lot of hope that they will be able to balance the various areas (eg. Characters from XIII, maps somewhere between XII and XIII, gameplay from XII, etc.) to create a fantastic RPG. Having said that, I still enjoyed both games for their respective strengths despite not enjoying them as much as I enjoyed VII and VIII.

[Future Esthar]

Hope they do that with versus.

[Loony BoB]

We can only do just that: Hope.

[Future Esthar]

Estheim

[Bolivar]

\
I don't agree that the FF developers are trying to westernize the FFs at all. I don't see that at all.

Just because they haven't succeeded doesn't mean they haven't been trying to do this. I've already pointed out the interview where Toriyama and Kitase said they took elements from FPS & CoD, and Vivi22 discussed how trying to use Western elements really caused a lot of problems in FFXIII.

One of the earliest attempts at Westernizing Final Fantasy took place in a game you dislike very much: Final Fantasy XII (<- search for western in the interview).

The Gambit system in XII is based off of Bioware's combat system present in KoTOR and Dragon Age. They've even discussed how the exploration focus is inspired from WRPG's. Many have pointed out that XII is essentially an MMORPG you never log online with.

I've already brought up The Last Remnant, which was also developed with Western audiences in mind, even with the art style. So basically, SE has been trying to do exactly what you're calling on them to do now: Westernize their games. And the results have been mixed, to say the least.

Can I ask exactly what it is you think they should borrow from Western developers? What do you think makes those games good or at least worthy of emulation?

[ANGRYWOLF]

Black Isle did before it went under...

Black Isle Studios - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am a very big fan of Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 and I believe those games have elements that could be incorporated into FF.

shrugs.

I am skeptical of claims Square is making about incorporating western elements into their games. I have never played FPS or COD, or the Last Remnant for that matter... so I can't address any alleged similarities or westernizing of Japanese role playing games.

As for FFXII that game's problems stem from Matsuno's abrupt departure before the game was finished and incompetence by his replacement and not imo from any alleged westernizing of the game.That my opinion about it.

I have never played kotor either. I never said I was against the gambit system although some people are. They can tell you what they have against it.

shrugs.

Poor character and plot developement seems to be plaguing Square right now..as well as their leaving out traditional rpg elements in FFXIII because they claim it was too hard for them to incorporate them into the game.

While superior graphics are good an rpg cannot be graphics alone.

Seipher did a good job in the flaw thread as well as in other pointing things out..smile...so I hope he doesn't mind if I just refer you to his previous posts ..smile....and let it rest at that....

[Bolivar]

Black Isle did before it went under...

Black Isle Studios - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am a very big fan of Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 and I believe those games have elements that could be incorporated into FF.

shrugs.

I am skeptical of claims Square is making about incorporating western elements into their games. I have never played FPS or COD, or the Last Remnant for that matter... so I can't address any alleged similarities or westernizing of Japanese role playing games.

As for FFXII that game's problems stem from Matsuno's abrupt departure before the game was finished and incompetence by his replacement and not imo from any alleged westernizing of the game.That my opinion about it.

I have never played kotor either. I never said I was against the gambit system although some people are. They can tell you what they have against it.

shrugs.

Poor character and plot developement seems to be plaguing Square right now..as well as their leaving out traditional rpg elements in FFXIII because they claim it was too hard for them to incorporate them into the game.

While superior graphics are good an rpg cannot be graphics alone.

Seipher did a good job in the flaw thread as well as in other pointing things out..smile...so I hope he doesn't mind if I just refer you to his previous posts ..smile....and let it rest at that....

I'm not addressing whether the games are good or bad. Only suggesting that Square's been doing what you've called for, for years now, and it hasn't had any big impact.

I've seen most of FFXIII (and don't want to check the flaw thread for spoilers ), and it undoubtedly has some base problems in its storytelling. But those problems are apart of a broader lack of polish and focus, of which is also them adopting an actioney-corridor approach, taken from FPS games, leading to a harsh separation of story-segments and combat segments.

They basically made a tradeoff, ditching town-investigation while making this strange bastard action-game. Which was a part of a broad initiative to make this game appeal to Western audiences.

[ChickenHeart]

Muh, for the next game (if it should ever happen) they should start off completely blank, and actually ask us what we want. I mean if they had made a website asking ideas from the players, along with ideas from the development team, they could really improve on the game.

Anyway quick side note, are Mistwalker planning on releasing any games anytime soon ;)

[Rozaheku]

Yup, Xenoblade.

[ANGRYWOLF]

Black Isle did before it went under...

Black Isle Studios - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am a very big fan of Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 and I believe those games have elements that could be incorporated into FF.

shrugs.

I am skeptical of claims Square is making about incorporating western elements into their games. I have never played FPS or COD, or the Last Remnant for that matter... so I can't address any alleged similarities or westernizing of Japanese role playing games.

As for FFXII that game's problems stem from Matsuno's abrupt departure before the game was finished and incompetence by his replacement and not imo from any alleged westernizing of the game.That my opinion about it.

I have never played kotor either. I never said I was against the gambit system although some people are. They can tell you what they have against it.

shrugs.

Poor character and plot developement seems to be plaguing Square right now..as well as their leaving out traditional rpg elements in FFXIII because they claim it was too hard for them to incorporate them into the game.

While superior graphics are good an rpg cannot be graphics alone.

Seipher did a good job in the flaw thread as well as in other pointing things out..smile...so I hope he doesn't mind if I just refer you to his previous posts ..smile....and let it rest at that....

I'm not addressing whether the games are good or bad. Only suggesting that Square's been doing what you've called for, for years now, and it hasn't had any big impact.

I've seen most of FFXIII (and don't want to check the flaw thread for spoilers ), and it undoubtedly has some base problems in its storytelling. But those problems are apart of a broader lack of polish and focus, of which is also them adopting an actioney-corridor approach, taken from FPS games, leading to a harsh separation of story-segments and combat segments.

They basically made a tradeoff, ditching town-investigation while making this strange bastard action-game. Which was a part of a broad initiative to make this game appeal to Western audiences.

doesn't make it factual....

Certainly no one who has played Baldur's Gate for example can say the recent FF games emulate them in any way.....
There's a lot of npc interaction in those games as well as towns and exploration, something lacking in FFXIII that's for sure...
There are sidequests that involve fighting in the Baldur games but you get something meaningful for completing the quest...as we know we didn't get much for our efforts in FFXII.
So I don't buy those claims you seem to want to point out and take at face value.

There is a certain segment that will buy any FF game on name alone as someone else pointed out....as well as a certain segment who will buy because of tradition/nostalgia reasons.You risk alienating those folks if you leave out too many traditional elements of the game in some shallow/vapid appeal to try to get new players who you think like FPSs such as halo and the war games. Although they aka Square seems to have botched any such appeal to such an extent you can't see any meaningful change.
I am more inclined to believe such changes are due to cost cutting/departures of seasoned RPG staff and attempts to make games on the cheap as opposed to any real attempt to make a game more western to attract western players.

[Crossblades]

Yup, Xenoblade.

That's Monolith Soft, not Mistwalker. Mistwalker is releasing "The Last Story."

Anyways, I haven't played XIII yet. Despite hearing all the reviews that is was subpar or whatnot, as a fan of FF, I still want to give it a shot. I have yet to come across an FF game that I can truly say that "I hate it." Sure, there are some FFs that I like more than others, but I don't really hate any of them. Judging by the screenshots and video that I have seen, it looks like a game that I will really like. But like I said, I haven't played it yet, so who knows, I may like it or I may not. I'm just gonna have to wait and see.

[Rase]

Muh, for the next game (if it should ever happen) they should start off completely blank, and actually ask us what we want. I mean if they had made a website asking ideas from the players, along with ideas from the development team, they could really improve on the game.

Or totally ruin any hope of said game being original or good. I highly doubt the Final Fantasy fanbase could come anywhere close to agreeing on what the next FF should be, and even if they could I personally would rather not see this game. The designers and developers need to make the game that they want, not what others want.

[Elpizo]

If SE would ask the fanbase what they want in the next FF we'll just get another FF VII. I'll pass, thanks.