Petition to Square Enix to create a new 16 bit FF game

[champagne supernova]

I disagree here, and I know we've had this discussion before. For me, saying you don't like item management/grinding in an RPG is like saying you don't like aiming in a FPS. You're literally attacking the only real challenge in the game, and a gameplay mechanic that has been part of the genre since Dragon Quest.

To use the FPS example, I'm saying I don't like spending my time running around for a medikit. And, if we look at FPS these days, what do most of them have? Regenerating health systems.

Once you take it away, there is no real challenge anymore, without implementing other, oftentimes just as stupid mechanics like XIII did. I actually prefer the longer dungeons with a few puzzles thrown in for good measure. It makes each new story event feel like an accomplishment

I pretty much hate the dungeons of the more modern FFs. While FFXII were mostly fine, I did miss the heavier puzzle aspects from the older titles, and FFX and XIII's dungeon were so tediously simple, I often wonder why the game bothered having them in the first place cause they present no challenge and they were rarely connected to the events of the story in XIII's case. Once the challenge is stripped from them, everything else begins to lost its purpose.

The best RPGs I've played in the last couple of years are often times the ones that actually adhere to the old rules of utilizing item management, labyrinth-style dungeons, and more focus on exploiting weaknesses. I don't see how you can have fun in a game where everything is simply handed to you; as long as you're willing to navigate a character to the next plot point.

I agree that there isn't much in the way of puzzle mechanics in modern FFs and I agree that this is a dynamic that would improve the gameplay. But trawling through lots of the same/similar enemies isn't my idea of fun. And games have been successful in only having big, boss-like battles. Shadow of the Colossus springs to mind.

I also agree with you that XIII took away too much control from the player. Continuous auto-attack is taking the complaints about XII playing itself to another degree. Although it did look mighty dramatic (I've always thought XIII is definitely style over substance). However, a lot of individual battles in XIII had the potential to trip you up, which I enjoyed, rather than grinding.

I also write a bit (although I'm not yet published), so I thought about the Celes scene and found some more issues with it (from a technical perspective).

1) Cid mentions that there were people on the island as he dies. As far as I remember, they aren't mentioned at any stage beforehand nor is there any evidence of their existence on the island.

2) Cid then says that everybody apart from him ended it by jumping off a cliff. To say that an entire community all decided to end it is quite a leap of faith. Especially as they weren't in the position Celes was. They still had a community.

3) Why would Cid mention on his deathbed to Celes that a whole lot of people jumped off a cliff, but she should retain hope. Especially when we consider 4.

4) Cid had made a raft for Celes to go to the mainland and find her friends. If that was his intention, surely he would have told her that on her deathbed, instead of writing it in a letter and directing Celes to the quickest life exit.

5) The 5 stages of grief say that people go through denial, anger and bargaining before they hit depression (and then after that, acceptance). I'm not saying that everybody grieves in the same way, but generally, it takes some time for people to process that someone close to them is dead. Celes just went from Cid dying to depression in about 5 seconds flat.

6) The entire scene is avoidable if you feed Cid enough fish. Which is just weird if it's supposed to be so important.

So, from my point of view, the Celes suicide scene seems more to be something the development team decided to tack on rather than something that was thoughtfully built up.

Also, Kefka's motivation as a mad pseudo-nihilist stems from lines such as this:

And time will destroy all of those as well. Why do people insist on creating things that will inevitably be destroyed? Why do people cling to life, knowing that they must someday die? ...Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once they do?

&

Life... Dreams... Hope... Where do they come from? And where do they go...? Such meaningless things... I'll destroy them all!

And the VI fans laud him as the greatest villain in the series.

However, another villain says something like this:

Reflect on your... Childhood...
Your sensation... Your words... Your emotions...
Time... It will not wait...
No matter... ...how hard you hold on. It escapes you...
And...

Which is exactly the same pseudo-nihilistic rubbish that Kefka is talking about. Yet Ultimecia is criticised, mostly by the same VI fans who love Kefka, as the weakest villain in the series whose actions are unmotivated. Despite the fact that her dialogue suggests loss and the background of the world suggests she would be persecuted, while Kefka comes across more as a pseudo-intellectual emo git.

As much as this comes across as a massive bashing session of VI, I really do admire the game. I think, for it's time, it was an amazing game. But I feel the story in FF has developed since VI, although no FF will ever rate as a great story, because they are supposed to be escapist melodramas. And gameplay as a whole has moved on since 1991.

But maybe the only way to prove this point is if Square-Enix do release a rehash of their SNES games. If it gets critically panned as outdated, I win. If it gets critical acclaim as taking the genre back to its roots, you win.