Too Much Lightning and FFXIII?

[Wolf Kanno]

Better than risking the entire series by creating a brand new Final Fantasy game. And I think you associate all gamers with yourself perhaps too much in this instance. Some weren't very happy with XIII but still played XIII-2 and enjoyed it. Many critics throughout the internet could also easily offer them valid feedback. XIII was only loathed by a few, it was still generally liked but just not loved. I feel there were enough gamers playing XIII-2 to give a fair general assessment of things. It's a shame you won't play XIII-2 because I think you'd like it more than XIII, but having said that, I feel you have made up your mind about the game already.

Basically, SE have done the best they can in such a situation. What better alternative course of action would you suggest?

I honestly feel I could say the same about you associating your own thoughts about the fanbase and it's feelings for XIII and the franchise as being the de facto truth.

To answer your question though, simply make low cost new IPs to experiment with different gamestyles and to be honest it's not like SE hasn't been trying to do this(Bravery Default Flying Fairy looks to be trying to do this) but I feel they get too stuck up on high end graphical content when making the games which is what I felt made titles like The Last Remnant and Nier not as profitable or worthwhile. I understand that placing the FF moniker on a game will probably double the amount of units sold but I feel it's damaging the series rep. It's also not like they don't have a catalog of other brands to use either, I mean KH alone could be used to test graphical capabilities for new systems and get the teams better understanding on how to really maximize quality when they turn their attention to the FF series. Making even Chrono 3 would likely guarantee high sales and even if it's complete trout, they could still use it as a guinea pig for experimentation of gameplay mechanics. They don't have to use FF, let alone XIII. It's not like Square only made FF and Enix only made Dragon Quest. They should be exploiting side series that don't have much to lose with mainstream gamers as opposed to weakening their main flagship series.

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As for Evastio's questions about alienating older fans by deviating from the formula, I feel that is kind of complicated to fully answer but I will say that I feel one major issue of the series as of late is that people like Kitase are not really looking at the demographics and have prevented the series to really grow up. I feel the series is still stuck kind of in a pre-teen/teen mindset and the series no longer tries to really take the story or characters into complex places. For a story about dealing with inevitable fate/death, I feel FFXIII really kind of treated the topic with kids gloves, same as XII with political intrigue, it's nice they are addressing these topics but I can't help but feel like I'm seeing the Hallmark Children's After School special version as opposed to something I would see in actual literature or more daring film making.

The fanbase is getting older but Kitase and others in SE are still using the model they had over a decade ago when we were pre-teens. Which is stupid because between us and the pre-teens, we have disposable income so we're a much better market to cater to than jobless thirteen year olds. I mean part of the reason why the PSX was a big deal was cause games really started to focus on more adult themes in a meaningful way but they haven't really advanced much since that initial push. Final Fantasy needs to grow up more, maybe not some grim-dark everyone dies and the heroes deal with their drug addiction but honest to goodness lost, and seeing the characters never come to terms with their problems but simply choosing to live with it and watching how that affects them and their choices. I've mentioned before that I would love to see a love story about a relationship that has already come and gone, one filled with baggage and issues but just a flicker of fire that could renew it if both characters could just overcome their personal demons with each other, instead it's two youths meeting for the first time and falling in love as they live through a series of adventures and that's been the standard since the dawn of the medium.

This is not to say I feel Kitase has to cater to older crowds exclusively, if Pixar and early animation has shown the world anything, it's that it's possible to create stories that appeal to both adults and children and can still be profound. So it's possible to keep part of the same model but I feel SE needs to start throwing older fans a few bones and trusting younger fans that they are in fact mature enough to understand that finding answers in life isn't so easy and not everything works out in the end like you want it to.