Should they start creating more adult centric Final Fantasy games

[Roogle]

Japanese game developers must overcome their inclination to certain tropes, such as the dependence on younger characters as protagonists.

One example comes to mind when early drafts of Final Fantasy XII had Basch has the main character, yet they eventually ended up creating Vaan to make the game more palatable to Eastern audiences.

[Jinx]

Japanese game developers must overcome their inclination to certain tropes, such as the dependence on younger characters as protagonists.

One example comes to mind when early drafts of Final Fantasy XII had Basch has the main character, yet they eventually ended up creating Vaan to make the game more palatable to Eastern audiences.

This is what I came here to say. It's harder for adults to connect to characters who are all sixteen and seventeen-years-old going out to save the world. It really started with FFVIII and has been that way since. I'm not saying they can't have younger characters, just that it would really help if there was a range of age, like in FFIV, FFVI, and to some extent, FFVII.

[Loony BoB]

I dunno, age and what I can only describe as bluntness (bloody faces, dirty clothes and swear words) are the only things missing. Religion, prostitution, racism, slavery, corruption, sex, loss of loved ones through war/murder/etc, corporatism, terrorism, broken families... the bases have been covered. It's a fantasy game, remember. You can't make it too real or you lose the fantasy. Also, perhaps one of the more adult things about FF is that they can touch on such topics without having to resort to a whole lot of swearing.

[Quindiana Jones]

If you can make something that is simultaneously entertaining for a child and deep and meaningful to an adult, then you effectively win at subtlety and storytelling. And you have just made a game that will remain popular for decades. Called FFVI.

[Shauna]

Japanese game developers must overcome their inclination to certain tropes, such as the dependence on younger characters as protagonists.

One example comes to mind when early drafts of Final Fantasy XII had Basch has the main character, yet they eventually ended up creating Vaan to make the game more palatable to Eastern audiences.

An even better example would be Nier. It is about a father whose daughter is stolen away, and his story to save her. Nier Gestalt (I believe it is called) is the same game except instead of Nier being her father, they changed this to make him her brother. They actually released two seperate games because Japan didn't like the old ugly man. It is crazy.

That being said, Nier is really really ugly. I suppose I can see the reasoning... xD

[Quindiana Jones]

He's the one with underpants on his face, right?

[Shauna]

He is indeed.

[Laddy]

I agree. While Final Fantasy is not nearly as bad as other JRPG franchises, I think some more mature themes and less archetypical plots and characters would do the franchise a service, especially as it appears to be getting stale with my many increasingly older gamers. Keep in mind, the "Golden Age" of Final Fantasy is now older than a rather large demographic of video game players themselves and those who appreciated the games IV-X are now in their 20's or even 30's.

To be honest, I would like to retire the teenaged protagonists and world-saving plots a bit for something a little less wholesome. I'm not saying we go all M-rated and make a Gears of War RPG (I'd argue that would be going backwards), but some moral ambiguity and more nuanced handling of violence, sex, ethics, and the like could do the franchise good.

[Freya]

Maturity =/= brown.

This. While the games listed in the OP are more "adult" I do find this strange trend to think that dystopian settings and lots of dull colors means it's adult. Just because they aren't trudging through zombies doesn't mean it's not adult.

But yes the young protagonist thing needs to be toned down.

[Jinx]

I have no problem with having young protagonists exactly. I just think they work better in an ensemble cast rather than a one-person story.

[Vyk]

Square admits that they want to follow George Lucas, and take something that can appeal to everyone, and make it with only kids in mind anymore. They basically admit they don't know how to do real drama [...] So I'm more inclined to believe Final Fantasy games these days are indeed for kids. And Square themselves have admitted as much

Source?

I'll have to hunt it down. The topic blew up a couple years ago. There was a thread on here somewhere about it. It was an interview done with one of the directors or CEOs of Square-Enix, after getting a lot of flack for a lack of maturity in their games. They basically paraphrased George Lucas, in the feeling that they don't want to grow with their audience, they want to continually capture and re-capture younger audiences. Though it was probably with Kotaku who may have taken pieces out of context to fit their agenda. But I'll see what I can dig up in the meantime

Edit: Found a link to a portion of the interview in question

http://www.giantbomb.com/final-fanta...future-241270/

In terms of the age group we target with each new game, it remains the teens to 20-somethings

This is the part that created so much George Lucas heat, with regards to fans wanting their favorite franchise to grow up with them, and continually being let down, and given main protagonists in the 16-year-old range

[Aulayna]

Cool, thanks. That was around the time I wasn't really following FF as thoroughly due to only having a fleeting interest in XIII so no wonder I missed that.

It's certainly intriguing and it'll be interesting to see how XV fits into all of this considering the cast image so far, there seems to be a bit more of an age spread with the main characters.

[Vyk]

Indeed. I'll be the first to admit I probably give the series a little too much grief, and continue to hope for miracles in the form of rose colored nostalgia glasses. But I just don't think it's impossible, and I keep holding out hope, and keep setting myself up for disappointment. But if any game in the series in recent years stands a chance at winning me back over, I think VX is a good bet. I'm genuinely interested, and I haven't been interested since like FFX, I think

An interesting note, when I was searching for that interview, the only things that originally came up was about how XIV is now targeted towards more adult-oriented audiences. And insinuations that Square may be shying away from the previous stance. Like I said, the interview is now a few years old, so it's possible they've changed their minds, and future games will embrace adult fans. In which case I'm giving them crap for nothing. Though I do vote with money when at all possible when it looks like they want to step in the right directions. So I haven't completely sworn them off either. Just a jaded fan

[Mercen-X]

What does VX stand for? Very eXciting? Verge of eXploding? Virtually eXtraterrestrial?

[Vyk]

...15? :P It's not like RPG Maker VX, where they just put those letters there to look pretty. This one is actually roman numerals. I presume you were joking. But just in case, I'm answering anyway