Square Enix Fan: Then and Now

[Skyblade]

Honestly, I don't see that I've changed that much. I'm still obsessive and overly analytical. I still love gushing about the games for hours on end.

I feel almost as though the forum has moved on without me. As though no one wants to talk about the games anymore. I spend more and more time in the General forums, because the FF forums have gone silent. The jubilant enthusiasm that marked this site when I joined seems lost.

No one wants to discuss the games anymore. Even when Square releases a new game, the conversations seem distant. When I joined, I would spend days on the Final Fantasy forums. I would write up interpretations of plots, or strategies. We would debate character strengths and relationships. And we would struggle in the epic war to indoctrinate the latest newcomer in our own beliefs about a game before someone else did.

Now, though, that all seems lost. Every time a new title comes out, I watch as the discussion collapses and people lose interest. I grow sad at how many discussion threads end with one of my posts, waiting for a response that never came. I still long to discuss Final Fantasy Tactics A2 in more detail, or to find someone who wants to talk about Type-0, or discuss the nature of the world and relationship between races in Crystal Chronicles. But I feel I'm one of only a few soldiers in a war being steadily lost.

Part of this is Square's fault. The diminution of the series over the years is directly responsible for the lack of excited newbies in the forums. There was a time when it felt like there was a new member every week, always gushing about the game and bringing up their favorite points. The new games don't have the same spark, and neither does the fandom. So much of the old series has been tapped out, the old members find it hard to find new topics in them to engage the discussions.

We keep trying. So many great new ideas and features implemented by our staff, trying to spur discussion or bring in new community elements. But I fear that the spark may be beyond our ability to rekindle. So many gamers these days who never played FFVI or FFVII, or who don't know what it was like to grow up around some of the most immersive worlds ever crafted.

I mourn for what this forum has become, what this fan base has dwindled to. I wonder how many come here for the games, or how many come here for the incredible community of friends that has seen them through years of tough times. I weep for a world that lacks the joyous youths who were always constantly amazed by the brilliant worlds Square envisioned and realized in their games. And I fear for the future of a world that is growing up obsessed with graphics and FPS games, never staring in child like wonder at a world of Moogles and Espers, never weeping at the triumph of a villain, or cheering at the heroes who refuse to give up.

Time moves ever on, and the series continues. I can only hope that it can recapture those sparks that made it what we all loved so long ago. That Final Fantasy XV, or Kingdom Hearts III, or Bravely Default, or Agito may finally bring back the wonder of Square's incredible world-building, and revitalize the fans and forums once again.

Until then, I'll be waiting, and hoping.