Do you feel the franchise is back on track?

[Wolf Kanno]

In the last few years SE has been apparently getting their heads out of their ass making good with some of their games both FF and non-FF as well as cutting back on the cash-grab iOS games. FFXV is making fanboys frothing at the mouth and many people are happy we have finally moved beyond Lightning. So do you feel the franchise is back on track?

[Bolivar]

The only problem the series has is it takes way too long to release the main entries. Although they're getting up there in numbers, so maybe it makes sense to have more spinoffs and side series nowadays.

FFXIII was a great game. It just got stigmatized by the Western media because a few WRPGs blew up and they needed to write clickbait articles and reviews. Despite fashioning ourselves individuals, the western JRPG crowd fell in line, hopped on the bandwagon, and mindlessly regurgitated the media talking points at the time.

[VeloZer0]

I haven't seen anything to indicate why people would even talk about being back on track.

[Pumpkin]

I don't know. It seems new games are taking a while and I haven't enjoyed the last few as much as the earlier ones and I'm a bit worried about the new one not being my cup of tea

[Skyblade]

The only problem the series has is it takes way too long to release the main entries. Although they're getting up there in numbers, so maybe it makes sense to have more spinoffs and side series nowadays.

FFXIII was a great game. It just got stigmatized by the Western media because a few WRPGs blew up and they needed to write clickbait articles and reviews. Despite fashioning ourselves individuals, the western JRPG crowd fell in line, hopped on the bandwagon, and mindlessly regurgitated the media talking points at the time.

FFXIII was NOT a great game. It had solid combat and good characters, but a pathetically written, barebones story, and a linearity that did not work at all (and directly fought the game's plot).

Personally, I don't think so. I still think that FFXV is going to be a massive disappointment. It has massive hype built around minimal information about the game. Square's best projects in recent years are Bravely Default and Type-0, both of which where smaller handheld titles built for the local audience. Their full console titles for the global audience haven't improved, and I don't think FFXV is going to change that.

[Bolivar]

FFXIII[/i] was NOT a great game. It had solid combat and good characters, but a pathetically written, barebones story, and a linearity that did not work at all (and directly fought the game's plot).

"Solid combat and good characters" alongside gorgeous visuals and wonderful music makes a great game to me. I don't really think about abstractions like linearity when it comes to judging a title - I just enjoy playing fun games .

Square never fell off - we did.

[magemasher]

I'd have to play XV before I could say it was back on track. I liked 13 but I think they lost there way with with 13 and it's 2 sequels, 13-2 just couldn't reel me in. XV looks awesome and I thought that back when it was 13 versus what 5 years ago? I'm excited for it but I'm also expecting to wait for another few years and losing all interest in the franchise.

[Skyblade]

FFXIII[/i] was NOT a great game. It had solid combat and good characters, but a pathetically written, barebones story, and a linearity that did not work at all (and directly fought the game's plot).

"Solid combat and good characters" alongside gorgeous visuals and wonderful music makes a great game to me. I don't really think about abstractions like linearity when it comes to judging a title - I just enjoy playing fun games .

Square never fell off - we did.

Linearity in this case is an issue because it cut player involvement and contradicted what story they had. If they just wanted to take you on a straight line from fight to fight they should have pulled the "exploration" entirely and automated the whole thing.

The big problem was the nonsensical plot and utter lack of any life in the world. There were basically more main party characters than there were NPCs. Nothing about the world engaged me, and the pathetic story really ruined it.

[VeloZer0]

"Solid combat and good characters" alongside gorgeous visuals and wonderful music makes a great game to me. I don't really think about abstractions like linearity when it comes to judging a title - I just enjoy playing fun games .

It all depends on if you like the combat and characters. I enjoyed the focus they put on combat and the way it allowed for tight control of the narative. unfortunately I though the battle system was mediocre, the narative was poor and the characters they told it with weren't particularly engaging. I, like many people, dislike FF13 for many reasons, but linearity isn't one of them.

[Psychotic]

No, not yet. There are signs, and with each release in the XIII saga there has certainly been an improvement. The relatively low impact Lightning Returns had at EoFF speaks for itself which is a shame, because it was better than XIII. The continued delays of FFXV - and indeed, having to rescue a side project and make it into a main series title - means the jury is still out.

[Old Manus]

The people who enjoyed playing FFVI-X have all grown up and on the whole have stopped caring after the past decade of increasingly average offerings. With that audience lost, Squeenix has to try and capture the new generation of gamer kids, which involves pumping out pay-to-win iPhone games and Call of Dooty clones. Anyone who still thinks that they'll one day revert back to producing regular main-series games that everyone will love again have been fooling themselves for slightly too long at this point.

[maybee]

I have been feeling like it has been going downhill since about after Final Fantasy IX, and while Final Fantasy X was alright, it didn't have the same quality as a Final Fantasy game usually would. Final Fantasy XIII just made that hole even deeper.

Honestly, FF XV would have to be a pretty good game for Square- Enix to get out of that already, pretty deep hole.

[Jinx]

I'd like to reserve my judgment until XV is out.

[StarCross1988]

I really want to reserve judgment until after XV but it's really difficult to. Lightning Returns has to be the first Final Fantasy title I have that I bought (only because I preordered it), and let it sit on the shelf. I think I've maybe played 10 minutes of it, I just can't bring myself to after 13-2.