What if Final Fantasy never returns to its roots?

[Jinx]

A lot of people on this forum (as well as other places) have been talking since X or XII about how they hope the game goes back to its high fantasy themes instead of the modern-techno feel games have these days.

But what if the game never goes back that way? Will you continue to play FF games? Will you sit and wait in hope?

[Shiva95]

I will continue to play the games because I still like them, but I prefer the old games. I still hope that Final Fantasy will come back to its root eventually.

[VeloZer0]

I'm not so much enamored with the high fantasy, though I also don't think that full on advanced sci-fi makes good settings for this type of RPG. Anywhere industrialization or prior seems to work well though.

When I really get down to it the setting is far less important than compelling story and strong mechanics, and I don't think they have nailed both since FF9. To me that would be getting back to their roots.

[fat_moogle]

I'll continue to buy Final Fantasy titles for as long as I'm physically able to. FFVII was the game to get me in to the series back in '97 and since then I've bought every main entry, excluding XI and Lightning Returns (I know XI is Online and LR is a sequel, but it's still got XIII in its name) so it would be a shame to just stop. Sure the franchise has changed a hell of a lot but to me if future games have a good story and it plays well then I'll judge on its own merit, not "oh but what if it played like this" or "what if they did this?"

Of course that's not to say that I wouldn't want to see them go back to something more traditional at some point, but I'm intrigued to see where they take XVI after Type-0 and XV.

[Shorty]

I don't think it ever can go back to its roots. They have enough of the standard fantasy fodder in their early games, and they've progressed to a whole new world. I think this is also what a majority of the fans want, as well, even if it's not what the older fans want.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

If anything, Bravely Default is going to be the games that return to Final Fantasy's roots. I'll keep buying games from both series!

[theundeadhero]

I stopped collecting them with Lightning Returns, and that will continue unless they do make a game that's back to it's roots. If that never happens I'll most likely never buy another one again.

[Ayen]

They technically already returned to their roots in XI and XIV.

I'll continue to get the games I think are good and ignore the rest, as I have been doing and will continue to do with this franchise and every other franchise I'm a fan of.

[Psychotic]

When people say they want it to "go back to its roots" I don't know what they're talking about and sometimes I think FF fans complain just to complain.

As I said in a thread in the XV forum, Final Fantasy has always innovated and tried new things in new worlds. The modern techno thing has arguably been prevalent since FFVI - 20 years ago. Regardless of tech level, every Final Fantasy has had a fantasy setting. Even XV in its "realistic" setting clearly has fantastic elements like the gigantic monsters, magic and high octane fight scenes.

Having a good game is more important than the minutiae of the style of fantasy setting presented. Would FFXIII be any less of a turd if that exact style of game had been presented in, say, FFIX's world?

[VeloZer0]

As I said in a thread in the XV forum, Final Fantasy has always innovated and tried new things in new worlds.

To be fair, what innovation means to SE now and what it meant to Square 20 years ago are completely different things. They constantly changed stuff from FF1 - 6, but I think the sum total of change over the first 6 entries is less than they think is necessary for each new title nowadays.

Having a good game is more important than the minutiae of the style of fantasy setting presented. Would FFXIII be any less of a turd if that exact style of game had been presented in, say, FFIX's world?

Exactly.

[Freya]

They may go back to it but I think it has to fit thematically with whatever story they are trying to share. So yes I think they can.

[fat_moogle]

They technically already returned to their roots in XI and XIV.

Oh yes, XIV has a lovely world. It's a shame I just can't get in to the MMO aspect

[Del Murder]

Techno is fine, but I hate seeing modern settings and set pieces in my Final Fantasy game. It doesn't all have to be wizards and dragons but some kind of fantastical mythos and elaborately constructed areas is necessary for me to really get into the game.

Having a good game is more important than the minutiae of the style of fantasy setting presented. Would FFXIII be any less of a turd if that exact style of game had been presented in, say, FFIX's world?

No but XIII's world was actually pretty cool. We just didn't get to explore enough of it. However, it would be more of a turd if it took place in modern day Japan rather than Cocoon/Pulse.

As to the op, while 'return to its roots' is more or less a buzzword used by people just looking to complain, I would be pretty disappointed if FF becomes more and more modern in its design and we never see another single player main FF game that doesn't have castles and nonhuman races and gravity-defying airships.

[Colonel Angus]

The early FF were always mainly set in a classic fantasy world, but there was almost always something more. Airships, floating continents, automatons, dinosaurs, Arabs, something that always didn't completely pigeonhole it to an exact setting.

However, I would like to see it go back. In fact, I feel XII was a bit of a throwback to that setting. Kingdoms, swords & sorcery, knights in armor, etc.

[Vyk]

There have been soooooo *groan* many JRPGs set in a medieval fantasy setting it got kinda old and stale to me for a long time, and still doesn't interest me quite as much as sci-fi JRPGs. I kinda get a weird feeling that the new Tales of Zestiria is going to be set in a fairly generic medieval fantasy world. Medieval fantasy settings are almost as worn out as teenage heroes and "coming of age" stories shoe-horned ridiculously (and often unbelievably) into JRPG stories and settings

I frequently get more of a kick out of games that are willing to meet in the middle and have something sci-fi mixed in somehow. Which FF generally has always been able to do. I know Robin Hood and King Arthur have never had airships. But I have a fetish for dystopian stories and things like FFVII and Xenogears scratched that itch a lot better than FFIV. Also can't generally go wrong with steampunk or industrial punk, which VI and VII nailed pretty well. I think I appreciated those advancements so much I pretty much just happily waved goodbye to typical medieval settings. But then again, VIII felt a little off. Maybe it was too shiny and clean. Too utopia'esque. I dunno