Quote Originally Posted by Fox View Post
Now, I do agree with you for the *first* installment. And if they were just gonna release it all at once, no problem. Because I absolutely agree that people will buy something because they hope it's great even if all evidence is to the contrary. I was exactly like this with FFXV - I could see all the warning signs long before release day, but I was so desperate for it to finally be out and be good that I squashed those doubts and pre-ordered it.I have not, however, bought any of the DLC. Nor will I be rushing to get a sequel if that ever happens. And this is where I think FFVIIR will fail due to its episodic nature. Will people come in droves for Episode 1? Absolutely. I mean, I still don't think it'll be as many as SE would like as too many will want to wait until it's complete, but it's reasonable to assume a high-enough uptake of Episode 1, sure. But if they're let down by that - and this is a very real possibility - then they won't necessarily buy the following episodes. Over 5 million people flocked to FFXIII despite all the warning signs with that one - about half of those stuck around for XIII-2, and half of *those* for Lightning returns.Depending on the price point, size of the episode and the level of disappointment FFVIIR is (assuming it is one at all for the sake of argument), I could see the drop off being just as bad or even worse than that. It wouldn't be the first time in recent history that an episodic game didn't get all it's chapters finished and killed off the series...
The underlying difference here, and largely the wild card factor is the fact that unlike FFXIII, which was a new property, VIIR is a remake of an incredibly popular and fan favorite entry in the series, so I don't feel the XIII Trilogy model is going to necessarily be the model to base how the VIIR content will work. I honestly think the Compilation will largely be a better model for determining it's success and as stated before, despite a lot of problems fans had with that nonsense, it did exceptionally well considering. I'm sure there will be a drop off after the first episode since we have to factor in the crowd who only knows of VII through it's reputation as opposed to growing up with it, those people might jump ship if it doesn't work out, but it's just as likely they may stay on cause it's not like they would be comparing it to the original for that matter either.

That's kind of where I'm seeing this. As long as VIIR is decent enough to hold you attention, regardless of how fun or respectful it is to the source material, I find it hard to believe the whole thing won't be a success for SE in the long run. Even if fans hold out of the "complete" version, that simply means that SE knows they'll get a huge pay-off down the line from this since they can effectively sell the game twice now. If they were banking on any other entry, I could see this model being really risky for them, but again, we're dealing with an iconic property here. So I feel this is going to work more in SE's favor than some people would like.

I haven't touched the DLC for XV either, but even though I had a more favorable opinion of the entry, I also don't see it really changing my standing with the game, which is the risk of such a model since first impressions are everything.