It has long been feared that Square Enix, the kingpins of the traditional RPG, are soon going to be bereft of fresh new ideas for their Final Fantasy Games. Their award winning series originated with fresh ideas and stories, never before conceived. The SNES phenomenon was backed by such great games as these. We loved Final Fantasy VI for its great storyline, one of the best in the series, and great graphics, pushing the SNES to its limit. We loved Final Fantasy VII for its simarlarly great story, captivating 3D graphics and smooth story. We loved Final Fantasy VIII for its rewarding experience and for further pushing the Squaresoft benchmark in graphical quality. We loved Final Fantasy IX for its old-skool RPG content, bringing back what was great about the older games in a brand new PSone package. We loved Final Fantasy X for its stupendous benchmark in both sound and graphics on the next-gen console PS2. We loved Final Fantasy X-2 for its user-friendly, playful approach to the FF world, and for being the first true Final Fantasy sequel of all time. We loved Final Fantasy XI for being online, letting players shape their own destinies, fulfilling Auron's famous saying from Final Fantasy X, "This is your story."

However, Square is starting to take the bite and realise that Final Fantasy cannot go on forever. They are slowly starting to spin-off the series in efforts to prolong its lifespan. This has been apparent all the way back in 1998, when Final Fantasy Tactics was released, a tactical game as the title suggests, and quite different from the average FF title. 2001 saw the release of another Final Fantasy spin-off. This was a whole new approach, and Square's first real indirect admittance that it was running out of ideas. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, however, did not flop at the box-office, and was met with mixed comments, some positive, like "the reason to see this movie is simply, gloriously, to look at it" from the Chicago Sun Times; and some negative, like "what makes (it) a final failure is a predictable, nonsensical plot, laughably lame dialogue, and a surfeit of cloying environmentalist piety" from the New York Post. 3 November 2003 saw Square's return to Nintendo, clawing out an action orientated title called Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Yet another distraction. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, was a version of FF Tactics on the PSone, for the Gameboy Advance on 8 September 2003, with new plots and systems. Square also released various other RPGs over the years, like Chrono Cross, Xenogears and, more recently, Kingdom Hearts, a children friendly collaboration with Disney.

Final Fantasy XII is probably going to be Square's last great story. Soon, graphical quality is going to overshadow the actual content of the game, and more and more spin-offs, on different consoles are imminent. Square's interest in the next Xbox console is a hint, along with the forthcoming movie sequel to Final Fantasy VII, which is of course, Advent Children. A revolution is needed within those offices of the developers we love and trust. New ideas and fresh concepts need to be considered. The Final Fantasy series has been going on for around 14 years now, and it is still the best loved RPG series of all time. Surely something this great will one day fizzle out of the big leagues? Either Square open a secret chest filled to bursting with new ideas and stories, or Final Fantasy, the reason that I play videogames, why the Eyes On FF forum exists and why I am writing my opinion here today, dies a slow, painful death.

What do you think?