Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno
??? I clearly played another version of MGS. Apart from 2 scenes right at the end, I don't recall me doing anything with Snake during the heart-wrenching developments, besides pushing X to get flashbacks. And MGS level design may not be perfectly linear, but you do basically go - creep through area, have cut-scene, creep through another area, have cut-scene, fight big bad boss, etc etc (I honestly think that the 5th Act has about 1 parts of actual gameplay to 5 parts of cut-scenes). I have nothing against MGS for doing this; I think it is an awesome game and some of the gameplay elements are very cool, but it doesn't exactly re-invent the wheel.
X's combat system is regarded highly because it allowed you to plan ahead, making it more tactical and calculated than previous FFs. That's why I liked it.
I think that if XIII has streamlined the game, that is quite a good idea, because I hate level-grinding with a passion (although I'm sure you can still do it if you want to). But I cannot comment on something I haven't tried, so I'll wait to play it before I pass any judgement (good or bad on it).
I also don't understand how not being forced to go into towns to buy items and equipment is a bad thing. You shouldn't be forced to slog through loading screens and long walks to get something. If you want to go into towns in a game, it should be for random NPC conversations which fill out the game and silly side-quests. VIII had numerous - just think about Fisherman's Horizon and the cafeteria lady's son. Or the fisherman. I think X had its share of cool stuff too, but I've played VIII and X-2 and XII and most of VI and half of IV since, so my memory is a bit unclear.
So, my point is that, from what I can see, the quality of FFs has been up to scratch since Wada has taken over. There has definitely been innovation in story-telling techniques, gameplay mechanics and graphical design, and XIII looks like it will continue the trend.
And, to be honest, FFVII wasn't a huge break from previous FFs. The main area of improvement was in the graphics allowed from the PS, allowing for a more personal story to be told. But the ATB system was almost identical from VI (the actual battle system and not the mechanics behind it). The materia system was probably a backward step. Weapons and armour were fairly standard. Game progression fairly linear. Apart from the side-games, which were quite fun and entertaining, the real innovation of VII (outside of graphics) was the presentation of an epic story.
The area I think that Square-Enix is failing is their IPs outside of their main series. But, perhaps what Wada is now trying to do is to create these different types of IPs under the FF umbrella - if Versus is anything to go by. In which case, a rose by any other name smells as sweet, and you can't really complain seeing how Ivalice has come under the Final Fantasy name in 2 pure iterations and 2 somewhat watered-down (Tactics Advance - bleh).
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