Final Fantasy XV: What we're all thinking

[Ayen]

I was actually going to make a topic of a similar manner because I didn't want to derail the hype thread, but I'll just go ahead and post my thoughts here. Thanks for the shout out, by the way.

My problem with the game is really quite simple, it been eight years. And in all that time it seems like they only did anything with it in two. What, why, how, I don't know. Because everything as to their reasons seem to be pure fan speculation and that's where it's going to stay until someone at Square talks. That's why I'm really surprised that out of all these interviews no one has asked, "Why did it take so long?" Or maybe they have and I just missed it somewhere. But it wouldn't surprise me any if no one is allowed to ask that question.

But really, if it was something as simple as not having the technology to do what they wanted with the game, that would have been easy to state. It would have taken perhaps two minutes. So if that really was the reason I don't understand why they were dead silent until this past week. Hajime Tabata has given us more information on this game in a week than the entirety of Square has been able to give us for what is almost a decade. "Oh, that's just how the Japanese are." So what's changed? They finally sit down with their other branches to learn how the Western world work?

I don't have faith in Square because they haven't given me any reason to put faith in them. "What about Bravely Default?" It was outsourced. "What about Tomb Raider?" It was outsourced. "What about A Realm Reborn?" A Realm Reborn is what Final Fantasy XIV should have been when it first came out, and had they listened to their beta testers, that may have been the case. Almost all the mistakes I've known Square to make has been things they could have easily avoided. This isn't rocket science. And in the same vein as Lockharted stated, I got excited for those old images of Stella that showed her with a staff casting a spell of some kind. I wanted to play as a kickass female mage. And games like X-2, XII, and XIII has spoiled me somewhat because it allowed you to play as a woman more directly. And that's something that hasn't been seen since Final Fantasy VI. Final Fantasy III, if you're a hipster. But even if you couldn't play as them directly you always had them in your party that gave you some control in battles. In V you could make Lenna or Faris your party leader and run around as them. And in an industry that's largely male-dominated, that's sort of a big deal.

Then there's the case of this game suffering from being a spinoff with a number. And I already see that happening. "Why doesn't it have this, this, or that?" Because it was originally meant as a spinoff. That's why I wouldn't be surprised if after it came out several people go, "I liked the game, but it shouldn't have been a main number entry." It wasn't supposed to be. It's only a main number entry because it been eight years, and we can't go that long without one. So for right or wrong, Square chose to go with the game that was already in development instead of making something from scratch. They could have called Bravely Default "Final Fantasy XV" and most people probably would have been happy. Except the ones that don't play handhelds.

Cautiously optimistic is probably the best stance to have. Because games that have been in development hell for this long rarely turn out good. And when Square keep showing us features that have been around for years as if they were just recently created, that doesn't exactly fill me up with warm, tingling feelings. Maybe they just meant it as being done in a way that has never been seen before because "next gen" and it got lost in translation, but that's not how it's sounding. Don't even get me started on the names. We went from generic sounding code names to stuff that sounds like they put random words into a translator until something cool sounding came out. Because that's exactly how I seen Ignis used as a name before.

As it stands, I don't think Final Fantasy XV's presentation is bad, it just doesn't interest me. And it'll need to be released as a full game and deliver before I can muster up any sort of hype for it.