TruckOSaurus said:
Lately there’s been a lot of negativity surrounding the Final Fantasy series so instead of focusing on why I was disappointed in the latest outings, I decided to focus of the positive and build myself the ideal Final Fantasy game by combining things I loved from the previous entries in the series. So here is what I’ve come up with:
- The cast would feature around 10 playable characters. I’d also like for characters to drop in and out of your party like they did in Final Fantasy IV. It would keep me on my toes, never knowing if one of the characters might die or disappear to come back later (like Rydia in FFIV).
- The story could split up and follow characters as they progress in different locations like in Final Fantasy IX.
- Each character would have his speciality/class like Final Fantasy IV or at least start with abilities that fit with their character and in the end game they could learn stuff from other classes (like with Final Fantasy X’s sphere grid).
- The main villain would be memorable (like Kefka or Sephiroth) but there would be other villains of lesser importance (like the Turks and the members of Shirna in Final Fantasy VII)
- Towns, the world map and vehicles (controllable airship!) would make a return. I want to be able to barge in people’s homes and raid their closets for 10 gil or a potion!
- The game would use an active time battle and would feature a way to easily switch between your available characters in battle like in Final Fantasy X allowing me to level up the whole group without having the reform my party. Otherwise, I always end up with underleveled characters (I remember my unused members finishing the game at level 15 in Final Fantasy VIII)
- I would be in control of the whole party. Not just the leader, everyone dammit!
- There would be a maximum of 4 characters in a party not 3.
- Equipment would be expanded, no more of that only a weapon and 1 or 2 accessories bullshit. I want to manage the helm, armor, gloves, weapon, shield, accessories (the relic system from Final Fantasy VI would be good)
- The game would feature a fun mini-game (like Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII) and tons of end-game sidequests (like in Final Fantasy VII) some requiring you to level up your characters near the maximum capacity (like the Monster Arena in Final Fantasy X).
- The difficulty level would be upped a few notches.
- Summons would return and the blue mage would not suck.
That’s all I can think of for now, so what do you think? Would you play my Final Fantasy game? What would your ideal Final Fantasy game be like?
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1) 10 Playable Characters - That would probably mess up a strong story. That was the main critic point about FF 6 for me... Too many characters that contribute very little to the story. Final Fantasy X, XII and XIII were among the very best storycentric games that I have played so far and Square Enix takes their stories very serious. But it is okay if you do not have access to them the whole time if the storytelling gives a proper reason.
2) Splitting the group is ok. They did that in FF 13.
3) I like that each party member is special in some way. If everyone can learn everything than you would probably stick with your famous characters and neglect the rest.
4) A JRPG does not necessaryily need a "main villain" like Sephiroth. In fact Square-Enix abandoned the Main-Hero vs Main-Villain storytelling approach in the last few games. That leads the story away from a black-white scheme and allow for a much more mature Storytelling. Sure, Cloud vs Sephiroth was epic, but Hero vs. Villain is a storytelling structure you can even find in superhero comics and fairy tales... I really like it who they started to make the Partymembers more equal in story importance since Final Fantasy X. Who was the main character in FF XII? Balthier, Basch, Ashe, Vaan? Who was the main character in Final Fantasy XIII? Vanille, Lightning, Fang? There was no real "main character" since FF IX. And thats one reason why I feel that Final Fantasy made a huge progress starting with Final Fantasy X.
The same goes for the villain. A main villain is often a weak storytelling component. Theres is often a bad guy, who is simply bad because he is bad and who wants to rule/destroy the world. Since Final Fantasy 7 Square is putting more effort in explaining the motivation of the Bad guy (Nibelheim incident where Sephiroth discovers his origin, Kuja learning about his origin, etc.) and with Final Fantasy X they progressed even further. In Final Fantasy X Sin was an incarnation of your own father, the Order of Yevon and Maester Seymour were great antagonists but not the last end boss. In Final Fantasy XII there were two great empires who where treathening Dalmasca and the main task was to restore peace. Final Fantasy XIII had a civil war, Fal'Cie, Gods and the conflict between Grand Pulse and Cocoon.
In Part of the storytelling Final Fantasy X, XII and XIII were a huge step forward from the earlier Final Fantasy games. The stories became more mature and serious (maturity does not equal violence).
5) There were Towns in Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2. But when the story says that you are the enemies of the state you just can't walk around town and go shopping (thats what it means... taking the story serious). And to be honest, I do not miss the airship. There is no longer "an overworld map with giant characters", you walk around in real environments. An Airship just wouldn't fit with this sort of graphics.
6) I like it.
7) I enjoyed the battle system of FF XIII as well as the other battle systems. Each iteration can have its own battle system.
8) Either way is fine with me.
9) As long as they do not introduce a luck based system like in Borderlands I am ok. I want unique weapons and armor that gets stronger as I progress with the story. And if I open a treasure chest and I find a weapon it should be stronger than the one that I carry at the moment.
10) As long as the minigame is not too much of a time-sink and not necessary for the Platinum Trophy. I would never try to jump 500 over the rope in the FF XI minigame. But I do not like the idea of content that is only available if you have only the best equipment and maximum level. The Weapons in Final Fantasy VII or VIII were okay, but the Monster Farm in Final Fantasy X and the Dark Aeons where just too time investing. In the End, Final Fantasy is all about story.
11) Nope, everyone should be able to play through the game and enjoy the story. Final Fantasy should be accessable not only for the most hardcore gamers that are willing to put more than 100 hours into a game.
12) I really liked the summons, but the last good summons were in Final Fantasy X. I never bothered with the Blue Mage as it was just too time-consuming getting all the blue magic.
So, all in all I would play your game. But I feel that would be a step back to games like Final Fantasy VI or VII. I really liked the way Square-Enix developped Final Fantasy. I would certainly play a Final Fantasy XV that goes back the style of VI or VII. But these games are still available and I can play them whenever I want. A strong advantage of Final Fantasy is that each game plays differently. They do not feel like Sequels. I would not want FF to suffer from Sequelitis. Most WRPGs that I played have felt like they were the same game with only minor differences. Almost every new game has these Deja-Vu (Ah, another Tolkien-Inspired Fantasy world with 500 repetitive Sidequests).
