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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Done With Final Fantasy

thelalaby on 04 February 2015
IFireflyl said:
thelalaby said:
 

A) At the time of XIII's release, PS3/Xbox 360 had a smaller combined userbase than the PS1 and PS2 did when IX and XII released (as the latter two released near the end of the console's life, and by then both PS1 and PS2 had sold gangbusters). Furthermore, PS3 sold half what PS1 sold in Japan and less than half of PS2 sold there, so the game had a massive disadvantage in its biggest market by default. I wouldn't say XIII had a bigger audience to reach out to than IX and XII, rather the contrary.

B) All FF titles are massively hyped up and get the majority of their sales within the first month of release. For example, XII sold 1.8 million first week in Japan and went on to only sell another 600k lifetime, or how VIII sold 2.5 million first week there and managed to only move another million copies lifetime. Whether those copies are sold in one day or over an extended period of time, that doesn't make a difference except that selling more copies closer to launch might be more profitable (as price cuts take place after). Anyway, XIII did have weak legs though and there's no denying that, surely caused by bad word-of-mouth.

C) Like I said, XIII had bad word-of-mouth so naturally there were huge drop-offs for the sequels. We were discussing XIII's sales though, so I don't see what the sequels have to do with anything.

Overall, I'd say XIII's sales were very impressive given the circumstances. Surely a big part of that is the power of FF brand, but it is what it is.


A) This has nothing to do with anything.

B) Final Fantasy XII had a crappy storyline, and they changed it to an MMO-style feel. My point was that I don't like the direction Final Fantasy has taken, especially with their battle system, and I think that many/most people would agree with me. You're kind of proving my point with the Final Fantasy XII example. Also, Final Fantasy VIII didn't sell 3.5 million copies in its lifetime... it sold 7.86 million copies (VGChartz Source).

C) The sequels have everything to do with it. They show that Final Fantasy XIII was over-hyped, and that's why it sold. There was a ton of advertising, the graphics looked phenomenal, and it was the first Final Fantasy game to come out on the Playstation 3. The same thing happened with Final Fantasy X. It had phenomenal graphics (at the time), they did massive advertising for it, and it was the first Final Fantasy game to come out on the Playstation 2. But Final Fantasy X still has more of a Final Fantasy feel than Final Fantasy XIII. If Final Fantasy XIII was hailed as one of the greatest games of the new generation do you think that the sales for Final Fantasy X-2 would have been so poor? Really? You said it yourself. "XIII had bad word-of-mouth..."

A) What? We are talking about sales, of course console installbase matters. Perhaps you realize this proves you wrong and so you are trying to discredit it. Either way, you cannot deny the FACT that PS3 had less than half the PS2's userbase in Japan (the franchise's biggest market) and still managed to retain a big percentage of X and XII's sales there. Downplay that all you want, it doesn't make it any less true.

B) VIII sold 3.5 million IN JAPAN not worldwide, and I clear about that. Moreover, why are you even talking about XII? I mean, I brought it up as a SALES example because it preceeded XIII. Either way, XII sold more than IX worldwide (and both were front-loaded, just like all FF titles after VII) so what you are saying makes little sense honestly. XII did put some people off, but still millions and millions of people lined up to buy XIII so I guess they weren't as disappointed as you make it sound.

C) I agree with you that XIII sold on hype, and I've said that in the beginning. Are we not clear on that? Because you keep reinstating this fact as if I'm denying it. And yes, bad word-of-mouth hurt its sequels... I also said that myself. I don't understand what you are trying to say here? The discussion was about whether XIII's sales were impressive or not, not about how people reacted to it. Yes, XIII was hugely disappointed for most people but that doesn't make its sales any less impressive, and I never said anything about the sales of its sequels because our original discussion was about XIII and I never said that XIII-2 and Lightning Returns' sales were impressive or that gamers liked XIII. Once again, I DID already say that XIII left most gamers (myself included) confused and bitter.

I think me and you agree on more things than we disagree on, but frankly I don't see the point in arguing about whether 6+ million copies sold worldwide for a game that received mixed reception (at best) is impressive or not, because the answer is clear.