Senlis said:
Why did square go with the systems they did? The started with FF on the NES, then developed FFII and FFIII on the NES. They then went to SNES for FFIV, FFV and FFVI. I think they went with SNES because SNES and Genesis were almost the same and they already had a fanbase with Nintendo. Then they faced a dilema, N64 or PSone. They went with PSone because the CDs could store enough space for cutscenes. In this sense, PSone has better graphics. Hence, there is where FFVII, FFVIII and FFIX went. Then, when PS2 came out, it was the best looking system and wasn't falling apart (I don't know when Dreamcast entered the fray). Plus, their dedicated fanbase moved to PS2 when they and almost every other JRPG maker was making games for Sony. Plus, Nintendo was seriously pissed off at them for leaving their system. PS2 got FFX, FFXI and FFXII. Note that their main reason for leaving Nintendo in the first place seemed to be the ability for PS to store cutscenes, making thier games look better. For that reason, I think graphics are very important to Square when they make a FF game. Plus, their gameplay hasn't been that great recently, and they have to make it up with something.
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Yes they dropped Nintendo for the sake of being able to use CDs, I'm not arguing that, but it's not because they were devoted to graphics. It's because they knew that FMVs would make them more money. They were right!
It didn't matter during the PS2 gen, because Sony's juggernaut was basically unstoppable and all the consoles could show FMVs (the Wii to a lesser extent). All Square was doing was following the money.
The same is true of this gen. They just bet on the wrong horse. If Square had known that the Wii was goign to dominate like it has, especially in Japan, there would be no Final Fantasy XIII coming to the HD consoles, because there's more money to be made on the Wii.
