Blog post ''Square Enix Have Destroyed Final Fantasy Tradition''

[Riachu]

Kenryoku_Maxis said:

dystopia said:
@Riachu: A shell of it's former self. The lack of Sakaguchi's influence and the increased influence of Nomura has changed the atmosphere of the games. FFX was mired with annoying characters and a predictable linear story, and while it was visually great, had good combat and character development systems, etc, it just didn't 'feel' like it's predecessors. FFXII suffers similar problems, the story is to detached, the combat is less then steller, and once again the story was predictable and just not very enjoyable. I miss what FF use to be.

Well thankfully it looks like Final Fantasy Gaiden for DS, made by a totally independent team not connected to Nomura, is trying to kind of revive  to 'old' Final Fantasy style.  But yes, on the whole, Final Fantasy is nowhere near what it use to be.  Though in some ways, that's good, as the entire point of the series was to constantly push the envelope and evolve.  That's how it set itself apart from its competition initially (from series such as Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star) and remain in its current position.  But along the way, it did seem to focus so much on graphics and storyline that it forgot about allowing the player to, you know....play the game and have fun. 

I think FFX and XII, while having very unique and engaging battle engines, were also some of the most dialogue heavy RPGs out there.  Aside from probably Final Fantasy Tactics and Suikoden V (that's 3 out of 4 being FF games).

did xenogears and xenosaga suddenly stopped existing?

I forgot to mention Persona 4.  One part of the game(the events of december 3rd and right after) had a 45 minute cutscene followed by a save point followed by another 45 minute cutscene