Rei said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
Rei said:
@ Kenryoku_Maxis:
FFXIII's battle system is as different from previous FF games as it can get. The game's main character is, first time in 15 years, a female. So I dont really see your point.
And it's not just FF that is in decline sales-wise, most estabilished jRPG franchises are, including Pokemon. Tales of franchise has been in decline sales-wise ever since Symphonia, it's not getting any new fans either. As for Persona - I dont think it makes much differense if it sells 450k copies instead of 400k, this series is completely niche and irrelevant, always has been.
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Pokemon is not in decline. If anything, it is in an upswing as people have said. Sure, it probably won't see record sales like its first gen saw, but it will see amazing sales, well beyond any Final Fantasy title. Other series like Tales and Persona, etc are also not in decline. Aside from their 'side' games, they are actually gaining sales (albeit slowly). And despite your view that these series are 'niche and irrelevant', they are relevant. I suppose if FFXIII sells badly, we can call Final Fantasy irrelevant and you won't call us out on it?
Secondly, the battle system for FFXIII, the little we've been told, looks quite a bit like the traditional Final Fantasy battle engines of the PSX/PS2 era, just with more effects to make it 'look' like there's real time actions going on. In all reality, it appears to be more of a combination of the battle engine of FFVII and FFX, with the skill upgrading system of FFXII to boot. All just redone to make it appear like the characters are moving around the battlefield and attacking creatures in real time. But more than any Final Fantasy title before, they seem to be trying to reuse ideas from the past, and it makes sense. They want to appeal to their fanbase. Its a smart move, as their going to be selling the game on the HD systems and need more than simple graphics and storyline to sell the game this time.
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Pokemon has declined in popularity greatly compared to what it was back in 98. Same with Tales of series, Symphonia > Abyss > Vesperia > upcoming Graces, clearly a pattern that suggests anything but the increasing popularity.
As for the battle systems in FF games, FFIV-FFIX all had very similar battle systems. FFVII, VIII, X, X-2 all had similar characters. This has never been a problem. And now that FFXIII uses the same battle system as previous FFs (according to you) and features similar character designs it is suddenly a huge problem? I dont get it.
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There's no way to measure a games 'popularity' aside from sales. And games like Tales and Pokemon are in an upswing in sales this gen So in other words, you define a series in 'decline' as a series whose last game wasn't the highest selling game in the series. Right.... Then let's just say Zelda is in decline. Or GTA. Or most series this gen by your definition.
Secondly, I said that they're just going back to reuse a lot of the same ideas for battle engine and gameplay from the past PSX/PS2 FF games. Personally, I don't have a problem with this, but many fans have come to expect each FF game to have a completely new battle engine, characters and gameplay each game. If its similar to past games, they may feel turned off by it. Or it may be just what the series needs to draw in the FF fans. We'll have to see.
