| spiffiness said: I think FFXII had a more Western style and the dialogue was much better than in 13. The combat was also much more strategic rather than action-based which I really liked, after I understood it. Actually, after playing Dragon Age, I noticed that they were somewhat similar. I didn't mind FFXIII's approach either, however. Except for the bad writing, I had fun, linear or not, though I think the cheesiness turned off as many people as FFXII's gameplay did. My answer is that I think there is room for both styles. In fact, they should just have 2 teams all the time and release one game every 2 years or so by alternating, having one team work on a game with a more mature story and Western bent, and the other on one that satisfies more Japanese preferences with younger characters and typical Japanese character archetypes. |
Yeah i sort of agree with you, its important to have diversity in the series. and having 2 development teams is a great idea. its Kitases team which caters to the Japanese preferences, however the general conseneus from Japanese gamers was discontent with FF13. and FF13 was designed to capture the western audience and new comers. but the problem is; did they really think the poor script, Leonia Lewis and 6 hours of cutscenes would pull in the western gamers. this type of direction tells me that Kitase's team dosent understand how to build good gameplay elements. the way they continue to rely on the FF7 compilation also supports this, and how KItase states Call of Duty was the inspiration for FF13. Is that really the right direction for the series???
I agree with what you've said there should be room for both styles and the problem was that FF12 was not the vision of the director. Matsuno didnt finish the game, and the team was forced to make comprimises to the writing to go further towards the Kitase, Nomura, & Nojima direction. my point is, now for the last 8 years both mainline installments of the FF series have been generally poorley recieved by the fans, and by some gaming publications because of direction Kitase, Nomura & Nojima have taken the series. and i think that FF12 represents the direction the series should be going in, instead of where FF13 has taken the series. (but even then its unfair to make the comparsion because the director couldnt complete his vision of the game).
