dunno001 said:
Is FF13 burnt out? Well, I guess it depends on what's fueling the flame. I can't deny at least some creative flame is left- they keep trying new things, even if I can't stand most of them. Popularity and sales, well... as long as enough people keep buying it, they'll keep fueling it. But quality? That flame's been dead for a while. I'll take a look at why.
The series was born in late 1987, so the series is just over 23 years old. Yet, how many games are there in the entire FF series, including spinoffs? At last count, I got 51, or a bit over 2 per year on average. (I'll post the list at the end.) The first 9 years saw a rate of less than 1 per year, including spinoffs. The 10th year, most of 1997, saw 3 games in that year alone, acceptable, given that both 1996 and 1998 were void. (1998 is also the last year to not have a game without the words 'Final Fantasy' in one way or another in the title.) Adding in these few years brought the average to 1 after half its current life. The second half of its life, then, had to (and did) average 3 games per year to bring the average to what it is now. (2008 and 2009 tie for king, at 6 games each year.) And frankly, if you have to churn out that many games each year, there's going to be a quality hit. This shows- the games aren't about gameplay anymore, they're about making interactive movies, especially the mainline. And to finance this, they continue to milk the name, knowing that it doesn't have to be good anymore; people keep buying it just for the title.
Meanwhile, most of the people who gave a lot of the earlier games their gameplay and charm are gone from Square. They now have the same few people coming up with ideas, and the similarities in the thought process show. The appearance of a carbon copy story in a new world is showing. They're not given a break, a chance to come up with genuinely new ideas. Instead, the creativity I mentioned in the beginning comes from different implementations of the same old ideas, which is where the change is perceived. But as long as the old idea continues to sell, why should they come up with a new one? It'll be more work for little to no extra benefit. And thus, the quality has stagnated, and died. I think what Square forgot, is that, ultimately, these are games. Sure, a game can tell a story, but it's not a good game unless you can deviate from things some. If I have to just run in a straight line to keep going on your story, then just make a movie and be done with it. Oh, wait... it's been tried... with less dependable results. So we'll just pass off our new movie as a new game- we'll even be able to sell it for more than a movie, to boot!
Now I know I'm going to get accused of seeing this through nostalgia-tinted glasses. But I've replayed many of the older games rather recently, and yes, I would rather play through FF1 than FF7 (or frankly, any post-7 FF) again, despite that my last play of FF1 was after my last play of FF7. And some later ones, like FF10, I've tried playing. Multiple times, even. But they bore me. They're too easy, there's nowhere to explore, and you really don't have the character freedom anymore. I love the sphere grid idea in 10, but if the game itself is a chore, it fails. The only game I've been able to get into and enjoy post-6 is 9, though it also fell to the problem of being too easy. (12 came close, but it had 2 glaring flaws that drove me batty: the license grid and AI programming limitations.) And there are other series that I find have evoloved nicely: I like both styles of the Persona games, Tales has been fairly dependable in what to expect, and even another S-E series, Dragon Quest, has had its last release be the best game in the series to date. But FF has devolved, to the point where yes, on this day, I would play an older one to a newer one. I don't see that changing, nor will it, even if somehow things do turn around, because the light is out, and I've no interest in trying to respark it.
List of Final Fantasy games by Japanese release date
| 1987 |
Final Fantasy 1 |
| 1988 |
Final Fantasy 2 |
| 1990 |
Final Fantasy 3 |
| 1991 |
Final Fantasy 4 |
| |
Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden (Final Fantasy Adventure/Mystic Quest) |
| 1992 |
Final Fantasy 5 |
| |
Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest (Mystic Quest Legend) |
| 1994 |
Final Fantasy 6 |
| 1997 |
Final Fantasy 7 |
| |
Final Fantasy Tactics |
| |
Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon |
| 1999 |
Final Fantasy 8 |
| |
Chocobo's Dungeon 2 |
| |
Chocobo Racing |
| |
Chocobo Collection |
| 2000 |
Final Fantasy 9 |
| |
Chocobo on the Job |
| 2001 |
Final Fantasy 10 |
| 2002 |
Final Fantasy 11 |
| |
Chocobo Land |
| |
Final Fantasy Unlimited with U (Yes, based on the anime) |
| 2003 |
Final Fantasy 10-2 |
| |
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance |
| |
Choco-Mate |
| |
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles |
| |
Final Fantasy Unlimited PC Adventure |
| 2004 |
Before Crisis: Final Fantasy 7 |
| 2005 |
Final Fantasy 7 Snowboarding |
| 2006 |
Final Fantasy 12 |
| |
Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus |
| |
Chocobo de Mobile |
| |
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales |
| 2007 |
Final Fantasy 12: Revenant Wings |
| |
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core |
| |
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 |
| |
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon |
| |
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates |
| 2008 |
Final Fantasy 4: The After Years |
| |
Chocobo and the Magic Picture Book |
| |
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King |
| |
Final Fantasy Crystal Guardians |
| |
Final Fantasy Crystal Defenders |
| |
Final Fantasy Dissidia |
| 2009 |
Final Fantasy 13 |
| |
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time |
| |
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord |
| |
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers |
| |
Final Fantasy Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm (iPhone got a few of these...) |
| |
Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light |
| 2010 |
Final Fantasy 14 |
| |
Final Fantasy: Hikari to Yami no Senshi |
| 2011 |
Final Fantasy 13-2 |
| |
Final Fantasy Type-0 |
| |
Final Fantasy Dissidia Duodecim 012 |
| TBA |
Final Fantasy Versus 13 |
| |
Code name Fortress (FF12 related, possibly dead?) |
|
