| thelalaby said: I also found the Crystarium and story to be disappointing in XIII, and I can understand why you'd have a gripe with being able to control only character... but there are many games out there who have done this mechanic right, so XIII's screw-ups might not make it to XV. Now, we haven't seen enough of XV to have a proper judgment... but I am feeling optimistic about it due to the new director (who is very open and enthusiastic about the project) and the fact that they have learned from many of the XIII mistakes (they have eliminated linearity and have promised to have a lot of optional content available, such as the already-confirmed cooking and fishing) so it does seem like Square Enix are listening to their fans while also continuing to progress forward. I agree that FF titles within the last 10 years haven't been up-to-par, but frankly that wasn't always SE's fault... like XII had its director leave halfway through development, and you can see the effect of that on how the story just collapses near the end of the game. I enjoyed it a lot and I thought it introduced some solid gameplay mechanics to the franchise (such as the gambits which I believe brought innovation of the entire genre) but still I see its shortcomings and I understand why some fans dismiss it. I think SE's only fuck-ups were XIII and the original XIV, but seeing how they worked really to relaunch XIV and make it up to fans, and their dedication and openness to the development of XV makes me want to give them the benefit of the doubt. You will probably remain skeptical about the game (as you should, considering that XIII was the last major single-player FF released)... I'm only having this argument because I see a lot of entitlement from FF fans (not you) who want the franchise to be a certain way, denying the very core of the franchise; its ability to reinvent itself. I just wanted to point out that the franchise's golden era was also full of transformations and reinventions. |
I certainly will remain skeptical, but I appreciate your input on this. I will not buy Final Fantasy XV until I've borrowed it, and tried it myself. If it's horrible I don't want to be one more person giving them money so they can take advantage of me. That said, I hope that it returns to its roots (in certain ways). I do want the franchise to be a certain way (the arguement that if Halo and Call of Duty can do it, so can Final Fantasy), but I know that it won't. Mainly, I want a non-linear path (e.g. more freedom of movement), I want a good storyline (it can be complex, just not Final Fantasy XIII's confusing mess), I want a decent level system (not necessarily the same as before, but not the restricted Crystarium either), and I want to be able to have more control over my party. I doubt this last one will happen, but I still want it.
