| IFireflyl said:
Bolded point two: Final Fantasy did evolve and innovate gameplay with each new title. The gameplay was "modernized" in a sense when they went to ATB, but you still had full control over all of your character's actions, and it was still a variation of turn-based. Also, Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, and X all sold more copies than Final Fantasy XIII. Sure, you can argue that they were out longer... but look at Final Fantasy XII. The only one of those games that Final Fantasy XII sold more than was Final Fantasy IX. Final Fantasy XII isn't stll on the shelves being sold (at least, not in any way that would make a dent on VGChartz sales). Just because it's new doesn't mean it's better. Final Fantasy X is the second-highest selling Final Fantasy game (without including the HD remake), and that came out about a decade ago. It sold almost a million more copies than Final Fantasy XIII, over 5 million more copies than Final Fantasy XIII-2, and almost 7 million more copies than Lightning Returns. Also, keep in mind that all three of those games had the advantage of being released on two consoles, and I added those console totals together. Even though Final Fantasy X was on a single console, it still sold better than every Final Fantasy game after it, some of which were released on multiple consoles to give them a better chance of selling. SquareEnix didn't need to change anything. They were doing just fine, and they lost fans when they changed what they wanted (my opinion). Bolded point three: Perhaps. I suppose we will see. |
You seem to forget that JRPGs used to be significantly more popular in the PS1/PS2 generations... the genre has become more niche now imo and FF is only one of very few successful JRPGs left. Surely this impacted XIII's sales (in addition to mixed reception from gamers, which also hurt its legs without a doubt). If anything, I find XIII's sales to be impressive with all that considered, especially since it managed to outsell XII and IX.
Another thing is that XIII being different is not what made it so unspectacular. I mean, sure it was different... but its weaknesses came from questionable design choices more than anything. For example, if the game had X's battle system, it would have still been criticized for its hallways and convoluted storytelling. Basically I think the game had too many problems that extended beyond the "new" things that the game tried to do. Frankly, I think it was doomed by a half-baked vision and hopefully Toriyama will not be woring on FFXVI.
