Johnw1104 said:
JMDez said:
As long as the villain is better than Barthendelus, they're on the right track. IMO, comfortably the series' worst antagonist. I've little hope for this game from a plot stance as though I love Kingdom Hearts, I really don't like the story of those games and I really didn't like the story of Advent Children (both directed by Nomura). This series is crying out for a return to it's roots. When I started playing the series I never imagine future titles would feature all male, teen casts who only wear black. |
I think they were merely limited by technology in the earlier titles. I enjoyed final fantasy up to X which, I felt, was alright but far too short and linear with obnoxiously (and sometimes cringe-inducing) long cut scenes. With each installment (with occasional deviation) the games have gotten increasingly linear, narrative focused (nothing wrong with that so long as it doesn't dictate direction/pace), and "eastern" aesthetically. I have nothing against this given its a japanese dev team, but it certainly helps explain the decline of interest here in the west. With the ever decreasing console ownership in Japan it appears they may have to westernize a bit going forward.
I actually have a good deal of hope for XV though, specifically as they're attempting to win people back as opposed to resting on their laurels. It'll take a very bad aggregate review score to keep me away from this one. While still fairly linear, the play style of FF IX (my favorite post-nintendo title) was very much akin to earlier titles, so they've shown a willingness to return to what worked in the past at times. Of course that was one of the worst selling games... :
|
I've often thought about that point too. The only problem though is that that game was directed by Sakaguchi and that was the last game he directed before leaving the company. Unfortunately there is a clear parallel to the decline of the series and his departure from it.
One more recent sign of hope though actually is the way in which they've handled XIV. I only played a couple of weeks of it but the game clearly tries to appease to older fans of the series. Through some blatant fanservice yes like Magi-Tek mounts and Triple Triad, but also in the Tolkein style art and setting which was a core of the first 5 games and IX.
