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Zekkyou on 09 February 2017
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Alkibiádēs said:
Zekkyou said:

They aren't what drive the overall success of the IP. Zelda has more breathing room on this front than Final Fantasy (its core fanbase existing on the same general brand as the DS/3DS helps considerably), but even Zelda's handheld success is fuelled in large part by the reputation the core home console entries have given the series.

I do agree SE should be more proactive with the Final Fantasy IP on handhelds (though we no doubt disagree in what capacity), but that wasn't my point of dispute. It was using something like Pokemon to dismiss the viability of the development style of Final Fantasy (and by logical extension the core entries of Zelda, GTA, etc) that i take issue with.

To end off, it's worth noting that while SE could handle the Final Fantasy IP much better (and as far as I've seen they have improved considerably since the early 7th gen), it's not like they've been doing nothing but throwing money at FF15 for a decade. Whether ignoring the 3DS has been a mistake or not, the IP still has a strong WW presence. Especially in the last few years, it's been a debate more of success versus hypothetical extra success than sfailure versus success. There are worse places to be :p 

But the handheld Zelda games are made by the same Zelda team that makes the home console games (with the exception of the remakes and the spin-off Triforce Heroes). They also made Wind Waker HD. 

So since 2011 the Zelda team made Wind Waker HD, A Link Between Worlds and now Breath of the Wild. Not nearly as bad as you made it sound. 

As for GTA, that franchise keeps selling, even years after the release of a mainline title, so long development cycles are justified. 

I focused on home consoles because they traditionally take much more time and money, and fuel the overall success of the IP. I ignored the Final Fantasy sequels and spin-offs for the same reason; they're much less costly and aren't the IPs fuel. If you don't consider the differentiation worthwhile, then surly you consider Breath of the Wild a waste of time too?

Again though, my primary point of disagreement was you using Pokemon to dismiss FF's development process (an argument that's extended effects you've still not addressed). When you consider just how large a portion of industry follow the same model, and how much less most of those series sell than Final Fantasy, it should be clear why such a comparison is silly.

To use another example from Nintendo; Xenoblade Chronicles. Both it and its successor X are huge games, with a 5 year gap between them, and yet combined they've sold less that 1 Pokemon game in 1 week in 1 country. Should we point and laugh at XC? Mock Nintendo for making such a 'flop' twice? Personally, i don't think we should. Both are quality games that did well enough to justify their development, which is why we are getting another. Just like why FF continues, and Halo continues, and Zelda continues, and so on. They all do well enough relative to their development to justify further releases.