Actually, what I claimed was that it got generally positive reviews. Which is 100% true. The game is AA on Metacritic, holding at 82 (or was it 83).

I also said every fan that I have talked to loved it. The reason I said this is because I was talking about people I spoke with in person. I`ve obviousley noticed that people are showing mixed reactions on the internet. However, I truly believe that only 10% of these people are actual fans of Final Fantasy (and RPG`s in general). The other 90% are just talking shit out of their ass. There are so many different reasons people hate on this game (PS3 fanboys should know about this). This happens with every game in every popular series, but even more so with games like Final Fantasy.

I do think FF's in a tough spot.  FFXIII has been divisive at best, FFXIV is a straight up failure, and I think teams behind both are pretty demoralized, while the other FF team (Kawazu/Matsuno's people) probably have zero interest in returning to the mainline series after the FFXII clusterfuck.

The series could really, really use Sakaguchi right about now.  Compare everything that's happened with FF to Horii's slow but steady near continual rise with Dragon Quest or Nomura's breakout success and growth with Kingdom Hearts... FF really needs a visionary helming it in the same way overall imo.

Its possibile that they could collaborate with Mistwalker on FF15, however i disagree with the first point. i've seen some of the FF12 developer interviews and i dont think production team 2 (PDD4) would give up the chance to work on another FF, despite the troubled development of FF12, because its FF. i think they would love to do another one.

sadly i think that Wada will make FF15 a team 1 production, which i really dont want. i am hoping that production team 2 are secrectly at work on something. but we do also know about Fortress, while not a mainline installment it will be good to see something different and not the same thing we keep hearing about. i mean all we seem to hear about is the FNC, which i dont really care about at the moment tbh.

I dunno about another PDD4/2 game.  The remains of PDD4 seem focused on handheld SRPGs, and I think if given the option they'd rather continue bringing back Ogre Battle Saga full force.  Similarly, the rest of PDD2 (who came in to work on FFXII after Matsuno left) are probably going to be focused on Romancing SaGa 4 going by Kawazu's recent hints, which itself could be a pretty major scale project.  Honestly, I can't see another team within SE that really could even do FFXV besides PDD1, though I'd agree in preferring about anyone else do it. :/

There's pretty much no chance for Mistwalker and Square working together though I think.  I'm also pretty sure Tokita and his guys are going to leave SE after taking the fall for FFXIV... hopefully Tokita joins the Gooch or starts up a new company like Ishii.  Pretty soon everyone involved in the original FF games are going to have left Square (except crazy old Kawazu, lol).

Imo, yes it is. At least for me, the games are becoming shorter and less deep and playable with each installment and the sales are also sloping (possibly as a direct result of the aforementioned problems).

Its like Need for Speed, the farther away from the tried and true NFS recipe they moved, the less they sold. Sadly, Final Fantasy is not the only franchise undergoing these changes, it seems to be the overall direction the entire industry is headed (less brain involvement, more mindless action and shallow gameplay).

Mainstream media, my friend. Mainstream media.

These days, it's no longer about the developer's vision (excluding indie games), but rather about what the big thing is with the crowd, and it's more prevalent these days due to the high dev costs.

No, i know theres a very slim chance of Mistwalker and SE working together, however i think your right, if anyone can do anything about it, its Sakaguchi, but hes most definitly more interested in TLS at the moment.

based on Wada's comments it would seem that PDD1 are only people who will be working on FF15. i think FF14 is salvagable however, as its desgined as a console MMO for the PS3, and its going to updated again and again if need be to point where it is acceptable.

it would be interesting to see a new Saga game actully, i've never played one before. and your probabily right, the Ogre Battle series could be in store for a resurgence with the remake of Tactics Ogre. however like i said before i am hoping that PDD4 are secretly working on FF15, because i doubt i'll be able to stomach another PDD1 project!

You don't much about Famitsu do you?  Well, actually I don't either but I do know one thing: be dubious of any 39/40 score from Famitsu.  That is their honor score (or whatever they call it) and they give that to certain highly hyped games.  A 38/40 and a 40/40 from Famitsu might mean something but a 39/40 is meaningless.

Epic Post.

OMG this thread has become enormous!

1/ If you check worldwide sales, you'll see that the PS3 version of FFXIII alone outsells Mass Effect 2, so Mass Effect or any western RPG has not become the dominant reference. (yes I know I'm getting stubborn with this)

2/ Dragon Quest is not half as popular as FF in the west, so not a chance to see it overtake FF in the near future. Besides, no detail has been released about DQX so far...

3/ It's the same thing in every FF debate : some see the series collapse at FFX, others left after FFVIII, some didn't like FFIX... I do believe that FF has in fact not really changed over those years (even if XIII sees somewhat big changes). The values are the same throughout the series, the battle system is every time different and better, characters design is always on top, story telling is still excellent and echoes to our societies' problems (racism, religion, dictatorship, etc.). The thing is that... PEOPLE change. Many players abandoned the series after X or XII, because  they found more attractive software elsewhere  : that's just normal. But people who ditched FF because of a few mishaps here and there shouldn't call themselves fans. Personally, I will support the series even in the depth of hell : THAT is being a fan, because FF is far more than just a game you play for some time. It is something that drives you all your life long.