Final Fantasy, Lost Odyssey, and The Last Story. See the resemblence in his 3 main titles? I think post FF he lost some naming imagination. Final Fantasy was named because it was a full out last ditch effort at making a quality game or else Square would have gone bust. That game could have been their swan song hence the title Final Fantasy.

But what about Lost Odyssey or The Last Story? I havn't played The Last Story, but I can tell you Lost Odyssey is largly the same as FF1. Interdimensional Villan, wants control of this moral world, beaten by 4 soldiers (Warriors of Light in FF, Immortals in LO).

I've read that one reason why the Japanese can't produce a big non RPG is because in Japan, once your respected all decissions are guided by you. This 1 person has been guiding FF for about 15 years! People in Japan respec their elders too much, as such a lot of ideas by the younger generation get un-noticed.

I'm just so happy some new Japanese games have emerged, like Vanquish.

Funny relationship among the titles, don't you think?

and look at zelda?  its not the concept its the telling of the story that makes it interesting.

What the fuck are you talking about? , see i have an Elder Scrolls sig and Avatar, i've played every single Elder Scrolls game, and what all the games about? One hero saves the world, you are looking too much for  the small details but missing the big picture, unless you tell me that tod howard is japanese or somehow related to a japanese bloodline,  this whole "Japanese people are teh only ones taht do that" argument is bullshit.

Double post.

I think it's very creative to add "The" to Last Story..

Bioware do it best, we need to actually save the whole frikkin galaxy in ME. Way beyond Japanese dev imaginations, those guys are stuck on saving worlds! trolololol @ them!

And ME copied Star Wars cus you need to save galaxy.

So George Lucas is clearly the best! (Star Wars Returns to Cinema Screens Feb 2012!)

*this post was not an advertisement for star wars 3d-releases*

What gibberish is this?

I could get the relation to the titles of Final Fantsy and The Last Story, but other then that and some staff, the games are pretty different. TLS is in fact practically a strategy game hybrid, compared to FF, which only just started moving in that direction AFTER, Sakaguchi left Square Enix.

Lost Odyssey deals with the story of a bunch of immortals with amnesia, aside from being a RPG and eventually going against a bad guy, it isn't your typical FF game.

The reason why Japan doesn't produce big RPGs, is because the economy is bad, games cost more to make and if the game fails, you are screwed. Square Enix can get away with it because they own two of the more popular franchises. Smaller developers dabble with it on consoles where development is cheaper like the DS or PSP, but for most a high budget RPG that either bombs in Japan or in the West, where it is guaranteed nothing in sales (shout out to Resonance of Fate) despite quality is a risk they won't take. Just like how only the biggest name shooters make it to Japan.

Eh, whatever put the blame for the decline of the Japanese industry on Sakaguchi if you like.

Yea, but it's not that different. Lost Odyssey essentially is the same as Lost Story, and is that that different then Last Story? Just saying the titles lack imagination, but the games are great.

I was only saying the titles, and general plot is the same. It's kind of funny. Great games, but they could use a new title. Obviously gameplay and storytelling are very different.

Japanese people aren't the only ones who do that, sorry jeeze. Just saying one of the most respected JRPG creators needs to get new ideas for the title of his games.

Gameplay is very different, I never critisized that. Just mentioned the titles and general plot are the same.

FF1 has Gerald come back in time to destroy that kindgom, FF2 has a villan who literally needs to be killed in 2 dimensions at the same time to be finished, FFX has people who are immortal, and one of the biggest bosses of the game, as well as one of the main characters in the party are immortal. It is very typical for an FF game to feature an alternate dimension, or have immortals.

Also, I said Big non-RPG's. You misread my comment, and they don't generally make games outside of RPG's or old established franchises.

I don't blame the decline of the Japanese gaming market on Sakaquchi, I love his RPG's, and I really hope The Last Story makes it to Canada. however I think they could use a few new developers to work on games. Vanquish was awesome.