I agree with the story being a mess. It's an interesting mess for me, but a mess nonetheless. However, it's not square's worst story. It's not even square's worst story of the month. Dissidia Duociderm is far worse. And probably their worst that I can think of is FF7:AC, personally. It's not one close to their best or recent best (tactics ogre (remake I know) or TWEWY), but not their worst imo.

@A230D
The gameplay is better than dirge easily. The upgrades with weapons and such is similar to peace walker. There's not very much analog shooting. Which was peace walkers weakest part (Shooting wise imo). But not quite as polished as it should be. And being on the psp obviously hurts it. But, like I said imo it's Square's best shooter that I've played, unless you count einhander or Lara Croft and The Guardian of light. (That's not saying a lot though)

not happening, not unless XIII-2 is a critical AND financial flop. Kitase always puts Toriyama on projects no one cares about (like Front Mission Evolved) or one that's are guaranteed to sell due to name (FF). Unless XIII-2 flops hard you won't be seeing them going away for crappy writing.

i'm still a bit hopeful:

http://www.ffxvhome.com/

i agree its unlikely but i think its possible FF15 is already in development with the other team - while Kitase and Toriyama are working on FF13-2. and i dont think FF13-2 will be a failure - but i doubt it will be successful either.

I've read that article too and it doesn't prove or hint at anything. Heck, I doubt that Minagawa, Matsuno, and everyone else would even want to  touch the FF series again after the DELUGE of needless executive meddling. After reading an article on Kotaku about how quite a few peole left Square after XIII was done due to WAY too much crap from execs I don't WANT them to be put through that BS.

well I know one reason why they would direct it. Even with meddling. They're going to get a much larger budget for FF than they would anywhere else.

I actully heard about quite a lot of SE employees leaving after FF13, sad news because i've actully voiced some comments on how i think its more difficult for younger developers to obtain more authoritive positions in Japan's gaming industry. 

- which is why i think western games are doing better. - because of the contemporary cultural aspect the younger developers here in the west bring to the table - ie, Uncharted,  Assassins Creed, Mass Effect, etc.

OT. anyway - it dosent say anything about Matsuno - as i think he is no longer with Square. but Wada is an ambitious CEO, he will never let go of FF. and we will have another one - whether its from production team 1 or 4 or a collaboration is unknown, but it will happen or SE will go bust.

i think there is a strong likelyhood of a production team 4 project. besides i've seen some of the interviews with the FF12 staff - i think they would do it again, no doubt, and FF15 is a chance for them to revive not just Final Fantasy - but Japanese console gaming, why pass up an oppertunity like that.

besides after the reception of FF12 and FF13 i think the shareholders, executives, etc are more willing to accept change, since its not just Sqaure Enix thats having problems, but also Capcom, and other developers in Japan.

I guess kinda offtopic. I don't particularly care if everyone leaves square. As long as the developers go somewhere and do something useful like what happened from clover to platinum. You know better. But what has matsuno done since he left square? Besides Tactics Ogre Remake that was with square :P

But I do agree. in my perception by the critics have gone down with the last 4 (11,12,13,14). And with fans.
But this is a theory that won't happen cause FF would make money. But I'd rather them just do a new quality JRPG not called FF.

And then it wouldn't have the baggage of having fit what other games did. Like with Xenogears,  or Vagrant Story. And the even kinda have. TWEWY is quite different.

/ends not making sense.

Matusno did Madworld with Platinum, but nothing else since then to the best of my knowledge. i've heard he might be working on another game with another company - however i think he could still be working for Sqaure on this FF12 Fortress thing that came up a while ago. even Ito has dissappeared since FF12. but whereever he is, he is also part of the Tactics team so its hard to imagine he enjoyes working without them - they are a unit (no pun intended).

Sakaguchi has apparently delieved with The Last Story. The Last Story is a good example of what the developers could do - but it came out on the wrong console imo.

yeah, but it dosent matter if they make a new RPG or not - Sqaure Enix's financial earnings for the last quarter were forcasted lower than they orignally expected. FF is their biggest IP. Wada cant let the series go or else....

i think SE have tried new IPs like The Last Rebellion or Uninfinite Discovery, but they havent been well recieved. and i think this is problem i mentioned with the older generation of developers not in tune with the contemporary gamer. so even if some developers leave and make new games the results will likely be the same imo.

and developers want to work on it because theres no other game at Sqaure, that has the international appeal of the series - despite how much its wavered recently.

Looking back at it, Maeda was hilarious; he's so creepy that it's hilarious, and his voice over makes it even better. "I would like to drink your tears."

A day has gone by, and there has been no bids for my copy on ebay.

I enjoyed that line >_>

You buy lots of SE games do you register the points? what do you get.

I've got nothing  :( yes