Yeah, I'm just not seeing this "aimed at a western market" thing. The character design and theme is clearly created from a Japanese view of what is popular. The "group of cool and attractive guys who have very different personalities" thing is freaking everywhere over there (yuri is still better, though, Wright). That could not be more Japanese if they tried.

The game-play looks like an evolution of the Japanese action-RPG which I first played back on the PS1 with Star Ocean and which has become more and more popular in Japan over the last decade, especially since Monster Hunter blew up. I don't really get the idea that the west has some kind of lock on open-world design, either, as large maps are something that came from Japan in the first place, even if the technology or resources to truly expand on it were lacking. It's just a natural evolution.

In fact, what kind of puts me off about this game is the impression that they took a bunch of elements that are popular in Japan and molded the game around them. I'd rather see Final Fantasy stand on it's own and forge its own identity.

Edit:  Not buying the "it's all FFXIII's fault" idea, either.  Final Fantasy games have always been separate things.  If people liked the looks of this game, they'd buy it.  

Yes, we do know how much you consider it very bad.

It's not all XIII's fault, but if you look at FW sales for the series it does track pretty nicely with how well the previous game was received (i.e., nice bump for VIII's FW, in decline ever since, and a big drop from XIII to XV).

Probably. I liked XIII-2 and even LR much more than I liked XIII, but SE definitely gave the impression that they didn't care if fans hated XIII, they were going to shove more Lightning down our throats whether we wanted it or not.

Not only FF but the entire SE brand became so reviled last generation that they have a big job ahead climbing back into fans' good graces, but at least they are giving the impression of a company that knows what it's doing now. All we can see right now is the damage they've done to themselves, but they seem to be on the right path to recover.

Let's just say that if I hadn't forcefully turned on the Japanese voice track and had a quick look at the box I wouldn't know it's a Japanese game, let alone a Final Fantasy one.

It's a worse Far Cry 3 with FF lingo modded in.

Just watch Kingsglaive and you will have a better and more FF experience and also save a lot of time.

It was awesome! DRESSING UP MONSTERS!

Considering how bad last gen was for JRPGs XIII-2 may as well have been Chrono Trigger.

Is the road to recovery producing new games in the series? So FF16 and 17 in a good amount of time. One of the things I felt from last gen is while FF13 was disappointing, I though "Well, the next one might be great." But we had to wait 6 years for a spin off to turn into FF15 and release. If they get to some kind of regular release schedule and get the same feel and tone that made FF what it is in terms of success (basically 7-10 run).

My fear however is due to the time and money they spent on FF15, they won't make FF16 until they do 2 FF15 sequels and release FF7R. Which to me means no new FF games for a while.

Intricately disecting every little detail in an obviously exaggerated comment does not make my point less valid.

It's the least FF game ever produced and that includes the spinoffs and mobile games. It's a handful of radio towers away from being a generic Ubisoft open world.

Yes. Not just in the FF series, but at all. Almost the entirety of last generation was spent waiting for two games that never saw the light of day, and they had very little to fill in the gaps between the (mostly unwanted) entries in the XIII trilogy. It was just embarrassing and really made SE look like a complete clown show. With stuff like DQ Heroes, WoFF, I Am Setsuna, Nier, and the remasters/rereleases, they seem to be doing a lot better at that this gen.

Of course, whether they can deliver on their main games in a timely fashion still remains to be seen, and that's what will be needed for FF to recover. But as for SE, at least I'm not looking at them and wondering, "WTF are you even doooooooooing?" They're actually making and releasing stuff!

Yet I heard no defense or counter examples of it so far to diminish my point.

If all you need in a FF game is chocobos then I guess I'm wrong. Then FFXV is the most FF ever because it has the most chocobo related quests.