It's one of the crispest memories of my childhood. It took me forever to beat it, but I did love that game. It got me into so many other games like it, but more so than that it got me into storytelling through games. Final Fantasy was basically like a giant novel that you got to be the characters going through it. Sure, your path or destiny was set before you, but overcoming the trials wasn't about how cool the hero was that got through it, but the hard work and strategy you put into getting past it.
When I picked up the next game--Final Fantasy II to me at the time, but IV to those that "knew better"--I was a bit confused; I was expecting the next iteration of the Warriors of Light, but instead I get a new world, and a dark, brooding character to control that I never really understood. When I finally got FFIII, it made sense: these weren't really "sequels" as much as they were new stories in new places, an almost "alternate universe" with things are almost the same but also radically different. Needless to say, I became a huge fan of the franchise.
Now, I tend to be that kind of guy who buys into these kinds of things; I've got all the Stargate DVDs shows and movies, collected pretty much every form of Scott Pilgrim, read all of the Mass Effect books and comics, have shelves upon shelves of my favorite Manga... In this particular case, I still own all of the released Final Fantasy games on at least one platform (although admittedly not always the original one). I'm not ashamed; these games mean a lot to me, and going back to play them is like rereading your favorite book. Even years later, as new ones get released, I still play each one fervently; I'm a stalwart defender of XIII, as I loved the story and combat system (XIII-2 was AMAZING, by the way, outside of the main character's weird starting outfit), and I'm waiting anxiously for the final installment.
So to only have one game on the current gen systems, systems that have been out for years longer than any other generations of gaming platforms, is depressing to me. Worse is the idea of the company not making good money off of the last few ones; XIV and its recurring emphasis still seems to be a mistake to me, but other than that the games were good. I personally didn't really enjoy XII, but I've met quite a few defenders of the title and the gameplay itself wasn't bad.
So I write this letter in hopes, one day, someone in SquareEnix will look at it and go, "Huh." Really, that's all I want. This isn't some crazy list of demands. It's just a list of ideas that I think could go a long way towards revitalizing the series.
1) Throw back the battle system a bit. Three characters really need to be controllable, even if it's queued. I do love the action system from 13, but I think by slowing down the action a bit you can go a long way. In addition, the "queuing" issue could be fixed simply by making certain specific actions repeated instead of selecting them all individually; base spells are cast X amount of times (based on your action level), next level is X-1, X-2, etc. This would allow for faster choices without pounding the same button over and over.
Another way to make this workable is to add "Guest" slots. Besides your 1-3 party members, featured characters, whether they're summoned monster helpers, NPC guests or special equipment additions could make this interesting. They would not be controlled by the player, but their presence can be. Perhaps even the option to have multiple guests and choose (or have it random) which one shows up. Gives it a collectible feel, and helps control the action a bit more by having a character who will automatically act.
The emphasis on actionable content lately is fun, I must admit. However, I'm the first to claim that I often miss the old turn-based style of games. Well, Active Time Battles to be precise; I fully admit a full turn-based system would just be weird these days. Still, the ideal situation would be once again between these two extremes.
Here's my for-instance brainstorming: a turn-based system similar to IX with a twist. Do queued moves where characters take turns, but include interrupts and combo commands. Example the first: Character 1 starts casting Fire; character two's ATB is full, as is its Tactical gauge (or whatever), so he hits Fire as well with the Combo button instead of the Select button; the original spell is interrupted, and the two cast Fira together. (Ideally, Combos would be something other than just the next step, so maybe Meteo or Firaja or something, but my point is still made) Another situation: Main character's ultimate is charged, and begins their animation. The boss monster, its Tactical gauge full, uses its Interrupt: the animation freezes and the boss's foot crashes through a shattered-glass animation as the action is interrupted and the main character's ultimate move gauge is halved.
2) Characters need to be more unique than just their design. The last few games has gotten into this idea that characters are interchangeable when it comes to who's fighting with you. You pick your roles, and you pretty much just go through the motions regardless of who you're playing with. Their stories are all intertwined, too, so there's not chance to really get to know the characters individually; you form your attachment to the main character, and that's pretty much it.
Final Fantasy VI did this right. Sure, everyone in that game could learn magic, but every character had a uniqueness, a skill that only they could use. And not only that, but it was one that grew with you, something that made them unique but also special throughout the course of the game. You felt a special attachment with the characters you enjoyed using, you have personal investment in them, and when, in the end, you have a choice to pursue something important to that character, you do because the character is important to you as well.
The way that someone looks when they do the attack command isn't enough. To use Final Fantasy IX as an example, no one really got into Steiner because his moves weren't unique and didn't grow with him; his best abilities were borrowed from Vivi, who was a fan favorite. Zidane was even often overlooked because most of his abilities were just regular attacks and variants on it; only those who really got into the Overdrive system really enjoyed him, because he turned into a unique character with strategy at that point.
Interchangeable characters will end up becoming just that: interchangeable. Fans want to get behind their favorites. In Final Fantasy XII, a lot of people don't even remember most of the character names because, honestly, they were all the same. The only difference was in how you leveled the characters. As a result, you didn't really bond with any of them in the game, which majorly takes away from one's ability to really connect or enjoy a character themselves (There's also story issues that caused this in XII, but that's a different issue altogether). Unique moves, even if they're small in number, will allow this sort of bonding to occur once again. It's a lot of why Final Fantasy X still sticks in a lot of people games, despite what many people call the games "weaknesses" in plot and play (things I don't agree with, but hey, everyone's got their opinions).
3) Bring the iconic items back to the forefront. Fans of the franchise expect certain things from Final Fantasy. To name a few: crystals, chocobos, Cid, colors of magic, airships, summons, and Biggs and Wedge. Now, the emphasis on Summons and crystals has been pretty steady since IX. But Cid really needs to be back in the game. Airships need to be more than a way to re-explore at the end of the game. Chocobos need to be more than just that way to avoid fights; heck, it's be great if they DIDN'T avoid fights. Plot devices and ways to traverse come to mind; treasure hunting and riding games would be phenomenal. Breeding is out, but the rest is open; IX's chocobos were amazing and allowed for growth without the weird breeding system. A trading system would also be a lot of fun, or even a "red slip" option to try and race/gamble to earn new ones would be a lot of fun.
Cid needs to be refreshed a bit and brought back to his roots. The last few games have seen him take this switch in what has normally been a mainstay of his personality: An obsession with a hobby. More often than not, this has been with airships; however, his last few iterations have more been about personal goals or things of that nature. In addition, he really needs to be back as part of the party. It's been too long since Cid was more than just some guy who put the heroes on the right path; he needs to be front and center once more, a re-imagining to put him back in people's minds alongside the ones from IV and VII.
I really, really miss blue magic. I can't explain it well enough. The concept of color-coded magic is really fun, but there is nothing more memorable from the Final Fantasy series than all of the time spent trying to survive the attacks of monsters in an effort to steal the power for myself. It doesn't have to be big; in fact, that can be one of the unique characters, and there may only be, say, a dozen blue-magic abilities in the game. One way or another, though, it should be there. It's been the discussion piece of so many games before, the "badge of the collector," and it should be once again if you want people to really desire to dig in to the game (without some awkward, pointlessly repetative rare-spawn-based "hunt club" game).
4) Closed worlds instead of open corridors. This particular problem is specific to two games, X and XIII, although I would argue that XII had a similar issue. There has a been an emphasis on paths on the last few games which has been awkward for series. The Final Fantasy games have always been those of worlds, specifically of one that expands more and more as the game goes on. The game play has always been linear; you still need to accomplish A before the way to B opens, then accomplish C before you can go to D, etc. But this has always been limited by your methods of travel or by plot; since the onset of Final Fantasy X, this is instead limited by the fact that you literally have to go through A to get to B, then through that to get to C.
Everything seems to be limited to paths you travel in the recent games. For the XII argument, although the "paths" were set in worlds that LOOKED more open and you seemed to have the option to travel some of them when you "shouldn't be" yet, you were still just walking these limited corridors, and going off track was just to grab a treasure chest or two. Final Fantasy needs a return to fields; it's something that it's capable of doing. The beginning of the second half of Final Fantasy XIII proves this when you really start the side quests, as does many of the maps from XIII-2. The open field areas were amazing, and I spent more time in those two maps with the large open areas than any other area. The reason why: they were FUN, and trying to find all the interesting things there was a blast.
Let me say this plainly: Going down a side corridor in a tunnel to grab a chest is not exploring. Trying to keep track of what spawned in what region within a large map is a blast. Finding out a way to get past an impassable barrier and, by extension bringing in a second field (and in a lot of ways, a whole other world) is even more fun. And getting the ship to travel back and forth, and slowly figuring out how to get to new fields by upgrading my ship or chocobo or whatever... It's not really possible to explain the feeling of not only getting to explore, but the sense of accomplishment that comes from earning the ability to explore more. Getting access to new areas just because you passed through the tunnel on the way is important, don't get me wrong, but that shouldn't be the entirety of the game.
The problem isn't the linear gameplay. No matter what people say, we LOVE linear gameplay. Advancing plot is fun. Storytelling in a game is fun. And don't get me wrong: a lot of people love open world games too, but that's not why we come to Final Fantasy. We're here for story, and if you want a strong, well-told story, an open-world type of gameplay isn't really an option. The world needs to open as we advance, and we come to expect that from not only this series, but the genre we've come to love called JRPG.
There is a large difference, however, between linear gameplay and a linear world. Just like no world should exist in a vacuum, no world should ever exist in a line. Final Fantasy X was, literally, a straight line from beginning to end, seen right from the airship, with "dots" of interest out to the side. For the first half of the game, XIII was the same way, although the line wasn't quite as straight. And XII allowed a bit more space in the lines, but in a lot of ways, it was still just a series of interconnected corridors; not nearly as bad as the other two, but still frustrating.
5) That's pretty much it. Seriously, there's a lot of things you can do with these ideas and still make it work. However, I would greatly worry that, without these things, another game is going to have that difficulty of picking back up the franchise, something that seems to be desperately needed right now. Visions are awesome, and I really do love the games that have come out, but they're fun to me. The problem with a recurring franchise is trying to make sure that you appeal to those that love the franchise; the bonus is that if you do so, you can be sure to rake in the dough.
Artistic vision and creativity are important, but so are the efforts (and in some cases, concessions) made to your potential players. Some of the best exercises in creativity can be explored by having to do so within stringent guidelines, and there are times when its necessary (To keep it in the family, Kingdom Hearts is probably one of the best examples of this) in order to make something both interesting and successful. And that's what I really want back from this franchise, for it to be both interesting and successful again.
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