Square-Enix talks Final Fantasy XIII to Digital Spy

[Eight]

I dunno, I like what I've heard about the storyline of FFXIII, so I honestly feel there is no fear in the quality of the plots going downhill, and there will be little to worry about in terms of drama.

They literally are just trying to make battles faster whilst still keeping it an RPG. If they find a good way to pull it off, then I'm all for it. If the find a faster way to pull it off AND allow the player to control the full party which they haven't been able to do in XII and XIII, even better.

I think this whole action-paced battle systems is to attract a bigger Western audience though, (mainly to increase sales) and the Western audience wants fast and exciting gameplay. What SE is trying to do is attract a wider audience whist keeping their old. So this is a matter of keeping things turn based with a good plot while making battles faster and more exciting.

I'm interested in seeing how they'll be planning to pull this off, and not just for FFXIII, but all future FFs.

 

[The Illusive Man]

Well for me as an old skool gamer, I found the FF games to be the last bastion of hope against the current market trend of linear sandbox gameplay with lots of mobs to keep you from noticing the lack of content.

It seems the pressure of Sales per Annum has finally caught up with SE and they look set to start releasing the same thing as everything else, watered down products stuck together in a few months and stuck with a prestige label.

Personally I really hope it comes backs to bite them in the ass, its a very bad idea probably decided on by the greedy fat cat shareholders that only care about churning out products to increase there profit margin.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Pretty soon there will be 1st person shooter Final Fantasy. Can you imagine?

Sadly enough, I can. I mentioned the exact same thing to Ari last night when I read they were "taking influences for CoD and Halo". I mean, they're jumping from one extreme to another. Final Fantasy used to be the pinnacle of RPGs, it does no good taking influence from a completely opposite genre. Take influence from Western RPGs by all means, but FPSs, no. D:

 

[Totoro]

It's a tough one regarding what is best for FF in the long run. Although many of the turn based older FF's are still widely loved, it may also be because of the nostalgia effect. However games need to develop and there probably aren't any new turn-based rpg's being developed right now, because they probably wouldn't sell well if they did release it. This is talking about the big consoles. I'm sure if they just targeted the ds/psp market like zelda have done it could be cost effective.

The end of the day, gaming is a business and they could possible try to make games to satisfy some of the more diehard fans that want things to be more like some of the older FF's but they might not make a profit on it. Then the company would cease to be so there wouldn't be any more FF games anyway.

It's just the way the cookie crumbles, it's either embrace change or be happy you've got the old FF's that you like.