Is Square Enix Killing Final Fantasy?

DeltaGamer takes a look at some of Square Enix's recent Final Fantasy announcements to see if fans should be overjoyed, or deathly afraid for their favorite RPG series.

[WhiteLightning]

Yeah they are

FF13-2 says it all really

Whas started out as an interesting idea (Fabula Nova Crystallis series) has turned to crap over the years and it's become "crystal" clear (good one right) that their little plan hasn't worked. As soon as FF13 got negative to mixed reviews Square have been changing tatics, I mean why do you think Final Fantasy Agito 13 has distanced it's self from the series even by going far enough by giving it a name change to Type-0.

"Type-0 is a great example of the lengths Square has gone to in order to further develop the universe introduced in Final Fantasy XIII, insisting on keeping the game’s ties to Gran Pulse and the l’Cie despite removing the XIII from the game’s title."

I highly doubt it will relate to FF13's universe, they're will probably be bits and bobs here and there but nothing that huge.....you know Sqaure over exaggerate and overhype things to make it look like there working their arses off.

I hope to god that if they go full retarded and make FF13-3 they will class those three games (FF13 trilogy) as the "Fabula Nova Crystallis series" and make FF13 Versus into Final Fantasy 15 which will give the game more attention, put it back in the spotlight and make it so it has a better chance of giving us a good main title FF game this gen. I mean despite all this "all three games are linked" talk with the whole l’Cie crap I think FF13 Versus looks like a differen't world and time period to exsist in FF13's universe. Why didn't they release FF13 Versus as a main FF title first and release FF13 as the side game...least then people wouldn't complain how crap and differen't it is, we could of just let is pass and use the "Well it was only a side game" excuse to ignore it.

[silkrevolver]

Why is it that you’re always the first person to bash XIII-2 in almost every article? Even if the article isn’t specifically XIII-2, you make an effort to connect it and bash away. Just wait until the game is out to judge it.
Love,
Silkrevolver

[WhiteLightning]

Hmmmm

No not I'm not, theres a lot og FF13 haters out there. I love how your over exaggerating it

By the way it's an comment section on a news website

But I know what people like you are like

Dear silkrevolver

Why is it you come to FF13 and Sqaures rescue everytime someones bashes it

Why is it you comme to Squares rescue when someone calls them

Why is it you have to point out someone who has a negative comment that goes againts what you think of the game.

.....Deal with it.

Love Whitelightning

"If you don't agree with my opinion, then your not allowed to voice it"

[MrSpace]

lol Whitelightning "Dear" and "Love"

Oh silkrevolver getting owned by your own comment

Classy :)

[silkrevolver]

Love,
Silkrevolver

[zeddy]

if they are, they might aswell go out with a bang and do the ff7 remake, it'll sell over 10 million, its a no brainer really.

[Ingram]

There were lots of objective reasons to hate FFXIII, why would we have to keep on admiring square enix?

We're just stating personal preferences and disappointment.Cope with it, like have to we cope with modern FF fans.

[bobbyluv]

ff13-2 has addressed the complaints people had with 13, why do u so called "fans" still shit on it. It's no longer linear,side quests are available from the first chapter of the game,they added towns,moogles,chocobos,a casino and you can travel in time, all this they did in a little over a year.You ff13 haters complained about hope being a whining bitch, well guess who the whining bitch is now (WHITELIGHTNING). The fact is that they've made improvements on what i believe to be an OK game 13-2 can only get better from here.

[Chocoboh]

I believe an ok game to be like the same one I played 10 years ago when you were probably still a fetus. Graphics don't make a game fun. And that's about the only thing FF13 and FF13-2(a sequal in which no one asked for) will have. Keep sticking up for your shitty sequel in which is killing the jRPG genre. Keep eating up that crap, please do so we can kill it quicker so developers in the West can get more customers for making stuff worth playing.

[Anderson8]

you havent played it yet so you cant know if they have really addressed anything..

OT..i dunno if they are killing the series but they are having a bad gen compared to last, i'm sure they will turn it round eventually

[bobbyluv]

as far as linearity goes ive seen the maps of bresha ruins and its clearly not a straight line,ive also seen towns, chocobos, moogles, time travel. the only think i havent seen is the casino.

[dragonknight4]

FFXIII had a lot of problems that were so obvious that they shouldn't have existed in the first place. For example, a lack of towns, no respite, poor pacing, bad lines like "moms are tough", a combat system for noobs where you only needed to keep hitting the X button, extremely linear gameplay where you feel like running through a tube, summons that behave like Transformers, and characters who I did not care for at all. FFXIII is the only game in my collection that has made me feel anger, something that not even Demon's Souls was able to do.

[Shojin1]

WTH has FF14 online been cancelled? Besides that I can respect the girl angle on 13. 2 titles in the 13 saga is a little redundant... The HD remakes look hot so... I cant complain being a FF fan...

[WhiteLightning]

@bobbyluv

Shut up...

You call me a whinner because I, LIKE MANY OTHERS, hate FF13 when it was in fact a crap FF game and then people like you whine on about the people hating on FF13.....basicaly making YOU the whiner. At least the majority of people who hate the game have a reason to hate it but you whining about someone who hates a game (where it deserves it) is worse.

Cry me a river pal

Again another person who thinks

"If you don't agree with my opinion, then your not allowed to voice it"

@dragonknight4

See that sums it up perfectly.....

[Biggest]

I like how bobbyluv makes a completely valid and important point, but no one cares. Every person that complained about XIII said the same things. Now that they're releasing XIII-2 with all of those complaints addressed, the complainers have changed to "So what. We never asked for it!" First of all, who asked you to ask for it? Secondly, they gave you what you asked for anyway! They supposedly added towns, a more open world, sidequests, and traveling. What more do you want? If you want FFVII it costs $5.00-$10.00 on PSN.

[HINDERIZATION]

of course they fixed the issues. it's to compensate for the fans who disliked it for of all of the extras they took out because of the 360's limited disc capacity. and of course they did it in less than a year. whatever they had to take out of XIII to fit in the 360 was probably left over and NOW they're putting it into this game. i'm not surprised they did this in such a short time. they probably had the files and everything already waiting to be written into the game. i just hope that it gets better reviews.

[gman_moose]

Since Square (formerly Squaresoft) merged with Enix, they have gone in a downward spiral.

When was the last time they released a mainstream game without any controversy? FFX? I can remember the outrage when FFXI was included in the main series, as most FF fans weren't interested in MMORPG's. When FFXII came out, many were turned off because it seemed like S-E were trying to simply formulate a single player MMO. A lot of the game mechanics were the same as FFXI. FFXIII was supposed to be the game that got them back on track. Then we get this linear, boring, confusing mess of a game that disappointed far more fans than it pleased. I played it and enjoyed it enough I guess, but it was not in the same league as those before it.

In the meantime, they have a game in development that actually looks to have a ton of potential in FFv13. What new information do we have on this after 5 years since it was announced? Basically nothing. We know about as much now as we new 4 years ago.

Then you have FFXVI. An MMO that was supposed to come out on PC and PS3 at the same time. Then they pushed back the PS3 version about 7 months. Then they delayed it indefinitely while they fix the PC version (Last Remnant anyone). Again, SE tried to do something innovative but again failed to get it right. Now they are spending millions to go back and fix it.

So they have an opportunity to right the ship. All companies do when they have such a loyal, nostalgia based following. They can release some remastered games for some quick cash while they work on new projects. What do the fans want? FFVII, and Kingdom Hearts 3. This is all I've seen on wish lists for 3+ years now. So what does SE do? They announce a remastered version of FFX. WTF? Why bother remastering a game no one has asked for? It's like they are intentionally trying to piss off their fans. Why work on FFXIII-2 when versus isn't finished and we've been waiting 5 years? Because they seem to be trying to piss off their fans. Why not announce a non-DS KH game? Because they are the dumbest f***ing company on earth.

Who really has the patience for them anymore? I've long since given up. Recipe for money - give people what they want. They just don't get it.

[thesummerofgeorge]

Totally agree. I feel like I'm actually being trolled by a game developer. I honestly have no idea why they make the decisions they make anymore.

It's not even as if they're making decisions that, although they piss us off, are smart business decisions. No. The decisions they're making are mutually detrimental to them and the fans.

There are simple, easy and obvious solutions to SE's problems. I can't understand why they ignore them. Although it seems ridiculous to even say, it really does feel like there's no other conceivable reason to do what they're doing, other than to piss off their fans.

They're sitting on a veritable gold mine, and all they have to do is listen to the fans to access it. Even just a little. You don't have to give us everything we want, just show that you hear us in some way.

What do you have to gain by releasing games few want, as opposed to games the entire gaming community have been foaming at the mouth for years for?? WHAT SE??? WHAT!!!???

I don't think I'm being harsh nor hyperbolic in saying the executive decision makers at Square Enix are inept, oblivious morons.

It's kinda like SE is George Lucas, and the Final Fantasy series is their Star Wars. They'll give us everything but what we want.

[boommuffin]

the reason their doing a HD port(not a full on remaster) of FFX instead of VII is because it will just be overall easier for them because if they did it for VII people would pobly expect them 2 completely remake the game btw they already released VII on PSN. if they were going to take the time to remake a FF on current gen console id prefer FFVI, FFVII=overated

[gman_moose]

@boommuffin
FFVII may be overrated, but it's overrated by enough people to make it a worthwhile investment. SE is simply making too many mistakes. Anyone who can't see this is a blind Square fanboy. I used to worship them back in the FFIII/Chrono Trigger/FFVII days. They continued to produce quality tile after quality title.... we got FFVIII, Parasite Eve, Vagrant Story, FF Tactics, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, the list goes on and on and on. What the hell happened to that company? I guess losing guys like Sakaguchi didn't help, but they have other talent as well... anyway, the article asks if SE is killing Final Fantasy, and the answer is yes they are. Slowly but surely, they are killing it.... such a shame.

[guitarded77]

Well, FFX kinda helps since XIII sucked.

Seeing all the SPAM comments above reminds me of this...

[princejb134]

in my opinion square has been killing their own company this gen
i still haven't been impressed with any of their titles except for world ends with you for ds
I really hope versus 13 is good cause I'm buying day 1

[NukaCola]

Square has a lot of issues. They aren't necessarily killing FF, but they are destroying gamers hope and faith in their ability to continue to create the experiences they once had. The PSP titles have been great, but their console titles have been really poor. And this may be a sign...I can't say for sure...but Square Enix is the offically puplisher of COD in Japan, so...That just tells me their priorities are not order. And like Nintendo(is no Xenoblade or LAst Story), when you let the Western departments take over your company, you get bad ideas, bad marketing, and your product doesn't hold that JP feeling it once had. I think westernizing JP titles is killing JP titles in general.

[Godmars290]

They've put the franchise name above putting out a good game with a good story or honestly interesting characters.

They've basically gone from getting you involved and invested, to requiring investment. 20-25 hour tutorials?

[-Mika-]

I hate articles like this. First FF13 wasn't a bad game. It had great characters and a beautiful story. Yes it was lacking towns and side quest from a story standpoint. It makes sense. They are being hunted so them not walking accepting quest made sense.

FF13 had a great universe and im happy it getting a sequel. It fixing the complaints of the first game and adding more. This is shaping up to be a true FF game.

I also don't mind them releasing FF10 by it self. Square is a business. It needs to make money. If they did bundle ff10.X2, and 12 together. You would be looking at over a 100 hours of gameplay. 40 or 60 isn't a fair price for all three games together. So i don't mind them releasing each game for $40.

The reason they haven't made a ff7 remake yet is because they don't have the man power. Alot of people are working on 13-2. Some people are working on versus. Square has it hands full. Remaking 10 is easier since they are just adding hd textures. If they remade 7. It would be a whole new game which would require alot more people to work on it. So shut up about the ff7 remake.

Stop hating on square. They are a great company that makes great JRPG.

[yojimbo_slice]

Square/Squaresoft was an amazing company who made some of the most critically acclaimed JRPGs of our time.

Square Enix hasn't made a decent JRPG. EVER.

They need to take a look at everything they've changed since the 03 merger because none of it has been for the better.

[dragonknight4]

Don't forget that Enix was also an amazing company for releasing the Valkyrie Profiles, Star Oceans, and Dragon Quests.

Now, Square Enix is an abomination.

[RedDead]

Being hunted in most FF7 too. The Turks want Aerith. That's a shi**y excuse really. The story was told poorly(read this to understand), it was way over dramatic, the training wheels were on for too long. And finally the characters were generally mediocre and the cheesy side was way to much(Snow and Nora were unbearable).

Now, I agree on some things, the Universe was great and had alot of potential, the linearity is gone so you don't have to just do nothing but battles for the entire game. Leader change 1-up. Hopefully the battle system will open up at the start of the game.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

Yeah i liked FF13 universe but hated the cheesy story and characters. The only one with common sense was Sazh

[bobbyluv]

in ff13 they were not just being hunted by soldiers the towns people were also against them, there's actually a cut-scene were they walk into a town and everyone goes into a panic, actually i think there's 2

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[zero_gamer]

"Stop hating on square. They are a great company that makes great JRPG."

I don't hate Square but ever since the PS2 era they've been decent at best. The merge with Enix made things even worse. Their best effort this entire generation of gaming is remakes. Seriously, how many remakes of FFIV have they released within the past 5-6 years?

[Elda]

@ Mika,Great comment,but the haters will keep on hating!!

[Anderson8]

if u like something your a fanboy if u dislike it your hating...

*sigh*.. just because ppl didnt like a title and u did doesn't mean they are hating it may just mean that they have higher standards than you and they wont accept being shovelled cub par games for £40

[GarandShooter]

Gonna sigh at your own comment?

Aren't you doing the same thing, jumping to a conclusion based on his tastes?

[gman_moose]

You make no sense. FFVII wouldn't be a whole new game. It would need a new game engine, which would take some time, but the investment would be worth it for the number of copies it would sell. I'll be shocked if FFX sells 100k units.

You are obviously a fanboy, so there's probably not much sense arguing with you. S-E has been making poor business decisions for years now. Recent events are not out of the ordinary for them. Yes, they are a business, so it's frustrating that they make so many stupid decisions. See: fixing FFXVI.

[DragonKnight]

@Mika: Considering that your name is shared with a character from a superior game, I'm surprised by your post. But, let's address it anyway.

FFXIII most certainly was a bad game. It was a game that lacked focus and tried too hard to appeal to every denominator, and failed at it completely.

"It had great characters"

Like who? The only character that seemed real was Sazh. The rest suck. The only good thing about the characters was Snow's theme. He definitely has the most badass theme ever. Vanille was a more annoying attempt at Aeris, but she lived. Hope was so damn awful Vivi would kick his ass. Lightning was a robot. Fang was pointless. Snow was cliche. Awful characters.

"beautiful story"

Nah. The story had far too many holes and required too much explanation via the logs. The underlying theme was supposed to be Snow rescuing Lightning's sister. Instead you spend most of the time just going in a straight line while being pursued and hearing everyone but Sazh and Vanille b*tch about their problems or about how mad Lightning is. They had so much mythos they could have focused on with the Fal'Cie but they didn't.

"Yes it was lacking towns and side quest from a story standpoint. It makes sense. They are being hunted so them not walking accepting quest made sense."

Weakest argument ever used to prop up a game's massive linearity being a fail. Pretty much all FF games have you being pursued by some force and yet there are still towns and mini-games to explore. Look at FFVI (hunted by the empire half of the game), FFVII (hunted by Shinra, and they are also supposed to stop Meteor but they go snowboarding), FFVIII (hunted by Galbadia), FFIX (hunted by Queen Brahne and Kuja) FFX's minigames open up when you're hunted by Yevon. There's no excuse for a lack of exploration. Stop defending SE.

"FF13 had a great universe and im happy it getting a sequel. It fixing the complaints of the first game and adding more. This is shaping up to be a true FF game."

Wrong. It had potential which was wasted. FFXIII-2 is being met with hostility because it's an insult to true FF fans who expect a great game done right the FIRST time. XIII-2 put Versus XIII on hold, which by all indications is a superior game, and that's why people are pissed. We want the great games, not the fixes for the bad ones.

"Square is a business. It needs to make money. If they did bundle ff10.X2, and 12 together. You would be looking at over a 100 hours of gameplay. 40 or 60 isn't a fair price for all three games together. So i don't mind them releasing each game for $40."

See, you're what's called an enabler. You praise SE for poor decisions and poor pricing. If you look at other HD remaster collections, you'd see that the price you deem unfair is deemed fair by better devs and gets them great sales. Considering FFX is 10 years old, FFX-2 is about 8 or 9, and FFXII is about 6, $60 is pretty much dead on what they are worth now altogether.

"The reason they haven't made a ff7 remake yet is because they don't have the man power. Square has it hands full. Remaking 10 is easier since they are just adding hd textures. If they remade 7. It would be a whole new game which would require alot more people to work on it."

They aren't making FFVII because they don't know how to organize their teams. They are constantly announcing too many mediocre projects that take time away from the good stuff fans want. If other devs can make games as large as FFVII in HD, why can't SE? They just don't want to, not until they have to. Stop confusing Square Enix with Squaresoft.

[boommuffin]

if they were to remake a FF id pefer FFVI, im sure by now we have experienced all FFVII has to offer with its 4 or so games,cg movies & anime specials

[DragonKnight]

I'd prefer FFVII or IX myself, but FFVI would also be better than FFVII. I have VII ranked as 3 worst in the series, not counting spin-offs or sequels.

[rataranian]

Yes.

[laaakokaracha]

No!

SE is NOT killing final fantasy!

They already Killed it!

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

They should seriously just take it back to its roots.

[Ddouble]

What exactly are its roots? Some people say they want it like the Nes games while others say they want it like the PSX games.

For me a FF needs to always use the formula that test0 above me says but at the same time they need to innovate and try new things. Thats why the PSX games were so popular.

If it were up to some people every FF game would have been turn based with the same battle system.
Last thing we need is for FF to become like Pokemon which has hardly changed since the gameboy days.

[Hicken]

I agree wholeheartedly.

There are some things that are always around in an FF (airships, Cid, chocobos, etc), but since the PSX days each FF has been considerably different from its predecessor. This was doubly true for the first new game in each generation: VII is a pretty radical departure from the formula that made I-VI popular, and then X did away with the things that VII-IX had in common.

What's wrong with XIII continuing that trend?

People don't honestly dislike the game because it sucked. They dislike it because it's not what they thought an FF should be. And even I can agree that it doesn't have a lot in common with its predecessors. But I'm okay with that, because I play different games to play something new. If I wanted to play VII, well, I've got it, along with V, VI, VIII, X, X-2, Mystic Quest(yes, even Mystic Quest) and recently acquired IV.

[mendel]

You could certainly argue that the PSX games were a natural evolution of the NES games, which is perhaps where people are wanting to see the series to return.

[Anderson8]

the changes from each title are what make it stay fresh and exciting.. but the consistencies like airships, exploration and sidequests etc are what make it great.. there has never been any problem with changing the battle system, style etc but when you remove all those other things entirely it becomes different game

[rataranian]

What I don't understand is why they want people to love XIII so much. It came out, some people liked it, most agree that it sucked. Ok, so lets move on. Why a XIII-2, Type-0, Versus XIII? And now rumors of a XIII-3? Come on already.

[Hicken]

How long do you think all these games have been in development? XIII has been in the works since before the PS3 came out, and XIII-2 is essentially the stuff that got left out; all the claims that SE just ignored the fans to make the game are silly.

Type-0 (formerly Agito) and Versus were original parts of the Fabula Nova Crystalis, which means they've been decided upon for at least as long as XIII. And, aside from being part of the FNC, they have very little in common(as far as we know, they don't even take place in the same world).

And XIII-3, if it happens, will be in virtually the same position as XIII-2 is.

Seriously, your FF "savior" isn't all that far away, so just put up with XIII-2- for those of us that liked it- and wait on Vs to hit stores. Meanwhile, there are a plethora of other games out you could be playing.

[boommuffin]

god i hope when they remake V & VI on 3DS they dont make the characters midgets again :D

[Stealth2k]

hell no...... type zero looks amazing, 4 warriors of light was amazing

And regardless of the bitching. 13 was an 85 rankings game, sold over 5 million and was successful

[Kee]

Yeah, even I (A huge FF fan) have to admit it.

They've ruweened it.
It's ruweened.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[yojimbo_slice]

It's so ruweened you couldn't even improve it with some Cool HWhip.

[mendel]

Everything is better with Cool HWhip.

[Jack_DangerousIy]

That's not how you say it. You're putting way too much emphasis on the 'h'.

;)

[Burning_Finger]

Milking is the word not killing.

[Knightofelemia]

They killed Final Fantasy when Squaresoft merged with Enix to form SquareEnix. Final Fantasy X remake I want because it was a great game the one Final Fantasy which I am interested in FFVS13 I am starting to loose interest in because there is no new info no release date and instead of making the game they bring out a sequal to FF13.

[jneul]

lol you have to worry when ffx a hd remake is the best jrpg that square enix have released in a decade, ps the other complaint about ffxiii was its lack of character development, i mean the story completely sucked, they over simplified the whole game just so noobs could hop on board, that to rpg fans was an insult and in general found the game way too easy...

[Neko608]

The biggest problem with SE is that they don't understand the differences between their Japanese fans and their US/EU fans.

[Seventh_Blood_Reborn]

I don' t think so, think of the old FF ... those were pratically identical for all the markets, but they were good. So that can' t really be the problem.

[Arknight]

True classic games are great on their own merits. It has nothing to do with who they were "made for". They are just good no matter who plays them. See Demon's Souls.

[Mgs4isOverrated]

They're not killing FF, it's alrady dead.

I'm just waiting for them to revive it.

[zero_gamer]

They needed to go back to their roots. Making a game similar to FF7, 8 or 9 in terms of gameplay would be a good start. These games retain much of the elements from the original NES FF. Many of us FF fans want a game we've known FF for, a vast world to explore, not some long walk down the valley.

[Ddouble]

"That sounds great, but it doesn’t address the concerns of gamers who have no interest in returning to Gran Pulse, or playing as characters who looked and behaved like stitched together versions of previous Final Fantasy protagonists"

So it shouldn't be done because it does not cater to you?

"Type-0 is a great example of the lengths Square has gone to in order to further develop the universe introduced in Final Fantasy XIII, insisting on keeping the game’s ties to Gran Pulse and the l’Cie despite removing the XIII from the game’s title."

All 3 games are not related. There share common mythologies such as fal'cie and l'cie and crystals.

Also the name Agito XIII was removed because they wanted to make Type-0 it's own series. Thats why they registered the domain for Type-1 amd 2. It still shares FNC mythology.

As for X over VII. People need to use common sense. All X needs is some tidier textures and a resolution bump for a HD port. If you're going to make a remake for VII it needs a complete overhaul and that would take time. Certain scenes such as RedXIII dancing around in a sailor suit would not work with the graphics we can put out today. Even if SE are working on it why say it now and wait 7 years for it.

As for XIII-3 they did say they made enough content in XIII's world that could fit in more than one game but i rather they stop at 2.

Yes they made a lot of mistakes but right now they listened to feedback and implemented it in XIII-2, Versus is now going into 100% production, XIV is coming along fine with all the updates and Type-0 got positive reviews from the demo and we're getting a HD remake.

The future's bright

[Troll-without-Bridge]

This website is clearly looking for hits and im not clicking o«it.

[mendel]

Better stick to websites that don't want you to read them then.

[jacksonmichael]

Ha.

OT - Damn it, I really want Versus XIII.

[just_sayin]

I don't know how to feel about XIII. if you just play the game to story is to confusing. If you read the ultimania it helps alot i'll just blame SE for not telling the story properly. I well purchase XIII-2 cause if this game flops u can believe Versus 13 will be a mutiplat game. If that happens we will have to wait even longer for it.

[Dark_king]

Vs13 will stay exclusive but just because the man in charge of making it intends to use every once of power the PS3 has.He already stated that it was being developed with the PS3's abilities in mind.An before someone stats so was FF13 it wasn't.It was being developed with the PS2 in mind.

[just_sayin]

i just want versus mani wanted it more than 13. I wonder how 13 would have turned out if it was released for the ps2. For me 13 was at least a 7 i'll get 13-2 only for lightning.

[stonecold3]

nope its gone in production now waiting for a release date they wont bring it to xbox because they dont have time then delayed the game longer than what it is then we will have ff13 allover again and im pretty sure no one wants ffvs 13 gimped

[tickticktick]

LOL people still crying about FF going multiplat even though it wasn't Sony's to begin with.

Nintendo says hi.

Final Fantasy Versus PS3/360/Wii U That's how it will end up :)

[VsAssassin]

FFXIII's story was convenient at best. Square-Enix had to think of a plot that would conveniently explain why these characters have to bond together (saving themselves instead of saving the world). While that is good, yeah, like I said, it's very convenient. Lazy even. There are some things that stood out in FF13, sadly it's not the story. The battle system could have been great had they only removed the auto-battle system.

I know that FF13-2 is being shunned, and rightfully so. Only a little of the FF fans wanted it, if not no one at all. At least FFX was so popular which warranted a direct sequel.

[ignorantsonsof_]

You know you don't have to use the auto-battle right? Its just there for people who might be playing FF for the first time. The battle system was pretty fun without it. I saw it as a mixture of X, X-2, and 12 only without being able to switch between party members.

[VsAssassin]

I know it can be removed. It's just that the addition of this feature is irksome for most fans.

In all honesty, I like the battle system. It's somewhat reminiscent to Xenosaga Episode 2's battle system. But in XS2, you can take all your time to strategize.

I know the auto-battle is there for those new to the series, since the battle can get hectic at times, but I would rather SE implement a different method than this.

[B-Zero]

One thing I always ponder: If FFXIII was made by a far lesser known company as a brand new IP. Would it have been more critically acclaimed? Me thinks so.
Why? Easy, the heavy expectation. The expectation on Squares games reached tipping point some time after the release of FFX. Since then the expectation has been too high and subsequent releases have suffered.

[Game13a13y]

Sqaure-Enix, we don't care about FF XIII-2, and XIII sucks. I don't know why some people are defending it, guess those NOOBS have never played ANY FF games before. hurry up and give us FFversus13 if you want to redeem your name.

PS: don't release Versus on the 360, hint to the hint hint.

[narutogameking]

No.

Do you know why people loved the old FF games and say the new ones are shit? IT WAS ALL TEXT BACK THEN. You paint a picture of the characters yourself and give them personalities. Adding an annoying voice to them ruins that for people.

Its the same reason people never like their books being made into movies. It ruins their fantasies about these characters.

[ElementX]

I can't believe people still play FF games.

[Elda]

Bring on XIII-2,can'to wait to play it!!!

[Tanir]

how is Square killing FF with just one not so good FF game? no one has played crisis core? seen type 0? seen versus 13? and even 13-2 looks great.......people justt love to hate square because of ff13 *sigh

[u2azn]

It died after FF10

[Kingx2]

lol your sure your right.

[u2azn]

FF13 and FF14 where just another nail in the coffin

[u2azn]

@ElementX, what do you mean you cant beleive people still play FF games.

They suck now, but there are some decent FF games on handhelds like FF7 CC

[DanSolo]

Maybe it's time another dev looked at what made FF7 so good and so loved and make their own new ip up using that as inspiration and capitalize on Square Enix's slipping!

[Tzuno]

The problem with new FF games is that they are too futuristic therefore futuristic ideas make the series losing their way.

[Xander756]

The problem is the action combat in these games. Final Fantasy has always been turn-based. It's not a coincidence as soon as they moved away from that (FF12) the series started going down hill. Go back to turn-based combat, or Final Fantasy as a franchise is going to continue to decline.

[Kingx2]

umm the real question should be has square/enix killed ff, and survey says...yes.

"hate articles like this. First FF13 wasn't a bad game. It had great characters and a beautiful story."

yeah great characters lol if you like transgenderedly confused characters.

[Simco876]

FFXIII-3? lol, Why are they running the franchise into the ground?

Just make a FFXV, my god. Well I guess buying X is going to be swan song of my Final Fantasy career. Its been a great run, ever since FFI on the NES

[hadouken007]

FF series is already buried in the back yard.

[Surt]

I didn't know that there were more FF after that.

[PsERSONA]

Nope

[Arknight]

I see all these people posting things like, "The problem is: battle system, the futuristic setting, etc.". This is not what is missing....

The problem with Final Fantasy (and most modern versions of classic franchises) is that the original games were made by a group of people who were truly passionate about creating greatness. They were personally invested in creating a virtual, epic wonderland for others to explore and learn about. They filled their worlds with secret locations, hidden items, and lore.

Today, these people have been replaced by developers who are given massive budgets and limited timelines. Their orders are to create expensive eye-candy as fast as possible so that their corporation can slap a classic well-known logo on it and call it Final Fantasy.

Seriously, go back and play Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, or Final Fantasy VI. The soundtracks alone can trigger an emotional response before you even start the game! (Notice the lack of pop singers aka, Leona Lewis). You can tell that people put blood, sweat, and tears into these old games and they are still more fun than anything that comes out today. This is the problem....classic, epic video games were noobified and made "more accessible" to the mouth-breathing masses in order to rake in the millions.

It is the same process that made the Wii sales great in the short-term, but tank in the long-term and it is also happening to Final Fantasy. Versus XIII is the very last chance for the franchise with the old-school fans who have played since the NES.

[Tigerfire]

"Yoshinori Kitase, had been quoted as saying that if demand was high enough, they would “seriously consider” a collection featuring FFX, FFX-2 and FFXII."

SOURCE?!

[Bounkass]

'Bout time...

[Tigerfist]

Hmmm... Was that a tricky question?

Well... Yes?

[PandaJenkins]

I think the fans are destroying it more than SE tbh.

[Tigerfist]

Explain that statement please.

[ForROME]

Yep - I think FF9 was their last good one IMO

I think 7 8 and 9 were the last real run at quality controlled versions

[BlueEye]

The one fail Square Enix is doing right now is developing too many games, all those FF games, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest and so on. Its too much, only now has SE been able to put its full attention on Versus, after 5 years. Busy people I tell ya.

[CLOUD1983]

FF is long dead since FFX that means for 10 years now nothing worth playing for old hardcore fans released after FFX, that's the truth now what was the reason for so many crappy games? The first 3 things that come to my mind is the merge with Enix the quit of ex-President of Squaresoft Hironobu Sagakuchi the mastermind behind FFVII and every classic FF, and the horrendous battle system FF games have after X, things change from full party control to auto-battles and action that's no FF u could do something like that to some side-projects but doing that to the main series is sacrilege the new staff ruin FF and me personally I dont see any light in the tunel and as "Jneul" say:

"lol you have to worry when ffx a hd remake is the best jrpg that square enix have released in a decade"

Yep well said cant agree more, that's how it is.

[Hyperbomb69]

SE went down the drain the second they made FF13 multiplat. That showed that they were in it for the money and not for the quality of the game. lets see if they can redeem themselves with FF13vs, I hope they do...