FF12 Writer: “They Said RPGs Don’t Need a Storyline” (NSFW Site)

The writer of Final Fantasy XII and a host of other RPGs has spoken of her shock at being told by other production staff that RPGs “don’t need storylines” as the players aren’t looking for them.

[Godmars290]

I feel slapped in the face...

Also have an explanation of why it feels like Square's gone down the crapper. And really have to wonder how long this mentality's been around.

FFVII? FFIV?

Fucking Chrono Trigger?!

Like I said: slapped in the face...

[TheHater]

RPG is all about the story

[ReservoirDog316]

True, except (only exception I can think of) Demon's Souls. A barely there story but great nontheless.

And I honestly wouldn't mind if 2 had more story in there.

[Chris399]

just explained the offal that was FFXIII.

[darthawesome90]

Square the only reason I play your games is for the story! It's why I loved FFVI, VII, X, and Kingdom Hearts. And it's the ONLY reason I loved Crisis Core (What a game ending to that one).

[ikkokucrisis]

Sad how great writer's aren't appreciated in game creation (where she worked).

On a side note (since we're talking about Squ-Enix), I think it's just a shame they are going back on their console exclusive promise and making all of their RPG's multi-platform.

It's going to take them that much longer to release everything, and I can't help but to think that the game quality will also suffer from doing this as well.

Analogy: look at how long it takes for PC games to come out because they have to make them compatible to so many different hardware configurations.

[Millah]

I really don't understand what happened to Square. It really seems like they've been possessed by a demon of ignorance.

Oh well, they're going to continue to make shitty games, and we're just going to continue to not buy them. Let Square learn their lesson by not buying anymore of their games. Its truly pathetic what they have come to.

[Kain81]

WTF... am i in the right film here???
RPG without a Story???

[cobraagent]

What does NSFW stand for?

[TheColbertinator]

I think its Not Safe for Wife

[cobraagent]

Really?

[Chewy102]

Not safe for work.

It's the type of site that can/will cost you your job. Porn, hentai, and anything adult fits within NSFW.
Sankaku fits NSFW perfectly. They have a lot of porn, but they also have plenty of anti-China, gaming, anime, and a lot of other japanese related news. I find their anti-China and viper challenge articles funny as hell.

[Megaton]

Not Safe For Work.

Means there's nudity or something else graphic. Usually nudity.

[TheColbertinator]

That's odd since I really enjoyed the story of FF12 more than most FF games.

When I play a JRPG,the first thing I want is a good or at least a decent story.Why should I invest 50 hours into an RPG that I don't care about?

[Godmars290]

Well, look at WKC - if you have it.

The story is *EXTREMELY* generic. Is something that most don't even bother with once they get access to the pseudo-MMO which was tacked on. The big deal with your custom character who's not even a proper footnote in the main story with no reason to be tagging along.

On another note: yeah guess you wouldn't want your wife finding on that site either...

(NSFW = Not Safe for Work/Wife :p )

[CR-Y-SIS]

If I want gameplay I would go for Bayonetta or God of War. RPG is about story. WTF!

[BannedForNineYears]

Best site ever. o.o

[dgroundwater]

Leave it to Sankaku to make you laugh http://www.sankakucomplex.c...

And then make you gay :S http://www.sankakucomplex.c...

[Etseix]

so this... girl

is a man......

oh man i feel so.. bad :'(

[biggame901]

The primary emphasis of RPGs is on the story. And if SE really believes that they aren't, they have fallen even farther than I could have thought and need some serious help.

[Wolfmoonstrike]

Just wow! That is such BS. I mean if I didn't like storyline I wouldn't play JRPG's. In fact the story line is what I enjoy most out of the games (usually). I mean it's why uncharted, heavenly sword, and valkyria chronicles are among my faves this gen. Though my fave game is FFVIII, hell most squareSOFT games rock. Not only that but Squaresoft had some pretty wicked and interesting characters, I loved the chars from parasite eve.

Squaresoft= The king, president and holy pope of JRPG's.

Square-enix doesn't even qualify to be the jester.

Sad,sad day when it's said the least important aspect of an RPG is a storyline.

[R_aVe_N]

RPG without a story is like a FPS without guns! What the heck would be the point?

[TheColbertinator]

I beat Mirrors Edge without using a gun once throughout the campaign.That was an interesting game

[Senden]

The storyline MAKES jrpgs and is the only reason why I personally enjoy sp games... I find games with no story boring as I have no emotional motive to continue playing or any sort of connection with any of the characters in the game.

[patterson]

Exactly! I feel the same way.

[Demarco156]

FF12 Writer.... i stop reading there

[Wolfmoonstrike]

I dunno if it was completely her fault and regardless of her ability to write, whoever said to her that an RPG doesn't need a story is just messed up.

[capn_crunch]

This doesn't make sense when considering FFXIII was almost all story and a little gameplay.

Plus FFXII was awesome, best FF in the last decade (yup, better than X)

[darthawesome90]

FFXIII's story was mostly crap. It focused more on emotions of a girl prancing around like a fairy princess (Vanille), a mamma's boy (Hope), and saving Snow's fiancee (who the player had no emotional attachment to, and if she died nobody playing the game would shed a tear). The only motivation to keep a player interested is that they will all die by becoming Lcie. Now everyone knows the characters won't die...no urgency.

Now compare that to FFVI- Your a human esper with Kefka going F#$king nuts and literally destroying the world
FFVII- An ex-supersoldier with memory problems and a bad-ass villan bent on destroying the planet
FFVII Crisis Core- A Supersoldier who wants nothing but to save his friend and get back to his girlfriend. Finally he gets killed by the whole fricken army in the saddest ending ever.
FFX- Sucked into a unknown world by a humongous monster that just destroyed your city. Then are motivated by a captivating world and a girl that you actually want to save from death. And in the end a sad ending where by saving the girl you commit patricide and fade away into nothing(die).

Now how does FFXIII compare? It's obvious they didn't give a rats a## about the story. Just graphics and boring player cutscenes to show off the graphics.

[capn_crunch]

Good, bad, or so-so doesn't matter, it was heavy on the story side... which is contrary to this report/article.

BTW, how about a spoiler alert on all those endings. I'm playing Crisis Core right now, so I'm going to pretend I didn't read that. :)

XIII's story was mostly about politics and xenophobia and I actually found it rather interesting... although it didn't really go as far as it could.

[darthawesome90]

Sorry I spoiled the game. It's just so many of the games I mentioned were over ten years old and Crisis Core didn't sell too well in the USA because it's a PSP game. I'm sorry though and will provide more warning in my future posts.

As for my post being contrary to the article. I wasn't trying to say that FFXIII wasn't heavy on the story. I was trying to say that Square was trying to do the bare minimum on quality of their past 2 major FF titles as far as story is concerned. They have obviously been more concerned about graphics and a flashy combat system.

I guess I shouldn't have said the story was crap. It's a lot better than MANY other RPGs from different companies. Its fault is that it just doesn't live up to the quality of its predecessors.

[nefertis]

Sense when stories aren't important? The last I check thats the bread and butter of a rpg. Playb3yond

[foxxy]

Ff12 is one of my favorite RPGs but if this guy really said that I don't agree with him.

[mirroredderorrim]

Disheartening! SquareEnix..... don't even think about remaking FFVII now. I don't want it!!

[darthdevidem01]

So thats why FF12 had the worst story in an FF ever & the most boring characters (barring Balthier)

[PS3 Supremacy]

FF12 had a crappy storyline and borderline par characters. But the excellent gameplay kinda made up for that.