Many people think the FF Series is at a "downfall", so for those people, and for any FF fan in general, what do you want to see new in the new games or brought back from the old games?

For me personally, there are a couple things:

1. Mini Games. I don't mean Triple Triad. I mean like, Gold Saucer all over again. Just games that have pointless value. I like how they put the mini games in the Suikoden games like fishing and other card games and whatnot, and the Gold Saucer racing games, skiing games, basketball, etc. It doesn't take up much space to do these I don't think, but it would some games a lot more fun.

2. A better presentation of character depth. I'm personally one of the only ppl who liked the FF12 characters because I thought they were realistic, not stereotypical, and their dialogue sounded natural, but many fans wish that the characters were better, so I hope that they make their characters a little more deep, or have more history between them than the history we see.

3. Finally, better music. THat's right, BETTER music. IMO the music has faltered in the latest installments of 12, 10-2, 10, and 9. THere've been a couple good songs like Zanarkand, Valla Alla Flamenco, and the FF12 Rolling Credit songs, but the music itself I think is starting to get kinda, i dunno.... Not memorable. I hope the music moves toward a progressive/modern orchestra type of sound. What I mean is like, Yanni, or the soundtrack to Shadow of the Colossus, or even the more progressive songs of Crisis Core. Something with a little twist thats different than the typical RPG background music.

- The Suikoden Cooking Contest
- A Good Story
- The Jenova Theory as fact

=)

I'm not one to say it's on a decline, but rather, simply doesn't have that many outstanding games to begin with. (Yeah, my inner fanboy is slowly dying, I guess, heh.) I've explained those thoughts in the appropriate thread already (1, 2), though, so I won't repeat myself.


1. Actually, I'd prefer having minigames that give additional motivation to playing them. i.e. Give rewards worth playing for. Doesn't even have to be anything major. In FF VIII, Triple Triad had the bonus of using the Card Mod ability to create items from the various cards that you'd collect from playing the game (among other sources). Some were decent, though many were very useful. In Suikoden games, you get fish for fishing (to later be used for making healing items, some with additional properties), special equipment for completing certain minigames, et cetera. I don't like having a bunch of games that only give you a couple hundred/thousand gil, or a Potion or something. (Or useless novelty items. *cough* Gold Saucer *cough*) I especially like it when more challenging minigames actually offer unique prizes, which you won't find elsewhere in the game. Again, incentive to actually play them, other than simply for fun. (Though don't get me wrong, I want them to be fun as well, of course.)

2. With some exceptions, the Final Fantasy series has done a fine job with this, as far as the main characters go. What I want is more depth for the minor characters, as well as more actual story involvement. I don't like it much when, with a party as limited as an FF game's, half of the group hardly does or says anything throughout the game. It's wonderful having a deep main character, as well as one or two great supporting roles, but I think they need to spread out a bit further than that.
By the way, I'd like this to apply to more than just your party members. Of course, I'm not asking for tons of NPC's with deep backgrounds. One or two would be nice, but as far as NPC's go, I'd like some more interesting villains. I've been rather disappointed with many of the FF villains, so giving some incentive aside from "WORLD DOMINATION, GWAHAHAHA" is always nice. Personally, I like the idea of an antagonist you can sympathize with, and not just some bloodthirsty warmonger, or whatever. ...Although, actually, I guess that's a little overdone as well (not just by FF). Can't think of many other types of antagonists of the top of my head, but I'm sure there's something out there more unique than a handful of the FF villains.

I'll probably add more at some point later on, but for now, I just wanted to touch on those two topics you brought up.

At the moment, I would care mostly about characters (and thus plot). Mini-games and add-ons are fine by me, but I really am not picky when it comes to those. Mostly I’m just interested in the story (though I’ll still play a game as long as it’s fun, even if the story is...failing). I don’t despise the FFXII characters either, but I would rather they actually put emphasis on characters as individuals. ...if that makes sense.

I admit when I first heard XII’s soundtrack (not in-game, but via “other source”), I was disappointed because it was more...mellow, compared to older games. However, now that I’m playing the game, the orchestral tracks really do appeal to me.

So yeah, for me, I would mostly like to see improvements with story. If the music ends up really bothering me, I’ll just keep the volume off. >.o. I dunno. I’m not too picky...

A slot machine to determine your character's skill and stat advancement?

I think the only thing that could go any further is putting Cloud in a Master Chief suit and turning Final Fantasy into an FPS multiplayer experience.

QUOTE (The Evil Dead @ Apr 17 2008, 10:26 PM)

I think the only thing that could go any further is putting Cloud in a Master Chief suit and turning Final Fantasy into an FPS multiplayer experience.

I'd play it... >_>;

Anyhow, as for what would make things better for me personally... I'd be all about seeing a turn towards an action-based battle system rather than turn-based. Something done a little better than Kingdom Hearts, but in a similar concept I guess. And yeah, I miss the look, feel, and sound of some of the older games as well (7 & 8, mostly). But over-all I don't think there was any "downfall" if we're talking about the main numerical series. I'll always have my past favorites, but I can't say I'm honestly all too let-down by the recent games, and I generally look forward to seeing what's next for the series.

1. Character Development : Recent FF series always lacks that. Even in FFX, Wakka, LuLu seem so insignificant in plot wise as the game proceeds. In FF IX, Admarant and Freya lacks plot too. FFVIII was wonderfully done, every single character has their own plot and importance.

2. Music : FFVIII's music is very memorable. I mean, I can even recall all the Battle Theme's now. A few series has a nice Main Song, "Eyes on Me", "Melodies of Life", "Suteki Da Ne", even "1000 words"though its not so memorable.

3. Unique opening scene : Who can forget FFVIII's opening? Liberi Fatali. Or the opening Scene of FFIX's, Vivi made an appearance instead of Zidane =P

4. Memorable Cut Scenes : With A unique opening sequence, you definitely must for lose this. Like, FFVII, when cloud dropped Aeries into the waters. FFVIII, when Squall Got striked by the Ice Strike of Edea/Ultimecia, FFIX When Garnet Cut slices off her hair or when Vivi went on rampage while seeing fellow black mages sacrificed. FFX's Yuna and Tidus's kiss scene in water or Yuna jumped off the wedding stage while summoning Valefor. So yes... It must have this.

5. Unique Ending Scene : With a good opening and memorable Cut Scenes, FFVIII's was totally astounding, not to forget funny ending credits! Selphie playing around with a video camera, Zell Chocked on his food xD FFIX's was beautiful too, having Garnet to search for Zidane when he returns in a wedding dress(it was a wedding dress right?), Or FFX's Pure Sad ending.

6. ATB System : FF XII's is totally horrible. I really dislike that battle system a lot. I mean... Even FFX-2's is better then FFXII's =\

7. Minigames/Sidequests/Miscellaneous : FFVIII's Triple Triad was awesome, FFIX's Chocobo hot and cold,jump Rope,monster hunt festival, FFX's Blitz Ball. Pupu's spaceship, Quina's Grandfather. FFIX's auction House.





Graphic's isn't everything. FF is getting better in graphics but losing in the rest. Sheesh...

Lance.

Commas are a wonderful tool... but much like salt, you can kill a baby if you use too much (the same could be said about me though <.<). Anyway, I digress. I'm not sure what you mean by realistic? If you mean the fact that it's wonderful not to see an awful plot device such as that the Villain is actually the main characters dad or that all the characters are childhood friends (seriously FFVIII developers? What were you thinking?) then I'd agree. However I found nothing realistic with characters such as Baltheir basically saying "I'm a sky-pirate, let's be friends" and following you through the game.

Maybe FFXII did this, I just couldn't play too much of it without getting bored. Characterisation is very important to me. It would be nice to have a female lead character who doesn't turn around to the lead character and say "I'm only strong because of you and I'm useless on my own." (Rosa, Tifa, Celes, Rinoa and after her failed attempt at independence; Garnet). Ashe seemed to be going that way, but I even felt that she fell dependant on everyone else... as I said I haven't played enough of the game. I guess what it is I'm looking for is humanistic characters who aren't just dependant on old clichés to flesh out their character.

The music isn't bad... it's just not very memorable or really does anything for the game. I know LagunaWannabe has said in another topic about how he doesn't like the old music but I'd argue to the death that it was better. The quality of sound wasn't anywhere near as good and that does have a negative effect on the listeners experience, however the quality of writing was never better. I think it's because the music was such an important part of the experience. Sprites were limited to what emotion they could show and voice-acting was non-existent, so music had to be used to convey further emotion as well as often set the scene. Now, the music is more suited for a film soundtrack...

Which brings me to my next point...

I would like the next final fantasy to be a GAME something that has been on the decrease since FFVII. Get rid of over-the-top battle animations such as 15 minute summons and limit-breaks that never end. I'd like to feel like a role-playing game again. Maybe a plot which wasn't so damned linear, or at least to feel like what I do outside of battle has some effect. To be honest, if things continue this way then there isn't going to be much difference between playing a Final Fantasy game and pressing play on a DVD player. I want to go on this journey, not be taken on it.

We need better locations, not just huge cities that stretch the console to it's limits with it's beautiful backgrounds and detailed buildings. Where are the Midgars? The Esthars? The Narches? Truly unforgettable locations are seen rarely it seems. Maybe I'm wrong and I'm just not thinking hard enough. In FFX, the only place that really stands out from the rest of the locations is where the blitzball arena is and if you take away the actual arena then it's just as faceless as most over places. The locations look great in FMVs but actually walking around in them normally isn't that special. Then again, I guess open fields are now the "in" thing for Square Enix <.<

I'm sure I could carry on complaining... and I probably will at a later date.

Hmmm yea, they have been tapering off. I think its just become all about the money after FF7. They started to realize how much cash the game was raking in and then just started pumping them out to keept he company going. In the past, they made games for the love of telling a story and it showed. Now, they just want to get a quick buck. First and formost, if they really want to get the francise off the ground again, they need to go back and reivaluate THEMSELVES. Don't do some bull like with FF9 and say 'We're going back to our fantasy roots". #######. An RPG is about telling a story, a playable story...not another Xenosaga. They need to rethink what their in the business for.

Ok, now as for individual things that they could put in...yea, more meaningful minigames would be good. In 7, I spent hours in the gold saucer in the battle arena and racing chocobo. Dumped a pretty penny racing as well. But I do agree that if they do bring back a large number of mini games, they need to make over half of them relivent things. Like someone else said, the card game from 8 was at least useful in creating your weapons. Now i don't think ALL the minigames should be useful...some should just be fun but at least a few should be useful AND fun...GOD I miss the cooking minigame...

Characters...hmmmm what to say about them...If they go too far away from steryotypes, people will start to whine...but if they don't go far away, the game feels a bit stale...like we've done this before. My biggest issue with the characters from FF12...why was Vahn put as the 'main character' when the REAL main character was Asch and just about everyone else. Hell, after you walk up into the castle at the beginning of the game, thats it for Vahns role in the game. He's pretty much useless after that point. Same with Penelo. Yea, sure they say little things every now and then but they don't contribute anything else to the story what so ever in my opinion. I think they need to start looking outside the box. I mean, look at some of the more current date success games. Disgaea was a huge success because of the oddness of the characters. Now thats not to say that every single Final Fantasy from now on should have 'new' and 'inventive' characters cause well...that'd just be down right hard as #####. But I think they should put a little more effort into character development.

Music...meh the musics fine by me.


Now something I want them to keep...I rather liked the area by area walking style of FF12. It made the world more....vivid and made the adventure seem more exciting so I really liked that. I HATE the point and click maps cause it just makes the world seem...distant and what not.

Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention, STOP DROPING THE GOTDAMN ENDING!!

I'm serious, every since FF7, it feels as if the ending sequences of the game have just been rushed to high hell. It really felt that way in 8 and beyond but 7 was the start of this feeling for me. By this I mean the horrible rush that starts to come up when the final boss is reveiled. In past games, the ending took its time just like the rest of the game but in the new games, it seems almost like an after thought. Like in 8, where the ##### did Ultimecia come from? They didn't even mention her till...what...like end of the 2nd disk, middle of the 3rd? And they didn't really tell you WHY you should hate her or want her dead till almost the end.

Don't even get me started on that ###### in 9...where the hell did Necron or whatever his name is even come from? Can anyone tell me that? I mean, yea he tells you that he's the Destroyer of Worlds or whatever but...as far as your personal feelings...did you really care by that point?

And 10...2 words...Auto Revive...WHAT KIND OF ##### BOSS FIGHT IS THAT?!!

10-2...meh, don't really count that as a mainstream ff although I did like the game...the ending was weak.

and 12...I'm not even sure what I was fighting for in 12. I had no real reason after a while. I was just killing ##### cause they told me to and I hate that. I'm still not entirely sure I know what the final dude was trying to accomplish...man it was just weird.

I don't think I'd want anything new in the games....rather, a better emphasis on existing things, and revival of old material would be good for me.

I liked the world map in the old games, having free ability to wander the world, mainly after receiving the airship was fun, I liked to take time to explore area after area, searching out things like summons and magic, equipment and other things.

Music...I like the music in the later games, some good tunes to play by.

The battle systems, I think are improving. I really liked the system in 12, the battles were...I suppose, fluent. A lot less button pressing compared to say, 10, the ability to pre-set each character's reactions to a particular situation, but still intervening where you wish to, made for the battles to become more fun, for me at least. The licence system allowed complete control over how each character developed as a fighter, so I'd like things like that to remain.

I'd like more mini-games, that much is given. The last good mini-game for me was Blitzball, and even then, the changes in X-2 ruined it for me. The system was rather boring, and complicated, with one stat lowering as one raises for starters, and even maxed, you could still lose. I'd love there to be mini-games like those in VII, with the Gold Saucer there was plenty of games to play, including ones from throughout the storyline, and how I loved the snowboarding.


More character depth, for certain. It seems to have been...rather slack, in later games. Just, there doesn't seem to be as much development into the backgrounds and motives of either hero or villain, leaving them rather lacking in the inspiration department. The worst for that would probably be Dirge of Cerberus, with Deepground, I don't recall a single of them getting any real background.


Well, I'm done complaining, for now.

the music is fine for me, and I like the battling, but they can do better. What some people have said already, they should have little side quests for some characters if you want to get to know them even more than what the game tells you about them. They should also bring back mini games like gold saucer and the card game from FF9, idk, I liked it. and for the leveling up, I would want the sphere grid, I dont know why, but I just liked that thing, the only downfall about it was that you can make every character the same, so in the newer ones, if they decide to make it again, it should be different for everybody, either that or the old school just level up with exp.

so yeah, Thats pretty much what I would mostly want for the next gen FF's, mostly.

That's something I'd like to see out of anything probably. A little better characters than they have had, yes. IX and XII were a little iffy, except Balthier who was fun. But I agree I'd like to play a game instead of watching it mostly. Its too bad really, since it seems more recently you play to get through a dungeon or power level for a couple hours, then its just more cutscenes. I remember Xenogears back in the day, or really any Final Fantasy from around VIII and before. I think it really got into full swing aroung FFVIII. But with Xenogears, it had very few cutscenes and they were also very short. Granted the game was pretty long, but it was always you just about controlling where you went (besides disk 2). You experienced the story and not just watched it happen in front of you.

Though I do wonder if its possible to go back to that time. That feeling may just be for nostalgia now, or RPG's with less money. I've felt that more with games like DDS or Shadow Hearts instead of Final Fantasy, where FF has seemed to transform into one big movie. Of course, if FF turned into Xenosaga, then I'd really start to worry. At least with games like Assassin's Creed, you see the intro to the city which is beautiful, and when you play it, the city is slightly downgraded but you can still feel its massiveness. The thing with places like Luca, it looked impressive in the FMV but when you were actually there it was...what? A circle full of docks? That's anti climactic.

At least to me, it seemed with FFVIII, they put in the FMV's during important sequences or introducing you to things, such as a city or a character. But most of the time, you were playing and controlling the game. Now it seems playing the game and watching the game are starting to get more and more even, which I dont think is so much of a good thing. I'm not sure exactly what I'd want from the games, since you can't go back to text boxes in Final Fantasy anymore. Perhaps more than anything, I just want the experience and spirit to go back to it. The music could be a bit better too. I remember there were so many memorable tunes in FFVII and VIII, but afterwards, not quite so much. Only a sparingly few gems in the more recent games. The thing with Final Fantasy is that it was about all the things coming together, gameplay, characters, plot, music. It seems like its been more graphics and...not so much love or attention put into the others. I comment XII for trying something new, the story didn't quite so much work out. I'm hopeful XIII will do better.

I know exactly what you mean, but personally I like it better because it makes the scenes SO much more influential. Like, can you imagine the Bahamut vs Alexander battle with in-game graphics? I certainly can't. Or Final Fantasy XII's Balthier and Fran introduction when they ride up on the bike?

I dunno, I know what you mean by "watching" more than playing, but for some scenes it makes them better. Think bout the X-2 Concert scene when singing with Lenne and reminiscing about Shuyin, there's no way I could see that with in-game graphics.



It wasn't exactly like that.... IT was more like, woah Vaan has magecite, I'm a pirate I want it, so I'm gonna foll ow him. So it kinda does make sense...



lol.... Esthar doesn't stretch the PS1 with its ENORMOUS layout? I think some of the newer cities are VERY memorable.. I think of Zanarkand, I think of Besaid, I think of Rabanstre. It's their extravagance that MAKES me remember them. Like, I've never seen a busier, more lively, more life-like city than Rabanastre in any FF game, I LOVED that feeling. It was much better than the stereotypical FF4 FF5 cities with all the same buildings and layout.

Well, i'm pretty sure a lot of people will disagree with some of the stuff I'm posting, but oh well!

Battlesystem: i'm gonna be hard on this one! XII was the best FF battle system (and exploring game play), but I also like KH's a lot. What I want is a combo of both! Or rather, a even quickier to use system of XII, with the agility and style of Advent Children!
Gambits are ok, but i'd like there would be some sort of easy to activate combo attacsk, be it combo magic like CT, or characters unleashing special attacks at specific times, like KH2 triangle special action.

Airships: I know I'm asking too much, but I love the deep detailed world to walk trhough, but I also want a bird's eye view for the airship. I want to PILOT the airship, from X on, they've been just a pretty dull transportation, I don't eve use them except to go to places you can't reach by foot.

Chocobos: Chocobos too are geting a bit of useless. They'd be pretty usefull on XII, but the riding time is so short that it's only useful if you're in a rush and know the way, otherwise you may find yourself chocoboless right in the middle of a really dangerous moster area! And you'll die, because no way you'll be able to make it back if they can attack you.
Also, I think it would be cool if you could own/breed your chocobo again. And maybe use it in battle, as an ally or even better, a ride, like in FFT.

Moogle: The Moogle race on XII was ihad an interesting background, but if you ask me they look like creepy bunnies with pompoms and wings. I wished they'd look more like on the old games. They were cuter.

Races: Speaking of races, FF is starting to look more like Star Wars than FF. I wish that'd be less weird races and more HUMAN races!! I don't wanna get too ethnical, but Barret was the single black character in the whole series!! Old Dalan had an interesting middle east look (made me think of Indiana Jones movies) But Vaan (and almost all 3D protagonists!) is milky white blonde! Seriously, HE LIVES ON THE DESERT!!!
I wish they would vary the humans instead of creating a bunch of aliens... If they wanna show difference between cultures in their world, they can do that with humans. To take examples from our world:
- Japan was closed to foreigners for over 100 years (Tokugawa Bakufu) = Esthar
- Whole nations were dedicated to war, like Rome and Sparta = Galbadia
- Native americans lived close to nature = shamans
etc.

Minigames: Like the ones in VII. It would be cool if there were a place to play them all, but I'm talking about IN-GAME minigames, like the biker chase after you scape Shin Ra HQ, or snowboarding to Great Crater. Puzzle are okay too, as long as they're not Myst-like!

Summons: It would be cool if they were part of the main story, but if not they still should have a side-story explaining them. And above all, they must be COOL and BADASS!!!
They don't have to kill bosses with a blow, but they must be strong enough to match them, and not be killed by normal monsters with a blow like the ones in FFXII. They don't need to be the same as ever (Shiva, Ifrit, etc.) either, but must live up to the level of their famous predecessors

Sidequests: The more the better, and XII was good enough on that aspect. Maybe they could use PlayStation Network to add new sidequests afterwards.

Cities: Cities are getting enormeous visually (they're already look like gay versions of Blade Runner! XD), and althoug I find them very cool, they're are actually smaller than before, there are really places to visit on them. And there are fewer towns too. There's like 2 cities and 3 or 4 vilages, that actually are bigger than the cities in depht and realism)...

Storyline and freedom: Surely one of the aspects that IS indeed going downhill. Either it's a too linear game like X, or one with so much sidequests and sucha a WEAK underdevelopted story like XII. It should have XII freedom, but with a story that even not necessarely linear, must be deep and strong enough to drive you to keep foward, beserkly!
And I do think the more cutscenes the better, even if lenghy (but hopefully not as lenghy as Xenosaga Ep. I), as long as they tell the story well and developt the characters (another weaking point), but I do think that nowdays, there's no more need for FMV. They're pretty, yeah, but so should be the in-game graphics. Using in-game graphics prevent that shock that often comes from the change between FMV and gaming (something that's getting me really worried about FFXIII trailers, they're practly just FMV, it's like I'm watching the trailer of a movie instead of a game!). I think Metal Gear Solid series has proved that in-game cutscenes can look pretty good!
And that if the story is really good, it doesn't matter how long they are!! That said, it's very important that the cutscenes don't surpass the gaming time in lengh, like Xenosaga!


With all that and MORE, they could make my dream Final Fantasy!!