I have no problem with the spin-offs. I have enjoyed some more than others but overall I have yet to completely hate any of them. I thought that Crisis Core was awesome, and Dissidia was cool as a departure from the norm.

Recently Square Enix said they’re heading more to action/adventure, rather than staying with RPGs. I’m happy about that.

But on topic, just because Yoshinori Kitase said he’d like to do a Final Fantasy XIII-2 doesn’t mean that Final Fantasy is dying. And Final Fantasy XII did not get lukewarm reviews, it has a 92 on Metacritic. Final Fantasy X-2 also got an 85 on Metacritic. As for the MMOs, no one really cares about them apart from hardcore MMO fans basically.

FF X was terrible.

they never said FF12 got bad reviews, they said it had a lukewarm “reception.” ALOT of fans didn’t like this game despite all the good scores the game got by reviewers.

FYI, FFXI came out before WoW. Moron.

Ok, first off, I played FFXi for a long ass time, and would still be playing it had my gaming pc finally not kicked the bucket from being so damn old. More people came from World of Warcraft to FFXI then left FFXI to play W.O.W. The die hard Final Fantasy Fans, like myself, didnt drop there PlayOnline accounts or there FFXI accounts because they wanted to play W.O.W

normally, they’d have accounts for both. The main problem with your statement that it (FFXIV) will inevitably loose to W.O.W is simple. After 8 years, FFXi is still running strong, so I think that statement can be dumbed down to “it may eventually loose to W.O.W, but chances are the die hards wont stop playing it”

secondly, spin offs are hit and miss. you can have a good or bad spinoff, doesnt matter what game franchise it is, look at Resident Evil and the spin offs there. the only good one, in my personal opinion, was code veronica.

And lastly, WARK!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a friggin moron!!! First of all people are demanding new mmo’s, with the only language that matters, their money.
Secondly, who cares if they make a sequel to ffxiii its not like its a death cry to make 2 games in one world if that were the case most game series would be on life support. When you think about it Yoshinori Kitase is right, it would be a good idea to make more games using the same system and world, because it allows more time to build a good story, which is really why anyone actually plays the FF series.

Would agree but the second to last line sort of puzzles me. You say that in FF, Square should give western gamers what they want and not branch out into all these different paths. The problem is though the western Role-Playing Game is very different from the FF series. While most FFs feature a world in which the player can do some exploration, the WRPG is much more custom character and freedom centered than any FF. Face it, with games like KOTOR, Jade Empire, Oblivion, Fallout and Dragon Age succeeding here in the west, Square has to experiment in order to recapture their fanbase. They need to be able to compete with the success of the WRPG. So it really wouldn’t make sense for Square to continue along a traditional path when western gamers are clearly looking for something different.

I agree with the author. If i recall there are no ff fans crying for an mmo. I believe square should change their name back to squaresoft. the proof is in the numbers. The best number ff games had squaresoft on it. VI IV Vii X.

We need FF XIII-2 the first one was amazing but now…..we need vanille and fang back so we can understand there relationship a bit more cause no one beside square enix know the certian whereabout of thier relationship

ffx was great, you must be braindead. or a troll lol. seriously you have to be a complete moron to say ffx sucked. Why dont you make a better story then that? dipshit

All I can say is, I actually look forward to an FFXIII-2! For starters, like another poster said, they need to explain Fang and Vanille’s story a little more just so we can understand their perspective(s) and story better. Also, they HAVE to explain the exact time and place Hope and Vanille made their promise. I still don’t get that and I’d LOVE to know!

Would love to see a XIII-2 Direct-Sequel that explores Cocoon and Pulse more as well as the character’s future. The, “What happens now?” really bugged me post-Cocoon at the end of XIII considering everything that is found out during the game.

@frank

FFX sucked, I could give you a witty retort but I think this will speak volumes. FFX, made me stop playing FF games until XIII, it was that horrible and bad of a game.

Tidus, holds the rare title for me as a video game character I would enjoy seeing die in the game.

Okay, I personally liked the Final Fantasy Sequels such as X-2 and Crisis Core. I’m one of the people that will buy a Final Fantasy game no matter what, and i love them all. When I was little I watched my brothers play and now I do. I even fell in love with FFXI and am hoping to buy FFXIV and i know a lot of people who are going to buy it as well. I just beat FFXIII about 20 minutes ago and I really want a sequel. Square Enix probably already saw what went wrong with the previous sequels with randomly introducing new fighting systems and not really going with the story line but with how certain games end, like FFXIII, the story line wouldn’t have to be exact. But how some ended like FFX yeah not the best fallow up game but I still loved. Hoping for a sequel~! D!

First of all FF X-2 actually did pretty well despite not being as goog as X, also it happened to make greatest hits. I don’t think that either X-2 and XII were lukewarm, they sold pretty well. As for XIII it was an amazing game with some of the best characters and 1 of the best the story plots in any video game. I believe it selling more than 3.5 million copies and still selling more as each month goes by speaks for itself. XIII definitely deserves a sequal. I am a part of the original fanbase and u don’t hear me complaning like all of the other self centered ones who go and say “FF sucks of that is gay”, no offense but those are the type of fans that pise me off. It is obvious if so called fans are complaning than they aren’t true fans of FF and aren’t loyal to the series.

I am really hoping for a FFXIII Sequel. The ending didn’t seem complete to me. I feel like learning more about cocoon. Maybe they could make a story on what happened to Vanille and Fang when they lived in Oerba

I refuse to believe Final Fantasy is dying. The only way it could die is if they keep making more MMORPG’s…then I’ll agree with you. I refuse to buy a game to have the opportunity to pay to play it.

I personally don’t think XIII is the BEST Final Fantasy out there…but Enix took a risk with something new, and while some things worked, alot did not in my opinion. If they use what they’ve learned and what they already know in another, NON-MMORPG game, then Final Fantasy can and will always thrive.
The Fantasy is NEVER Final.

IF they make a FF XV, i think it should elaborate more on the subtle connections between VII, X, and X-2. I.E. the character ShinRa in X-2 that wanted to suck life out of Spira. The creators said the plan the whole time was to make X-2 a direct sequel to X, and a prequel to VII. There are also theories that citizens of Spira from X were the Cetra that Sephiroth talks about in VII. I think that an elaboration on this would make a wonderful story.

I found Final Fantasy XII to be an incredible game that re-energized the whole franchise for me (I found FFX to be good, but a bit of a letdown). FFXII was incredibly refreshing and second only to FFVII as my personal favorite. So I was disappointed in Final Fantasy XIII – it seemed liked they took a step back, especially with the battle system, cliched characters and sci-fi setting. Ideally a Final Fantasy XV would bring back some of the folks that made FFXII so amazing – a brilliant new story, a likeable and more realistic cast of characters, and a bit more fantasy in their Final Fantasy.

I would love to see Gran Pulse explored more in a direct sequel. Polish the game system but don’t change it completely. What about a storyline where Snow, Serah, Lightning, Sazh and Hope plus a couple of new characters begin to explore the new surroundings on Gran Pulse. Couple it with some flashbacks of what happened to the inhabitants (showing Vanille and Fang’s contributions) and the gradual discovery of where the people went. Imagine that the Oerbans didn’t all die out they simply left in a mass exodus to a new part of the world. The characters could travel across the planet piecing together the events. The options are endless.

Thinking it over, and taking in consideration others comments, I do think they should make a sequel. A lot of fans want to see Fang, and Vanille make a return — so do I. In FFXIII-2, they could base it all on their past, how they became L’Cie, and all that. I’m really curious about that, and it’d be wonderful to find out more about them. (Like their relationship.)

I hope final fantasy doesn’t end. Personaly I like XI/XIV better than WOW. I like the strategy final fantasy games bring. I don’t enjoy gun type games. I did like how they tried to bring more action in XIII and to me they did, but I liked the story of X better. X is my favorite.

OMG so f**** GREAT XDDDDDDDDDDDD i am a big FF fan, and i am happy they will continou the story DDDDDDDDDDDD

FFXIII-2 will most likely be epic. Think about it, they already have the engine/graphics/battle system from FFXIII which means they can spend most of their time on the story and extras.

Personally, I’m super pumped for the next Final Fantasys and do not believe it is “dying”.

Dont get me wrong, im a big fan of FF series since FF VII and all, but if the series die its okay, another will take its place. Im not saying that I want to see the series disappear, just that is not the end of the world if it does.

Final Fantasy died after VII. But I am looking forward to seeing the “extra content”

@ Momo Haruno

You took the words out of my mouth!
I really want to know what happens to Fang and Vanielle.

Those who said FFX suck have apparently never played FFXIII.

X was miles better than the “Visual Novel/Tutorial Mode” XIII. They didn’t even try to make characters enjoyable or memorable…just a “let’s make a female Cloud and add a black guy like we did in VII”. Well if XIII-2 is what determines the fate of this franchise we can just move on to the action/adventure games right now.

And since I’m fairly sure I’ve got the right generation here on this post: FFVII was completely overrated and sucked compared to the epicness that was VI.

Final Fantasy went belly up years ago. It was Sakaguchi’s doing that it flourished, since he has been gone, nothing good has came of it. Squaresoft was king of rpgs, square-enix is just worthless. It seems as though they care too much about what all these new young gamers want, all this fps actiony stuff. Thats fine but some older gamers still like traditional rpgs…. not that they care.

Enter Your Comment

Wait for VERSUS. final fantasy will not be dying on my watch.

yeah…im real..a fan of final fantasy…yeah…i read some of ur reviews…guys..yeah…about crisis core??yeah..its pretty good…final fantasy XII??yeah its still good..yeah…more power..in final fantasy rpg gamers..and fans…hehe go..final fantasy..its one of my..favorite..final fantasy games of all time

X-2 didnt fail many gamers simply didnt give it chance, secondly it did carry on the story of X and if you bothered to play the game all the way through had some cool and fun mini quests.

XII was a good game difficult and a little tedious at times as you had to level up to get most ofthe good stuff.

so whats my point, FF isnt dying its going through a rough patch as it gets use to a new generation of gamers.

I loved all FFs so far apart from maybe 10 cos the story was far to linear having religiously played VII, VIII, IX. and was too different. However going back to X recently I loved it.

The problem is people nowadays want content over a good story, and they want that content to be obvious and easily accessible, also the story must be simple enough for baka people to understand. FFXIII got criticized because the story was to serious at times (WTF ????).

I personally blame this on the HALO generation which breaded a bunch of computer game baka that couldn’t solve a puzzle without a guide or a tutorial if the answer slapped them in the face.

sorry about the vent just makes me so annoyed that people cant appreciate the story of games anymore and sit back and be entertained, FFs have always been about connecting with the characters plight kind of like an interactive movie, not a frickin free for all like WOW, which again killed video games for intelligent people.

Personally I enjoyed FFXIII but on the contrary the new installment in the series just isn’t hitting those pitches out of the part. The Story line is but what’s with the new battle system, I really didn’t enjoy the fact that they installed a Crystarium system. The Crystarium system was more annoying then fun and the fact that you constantly had to switch in and out constantly is a really turn off. FFX is the best example of the latest installment keep traditional stuff but mixing in a bit of spice. FFXII had a really solid storyline since I am a big fan of Ivalice but again the battle system is a bit risky and didn’t really fit into the FF genre. Square Enix needs to stop trying new things before consulting the fan on whether it’ll be appeal or not, due to the fact that not only will it hurt their sales but would lose their customer as well. As always I will continue to enjoy their solid storyline but they need to bring back the traditional battle system.

Sorry I meant Paradigm Shift not Crystarium system.

i am very confused as to how anyone could enjoy such a piece of crap. Sure it has the best graphics of any game out hands down,BUT THAT IS IT. Xiii shouldn’t have even had final fantasy name on it. They took everything that defined the series and stripped it away.(open world exploration, side-quest,towns, a decent gripping storyline, and most of all a challenge) I could play almost all the way through the game by holding the up buttton and x.

I think it is stupid for stupid for fans to complain about the series the way that they do and now they’re saying the series is dying? You sound like a freaking loon if you feel that strongly about it then why not burn your PS3 along with all of your Square Enix games. And this crap about it being all japanese style BIG FREAKING WOOP let it be like that these people are japanese are they not? You’re basically asking them to forget who they are and be someone else. anime style is the best style in the world and took Tetsuya to adopt that design. If your looking for something else then go play your crappy shoot em up games on 360. Final Fantasy is too much for you and you don’t deserve its viewing pleasure.

It seems like its dying,and for the love of GOD……I have my hopes that XIII-2 it will not be nowhere near as linear as the first.I really hope it’s going to be GREAT,but then again,with characters like VANILLE….SHE SUCKKKKKKKKSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!—I hate her voice,it makes me want to puncture my own ear drums,i didn’t give a crap about her in the story.Sad part is,she’s the damn narrator.So i tried to get into the other characters and block her out of the game,very hard at times.So the story was mediocre at best,Sazh,Fang,and Lightning are probably my favorite characters,but i felt like i was playing more to just beat another Final Fantasy,and not for the love of the franchise,and game.The battle system,became kind of fun towards the middle and end of the game,but all in all,wayyyyy too linear.So much potential wasted….Honestly,this sequel,i know deep down,it’s going to piss me off,i wish VANILLE would’ve just died……..Rikku in X was annoying,but i’d take her over Vanille any day.VI,VII,VIII,IX,and X were the Final Fantasy series “hey day” so to speak……….XII,was surprisingly good with so much to do in the game and the difficulty level raised for it as well,everything else they’ve done,mediocre at best,especially most recently.”Bleep” spin-offs,unless good quality,money hungry Square Enix.They lost their touch,we miss you Hironobu Sakaguchi.Final Fantasy VII is still my favorite of all time,even with out dated graphics,i can still pay and beat it today.Had the right amount of everything for a Final Fantasy,not too kiddy-like,kind of dark,not too much like some TEEN-Soap-opera……Done ranting……Oh yeah one more thing…….Fang is cool……but VANILLE….BLEEP you!!!!!

Is Final Fantasy dying? Final Fantasy has been dead since the PS1 days. The entire series is completely unoriginal.

Square Enix you can DO IT!!! I BELIEVE IN YOU…. I hope square enix can go on. I love ALL your games ^^ GANNBATTE KUDASAI!!

I totally agree, they should go back to the lay out of FF7 – which introduced alot of virgin RPG’s to the market as it was so varied and liked by all ages, plus the characters were so loved.

I recently ordered FFXIII at low price and will make judgement on it after I play it, however the early signs are I will probably not like it, the recent trends with RPG’s tends to be (a) excessive cutscenes which hides the lack of depth in the actual game, (b) action rather than turn focused, (c) more linear as they concentrate too much on graphics rather than content and depth. FFVII probably the best ever final fantasy game I have played and was turn based. Also a worrying trend is whenever we see trailers of games its always of cgi cut scenes instead of game content.

I’ve played almost all of the games in the series. Everyone has been different, which makes each unique. I hated XIII at first, but I stuck with it and now really enjoy it. I felt only the lack of open exploration was it biggest disappointment. The sidequests, “hunt missions” weren’t fully achievable until finishing the main story and expanding the crystarium. I’m actually excited to see the sequel.

BTW, XII was probably my favorite. Everyone complained the gambit system made it to autonomous, but you didn’t have to use them you could control every character manually.

The series has always been the same as far as story liine, someone or something trying to take over, destroy or control the world in some way. It was always an enjoyable game and I don’t think should be changed completely just upgraded all the way around. The main problem with XIII is that it seemed to be cut short or was like a prototype and never finished and was just to linear. I liked how they gave it more action oriented and made it more fun for me. Although I don’t understand why Nomura keeps saying that the lingering question at the end was “Is Lightning really happy?” Something like that. My question is what the hell do they do next and are they gonna find a way to free fang and vanille? I do miss all the towns and people to talk to to help. I was never a big fan of the leveling in X or X-2 or the crystarrium, I prefer the regular level grinding but that’s just me. I do wish they’d change the way gil is received that really pissed me off. I never playd XI and probably won’t play XIV, don’t like mmo’s, but my favorite FF was Crisis Core.

Probably the one thing that disappoints me most about FFXIII is the fact that so much of it can be heavily improved, or at least the parts that are done right given more value, with very little effort or change. Especially in regards to critiques to story line or “lacking creative ideas,” most could be fixed by simply making what existed a little more clear. Personally I somewhat blame the out-takes resultant from downgrading for Xbox 360, but that may be overcompensating…

All in all, FFXIII did actually have some very interesting concepts:

There is a greater being, who in turn created Fal’Cie. The Fal’Cie, in hopes of being reunited with their creater, played their part in tending to the ‘free beings’, humans, all the while envious of the humans’ greater relationship to the creator. In turn, they devise a plan to destroy the ‘free souls’ such that the void left would summon back their maker. But as the Fal’Cie themselves are free only in thought, not action, bound to the roles they were created for (Light, Food, even Gravity), they possess humans to do those actions for them. They grant them their access to the same theoretically limitless power, essentially magic, the intangible realm, and with that the possessed, those called L’Cie will have strength enough to carry out the actions the Fal’Cie could not.

Altogether, the main premise of the game does not lack merit, and the way the plot is put forward is even symbolic of that premise. It’s a game focusing on the isolation and thoughts subsequent to isolation among a small group of characters, while the primary plot arch stems from the same isolation and loneliness, that of the Fal’Cie.

The problem is that little of this is as deeply apparent as it could be. I personally like a more subtle, analyzable approach, but that does immediately put the game at a disadvantage. I think the biggest problem with the game was a lack of sub-plots logical to the directions in which the characters progressed, but physically rather than emotionally. If the developers had taken time to include the measures the army had taken in some way before having been saved by Raines at the end of Chapter 9, where their involvement seemed more like a mere plot twist than anything real, they likely would have stumbled upon much more of the world’s depth. And from that comes the possibility of still vivid, but freer world interaction.

No longer being bound by that original premise, the Fal’Cie having mostly been dealt with, the objectives in the next game should be much more open, and so to should the in-game interaction with the world. To top it off, they already have the money spent in the engine, leaving the rest to character design (I would like to see a manned-up Hope, for one, along with at least a few new characters–with someone more eccentric perhaps) and the plot.

Basically this seems to be a matter of whether or not they over-encapsulate the plot. Leave it freer, add more content (while within logical bounds), and we should see a much livelier and more player-controlled game. I’ll certainly rent or borrow the game when it comes out, if only to see how my ideas may have differed from what they’ve done, and hope to be enjoyably beaten.

lol It’s not dying. FF is very much alive. Hard to say that a series is dying when there are 4 games in the works (XIII-2, Versus XIII, Type-0, and FF Legends) and at least one (FFXV) being planned… Not to mention Dissidia, FF Chrystal Chronicles, FF Tactics, FFVII spinoffs, etc. the list goes on.

The thing about FF is that it’s always changing. That’s what’s made it so good! I know, 12 and 13 were…different… but they weren’t bad by any means. FF12 was just more MMO-ish, and FF13 was very tunnelvision. Aside from that, they were fine. Besides, FFX was VERY tunnel vision, and it’s arguably one of the best in the series! We’re just used to FFVI-FFX. Besides, Versus XIII looks very promising. and Type-0 looks amazing! And XIII-2 might be better than the first, from how it sounds.

There’s no way FF is dying. It’ll probably still be going long after we’re gone. It’s one of Square-Enix’s flagship titles. If they stop making FF games, I’ll eat my hat!

NEEERDS, go out into the real world you fucking pussies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FF12 was my favorite since FF8, although I didn’t like the story, the gameplay was awesome and packed with lots of extras. FF13 had an amazing story and graphics, but a 9-year-old could beat it without needing any help. I have felt like the creators have taken away from the role playing concept after FF10 released, and I thought it was because of the animation coming in, but after FF12 they brought it all back, and then took it away again with FF13.
I would much rather have lengthy sidequests, power leveling, hidden areas and characters, puzzles, and customizable growth. FF13 was point A to B, movie, A to B, movie, A to B, movie. If they can make a sequel that isn’t like that, I’ll buy it. I hope they don’t go the same route with FF15. If they put the extras from FF7, the gameplay of FF12, and the graphics of FF13 that would be far more successful. They are trying to reach larger audiences by getting more women and younger folk involved. People think Final Fantasy is dying because they are dumbing down a timeless legend

Get a dictionary…cocoon…need I say more. That is the heart of the franchise.

I’ll say the new Final Fantasy is head on. Amazing graphics, the best music, and the plot structure was outstanding. Sure the new ones are amazing and all, but thy’re missing that special thing the older games had. . .