What's Final Fantasy?

[Zantetsuken]

You haven't seen the whole thing yet.

There is plenty more copy-pasta over the horizon~

[Shai]

I said one thing about FFXII. You can say that in general, SE has weakened since their PSX days pre-Enix merger, but I've always thought that every Final Fantasy entry(well, everyone excluding XIV in its current state) has been solid. I'm probably one of the few FFX-2 defenders out there.

No, I like FFX-2 also for the same reasons I like XII.

Battle & Gameplay: A+
Story & Characters: F

It's a good game, a fun game, but where I expect FF to shine (personal opinion) it fails me. I am also a defender of X-2, though, the aspects of it that I find groundbreaking. I long for a job-based system for the next gen so bad. Single player, I mean. I like grinding as much as the next guy if not more (Hell, I'm an avid Disgaea fan, not to mention XI & XIV) but I'd really like to grind some jobs in Final Fantasy that don't take me 2 months to complete one job (like XI/XIV).

I wish they would open up Vanadiel more with a single player game, personally.

Anyway, FF12 isn't a bad video game, it's just not up to par with what I (personally) expect from Final Fantasy. I'm starting to feel I'm either not the target demographic of Final Fantasy (a JRPG lover... go figure?) or what Final Fantasy means to SE is different than what it means to me. That's ok, too, it just means I need to outsource.

[Zantetsuken]

I wish they would open up Vanadiel more with a single player game, personally.

^^ THIS.

I have a lot of friends who love the series but hate MMO games. There are also many of us that are done playing FFXI, but would like to revisit the fantastic world and lore at some point without having to re-invest months or years of playing to do so.

SE would do well to release an offline FFXI-2 someday.

[Shai]

Ugh. I was writing a long post that ate itself. Let me attempt reconstruction.

I think as far as "world changing" events driven by player actions - XI's CoP is the best example, though it is prevalent all over XI, but take for example - the plot unlocked new zones as well as functions that were exclusive to those who were more accomplished than others. At a certain plot point, Tavnazia & Jeuno begin to share an Auction House. It makes sense within the context of the game, and only players that far in the story have access to it.

This actually led me to suggest to SE implementing ways to upgrade and host features at Camps. Doing series of quests or missions or behest points - any way to "buy" upgrades to the camp that are only available to the players who upgrade it. The NPCs can already exist and talk about "trying to set things up" but player-driven questing and working would unlock them (such as vendors, chocobo or carriage rentals, retainer bells, and other conveniences to have "in the field") and I think that would be a great idea though I'm not sure how difficult it would be to implement per character.

This does drive me to one thing that XIV does well. Mechanical game changes are represented in the game and with lore and context which I think is an impressive and refreshing upgrade from XI. There is a Side Quest given by a guard of Uldah where upon you learn he is peeing his pants about the drastic and unexpected change in size of the monsters. (I keep an in-character journal and I also thought it may be a Garlean plot so I laughed at this guard). It's fun that they bring a wealth of lore to even aesthetic and mechanical changes. The GM & Alfgar event is another good example. This is great and I hope it never goes away.

...but that isn't player driven (like my idea). It's just the world changing around us which makes it feel more alive, but it doesn't make us feel more apart of it (yet).

[Shai]

^^ THIS.

I have a lot of friends who love the series but hate MMO games. There are also many of us that are done playing FFXI, but would like to revisit the fantastic world and lore at some point without having to re-invest months or years of playing to do so.

SE would do well to release an offline FFXI-2 someday.

Single Player, Offline, FFXI Compilation or FFXI-2 would be so good. The world is so full of stories to be told. The part we're even allowed to explore is like 1/8th of the entire world map - the Mithra Homeland, the Far East, the Western Kingdom (Dragoon origins), and the Southern Empire (no clue). These are all separate continents!

I can see why they didn't have time or resources to implement an expansion for each (considering Treasures only scratched the surface of the Near East and was a wealth of areas & storylines).

Anyway, yeah - a lot more could be done with Vana'diel.

-----

Also I don't think Eorzea is intended to be a frontier world, though, I also see it as that. I'm not sure where but I'm pretty sure it has thousands of years of history. The last time the Grand Companies (of Eorzea!) were gathered was over 1000 years ago. It's weird to think that in thousands of years they only have 5 big cities and a bunch of "defensible camps" (which don't seem all that threatened by outside forces, despite Behest leading me to think so).

Apparently Eorzea is just "dangerous" (though despite Yoshida's best efforts I'm not feeling it yet) so expansion is limited.

Anyway, I'm fairly certain it's not meant to be a Frontier, but I agree it does feel that way. A LOT in fact.

[rho]

great post!! i totally agree with what ff is and not what it 'should' be. thank you for linking those videos Eldaena, i truly enjoyed watching them and ohhhh, the memories...

[Eldaena]

great post!! i totally agree with what ff is and not what it 'should' be. thank you for linking those videos Eldaena, i truly enjoyed watching them and ohhhh, the memories...

Glad you liked it. ^^

[Shai]

I really want to play the International releases.

The additional content of both X-2 and XII sounds like games I would enjoy a lot more than their original incarnations.
I wish Square Enix would do something about that in my lifetime. Make them accessible somehow.

[Procas]

Hey! Nice way to remind us what really IS a FF game. When Yoshi-P said he wanted to bring some FF spirit to the game I thought, "Yeah, thats what this game really needs.. "Thats the reason why , posts like <<" Hey developers: I want the ability to jump, and change jobs in the middle of a battle, and also I want pvp and flying, and riding cars, and becoming a two head dragon and also I would like you to make grinding easily, but still challenging, and I want orcs, and blood mages and....">> make me really upset. It's like: this is a Final Fantasy... right? At some point this game is beginning to turn into a mix of what everyone wants, and a good dish comes when you mix the right ingredients in the right amount, not when you put all the things you like togheter in a bowl.

[zaviermhigo]

What if they added a namingway or w/e ways, another beastmen race that are kinda like qiqirn but mixed with the bunny people from tactics. not even a joke post. I think since this game was based off of FFII they didn't go outside of that box with the concept of FF but I think its an mmo, mash together some ideas from the best but always make the idea better before it makes it into the game.