"Where has the magic gone?"

[SuzakuCMX]

No one is resistant to change, in fact, the series changed quite dramatically over the years. What remained throughout most incarnations however was that great story telling and immersion.

FF14 does not have either, the story telling is almost non existant and immersion is broken with every update. Monster levels, HP bars, NPC floaty icons, Emity meter, jumping. God knows what brilliant idea they come up with next.

The playerbase is VERY resistant to change.
-Look at all the threads asking for more "old Final Fantasy" stuff (THIS THREAD INCLUDED)
-Multiple threads about trivial changes such as enmity meters and a jump feature
-Bashing of FFXII and FFXIII because it "wasn't Final Fantasy."
-Bashing of FFXIV because "it's not Final Fantasy enough."
-Bashing of FFXI updates because "they're too easy."
-Bashing of features because they're "too WoW" (usually before we have an idea of how they work)

However most people dislike change so it's not exclusive to the playerbase. But to say they aren't resistant to change? Ridiculous.

EDIT: Immersion being broken because you can now tell what will and won't bash your face in, and how likely it is to suddenly bite your face off? Do you make any posts that don't make me laugh?

[indira]

ffxiv is just going to be a sub par japanese wow clone.

Something else you have to take a look at is ourselves.
Like you already said - we've grown up. It's way harder to give a grown-up person the same kind of magical feeling you could give to a child or teenager. The reason we still feel it in the titles we've played as kids is because our memories give it a magical feeling. It's not something controlable.
So I'm not sure who really is to blame for the loss of "magic" in Final Fantasy, but I think they are doing a really great job with FFXIV in recapturing it.

growing aint the problem making stuff everyones has made already then dumbing it down is the problem. SE used to innovate now they just follow the bandwagon. been like that for the past decade. started getting bad after the n64/ps1 days.

[Spellstar]

It has alot to do with the workload that increases with every game generation. While an engine for a NES Final Fantasy was probably done in a month it took years to create the (crappy) Crystal Tools Engine......

In what way is Crystal Tools crappy? Please elaborate, as my experience of playing FF13 was one of wonder at the game engine and graphics (even if the gameplay itself was slightly less "wonder-ous")

[Seif]

I don't get this "nostalgia" thing you use to explain away how the previous FF titles were better. I just played through FFVIII for the first time in my life as it was released on PSN.

Current gen FF titles or current gen titles all together don't hold a candle to the depth, length, storytelling nor content when it comes to that game and that's not even my favorite FF game o_O()

It's all just nostalgia is a blanket statement with nothing to back it up to my ears it sounds like those people who say evolution is just a "theory" lol

Current gen standard is 6 to 12 hrs of easy to learn gameplay because producing more content with these graphics costs multiple times more than what it used to. We don't get the exploration or the adventure anymore because quite frankly to the masses it's more important to see individual hair strands than story-driven multiple quest-lines with cutscenes.

If there's a sense of nostalgia that I got from playing VIII it's the recycled simple animations of the characters during in-game cutscenes. I appreciate that kind of character development during 80hrs way more than one fully rendered 3minute clip from the blur studios that isn't tied to the actual gameplay in any way.

[NeoEarth]

FFXIV has a ton of elements that are FF...

The problem is... i simply have nothing left to do :-(. Even after 2 dungeons are added, how long can we be expected to run these dungeons b4 it gets old.

I hate to bring up the competition but i have to say that Bioware does get it... (and i think squeenix does to, but can they deliver?)

From a game i won't mention but is going to have a big impact...

xxx will be similar to other MMOs but with several key innovations. Traditionally MMOs are built on three pillars; Exploration, Combat, and Progression. We at BioWare and LucasArts believe there is a fourth pillar: Story. Our mission is to create the best story-driven games in the world. We believe that the compelling, interactive storylines in xxx are a significant innovation to MMOs and will offer an entertainment experience unlike any other.

[Skyrant_Kangaroomouse]

The playerbase is VERY resistant to change.
-Look at all the threads asking for more "old Final Fantasy" stuff (THIS THREAD INCLUDED)
-Multiple threads about trivial changes such as enmity meters and a jump feature
-Bashing of FFXII and FFXIII because it "wasn't Final Fantasy."
-Bashing of FFXIV because "it's not Final Fantasy enough."
-Bashing of FFXI updates because "they're too easy."
-Bashing of features because they're "too WoW" (usually before we have an idea of how they work)

However most people dislike change so it's not exclusive to the playerbase. But to say they aren't resistant to change? Ridiculous.

EDIT: Immersion being broken because you can now tell what will and won't bash your face in, and how likely it is to suddenly bite your face off? Do you make any posts that don't make me laugh?

It is not a single thing that breaks immersion, you should read more carefully. It is the combination of all of them that is eventually going to turn this into just another WoW clone.

I am one of those players that turns even name plates off because they are bothering me.

[SuzakuCMX]

It is not a single thing that breaks immersion, you should read more carefully. It is the combination of all of them that is eventually going to turn this into just another WoW clone.

I am one of those players that turns even name plates off because they are bothering me.

Srs lols. I guess the answer to my question was no.