Quote Originally Posted by Voltyblast View Post
That's my point: even with a huge name behind it, 1.0 failed because of what you said: the game sucked for various reasons, and the story also sucked: basically everything sucked. No offense of course.
Why do you think 2.0 became famous? Well, not for the story but because it was playable after a long time: it was the GAMEPLAY that made the game successful, not the story or the franchise itself because if it did, then 1.0 wouldn't be shut down. And I even recall wanting to give that game a shot and suffice to say, I was glad to have listened to my guts.
A big brand helps but even that couldn't help that misstep of a game and I'm fairly sure 1.0 learned that lesson the hard way.

And this is why I'm concerned: they're slowly making the same mistake they did with 1.0, focusing more on "fanservice" (in this case the franchise itself) instead of what actually made it good (the gameplay). Say what you will, but if this game suddenly begins to "fail" in the gameplay department, it will eventually do the same end of 1.0. I mean think about it: we're basically 2 expansions in and nothing really changed so far nor they mentioned any drastic changes: we might get some improvements over combat but for all we know it might be so little, it might as well be a patch. In most other games when an expansion hits we see drastic changes in gameplay but also content: new modes are introduced, new battle mechanics or even new and different methods for gaming itself (I remember WotLK and the introduction of the phasing, which was a pretty big deal).

What do we have with HW, beside the same exact stuff from ARR, that is actually new? ? Diadem? POTD? Aquapolis? Everything else is basically the same under a new coat of paint.
You're kind of all over the place here. While I actually agree that gameplay is what made 2.0 succeed, you're just asserting that without really backing it up. Would 1.0 have succeeded if the gameplay had been good (and the story still nonexistant)? Maybe? I have no idea. To have good gameplay, 1.0 would have been so fundamentally different that I can't even speculate.

But "fanservice" was distinctly not 1.0's problem. If anything it was the exact opposite. 1.0 used no FF classes, took basically nothing from FFXI, and was in every way trying to be a totally new thing. I mean, look at what was added by 1.23: quests, traditional jobs, primal battles, meteor, Bahamut. All of the fanservice was added in preparation for 2.0. I don't think it's why 2.0 succeeded, but the more fanservice-y version of the game is also by far the more successful one.

I don't know that we need any drastic changes. I quite like the game the way it is, and everything I hated about Heavensward (i.e., the changes to crafting and gathering) were drastic changes. I don't mind the continuation of the tomestone model, the hard vs. extreme primals, or any of that. My favorite change in Heavensward was adding an easy version of the raid, which was pretty drastic but is not the sort of thing people seem to be clamoring for. I never played WoW, so I can't comment on how they do things, but people on these forums are always pining for FFXI, and the expansions to that game never changed anything drastically except perhaps at the very top levels (which I didn't do). It was new zones, new jobs, new quests, and people seemed fine with it. I'm easy to please, though. Stormblood could literally just add Samurai and nothing else and I'd be excited for it, lol.

Quote Originally Posted by Voltyblast View Post
And I'm saying this because I liked 2.0: it was my first final fantasy after a long pause that made me dislike the entire franchise and pretty much any of their games: they just lacked quality and weren't fun anymore. I remember seeing 2.0 and thinking "Wow they're finally listening to their fans, I'm surprised...maybe they're not that bad".
But now it's a repeating of the same thing and, once again, I'm moving away from them: the reason why I'm here ranting about this aspect it's because I truly hoped for the best and finally started to care about their products.
But at this point, I will just call it a day and move on better games.

Thank God I skipped their latest games at least...a shame considering people say Nier Automata is good, but I'm just too scared to try it.
A lot of people hate on the latter Final Fantasy games, but they still all sold well, and I happen to love them. 12 might be my favorite, 15 was the most emotionally satisfying, and I love 13 and think the main criticism ("it's so linear") is ridiculous because it applies just as much to 10, which everyone seems to like. (Honestly I suspect the reason so many people didn't like 13 was because it wasn't fanservice-y enough.) 13-2 in particular seemed inspired to me, though Lightning Returns turned me off early enough that I never got very far. Tastes vary, but Final Fantasy is still popular. It's not at its PS1-era peak, but it's hardly dying.

And it's not all gameplay or story in these games, either. 12 and 15 both have kind of terrible gameplay mechanics, but the story and storytelling are top-notch in both. 13's mechanics are super fun and unlike anything else in the series, but the story turns super dumb in the latter half. 13-2 took 13, made it less linear, and added an interesting story that goes to places I didn't expect it to.

Plus, a lot of people who claim to hate the story in 14 also admit they skip the cutscenes, and a lot of people who hate recent FF games admit they didn't play them. So...