What consumers expect of a FF-title

[OMEGA_HACK]

Allow me to dispel some mythology.


Myth:


Reality:
FFXI Metacritic Score: 85 / 100
FFXII Metacritic Score: 92 / 100

Yeah, that's right, not only was FFXI well liked, but FFXII was liked even more.

Myth:


Reality:

FFX Metacritic Score: 92 / 100
FFX-2 Metacritic Score: 85 / 100
FFXIII Metacritic Score: 83 / 100

All the games were well received. They even sold well.

FFX: 7,950,000
FFX-2: 5,210,000
FFXIII: 6,350,000 (PS3, 360)

You've proved my "myth" to fact, by posting that. Just wanted to let you know. XIII did sell well. XIII was harshly reviewed by the consumer not a metacritic, the user reviews are lower. Also my scale portrays what you posted just about to a T. So if you don't mind, please finish reading my post and/or quote me entirely because you just made yourself look silly, since we were saying the same thing.

[Seif]

I just found out a lot of XIII-2 was just outsourced from tri-ace. That's like Da Vinci asking for Matisse to help with anatomy. Also Tales of Xilia outsold XIII-2 in Japan. The first time Tales has done it though the numbers weren't that big to beat.

[Elexia]

I just found out a lot of XIII-2 was just outsourced from tri-ace. That's like Da Vinci asking for Matisse to help with anatomy. Also Tales of Xilia outsold XIII-2 in Japan. The first time Tales has done it though the numbers weren't that big to beat.

Tales BARELY outsold XIII-2 at the time the numbers were released. The Tales of games have actually been getting better.

[OMEGA_HACK]

/sigh No 'Tales' will ever be another Tales of Symphonia though :s

[Firon]

/sigh No 'Tales' will ever be another Tales of Symphonia though :s

Tales of Graces is better to me <.<

[Charismatic]

The Tales of games have actually been getting worse.

Honestly, 2D Tales = Best Tales
I hate that the fanbase is falling in love with these spammy no-need-for-strategy games they've been coming out with lately.

Destiny 2 is still tops in my mind. Barbatos was such a great boss even though he's almost soulcrushingly difficult in the 3rd battle if you don't already know how to handle him. But that's what made it so great, you had to actually work out a way to beat him instead of just zerging like all the bosses in the latest games.

[Blarp]

And yet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_G...ion_and_legacy

It's not about people "not branching out enough" it's about what you personally define as a good story or not, but it can't be denied that video game companies have done very good story telling (Square included.)



This is true about everything in life.

Hideo Kojima needs an editor that uses a chainsaw IMO.

[viion]

DL's OST for ff13-2 and I've already deleted about 40 of the tracks.

What have you become SE.

[Ruisu]

DL's OST for ff13-2 and I've already deleted about 40 of the tracks.

What have you become SE.

The OST is fine, it fits the theme of the game, much like XIII-2. Just because you don't like it means that SE went downhill. I thought the XIII-2 OST was fantastic, save the Crazy Chocobo theme, but that was uematsu, who most people longed for to work on a FF ost again.

[Chezen]

This post is written in response to the posts of Betelgeuzah and Malakhim, although I will not be quoting any specific part of them.

I was 20 when FFVII came to America. 21 before I was able to play it. Before that, I had never heard of Final Fantasy. Although I was amazed by what was then cutting edge graphics and 3D world like everyone else, it was the story and gameplay that truly caught my attention. I love that game, and it's successor, so much that I have played each several times over the years.

The notion that appreciation for the story and game goes in hand with age (and to some degree implying the level of one's education), I think is a little bit insulting to the players here, even if unintentional. While I would hardly consider myself to be an intellectual, I am by no means uneducated in literature. When I was younger, I was an avid reader, not only of (then) modern books, but of many classical stories as well. I was the only person in my high school English class who didn't need Shakespeare explained to me. The only reason I do not read as much today, (or for that matter, play games as much as I used to) is because I have very poor eyesight, and my eyes strain easily.

I wouldn't say that FF stories have as much depth as a classical book. Movies are not able to recreate the depth a book can give, imo (and thus why VOs are not the greatest thing to happen to games since sliced bread, again imo). But you can certainly create something very special within a game, being it's own medium. And I can very much recognize the craftsmanship that goes into FF games, both in gameplay, and in story. Even in the titles I personally didn't care for such as XII.

If one cannot recognize the depth that went into VII and VIII's story, then I would surmise that you weren't looking hard enough, or that it at least went over your head. The ending of FFVII is probably the easiest to point out for example. That confused a lot of people for a long time. There was never supposed to be a definitive answer as to whether Midgar suvived that day. Obviously the planet did, and Red XIII did. There was also no definitive answer as to whether Aeris/Aerith had anything to do with it the planet's survival. If she had not have died, would the planet have been saved, or was her death truly senseless? Did she call forth the lifestream, or did the planet save itself? It wasn't until later that official stories were written to answer these questions and more, because of popular demand. But these things were originally left out on purpose, for the players to interpret for themselves.

In conclusion... my choice of stories and games has changed little throughout my life. There are things that I understand better now than I did as a child, but it didn't change my enjoyment of those things. In any case, I wasn't a child when I became a Final Fantasy fan in the first place, which renders that idea as moot in regards to myself. The only thing that changed as I played FFVII over and over was my continued understanding of the story and game. There was enough depth to it that there were things I missed or that went over my head the first or second time through, and I appreciated the craftmanship of it all the more.