Keiji Inafune talks about Japanese Games: how it relates to XIV

[Estellios]

Many of the PS1 classics that arrive on the PlayStation Network are popular. Everyone enjoys the fact that Legend of Dragoon is heading to the PSN very soon, and how long was Final Fantasy VII, and VIII stayed on top of the most popular top 10 download list? Many of them titles have a style of gameplay that is dying and yet, with the myth that all westerners only want to play other stuff, those classics often outsell new digital content constantly.

Maybe that's a small message. That adventures with deep storyline, and color still have a place in this world.

That's really not fair though. They are older popular games that many people have lots of nostalgia for, coupled with the fact that you can upload it onto a PSP and make it portable, which is really enticing with the low price point. At least FF7 and 8 still hold up well today (and 8 feels very western with how crazy it lets you crack it wide open), LoD was cool when it came out but aged like crap.

[syntaxlies]

FF needs to bring back its spark in its offline games, FFXIII and XIII-2 were utterly crap compared to the older ones such as FFVII, FFIX, FFX which used open-worlds with cities, shops tons of areas and complete freedom most of the time to go and do as you please, these latest ones (FFXIII) even restrict your ability to lvl up how and when you want to because you have to complete parts of the game to progress more.

ff10 has tons of follow the path progression though. the city's were nice but the whole time i felt like i was walking on a trail. I hated it. Also i hate using a soccerball for a weapon.

[Denmo]

If you enjoy a game that plays itself .. sure, the world was great I'll admit that.

If you got into it, it's essentially doing the same thing we're doing right now. You still needed to tweak your gambits mid boss fight. If you ask me, it was way more intense and exciting than XIII's button mash fest. And if I could choose between XIV's current battle system and XII's gambits, I'd be programmin' gambits all day in Eorzea, baby~.

And dear lord, dat customization. I'm still mad that we never saw the International version.

[Skies]

Hrm... I feel like this should be linked here:

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode...se-rpgs-part-1
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode...se-rpgs-part-2
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode...se-rpgs-part-3

Don't diss those simply from coming from Penny Arcade in case you don't like the place, I personally don't know it at all but this series, Extra Credits, was shown to me by a friend of mine who is studying to be a game developer and it is in fact both interesting and instructive.

Regardless, I think that these three episodes are pretty relevant in here.

[KumaAkuma]

When they’re not shown a direction, they just waste their energy on unnecessary things.

Goobbue mount, seasonal events, dyes, stories on lodestone.

On FFXI I remember there were a lot of mini game stuff being added, but it was never followed up. Like that monster colosseum thing. Like and ADHD kid starting something, never finishing it and starting something new.

[Wincy]

I'm amazed that people tend to avoid FFXII when talking about the series.

That game had a god damned WORLD. And the battle system was amazing~

Definitely agree with you Denmo. I loved FFXII, the plot, the characters, the battle system, all of it was really well done. But it never seems to get the props it deserves, especially among my FF-fan friends. Some of them refuse to even play it!? Crazy...

[Sehro]

says the megaman character designer!

really what have he done other than taking part in the development of a large number of capcom's past games? he done nothing for re games or any of the very famous japanese titles around the world other than megaman (dead series ).

there is nothing wrong with japan,they are just not into HD gaming.

[Airget]

I think people miss the fact that when it comes to the FF series it's advanced to a point where they want to create a fluid battle system that takes away the redundant factors of "attack" "attack" "attack" "attack" "attack" "attack" on basic mobs and perhaps a magic spell here and there for the tougher mobs but overall the system was basic and always lead to the same amount of actions.

Also this FF12 game plays itself is such a dumb remark, so the gambits are put in automatically, it's not the human player that inputs the gambits to create an intense battle environment in which they anticipate actions and use said abilities at proper intervals rather then having to scroll through menus and waste precious seconds that could have saved you life?

In a real fight does a person look through their ability list and look for the kick command or do they just kick, do they have to open up the martial arts command list and look for the round kick command or do they just perform the round kick when they find the proper opening? That's what the ff12 system was all about it was about creating a system in which you could create a fluid battle based on how well you prepared yoursef.

In the same essence ff13 cut down on unnecessary commands and condensed it down to staggering a foe and then exploiting the dmg increase or enfeebling the foe as needed, or healing when needed having people change their roles on the fly rather then having to be like "open magic menu" "use cure" then die because you coudln't get to the cure spell quick enough. With 13 they were able to make fast paced battles that didn't alienate played of certain skill levels because they coudln't scroll through the battle menu quick enough lol.

Everytime people talk about old FF it's like they are saying we enjoy having to hit attack in every fight and then having to change it up to the barrage mode when facing off against a boss. That's the basic formula of previous FF, prepare the proper potions, use basic commands to save on your abilities, then burst it out when fighting the bosses. Is that really any different then 13's method of fighting, but then again in 13 each fight had it's own unique flavor to it, while the boss fights took longer there were also some basic fights that if you didn't plan your actions accordingly you would die because of a mobs ability.

It's just like people don't want change even though people complain that they want change, then when it happens they complain cause they don't like how it came out. You'll never please everyone but I think people should at least appreciate what they were going for with each installment to the FF battle system, people feel ilke they have less control over the characters but seriously think about it for a second. Play through FF1-9 again and count the amount of times you use the Attack command in battle, or perhaps since you know where the save point are/ethers you use stronger moves, but are you really strategizing in the fight or are you just doing the same task over and over again til you reach the boss?

[Majidah]

If you ask me american games are like american idol. Just because something is commercially successful it doesn't mean its good stuff. There are some exceptions though. Mass effect series? Great.

But I wouldn't compare WoW with FFXI for example. Or even XIV. There's a different level of quality.
Even when XIV released and it was basically unplayable it was on a whole different level than WoW.

[Jinko]

If you got into it, it's essentially doing the same thing we're doing right now. You still needed to tweak your gambits mid boss fight. If you ask me, it was way more intense and exciting than XIII's button mash fest. And if I could choose between XIV's current battle system and XII's gambits, I'd be programmin' gambits all day in Eorzea, baby~.

And dear lord, dat customization. I'm still mad that we never saw the International version.

I agree it was better than 13's battle system, I would actually like to see them use the gambit system for the chocobo, beastmaster pet system and summoner pet system.

Definitely agree with you Denmo. I loved FFXII, the plot, the characters, the battle system, all of it was really well done. But it never seems to get the props it deserves, especially among my FF-fan friends. Some of them refuse to even play it!? Crazy...

It felt more like a Starwars game to me lol.