A letter to Square

[Abriael]

Maybe a little, but I think it's just one of many examples of everyone's failure to understand what we want from SE.

Which is the big problem in many, they all think they speak for "the fans", when they are just mistaking their own opinion with "the fans".

Arrogance in its purest form.

[Yrusama]

Which is the big problem in many, they all think they speak for "the fans", when they are just mistaking their own opinion with "the fans".

Arrogance in its purest form.

A good example is XIII's flashiness. They somehow got the impression "WE NEED MORE FLASHY!", but I attribute a lot of VI and VII's popularity to their believably humble settings. A star is only bright against the dark night sky.

Edit: derp, didn't fully take in what you were saying. Damn my distracting pizza!

Yeah, even I'm guilty of trying to speak for everyone from time to time. But when it comes to FF, I like to be as objective as possible, because everyone has their favorite for different reasons.

[Vilhem]

A good example is XIII's flashiness. They somehow got the impression "WE NEED MORE FLASHY!", but I attribute a lot of VI and VII's popularity to their believably humble settings. A star is only bright against the dark night sky.

They also somehow got the impression WE NEED MOAR LIGHTNING SO LETS MAKE ANOTHER ONE LOL

Aside from that, this is pretty much spot on with how I feel towards the franchise. I still own all the titles, but I can't say I have been happy with the focus on so much flashy graphics that the story and innovation lags behind. Ah well, here's to hoping they make a great game in the future. o_o

[Xeonerable]

Which is the big problem in many, they all think they speak for "the fans", when they are just mistaking their own opinion with "the fans".

Arrogance in its purest form.

Compared to some other videos I've seen from gaming sites about Square Enix I found the GameTrailers one to be a bit sincere. I'm no SE fanboy so I'm not going to whiteknight and be like "oh that video is full of shit." Since the video did bring up some good points. The overall message I got out of that video is that the people at GameTrailers hopes SE rediscovers the creative ambition again before its too late and they don't want to see them go.

It seems more arrogant to nit-pick at GameTrailers in thinking they are speaking for "everyone" and ignoring the main highlights of the video.

[Abriael]

It seems more arrogant to nit-pick at GameTrailers in thinking they are speaking for "everyone" and ignoring the main highlights of the video.

Not when the "main highlights" are obvious things that you can find just by reading any forum (and not true for "the fans" anyway, as there's no way to poll them reliably).

[Xeonerable]

Not when the "main highlights" are obvious things that you can find just by reading any forum (and not true for "the fans" anyway, as there's no way to poll them reliably).

Well fans of a series tend to be fans of it for mostly the same reasons right?
So if these are obvious things you can find on any forum they are basically repeating something that most people feel anyway then?

[Abriael]

Well fans of a series tend to be fans of it for mostly the same reasons right?
So if these are obvious things you can find on any forum they are basically repeating something that most people feel anyway then?

Not really. Forums aren't a valid representation of what the real general demographic wants. Poll a different demographic (for instance magazine reasders) and you'll get entirely different results.

They're a representation of a very specific demographic (people that go on the internet and feel like chatting about games on forums, and on the western internet at that, since in Japanese forums you'll find entirely different viewpoints), and it has a specifically negative slant, as many are more likely to express negativity in written form than positivity (IE people that have something to complain about are much more likely to write about it that people that are happy about a product). Which is why the internet is becoming a cesspit of negativity and hate and game journalism is following suit (even when hidden behind the "concern" facade of "letters" like this).

You have it in your signature, so I'm pretty sure you can see it as well.

So basing yourself on forums, or even just "the internet" (provided that there is a way to find an actual consensus on "the internet", and there really isn't) to find a representation of what "The fans" want is flawed at best, ignorant at worst.

People, journalists included, should only talk for themselves. Not for "the fans" or "the majority". That's trying to find a validation for their own opinions that actually does not exist.

They also somehow got the impression WE NEED MOAR LIGHTNING SO LETS MAKE ANOTHER ONE LOL

Always amazed to see that some still don't understand why they make "moar lightning".

[SkyeWindbinder]

Always amazed to see that some still don't understand why they make "moar lightning".

To be honest, I really don't understand either, lol. What's with the "Lightning flood" anyway?

[HiirNoivl]

I was interested until they kept showing clips of ARR as "The MMO that failed."

If you can't even match clips to the game you're criticizing, then you have no business doing it.

[Abriael]

To be honest, I really don't understand either, lol. What's with the "Lightning flood" anyway?

For the same reason why every other developer in the world continues churning out sequels of their games. A lot of the work behind them (from character design to actual assets) is already done, so the cost is very low compared to a full fledged production, and while a sequel of the lightning saga may sell less than a full fledged new final fantasy, it's a low cost/low risk/quick turnaround operation that brings easy cash in the coffers.

That cash can be used to finance more ambitious and high-risk project, like luminous/agni's philosophy for instance, or new full fledged games, of Final Fantasy XIV:ARR (that is most definitely a high cost/risk project).

Churning out a lot of low cost/risk projects to make the money for the high cost/risk ones is pretty much the only way to survive in the game industry now.