Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Zantetsuken]

. It has all the potential in the world to be the best but in its current state it will run out of gas. Many of us like myself have been waiting since 2010 through the nightmare launch of V1 to the end of 1.23b which turned out to be a starting foundation. All that magical wind that built up those 2 years after 1.23b then into 2.0 crashed my hopes. Why do these topics keep popping up people ask? Because people are tired of waiting for empty promises.
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I have to disagree with that last line. We haven't even been given any promises (empty or otherwise) on a change of direction. Have you seen anything in the live letters/blogs/interviews/etc that indicates a move towards a more authentic fantasy world?

I try to cut them some slack because they had to rebuild and balance a MMO in record time, but the whole themepark/treadmill plan at this point seems to be the long-term goal of the designers rather than a mere stop-gap.

Something my friends and I have dubbed "The Elder Franchise Syndrome" Even with the greatest games, the wheel can only be re-invented so many time and ideas can and do get exhausted.

Final Fantasy has far greater opportunities to re-invent itself compared to other franchises, as none of the games are directly tied to the previous ones. The only thing that carries over is themes and lore.

FFXII was a fantastic game, as was FFIX, FFT, FFIV, FFVI, FFXI, etc.. None of them played much like the others, and they each had their own fantastic worlds, stories, characters, etc.

FFXV might be equally superb, if they get the proper 'FF feel' in the game. (though I am a bit nervous after experiencing the corridor-shooter that FFXIII was)