Quote Originally Posted by Quuoooote View Post
When I say 'complexity' I am mostly speaking in terms of mechanical depth, and not mechanical difficulty. If simplicity and complexity are two ends of the design spectrum, so to speak, then depth is the goal that exists outside of that boundary.
An easy way to explain it is to show a game like Final Fantasy 7 (the original version). The game is not difficult. Anyone can beat it. But there is enough depth that you can optimize it if you're that sort of person.

It's very easy to stick with the default materia setup and just let it level and upgrade your weapon. It's very easy to equip whatever materia the story gives you, and you probably will (summons in particular). Somehow, this system is super intuitive, almost more than any game does it now even. It was so ahead of its time, it even had a full materia tutorial at the start.

But if you want to really optimize it, you can go and buy other materia and go out of your way to link them to "All" materias, obtain W-everything materia, grind them all to max, grind to 99 and become like Sephiroth as early as you can.

You could defeat a boss by optimizing and being really good. Or you could just be really bad and have to spam potions and phoenix downs to just barely scrape by because you didn't gear or equip good materia. There are multiple ways to win and that's the depth.

The issue in this game is how everything has been stripped down to where there's almost just 1 way to go. You do your rotation and it's linear. There are no branching paths in said rotation. You do the fight mechanics, which are a script, so there are no branching paths there either. The entire experience is linear and the same every time, as a result.