Getting worse with age?

[Bubble Boy]

Final Fantasy seems to have lost something along the years. It all started going downhill with FFX. Certainly not a bad game, but it lacked something the previous games had. And now with FFXIII, which wasn't all that great gameplay-wise, I just hope they do well with FFXIII-versus or whatever the hell it's called.

They need to get rid of voiceovers. I think it doesn't suit the series.

[Yoko]

I guess it depends on how open minded you are. I could be wrong though.

I agree with the voice acting though. I was fine not knowing what they sounded like. It's lacking the art of imagination now.

[Superjord]

Completely agree, I miss the 'over-world' I was hoping XIII might have included one where X and XII (didn't play XI, not a keen online gamer). My favourite part about FF is being able to travel and explore new places, and in most cases get my arse kicked by being somewhere I shouldn't be yet haha! I also miss the battle system, on my second play through of XIII I got bored halfway because the battling got incredibly boring so I decided to start FFIV again just because I enjoy the battle system so much more. **** graphics and voice overs, if I wanted that I'd watch a movie but unfortunately with new-age technology it'll always be that way from now and forever...

I miss and prefer the old school FF style in pretty much every single way.

[Cereal~Killer]

I agree. Final Fantasy just doesn't seem like Final Fantasy anymore. In my opinion, since FFX, it's FFXII that's been the best. I know alot of people hated XII, but I really liked it. I can only play it once in a good while, because it's such a long game, but that doesn't mean I like it any less.

XIII bombed, in my opinion. XI and XIV don't exist to me. I don't deal with that online stuff.

I still haven't played X. I have the game, but from what I've seen, it just hasn't really caught my interest. I'll eventually play it someday, just as part of my goal to complete all FF games in the series, though.

I do miss the classic style, though. The controllable airships. The world map. Random battles with the Active Time Battle system. The deep characters and stories. I even miss good old 2D FF games. I really hope the next FF game goes a little bit more back to it's roots.

[smurphy]

There has definitely been a decline in quality since the amalgamation of Squaresoft and Enix. Though XII is definitely up there with the best FFs.

There may be many reasons why but they all show the same symptom. The series is getting further and further away from its roots. Maybe they are trying to make the series appeal to more mainstream gamers. Thanks to that we got the streamlining of the combat system in XIII which took away from the immersion in the game. Also thanks to that they are focusing on totally unnecessary MMOs. Maybe the series has lost some of its spark due to Sakaguchi and Uematsu leaving.

Versus XIII should and will be good due to the fact it is being made by the Kingdom Hearts team who have not made a game which has been less than brilliant yet. But it may not have that edge which makes a FF a FF.

[HUNK]

Dang, gettin' lost on the overworld map was great fun. I still remember how amazed I was when I discovered Gogo under the ocean on FFV. I remember being afriad everytime I go under the sea on FFVII because I was afraid to land right in front of Emerald Weapon. Overworld was great...I miss it too.

However, I was okay with the way FFXII played. (I've not played XIII but I'm in no hurry... -.- ) I'd say Final Fantasy voice acting is hit and miss at best. Some of thier voices I really enjoy. Although critics don't agree, I really liked Exdeath's corrny as heck voice on Dissidia. I also liked Basch, Balthier and Gabranth, just to name a few.

I wouldn't say they're getting worse, I just think that back in the day they made games that were so awesome it's hard to live up to thier own reputation. We can't expect every Final Fantasy to be FFVII. (I'm not saying it's the best though...just appealing to the fans)

[Blackbird VIII]

Well, I enjoyed FFX and FFXII but even so, I did not feel the same addiction and imagination in my experience that I had in previous titles(marketed mainly by Square soft). I mush preferred the days of the over world map, voiceless characters, and pure imagination that SE has practically eliminated from the table.

These days, it seems that FF is a semi-disposable title. Any piece if s*** can bare the name now. The series might as well be EA owned at the rate they are marketing the title's. Hell, EA might do a better job(too far ) but you get the point. Then again, there have been a few Square-Enix titles that I have enjoyed very much. Just to name a few: FF: Dissidia, FFXII, FFX, and DQVIII.

Anyways, my vote is to bring back the Square of old and stop "progressing" the series.

[HUNK]

I think many fans feel that way. (Cept the EA thing... )

I also think that Square gets that to an extent. They try to appeal to those who want the olde skool to return, and that's why we have millions of remakes of Final Fantasy games. (Like FF 1 has like 3-4 titles) They also don't want to "Fall-behind" the other gaming companies out there. If Square doesn't use new technologies and stuff, won't they start to be concidered less popular? I mean, at E3 and stuff, Overly dramatic music accompanied with Uber-Res graphics is what gets people excited.

I still enjoy the classics more, I'm not entierly sure what I like about them...it's alot of stuff but there is a reason they are concidered classic.

[Trodorne]

I guess it depends on how open minded you are. I could be wrong though.

Open minded would mean that you tried the game and did not like it. that is open minded. I played the final fantasy games even though I hate Anime in general and over the top child like cheese.

Everything boils down to level of preference. you can't please everyone, and the developers at the company want to tell a story and not make a game. if they wanted to make a game they could do that with 2D 16bit graphics.

Most people squeal and get all rowdy about the characters and the story much like any other japanese art form that comes over here. so they re use the same form for about every game in order to sell to the masses. It works so there for what they do is not wrong. You the people have made that so. If you want change then stop buying the games.

[Final Hearts 69]

...I don't mind the voice overs, but it does irritate me when the voices stop talking and the mouths were still moving....sometimes. Also I love the graphics of the old skool games as well as the graphics of the new skool...with the revised old skool games of the series we could look back and see how far in gameart design they've come. I mean, yeah old skool is coming back, but who in the younger generations would want to play with "terrible graphics" as they would put it. To the older generations, it doesn't fade away; they adapt to the new graphics, sure, but they always tend to go back to the kind of game graphic they grew up with.
I-like many that are around my age- have grown up when the switch was being made and so going back and forth between the old skool graphics and the new skool graphic are easy to get use to...especially when we know that the game is from way back when are video games just came out.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, it all depends on what generation of gamers you're from. Becuase each generation is different and game companies now a days have to be able to please both old skool and new skool at the same time, which is why they started to come back out with the old skool games to keep the older generations into playing games.
... ...oops....sorry got carried away. back to criticizing the games...For me at least the games have gotten better with age. Graphics are one thing and music is another...as well the style of gameplay. What I truly love about the FF series is that not one game is the same, but it has the same background plot in most of their games. Each character in every game has their own trials to go through and get help along the way. For the newer games let say from FF7 on up -don't know if it started earlier than 7- they had dropped the fact of crystals and start to have different plots than the ones prior to them. FF13 Versus looks like that they had brought back the fact of crystals. All together as a whole, I think that the game has gotten better with age...but that's just my opinion.

[Unknown Entity]

I think it's lost a certain level of charm that you can only find in classic games, and I think making a classic game has become a dying art. Technology changes and so does the audience. We're gearing up for 3D gaming now - I have no interest in 3D games if the games are crap in the first place, but there's still a large market for it.

With the Final Fantasy games reaching up to a fourteenth game, some with spin offs, and talk of a fifteenth game now, I think there's only so much more they can really do to keep the franchise alive. It's only a matter of time before they'll have to recycle a story, or parts of ones that have already been done.

Graphics whoring does draw in a large audience. If you can make something look good, there's a market for it even if it turns out to be a load of shite. I'm not saying Final Fantasy XIII was shite - I liked it, but I can see why the appeal to long term Final Fantasy fans altered shortly after its release. It lacked almost all charm that the other Final Fantasy games brought to the table - towns, shops, npcs, freedom on a world map, a heart warming story, search for the Holy Grail side quests, etc.

I don't expect another FFVII, VIII or IX to come out any time soon.

[Illusion]

I miss using Airships, and the freedom of past games. Those are the two things I disliked the most about FFXIII, that I had virtually no choice as to how I wanted to play the game. Some times they get the voice overs wrong, and they lack emotion, but some times I think they get it right. The stories and characters do seem to lack a certain passion and effort that made past games so great.

However, I think that not everything is bad news. The visuals where amazing in FFXIII, and I also liked the art on FFXII. I try to enjoy every game I play, every single one, and I like both of those FFs even though alot of people don't. I think world building in the last few FFs (I don't know anything about XI & XIV) was good in FFXII and not half bad in FFXIII (except for not having an open-world structure). Character development left much to be desired, but again, there were good characters in both games.

I would like to say that FF is in a process of evolving and adapting to the new generations in gaming (360, ps3) and to the change from Squaresoft to SE, but in simple terms it's just been degrading. I think, though, that sooner or later they will find their footing again and put out games that do justice to the Final Fantasay name.

[Xanatos]

It would be rather dull if they kept using the same formula over and over again, the first nine installments overused some elements, they became cliched in other words, and if they're to keep things fresh, and to attract new audience changes were clearly needed.

As with every series going through radical changes there were some positive, and some negative attributes. Though not many may see it that way, by ditching the lame love story, angsty teens, adding huge open spaces, non random battles, more control over your characters, focusing on a group rather than one man army, in my humble opinion Final Fantasy XII evolved the series in almost every aspect. Final Fantasy XIII was a step down, it was visually impressive, though it stays on that I'm afraid.

As for the future titles, Square has yet to disappoint me, whatever they come up with, I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it.

[markandrewkinzett]

I wasn't over impressed with 10-2 but I think FF12 and FF13 are both great games, I know a lot of people complain about the linear qualities of these games and to a degree I can understand but if you work hard enough at the games and the story is good you can enjoy it still. Also when you get far enough you are rewarded with the abiltiy of freedom you just have to be willing to do a little work to get to that point.