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Thread: What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix

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    Sentinel DragonHeart's Avatar
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    What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix

    Just saw this on Kotaku, thought it looked interesting.

    Here's the article

    Of course, this looks to be just basic mechanics of a Final Fantasy. It's a little too much fluff for me.

    On the other hand, it does open discussion for what we think makes a Final Fantasy.

    So, what makes a Final Fantasy, according to TFF?
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    Boxer of the Galaxy What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix Rowan's Avatar
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    What happened to 'having a good battle system' and 'optional quests and bosses'. The 2 staples of any good RPG.

    Oh wait, now its starting to make sense.

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    don't put your foot in there guy SOLDIER #819's Avatar
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    Developers make Final Fantasy LOL

    FFVII ended the recurring medieval theme they had up until FFVI. FFX-2 happened after Sakaguchi was filtered out (probably because Spirited Away did so badly or something), ending the whole tradition of keeping each entry as a standalone title. FFXI became the first MMO entry, and with FFXII they started outsourcing the titles to completely different teams.

    Other than chocobos, moogles, allusions to old monsters and an antiquated class system, there's not much left to tie the games together.

    I suppose the one thing that hasn't changed is that there will always be diehard fans that do nothing but praise the generation they were born into and say that it has mostly degraded since, like with every other hobby out there.
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    Mystyrion
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    What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix

    Spirited Away?
    I think you mean the Spirits Within.

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    Sentinel DragonHeart's Avatar
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    There are some other elements too though, overarching themes and such. I can't really think of any truly morally ambigious main party characters, for example. It's always blame it on mind control/evil powers of darkness/moogles did it.

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    Boxer of the Galaxy What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix Rowan's Avatar
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    Spirits within was not only the reason why the cinema contained only myself, my best friend at the time, my mum and some strange guy at the front who said "Great turn out, aye!?" it was also the reason square had to merge and become the company that believes (I know ive said it before, but ill say it again and again because I invented it) sucking on the **** of commercialism is the best way to level up.

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    The Quiet One What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix Andromeda's Avatar
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    From a game pillars perspective, their answers make total sense. Because this high level ideas that will direct the project. Saying it has a combat system is redundant because they're making a RPG. It's not a RPG without one, making a good one is completely subjective. Good isn't something you can quantify, so it doesn't make for a strong pillar.

    About the only thing that you might add, but it also seems redundant is saying the FF mythology, there are a collection of things that just appear in every game because they decide to do it. But that is getting into specifics and this something general.
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    Ayyye What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix Lacquer Head's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rowan View Post
    What happened to 'having a good battle system' and 'optional quests and bosses'. The 2 staples of any good RPG.

    Oh wait, now its starting to make sense.
    heeeee

    Quote Originally Posted by SOLDIER #819 View Post
    Developers make Final Fantasy LOL

    FFVII ended the recurring medieval theme they had up until FFVI. FFX-2 happened after Sakaguchi was filtered out (probably because Spirited Away did so badly or something), ending the whole tradition of keeping each entry as a standalone title. FFXI became the first MMO entry, and with FFXII they started outsourcing the titles to completely different teams.

    Other than chocobos, moogles, allusions to old monsters and an antiquated class system, there's not much left to tie the games together.

    I suppose the one thing that hasn't changed is that there will always be diehard fans that do nothing but praise the generation they were born into and say that it has mostly degraded since, like with every other hobby out there.
    Yeah, this. Final Fantasy used to be a medieval game with crystals. Then 3D made them wanna be all futuristic. I suppose FF 6 moved closer, but it still had a similar feel. Dat steampunk. FF 7 and 8 could have been a completely different series, might've been cool to do that instead. Have Not So Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy. FF IX would really be VII, making those silly silly people calling FF VII the best FF game correct~

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    don't put your foot in there guy SOLDIER #819's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mysterion View Post
    Spirited Away?
    I think you mean the Spirits Within.
    Oop. Similar names, defaulted on the better movie.
    Quote Originally Posted by Andromeda
    just turn off your PS3 or 360 go to your dust tomb and say you'll give birth to 1500 people a day for the 1000 that'll be killed until the doors to hades open and you can pull out ar tonelico and turn on that glorous PS2 and be bathed in its radiant warm glow

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    Permanently Banned loaf's Avatar
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    It makes sense. Every FF game III and beyond has a Summon, most of the summons revolve around the mythos I'm sure. The combat changes every game in some way, Turn Based or not they keep it Turn Based someway. I really want to see Lost Odyssey Combat into a new FF game.
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    What makes or should make an FF is a world with many towns and dungeons. That and the rest of the stuff, like Chocobos, mythological creatures, crystals, magic, Moogles and last, but not least - Cid.

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    Resident Saint Seiya fanboy What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix Leon's Avatar
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    Definitely the icons of the series, like the Moogles and Chocobos. And Cid and his connection to airships. Keep the spell names and Turn-Based battle system and you pretty much have your base right here. How good the game itself would be depends on the plot and the creativity thrown in the battle system. Just my opinion.
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  13. #13
    Yeah, creative battle system is important, as well as outrageous, unrestrained stories and plots.

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    Kuzuya Mishima What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix ziroth's Avatar
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    Ill keep it simple, good leveling system Also Amazing Music!

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    To me, what constitutes a Final Fantasy is:
    • Nobuo Uematsu's genius music (most important identifier to me)
    • A handful of ragtag heroes
    • Turn-based battling
    • Chocobos
    • Loosely-linear world exploration
    • Airships
    • Your staple summoning magic
    • Seeking crystals or other Shiny Plot Devices
    • Chocobos

    And saving the best for last...
    • Memorable villains


    But wait, there's more:

    Quote Originally Posted by SOLDIER #819 View Post
    I suppose the one thing that hasn't changed is that there will always be diehard fans that do nothing but praise the generation they were born into and say that it has mostly degraded since, like with every other hobby out there.
    What a cynical take on older-generation gamers! Even the most hardened die-hard fan can see that things generally degrade over time, especially when piles of money, mass popularity and target audiences inflate the equation! Come here so I can smack some sense into you with this staff---that's right, a staff! This isn't a cane, boy! Back in my day we called it a WOODEN STAFF. We had to walk uphill, downhill, then up-hill both ways through giant forests and grassy terrain just so we could find enough imps to bludgeon for G! Then we had to go back through the same forests and MORE imps to spend a hard-earned 5G! For EACH staff wielder! It was pitiful weapon---a stick, really---BUT WE EQUIPPED IT AND WE LIKED IT! Feel the unbridled wrath of 6 ATK!

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    Everyone needs a savior What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix the_savior21's Avatar
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    IMO there are a certain few things that go into a good FF.

    There have to be these few things for sure, Chocobos, Moogles, Reoccurring monsters, a character named cid (playable or non-playable), great music (obviously) Shiva and Ifrit, and of coarse other summons. Turn based battle (preferably the ATB), More playable characters then the party can hold, adding the -ra and -aga to elemental magic was interesting and IMO a better way to denote stronger magic as opposed to fire1 fire2 and fire3, Big swords and lack of guns and ammo save for a few exceptions, not so much now a days but i still think it would be cool if they came out with a new game that had the boxed text rather then voices, a liniar story line with the option to explore, train and conduct side missions, separating the party at some point, spiky hair and one guy thats really mysterious.

    Too much? Oh well just my own opinion.
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    Chocobo Queen What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix Katpuss's Avatar
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    I think FF means different things to different people. Some may like the medievil styles, some the more futuristic, others steampunk etc etc. What make a FF game for me is the characters, beautiful music, chocobos, airships and moogles.
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  18. #18
    Was Cid ever not present in an FF?

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    attempting to bribe the Mayor of Lambeth What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix Xanatos's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Odin1199 View Post
    Was Cid ever not present in an FF?
    Well, Cid first apeared in Final Fantasy II (J), he is mentioned in one of the remakes, but does not apear in original version of Final Fantasy I.

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  20. #20
    That's strange. What about 3 and up? In which ones didn't he appear then?

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    attempting to bribe the Mayor of Lambeth What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix Xanatos's Avatar
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    He appeared in every major title ever since FF II (J), it seems I forgot to add that. I recommend using FF Wiki from now on, lots of interesting trivia there.

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  22. #22
    In that case Cid like, Moogles should be in every FF game, imo. FF's for me wouldn't be the same without him.

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    Only plays for sport Unknown Entity's Avatar
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    I think a large, open world to explore, that is full of optional quests, bosses and dungeons makes any decent RPG. For a Final Fantasy, it needs those and chocobos, airships, and ultimate weapons that you have to solve hidden puzzles or defeat bosses for (not this crafting random materials together and battle grinding for items to level them up crap).

    Take Final Fantasy VII for example: there was so much to do once you got either a gold chocobo (through breeding, yes - that was optional too!) or the airship! You could play games at the Gold Saucer, take on Ruby and Emerald Weapon, find everyone's Ultimate Weapons, find hidden materia in hidden caves, recruit optional party members and do their optional quests. In Final Fantasy VIII, you had a card game you could play, and same with Final Fantasy IX.

    In a way, I prefer to not see the monsters coming, and I like the console to pick and choose my battles. But I also liked the charm of seeing them in the world of Final Fantasy XII and XIII. It makes the game feel less empty. As long as battle systems don't suck, I don't really mind how they start. I also prefer it if I can see the level my character is.


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