What Makes The Perfect Final Fantasy?

[Locke4God]

I wanted to query every one to find out what would make the perfect FF game. We all have our favorites and least favorites, and reasons for feeling that way, but it seems almost every game, even if it is your favorite, has both it's pluses and minuses.

So as the series moves forward, what aspects of past games or modifactions to those aspects would you make or include?

1. Would you keep the Sci-Fi feel or return to a traditional fantasy setting?
2. Does the game need to return to an overworld map, or retain the 3D landscapes
3. The series will continue without random battles, but should it go back?
4. Should Summons return to single use attacks or continue as interactive characters?
5. Do you favor characters capable or using any ability, or specialized characters that have specific jobs?
6. Would you use a small cast of 5 or 6 characters, a medium cast of 7-9, or a large cast of 10 or more?
7. Do you prefer a dark setting like 6 or 7's or a more lighthearted game like 9?
8. What type of side quests or games do you like? How many? And how detailed would they be?
9. What other elements do you prefer?

[Treize]

Would you keep the Sci-Fi feel or return to a traditional fantasy setting?
It would have to be a mixture of both Sci-Fi and fantasy. All of the best FF games, besides FF Tactics, are all a mixture of both genres. FFIV, FFVIII, etc.

Does the game need to return to an overworld map, or retain the 3D landscapes?
I think it could again have a mixture of both. There could be a general overworld and then there could be various sub areas that are basically 3D landscapes. This is basically how the majority of the FF games are, but the "sub areas" would definitely need to have better graphics. I didn't really like how Final Fantasy X worked with having no overworld, but I also think that just having an overworld is pretty outdated.

The series will continue without random battles, but should it go back?
I don't really mind either system. Having no random battles seems more modern, but it isn't always bad going back to a classic system. Maybe both should be continued in different games?

Should Summons return to single use attacks or continue as interactive characters?
I actually like the idea of the summons being more interactive, but I feel that this has yet to be accomplished effectively. I don't think that this worked very well in either Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy XII. In FF X the summons were pretty much all powerful, and in FF XII the summons were next to useless most of the time.

Do you favor characters capable or using any ability, or specialized characters that have specific jobs?
I like specialized characters more. I kind of liked how the class system was set up in FF X. There were predefined classes, but if you worked hard enough, you could pretty much be any class and do whatever you wanted. I didn't like how it was in FF XII. All the characters seemed too generic and didn't have much that set them apart. It was easy to max out the license board and after that all the characters were pretty similar.

Would you use a small cast of 5 or 6 characters, a medium cast of 7-9, or a large cast of 10 or more?
I would say the cast would have to be small to medium. Six to Nine characters seems to work well. I do not want FF to turn into Suikoden or Chrono Cross, where there are tens of poorly developed characters.

Do you prefer a dark setting like 6 or 7's or a more lighthearted game like 9?
I usually like the dark settings because the storyline is better, but a lighthearted game can also be fun. It really just depends upon the story. Both dark and lighthearted games can be fun if the story is up to par.

What type of side quests or games do you like? How many? And how detailed would they be?
I liked the quests where you have to search for items like the Chocobo treasure hunts in FF IX. I also like when there are bonus areas where you can obtain extra summons, cool weapons, and whatnot. I don't really like the hunting side quests where you have to capture one of every enemy because it just takes too much time and I wouldn't have the patience to complete it, but I wouldn't mind if it is included. I probably just wouldn't complete all of it.

What other elements do you prefer?
I still think the story is the most important part followed by the characters. Just about any game can be good if it has an interesting story and likable characters. I'm still kind of nervous about Final Fantasy XIII because the characters don't look that interesting to me. From what I've seen, I like maybe half the characters... It would also be nice to throw in a little spin on the battle system to make it more interesting.

[Locke4God]

@ Treize - GREAT COMMENTS! And I agree with a lot of them.

You're probably right on the combination of Sci-Fi and High Fantasy in the setting of the game. That has seemed to work well in a game like 6 & 10. 7 & 8 I considered to be almost purely modern. 12 has a good combination. But yeah a combination of both is pretty solid and unique to the series. You don't want it to feel like Star Wars, but you don't want it to feel like Lord of the Rings either.

And you're dead on on the overworld map. I do like to fly over the world as you did in every other game, but to have more detailed terrain once you land.

As for the random battles, I actually liked 12's departure very much. I thought that was it's biggest success. Although I thought there was some room for improvement. The chains for instance, while fun, essentially forced you to only fight in places you either had to, or could get easy high chain counts. I think that needs to be addressed. But I don't at all favor going back to random battles. The freedom of 12's system made for a really relaxing experience.

I'm split on the use of Summons. I agree with you that neither 10 or 12 has gotten the interactive summon right yet, although I prefer 10's. They just needed to tone down the power levels of the higher end Aeons.

And I agree with you on using specialized characters over homogenized ones, as well as a cast of 6-9, although I prefer more towards the 9 end. We haven't had a larger cast in some time now and I'm dying for a good 9 character game.

As for side quests, I actually did like the hunts in 12, and I liked the little tasks you had to do within a city as well, to get keys or whatever. I like completing little missions for NPC's, but I didn't like the Chocobo treasure hunt in IX. It was ok, but if it's going to include a simple mini-game like that, for me that had better be the 3rd best mini-game in the game. I did like Chocobo farming in 7, and the card game from 8. If you had those 2 things along side a game with NPC sidequests and hunts, that would make for a pretty amazing side quest experience.

And I agree with you that I'm very nervous about XIII. The story and characters actually seem ok for me, but I really wonder about what else is going on in a game that turns the Summons into motorized vehicles.

[Treize]

...8 I considered to be almost purely modern.

I don't think that FF VIII is purely modern. For the first two disks it is not very modern. You're riding around in trains and such. It only gets really sci-fi like in the second half of the game with Ragnarok and such. Also there are sorceresses and stuff which seems more fantasy than sci-fi.

As for the random battles, I actually liked 12's departure very much. I thought that was it's biggest success. Although I thought there was some room for improvement.

I did like the battle system for FF XII, but I still like the battle systems from older games better where you actually enter into battles instead of just all the monsters being on the map. Maybe something like what is in Xenosaga would be nice. Then it is like a combination of both. There are monsters on the map that you can choose to encounter or not, but if you do, you would then enter into a battle. I can't see this happening, though.

I did like Chocobo farming in 7, and the card game from 8.

I actually found the Chocobo farming in FF VII to be pretty boring. It was pretty much just breeding the chocobos to get different colored chocobos. There wasn't that much interactivity. Also the card game idea is a little overused. I did like the game in FF VIII, but if it is going to be like what was in FF IX, I would rather it just not be there. Maybe I would like something a little more original.

Also I don't think I was as clear as I should have been in my original post. I actually do like the hunting sidequests like what was in FF XII, where you have to find specific monsters or defeat some difficult monsters, but I don't like what was in FF X. That was pretty much, just defeat one of every monster with a certain weapon equipped. That just got tedious.

I still think the most important thing would be having secret areas or dungeons. Those always turn out to be the most interesting especially when they add something to the plot that would not be included in the main storyline.

And I agree with you that I'm very nervous about XIII. The story and characters actually seem ok for me, but I really wonder about what else is going on in a game that turns the Summons into motorized vehicles.

I haven't read that much about FF XIII because I didn't want to spoil it for myself, but also it seems like FF XIII is going to be really sci-fi like. It almost seems like it could use more fantasy elements. The summons turning into motorized vehicles is just a bad idea.

[Locke4God]

Hummm. Well the Chocobo breeding in 7 I thought was very interactive. You could breed better chocobo's and go race them, which I thought was fun, but more importantly you could breed them in order to get to different areas of the map in order to get rare materia. I don't know, I've played through twice and had a good time with it both times, but to each his own.

By the way, I do think XIII is going to have that combination battle system you thought would be good. It's like 12 with enemies visible on the battle field, but you will enter a battle screen like you wanted. Could be a big win for that game. I agree with you.

It's not a big deal over 8's conceptual nature, but I don't think trains in anyway make it a traditional fantasy setting. Afterall we use trains in the real world and we can put people on the moon. When I think of a traditional fantasy setting, I'm referring to High Fantasy, something akin to lord of the rings, and more of what we saw in the earlier games, esspecially the original and then really all the way up through 5. A very Forgotten Realms/ Lord of the Rings appeal. I didn't really see any of that in 8. I suppose the Sorceress, but the towns were highly modern if not sci-fi, esspecially Esthar, and the only real town that felt remotely fantasy was that place that Laguna grew up in. But that was only a minor town. You could go with the ruins where you aquire Odin, but that also was quite minor. Even the characters were military cadates, and not mages or knights or warriors in the traditional sense of this series, which by the way I thought was a good thing for that game and worked well. I'm just saying I didn't get a "fantasy" feel out of it.

[WilsonDean1990]

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