Petition to Square Enix to create a new 16 bit FF game

[dasaten]

Warriors of Light and Darkness doesn't look bad at all, but again it is an episodic release game. That right there is my main problem. Part of the fun of playing an RPG not knowing what is going to happen next. But, when you get these episodes with titles already descibing the plots, not to mention knowing that the last episode is the last it takes a lot away in my opinion.

I think you're probably right though that Square Enix won't take it seriously. I know full well that it's an extreme long shot. I just think that it's a shame that just because more advanced platforms like PS1,2,3 and XBOX have come out over the years that developers have basically abandoned older platforms with the completely wrong assumption that better graphics makes better games.

Anyway, I'm gonna spend my time looking for an emulation of the new FF Legends game now...

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Jeez

Stop living in nostalgia

I'm a pretty big FF fanboy, and I agree wholeheartedly with this statement.

If they can incorporate over 10 years of videogame design into an awesome 16-bit package, thus producing something new and interesting, then I'm all for it.

If you guys just want them to be reductive and play to your memories of 16-bit gaming, then no to that. Besides, SE's MO for the FInal Fantasy series has always been to make use of powerful hardware to create an audiovisual spectacle. Although given modern gaming's bone-shattering budgets, they might have shot themselves in the foot there.

What you SHOULD be asking for is a mainline Final Fantasy on the Vita.

[Charlie's Angel]

I think you're probably right though that Square Enix won't take it seriously. I know full well that it's an extreme long shot. I just think that it's a shame that just because more advanced platforms like PS1,2,3 and XBOX have come out over the years that developers have basically abandoned older platforms with the completely wrong assumption that better graphics makes better games.

Why would a mainstream company continue developing for outdated technology instead of or in addition to current technology? Technology and entertainment can't improve without improving graphics and sound too. That's why you're not watching Blu-Ray movies in black and white.

[Bleck]

SE doesn't need to make a 16-bit RPG they just need to make a good RPG

[DarkeSword]

SE doesn't need to make a 16-bit RPG they just need to make a good RPG

Dragon Quest IX was pretty good!

So was Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light; I love that game. Really old-school feel, great soundtrack, charming art direction, lots of customization.

[dasaten]

Why would a mainstream company continue developing for outdated technology instead of or in addition to current technology? Technology and entertainment can't improve without improving graphics and sound too. That's why you're not watching Blu-Ray movies in black and white.

Just because it's old doesn't mean that it's outdated. I happen to think that every FF after 6 was not an improvement at all, but the opposite. I think Sonic games are a perfect example of this as well. If people don't want old-school, why did New Super Mario Wii outsell both Super Mario Galaxy games??

[Mirby]

Dragon Quest IX was pretty good!

So was Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light; I love that game. Really old-school feel, great soundtrack, charming art direction, lots of customization.

quoted for truth. those were great games.

i should've requested a track from 4HoL for the FBRC. meh.

[Benjamin Briggs]

How is that even possible?

let me rephrase:

I fucking hate jrpgs except pokemon/paper mario

[Final_metroid]

I can definitely see the utiltiy in Square making a 16-bit game. Without pouring resources into making Shiva's cleavage jiggle or finding new ways to make blur gender lines they can focus more on gameplay.

[Bleck]

Dragon Quest IX was pretty good!

So was Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light; I love that game. Really old-school feel, great soundtrack, charming art direction, lots of customization.

I keep forgetting about both of these games; I haven't even played the latter yet

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I can definitely see the utiltiy in Square making a 16-bit game. Without pouring resources into making Shiva's cleavage jiggle or finding new ways to make blur gender lines they can focus more on gameplay.

Shit dude, they just need to get rid of Tetsuya Nomura.

[Charlie's Angel]

Just because it's old doesn't mean that it's outdated. I happen to think that every FF after 6 was not an improvement at all, but the opposite. I think Sonic games are a perfect example of this as well. If people don't want old-school, why did New Super Mario Wii outsell both Super Mario Galaxy games??

Because its more accessible to play a 2D simplified platformer game than a 3D game that requires some complex controls and physics (you're defying gravity after all) to get into. NSB isn't so much Old School as it is simplified back down to resemble the other 2D Mario games. There's nothing wrong with that and as you can see it works out very well, but its not the same thing as expecting Square Enix to produce another 16bit FF game.

As far as the Sonic games - wow. Don't look into that as an example of what fans want. Fandom is crazy. There is some wild faux-psychology going on in the minds of "hardcore" fans of series. They develop strong emotional bonds to a certain thing that happens to fulfill them (usually during childhood or adolescence) to the point of idolization, then go down a bifurcated road where they want more and either A. cannot get any more, thus leaving the fan unfulfilled or B. get more until sooner or later they get too much of a good thing. The response to the end of the same recognizable positive stimulus is to blame everything about the game for that cardinal sin except your ability to recognize that you already got your fill and don't want to accept it.

Things change. Do you have any idea how lucky you are that you got 6 games in a row that all produced that same positive stimulus you enjoyed? You can't just turn that on when you're developing a game. Square-Enix hasn't just decided to make sucky games people like you can't (or rather refuse to) appreciate, they decided to do something different. Now you're bitching about games you haven't even played, games that are the closest things you're going to find to what you want that somehow still aren't good enough, and its Square-Enix's fault?

I'm not a doctor so all that should be taken with a grain of salt, but I mean c'mon now. How hard can it be to wake up to reality and just enjoy something for what it is, not what it used to be? Videogaming is supposed to be fun, and you're denying yourself that.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I'd also argue that new Sonic games can't get that "old-school" feel right. Hell, the same could be said about most developers trying to resurrect a dead series/"retrofy" it.

It wasn't that games were 16-bit or sprite based that made them great. It was the way designers worked around the limits of the hardware back then to achieve what they wanted that made them great. Uematsu even admits that he wishes they could have gotten a fully voiced Aria in FFVI's Opera scene. In short, hardware had dick to do with a game's quality back then as much as a game designer's own creativity, and there's plenty of that going around in today's gaming space, even with the deluge of generic first person shooters out.

What exactly did you like about 16-bit FFs that you feel just couldn't be/haven't been done in later entries? I'm sure that you'll find that none of your answers have much to do with them being 16-bit when you think about 'em critically.

[DarkeSword]

I keep forgetting about both of these games; I haven't even played the latter yet

It's okay man. I think sometimes people get tunnel-vision where Square Enix is concerned and forget that they've made more games in the past couple of years than just Final Fantasy XIII. Whether they are good or not is obviously a matter of personal taste, but I think people need to be careful not to judge the merit of an entire company by their most recent, highest-profile home console game.

[Mirby]

Once I heard about Gaiden, I was all HELL YEAH! And then it came out, I played it, and was all HELL YEAH!

Even if it does sometimes come off as some amalgamation of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy (low HP levels and inventory limits scream DQ to me, personally). But it's still worth a play, and the music... oh my god the music... ^.^

[dasaten]

Do you have any idea how lucky you are that you got 6 games in a row that all produced that same positive stimulus you enjoyed? You can't just turn that on when you're developing a game. Square-Enix hasn't just decided to make sucky games people like you can't (or rather refuse to) appreciate' date=' they decided to do something different. Now you're bitching about games you haven't even played, games that are the closest things you're going to find to what you want that somehow still aren't good enough, and its Square-Enix's fault?[/quote']

Yes, I do know and I am grateful. I downloaded the After Years today and gave it a couple of hours but just couldn't get into it. Definitely not even close to what I am looking for. Just to be clear though, I'm not bitching. I never once said that I didn't appreciate FFVII-XIII. I played them and enjoyed them very much. Just not as much as their 16-bit counterparts. I only want to play a new game in the vain FF IV, V and VI and I've decided to try the only thing I can think of to make it happen. I'm not chastising Square for any decistions they've made over the years as they are logical and completely understandable. You seem to be the one doing the bitching if you ask me...

What exactly did you like about 16-bit FFs that you feel just couldn't be/haven't been done in later entries? I'm sure that you'll find that none of your answers have much to do with them being 16-bit when you think about 'em critically.

Of course, you're right. It isn't the games being 16 bit that inherantly makes them good. They could have been 8 bit and been good as well. However, if they were in 3D as FF7 on was, a lot would have been lost imo. Playing an RPG back then was somewhat akin to reading a book. You could visualize in your mind (instead of in cutscenes) what the characters might look like in real life, or what it's like to walk through the streets of a town or city. For me, the overall magic and mystery of playing an RPG is taken down a notch when it is in. Also, the soundtracks were so much better in those days. Since PS1 there was an constant march towards more cinematic themes. By the time we got to FFX, there were maybe two or three decent tracks in the entire OST.

[EC2151]

Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light was the best Final Fantasy game since Final Fantasy X.

It was like I was actually playing an RPG again.

Instead of a de-fanged mmo (XII) or a piece of shit (XIII). XII was still all right, I want to clarify that. But you'll find me sooner playing the first 10.

Highly recommend it to anyone who like FFs I-III, and FFV.

FFIV the complete edition is the way to go if you want to play After Years, because episodic content is always, ALWAYS lame.

Which is why unless this is released as a single package, I won't really bother with it. Plus, I don't really like the Dragon Quest games too much- can't get into them. I like FF games playing like FF games, myself. Though that is increasingly a nebulous claim with just how many fucking types of games have the Final Fantasy label slapped to it.

[Dj Mokram]

I think people need to be careful not to judge the merit of an entire company by their most recent, highest-profile home console game.

^ This.

But most importantly, people need to accept the fact that Squaresoft Co. Ltd. is defunct.

Too many folks are sadly still in denial...

[Gario]

Huh. Y'know, for all the crap SquareEnix gets, I've noticed that some of my favorite games from recent years are from that company (either created or produced by them, anyway). Saga2 DS remake (with the fan translation, of course), TWEWY, DQIX... Perhaps their FF franchise isn't doing so hot right now (I haven't been in the console market for almost a decade so I can't say) but there are certainly some great games that they still produce. I suppose that's just me, though - to each his own, here.

[Mirby]

Yeah, that SaGa 2 remake... so much fun. I had a monster named Cupcake that became a dragon at the end. And it's also why I love Ziwtra's "Heroes" so much. ^.^

[Nabeel Ansari]

Just because it's old doesn't mean that it's outdated.

It kinda does.

I think Sonic games are a perfect example of this as well.

Sonic Colors is pretty good, what are you talking about?

[Haha_YouAint]

also all the talent at square is pretty much gone so 16bit or no don't expect a good game :/

And that's exactly why people aren't feeling the new games like they did the old.

Maybe they should just start a whole new RPG franchise.

[Nick Hyral]

I myself personally haven't fallen in love with a Final Fantasy Game recently. I enjoyed twelve a bit. But I mirror the opinions of several other people here.. Beyond the first ten games it kind of lost it's magic to me. And I honestly think Square sees this as you see so many rehashes of the fourth Final Fantasy to the point where you should expect to see a remake of it twice a year at this point. How many remakes of one is out there? The second? The fourth?

The franchise since ten has just gone directions I don't enjoy anymore. Dragon Quest these days is the closest I get to my old school fix of Final Fantasy. I still play the fifth DQ to death. Updated my Sentinels of the Starry Skies and will fire it up from scratch. But honestly at this point, if nothing else I think Square should take a look at the desire for Seiken Densetsu 3 to be translated and sent over this way. I mean in the end they finally did it for the original Star Ocean...

[DarkeSword]

I myself personally haven't fallen in love with a Final Fantasy Game recently. I enjoyed twelve a bit. But I mirror the opinions of several other people here.. Beyond the first ten games it kind of lost it's magic to me. And I honestly think Square sees this as you see so many rehashes of the fourth Final Fantasy to the point where you should expect to see a remake of it twice a year at this point. How many remakes of one is out there? The second? The fourth?

The franchise since ten has just gone directions I don't enjoy anymore. Dragon Quest these days is the closest I get to my old school fix of Final Fantasy. I still play the fifth DQ to death. Updated my Sentinels of the Starry Skies and will fire it up from scratch. But honestly at this point, if nothing else I think Square should take a look at the desire for Seiken Densetsu 3 to be translated and sent over this way. I mean in the end they finally did it for the original Star Ocean...

Four Heroes of Light. Seriously. I don't understand why more people haven't played this game. It is exactly what fans of "old-school" Final Fantasy want.

[Crowbar Man]

To be technical: FFIII/IV remakes for DS, Four Heroes of Light, The After, and the new Legends are mostly developed by Matrix Software, not "Square" per se. They seem to be doing a pretty decent job as of late

DQIX was developed by Level 5 and was more on the "Enix" side anyways.

Games actually developed by "Square" have been really hit and miss since 7 honestly. And mostly miss. They've done terrible things to the Mana series for example.

Square currently has 8 production teams on the "Square" side ( and an additional 2 on "Enix" side), and only a few of them produce games worth playing anymore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Enix#Production_teams

Production Team 7 + Matrix are our best hopes for Retro styled games.