They had the Whispers of Fate in FF7R. The most unnecessary plot device probably of all time and worse than than Abby in TLOU2. There's no hope for Square
Nomura should be banned from any future FF projects. That should be a good start. I'm so sick and tired of every great 90s property being subject to endless prostitution by these hacks.
The weirdest part to me is that it really isn't a Square Enix issue, it's really *just* mainline Final Fantasy. Outside that series, they've been knocking it out of the park with classic series revivals like NEO TWEWY and Trials of Mana, collections and remasters I never thought we'd see, and awesome new IPs like Harvestella, Diofield and Octopath Traveller. I feel like FF is crumbling under the weight of what the creators think people expect it to be (if that makes sense) and hopefully with XVI they'll realize they don't have to try to rewrite the playbook every game; just make something fun with characters we can fall in love with and a story we'll remember
I feel that people willing to criticize the companies they love cares more for the well being of the IPs behind it than those that lets companies do whatever without care. That's how love works.
We don't let them do whatever they please. Spend some time on the FFXIV forums. Really, please go read the forums. We blast Square Enix. WE rip them to shreds. And they listen to us. But most importantly, we actually play the games we criticize, unlike the author of this video lol
@@yourlifeisawesome someone didn't watch the video lol. And amazing, an MMO community provides feedback and bugs to support. What next? Doesn't change the fact fans blindly accept whatever SE throws at them.
@@PeterParker-ne8zx I did watch it. The author's argument is weak, as is your blanket statement that "all fans blindly accept whatever SE throws at us." If you actually went to the forums you would never be able to say that because anyone who goes there will see that we are harder on the company than anyone in this thread tenfold. On the FFXIV forums there is a dialogue that goes beyond "bug reports." Our "feedback" isn't blind, its ruthless. We have changed the game through this dialogue over the course of ten years. And SquareEnix listens. I have experienced it first hand. This is why the author and your arguments are fallacies. Additionally, I don't believe the author (or many people in this thread) have played as many or as much of the entries they say they have played. And the ones that did, sound like they binged them over a short period, which is enough to exhaust anyone. Many of us are fans who played the games as they were released. They were part of the zeitgeist as we grew up with the series. Playing FFX in 2000 and FFXII in 2006 and having lived during that time as an adult human playing video games is quite the different gaming experience than playing both games in 2019 on an emulator or as part of a steam sale. Im sorry, neither of you have the gaming or life experience to say these things with any kind of authority.
@@yourlifeisawesome guy that is a terrible take. I'm willing to bet I'm older than you and I've been playing FF since 1994. Do you know what game came out in 94? Saying that people who don't like the new games must not be fans is ridiculous. The fanbase is way more divided than you think. Even among 'real' fans. And OK so you have given strong feedback to SE about 14. Doesn't that prove the point of this video and others like it? That you have gone beyond typical MMO feedback and are needing to steer SE in what you see as a right direction?
I happened to stumble upon this video by chance, you have articulated my thoughts that I could not find words for, thanks, I have subbed and now watching your back catalogue of vids!
I lost all my hopes that it will be great again. Shame because FF used to mean a world to me. I would love nothing more than to see a Resident Evil style revival for the series.
You made a point within the first 60 seconds of this video that I think a lot of people miss; they could’ve kept the original story, and it would have been a win-win! The people who just like the characters and don’t care where the plot goes, or, rather, they will roll with wherever it goes gladly, would have liked it, no matter what. And to all the fans who are upset with the convoluted nonsense story that does not stay true to the masterpiece and work of art that Final Fantasy seven is, they wouldn’t be upset…. One could be forgiven for thinking that square Enix almost wanted this division; Surely they had to know it would cause this. Everybody wants to say video games are a work of art, and they truly are! You don’t go and change the Mona Lisa! With the same respect, you don’t alter final fantasy seven’s story or main plot! If you want to flesh out the characters more and other stuff, then that I can I completely understand! However, when you go and change the main core story of Final Fantasy seven that’s akin to turning the Mona Lisa’s smile upside down!
I will be honest, if xiv didn’t exist I would have quit final fantasy all together after the disappointment I got from 13 and 15 (well technically there was no more content anyway after that). XIV has all the perfect mix of final fantasy stories that I was expecting from mainline ff games and the game gave me probably 3 of my favorites stories of all time (Heavensward, Shadowbringer and Endwalker, I could add post stormblood too tbh) and it was in the place I least expected it, an MMO. I can’t wait to see how xiv keeps evolving.
@@hkoizumi3134 this stance totally ignores that some people just don't have the time to invest in 14. I'd love to play it but I work and have kids and it's just too much of a time sink to get into. I'm sure I'm not the only person like this in the fanbase.
@@geoffreychauvin1474 14 is a game that lets you take it at your own pace. Sure it's a very big time investment, but one that pays off on that investment.
I remember when Final Fantasy was considered a huge name, when it was one of the biggest franchises in the industry but now it really feels like no one cares anymore and that just hurts me
Bro, are you serious? Final Fantasy is still considered a huge name, it’s still one of the biggest franchises in the industry, and the plethora of videos you can find about this game series on, TH-cam, Reddit, and anywhere else for that matter, should and would show that people totally care about this game still to this day! Thank you for your comment, but I respectfully disagree with it.
@@Damageincorpor8d So. I'm a new Final Fantasy fan. For now I'm just a FF7 fan. But before I explored the games I heard about it but wasn't interested. Dunno why but I must say that the music was the biggest part of it. And I still think so. Though story is bigger. Anyway. Once I got into the games I just went "what the fuck...." It was great.
@@MariusBoss11458 the music is amazing! I love the song, listen to the cries of the planet! It’s the one that when you enter the forgotten capital of the ancients
Its difficult to have a civil conversation about anything FF7R or just FF-related in general nowadays, which is very disheartening. Most people tend to deflect and dismiss any points or opinions you express that may contend with theirs, to justify why youre wrong. Whenever I talk with friends or anybody about it they usually rebuke with "Oh, so its not your remake" or something similar, even bordering offensive. Theyre right though, it isnt the remake I was hoping for and maybe FF means too much to my fault. I just tell people that I didnt want a questionable sequel retconned into a poorly written prequel, convoluting into a fanservice cash grab. It also doesnt help that Nomura was directing(given his track record), and the fact that nobody seemed to know what FF7R was going to be, as the many interviews during the game's development would imply. Ive lost hope for the Remake and FF in general long since Sakaguchi left. The only thing keeping my interest in the Remake is morbid curiosity. I am wishfully hopeful for 16 however.
And the reason for it lowering of its quality and straight up changing genre, it just the fact that none of the people that make FF great are there anymore.
I share your sentiments completely. I especially agree with the importance of the 'quiet' moments that have been sorely lacking in recent installments. Cloud and Aerith's moonlit walk was my favorite part of Remake too!! That whole sequence felt so organic, and the music was perfect. Properly combining writing, character development and world exploration in meaningful ways is vital if you're trying to capture the magic of the Square golden age. Just look at the organic character development between Zidane, Steiner, Dagger, and Vivi during their journey through the evil forest, ice cavern, and finally, Dali village - all culminating with that incredible CGI cutscene of them escaping the final waltz via airship. You were given time to fall in love with each character, understand their individual plights, and ultimately watch them grow from strangers into friends. And that was only just the beginning of the adventure! setting down the foundation for the greater collective conflict that would eventually come! Masterful writing!
Beautiful comment. Thank you. Appreciated your thoughts on FF9. I agree it has some wonderful storytelling - particularly in its opening stages. I have a FF9 vid on my channel if it's of interest. All the best.
Honestly, FF7 was already made and we already played it. Nothing CAN bring that back but the original still exists. Sometimes I think people forget that.
I think people forget what a REMAKE is supposed to be. It's not an alternate retelling or reimagining. Resident Evil, RE2, and MGS: Twin Snakes are examples of remakes that don't feel the need to rewrite 80% of the story. There is new content compared to the original but not a complete rewrite.
Sequels/prequels and additional media affect the perception of the past, for new players it is the new standard. Without CC people would care less for Zack, now people want Zack to be a major part of the "remake" saga. Genesis did appear to tell Sephiroth to go crazy. Hojo do survive and intergrade himself digitally into a mad chieftain of a super soldier program that supposedly has existed since before FF VII OG. Sephiroth never "died" in OG FF VII, but came back and needed version 5 of omnislash to go away again. The OG will always exist, but as time moves on, the perception of what is important change as new things are introduced. The reason why FF VII OG needed a remake was because new players who grew up with voiced non-blocky high-end polygon games missed the window in time when so many were charmed by FF VII OG. Instead, they get a convoluted at best pseudo-sequel time reboot. Some of us just wanted to share the OG, relatively intact, no need for 1:1 because that would be impossible with increased fidelity, with new people but instead now have to remind them that they are not playing the OG and instead something morphed and if they want the OG they still have to go back and play that low polygon non-voiced game. Some people might disregard graphics, but there is a reason why text based adventure games aren't the most sold games, and why FF XVI does not look like FF VII. New people might love FF VII remake, but this is not FF VII OG, it is an amalgamation of the compilation spiced with subversion because "it would be too boring to play the OG again"/"the OG is known because people talk about it so let's change it". That in of itself is not inherently bad, but it breaks fans, like me, hearts.
@@vincentgraymore The original story writers has said that FF7 OG was never over they always had a lot more planned after the ending but they didn't get the go head/budget to finish it. They always wanted to finish it and they are with "remake". With The interviews about rebirth it has been confirmed that FF7R is a squeal to FF7. They didn't pull this out of their asses and just remaking the story just so its new, since FF7 OG they had planned this to be the story. about the "it would be too boring to play OG again" and "The OG is known because people talk about it so lets change it". They said a lot of things to throw people off. They really didn't want to spoil the game to anyone who has yet to play it that it's really the squeal to FF7.
“This is a series that has been very good to me.“ Yeah, because putting out a collection of the first six games and making it exclusive to the Square Enix store with an over $70 price tag is definitely good for Squenix fans.
You are talking about a dead philosophy. They don't even know what final fantasy lovers liked so much about the series. They themselves don't know why it worked and what exactly made poeple wonder years after the experience. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong but...have you experienced this with episodes after 10 ? Especially if you are between 14 and 25 let's say ) When I see this video I feel understood. And yet bitter, because I always wanted to express those words. This is one of the few cases where this sentence doesn't work : "people will always say it was better before. They are just old now". Euh...no. One can only say that if the series evolved. But she didn't : she TRANSFORMED
beyond milking FF7 to the point that cow its just bleeding, is the gachas, microtransaction, cut content, overpriced remasters, remasters of remasters, "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach, and the $#^*& NFTs. goddamnit Square! :( My inner child loved you, but my adult mind loathes you. Truly, this is just an abusive relationship at this point.
same, i feel the same man.. ff7 is so milked by now it makes me sick... i barely got through the remake, hating it ... i got crisis core just for the nostalgia and i loved it but then again, the voice acting changed the game so much that i started asking myself, FUCKING WHY!!!! why do you put so much work in remaking the game and then botching the voice acting so bloody much.... i have no hopes for SE as a company anymore.. ff16 is the last game i plan to play and if they fail me, im out
The PS1 installments as well as FFX had that distinct "FF feeling" of complete immersion that was completely missing in XIII and XV. I felt that again in FFVIIR, notably when going to Jessie's neighborhood, the "Midnight Rendezvous" with Aerith and when entering Shinra Tower. I pray they will got that right again in XVI.
I just want them to stop milking FF7 or making games that are barelt FF titles anymore. 16 looks like a DMC game, I miss my "4 blokes in a row" turn based RPG in colorful worlds with a classic adventure atmosphere. Now it seems that Squate is desperately trying to mass appeal to the average Reddit user by making boderline moviegames, remakes and uninspired action games. They pretend that classic fantasy RPGs don't sell well anymore and that's a blatant lie. Persona, SMT, Fire Emblem and Dragon Quest 11 all had recent entries with either art direction or gameplay style that has elements of classic FF and they sold really well, Persona 5 and DQ11 in particular.
SE are in the position they’re in because they don’t have any passion or creativity anymore. They’re a company that cares about making as much money as possible, it’s why their games are just inferior copies of currently popular games or series. XVI is so ripped off of a game of thrones but lacks what made that serious so good, political intrigue, conflicted feet characters and sublime dialogue caring about the small moments more so that the big reveals and scenes has the right weight. The new XVI demo just released and there’s just things happening with next to no setup. It’s like a kid that’s a fan of game of thrones is writing the story, they know which scenes they want to include and they make them happen but there’s no investment. The Ned stark decapitation is there but there’s 0 setup And we don’t care about the character it’s happening to as we barely know them. SE has lost its identity, the once innovative leaders in game development relegated to being 6th or 7th best. Always multiple steps behind the leaders in the industry who have long since supplanted them.
I'm in two minds about ff7r. While the story is very lacklustre in some areas, they absolutely nailed the characters, which is the reason ff7 is my favourite RPG of all time. I find it strange that you said you have played ff14 but are unsure if ff16 will deliver a good story. Considering BU3's pedigree and that ff16's story was complete before they even started full development, it's safe to assume that the story will be decent, at least. Whether it will be great, only time will tell.
@@FightingFrosty They're going to give us the freedom to play part 2 anyway you choose, it's basically FFXIII-2 but without timelines, you have to complete part two a certain way to see certain events triggered. The main event starts in part 3, when we learn wtf is actually happening. Chadley is key. Lmbo.
I'm an 80s kid that plays video games since the Atari 2600. I didn't really care about storytelling, I think most kids didn't but when I reach to the 90s and played FF7 for the first time I looked at storytelling in video games so differently. Never thought in my life, that I will cry in a video game. Anything that squaresoft made I couldn't help myself I had to buy the whole series, but ever since the Soft came out of the Square, well Square Enix became the worse. I would love to say more but your video explained it perfectly, and that letter it's not only made for just you but that letter was for the community at heart and Thank You.
That is a good point you bring up, Shin Destruction... I'm an 80's kid also. I think it was Ninja Gaiden that got me into the stories of games. I definitely enjoyed the story of (what we were told was) Final Fantasy II (IV) and Final Fantasy III (VI). But it seems incredibly ironic to me that the merger with Enix would make the quality worse. Dragon Warrior (now known as the Dragon Quest series) was my starting point into the RPG genre, and I loved it! Even after the Erdrick trilogy wrapped up, from 4 onward, Dragon Quest started to become more and more Final Fantasy-like in terms of storytelling. But you seem to be correct in this observation.
@@bardinblue9830 Indeed my friend and thank you for your comment. I've been hearing lately off my friends of the same question of their first love tell story in video games and it's great to hear more of someone else's perspective.
7:07 "You need to prove you can write" Are we gonna keep pretending like we do not know that 16 is made by the team who made 14, which is considered one of the best stories in the franchise????
Maybe I am in the minority or majority but I don't care. I share some of your sentiments and I disagree with others with respect. Personally The OG FF7 is my favorite FF game of all time and believe me when I say that I played almost every other FF game (except the FF14, 2 and 3) and I honestly say that I will defend that game for as long as live. But look, I really liked the remake. I understand that if Square was more honest about what the story was going to be, a lot would have been avoided. But, I loved it. You see, you are 100% correct. FF 7 did feel like a breathing living world. Yet that comes with a lot of benefits that many don't see and some costs. FF 7 had so many open ended things to wonder about which made it perfect for that time and today but we also can't confusd openness with larger value at some aspects. What was being a member of Shinra like? Why did Cloud want to be SOLDIER or think it? What do other places in this world do when I'm not looking or what do they do when other characters are there outside of the main cast? What happens is scenery B plays instead of A or C? Is there a debate on whether or not certain characters are really heroes? I understand that what I am saying can be said of any other FF game but FF7 in particular had so many great characters and aspects to explore that I honestly couldn't care less if the remake did things differently. Heck I did want to see the OG story but at the time I knew deep down that I wasn't going to get to so my expectations weren't high and I'm glad I was right because it did allow me to enjoy the game more and I got to see more of certain characters that otherwise just live to be stereotypes for a huge chuck of the OG game. Lets be honest here guys, Berret for a good chunk of the OG game was just know for being the guy who curses with funny censored texts and the secondary Avalanche characters are rarely remembered considering how much they do early on. Yet in the remake you get to see slightly more of them. I really liked that. I enjoyed seeing a different side of the cast and I liked the new takes. I did expect more freedom and I hope we do get it later on. But I never expected the full game being remade in one disk. I do not compare the games as a whole without seeing the ending of the remake. I will admit that FF15 was disappointing. It had great characters but am aimless story. The DLC were great but it was late to fix anything. FF12 was fine...I guess but the second and third games were not needed at all (Just my opinion). So modern FF is not that wow. In that I agree and I do hope FF16 brings back some of the magic instead of mobile games or pocket FF. Once again we agree. I just respectfully disagree with the rest. I love the Remake, liked the Retrograde DLC, I am currently enjoying Crisis Reunion and I am gladly waiting for Remake part 2. If anyone hates me for what I said then that's fine. Everyone has an opinion but I refuse to have one side or the other have the ultimate say on what I or anyone else enjoys or what is objectively better for a series. I fall on the camp of wishing that games were remaked of remastered as close as the OG as possible but I am not against what was done with FF7 remake or remaking the older games in the modern era considering what I tragedy it would be it no one else could see them instead of being limited to just play the OG on system or condition that some may not even want anymore. I don't believe my opinion should dictate what is better for the series. I will always allow others to enjoy games as they wish. I know you are not saying you correct. It's just your opinion but this is mine.
This video helped put my own unsteady thoughts on FF into place, especially with you saying "over the years you've shown you can create moments, but you can't stick the landing, you can't bring it all together in a coherent way" Looking back at a game like FFX, there are hardly any significant detracting moments, holes in the story or gameplay, wasted pieces of the game, but that's the problem with the modern games. Despite having amazing parts and promise in some regard, they all have their own different problems in different parts of the game, in different amounts, but there hasn't been a relatively seamless entry for a long time. Stories have had variable quality, characters have been unlikeable, combat has missed the mark, non-story segments have been mundane, the setting has struggled to be engaging, the humour has fallen flat and more - Every SE game in recent memory has had any number of those problems, from just one to all them, but to such an extent that it disturbs the flow of the game's quality and creates noticeable dips that everyone in the community knows all too well now, each game has a reputation about its problems. THAT'S where SE has been stumbling, almost as if they haven't had a concrete plan or a workforce of one mind and one goal for a while, but instead improvised and patched the holes as they went, not seeing what sticks but rather what else they have to throw. I really hope that they nail it with XVI, I badly want to see and experience another FF that leaves you stunned, emotional or satisfied at the end, not judging the pros and cons of it in your head
@@orion8550 Correct! Also there's ppl pissed that ff7r remake isn't turn-based. Also the nomuras brand new "power of friendship within darkness"-twist had a mixed response from the ppl who were expecting "darkness within darkness".
I agree with a lot you said in this video, specially when it comes to FFVIIR, but THE best FF story was written in the SquareENIX era. That story is in FFXIV and it’s very sad to see so many people disregard it outright just because it’s in an MMO.
FFXIV is a glorified shonen anime with barely any stakes. If every FF entry was given 10 years of continuous development, it would feel just as good because of the fact that you inevitably spend a huge amount of time with the world and characters.
Exactly!! If ORION85 play FFXIV from Realm Reborn to ENDWALKER, he must have confidence in the storytelling of FFXVI…I am also the guy who loves Sakaguchi’s old final fantasy but I think everyone should know Yoshi-P and his team are doing great job and completely different from Nomura.
It really isn't. It's an MMO story that's better than other MMO stories. Like someone else said, it's shonen-quality at best, and it's not even top-tier there.
100% right, this video sums up my feelings about FF perfectly! the golden era of jrpgs ended when Hironobu Sakaguchi left Square, you can easily see it in the quality of the games after...
Every single FF7 related thing after the Original has been an absolute tragedy story wise. Some like Remake and Crisis Core are at least saved by having really strong gameplay and an enjoyable loop but if you take Crisis Core purely for the story it's such a mess that consistently undermines OG FF7 rather than bolstering it.
I'd rather FF died. Not in some malicious way or anything. I wish it could just be laid to rest with dignity. I'm sick of seeing enix parade FF's rotting corpse around. I don't want my memories of FF to be it's putrid remains. I'd rather my memories of FF be the joy the series brought me.
This was just perfect. I really hope XVI gives us the kind of timeless story that made the franchise into the iconic behemoth it is. If not, well, there's always the pixel remasters to remind us of the glory days when Final Fantasy was king. That's at least something to look forward to for 2023.
@@reganmusicnz in 6 and 9 they were essentially extra characters or a power that one of the main characters has. They were a large part of the story, but almost by happenstance and only in service to the larger story. Like you said in 10, they *were* the focal point. Same with 13 kind of, if you see them as an extension of fal cie. In 15 they appear to be with how much screen time they get and how the journey is framed around them… actually yeah, all the way up to the end you’re seeking the approval of summons. I never really thought about it, but you’re right. Summons make great additions to a world and story already fleshed out, but over reliance on them is a sign of week writing.
The sad thing is that nobody who matters there will see this, and even if they did, they'd ignore it because you're not speaking Japanese. But yeah, I feel the same way.
This is really well done. Do y’all think they’ll read the letter? lol I hope so! The problem is there are so many marketing executives in these big companies now, it’s an industry that churns profit, it’s sad Square Enix doesn’t seem to understand it’s own product. That’s why I have hope for Yoshi-P and ff14/16. But yeah… this could have been something truly, truly special. I really tried to love FF7 remake.
We all are FF fans deep down but in reality they've been falling off making good FF games since FF13. When people compare FF13 to FFX they forget all the love, care, detail and story craft that was put in to made the game a favorite for years. 13 was about a incredibly crabby girl who thought joining the army to protect one person then quickly abandon that person at the slightest sign of trouble was a great a idea and great decision making. 14 is a mmo, part 1 failed, part 2 restored. Then 15.. took too long and people stopped caring then when released it was average, that 3d combat system they over use. Then FF7 remake... i don't care what anyone has to say, behind closed doors the game was a absolute disaster. In an attempt to sound smart they rewrite the entire story and put everything established into a talesspin, change a bunch of things, change the characters appearances then proclaim 'this is the remake you've been waiting for'. If the opening week of Crisis Core is anything to go by.. everyone stopped caring. Its not a remake and never will be. Get rid of Nomura from directing anything, return the series to its roots, craft a good story and good characters. But to think they ruined FF7 remake, the chance to print money for the next 10 years or so like a HP printer! If they cant even manage their own big titles, why should they continue the series? Just to continue to cash in on nostalgia and take us for a ride?
SquareEnix : "I think he actually just wants to see more NFTs. Yes, that must be it" Jokes aside, I only experienced 14 as only FF in a long while, but I remember the greatness of the 90s and early 2000s, so I fully support going back to the Quality of those times if they really have diminished so much since then
For me i believe square enix already learned their lesson from ff13 and 15. Ff7r broadened up its hallways and gave us an open world feels every 3-4 chapters. We already know it's only up to midgar but square gave us a completed game at day 1, no updates on combat mechanics, yuffie's dlc is an added story and not needed to understand the ff7r plot. Ff7r fixed ff15's combat and improved it using the atb system. Ff16 is basically a compilation of all the learnings from past mistakes. They are transparent in the dev process, they were honest when it got delayed. The trailers they showed came from the game and not some "vision of the directorl". They hired a combat designer. They said the story will complete at credits. But we also have to understand that they are people to, they make mistakes. They thought they can use ff7 to garner fans using a pubg game. They thought we'd appreciate a very blinded storytelling like ff13 (i appreciated it tho). Square thought having its own game engine is better. Square enix is not just a fan pleasing entity, it's an income generating company who tries to make money through ways fans may not like. Also we strongly need to understand that the fans from the golden age of final fantasy are already in their mid adults now. Im mid 30s too, busy with life and work and i dont have a month-long summer vacation, or christmas vacation or sem break to play games. Basically i consider myself a very minor contributor to market shares now. I can't even buy their games at full price. I had to wait for their 50% sale. I don't rely on my mom to buy me a game this christmas or to buy me ps5 because ff16 is coming. To an income generating company, i might be even considered a liability rather than an asset: a fan who keeps telling how the company should work but cant give proper monetary support to them. We dubbed the ps1 games the golden age and what i learned from history is that golden age=a past that we can no longer go back. Naturally any company would attempt to create a younger fanbase. I don't know how to end this. Lols im still optimisitic with ff16 and the following main titles. Im giving SE time to polish the action rpg genre. It took them until ff7 and ff8 to see real innovations in the turn based system anyway. Im pretty sure they will come up with something in the latter titles. With turn based vs action, lets think of it like when you're mom insisted you to stop wearing baggy pants but you still did so because it's what's in. We action games now it's what sells as triple a. Soon they will realize they need to lie low and so then gaming companies will think of new gameplay mechanics.
I think since Squaresoft became SquareEnix it was downhill from there the last best Final Fantasy for me was FFX, I haven't enjoyed a FF since then yet I always buy them.
I dont understand why they have to prove they can write a story as you say the story was already wrote in this case. They lied and claim this was ff7r but what it is truly is ff7-2
So, to get a few things out of the way. Full-time worker here, 40+ hours a week. FFxiv is the best writing you will see in games for years to come. Why it doesn't get that recognition by the media is beyond me. "But it's an MMO." I play ffxiv mostly alone. Not because I'm an edgelord solo player, but my work schedule changes per week. Even then, ffxiv by design, let's you go at the pace you want and have time for. If an event comes in that will take longer then usual, the game will give you a warning to have some spare time. If you have the time to watch a season or two of a TV show, you have time to play ffxiv. You want a game to respect the time you payed attention to little details of the characters and story, ffxiv will reward you for it. Ffxiv is that book that is greatly written and has characters to fall in love with but no one wants to read because they saw the writer is a child. So they make an assumption that the books story will be shallow and boring.
As someone who played FFXIV since beta phase 3 of 2.x/ARR... I think the story hasnt been good since they moved away from the original story elements o 1.x/2.x/3.x and most of those elements were put in place from the original producer Tenaka of the FFXI mmo/dev team. Tbh.... i think FFXIV has gotten worse each year. Also can people stop praising the game based on "its by design" "yosheep says to take breaks" "play other games" or how its good because it "respects your time" cus id argue the complete oposite because it spaces out its limited content through outt the 3 months of patch cycle and hasnt strayed away from the formula so long term players are just completely bored of the game and maybe thats why only the story is praised.
@Greg Wilhide Would rather not go into details of the story but I have learned that just because a person has stayed with something for a long time isn't a good enough excuse to trust their judgment. The divide in the Star Wars community between the new trilogy and old was evidence to me that some people, even when they are long time fans, have bad judgment of story. Also the 1.x story was almost non existent and filled mostly with plot devices to encourage the plot to move forward without much sustenance with it. Gathering information on this over the years from the devs themselves and other community members points to the writers just winging it, for the story, until bugs were fixed. "The pacing complaint" the release of the content doesn't correlate to the pacing of the story. If you have a mindset to stick to one game and want content to be similar to gacha game where you are "encouraged" to stay with 1 game is a problem on your end, not the games. I'd rather come back later myself since my limited time will be decided on how I will spend that, not the game.
@@stevenalvarez2924 I'm mostly on your side in this case (ARR story was great and not non-existent), but I can't get behind you on that Star Wars topic. The sequel trilogy is a big, grandstanding middle finger to the fans, and society as a whole. Presumptuous, preachy, condescending.
@@ZephyrFate Nah. If shadowbringers was the peak of ff14 as you say then 14 is probably the only FF game you have played. Its quite average really. Didnt felt anything while playing the game and qas quite generic if you ask me
The fact you got that ffx saxophone beat after the mushroom rock war with sin to fit this video alone gets a must like. What is the name of that beat by chance?
Omg the old musicccc! Love it. I am a massive FF fan and this time, I am not even slightly excited by the XVI trailer. I hope I am wrong and that game turns out amazing but I feel nothing for it. Absolutely nothing. I did enjoy VII Remake though, but I just wish it had a lot less padding and was the full story and not episodes. GRR lol, yep I am still annoyed by this! I feel Rebirth will improve upon it a lot and have a bit less padding. If not then I will cry haha. Honestly, though, right now I am struggling with Rebirth knowing I will have to buy a PS5 just to play it or wait 2 years and hope it eventually comes to Steam...After seeing this video. I might just wait for it to come to Steam but mentally I think I will give in lol. I just can't resist when it's the older FF titles. Even if they are remakes/remasters and waiting 2 years might destroy me and I'd likely see a spoiler...Hmm. Part of me now is thinking just watch a letsplay then buy it on PC later. The days of me buying a console just for 1 game or series are fading. It used to be if I seen a Square / Sqaure Enix title then I would buy it, even if I hadn't got that console. I'd go out and buy the console just for one game but adult me hates that. I dislike having a device I rarely use and only for 1 or 2 games. I also like just having everything in one place now. It's going to be hard but I might have to resist buying a PS5 unless other games come out on it I want but with most games coming to PC now, there's very little point but then I go around in circles with the thought of missing out on anything VII related or the older titles lol. Trying to tell myself to be patient and just wait...Sorry for the long reply but I am with you on Sqaure Enix right now, they are not what they used to be but at the same time, not many do it better and when Square Enix do get it right, nothing compares!
I feel you man. Yep I am not getting a PS5 just for one or 2 games. If it was the old days and you knew 100% you'd get quality then it would be different.
@@PeterParker-ne8zx Yup! I am finding it so hard telling myself I won't though because I must have anything VII related butttt going to try fight it and just wait! I have millions of other games to play until then!
I agree with everything said here, but I knew after the first minute that this video didn't have the stones to call out XIV. Its Reddit-tier story & characters leave a lot to be desired. Financially successful, but soulless. XVI looks much the same. Press X to AWESOME! I don't play FF games just so I can spaz out and actually play DMC. If I wanted DMX, I'd play DMC. Do all the big releases need to be action titles now? FF7R, XVI, Stranger of Paradise...can I just have one big FF release where the characters line up to fight again? Characters whose names I will remember after a few months/years/decades like I do for the casts of II thru XIII (yes, including XI to a further extent than XIV).
What's their obsession with making all of 7s characters still alive? Also just because I want to vent, 8 is my favorite and I absolutely hated how they took Squall's Dissidia design and made his hair a comb over in the remaster instead of spiky. Same with Rinoa and her chubby cheeks from the Dissida design. Not to mention Square's new ethics department that has to cover up every female in any mainline FF games
And another thing; I am going to be so upset and choked if they change it to where Aerith survives!! Not only would it be messing with the story that you should not be messing with, but it would take away the whole gravity of her death! She is not the first character to die in a video game, heck, she’s not the first character to die in a Final Fantasy game! However, out of all other character, deaths in the final fantasy series, or even video games in general, I think hers is the most profound, and it is the one that is done the best! I think the reason for that is simple; there was no other character like her! Most of the other characters that have died in Final Fantasy games, or any other game for that matter, I have always had another character come and replace them…. That is not the case here with. Aerith!!! Not only does her death have a lot of weight to it, and not only is it significant for the story plot, but there’s simply was not another character like her, or one that can come even close to taking her place! And you would think that, knowing that she dies, and subsequent play threes, it would make you not really focus, a lot of effort into building her up, because you’re going to lose her halfway through, but that’s just not the case! When I play the original again, I still put a lot of time into building up her attributes and abilities, because she’s that powerful of a character! So when I fire up the original, Final Fantasy seven, even though I know that I’m not going to get to use her for half of the game or more, it just makes me want to use her all the more when I have her! When I first announced this remake, I was so excited! I even bought the soldier first class edition! It is my most favorite, collectors edition, and I have been buying collectors additions for almost 20 years now! It will always be my favorite! But what they have done to this story, has caused me to not only refuse to buy any more collectors edition of this game, but if they continue to butcher the story, the way they have, I may not even finish this! So thank you again for having the guts and the ethics to call out what is so blatantly wrong! Again, as I said, in a previous comment, video games are truly a work of art! You don’t go and change a painting if you’re trying to recreate a new one! It’s just like when a musician covers, a song, and changes the lyrics to it! It’s complete BS and you shouldn’t do it! It’s one thing to change the beat a little bit, or to change the tone, etc. but you don’t change the lyrics!
As an old fan I want to fall in love with Final Fantasy again but I really am not holding high hopes for XVI, but maybe it's just because I am jaded too. If anything I want to be surprised. I see many people talking about XIV, imo FFXIV is not nearly as good (story-wise) as the fans want people to believe. It's not a bad story though, it's mid at best, barely no stakes and no really lasting consequences to any relevant plotlines. But I still play that game, I like it even though the story is not that good for my personal tastes.
Finally another 14 fan who speaks sense. 14 story is worshipped as some amazing thing only because it's better than a lot of other Square Enix games. Not a high bar. I'm same as you. Not a bad story but mid level. Lot of boring characters with no stakes.
I completely agree with your thoughts. As painful as it is, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that Final Fantasy (the series that I fell in love with anyway) is dead. The last game that legitimately felt like it belonged in the franchise was FF10 (possibly even FF9) and that was a long time ago now. FF16 looks like a high-speed action spin-off, nothing at all like something that belongs in the mainline series. Sigh. 😔
Also let's not forget that FF7 Remake is being blocked from ever going to xbox, even as a hard core FF7 I'm very sad to say that I won't be getting the FF7R.
From the main franchise, I only played up to XII and IX is my favorite, and Cecil from IV in character. I can't really say what diminished except the world exploration where using controllable vehicles were a thing. I agree about those things that happen in between is meaningful, those little things we do while lost or contemplating on what just happened (Ellone from VIII got me good). So those are gone from XIII and XV or there's just not enough? I didn't know Ever Crisis will be in chapters/parts! That's crazy! I mean, it's a good thing for those catching up and not for people who want to relive the original or remake. I can't imagine people casually playing and catching up but missing out on events.
I may be a new fan of the series but after playing 7 through 10 I fell in love with the franchise. I’ve notice how the storytelling skills did slip after 13 and 15. I really do hope that 16 would actually be good when it comes out.
i aware you already start 14 but you seem not get what you want yet also a lot of you hope for series is in 14 you have to go on more so it save to say 16 is in right hand to tell a good story
Great video dude. The one thing that sticks out in my mind in what you said was recapturing 'the moments' of old - the magic. In FF7R, you can dress it up and make it glamorously beautiful, but if it doesn't retain the heart and soul, you've just got an empty shell of a thing. The most painful thing about it for people like you and me, is that it was all avoidable. SE knows exactly which IPs are their cash cows, yet has severe problems identifying what actually works.
People that say “don’t listen to FFXIV fans, that game story is bad” have yet to realise FFXIV won for two consecutive years best ongoing and there is a reason. While you might not like the gameplay etc, that’s fine, the story of that game really… dude is something good. A Realm Reborn is kinda slow (and they actually made it much better since Endwalker) and that’s why it is completely FREE. From Heavensward on, which is also free and some hours away if you only do main story quests, if gets much better. There is a reason why, although it’s a MMO people consider FFXIV the second best story after FF6. I think that says it all. If you truly played FFXIV you know, otherwise you won’t.
People who claim say that it's Straight up a hater because they can't deal with the fact that FFXIV it's more praised and beloved than his Favorite Final Fantasy game, they can't accept because it's a MMO and "shouldn't be considered". 99% of them never even touched the game and just replicate what they read in the Internet.
@@denzelvilliers true. And if the story sucks or the game is really not enjoyable like what these other people are saying, I don't think the players will waste their money and retain their subscriptions and the game should've already disappeared into oblivion a long time ago. But it's not and it's the most profitable game for SE currently because players are willing to give them their bucks, monthly. Why? Because to them, the game is worth it. Whether it's for story, raids, farming, rping or just afking in limsa, they think it's worth the money and why not? Even Hironobu Sakaguchi is having a blast completing the current raid tier, chilling in their FC house, boasting his new glams and posting it all over twitter even until now. Just because some of these people have zero idea about the game or the game isn't for them doesn't mean it automatically applies to everyone. Hundreds of thousands of active players will disagree.
I wasn't exactly surprised by how bad the remake turned out since I knew who the producers were, but it still hurt.
Really did a great job saying and articulating what a lot of people miss about final fantasy and old square thank you
You beautifully said what's been trapped in my head the past 10 years. Thank you.
They had the Whispers of Fate in FF7R. The most unnecessary plot device probably of all time and worse than than Abby in TLOU2. There's no hope for Square
i need my boy Hironobu Sakaguchi back.
I miss SquareSoft
And Enix too.
I miss Electronic Arts back when their slogan was
"challenged everything".
@@Tinbeef22 IMO just SquareSoft.
Ditto
@@pfteve are you forgetting about dragon quest
I'm wanting to write and make a jrpg after playing chained echoes and realising it's one man that made almost the full game square breaks my heart.
Nomura should be banned from any future FF projects. That should be a good start. I'm so sick and tired of every great 90s property being subject to endless prostitution by these hacks.
The weirdest part to me is that it really isn't a Square Enix issue, it's really *just* mainline Final Fantasy. Outside that series, they've been knocking it out of the park with classic series revivals like NEO TWEWY and Trials of Mana, collections and remasters I never thought we'd see, and awesome new IPs like Harvestella, Diofield and Octopath Traveller.
I feel like FF is crumbling under the weight of what the creators think people expect it to be (if that makes sense) and hopefully with XVI they'll realize they don't have to try to rewrite the playbook every game; just make something fun with characters we can fall in love with and a story we'll remember
They legit released like 20 games and most were pretty good honestly
I feel that people willing to criticize the companies they love cares more for the well being of the IPs behind it than those that lets companies do whatever without care. That's how love works.
We don't let them do whatever they please. Spend some time on the FFXIV forums. Really, please go read the forums. We blast Square Enix. WE rip them to shreds. And they listen to us. But most importantly, we actually play the games we criticize, unlike the author of this video lol
Dear Squenix. Stop partnering with Tencent and going ESG.
@@yourlifeisawesome someone didn't watch the video lol. And amazing, an MMO community provides feedback and bugs to support. What next? Doesn't change the fact fans blindly accept whatever SE throws at them.
@@PeterParker-ne8zx I did watch it. The author's argument is weak, as is your blanket statement that "all fans blindly accept whatever SE throws at us." If you actually went to the forums you would never be able to say that because anyone who goes there will see that we are harder on the company than anyone in this thread tenfold. On the FFXIV forums there is a dialogue that goes beyond "bug reports." Our "feedback" isn't blind, its ruthless. We have changed the game through this dialogue over the course of ten years. And SquareEnix listens. I have experienced it first hand. This is why the author and your arguments are fallacies. Additionally, I don't believe the author (or many people in this thread) have played as many or as much of the entries they say they have played. And the ones that did, sound like they binged them over a short period, which is enough to exhaust anyone. Many of us are fans who played the games as they were released. They were part of the zeitgeist as we grew up with the series. Playing FFX in 2000 and FFXII in 2006 and having lived during that time as an adult human playing video games is quite the different gaming experience than playing both games in 2019 on an emulator or as part of a steam sale. Im sorry, neither of you have the gaming or life experience to say these things with any kind of authority.
@@yourlifeisawesome guy that is a terrible take. I'm willing to bet I'm older than you and I've been playing FF since 1994. Do you know what game came out in 94? Saying that people who don't like the new games must not be fans is ridiculous. The fanbase is way more divided than you think. Even among 'real' fans.
And OK so you have given strong feedback to SE about 14. Doesn't that prove the point of this video and others like it? That you have gone beyond typical MMO feedback and are needing to steer SE in what you see as a right direction?
I have a feeling that they wont listen.
They haven't listened for over a decade.
I happened to stumble upon this video by chance, you have articulated my thoughts that I could not find words for, thanks, I have subbed and now watching your back catalogue of vids!
I lost all my hopes that it will be great again. Shame because FF used to mean a world to me. I would love nothing more than to see a Resident Evil style revival for the series.
I loved KH 1&2 but I wish Tetsuya Nomura wasn't allowed to do anything apart from action scenes
You made a point within the first 60 seconds of this video that I think a lot of people miss; they could’ve kept the original story, and it would have been a win-win!
The people who just like the characters and don’t care where the plot goes, or, rather, they will roll with wherever it goes gladly, would have liked it, no matter what. And to all the fans who are upset with the convoluted nonsense story that does not stay true to the masterpiece and work of art that Final Fantasy seven is, they wouldn’t be upset…. One could be forgiven for thinking that square Enix almost wanted this division; Surely they had to know it would cause this.
Everybody wants to say video games are a work of art, and they truly are! You don’t go and change the Mona Lisa! With the same respect, you don’t alter final fantasy seven’s story or main plot! If you want to flesh out the characters more and other stuff, then that I can I completely understand!
However, when you go and change the main core story of Final Fantasy seven that’s akin to turning the Mona Lisa’s smile upside down!
Same as Naughty Dog hasn't been the same after Amy Henning left the studio Square hasn't been the same after Sakaguchi left.
Absolutely hate the ending of 7 remake considering the entire last 1-2 hours never happened and too much sephiroth considering it's basically disc 1.
I will be honest, if xiv didn’t exist I would have quit final fantasy all together after the disappointment I got from 13 and 15 (well technically there was no more content anyway after that).
XIV has all the perfect mix of final fantasy stories that I was expecting from mainline ff games and the game gave me probably 3 of my favorites stories of all time (Heavensward, Shadowbringer and Endwalker, I could add post stormblood too tbh) and it was in the place I least expected it, an MMO. I can’t wait to see how xiv keeps evolving.
And here I am thinking you should give FFXIV's story after A Realm Reborn a try. Heavensward, Shadowbringers and Endwalker are really something.
Skipping FF14 as a Final Fantasy fan is like skipping Frieza saga in Dragonball Z.
@@hkoizumi3134 inb4 HURR BUT MMO DON'T COUNT
@@mad_max21 it’s already happening. FF fans are idiots
@@hkoizumi3134 this stance totally ignores that some people just don't have the time to invest in 14. I'd love to play it but I work and have kids and it's just too much of a time sink to get into. I'm sure I'm not the only person like this in the fanbase.
@@geoffreychauvin1474 14 is a game that lets you take it at your own pace. Sure it's a very big time investment, but one that pays off on that investment.
I remember when Final Fantasy was considered a huge name, when it was one of the biggest franchises in the industry but now it really feels like no one cares anymore and that just hurts me
Bro, are you serious? Final Fantasy is still considered a huge name, it’s still one of the biggest franchises in the industry, and the plethora of videos you can find about this game series on, TH-cam, Reddit, and anywhere else for that matter, should and would show that people totally care about this game still to this day! Thank you for your comment, but I respectfully disagree with it.
@@Damageincorpor8d So. I'm a new Final Fantasy fan. For now I'm just a FF7 fan. But before I explored the games I heard about it but wasn't interested. Dunno why but I must say that the music was the biggest part of it. And I still think so. Though story is bigger. Anyway. Once I got into the games I just went "what the fuck...." It was great.
@@MariusBoss11458 absolutely! The music is phenomenal! Glad you’re a fan! It’s a great series!
@@MariusBoss11458 if you get a chance, I would highly recommend playing six!
@@MariusBoss11458 the music is amazing! I love the song, listen to the cries of the planet! It’s the one that when you enter the forgotten capital of the ancients
Its difficult to have a civil conversation about anything FF7R or just FF-related in general nowadays, which is very disheartening. Most people tend to deflect and dismiss any points or opinions you express that may contend with theirs, to justify why youre wrong. Whenever I talk with friends or anybody about it they usually rebuke with "Oh, so its not your remake" or something similar, even bordering offensive. Theyre right though, it isnt the remake I was hoping for and maybe FF means too much to my fault. I just tell people that I didnt want a questionable sequel retconned into a poorly written prequel, convoluting into a fanservice cash grab.
It also doesnt help that Nomura was directing(given his track record), and the fact that nobody seemed to know what FF7R was going to be, as the many interviews during the game's development would imply. Ive lost hope for the Remake and FF in general long since Sakaguchi left. The only thing keeping my interest in the Remake is morbid curiosity. I am wishfully hopeful for 16 however.
And the reason for it lowering of its quality and straight up changing genre, it just the fact that none of the people that make FF great are there anymore.
I just want to keep the things I loved as a kid good. Why are these companies taking that away from me?
Are they taking it away from you or are you just getting older? 😂
@@SBBunny93 well if the Canon is being completely changed for the worse then I'd say so yeah...
@@MegaMar14but Final Fantasy doesn't have a Canon cause each mainline game is a new story
@@alexakaa.charlesross8919 I'm talking about 7 specifically
I share your sentiments completely. I especially agree with the importance of the 'quiet' moments that have been sorely lacking in recent installments. Cloud and Aerith's moonlit walk was my favorite part of Remake too!! That whole sequence felt so organic, and the music was perfect. Properly combining writing, character development and world exploration in meaningful ways is vital if you're trying to capture the magic of the Square golden age. Just look at the organic character development between Zidane, Steiner, Dagger, and Vivi during their journey through the evil forest, ice cavern, and finally, Dali village - all culminating with that incredible CGI cutscene of them escaping the final waltz via airship. You were given time to fall in love with each character, understand their individual plights, and ultimately watch them grow from strangers into friends. And that was only just the beginning of the adventure! setting down the foundation for the greater collective conflict that would eventually come! Masterful writing!
Beautiful comment. Thank you. Appreciated your thoughts on FF9. I agree it has some wonderful storytelling - particularly in its opening stages. I have a FF9 vid on my channel if it's of interest. All the best.
Honestly, FF7 was already made and we already played it. Nothing CAN bring that back but the original still exists. Sometimes I think people forget that.
The original is so oldddd
Remake made me go back to experience the original for the first time!!
I think people forget what a REMAKE is supposed to be. It's not an alternate retelling or reimagining. Resident Evil, RE2, and MGS: Twin Snakes are examples of remakes that don't feel the need to rewrite 80% of the story. There is new content compared to the original but not a complete rewrite.
Sequels/prequels and additional media affect the perception of the past, for new players it is the new standard. Without CC people would care less for Zack, now people want Zack to be a major part of the "remake" saga. Genesis did appear to tell Sephiroth to go crazy. Hojo do survive and intergrade himself digitally into a mad chieftain of a super soldier program that supposedly has existed since before FF VII OG. Sephiroth never "died" in OG FF VII, but came back and needed version 5 of omnislash to go away again.
The OG will always exist, but as time moves on, the perception of what is important change as new things are introduced. The reason why FF VII OG needed a remake was because new players who grew up with voiced non-blocky high-end polygon games missed the window in time when so many were charmed by FF VII OG. Instead, they get a convoluted at best pseudo-sequel time reboot. Some of us just wanted to share the OG, relatively intact, no need for 1:1 because that would be impossible with increased fidelity, with new people but instead now have to remind them that they are not playing the OG and instead something morphed and if they want the OG they still have to go back and play that low polygon non-voiced game. Some people might disregard graphics, but there is a reason why text based adventure games aren't the most sold games, and why FF XVI does not look like FF VII.
New people might love FF VII remake, but this is not FF VII OG, it is an amalgamation of the compilation spiced with subversion because "it would be too boring to play the OG again"/"the OG is known because people talk about it so let's change it". That in of itself is not inherently bad, but it breaks fans, like me, hearts.
@@vincentgraymore The original story writers has said that FF7 OG was never over they always had a lot more planned after the ending but they didn't get the go head/budget to finish it. They always wanted to finish it and they are with "remake". With The interviews about rebirth it has been confirmed that FF7R is a squeal to FF7. They didn't pull this out of their asses and just remaking the story just so its new, since FF7 OG they had planned this to be the story. about the "it would be too boring to play OG again" and "The OG is known because people talk about it so lets change it". They said a lot of things to throw people off. They really didn't want to spoil the game to anyone who has yet to play it that it's really the squeal to FF7.
Well said, I agree with all of it. Good to see others feeling the same way, I thought I was all alone.
“This is a series that has been very good to me.“
Yeah, because putting out a collection of the first six games and making it exclusive to the Square Enix store with an over $70 price tag is definitely good for Squenix fans.
You are talking about a dead philosophy. They don't even know what final fantasy lovers liked so much about the series. They themselves don't know why it worked and what exactly made poeple wonder years after the experience.
(Someone correct me if I'm wrong but...have you experienced this with episodes after 10 ? Especially if you are between 14 and 25 let's say )
When I see this video I feel understood. And yet bitter, because I always wanted to express those words.
This is one of the few cases where this sentence doesn't work : "people will always say it was better before. They are just old now". Euh...no. One can only say that if the series evolved. But she didn't : she TRANSFORMED
I really miss Square Soft :(
You could not have said it better omg 😱 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
beyond milking FF7 to the point that cow its just bleeding, is the gachas, microtransaction, cut content, overpriced remasters, remasters of remasters, "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach, and the $#^*& NFTs.
goddamnit Square! :(
My inner child loved you, but my adult mind loathes you. Truly, this is just an abusive relationship at this point.
Hard agree unfortunately.
same, i feel the same man.. ff7 is so milked by now it makes me sick... i barely got through the remake, hating it ... i got crisis core just for the nostalgia and i loved it but then again, the voice acting changed the game so much that i started asking myself, FUCKING WHY!!!! why do you put so much work in remaking the game and then botching the voice acting so bloody much.... i have no hopes for SE as a company anymore.. ff16 is the last game i plan to play and if they fail me, im out
I feel like FF 14 is at a high right now. That was a truly amazing experience.
Agreed.
The PS1 installments as well as FFX had that distinct "FF feeling" of complete immersion that was completely missing in XIII and XV. I felt that again in FFVIIR, notably when going to Jessie's neighborhood, the "Midnight Rendezvous" with Aerith and when entering Shinra Tower. I pray they will got that right again in XVI.
Very good video.
I just want them to stop milking FF7 or making games that are barelt FF titles anymore. 16 looks like a DMC game, I miss my "4 blokes in a row" turn based RPG in colorful worlds with a classic adventure atmosphere. Now it seems that Squate is desperately trying to mass appeal to the average Reddit user by making boderline moviegames, remakes and uninspired action games. They pretend that classic fantasy RPGs don't sell well anymore and that's a blatant lie. Persona, SMT, Fire Emblem and Dragon Quest 11 all had recent entries with either art direction or gameplay style that has elements of classic FF and they sold really well, Persona 5 and DQ11 in particular.
SE are in the position they’re in because they don’t have any passion or creativity anymore. They’re a company that cares about making as much money as possible, it’s why their games are just inferior copies of currently popular games or series. XVI is so ripped off of a game of thrones but lacks what made that serious so good, political intrigue, conflicted feet characters and sublime dialogue caring about the small moments more so that the big reveals and scenes has the right weight.
The new XVI demo just released and there’s just things happening with next to no setup. It’s like a kid that’s a fan of game of thrones is writing the story, they know which scenes they want to include and they make them happen but there’s no investment. The Ned stark decapitation is there but there’s 0 setup And we don’t care about the character it’s happening to as we barely know them.
SE has lost its identity, the once innovative leaders in game development relegated to being 6th or 7th best. Always multiple steps behind the leaders in the industry who have long since supplanted them.
At least we still have Yoshi-P and Final Fantasy XVI ❤
And xiv ❤, the game that revived my love for final fantasy again.
They didn’t read your letter and now it’s costing them 😂
Solution is simple: quit making hack n' slashes with numbers and calling them RPGs
I'm in two minds about ff7r. While the story is very lacklustre in some areas, they absolutely nailed the characters, which is the reason ff7 is my favourite RPG of all time.
I find it strange that you said you have played ff14 but are unsure if ff16 will deliver a good story. Considering BU3's pedigree and that ff16's story was complete before they even started full development, it's safe to assume that the story will be decent, at least. Whether it will be great, only time will tell.
That's fair, but I'm just taking nothing for granted. Cheers for the comment.
Ff7 remake is just the warm up tho. The next part is the main event.
@@FightingFrosty They're going to give us the freedom to play part 2 anyway you choose, it's basically FFXIII-2 but without timelines, you have to complete part two a certain way to see certain events triggered.
The main event starts in part 3, when we learn wtf is actually happening.
Chadley is key. Lmbo.
Anyone who has played FFXIV from start to finish wouldn't write a letter like this, because it would be a bad faced lie lol.
@@yourlifeisawesome Who's writing a letter?
I'm an 80s kid that plays video games since the Atari 2600. I didn't really care about storytelling, I think most kids didn't but when I reach to the 90s and played FF7 for the first time I looked at storytelling in video games so differently. Never thought in my life, that I will cry in a video game. Anything that squaresoft made I couldn't help myself I had to buy the whole series, but ever since the Soft came out of the Square, well Square Enix became the worse. I would love to say more but your video explained it perfectly, and that letter it's not only made for just you but that letter was for the community at heart and Thank You.
Well spoken friend
@@oldheadgamer6329 Thank you sir
That is a good point you bring up, Shin Destruction... I'm an 80's kid also. I think it was Ninja Gaiden that got me into the stories of games. I definitely enjoyed the story of (what we were told was) Final Fantasy II (IV) and Final Fantasy III (VI). But it seems incredibly ironic to me that the merger with Enix would make the quality worse. Dragon Warrior (now known as the Dragon Quest series) was my starting point into the RPG genre, and I loved it! Even after the Erdrick trilogy wrapped up, from 4 onward, Dragon Quest started to become more and more Final Fantasy-like in terms of storytelling. But you seem to be correct in this observation.
@@bardinblue9830 Indeed my friend and thank you for your comment. I've been hearing lately off my friends of the same question of their first love tell story in video games and it's great to hear more of someone else's perspective.
Square you have a beast of creativity in there, release it!
FF14 has been my favorite ff story of the last decade. It’s so good
Agreed. FFXIV is one of my favorite stories in all of video game history.
Are you talking about Nomura at 8:45 and beyond? XD
I don’t think anyone could have said it better. I completely agree.
7:07 "You need to prove you can write"
Are we gonna keep pretending like we do not know that 16 is made by the team who made 14, which is considered one of the best stories in the franchise????
beautiful video, i hope this reaches SE to take some time to get some insight on these points from its various departments.
Thought we were talking about 343 for a second
Maybe I am in the minority or majority but I don't care. I share some of your sentiments and I disagree with others with respect. Personally The OG FF7 is my favorite FF game of all time and believe me when I say that I played almost every other FF game (except the FF14, 2 and 3) and I honestly say that I will defend that game for as long as live. But look, I really liked the remake. I understand that if Square was more honest about what the story was going to be, a lot would have been avoided. But, I loved it. You see, you are 100% correct. FF 7 did feel like a breathing living world. Yet that comes with a lot of benefits that many don't see and some costs. FF 7 had so many open ended things to wonder about which made it perfect for that time and today but we also can't confusd openness with larger value at some aspects. What was being a member of Shinra like? Why did Cloud want to be SOLDIER or think it? What do other places in this world do when I'm not looking or what do they do when other characters are there outside of the main cast? What happens is scenery B plays instead of A or C? Is there a debate on whether or not certain characters are really heroes?
I understand that what I am saying can be said of any other FF game but FF7 in particular had so many great characters and aspects to explore that I honestly couldn't care less if the remake did things differently. Heck I did want to see the OG story but at the time I knew deep down that I wasn't going to get to so my expectations weren't high and I'm glad I was right because it did allow me to enjoy the game more and I got to see more of certain characters that otherwise just live to be stereotypes for a huge chuck of the OG game. Lets be honest here guys, Berret for a good chunk of the OG game was just know for being the guy who curses with funny censored texts and the secondary Avalanche characters are rarely remembered considering how much they do early on. Yet in the remake you get to see slightly more of them. I really liked that. I enjoyed seeing a different side of the cast and I liked the new takes. I did expect more freedom and I hope we do get it later on. But I never expected the full game being remade in one disk. I do not compare the games as a whole without seeing the ending of the remake. I will admit that FF15 was disappointing. It had great characters but am aimless story. The DLC were great but it was late to fix anything. FF12 was fine...I guess but the second and third games were not needed at all (Just my opinion). So modern FF is not that wow. In that I agree and I do hope FF16 brings back some of the magic instead of mobile games or pocket FF. Once again we agree. I just respectfully disagree with the rest. I love the Remake, liked the Retrograde DLC, I am currently enjoying Crisis Reunion and I am gladly waiting for Remake part 2.
If anyone hates me for what I said then that's fine. Everyone has an opinion but I refuse to have one side or the other have the ultimate say on what I or anyone else enjoys or what is objectively better for a series. I fall on the camp of wishing that games were remaked of remastered as close as the OG as possible but I am not against what was done with FF7 remake or remaking the older games in the modern era considering what I tragedy it would be it no one else could see them instead of being limited to just play the OG on system or condition that some may not even want anymore. I don't believe my opinion should dictate what is better for the series. I will always allow others to enjoy games as they wish. I know you are not saying you correct. It's just your opinion but this is mine.
It sounds like you missed out on Endwalker.
This video helped put my own unsteady thoughts on FF into place, especially with you saying "over the years you've shown you can create moments, but you can't stick the landing, you can't bring it all together in a coherent way"
Looking back at a game like FFX, there are hardly any significant detracting moments, holes in the story or gameplay, wasted pieces of the game, but that's the problem with the modern games. Despite having amazing parts and promise in some regard, they all have their own different problems in different parts of the game, in different amounts, but there hasn't been a relatively seamless entry for a long time. Stories have had variable quality, characters have been unlikeable, combat has missed the mark, non-story segments have been mundane, the setting has struggled to be engaging, the humour has fallen flat and more - Every SE game in recent memory has had any number of those problems, from just one to all them, but to such an extent that it disturbs the flow of the game's quality and creates noticeable dips that everyone in the community knows all too well now, each game has a reputation about its problems. THAT'S where SE has been stumbling, almost as if they haven't had a concrete plan or a workforce of one mind and one goal for a while, but instead improvised and patched the holes as they went, not seeing what sticks but rather what else they have to throw. I really hope that they nail it with XVI, I badly want to see and experience another FF that leaves you stunned, emotional or satisfied at the end, not judging the pros and cons of it in your head
I've come from the future of 2043 and yea Square Enix is still milking ff7
By any chance, did they do a remake of Final Fantasy 7 Remake and it wasn't well received by Remake fans?
@@orion8550 Correct! Also there's ppl pissed that ff7r remake isn't turn-based. Also the nomuras brand new "power of friendship within darkness"-twist had a mixed response from the ppl who were expecting "darkness within darkness".
I agree with a lot you said in this video, specially when it comes to FFVIIR, but THE best FF story was written in the SquareENIX era. That story is in FFXIV and it’s very sad to see so many people disregard it outright just because it’s in an MMO.
EXACTLY!
FFXIV is a glorified shonen anime with barely any stakes. If every FF entry was given 10 years of continuous development, it would feel just as good because of the fact that you inevitably spend a huge amount of time with the world and characters.
Exactly!! If ORION85 play FFXIV from Realm Reborn to ENDWALKER, he must have confidence in the storytelling of FFXVI…I am also the guy who loves Sakaguchi’s old final fantasy but I think everyone should know Yoshi-P and his team are doing great job and completely different from Nomura.
@@geryon8814 “hardly any stakes” is absolute bullshit. You could make this argument of pretty much any FF game.
It really isn't. It's an MMO story that's better than other MMO stories. Like someone else said, it's shonen-quality at best, and it's not even top-tier there.
As an ffxii fan as well... fingers crossed this game recaptured some of that tight focused narrative
The soul of FF is dead unlike Dragon Quest.
Great video. Anyway, my most anticipated jrpg in 2023 is Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes.
Its becoming Devil May Fantasy.
If my man played Heavensward, this video would have never been made
It's literally one of the best final fantasy stories ever written
100% right, this video sums up my feelings about FF perfectly! the golden era of jrpgs ended when Hironobu Sakaguchi left Square, you can easily see it in the quality of the games after...
One of my favorites of his is Lost Odyssey. It felt more like Final Fantasy to me than FFXIII did. I'd love if it could be ported to PC.
Whats funny is that Sakaguchi absolutely loves FFXIV.
Just started 14 and I'm pleasantly surprised with how good it actually is. By a shot the best MMO and top 5 ff game I've played.
Every single FF7 related thing after the Original has been an absolute tragedy story wise. Some like Remake and Crisis Core are at least saved by having really strong gameplay and an enjoyable loop but if you take Crisis Core purely for the story it's such a mess that consistently undermines OG FF7 rather than bolstering it.
I'd rather FF died. Not in some malicious way or anything. I wish it could just be laid to rest with dignity. I'm sick of seeing enix parade FF's rotting corpse around. I don't want my memories of FF to be it's putrid remains. I'd rather my memories of FF be the joy the series brought me.
This was just perfect. I really hope XVI gives us the kind of timeless story that made the franchise into the iconic behemoth it is. If not, well, there's always the pixel remasters to remind us of the glory days when Final Fantasy was king. That's at least something to look forward to for 2023.
@@reganmusicnz in 6 and 9 they were essentially extra characters or a power that one of the main characters has. They were a large part of the story, but almost by happenstance and only in service to the larger story. Like you said in 10, they *were* the focal point. Same with 13 kind of, if you see them as an extension of fal cie. In 15 they appear to be with how much screen time they get and how the journey is framed around them… actually yeah, all the way up to the end you’re seeking the approval of summons.
I never really thought about it, but you’re right. Summons make great additions to a world and story already fleshed out, but over reliance on them is a sign of week writing.
@@reganmusicnz 10 is a masterpiece. What are you even talking about?
The sad thing is that nobody who matters there will see this, and even if they did, they'd ignore it because you're not speaking Japanese.
But yeah, I feel the same way.
All the FFs past 10 have been pure hot garbage
This is really well done. Do y’all think they’ll read the letter? lol I hope so! The problem is there are so many marketing executives in these big companies now, it’s an industry that churns profit, it’s sad Square Enix doesn’t seem to understand it’s own product. That’s why I have hope for Yoshi-P and ff14/16. But yeah… this could have been something truly, truly special. I really tried to love FF7 remake.
Loved your reaction vid to this.
We all are FF fans deep down but in reality they've been falling off making good FF games since FF13. When people compare FF13 to FFX they forget all the love, care, detail and story craft that was put in to made the game a favorite for years. 13 was about a incredibly crabby girl who thought joining the army to protect one person then quickly abandon that person at the slightest sign of trouble was a great a idea and great decision making. 14 is a mmo, part 1 failed, part 2 restored. Then 15.. took too long and people stopped caring then when released it was average, that 3d combat system they over use. Then FF7 remake... i don't care what anyone has to say, behind closed doors the game was a absolute disaster. In an attempt to sound smart they rewrite the entire story and put everything established into a talesspin, change a bunch of things, change the characters appearances then proclaim 'this is the remake you've been waiting for'. If the opening week of Crisis Core is anything to go by.. everyone stopped caring. Its not a remake and never will be. Get rid of Nomura from directing anything, return the series to its roots, craft a good story and good characters.
But to think they ruined FF7 remake, the chance to print money for the next 10 years or so like a HP printer! If they cant even manage their own big titles, why should they continue the series? Just to continue to cash in on nostalgia and take us for a ride?
i own all the FF from 1-15 on ps1/2/3/4/
but i always go back to 7/8/9 and im 52
and they still hold a place.
SquareEnix : "I think he actually just wants to see more NFTs. Yes, that must be it"
Jokes aside, I only experienced 14 as only FF in a long while, but I remember the greatness of the 90s and early 2000s, so I fully support going back to the Quality of those times if they really have diminished so much since then
For me i believe square enix already learned their lesson from ff13 and 15. Ff7r broadened up its hallways and gave us an open world feels every 3-4 chapters. We already know it's only up to midgar but square gave us a completed game at day 1, no updates on combat mechanics, yuffie's dlc is an added story and not needed to understand the ff7r plot. Ff7r fixed ff15's combat and improved it using the atb system.
Ff16 is basically a compilation of all the learnings from past mistakes. They are transparent in the dev process, they were honest when it got delayed. The trailers they showed came from the game and not some "vision of the directorl". They hired a combat designer. They said the story will complete at credits.
But we also have to understand that they are people to, they make mistakes. They thought they can use ff7 to garner fans using a pubg game. They thought we'd appreciate a very blinded storytelling like ff13 (i appreciated it tho). Square thought having its own game engine is better. Square enix is not just a fan pleasing entity, it's an income generating company who tries to make money through ways fans may not like. Also we strongly need to understand that the fans from the golden age of final fantasy are already in their mid adults now. Im mid 30s too, busy with life and work and i dont have a month-long summer vacation, or christmas vacation or sem break to play games. Basically i consider myself a very minor contributor to market shares now. I can't even buy their games at full price. I had to wait for their 50% sale. I don't rely on my mom to buy me a game this christmas or to buy me ps5 because ff16 is coming. To an income generating company, i might be even considered a liability rather than an asset: a fan who keeps telling how the company should work but cant give proper monetary support to them. We dubbed the ps1 games the golden age and what i learned from history is that golden age=a past that we can no longer go back. Naturally any company would attempt to create a younger fanbase.
I don't know how to end this. Lols im still optimisitic with ff16 and the following main titles. Im giving SE time to polish the action rpg genre. It took them until ff7 and ff8 to see real innovations in the turn based system anyway. Im pretty sure they will come up with something in the latter titles. With turn based vs action, lets think of it like when you're mom insisted you to stop wearing baggy pants but you still did so because it's what's in. We action games now it's what sells as triple a. Soon they will realize they need to lie low and so then gaming companies will think of new gameplay mechanics.
I think since Squaresoft became SquareEnix it was downhill from there the last best Final Fantasy for me was FFX, I haven't enjoyed a FF since then yet I always buy them.
I don't consider anything after ff10 to be final fantasy no matter what they call them.
I would love to see Yoko Taro direct a Final Fantasy game.
Please no. I'd like to understand stories I play, and know what's going on, thank you.
@@TheBayzent 🤣🤣🤣 That's fair lmao
Couldn't have said it better man!
I dont understand why they have to prove they can write a story as you say the story was already wrote in this case. They lied and claim this was ff7r but what it is truly is ff7-2
they kingdom hearted ff7
Wait until you learn who helped write the original game
Facts
I just want a completed disc 2 from Xenogears. Please square 🥺🙏
So, to get a few things out of the way. Full-time worker here, 40+ hours a week.
FFxiv is the best writing you will see in games for years to come. Why it doesn't get that recognition by the media is beyond me. "But it's an MMO." I play ffxiv mostly alone. Not because I'm an edgelord solo player, but my work schedule changes per week. Even then, ffxiv by design, let's you go at the pace you want and have time for. If an event comes in that will take longer then usual, the game will give you a warning to have some spare time. If you have the time to watch a season or two of a TV show, you have time to play ffxiv. You want a game to respect the time you payed attention to little details of the characters and story, ffxiv will reward you for it.
Ffxiv is that book that is greatly written and has characters to fall in love with but no one wants to read because they saw the writer is a child. So they make an assumption that the books story will be shallow and boring.
As someone who played FFXIV since beta phase 3 of 2.x/ARR... I think the story hasnt been good since they moved away from the original story elements o 1.x/2.x/3.x and most of those elements were put in place from the original producer Tenaka of the FFXI mmo/dev team. Tbh.... i think FFXIV has gotten worse each year. Also can people stop praising the game based on "its by design" "yosheep says to take breaks" "play other games" or how its good because it "respects your time" cus id argue the complete oposite because it spaces out its limited content through outt the 3 months of patch cycle and hasnt strayed away from the formula so long term players are just completely bored of the game and maybe thats why only the story is praised.
@Greg Wilhide Would rather not go into details of the story but I have learned that just because a person has stayed with something for a long time isn't a good enough excuse to trust their judgment. The divide in the Star Wars community between the new trilogy and old was evidence to me that some people, even when they are long time fans, have bad judgment of story. Also the 1.x story was almost non existent and filled mostly with plot devices to encourage the plot to move forward without much sustenance with it. Gathering information on this over the years from the devs themselves and other community members points to the writers just winging it, for the story, until bugs were fixed.
"The pacing complaint" the release of the content doesn't correlate to the pacing of the story. If you have a mindset to stick to one game and want content to be similar to gacha game where you are "encouraged" to stay with 1 game is a problem on your end, not the games. I'd rather come back later myself since my limited time will be decided on how I will spend that, not the game.
@@stevenalvarez2924 I'm mostly on your side in this case (ARR story was great and not non-existent), but I can't get behind you on that Star Wars topic. The sequel trilogy is a big, grandstanding middle finger to the fans, and society as a whole. Presumptuous, preachy, condescending.
@@gregwilhide5091 the story has gotten so much better since ARR. Shadowbringers alone tops most any other FF game just by the endings of 5.0 and 5.3.
@@ZephyrFate Nah. If shadowbringers was the peak of ff14 as you say then 14 is probably the only FF game you have played. Its quite average really. Didnt felt anything while playing the game and qas quite generic if you ask me
The fact you got that ffx saxophone beat after the mushroom rock war with sin to fit this video alone gets a must like. What is the name of that beat by chance?
Haha thank you! It's from the Mi'ihen Highroad track.
@@orion8550 thanks
Omg the old musicccc! Love it.
I am a massive FF fan and this time, I am not even slightly excited by the XVI trailer. I hope I am wrong and that game turns out amazing but I feel nothing for it. Absolutely nothing. I did enjoy VII Remake though, but I just wish it had a lot less padding and was the full story and not episodes. GRR lol, yep I am still annoyed by this! I feel Rebirth will improve upon it a lot and have a bit less padding. If not then I will cry haha.
Honestly, though, right now I am struggling with Rebirth knowing I will have to buy a PS5 just to play it or wait 2 years and hope it eventually comes to Steam...After seeing this video. I might just wait for it to come to Steam but mentally I think I will give in lol. I just can't resist when it's the older FF titles. Even if they are remakes/remasters and waiting 2 years might destroy me and I'd likely see a spoiler...Hmm. Part of me now is thinking just watch a letsplay then buy it on PC later. The days of me buying a console just for 1 game or series are fading. It used to be if I seen a Square / Sqaure Enix title then I would buy it, even if I hadn't got that console. I'd go out and buy the console just for one game but adult me hates that. I dislike having a device I rarely use and only for 1 or 2 games. I also like just having everything in one place now.
It's going to be hard but I might have to resist buying a PS5 unless other games come out on it I want but with most games coming to PC now, there's very little point but then I go around in circles with the thought of missing out on anything VII related or the older titles lol. Trying to tell myself to be patient and just wait...Sorry for the long reply but I am with you on Sqaure Enix right now, they are not what they used to be but at the same time, not many do it better and when Square Enix do get it right, nothing compares!
I feel you man. Yep I am not getting a PS5 just for one or 2 games. If it was the old days and you knew 100% you'd get quality then it would be different.
@@PeterParker-ne8zx Yup! I am finding it so hard telling myself I won't though because I must have anything VII related butttt going to try fight it and just wait! I have millions of other games to play until then!
I agree with everything said here, but I knew after the first minute that this video didn't have the stones to call out XIV. Its Reddit-tier story & characters leave a lot to be desired. Financially successful, but soulless. XVI looks much the same. Press X to AWESOME! I don't play FF games just so I can spaz out and actually play DMC. If I wanted DMX, I'd play DMC. Do all the big releases need to be action titles now? FF7R, XVI, Stranger of Paradise...can I just have one big FF release where the characters line up to fight again? Characters whose names I will remember after a few months/years/decades like I do for the casts of II thru XIII (yes, including XI to a further extent than XIV).
Wait have you not heard that FF14 is the 'greatest final fantasy story ever told'? Lmao
I've not played FFXIV, but I'm not exactly convinced by all the comments here saying it's the best ever without any word of explanation as to why.
What's their obsession with making all of 7s characters still alive?
Also just because I want to vent, 8 is my favorite and I absolutely hated how they took Squall's Dissidia design and made his hair a comb over in the remaster instead of spiky. Same with Rinoa and her chubby cheeks from the Dissida design. Not to mention Square's new ethics department that has to cover up every female in any mainline FF games
It's their golden goose franchise. Must keep them alive to capitalize on the consumer's fascination with them
Love what u just did.. a huge fan as well and ff7 impacted me in many ways..
Kudos, Subscribed brahh.. keep doing what ur doing
Thank you, sir! Greatly appreciated!
And another thing; I am going to be so upset and choked if they change it to where Aerith survives!! Not only would it be messing with the story that you should not be messing with, but it would take away the whole gravity of her death!
She is not the first character to die in a video game, heck, she’s not the first character to die in a Final Fantasy game! However, out of all other character, deaths in the final fantasy series, or even video games in general, I think hers is the most profound, and it is the one that is done the best!
I think the reason for that is simple; there was no other character like her! Most of the other characters that have died in Final Fantasy games, or any other game for that matter, I have always had another character come and replace them…. That is not the case here with. Aerith!!! Not only does her death have a lot of weight to it, and not only is it significant for the story plot, but there’s simply was not another character like her, or one that can come even close to taking her place!
And you would think that, knowing that she dies, and subsequent play threes, it would make you not really focus, a lot of effort into building her up, because you’re going to lose her halfway through, but that’s just not the case! When I play the original again, I still put a lot of time into building up her attributes and abilities, because she’s that powerful of a character!
So when I fire up the original, Final Fantasy seven, even though I know that I’m not going to get to use her for half of the game or more, it just makes me want to use her all the more when I have her!
When I first announced this remake, I was so excited! I even bought the soldier first class edition! It is my most favorite, collectors edition, and I have been buying collectors additions for almost 20 years now! It will always be my favorite! But what they have done to this story, has caused me to not only refuse to buy any more collectors edition of this game, but if they continue to butcher the story, the way they have, I may not even finish this!
So thank you again for having the guts and the ethics to call out what is so blatantly wrong! Again, as I said, in a previous comment, video games are truly a work of art! You don’t go and change a painting if you’re trying to recreate a new one!
It’s just like when a musician covers, a song, and changes the lyrics to it! It’s complete BS and you shouldn’t do it! It’s one thing to change the beat a little bit, or to change the tone, etc. but you don’t change the lyrics!
I just hope that they remake Dirge of Cerberus into a semi decent character action game
As an old fan I want to fall in love with Final Fantasy again but I really am not holding high hopes for XVI, but maybe it's just because I am jaded too. If anything I want to be surprised. I see many people talking about XIV, imo FFXIV is not nearly as good (story-wise) as the fans want people to believe. It's not a bad story though, it's mid at best, barely no stakes and no really lasting consequences to any relevant plotlines. But I still play that game, I like it even though the story is not that good for my personal tastes.
Finally another 14 fan who speaks sense. 14 story is worshipped as some amazing thing only because it's better than a lot of other Square Enix games. Not a high bar. I'm same as you. Not a bad story but mid level. Lot of boring characters with no stakes.
@@lovelybiz Examples?
@@lovelybiz >no stakes
>a child literally gets stomped on a cutscene
you never played the game
I approve this video. As a 34 yr old man, square broke my heart with their "ethics committee" and drastic fumble of ff7r.
how did they fumble ff7r
I completely agree with your thoughts. As painful as it is, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that Final Fantasy (the series that I fell in love with anyway) is dead. The last game that legitimately felt like it belonged in the franchise was FF10 (possibly even FF9) and that was a long time ago now. FF16 looks like a high-speed action spin-off, nothing at all like something that belongs in the mainline series. Sigh. 😔
Well said, well said. What's the Gaia coming to, without a decent FF game?
SquareSoft was better. Well, that's what I think after it became Square-enix games became meh
High hopes that they save it, but seeing how they are trying to NFT their crap to the lowest common denominator and stuff? They need a restructure.
I’m totally over it now, if we just ignore the original and advent children and dirge, that’s the real FF7 or so they try to force on us 😢
Also let's not forget that FF7 Remake is being blocked from ever going to xbox, even as a hard core FF7 I'm very sad to say that I won't be getting the FF7R.
From the main franchise, I only played up to XII and IX is my favorite, and Cecil from IV in character. I can't really say what diminished except the world exploration where using controllable vehicles were a thing. I agree about those things that happen in between is meaningful, those little things we do while lost or contemplating on what just happened (Ellone from VIII got me good). So those are gone from XIII and XV or there's just not enough? I didn't know Ever Crisis will be in chapters/parts! That's crazy! I mean, it's a good thing for those catching up and not for people who want to relive the original or remake. I can't imagine people casually playing and catching up but missing out on events.
I may be a new fan of the series but after playing 7 through 10 I fell in love with the franchise. I’ve notice how the storytelling skills did slip after 13 and 15. I really do hope that 16 would actually be good when it comes out.
ff14 is imo the greatest story in any ff game by far, unless you mean 15
@@m5coate sorry I meant to type 15 lol
@@rakyon9629 hahaha i had a feeling
i aware you already start 14 but you seem not get what you want yet also a lot of you hope for series is in 14 you have to go on more
so it save to say 16 is in right hand to tell a good story
Can anyone help identify the song that starts around 6:14? going crazy trying to identify it
Hello. It's 'Find Your Way' from Final Fantasy 8.
@@orion8550 Ahhh thank you
Great video dude. The one thing that sticks out in my mind in what you said was recapturing 'the moments' of old - the magic. In FF7R, you can dress it up and make it glamorously beautiful, but if it doesn't retain the heart and soul, you've just got an empty shell of a thing. The most painful thing about it for people like you and me, is that it was all avoidable. SE knows exactly which IPs are their cash cows, yet has severe problems identifying what actually works.
Grab your popcorn people
People that say “don’t listen to FFXIV fans, that game story is bad” have yet to realise FFXIV won for two consecutive years best ongoing and there is a reason. While you might not like the gameplay etc, that’s fine, the story of that game really… dude is something good.
A Realm Reborn is kinda slow (and they actually made it much better since Endwalker) and that’s why it is completely FREE. From Heavensward on, which is also free and some hours away if you only do main story quests, if gets much better. There is a reason why, although it’s a MMO people consider FFXIV the second best story after FF6. I think that says it all.
If you truly played FFXIV you know, otherwise you won’t.
so true
People who claim say that it's Straight up a hater because they can't deal with the fact that FFXIV it's more praised and beloved than his Favorite Final Fantasy game, they can't accept because it's a MMO and "shouldn't be considered". 99% of them never even touched the game and just replicate what they read in the Internet.
@@denzelvilliers true. And if the story sucks or the game is really not enjoyable like what these other people are saying, I don't think the players will waste their money and retain their subscriptions and the game should've already disappeared into oblivion a long time ago. But it's not and it's the most profitable game for SE currently because players are willing to give them their bucks, monthly. Why? Because to them, the game is worth it. Whether it's for story, raids, farming, rping or just afking in limsa, they think it's worth the money and why not? Even Hironobu Sakaguchi is having a blast completing the current raid tier, chilling in their FC house, boasting his new glams and posting it all over twitter even until now. Just because some of these people have zero idea about the game or the game isn't for them doesn't mean it automatically applies to everyone. Hundreds of thousands of active players will disagree.
i think that golden age is gone. but that doesn't mean we still won't get stories and worlds that shine in our memories like beacons