Support NeoGAF

[DragoonKain]

For me it was hard to define for a while. It wasn't the battle systems IMO, because I actually think modern FF battle systems have gotten better. VII Remake and XIII series had amazing battle systems IMO.

I think the stories were definitely better and more interesting, but even then the dialogue in a lot of the older games was really simplistic in comparison.

I don't know if just one thing stands out above the rest, I think it's a combination of things, but I do really miss the world designs and pre-rendered backgrounds, and especially the world maps. The worlds were just full of so much color and charm, and of course Uematsu's music just brought it all together, but those were worlds I just felt were a joy to explore and be a part of. And the newer games in that regard just feel so soulless. Combine that with more interesting stories, better characters, sidequests that felt more relevant, better villains, and I think that combination is what made the difference.

It's funny though how more detailed and interactive worlds in modern FFs feel less alive.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Sitting in a hot tub with other men and having innuendo-laced conversation.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Worlds and stories were much better back in the day to me. I enjoyed the characters more too. I won't go so far as to say none of the characters today are good, but a certain charm or focus was lost on the world building that I don't feel is the same anymore, but each new game is a new chance to redeem ones self for me, so I'll never count out my favorite genre of videogame.

 

[RayHell]

I love turn based JRPG, so I stopped loving FF from FF12.

 

[The Pleasure]

The cutscenes didn't make me fall asleep. I fell asleep playimg ff13. Thought i was watching waterworld.

 

[Sander Cohen]

Nobody does fantasy as good as them, still. When they do it really well it’s magical. Best series if you wanna drift farthest away from your everyday reality. That’s just my opinion.

 

[MOTM]

Story & deep characters that came together to deliver a beautiful narrative.

Those elements are totally absent from modern FF games. It used to be my favourite franchise now I borderline don’t care.

 

[The Hamburglar]

Amazing stories ( for a game).

12 onwards have been trash.

 

[AmuroChan]

- turn-based combat
- party customizations when it comes to # of playable characters and/or ability to change job classes
- storylines that aren't overly convoluted
- timeless soundtracks

 

[Captain Toad]

Bring back turn-based combat and medieval fantasy and I'll be happy.

Also, no cars.

 

[Lokaum D+]

FFXIII battle system has the best implementation of turn based FF

 

[Roni]

For me it was hard to define for a while. It wasn't the battle systems IMO, because I actually think modern FF battle systems have gotten better. VII Remake and XIII series had amazing battle systems IMO.

I think the stories were definitely better and more interesting, but even then the dialogue in a lot of the older games was really simplistic in comparison.

I don't know if just one thing stands out above the rest, I think it's a combination of things, but I do really miss the world designs and pre-rendered backgrounds, and especially the world maps. The worlds were just full of so much color and charm, and of course Uematsu's music just brought it all together, but those were worlds I just felt were a joy to explore and be a part of. And the newer games in that regard just feel so soulless. Combine that with more interesting stories, better characters, sidequests that felt more relevant, better villains, and I think that combination is what made the difference.

It's funny though how more detailed and interactive worlds in modern FFs feel less alive.

Being a child when you first played them definitely helped...

 

[TheMan]

Being a child when you first played them definitely helped...

Yes exactly. I would argue those older entries don’t hold up all that well. Like, they’re still enjoyable but the presentation is so simple

 

[Azelover]

The story, the characters and the gameplay.

I really hate the battle systems from XII up. Actually, from XI up since that was an MMORPG. It needs to be turn based, but that's definitely not enough. The stories have been atrocious ever since.

 

[TheContact]

Moving away from turn based battles was the biggest blow to me. FF 4 through X were all incredible games in their own right. 12 is decent and xiv is great but i don’t consider that a mainline FF. I did love 13’s battle system (one of the best in the series) but the pacing and story were ruined via terrible direction. The 7 remake is a perfect example of what sucks about the post X FF games

 

[DragoonKain]

Yes exactly. I would argue those older entries don’t hold up all that well. Like, they’re still enjoyable but the presentation is so simple

I don't know, I think a lot of it is the jaggies from the PS1 era are hard to look at. But take a look at this, I think the PS1 FFs redone to look this good would definitely hold up.

 

[Ikutachi]

World maps, optional towns.

 

[jshackles]

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

FF10 was the turning point. FF10 was still a great game, but it was where the signs that the studio had hit their limits.

It had been my pet theory for a while, that Squaresoft historically had no idea when to stop adding content or graphics. They just kept adding until the storage medium was full, and then they focus on finishing and polishing. This was perhaps the most extreme in the original FFII, where the story ended abruptly with no epilogue because the cartridge was full.

This worked great all the way through to the CD era. But then DVD came in. That was when Square started to have trouble polishing the game, because they spent so much time making things look good. The graphics department got larger and larger that they dreamed of making hollywood movies instead. Game features start to get dropped because towns get too detailed and we end up with nearly NO towns. FF12 even had an NPC being proud of how many individual floor tiles that were used in the ONE real city they had.

No towns, no airships, less character customization, (and even ending up forced to play only one character), all that was about saving time because the graphics department made everything cost too much. FF stopped being about an adventure and instead become an interactive graphics showcase.

At some point, FF stopped being a GAME. At least to me. It is just cutscenes now. I am happy for them that FF still makes money, but it isn't the game i wanted to play anymore.

 

[TheMan]

I don't know, I think a lot of it is the jaggies from the PS1 era are hard to look at. But take a look at this, I think the PS1 FFs redone to look this good would definitely hold up.

I’m more referring to the snes entries

 

[TheInfamousKira]

I don't necessarily think they're worse, so much as they're constantly trying to reinvent the wheel to try and appeal to as many tastes as possible, inevitably alienating a few. The trend towards real time action and as of XV open world mechanics shows a desire to evolve what someone in Square must think is an antiquated genre, and the result is having something undeniably pretty and shiny, but not necessarily masterful.

A lot of what I think made the old games shine was the fact that they were A. Text driven, and B. Simpler from a moving parts point of view. For A, I feel having text boxes allows the player to form their own version of the character, enhancing the immersion. My Freya may differ from yours, my Kain may be gruffer, etc. It also allows the player to advance the story more their own pace, and go over the dialogue if they missed something. I feel even XIII with it's textbook of proper nouns would have felt less disjointed in this way, because the dialogue itself essentially functioned as a "datalog,"

The other point, being on simpler hardware meant the illusion of size, of open world traversal, and of fantastic vista's could be realized without the need to pour tons of money and manpower into it. There weren't a thousand Ubisoft employees on the "Blades of Grass Team" This in turn made developers come up with clever tricks, or shorthand almost for the things they were trying to bring to life. The small characters on a less detailed scaled back map that is the "overworld," we all think of when we hear the word. Hand made pre-rendered backgrounds that polygonal characters are shrunk, enlarged or hidden on spots to create the illusion of depth or space. Think the Cavern of the Gi in FFVII. Most importantly, it leaves something to the player's imagination. It's not as visually impressive, but I'd argue it's more interactive and engaging, because you have to mentally connect the dots with each place to picture how it would look if it were "realistic,"

 

[b6a6es]

how is it hard to figure out ? It’s literally the Noubo Uematsu score that carried the entire franchise for me

Had FF XII used Uematsu score it would’ve been hands down the best JRPG game in the entire Square history, including Chrono Trigger & FF6/7, it was a flawless game only ruined by uninspired music

 

[GametimeUK]

For me, I prefer the structure of the PS1 games with the world map that gives the illusion of open world, but you have to essentially unlock the new locations as you progress through the game.

Another thing is I prefer the games being text heavy. I enjoy reading way more than I enjoy some of the grating Japanese voices with all the grunts, moans and screams.

I found the cast of characters a lot more interesting in prior games and I also prefer having separate "cartoon" character models for patrolling the world and more detailed models for battles.

Also, I prefer turn based combat or the ATB system.

To be fair I just don't like Japanese games that much these days in general. The same stuff I thought was cool just makes me cringe.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

The lack of talent in control of the franchise.

 

[Lionel Richie]

FF told somewhat bold stories for the time and had really good production values. It was also very accessible and more serious than the overtly quirky Dragon Quest. So I think it's a very relevant series that pushed the medium forward, it just didn't stay in the vanguard.

 

[hemo memo]

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

 

[6502]

Depends on age and availability.

Psx era was the best by far for majority who got in it then.

Breathtaking graphics, retroesque music and it being a breakthrough point for the genre in the west.

But after a few titles it is no longer new. Character x reminds you of y from previous game, they change something you were comfortable with or introduce garbage that distracts from the core gameplay. It gets old.

So for me it died after ffxii so I moved onto retro titles like chronotrigger, seiken densetsu 3 then absolutely loved skies of arcadia, enjoyed last story & xenoblade wii then stopped. Nothing else to see.

If anyone has any suggestions that don't involve grinding or teenage angst I would love to be surprised.

Final fantasy just had that big budget polish at the time. It was an event.

 

[Moonjt9]

Compare Final Fantasy X to every game before it. Menu based world, no overworld, corridors and mini maps, no atb, half uematsu... this is where the series departed from classic final fantasy.

 

[01011001]

well games became super linear, and then FFXV was barely even an RPG anymore, the main story was just spectacle and absolutely zero brain battles.

 

[DragoonKain]

how is it hard to figure out ? It’s literally the Noubo Uematsu score that carried the entire franchise for me

Had FF XII used Uematsu score it would’ve been hands down the best JRPG game in the entire Square history, including Chrono Trigger & FF6/7, it was a flawless game only ruined by uninspired music

I agree Nobuo being gone is a huge part of it for me. The uniqueness of his melodies brought so much life to the games. But I think in general FFXII had the most forgettable characters in the series. And I mean that literally. I’ve forgotten almost every character from that game. I don’t even remember who the final boss was, and I think that’s the only FF game I can say that about.

 

[fatmarco]

I think the original, or PS1 FF games had good taste visually first of all, and strong direction.

Understandable and relatable storylines, not incomprehensible nonsense and yeah, Nobuo Uematsu.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

Not true, when I went back and played old Squaresoft games that I never played before. They still hold up.

Perhaps the worst thing that was introduced to new FF is the "unfinished" nature of it. Entire pieces of games went missing because they couldn't handle to production. And FF13 was literally pieces of the original planned game that was re-assembled and stuck together. Like if you try to make a novel by taking sentences out of another book. Hence all the single corridors that had nothing to do with the room you were in before or after.

FF15 is well known for having entire stories cut out and made into a movie. WTF was that? Put that IN the game damn you!
And FF12... for those who praise it, let me ask you if it was a good idea for chests to have randomized loot? I know the director makes MMOs, but I don't play FF12 to play an MMO. And I don't find it fun to reset the game over and over just to get the weapon I wanted. Another thing, ninja swords are entirely useless in the game because they were balanced around dual-welding. Excepting Duel Welding was cut from the game so ninja swords were useless. And why was it cut from the game? Graphics of course!

You see what i mean by FF "not being a game anymore"? All the graphics in the world doesn't change the fact that it is losing playability.

 

[DragoonKain]

I don't necessarily think they're worse, so much as they're constantly trying to reinvent the wheel to try and appeal to as many tastes as possible, inevitably alienating a few. The trend towards real time action and as of XV open world mechanics shows a desire to evolve what someone in Square must think is an antiquated genre, and the result is having something undeniably pretty and shiny, but not necessarily masterful.

A lot of what I think made the old games shine was the fact that they were A. Text driven, and B. Simpler from a moving parts point of view. For A, I feel having text boxes allows the player to form their own version of the character, enhancing the immersion. My Freya may differ from yours, my Kain may be gruffer, etc. It also allows the player to advance the story more their own pace, and go over the dialogue if they missed something. I feel even XIII with it's textbook of proper nouns would have felt less disjointed in this way, because the dialogue itself essentially functioned as a "datalog,"

The other point, being on simpler hardware meant the illusion of size, of open world traversal, and of fantastic vista's could be realized without the need to pour tons of money and manpower into it. There weren't a thousand Ubisoft employees on the "Blades of Grass Team" This in turn made developers come up with clever tricks, or shorthand almost for the things they were trying to bring to life. The small characters on a less detailed scaled back map that is the "overworld," we all think of when we hear the word. Hand made pre-rendered backgrounds that polygonal characters are shrunk, enlarged or hidden on spots to create the illusion of depth or space. Think the Cavern of the Gi in FFVII. Most importantly, it leaves something to the player's imagination. It's not as visually impressive, but I'd argue it's more interactive and engaging, because you have to mentally connect the dots with each place to picture how it would look if it were "realistic,"

I think FFXV had promise, but it failed in many key areas. The template was there for it to be great, but the story sucked and was astonishingly short, and also you had to watch the damn movie to understand what happened, which was a joke. I don’t know if it was a marketing ploy to get people to buy the movie, but it pissed me off. And the game was like 90% sidequests. If they had an interesting and deep story, and flipped it to 70% story and 30% sidequests and the world was livelier and filled with more interesting content, then it should’ve been an all-time great FF.

 

[AJUMP23]

The best part is the amount of free time I had to play them. I think I ran out of free time after FF12.

 

[Fbh]

IMO it's a combination of things:

- Classics had better stories: Not necessarily the actual dialog, which I think mostly benefited from no voice acting ("moms are tough" is ok in written dialog, but cringe as fuck with voice acting), but just the overall plot, worlds and specially the characters were much better.

- Classics didn't constantly try to re-invent the wheel: Yeah each game had unique mechanics but overall they still followed a similar formula and structure. After X though they started to deviate from that, and rather than sticking with new ideas and polishing them over time they discarded them after one game and went with something new again. XII felt more like an offline MMO, then XIII ditched towns and NPC for a hyper linear and combat focused design, then XV went for a big open world, etc.

-Classics were allowed to "just" be a game: The old ones were designed to be a single game, and as such they did all their world building, character development and storytelling within that one game, ensuring it all worked as complete and satisfying standalone story. XIII and specally XV, on the other hand, suffered from trying to build a franchise before ensuring the core was strong enough to support it. That's how you end up with an embarrassingly incomplete crap story in XV.....oh but there's a movie! and anime prequels! And we'll just develop the bad guy in DLC!.

- Making nice looking games was cheaper back then: Not to discredit people who worked on the older games and the amazing work they did, but the cost of AAA gaming was just considerably lower back then. I can't help but feel like Square is wasting time and money trying to chase that "top tier visuals" pedigree. Like XV looked really nice but I'd have taken a worse looking game with a more complete story, better sidequests, better combat, better bosses, more towns, playable party members at launch, etc.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

- Making nice looking games was cheaper back then: Not to discredit people who worked on the older games and the amazing work they did, but the cost of AAA gaming was just considerably lower back then. I can't help but feel like Square is wasting time and money trying to chase that "top tier visuals" pedigree. Like XV looked really nice but I'd have taken a worse looking game with a more complete story, better sidequests, better combat, better bosses, more towns, playable party members at launch, etc.

That's actually why I liked what was shown in the FFXVI preview. The characters are not as pretty graphically, but I see that as a good thing. That Square might have realized that they don't have the manpower or funds to really support AAA graphics in a true FF length game. In a first person shooter, sure, but for the grand story FF was once famous for, they had to dial it back.

 

[T8SC]

Fewer corridors.

 

[Fbh]

That's actually why I liked what was shown in the FFXVI preview. The characters are not as pretty graphically, but I see that as a good thing. That Square might have realized that they don't have the manpower or funds to really support AAA graphics in a true FF length game. In a first person shooter, sure, but for the grand story FF was once famous for, they had to dial it back.

Yeah, me too.
It's the one thing giving me hope that the game will actually be out in the next 1-2 years and will feel way more complete and polished than XV

 

[DragoonKain]

IMO it's a combination of things:

- Classics had better stories: Not necessarily the actual dialog, which I think mostly benefited from no voice acting ("moms are tough" is ok in written dialog, but cringe as fuck with voice acting), but just the overall plot, worlds and specially the characters were much better.

- Classics didn't constantly try to re-invent the wheel: Yeah each game had unique mechanics but overall they still followed a similar formula and structure. After X though they started to deviate from that, and rather than sticking with new ideas and polishing them over time they discarded them after one game and went with something new again. XII felt more like an offline MMO, then XIII ditched towns and NPC for a hyper linear and combat focused design, then XV went for a big open world, etc.

-Classics were allowed to "just" be a game: The old ones were designed to be a single game, and as such they did all their world building, character development and storytelling within that one game, ensuring it all worked as complete and satisfying standalone story. XIII and specally XV, on the other hand, suffered from trying to build a franchise before ensuring the core was strong enough to support it. That's how you end up with an embarrassingly incomplete crap story in XV.....oh but there's a movie! and anime prequels! And we'll just develop the bad guy in DLC!.

- Making nice looking games was cheaper back then: Not to discredit people who worked on the older games and the amazing work they did, but the cost of AAA gaming was just considerably lower back then. I can't help but feel like Square is wasting time and money trying to chase that "top tier visuals" pedigree. Like XV looked really nice but I'd have taken a worse looking game with a more complete story, better sidequests, better combat, better bosses, more towns, playable party members at launch, etc.

Lost Odyssey set the template if Square ever wants to recreate classic FF one day, and I don't know that they do, but if they do, that's it right there. Not coincidentally another Sakaguchi project, but the closest thing I've played to PS1 FFs since PS1 FFs. That game proved the classic FF formula can be done on newer hardware, they just need to know how to approach it.

 

[Myths]

FF12 music was good, not sure what guy above is saying. But it would’ve been more outstanding to know the long time composer was at its helm.

I don’t feel anything is missing, each entry has been distinct and it shoots to be something of its own - from having different combinations of directors/producers/artists/musicians/writers coming together. In some cases, you have similar teams/units so you might end up with titles of similar quality and output. You either like it or you don’t, simple.

Ultimately, there’s no one hard rule to decide. There are some things better left to the imagination as they were then, while things today can be depicted more accurately with modern tech. Past elements shouldn’t be shoehorned but can be factored in if it will work in that entry’s world. They’ve always had creative ways in how they’re mapped into the world for that specific entry. Chocobos, Crystals, Summons, Key Items, Places, and even motifs/phrases of Songs from past entries are just a few things that are always considered. Square does this so we never need to worry much about the lack of such elements.

I don’t understand people skipping 1-3 (sometimes 1-3, 5, sometimes 1-5) but will start at 6, proceed either up to 9 or 10, and identify those as being “classic” and the heart of FF. Every one of those games are distinct much in the same way... 12 and beyond are. There’s even been more liberty to it’s direction with 12 taking place in Ivalice and guys like Nomura given a chance to step at one point too.

The music hasn’t disappointed so that’s not an issue to me. Instead, I would say just the part where there were turns in the story and elements to the world that separated it from being MOSTLY predictable. For example, 1, 3, and 5 mostly comprise the same basis for its story revolving around crystals, elements, and Chaos (void) - all the same meaning with different terminology. In one way or the other, these key terms are factored in much the same manner but with multiple meanings.

2 and 4 took a different approach (the latter still had crystals but mostly ancillary to the plot and more of salute). 2 was actually an interesting story to follow for me, its setting (western asian aesthetic even down to some of the music with the sitar) was more interesting than the first entry having drawn inspiration from a very specific part of the real world. I also felt FF2 is when Amano become more ornate with his artwork - you see those baubles, earrings, strange shapes of creatures and such. 4 put crystals a bit more in the background while 6 and beyond started representing them in more complex ways and not as explicit or generic.

Either way, the series continues to build and evolve with tech as it always had. 1-6 seem similar because the tech from NES to SNES wasn’t exponential of a jump from SNES to PS. Following this, 6 to 7 is a landmark in terms of audio and graphics hardware available at the time.

Fans by now should be self-aware that running around in circles complaining about why X isn’t similar enough to some entry Y is because they aren’t supposed to be and never have been. Think about how this happens with practically every FF. Then they say “well having played X, Y isn’t so bad in hindsight.” Every damn time.

Come on guys, you’re answering your own questions with each entry dropped. It’s never the same and we do this all the time. We should be conscious of this by now.

With Bravely Default, they are kind of using that as a series for fans looking for something more old school. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt them to release a separate line more similar to the styles of FF3 DS / FF4 DS. But options are certainly out there from the company.

 

[fart town usa]

Less buckles.

Call me shallow, I'd enjoy FF infinitely more if it lost it's buckle/anime look. I heard the new one is going back to medieval style.

I don't dislike FF though, big fan of the games.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Active Time Battle System.

 

[midasmulligan]

Nostalgia

 

[Mattyp]

Nostalgia, stories, turn based.

Go pop in GT on PS1 if you want a kick in the guts, that said I think FF art style will if held up better I still haven’t sat down for a replay but, don’t want to destroy those childhood memories.

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

People say they want innovation but they are lying, as soon as something changes the hurry to their pitchforks, FF needed to evolve because budgets became larger and larger and they needed a bigger audience to sell to cause this is a business after all and devs want to experiment with new ideas, etc.

For the nostalgia addicts they made Bravely Default and looking at the sales and the outcry of "fans" yeah people seem to never stop bitching no matter what you do.

 

[Sejan]

I think FF7 was the beginning of the downfall. It was still a good game, but it’s where a lot of the ideas that make me dislike modern Final Fantasy.

Some of my problems today:
1. Overly complicated stories. Square has fallen in love with telling nonsensical stories that no one can follow. Whether it be kingdom hearts of modern final fantasy, even the biggest fans would likely struggle to give a full breakdown of the plot. I remember a gaming magazine in college tried to summarize FF7s plot and link everything together. The image that accompanied the story looked like a conspiracy theorist’s bulletin board. I wish I could find that image, because it perfectly illustrated the spaghetti mess of a plot that FF7 had. As another example, I was bore to tears with FF13, but I kept going to get to the “good parts.” I didn’t quit FF13 because I was bored, I quit because I couldn’t keep up with the nonsensical vocabulary that you had to master to understand the story at all. I never got to the good parts because the story failed to be understandable without a dive into the required reading of the in game encyclopedia. Third example, you really needed to watch an entire movie before even starting FF15 to fully grasp the story. I’m not talking about a long cutscene. An actual movie. If you need a movie attached to your game to tell your story, then you have failed at telling your story.

2. Political stories. FF12 largely changed the direction of the stories toward in game politics. Unfortunately, this has continued as a trend. I’m not interested in the idea of Ivalace as a recurring set piece. Politics can be a great tool in story telling, but too much focus can feel like your reading the politics section of a newspaper.

3. Uninteresting characters. FF7 had interesting character concepts, but they ruined them by making all of them play essentially the same. Yes, one character was slightly better at magic and another had a ranged weapon, but the material system made them all function identically in combat. FF15 choosing to have an all male cast that is dressed in all black removed points of view from the game. Lunafreya or Cidney could have been interesting character additions, that were simply not given to us.

4. Bad systems. FF7s materia system made most party members little more than a cosmetic choice by allowing everyone to master anything with little more than changing their equipped materia. Whether you chose Yuffie or Vincent made little difference in the way combat played out. FF8s drawing system for magic was awful in every way possible. It encouraged playing the game in the least fun ways imaginable. FF12’s programming system for the AI was overcomplicated and cumbersome. FF13’s and X2 had good combat, but they were attached to bad stories.

5. Setting. I preferred the more fantasy settings of the earlier games. FF7 pushing for a more sci-fi setting the series in a direction that I was less interested in. Personal preference.

6. Turning away from what works. I loved the jobs system of FF5. It’s returned to the main series 3 times. Once with a hated sequel X2 and twice with MMOs that shouldn’t be mainline games at all. I’d love to see the mainline series return to this idea rather than relegating it to low budget off shoots like bravely default.

Final Fantasy needs to revisit itself and learn lessons from its past. FF4, 5, 6 and 9 are the best the series has to offer. Unfortunately, SE seems determined to push the games in new directions while abandoning their oldest fans. This is a series that at one time was my favorite. I want to love this series again, but SE doesn’t want to let me.

Edit:
FF7R was a great game and showed that the series can still work. While I believe that FF7 was the beginning of the downward trend for the series, I hope that FF7R can be the beginning of an upward trend.

 

[Dacon]

A nice sense of scale, an interesting world with NPCs you can actual speak to and interact with who have new things to say after major events, unique but not ridiculous character designs, cool looking environment/world design, a nice bit of titillation and for the most part, a lack of pretension.

The writing in these games is so far up it's own ass, that it's just fucking eye rolling now. The entire 13 saga was just a really mediocre anime with hit or miss voice acting. After FFVIIRemake, everything reeks of the same shitty pretentious, vague crap from Kingdom Hearts, not to mention the super cutesy/anime behavior and acting.

 

[Fbh]

Lost Odyssey set the template if Square ever wants to recreate classic FF one day, and I don't know that they do, but if they do, that's it right there. Not coincidentally another Sakaguchi project, but the closest thing I've played to PS1 FFs since PS1 FFs. That game proved the classic FF formula can be done on newer hardware, they just need to know how to approach it.

Absolutely. Lost Odyssey felt more like a FFXIII than FFXIII.

The only thing I'd change about the template set by it are the random encounters. Ever since Chrono Trigger they have felt like an annoying and outdated mechanic.

 

[Hugare]

The world felt way, waay more dense and inspired. And I hate the "anime" designs of today.

My favorite one is FF IX: great setting, characters, story, graphics.

It felt like a huge journey. Took its time to develop characters/story. Had an imense variety of places to go.

FF XV was suposed to feel like a journey, but it was a bunch of stuff stitched together during development in order to finish theg ame, and it shows. Didnt have a natural progression at all.

FF XII was the last great FF game that had those original qualities