East/West Development of Final Fantasy

I am sure you all read the articles or at least heard it from someone else about Square Enix thinking about using American teams to aid in the development of their games and I know what are you are probably thinking, "oh noes Final Fantasy is going to be developed by an American team, it will have too much LOTR shit lol." I myself am neutral on this stance but I want to see if it will acutlaly make the games better in that the graphics only compliment the most important aspect of any game: gameplay. It doesn’t whether the game is Pong or Halo, the Final Fantasy series is first and foremost a game series and it should focus on making the games fun.

Now, I am not in any camp of the recent FFXIII game being bad or good as haven’t played it yet but it seems like the fanbase could at least be open minded. The series hasn’t really been going "downhill" as of yet but it seems like large majority of fanbase is disgrunted due to nostaliga. I like the classics, FFX and even XII has some merit but Final Fantasy has always been about exploring new territory meanwhile keeping in what worked. I am not sure how this will benefit the series in the long but I believe that it is too late cry foul at this. What do guys think of this?

Eeeenteresting…I’m all for it.

Western games are usually completely generic and completely boring. At least the Japanese make stories and games that are completely absurd. meaning that they can actually make something that we haven’t seen before and that alone can keep me interested for a while. If a Western developer made a Final Fantasy, I’m certain that they would somehow make it about the war in Iraq.

So, basically FF better stay with the Japanese, or it will turn into a big fat snorefest. *YAWN*

Ahh, the last time Square had a completely American development team work on a FF title this was the result. () *shudders*

Having said that though, a significant portion of FFIX’s development was done at Square’s now long defunct Honolulu division so US development for FF games is nothing new.

Western games are usually completely generic and completely boring. At least the Japanese make stories and games that are completely absurd. meaning that they can actually make something that we haven’t seen before and that alone can keep me interested for a while. If a Western developer made a Final Fantasy, I’m certain that they would somehow make it about the war in Iraq.

So, basically FF better stay with the Japanese, or it will turn into a big fat snorefest. *YAWN*

BioWare have made some great games imo, so as to your assessment of Western games being ‘completely generic and completely boring’ I disagree with. There are some other game company’s based in the US which have made some great games. Lucasarts for one, made some great games before they focused solely on Star Wars for inspiration for games. Sierra, Origin and others have made some good ones as well.

Back to the topic at hand though, I think the FF series has lost a lot of it’s ‘stamina’, for lack of a better word. The PS2-PS3/Xbox 360 console games (not including FFXI) have been rather weak and lacklustre imo when compared with the other installments of the series.

Of course there are exceptions. But in general western developers aren’t creative and are boring, imo. European developers are a bit more creative. But the Japanese are the most interesting for me.

Yes, XIII was bad. what is there to be open minded about? It wasn’t the fact it was different that made me hate it it was the linearity, pathetic battle system, lack of side-quests, poor story and character development, vanille, no towns.

I am optimistic about Versus due to the return of the world map but if that is bad then it can be said the series is going downhill.

Bringing in western teams may not be a bad idea, providing there is a balance of JRPG and WRPG in the final product.

European developers are a bit more creative.

Please name at least few European rpg’s.

Did I ever mention that Europeans are more creative when it comes to RPG’s? I don’t think I did, but if you really want me to list some here you go: The Witcher, Sacred 2, Divine Divinity, Divine Divinity II: Ego Draconis. They’re not great, but I never mentioned anything about RPG’s specifically.

When I said that European developers are more creative I had companies like Ubisoft, Croteam and Crytek in mind more than anything.

Sorry. Thought you were talking about RPG’s.

Please name at least few European rpg’s.

Das Schwarze Auge series, Gothic series, Albion, Paradise Cracked, Sacred series… just a few I can think of.

Also, I wouldn’t say Square of America did all that badly in the past – I found Secret of Evermore to be a very enjoyable game.

My opinion on this east/west FF development matter was vague. But after stumbling on an unannounced Final Fantasy project which was (and hopefully still is) made by western developers I believe that something good might be done if western developers would be creating a Final Fantasy.

I feel that way when it comes to ALL games. This may seem stupid, but I want Japan to permanently publish and develop all games from now on.