Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV 'Greatly Damaged' Entire Brand

[Sonomaa]

The Final Fantasy name has been "greatly damaged," due to the troubled Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix admitted today at a Tokyo press conference.

Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada said that the entire Final Fantasy franchise has been affected by the shortfalls of the MMO title, according to an Andriasang report.

"The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged," he said. "We'll continue with our reform work, which basically amounts to fully redoing the game, and hope to revive the FFXIV that should have been released."

Released last September on PC, the MMORPG saw launch problems, thanks to stability and performance issues.

The PlayStation 3 version of the game was later delayed, as the development team attempted to improve certain elements of the game "to meet customer expectations."

And as the publisher chose to delay charging players any subscription fees to play the game, Square Enix reported declines in fiscal year sales and profits.

Producer Naoki Yoshida then revealed that the company was laying out an extensive list of gameplay changes, all planned for the title through the summer.

Ganked from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3...tire_Brand.php



So what say you BG. How can SE revive the brand that basically started us all in the RPG world? Do they retire the name for a while, do they stop making them with this name all together, or do they go back and replay FFs 1-6 and try to remember HOW to make games.

SE will be reading this people, lets show them what we want.

[Draylo]

I liked FF7~13 if you were implying they sucked. I think FFXIV was a complete failure, and it still amazes me to this day how people can consistently play this game and have like 5 classes 50+ etc.

[Hyan]

It was pretty obvious from the very beginning that the reasons for fixing XIV went beyond just a single game. They haven't made a bad mainline Final Fantasy since XIV (YOU not liking some of them doesn't fucking count) so now they're trying to correct the situation, since its an MMO and they can actually give it a shot.

Making games in the early 90's =/= Making games in 2011. They need to look at what action games do and make better stories for the right demographics. So basically ignore every previous Final Fantasy, IGNORE THE FANS, and to hell with Focus Groups.

[Correction]

How can SE revive the brand that basically started us all in the RPG world?

By firing Yoichi Wada.
By not taking years to release shitty, rushed MMOs that haven't brought in a nickel of revenue in eleven months.
By taking visible steps to streamline their development pipeline in general (sup Versus).
By not gambling your flagship franchise's future on superinflated epic projects that take over a decade to complete.
See also: Atlus, NIS, Bioware for companies that make money selling RPGs, be they good games or bad.

[Kurokikaze]

Reply FFs 1 through 9. Remember what made you great.

All the majority of your fans have been wanting are game worlds/storylines similar to 1-9 but in HD. I'm talking world maps, airships, undersea, the works. The best example is something similar to what would be called "FF7 HD" <--- this is what fans have been looking forward to in new Final Fantasy titles.

[Nevex]

And they took one year to post this?
FFXIII-2, VXIII and Type-0 are all extremely anticipated titles and Dissidia 012 was far from a flop.
SE is done on the MMORPG field, there's no doubt about this, but saying that any future offline game with the "Final Fantasy" name on it will suffer because of that is bullcrap.

[Hyan]

All the majority of your fans have been wanting are game worlds/storylines similar to 1-9 but in HD.

I repeat:

IGNORE THE FANS

ESPECIALLY FF7 REMAKE

[miokomioko]

I feel like with the way FFXIII-2 is coming along and how Yoshi-P is handling the debacle, Square-Enix is (slowly but surely) showing that they are attempting to break out of their ignorant, traditional, and stubborn shell by actually listening to their customers/fans to actually deliver what WE want instead of what they think we SHOULD want instead.

I don't think there's going to be any benefit to temporarily retiring the franchise title, but it's going to take some consistent effort to heal it into the next few years... and that involves continuing to bend to their customers' requests. This age has blessed businesses with the ability to easily communicate with their fans and gauge what will or will not be successful and it's only in the last 6 months or so they have realized these avenues exist. They have a chance to turn it around and undo some damage done by XIV (and to a small degree XIII), and their numerous unworthy spin-offs, but it will take some time.

I don't have definite faith in one way or the other, I just hope they at least continue on the path they are on right now.

[Charismatic]

Refine FFXII. Seriously.

Keep the exploration aspect (all sorts of areas not important to the story main but with strong monsters and treasure, always fun) Add vehicles, people love that shit.
Take away gambits from the player controlled character, give them more options for the AI characters. More gambit slots even.
Add mini-games & shit. Assign the attack command to a button and don't make it auto... beyond the obvious things such as these, the devs would have to come up with the stuff. They ought to be more creative than I.
Oh yeah, and do something more interesting than quickenings for the "super attacks"


I swear if they'd have just refined the FFXII gameplay and worked on the things people didn't like about it, they'd have a winning formula on their hands.

[Alkar]

I think they already are on the right track. FFXIII-2, Versus and Type 0 all look great and FFXIV is becoming a good game as well.

[Elcura]

Reply FFs 1 through 9. Remember what made you great.

What's so great about 1-9 that 10-13 are missing?

I'm waiting to see what XIII-2 and vs XIII are like before I can say if SE needs to change anything. They don't need to revive the brand with some bullshit, they just need to keep making good games. Listen to feedback and improve upon the most complained about aspects of the game. From XIII to XIII-2 this was the lack of freedom, MC death and lack of control in battle.

Going back to FF1-6 (or 9) just means SE are making outdated games.

[Cichy]

I'm pretty happy with all the single player FFs. I had my problems with 13 because of the lack of explorations mainly but the story and battle system was nice, although could use more abilities/spells.
Like Kirokikaze said I'd like to see world maps, airships, chocobos, undersea, huge powerful bosses, great story line, ULTIMATE WEAPONS (I DONT WANT TO CUSTOMIZE WEAPONS LIKE IN 13, I RATHER DO QUESTS AND GIVE ME BEST WEAPONS(this is probably what I hated the most in any FF), etc. FF7 HD would be great, but update the battle system also, something more lively for this day and age.
Also, what makes me uneasy is that XIII-2 is going to experiment with multiple paths and ending to give the game more replay value, I like my FFs to be straight forward with some side exploration, thats it.

[Kurokikaze]

What's so great about 1-9 that 10-13 are missing?

I'm waiting to see what XIII-2 and vs XIII are like before I can say if SE needs to change anything. They don't need to revive the brand with some bullshit, they just need to keep making good games. Listen to feedback and improve upon the most complained about aspects of the game. From XIII to XIII-2 this was the lack of freedom, MC death and lack of control in battle.

Going back to FF1-6 (or 9) just means SE are making outdated games.

Well with the exception of 12... I feel those FFs lacked exploration and were a bit too linear. It started with 10. No world maps just selections on a menu.

[Sonomaa]

I liked FF7~13 if you were implying they sucked.

fantastic job on putting words in my mouth.

in FF1-6 SE didnt have graphics to worry about, they had sound and story. in the triumvirate of things to do, you can only pick two. in the current final fantasies SE seems way too focused on making things pretty and making them sound awesome, which leaves story behind. Case in point FF13 which had 60 hours of additional content that wasnt used at all simply because it had been created on the art side but there was no good story created.

FF12 was one of the best of the modern final fantasies, FF9, though I never played it much, is considered one of the best of the PSX final fantasies because it had a fantastic story. SE needs to remember to put a great story FIRST, stop trying to make things utterly convoluted and remember what made them the beloved company from the get go, STORY!

[Kurokikaze]

Updating the battle system obviously goes without saying. In this day and age I'm not sure that turn based works very well.

[Correction]

I think they already are on the right track. FFXIII-2, Versus and Type 0 all look great and FFXIV is becoming a good game as well.

We are far beyond the point where any amount of repair/polish/content added to XIV is going to repair the blight it cast on the mainline brand. If tomorrow FFXIV became a 10/10, 95% MC title it still wouldn't sell because that critical initial sales window is looooooong gone.

[Nevex]

Whatever they do, as long as they keep introducing new gameplay elements and don't stick to the usual, stale, oldschool RPG designs I'll keep buying them.
I love how FFX, X-2, XII and XIII are so different from each other, while I can't help but to notice how 4/5/6 and 7/8/9 are essentially the same game with a different story and slight changes in gameplay.

[Hyan]

Updating the battle system obviously goes without saying. In this day and age I'm not sure that turn based works very well.

Imagine the QQs with FF7 HD and updated battle system. DEY LOST DAT FF FEELAN'

They aren't gonna win that fight. It's gonna be like XIII was. Sells well, yet nobody seems to like it.

which leaves story behind.

Story is fine, presented badly but otherwise just as simplistic and cliché. You were like 15 years younger or some shit, the same story has a different effect on you depending on your age and experience OBVIOUSLY.

The problem is that they haven't improved much at all. Same stupid stories but the main demographic is so much older.

[miokomioko]

We are far beyond the point where any amount of repair/polish/content added to XIV is going to repair the blight it cast on the mainline brand. If tomorrow FFXIV became a 10/10, 95% MC title it still wouldn't sell because that critical initial sales window is looooooong gone.

PS3 release is a more important window for them to seize anyways. So, the opportunity to "sell well" is not entirely gone.

[Hyan]

Shit,bundle it with versus XIII. It's not like the box sales make up the profits in this case. Not that I think they will have any issue selling the game.