Final Fantasy XIII was released last year, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII is forthcoming. Now might be as good a time as any to clean the slate and start over.
Final Fantasy XIII was hardly a failure, selling a whopping 5 million copies plus. "But when it comes to the customers' reaction to the quality of the game, some value it highly and some are not very happy with it," Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada told website Gamasutra.
"I think this is a product that was able to meet the expectations for those who know Final Fantasy," Wada added. "There are all kinds of games around in the market today. Should Final Fantasy become a new type of the game or should Final Fantasy not become a new type of game? The customers have different opinions. It's very difficult to determine which way it should go."
It's not like Square Enix has been entirely stagnate with the series. The company makes changes with each new title, but often, for those those who do not play the titles regularly, they feel like tweaks.
In the West, Mass Effect has become a benchmark of sorts, offering the one-two punch of immediacy and innovation. Should Final Fantasy move away from its traditional Japanese role-playing element and ape, say, Mass Effect? Or Fallout 3? Is it necessary to hire a new character designer to give the games a fresh look?
Square Enix was moving in the right direction by hiring now-defunct Swedish developer Grin to do a Final Fantasy title. Interpretations of Final Fantasy by both Western and Japanese developers could breath new life into the brand.
