Square Enix And Final Fantasy: Remaking!? Rebooting?!

There are very few companies that have the power to enthrall the people that follow them as Square Enix. Throughout the years this company which started out as two distinct companies became a huge powerhouse in Japan. Enix know for it’s Dragon Quest series and Square for the Final Fantasy franchise.Today with the two companies merged as Square Enix they have published some truly great games. The latest of these hits have been Final Fantasy XIII and Dragon Quest IX. Gamers from all over love these titles and continue to show their undying support.

Well if that is really the truth, then why is Final Fantasy seeing so many changes within the franchise. Square Enix has kept Dragon Quest quite intact concerning the all around structure of the game. Even retaining it’s famous theme sound throughout the series. My only complaint is “Where is the PS3 Dragon Quest?” Which is probably many gamers question. The creators of D.Q are infatuated with

Nintendo. Guess we’ll have to wait for that indefinitely.

Anyway, Square Enix is set on making Final Fantasy into a modern western RPG. Continuing to adopt western game mechanics and story telling techniques,  instead of sticking to formula. They believe the fast paced gameplay over a more controlled game mechanic will help more gamers to like and buy Final Fantasy. Games such as Bioware’s Mass has been an influence in Square Enixs’ thinking. I beg to differ. Going back to the original F.F. and the first Nintendo. Final Fantasy has always been a world exploring, dungeon crawler. Final Fantasy which was /is a JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) has always been a niche franchise, just like Dragon Quest. It catered to, in America to the Dungeon and Dragon players. And the Anime geeks. It always has. These titles are known for certain things that made the fans go wild. The worlds created for exploring. The strategic and even pacing of the battles. And Limit Breaks.. It always had a bigger, stronger and more epic feel to it than most games. That’s what made it stand out. That is what made it seem FINAL!!!!!!!! Not this new ultra fast paced gunslinger feel gameplay. It’s a RPG not a shooter or and action.

Final Fantasy has always been about scale. Huge exploring worlds. Taking time to perfect your characters and weapons before the final battle. Characters that are so huge they stay with you for years after. Memories that made it joyous just waiting for the next one. JRPG’s are just what the initials mean,. “Japanese” RPG. Games such as these have forever been in a class by themselves. They were made that way. And the D&D guys and the anime fans are the ones that supported the titles from the beginning. It was made for the Japanese culture. We have embraced that. And that is why we love it. Don’t transform it into some fast paced condensed quasi western game for the masses. Truly, after the big hurrah only the real fan of F.F. will be there  anticipating the next installment.

The creators that have made F.F the monster that it is. Are the ones that we hold in such esteem. They are the ones who help craft the masterpieces we have played.

Hironobu Sakaguchi whom is the father of Final Fantasy. He has been a continuing influence of the series until 2006, when he departed to create Mistwalker. I for one miss what he contributed to the F.F franchise. His Mistwalker game Lost Odyssey should have been on the Ps3. He was heard to have said that development for Sony was too difficult. But that title was meant for the PS3. Most Xbox 360 owners don’t play JRP’s. But PlayStation owners do. He is set to retire after the release of what is to be his last game. Entitled The Last Story for the Nintendo Wii. How delightful.

Yoshitaka Amano one of Japan’s most famous artist. And one of the most renown modern artist n the world. He has done conceptual art and design for the entire F.F series. He is still doing work for Square Enix. I look forward to his work in some of the upcoming titles to be released.

Nobuo Uematsu who is just the majesty of the Final Fantasy franchise. Creating the music for nearly all the games. his work is what help give life to the unique worlds we explored. He even named his band The Black Mages.

Tetsuya Nomora who has really worked his way up the ranks to become a real influential role at Square Enix. Starting as a debugger. Then getting to design characters for various F.F games. Even directing Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. He is currently working on several projects including a Kingdom Hearts title and the remaining titles for the Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy XIII.

There has been much anticipated talk of a remake of the world famous Final Fantasy VII. It was first started with the tech demo of the intro of F.F VII at the 2005 E3. This has since caused a buzz within the video game world like non other. His Emperial Hotness, Yoichi Wada says the the game is not in development . And that it would take nearly 30 years to finish. That just seems stupid. The company needs money. You know you have the man power. They also have all the characters rendered fromthe Advent Children film. Also they have the voice actors. 

The White Engine used to create F.F XIII is more than powerful enough for the remake. Why keep leading fans on when you know the remake will never be made!?!? Let it go. All Square Enix s doing is pissing the game world off. Instead the company should look into a full reboot. 14 is high enough. The Final Fantasy name is powerful.And people will continue to purchase the game just for the name alone.

But why not make a product that is worth the legacy behind it. 

You want to sell a game for $100!??! Make a game worth that. Without all the extra incentive crap. It’s a special edition because the game is just that great. Start from the beginning. Not a remake. But using just the title FINAL FANTASY. Not Even the number 1. Go back to the basics. Epic story. Reluctant hero or not. Every character has a job class. Side quests before the last boss. Awesome music score.  And over 100 hours of gameplay. One more thing would be the icing on the cake. No cut backs if the title is going to be on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. If the Xbox owners really want the title they’ll switch out 10 disc’s and download the world map onto the hard drive, right!?!? Well maybe they won’t. But it could always be and exclusive.

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