I agree wholeheartedly with this. Storyline to get us hooked, gameplay to keep us playing and graphics to keep our eyes happy (though this can be subjective).
I'm happy with graphics such as from the borderlands series. Doesn't need to be ultra realistic 3d for me. I feel like really good artistic styled games can go a long ways, and tends to be way nicer to my poor graphics card. Maybe a new artistic style would help reinvigorate the series, plus it would probably reduce the amount of effort needing to apply to that area of game development so they can focus on making better storyline and gameplay.
So which is it? The newer games are too different, or too similar?
Not a fan of newer FF games either (for theme reasons), but this kind of reception is probably extremely confusing and overly nuanced to do anything useful with as a company.
Maybe it's just me but I can understand why some people feel the new games are different is probably because they are looking for the 'nostalgia' factor but you can't get it from a new game. It's the old games that tugs at our heartstrings because of the memories associated from playing it as a kid. I think the new games still have the old style but it's missing the nostalgia. I think a FF7 remake (as long is it is an actual remake and not a crappy port) could do well. I've been pining for a remake since graphics first got better than FF7. I'm only hoping that it's not too late (I really wont know til I play the remake whether it was worth it or not) as I'm getting old and jaded.
The reason I can go back and play FF1-7 countless times over is because they are nostalgic. It took me ages to realize it but I finally clued in when I couldn't play for the first time similar older classics in the same style (if the games too old and has no nostalgic value it might be hard to get into).
So I think it's because of nostalgia that people can feel that the new games are both similar and different at the same time even though it is hard to make sense of that statement.
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I think it's for similar reasons also why a lot of people who never played the series prior to FF7 have a tough time getting into the older games too.
Maybe we should discuss what the classics did right?
FF1 - Could pick your party, this was really fun and allowed for all manner of challenge factors from super easy to impossibly hard. Yes, I beat the game as all fighters and another time as all white mages.
FF4 - Another epic classic. This one had a really awesome world, I mean you had all of the overworld, the underworld AND the moon to explore. Wasn't there 3 airships too? I think the magic in this game was the best for its simplicity and variation. There were some really cool spells in the game too. This is a classic tale of good vs evil and it was really well done.
FF5 - Jobs, need I say more. This was a great gameplay element and added a lot of replayability because of the variations, I think a lot of newer games lack this level of variation as you're too locked in to very specific characters and skillsets. Be wary though, too much variation can be a bad thing (I feel like Skyrim failed in this aspect, it didn't appeal to me at least, I got overwhelmed and never did finish the game even after 1000 hours gameplay). I should add, the job system helped reduce grind fatigue because you had a whole new job to explore. Grinding is a part of these style games admittedly but grinding can also be very boring.
FF6 - Storyline, variety, 2 worlds, airships, espers (precursor to materia). This was one of my favorite games of all time ever, mostly due to nostalgia I'm sure.
FF7 - I could write a book about how this game stands out. Midgar was such a great start, it got me hyped and excited from the first instant, it was easy to play from start until just leaving Midgar in one session because of that initial impact. The music, the city, the danger, the thrill, the badass team of rebels you got to play as. The train, the panic, the worry. The tragedy of the undercity plate crashing down. Climbing Shrinra tower to beat up those baddies that hurt your friends. This one section of the game could have been a game all of its own. It didn't matter how the game played out after this part because it was so captivating. The rest of the game was great too though. How the story of Cloud's past is slowly revealed, and how we slowly learned what made Sephiroth go off the rails. How we slowly learn the details of Cloud's newfound friends throughout the rest of the game. Yuffie was a favorite. The golden saucer was a real highlight too. I could go on but I'll stop here...
FF8 - I still enjoyed this one but this is where the series started going downhill. Too much the same as FF7 but made much more complicated. It took a long time to get acquainted with the new system, without the hype still being had from FF7 it would have been very hard to get into this game if it were all on its own because the learning curve was too steep. The graphics were awkward, it was trying to get ahead of the capabilities of the time. The characters were presented as too sophisticated for what the graphics could convey. It would be like putting formula one racing tires on a model T...
FF9 - This was a gem. They went back to the older style graphics and this was a good thing. Vivi brought back memories of FF1 (good old black mage sprite). Well balanced, not a lot of grinding, lots of story to keep the momentum going.
FFX - It's been a long time since I played this one so my memories might be a bit off. The characters had good development. I quite liked the cast. The story was unique for the series I felt, it had a fresh feel to it at the time. The overly bubbly and cheerful protagonist was a fresh change. Blitzball was fun only after getting use to it, but highly addictive after that point. The CTB battle system was a new thing at this point. It helped keep this style of battle system alive a bit longer (I feel like it's hard to continue with this style unless something really innovative happens). The sphere grid for learning new skills was a lot of fun to explore and another new idea at the time. The Al Bhed group added mystery and intrigue to the game, I think they might have been responsible for the steampunk.