Final Fantasy 14 director and Square Enix veteran Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida has said in a YouTube video celebrating the release of mobile title Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy that he feels younger players haven’t had much of a chance to connect with the Final Fantasy series because of the long release intervals. It’s widely known that Square Enix has been trying to capture the attention of younger players who may never have played a big Final Fantasy game before. Here’s what he said:
“I’m 53 now, and I’ve been playing since Final Fantasy 1 in real time. But for younger generations – people who grew up naturally accustomed to action-based combat and online competitive play – the recent entries in the series may have been harder to engage with. Part of that is simply because I’m sorry to say . . . the release intervals for new titles have gotten longer, so some players haven’t really had the chance to connect with the series the way older fans did.”
Younger generation clicks with KH not this. 15 clicked and 10 to an extent the others not really and most did not care for his games. They like different franchises. Gen Z overall is ignored by the entertainment industry the stuff they like and grow up with. Young Gen Z is so different and Alpha both are into only Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, all those games.
Actually, I think the biggest problem is that all of the people in development are from older generations and they’re trying to guess what gen Z likes but they have no idea what they like.
And I honestly don’t blame them because gen Z and especially Jen Alpha has grown up under awful algorithms. So it seems like the thing that they want is gooning and gambling.
I’d rather have the industry slump off if that means we actually get real games that aren’t rolling. Gotcha balls to earn bigger titties while paying out the ass for it and developers making billions of dollars so that then they can pass laws to make the same Gamers poorer.
Square enix really does not want to address the elephant in the room. That they basically fucked over their entire franchise with the wet fart that was Final Fantasy 13, especially when they tried to make it its own cinematic Universe that never got off the ground. Part of it was being a PlayStation 3 exclusive which Sony fell off a cliff in the beginning of that era.
Then the next entry was an MMO which was a whole ass failure and needed a revision before it became good. Even after it became good, it’s in a genre that while popular is not something that the majority of what we would call the hardcore gaming Market actually plays or remembers.
And then finally, and this is the only semi-part that’s true Final Fantasy XVID took 18 million years to make and then also came out as a confusing choppy wet fart that seemed like a lot of its systems was both behind the times nor gave anything the fans wanted.
And between Final Fantasy 13 and 15 being wet farts all of its competition rose up and stepped up their game to replace it. So the same people that used to regularly play Final Fantasy now play Persona, Tales and Xdnoblade. The biggest knife in the back was Square enix making Final Fantasy 16 into confusing devil May cry light Game of thrones only for a midsize independent French team to make expedition 33, which was the antithesis of what Square enix has turned Final Fantasy into and yet it got praised for being a Final Fantasy spiritual successor and won every single game award and sale.
Basically, what happened with Final Fantasy is that all the people who develop those games got way too high on their own farts and now they suffer for it.
And honestly, I am really goddamn shocked that whether it’s Final Fantasy 6 remake or Final Fantasy 17 that they don’t use their 2.5 D pixel engine that’s become extremely popular and make that into a new Final Fantasy game.
On the plus side FFVII Remakes are amazing
No hun, they aren’t. They’re as shit as the rest of the garbage SE have been putting out recently.
FFVII fanboys really are huffing serious copium nowadays.
Just leave cloud alone, don’t get pissed that he likes something you don’t.
What are you, his boyfriend? I’ll call out awful takes all I want thanks lmao.
Go have a cry in the corner if you can’t handle it.
Your the one getting mad over people’s opinions. I bet your the one crying in the corner.
Your reply basically amounts to “no u”, lmao. Are you not capable of articulating anything more intelligent?
Ah no, of course you’re not. Silly me for thinking you’d be capable of anything more. 😂
It’s called your a hypocrite. Do I need to dumb it down for you?
LMAO, you wanna make up your mind, princess? Or do you need some tissues for all those tears you’re shedding?
Dude, I’m not going to reply anymore, I don’t know why you want to keep fighting.
You do that hun, have a nice time at pre-school!
I’m laughing at someone named ObjectiveTruth who comments with a lot of sarcasm, hyperbole, and personal opinions.
They definitely have a very high opinion of their own opinion.
People love the remakes The ones that don’t are small sample of people
Do they? Last I checked even SE themselves acknowledged Rebirth’s lackluster sales. Part 3 will likely sell even worse too! 😂
Doesn’t seem like people like them as much as you seem to think hun, but you keep huffing that copium. 😊
Man, I don’t want to fight with you. Just leave us alone.
Have you considered not trying to white knight a random stranger on the internet? Nobody asked you to involve yourself hun 😂
Sounds like the internet is a little too much for you dear, have you considered attending pre-school instead? I think it’s more your speed. 😊
Square said Rebirth sold fine
Saying it doesn’t make it true, hun. 😂
SE literally said the game didn’t meet their sales expectations, and Part 3 isn’t likely to fare any better.
But again, keep huffing that copium if you need to. I know reality can be hard to accept for delusional fanboys like yourself. 😊
Part 3 will sell tons
Aww you keep thinking that hun, whatever helps you sleep at night. 😊
Hopefully they do a part 4
Ahh so SE can hemorrhage even more money? Good idea! 😊
Part 4 will sell tons
Oh dear, has your brain short circuited?
Meeting expectations and not selling well are 2 different things.
For example;
Your teacher couldve said, you were expected to be top of your class. But you coming out on top doesn’t mean you’re smart, if your classmates are single digit morons.
Ps: Hamaguchi has already stated that those lower than expected initial reports from 2024 have since change. Last September he said that Rebirth is doing much better now that it’s on both PS5 and PC.
Wait what? Nooo, they said on e it came to PC it did very well.
Your comment thread is amusing but dont try and fake sales.
Based
Objective truth objectively likes it up the bum
FF7R is great
FFVII Rebirth is one of the top games this gen you wierdo
You’re not a true FF fan, FF7R was so Good, that I missed how old FF games used to be, I disliked 13 & 15… + 16 was very much more sorta like devik may cry.
My Favorites were 4, Crisis Core, 8,9,10
You gotta play them all to appreciate what ff7r has acommplished. 8 & 9 deserve a remake as well
The FFVII remake games are good for people who already love FFVII. It relies on you knowing the original game which is part of the problem they are having with bringing in new players. They only consider the people who are already fans and just give a passing thought to weather or not someone outside the fanbase would like this.
Yep and to add what you said don’t forget 15 was leftover scraps of a game that was suppose to be a prequel or sequel to ff13 and type zero was also suppose to be a prequel in the same universe but type zero was actually good game play and story wise which square what let us have the already finished script sequel of which is another a problem.
And to just add more square enix ceo’s have been trash there is a reason why the last 4 stepped down, there always disconnected to the world over there Japanese audience they refused to change and now thst they are changing there games they are to far behind on figureing out what type of game they want to be that they fail to learn from there mistakes while trying to do somthing they have no experience in i mean ffs they gave yoko taro free reign for nier and what did he do he bring in platinum games to fir automata and we see how that went, yoko taro also is under utilized so he is a good example he makes games for a more western audience. Over a Japanese whcihbsi why alot of people like his games and the man is a good which adds to the charm.
Which on another matter they keep losing there good devs but allowing them ti have the time they need to finish a product over rush I ng the release hence why balan world did so bad and was a super mess after being a pretty big deal.
What really sucks is that they have some of the biggest talent in video games and yet they they choose to keep the I ngs safe anymore instead of n letting thee guys cook like they use to do.
Sort of missing the other major thing that the article addresses. Due to release windows between each entry making it harder to saturate presence for the newer young audiences, replacing the current audience that is slowly aging out as being the main source of profit.
Then also not forget the fact that the gaming market and culture is wildly different compared to the 90s/00s; One being the obvious Modern AAA Fatigue mixed in with a massive selection of games within the same ballpark as FF. (whether its indie or AA)
FF is no longer the “High Standard” of high fantasy. It fell into following trends and appealing to different demographics outside its core demographic. It’s now stuck within a saturated market of alternative (and possibly even better quality) IPs.
These factors also contribute to why the franchise has been stagnating and reporting “disappointing sales”, despite if the people that have played some of their current games attest to their quality.
I don’t think you understood 13 at all. It was extremely successful in Japan , which is always what they will target first , as well as world wide. It was only exclusive to the PS3 for a year. They wouldn’t have made 3 games for it if it weren’t popular. No it wasn’t as popular in the West for various reasons but it’s silly to blame all of its problems on a popular game.
13 sucked and most Jaoanese hated it after the hype died down
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Final Fantasy the Spirits Within made Enix weary of any merger until after FFX came out to near Universal acclaim. SquareEnix needs to release a true turn based Final Fantasy entry again especially after the run away success of Expedition 33.
That is what happens when you do nothing but make freaking remakes year after year after year, yes.
That and they design the games for people who already love Final Fantasy.
A huge fan of Final Fantasy since its beginnings, I have played almost all the episodes except XI and XIV (MMORPGs are really not for me…) VI remains for me the ultimate episode, I liked VII but in retrospect since I played it on the PS1, I realized that Sephiroth has the charisma of an oyster and calling him the “best villain” still makes me laugh… that said, the remakes have fixed this and fortunately! VIII remains an average episode, I didn’t like the direction taken, the “Westernization” didn’t go over well for me, IX remains one of the best because it goes back to the essence of the game: fantasy… X is enjoyable but its linearity cooled me down… it’s really the combat system and the charisma of the characters that saved it for me. XII remains one of the best along with VI in my eyes even if the hero Vaan could have been better… I absolutely did not like XIII, same problem as VIII, but XIII-2 and 3, I enjoyed.
For me, XV is an aberration, a boy band team (where is the gender equality?!) going to face a threat in a world that can be described as anything but fantasy, hmm… How many liters of sake did they drink while making this episode?!
For XVI, they must have added something to the sake because you can’t call this nameless horror Final Fantasy, but rather Devil May Cry… And even then, DMC is more enjoyable!
I hope that for XVII (if there is one) they will have learned from their mistakes, because yes, since XIII (excluding 2 and 3), it has clearly become nonsense!
Lol no. If that was the case, people wouldn’t play any franchise that takes a long-ass time between releases. People wouldn’t have waited four years to play Ragnarok after playing God of War 2018. They wouldn’t have waited six years to play Tears of the Kingdom after playing Breath of the Wild.
Final Fantasy’s problem is only one: Square lost themselves with it.
Every FF game since VIII tried to experiment with varying levels of success. In the process of experimenting so much, however, the series went through an identity crisis. Nowadays what defines a Final Fantasy title as a Final Fantasy title? The games are so fundamentally different from each other that, aside from background elements like crystals and nomenclature for spells, money and summons, there’s not a strong unifying factor that separates them from the rest. Not helped by Square’s arbitrary decision of ditching turn-based for action-based when games like Persona, mainline SMT, Metaphor (and that’s only Atlus) and, most recently, E33, proved that turn-based still works. Hell, Octopath Traveller also proved that turn-based is still going strong.
Finally we have the other baffling decisions Square took. The search for cutting-edge graphics. The insistence on making FF exclusive to Playstation for a long time (only now they’re rectifying that). The Remake not being an actual remake but a sequel from the OG title, which requires previous knowledge that newcomers don’t have, thus they aren’t selling as much as they wanted. Rebirth being more or less Mario Party: The RPG with the overabundance of minigames (most of them mandatory if you want to get the best gear for some characters so they aren’t dead weight). And so on and so forth.
And, to top it off, more titles muscled into their territory. Persona, Xenoblade, E33, The Legend of Heroes… Even Atelier and mainline SMT got a resurgence.
A long gap between releases is the least worrying thing about FF.
That Objective Truth guy sure is pathetic, huh? Weirdo
That’s illogical. People connect MORE with a game the longer they have to sit with it.
And look at Legend of Zelda. It’s had 1 or 2 releases per console. Gamers have connected with that series pretty well.
Zelda is the exception rather than the rule. Plus, in the case of Zelda, people can at least count that every game will have a degree of care and quality.
Final Fantasy doesn’t have that anymore. They started releasing many bad FF games one after another and, over time, people got tired of waiting so long for another mediocre entry.
I find it so odd the shift that happened from people embracing the games they like to this new modern idea that entire gens need to be groomed like it’s a cult.
I’ve also been there from the start, and gaming was not some widely celebrated popular activity. It was roundly mocked and belittled most of the time. Especially by Hollywood and Boomers. We didn’t play games because someone told us to, we played them because we liked them. You’d maybe have a few friends that also played, but as we got older those groups tended to drift apart too. That’s just how it was.
Now all of that completely shifted. But I don’t think this new astroturfing marketing that they obviously do with bots and shills all over the internet really works. I think it drives anyone with a brain away, and they just do other things, while the dumber people just stick to whatever popular game is already established and ignore the new ones anyway.
This may not contribute to the topic at hand, but I do believe long release/development cycles can be detrimental to a franchise: it is one of my pet peeves with AAA gaming as a whole
The franchise does not click with the younger generation simple. The older gen just scare people away and are super cringe. But these guys are on steong cope to defend their trash.
The remakes sold fine
FF7R are ok games, but they are not FF…
Expedition 33 picked up the slack left by SquareEnix and is reaping the golden fields, shame on square for abandoning the core combat
Action combat is better
They haven’t connected because Final Fantasy is but a shell of it’s former self. I’m not hating I’m being honest. I started with 8, then 7, 9, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 16. I have chocobos and moogles tattooed on my body.
They should have released Versus 13 instead of scrapping all that work for a pretty empty ass world of 15 with no serious combat or magic stytems. The game was pretty, but as far as final fantasy goes it was crap. 16 was cool but forgettable because they hadn’t done anything new, and finally stripped it down to a single player/protagonist action rpg with huge, very simple battles with the summons. Kingdom Hearts 3 didn’t have heart either, lol. Sure they could all be considered fun but Square and Square Enix were know for making amazing turn based games with great combat, characters, and story.
The only games they did recently that can stand in the shadow of the glory days are the FF7 remakes. They had to put serious effort into that because they knew it would be game over for them if it flopped. The problem isn’t the fact that they can’t make great games, it’s that the industry has gotten so big its not about making art for them anymore, it’s about raising revenue and cutting costs. If they weren’t chasing the almighty dollar they’d still be making great turn based and tactical rpgs and finding ways to innovate instead of throwing away the very thing that built their fucking company. Claire Obscure was a much needed smack to the gob for SE. They always talk about how turn based games don’t fit the current market or graphics, only to be proven wrong by an indie team in one fell swoop lol. They could have been doing that all along. They just chose not to.