Here’s What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix

This last weekend in Tokyo, Square Enix held an open conference centered around its real-time tech demo, Agni's Philosophy: Final Fantasy. While presenting the technical aspects was paramount in the design of Agni's Philosophy (as it was meant to showcase the detail and flexibility of Square's new Luminous Engine), its creators were adamant it feel like a Final Fantasy. But what exactly makes a Final Fantasy a "Final Fantasy"? To answer this question they put together a list of the five minimum components for a Final Fantasy.

[Jinkies]

lol

"The fourth thing needed in a Final Fantasy is a little ambiguous: "refinement." They didn't specify refinement of what exactly, but each game in the series has at least tried to refine the parts of gameplay that didn't work in the previous iteration"

So your telling me the turn based combat, open world map, the airship, npcs, side missions, exploration that were all MISSING from FF13 were things that you guys didn't get right in the past FF games....right.

"The second is "summoning," which has been a staple of the series since Final Fantasy III."

Yeah except you don't make them look like vechiles or Transformers.

"The battle system also changes from game to game as well."

Really because I always thought they stayed pretty much the same in the old FF games, with a few minor tweaks here and there.

I wish Square could take there own advice sometimes...

[Gr81]

FF's are now, really is a sort of an abomination of the series' roots. I can still play the classic FF's on the NES/SNES and get hooked.

The newer ones are for lack of a better word 'crap'

I think with the increase of horsepower, also allowed devs too much free reign to put in personal touches that do nothing for the player.

A shame.

[iamtehpwn]

Well, If you look at I through X at least, they're absolutely right that refinement is a big part of Final Fantasy. But rather the word refinement, I would say "reinvention". Final Fantasy was always coming up with new ways to see the new world it was presenting. The problem was that XIII's new ways of presenting a world were not good, NOT that square enix had tried something new with Final Fantasy.

Lets criticize what they actually did wrong. The fact that they did something new wasn't bad, it's that they did something that wasn't enjoyable despite it being new. Final Fantasy has always been experimenting with new things that usually did refine the series.

[DragonKnight]

Well if you look at FFI-X, yeah they changed things but they always kept the basics, the core of what made FF real. Towns, airships, NPC's, likeable characters, epic stories you could actually follow, killer music. FFXIII only had the music right.

[ScubbaSteve]

"FFXIII only had the music right."

Did we all forget about Leona Lewis? I much preferred it when they created their own songs to fit the game instead of purchasing the rights to something that was already out there.

[DragonKnight]

Ok, rephrase that to "FFXIII only had the music right, minus Leona Lewis."

[NeXXXuS]

I'll tell you the main thing Final Fantasy needs:

HIRONOBU SAKAGUCHI

Oh... and get rid of that idiot Yoichi Wada.

[animegamingnerd]

agreed i enjoyed the last story a lot more then anything that has come out from square enix this gen

[animegamingnerd]

if it weren't for them buying out edios i would say square enix is the second worse publisher this gen right behind EA

[torchic]

no

[Gamer-Z]

Publishers trying to to turn art into a generic mass produced product is what is killing Final Fantasy.

[Fullmetalevolust]

"Lastly, they stated that Final Fantasies need "change and challenge." The "change" part is obvious, with each numbered Final Fantasy taking place in a new world with a new cast. The battle system also changes from game to game as well."
FF13-1, FF13-2 and soon to be FF13-3 (lightning re-runs, err, returns) say hello!
I just feel like we've been given the same regurgitated world for the past years. New cast? yeah somewhat, but likable, meh!
I don't think Squeenix has clue as to what goes into a successful FF title anymore, and the only tile (FFVS13) that could bring hope to the series has been kept behind closed doors with very little info leaked.

[Bolts]

It's sad when developers have no idea what makes their own IP great.

[-Gespenst-]

What makes a good Final Fantasy game is just that FF vibe, which just an amalgamation of loads of things.

[Trago1337]

let's see...

-interesting characters

-Compelling story

-Great battle system

-summons

-Towns

-Exploration

-side quests

-Chocobos

[Donnywho]

Moogle poop, elbow grease and a bagged lunch.

[DragonKnight]

Ok, it seems SE have actually forgotten what it actually takes to make an FF game. It's not their list of credentials. What makes an FF game are the following.

Excellent story: Games like FFIV, FFVI, FFVII (to some, not me), FFVIII (many thought it was overly complicated, but you can't deny that it was still good), FFX, and FFXII (yes, an adult story is good, it was just implemented badly), are FF games with excellent stories. The first 5 on that list are games you can play over and over again just because of the story. FFXII takes getting used to for some, but for others it's an excellent game just on the border of old-school FF style.

Excellent Characters/Character Growth: The Best FF games like IV or VI have characters that you love and love to hate. The protagonists grow throughout the game, learning more about themselves and what they want out of life or their goals. The antagonists make you hate them more and more, or they make you understand their reasons for doing what they do. Those have been staples of the best FF games.

Incredible Music: The FF series are known as having some of the most incredible soundtracks in all of gaming, with tracks recognizable for even decades after the games released. In fact, two of the most iconic pieces of music in the entire RPG genre and possibly all of gaming are Prelude and Victory Fanfare from the FF series of games. If you don't know what I mean, here you go.

Prelude Theme FFXII version
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Victory Fanfare FFX version
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

And that's just the start. So many tracks are remembered for so many different reasons. FFVII's One Winged Angel, FFVIII's Eyes on Me (which Nobuo Uematsu says he'd hear in the shops in Japan) and so many more. Music makes FF truly great. And to be fair to FFXIII, Snow's Theme is the most badass character theme in the whole series.

Familiar Battle System/Decent Leveling System: The best FF games had the most simple and fun battle systems and leveling systems. FFVII properly introduced Limits (they were present in FFVI but RARELY seen), FFX changed up the battle and leveling system but in ways people actually enjoyed. FFXII was blasted for being too MMO like and introduced the idea of an FF game playing itself which carried on into FFXIII which bastardized ATB and forced Leveling to be based on story progression.

Recurring themes and ideas: I'm talking things like Chocobos you can ride, airships, summons that are actual monsters and not machines, cactuar/tonberry, Cid. Things that are iconic to the FF name.

A lively world to explore filled with unique NPC's: This is yet another thing all the most successful and beloved FF games had. It's a no brainer really.

One badass character better than all the rest: Kain from FFIV. Shadow or General Leo from FFVI. Vincent or Sephiroth from FFVII. Seifer from FFVIII (my opinion). Beatrix from FFIX. Auron or Jecht (Jecht for me) from FFX. Balthier from FFXII. Do you get the picture?

These are what make a Final Fantasy game. Not pretty graphics, not shooter themed gameplay progression, not Western ideals. Get that through your head SE. Only look at your best selling Final Fantasy game to see what people want and have always wanted.

[maximus1985]

you sir just said everything anyone needs to say about this issue. your move square enix

[rainslacker]

Bubbles to you sir. Probably the most concise and analytical reason why so many people love FF.

[baodeus]

@dragonknight

then you should fit right in with FF13-2.

1. It has decent story and I don't see why it wouldn't be on par with the likes like 7 (i don't know why people like FF7 story?), 8, 12, etc...the only FFs i find have any good story are 3,6,9,10.

2. It actually has pretty good character development like Noel vs. Caius. Caius especially is probably one of the most bad ass character in FF series. He even has his own music theme to tell you how bad ass he can be.

3. It has incredible music as well and even better than many other FF games. FF13-2 Character themes are among the best in the FF series like these:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
And I don't see any other FF have better theme for the main antagonist as Caius in FF13-2
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
World travel/battle theme music overall is pretty good too.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
FF13-2 may actually have better music than many other FFs games because the orchestrated music quality is much better (Given the technology), and they took some cue from Nier (especially Yeul theme from above), which to me alone has made Nier one of the best RPG this gen.

4. Battle system, this could be an issue with many gamers who aren't used to the new system, which isn't SIMPLE and FAST PACE (maybe the reason why many just RELY ON AUTO BATTLE). FF13-2 is a major step up from FF13 (switchable character, pretty strategic paradigm combo switching system, and instead of sumonings, now you have a pretty intricate and sophisticated monster collections that you can combine, leveling, assign attribute etc....change up the battle game play a lot making it fresh) some may like it some don't. There are more things to do, but only if you know what you are doing. If you really know what you are doing, you can do something like this for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

5. They have recurring themes and ideas: riding chocobo, mini games (puzzles, theme park, chocobo races, etc...), familiar characters (Cactuar, Toneberry, odin, especially the ICONIC moogle and much more),

6. It has lively worlds (fairly large and changeable) to explore, NPC, side quests, tones of collectibles (monster/materials for weapons/etc...) You can also change the world outlook too so that is a big plus. You can actually make decisions/interactive story/have some impact on the world based on what you are doing (an actually good influence from the WRPG implementation here).

7. One bad ass character Caius antagonist. Should I say more?

So if these reasons doesn't make FF13-2 a good final fantasy like the usual FF as you said, i don't know what FF have you been playing then.

[mav805]

It's kind of sad that's the best list SE can come up with... Aside from summoning and "gorgeous beauty" I think most RPG's can fit that bill more or less, and in some cases other RPG's do fit it.

[ACEMANWISE]

No wonder they lost my interest. That is a disappointing value system they are following. I'm beginning to wonder if they ever knew what they had.

For the sake they may be listening may I remind...

1) Interesting characters
2) Group chemistry between characters
3) A story the human race can relate to
4) Thought driven,deep, and strategic gameplay
5) Exploration of a world

Now compare which one of us has forgotten the meaning to a name so easy to define...and which one is defining the words "mass appeal"

[black911]

Its not final fantasy unless its exclusive

[MRMagoo123]

The thing that really makes a final fantasy for me is open world exploration , In all the FF games that i enjoyed the memories are usually about getting to explore and find secrets, I loved 7,8,9 for these reasons. The music also makes a huge impact, just hearing eyes on me gives me that nostalgia feeling. I dont dislike any final fantasy tho besides 13 which i feel was a train wreck and an abortion of an FF game.

[taquito]

ummmmmm???????????

"The same can be said of graphical refinement as there can be no doubt that each Final Fantasy has looked better than the previous incarnation (with the possible exception of the MMOs)."

FFXIV Maxed out on pc looks better than any Final Fantasy game ever made, author has either never played it maxed out, or is completely blind!

FFXIV Maxed out on pc looks better than any console game ever made!

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[kesvalk]

they need to make story and character growth like they did in Final Fantasy Tactics

that game ONLY had badass characters that had awesome stories.