Will Lightning Returns Hurt Final Fantasy XV Sales?

OnlySP: I got some hot reactions to a certain rant about Lightning and how I couldn’t figure out how she had been the catalyst for the destruction of the once legendary franchise. They all missed the point. Some tried to make it about gender, some tried to make it about me, others tried to muddy the waters, but nobody could answer for the fact that Final Fantasy is in trouble with a capital T and that trilogy got it there.

[Kingthrash360]

lol...what?
if anything FFXV will hurt FFXIII sales...imo at least

[Wingsfan24]

I kinda thing it will, potentially, considering those who don't read gaming news all the time. I think just having the Final Fantasy name attached to this project will create some bad taste considering it might not be a great game.

(Didn't write the article btw)

[cleft5]

The game isn't out yet, so lets not judge the game as being bad before it even comes out. A lot of people actually like the FF13 series and are looking forward too 13-3, myself included. On top of that, if 13-3 is terrible or whatever, FFXHD is coming out in March so that will wash away any bad memories of 13-3. Add to that the fact that all it takes is 1 amazing demo of the game at E3 to hype the hell out of people for FF15 and you will see that 13-3 will have no affect on FF15 at all.

[Irishguy95]

Being saying this for years, but no matter what happens, it only takes one good trailer with good timing to build the hype back up to the max. An example being E3.

[DragonKnight]

13-3 is our right now in Japan and can be judged. The ending, for example, is absolutely terrible. It's actually the worst thing to happen to FF since FF2's leveling system.

[AsimLeonheart]

The Lightning Saga has definitely tarnished the brand name of Final Fantasy and Square. Up till FFXII, Final Fantasies were one of the highest rated and highest selling JRPGs. An RPG fan could buy Final Fantasy with his eyes closed without doubting its quality. After the Lightning Saga (and FFXIV), people are sceptical of anything called Final Fantasy, even FFXV. People now do not buy FF games on brand name alone. FFXV will have to work hard prove itself.

[cleft5]

Just another lame click bait article. Because why write anything intelligent when you can come off like an idiot and get people to click on your site.

[DragonKnight]

Would my translation be correct?

"I like the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy and am sick of the majority of people hating on it no matter the justifiable reasons for doing so so I'm going to call the author an idiot who's writing flamebait articles in an effort to defend the FFXIII trilogy."

Bing translated it for me so sorry if the language is inaccurate.

[Wingsfan24]

Do you even know what click bait is? It's articles without a point and with an outlandish title. Nobody forced you to click on the link so why waste your time with a comment like that? There's an opinion here and just because you disagree with it you call it click bait, makes sense.

DragonKnight, that was perfect lol.

[MightyNoX]

@Dragonknight:

Bing? Psh! Should have used Babel fish. Yours skipped over a few 'waah waahs' sound effects.

[Xof]

No.

Everything Square-Enix has ever done will hurt FFXV's sales, because SE has proven itself surprisingly incompetent when it comes to developing good games.

[AsunaYuukiTheFlash]

@Xof Bravely Default is pretty good.

[Xof]

Bravely Default is good.
But it wasn't developed by Square-Enix. Bravely Default was developed by Silicon Studio (the same people who made 3D Dot Game Heroes).

Square Enix has published a lot of really good games, but the only good games they've actually developed are either remakes of older Square or Enix IP, or Final Fantasy XII (which was only mostly good due to being developed partly before the merger, and all the bad aspects of the game can be linked directly to the merger).

[k2d]

"Lightning" will hurt FFXV sales.

[3-4-5]

Hopefully once people play FF15, they will be like " Uhhh Why did we ever play FF13, what did we see in that game? "

[Letthewookiewin]

Well my take is, with the FF13 saga square won't make such an impact and create as many new fans. I'm 32 and was fortunate enough to remember playing FF1 with my dad after school and homework, and playing every US released FF since. Been hooked. People coming into the series for the first time during this time in the FF franchise are being exposed to a transitional period and it's in my opinion only so so and that's ok. I like the 13 series, but I don't love it. Can't wait for 15 it's going to be a new direction from what I've seen. Square hasn't hit rock bottom they just took the wrong direction. That sometimes has to happen for something to evolve. Example, if something always works you can be lazy and never change it, or you can take the risk and try something new. Sometimes win, sometimes fail. I'm glad 13 is going to be over, people will move on to 15, testing Square. If 15 is good and Square took the right direction people will buy it regardless of 13's fumbles.

[Relientk77]

It probably will unfortnately

[Kingthrash360]

it might not be...but it looks phenomenal...it was my game of e3. from the looks anyway, and we know rpg gamers are a different breed of gamer. alot of things matter in a rpg from story to battle system to character development. from how things look, the battle system looks interesting the characters look bada$$ and the game is beautiful. all thats left to be seen is story and character development.
u gotta admit ffXV looks like the rpg that will bring square back to its hey day...but all is to be seen, heres hoping its as great as it looks.

[cleft5]

FF15 does look great and it is definitely going to appeal to a lot of people. I find it disheartening how people feel the need to step all over the FF13 series. I am looking forward to 13-3 as well, already have my preorder in.

[PoSTedUP]

i never played FF when i was younger, the last 4 years ive played played a little of 7, a quater of 12, a few weeks ago i bought FF9 and i have to say: it really is amazing, so far i am very blown away and immersed into it, its just my kinda game. ill be finishing this one for sure then working my way back to 7 (9-8-7). from what i understand SE are not the same anymore.

wild arms, wild arms XF, chrono cross (just wow), ff9, legend of mana and blade dancer is what im currrently playing atm, im glad i chose not to miss out on these.

[My_Name_BTW_Is_Dante]

No. Final Fantasy being garbage will hurt XV sales. There hasn't been a good FF game since the days of the PS1. I'll be skipping XV much like I skipped FF13. That series is dead (just like the Tales series) now.

[Snookies12]

Your loss then, XV looks like it's going to be freaking phenomenal. How you can't see that based on last E3's footage, I don't understand. It's also headed by a much more capable man than previous entries since X.

Also, lol at Tales being dead... We're getting 3 new Tales games this year! It's more popular than ever, and has every right to be. They're great games that seem to be getting more polished with every entry.

[MightyNoX]

Not to mention the previous entry outsold both XII-2 and LR in Japan.

[DragonKnight]

And DmC was a FANTASTIC game. /s

[Sevir]

I quite enjoyed DmC, it's meta rating says it's a pretty solid and enjoyable game, however, His opinions of FFXV and the Tales series are a laugh and a half! As the Tales Franchise is at an all time high, and FFXV's showing was particularly strong even after being in development and jumping a whole new platform 7 years later.

[Elda]

DmC was a good game despite what the haters say,playing it again from having the great PS+!

[DragonKnight]

@Sevir: It's fine that you enjoyed DmC, but I can show you a video of someone playing DmC with one hand. For a Devil May Cry game, that's unforgiveable.

DmC, on its own, is something you'd expect out of Ninja Theory after Heavenly Sword. Lazy development, barely an average game and appealing mostly to people with a passing familiarity with what Devil May Cry as a series is but mostly shunned by those who know better.

As a Devil May Cry game, DmC is an abomination. And that's where it shares a similarity with the FF13 trilogy.

[AsunaYuukiTheFlash]

@My_Name_BTW_Is_Dante You have an abnormal taste in games.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

No I doubt it. XIII pulled off 7mil. This game looks better in a couple aspects characters,gameplay, cant say much on the story or OST for now. I doubt XIII has tainted the FF name that much that ppl wont buy the next main entry.

[DragonKnight]

XIII-2 pulled half that and LR looks to be pulling less than XIII as well.

I don't think LR will hurt XV's sales because the only people who wouldn't buy it due to FFXIII are people who read the news about these games and they'll already know that XV is nothing like the XIII trilogy anyway

Fans have been waiting for XV, they've been wishing for XIII trilogy to end.

[il-JumperMT]

LOL WAT?

Lighting Returns is the only FF I willn ot buy at launch. I even bought FFXIV 1.0 at launch!

[iceman1346]

no i don't think so ,people have waited this for 7 long fu**ing years it will sell like hotcakes

[pompombrum]

Possibly, it's just another game dragging the FF brand under the mud. Six years ago, I'd have been super hyped for a new Final Fantasy game, now I won't even dare get my hopes up. Sadly the Square that created some of my favourite gaming moments as a teenager just doesn't exist anymore.

[tigertron]

I don't see how it could possibly hurt XV unless if by some miracle SE decided to release XV right now.

[Godmars290]

I think another 20 hours of tutorials and cutscenes, relying more notes slapped into a side index rather than actually in the game and delivered through narration - competent narration - will end up hurting FF15 more than anything else. Especially after all of the "please be excited" non-announcements.

[Taislin]

Except it´s directed by Nomura, which is all about hands on storytelling. Look at KH, the plot in that series is convoluted as shit, but there´s little you need to know that isn´t told to you directly by the game, if at all. And, Nomura has also said he wants to cut the cutscenes short in this one and make it as much play time as possible.

[josephayal]

Sadly, Lighting Returns sucks

[zerogotit]

Am i the only one who actually loved the demo? I mean i never really got in to any other ff but this one seems fun, at least for me.

[Lionalliance]

There are better FF than this, go play the other ones.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

FF became crap after X.

[DragonKnight]

XII was good. It was underrated and suffered from Vaan, but it was a good game.

[maximus1985]

yeah that vaan is what hurt the game by ALOT. It just was waaaay too off to be controling a main character that wasnt relevant to the story.

[KonsoruMasuta]

No, that's the glory about the FF series. Each numbered game has it's own world, characters, and mechanics. You didn't like the battle system or characters in this Final Fantasy? Don't worry, you can look forward to the next numbered game. Fans know that.

That's why XIV: ARR has been able to bring in profits and is a success, while other recent games haven't been able to sell. People will know that XV is nothing like the XIII series and know that they are coming into a new world.

[Wingsfan24]

"Fans" is the keyword there. People who don't read up on gaming news and just buy based on the name alone etc might skip further entries if Lightning Returns flops.

[Godmars290]

1) Not since FF13. That's why world, characters and mechanics have become a concern.

2) What is it with FF14:ARR that makes people forget about FF14? That if FF14 had been a competent production, there would be no need for a ARR. That by default *BOTH* versions of FF14 represent twice the initial investment which has yet to make its money back.

I mean there's being optimistic, looking forward to something, and then there's just being outright willfully blind.

[KonsoruMasuta]

1) The world, characters, and mechanics in XV are all different from XIII. They even have different teams working on them. Fans will automatically know that this will be nothing like XIII.

What do you mean "not since XIII"? Are you talking about the sequals? Because they are still carrying the 13 name, which means they will be similar in mechanics and characters, obviously. I'm talking about main numbered games, which XIII-2 and LR are not.

2) ARR reborn was still a success, performed better than they expected, and helped the company get back into profits after they recorded losses only 6 months earlier. Yes, 14 was a failure, but ARR was still a success.

[Summons75]

No because the nice thing out the series is even if you didn't lime one entry the next will be different and unrelated (ex: ff7 nearly ruined the series for me because of the impact of 6 but ff8 redeemed the series for me.)

Plus despite what hatred make up FF13 was rated to be popular in JP and has a strong following and Ff15 was extreamly anticipated when it was vs13 and it doesn't seem like much has changed besides the name.

FF will live on and haters will be lonely trolls.

[NihonjinChick]

"No because the nice thing out the series is even if you didn't lime one entry the next will be different and unrelated"

I see a lot of people here who don't seem to grasp this concept. Each numbered entry and it's sequels and/or prequels are treated like a different series. What you see in one Final Fantasy is not going to be in a game with a different number.

[Summons75]

"What you see in one Final Fantasy is not going to be in a game with a different number."

Much agreed, and even if and when they do bring older mechanics back they always change and improve them like the class switching in ff13 was an improvement to the character switch in ff10 or the sphere grid was improved in 13. While the card game in ff8 was brought back and improved in ff9.

Needless to say they have always had a good track record of bringing something new and fun to the table.

[Elda]

Totally agree!

[rataranian]

SE will hurt FFXV sales.

[PS4isKing_82]

What a dumb question. The game comes out in like 2 weeks. FF15 probably won't be out until two years from now. Most ppl who would buy and play it will have already done so by the time 15 comes out.

[Elda]

I can't speak for no one else but I,knowing I love the FF franchise been playing FF since the SNES & I still have faith in the series.I enjoyed FF-XIII,put off by XIII-2,LR looks interesting,but from all the trailers I've seen of FF-XV it looks simply amazing love the direction it's taking with a now action battle system & of course as always the graphics look amazing.I will be pre-ordering FF-XV as soon as there's a release date!Anyone who knows FF knows each number in the series is a totally different game,why would it hurt sales.

[Hicken]

Highly doubtful. Though, to be fair, it could suffer from the same "this game automatically fails because the one before it did" that did in XIII-2 and LR.

[Ggame]

???
Is the LR worth enough to compete with XV ??
A little curious the article can say this kind of thing. ! LoL

[DualWielding]

I'm more interested in Bravely Default that anything Final Fantasy so yah I think the author of the article is right

[MasterofMagnetism]

Probably not since the release dates of both games are so far apart. It might actually help FFXV that LR is the last in the XIII saga because many hated the first two and want a new game.

[Surt]

I stopped playing FF at 9. Got off the train before all the sensitive fairy boys jumped on. Which ended up being a thing in japan for a long while.

only now we are starting to see males in the culture now being like "you know what? we don't need to cry so much" (looking at you naruto)

[Luke_fon_Fabre]

If FFXV is good, which to all the FF purists it already apparently cannot be, then word of mouth will improve it's sales. I think most people buying FFXV will not be fans of the series anyway, so they wouldn't have heard anything good or bad about recent FF titles. I think I'm one of the few FF fans that still wants XV. All the other fans will migrate over to... idk Dragon Quest? Or maybe... Persona?