you have one group of people who say FF games (and JRPGs in general) are getting old and they need to "evolve" (which i think they have been doing this whole time, no 2 FF games are alike)
and you have the other group of people that say FF games need to "go back to their roots" and arent satisfied with anything other than FF1-6 and FF9.
I don't get either of these 2 extreme mentallities that most people seem to hold.
for those saying "JRPGs need to evolve", I ask you this: what other genre has had larger developments in their gameplay styles other than JRPGs?
Driving games you stil have cars, turn corners, accelerate, brake etc
Fighting games you still have 1 on 1 side-scrolling fights
Platform games you still run and jump, with the biggest difference being the switch from 2D to 3D
RTS you do the same things
Sure, all these genres have changed things up over the years, driving games now let you upgrade/buy new cars, Fighting games have extra modes that allow you to customise stuff... but how is this any more than what JRPGs have done? in FF1 you chose individual permanent classes for each character, FF4 and FF13 were less about customising and more about dealing with situations as you get to them, FF6 was about managing a large group of characters and splitting them into teams, FF7 was about building your own set of abilities and distributing them amongst characters, FF10 had unique characters that could venture into other areas of skill over time, FF12 had gambits, FF13 had paradigm shifting... These are all very unique systems
All this stuff changes over time, you can't say that it doesnt... some of the "needs to evolve" claims I hear are based around these games (generally) being turn-based and random-battles. But then why "should" that change? its not a broken system and it works fine. Im not saying that deviation should not be there, but why should it be forced when there's really no need for it? Why should a game incorporate "new" ideas just for the sake of them being new rather than enjoyable? Look at New Super Mario Bros Wii for example, an old idea yet fun to play.
using FF13 as an example, some of the complaints were about "no towns" and "no NPCs". But in all honesty, how many people played FF7 to be able to talk to random strangers? I know I didnt, I played to kill sephiroth, and to another degree ruby/emerald weapon... I remember beating ruby/emerald for the first time and feeling a great sense of accomplishment... it was the building up of my characters and using my materia that got me there, that was the fun part. I was not bothered so much by the towns. Now I'm not saying that FF13 is better in that regards, in actual fact I do think FF13 was one of the worst in the series, but I just think some of the complaints are a bit out-there.
also, talk about linearity, why does nobody complain about FF4? if you ask me, FF4 has been the most linear FF game of the main series... "linear" doesnt mean geographically necessarilly, granted I would say FF13 is linear, probably the 2nd most linear, with FF10 being close. Take FF4 for example, you can never change your party, you can never customise other than through equipment... the game only really opens when you're able to go around and collect summons for Rydia. On a side note, I find it ironic that people accuse JRPGs of being linear, when the only less-linear genre that I can think of is WRPGs, if linearity is a problem then why play any other genre?
There is a positive to a game being linear however, and that is that it allows for a stronger structure in individual events... FF4 and FF13 (I think) are perfect examples of games with really tense boss battles. In FF4 you're always "almost dead" using rosa to heal, and telling you're characters to "hurry up" in your mind. FF13 however did this by reducing your options in combat, giving you 6 paradigms to switch between. Even though your options were small in battle, you have to examine everything all the time... you have to keep an eye on the stagger bar whilst tryng to stop it from reseting you might have to heal at the same time with more than 1 medic. I remember a few times where I would stagger an enemy, then get hurt a lot and I'd think "not now!" and it gets more difficult to decide whether or not to take the risks. FF13 gave me that experience that i havnt experienced for a while
And don't say stuff like "the characters are too emo" because if you ask me, that's just petty. It doesnt effect the gameplay AT ALL. Besides the FF franchise has a new world, new characters and new story every time.
On a personal note, I MUCH prefer the JRPG style of playing a game with a story attached to it that the WRPG style of having story-related consequences to your actions. I've noticed that when people say stuff like "I dont like JRPGs cuase your actions dont change anything" by "change" they mean affecting the storyline... I much prefer making actions that effect the gameplay, like choosing a weapon to level up and such. And I generally have a disliking of a non-canonised story. And besisdes, if "not changing the story through your actions" is such a problem, then how about complaining about every other non-WRPG genre aswell? This is not to say that i dislike theconcept of an open-world game. Let me make this clear... just because a game has an open-world, lots of "quests" for you to do and lots of different means of developing your character... this DOES NOT mean that the game automatically has a non-linear story and a "create your own character" feature. (personally I would be interested in an oblivion-esque open-world game that uses a battle/leveling system similar to FF12)
On the flip-side I still find there's problems with people saying that FF games need to "go back to their roots"... I see this as a problem because this would simply make the games too similar. You can still prefer one system over another, but using the exact same methods over and over again creates no variation. I even saw one guy saying that he thinks every FF game should use the same leveling system in each game, to which I was thinking "dude! are you crazy!? that's what makes the games interesting!"... imagine if every FF game used materia. Learning and adapting to the new systems is what makes the games what they are.
You can still like a particular system more than another, but I still think the "worst" systems can still be interesting enough to keep you playing. For example, FF5 is my favourite in the series, I love how the job system works in that game... I like it a lot more that the license board on FF12, but I still like the license board and still find it interesting enough to play the game. Would I want every FF game to use FF5's system? of course not! (On a side-note, people complaining about FF12 needing you to get a license to equip a weapon and how it "doesnt make sense", its really just another requirement implemented by the game, you could just as easilly argue that FF7 doesnt make sence how Tifa can't use Vincent's guns)
And just because a system appears similar to another (or uses the same terminology), doesn't mean it is... FF5 is my favourite, FF3 is my least. I love FF5's job system, but FF3's annoyed me... same label doesn't equal similar system
wow, that was a lot longer than I intended it to be...
