Square Enix plans to shorten Final Fantasy development cycles in order to release new series entries more frequently.
"I think we took a little too long getting [Final Fantasy XIII] out. When you think of Western triple A titles like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Assassin's Creed, they seem to work with a lot shorter turnaround - they make a new game in 1-2 years.
"That is something we need to follow up, because that seems to be the best way to keep our fans interested and attracted to the franchise.
"With Final Fantasy XIII we took a long time to complete it, so we learnt a lesson," he added. "We were determined to produce Final Fantasy XIII-2 in a short time, actual development took about 1.5 years. And we'll be able to make it available to western fans less than two years after the release of Final Fantasy XIII. Which is okay."
Last week, Kitase said the changing tastes of gamers means the next Final Fantasy may drift away from its turn-based roots. He told Edge that the rising popularity of action-RPGs is "a trend...you ignore at your peril."
Comments
37 comments so far...
Denther on 21 Nov '11 said:
No turn based
Yearly releases
What have we done to deserve this, Whhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!
*Shuffles off to make himself feel better with FFIX*
lonewolf2002 on 21 Nov '11 said:
Call of Duty model "seems to be the best way to keep our fans interested"
Making a decent FF game would yield better results
MrPirtniw on 21 Nov '11 said:
BA-ZING! Totally agree too. They're going to spread themselves even thinner than they are now- and the past decade of FF games have kinda sucked (IMO).
WHERESMYMONKEY on 21 Nov '11 said:
Yes but your average CoD game is aonly ten hours long with tinkered MP. If you released a ten hour long Final Fantasy no bugger would want to play it. How about you get an external dev to do the next one. Like maybe Mystwalker. Might as well give the series back to the guys that knew what they were doing with it.
StonecoldMC on 21 Nov '11 said:
This might be a good thing, get them to focus on the Game properly and not about who's going to sing the theme song or anything like that.
Im not a turn Based Fan either
.
Maybe the Japanese Devs need to look to the Western Devs a bit more often?
Drusus on 21 Nov '11 said:
I get the feeling that in the Square Enix offices there are hundreds of Japanese businessmen crying in corners hugging American flags in a desperate bid to appease the western god's and help them make some money.
Square Enix, there are two reasons you are failing, you have forgotten you are Japanese, you have no quality control.
Cutting down on your dev time and making more western type games is not the answer to those two problems. You could try making better games, Hideo Kojima has not stopped making Japanese games and he's blinking rich. Trouble is we are from the west so imitation western games are obvious and cheesy to us.
Step 1. Hire a killer dev team (hint, steal from Platinum games)
Step 2. Give them next gen dev kits.
Step 3 Give them 4 years dev time and a copy of FFVII, tell them to make it bigger, gorgeous looking expand on the basics but never add for no reason, keep the magic system the same and keep it turn based.
Step 4 Release FFVII remake September 2015 (hint, give CVG a fiver for a perfect review score)
Step 5 Lol as the money comes flying in.
Step 6 Geisha girls by the dozen in your pimped out Limo biatch!
BLARRG on 21 Nov '11 said:
r.i.p. square
Stryker89 on 21 Nov '11 said:
This is a joke isn't it, you're pulling ours legs CVG, you little monkeys...
MrPirtniw on 21 Nov '11 said:
(shudders at the thought of a FF VII remake)
Seriously, I love the original game to death- but please- leave it alone. I can't watch Cloud and co get raped anymore.
(Recalls Advent Children... shudders again)
benedictm on 21 Nov '11 said:
wel the longer they take to make them the worse they generally are so good news
I think...
Fr33Kye on 21 Nov '11 said:
Little to no love for turn based combat but i guess some games get it right, others dont. FFX was enjoyable, persona's was awful, golden sun's was pretty alright. Action isn't a bad thing, but they should be wary of following trends. A franchise like ff should be creating trends. Progress is good though, but the yearly release is NOT good for AC. The franchise is a hollow shell and has lost it's power. Have they even fixed combat and freerunning yet? COD is multiplayer heavy so people buy them to play with their friends, but i think it would be best for most if they stuck with one multiplayer game that was frequently updated.
What do you mean by forgot they are japanese? And you want them to take from an action game developer to make a turn based rpg?
TheCrimsonFenix on 21 Nov '11 said:
Congratulations Square. With just one sentence you've made me lose any remaining respect I had for you.
Very_Silver_Ownz on 21 Nov '11 said:
Good thing I don't like FF...and people bash CoD for yearly releases.
mogel94 on 21 Nov '11 said:
Oh ho you've just got to love the Japanese and their wonderful sense of humour.
BruceFace on 21 Nov '11 said:
1987 – – Final Fantasy
1988 – – Final Fantasy II
1990 – – Final Fantasy III
1991 – – Final Fantasy IV
1992 – – Final Fantasy V
1994 – – Final Fantasy VI
1997 – – Final Fantasy VII
1999 – – Final Fantasy VIII
2000 – – Final Fantasy IX
2001 – – Final Fantasy X
2002 – – Final Fantasy XI
2006 – – Final Fantasy XII
2009 – – Final Fantasy XIII
2010 – – Final Fantasy XIV
Just gonna leave that there.
They were able to create quality games in 1-2 years way back when... and now? They have a boner for the Western ideas and forgot what it was to create a good FF game.
You'd think they'd learn from all the ports and remakes they throw out, but apparently not.
KMakawa on 21 Nov '11 said:
R.I.P. FinalFantasy, especially in the western markets anyhow.
sammikid on 21 Nov '11 said:
They won't see any of my doe until FF:Versus, EVEN then i'll wait to see what its like before parting with any money, heard hardly anything about it. Square have lost the plot, though I did enjoy Deus:Ex
brookie_2001 on 21 Nov '11 said:
It makes sense, once you have the tech there they can develop games quicker. That is why we see a CoD every year and a new Assassins.
The problem with FFXIII was they watered it down to much to the point that it wasn't an RPG anymore, more an action adventure game. Skyrim proves you can still have in depth RPG elements and still be a successful game.
Hopefully FFXIII-2 will change peoples minds. Also they said they took too long to release FFXIII, they're taking too long to release Versus.
milkymilky on 21 Nov '11 said:
Completely losing the turn-based system would destroy the identity of the series. what would that leave? just chocobos? a bloke called sid...
There is still a market for turn-based games. If they want to do action rpgs they could bring back the awesome Secret of Mana series.
Imaduck on 21 Nov '11 said:
Um no Square for f**k sake. Making good games helps, 13 was mediocre. You guys need to limit yourselves to say 4 years max per title and make an amazing games, that's it. If you CoD it, the series is f**ked, end of.
Personally, I want turn based combat back. Some of the ideas of 13 were nice but it basically required you to mash 1 button over and over again.
flash501 on 21 Nov '11 said:
Abso-bloody-lutely! They lost their way big time with XIII.
Blue Odeyssey on 21 Nov '11 said:
Good!! This needs to happen! As Square Enix are the only company who even bother with proper JRPGs on console now I am delighted with this news. There hasn't been a JRPG that hasn't had PS2 like graphics or gameplay for years. Ar Tonelico Quoga has been the best release in the last year and what the hell does that tell you!
Beetle Bum on 21 Nov '11 said:
square enix are so confused i thinks
ladycroft142 on 21 Nov '11 said:
Releasing regular FF's is not going to keep fans interested in the series as it's going to suffer from rushed development resulting in shorter playtimes and hardly any variety between instalments. FFXIII-2 is bad enough to stomach, it seems like Square is valuing its pocket over the reputation of its franchise.
Mmmmgrolsch on 21 Nov '11 said:
lordirongut on 21 Nov '11 said:
It could work if the approach was right. But it would need to be absolutely right. They'd need at least three different, large teams working on different games simultaneously for them to preserve the series' quality. It might also be good to get some fresh ideas in. Have Team Nomura, Team Kitase and Team New Bloods rotate with three year development cycles, and keep the MMO team entirely separate, and they might be successful with a yearly approach. I don't think anyone wants to see the series' quality decline, and if they want yearly releases then staggered development cycles make for a fair compromise. As I remember, they tried this before with Final Fantasies IX, X and XI, and those were all successful.
gypsygib on 21 Nov '11 said:
I'd much prefer a new Deus Ex game every 2 years - that game is so awesome.
Skarfester on 21 Nov '11 said:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Seriously whoever is in charge of Square-Enix hire me and i'll make you millions, how you say? By actually giving the fans of your games what they want and not giving them exactly what they dont want like you have been doing for the last few years. Seriously IX was the high point of the series, the graphics were great for a ps1 game, the gameplay was fun and the story and characters were charming. Stop giving us crappy sci-fi and go back to fantasy, skyrim just proved that plenty of gamers still love that genre and it fits final fantasy so well.
mateuspradosousa on 22 Nov '11 said:
A new FF every two years would be wonderful! People who complain should prefer cycles like Versus 13 that has lasted six years! Many forget that Square Enix also needs money and profit, and act as if it were an NGO.
mateuspradosousa on 22 Nov '11 said:
A new FF every two years would be wonderful! People who complain should prefer cycles like Versus 13 that has lasted six years! Many forget that Square Enix also needs money and profit, and act as if it were an NGO...
TheCrimsonFenix on 22 Nov '11 said:
Which would I prefer.. let me think..
A. A done when it's done approach where time and enough thought are put into the development of a Final Fantasy game which could take 3-5 years to create the world, the characters, the story and the gripping deep gameplay.
B. A two year cycle inspired by a franchise that sells a "tried and tested" formula every year despite that being a simple FPS with the same basic idea at the heart of every sequel and this being a role playing game with different settings, world, story and characters with each sequel. I'm not one to just hate on CoD for the hell of it but both these games are two entirely different kinds of experience and to think their development periods can be compared equally without making sacrifices is ridiculous in my opinion.
This being Square Enix of today though, who was seriously thinking we were going to get games as deep as their original Final Fantasy titles? The only thing this would bring is Assassin's Creed style semi-sequels. Maybe good enough for some people but I prefer to actually have a sequel that offers enough new ideas/content to warrant the purchase.
wwaarrddy on 22 Nov '11 said:
Call of Duty model "seems to be the best way to keep our fans interested"
Weren't you guys doing that back in the "Golden Years"? One every year and pretty much critically acclaimed? Oh yeah, that was Squaresoft. Not this s**t heap of a company Square-Enix who, just by making this statement confirm how little they know about Final Fantasy as a brand. Embarrassing. Why Squaresoft? Why!?!?
BruceFace on 22 Nov '11 said:
That's what's annoying me: the fact that they're tagging it the "call of duty model" when they were doing it years ago.
All I see from that is throwing out a half assed samey game every 2 years and throw in a hell of a lot of DLC (oh look there http://www.computerandvideogames.com/32 ... nthly-dlc/).
I'll post this again:
1987 – – Final Fantasy
1988 – – Final Fantasy II
1990 – – Final Fantasy III
1991 – – Final Fantasy IV
1992 – – Final Fantasy V
1994 – – Final Fantasy VI
1997 – – Final Fantasy VII
1999 – – Final Fantasy VIII
2000 – – Final Fantasy IX
2001 – – Final Fantasy X
2002 – – Final Fantasy XI
2006 – – Final Fantasy XII
2009 – – Final Fantasy XIII
2010 – – Final Fantasy XIV
MPH on 22 Nov '11 said:
Yep totally agree. The current 'Square' have no idea what they're doing. FFXIII was the worst FF game I've ever played. LO from MW was brilliant. Shame it didn't sell as well as FFXIII.
mateuspradosousa on 22 Nov '11 said:
just YOUR opinion...talk for yourself man...XIII was the best FF for me and many...just look on user score Metacritic
ste hicky on 23 Nov '11 said:
this explains why they registered FFXIII-3 back in september: http://hicky-hsgameview.blogspot.com/20 ... n-way.html
surprised so few sites picked up on that one.
oh yeah, FF has always been on a 2 year development timescale. VII broke the mould because it had to be recoded from N64 to PS, the story entirely rewritten and thus was delayed a year. XII was delayed for years because Matsuno had health problems which saw Square ship him out the door and finish the game for him. they're the exceptions. (i could stretch this to XIII which was delayed to accommodate the 360 port but y'get me by now)
btw, XIII was decent, nothing more. it's not as bad as made out but it's not a patch on the better games in the series either. the truth falls somewhere between the 2 camps.
oh and lol at the idea of Mistwalker: Sakaguchi and Square aren't exactly friends anymore. Square even left his name out of the CT press release. Cheap s**t that. did anyone see the Tweet he got from Square when he announced TLS? they had the f**king cheek to ask him to stop ripping their FF games off. WTF?
anyway, i want Monolith and MW to work on TLS II for Wii U. (that'd be too bleedin good)
lastly, who takes notice of user scores on Metacritic?
Chris_Shanahan87 on 30 Jan '12 said:
Final Fantasy is my favorite game franchise (along with Zelda) and I loved and defended FFXIII. This idea COULD be done but only if done right.
I think the FFXIII trilogy model is best way to go about it, although with FFXIII and it's sequels I get the feeling that it was decided last minute to make sequels. In future they should spend time building an engine, then plan a proper story ahead that spans 3 games. That way you would get a decent game every 2 years.
Anyone who thinks they can carry on with a 6 year development cycle are idiots.