Square-Enix Final Fantasy XV [the game formerly known as Versus XIII]

It was supposed to be a spin-of at first. But then FF XII and XIII were already increasingly leaving the strictly turn-based format. The fact that they rebranded Versus as FF XV makes me think the series is leaving turn-based for good.

Square never fully trusted turn-based could be a thing in the west. For years they' ve made a bunch of A-RPG in the hopes it would ease us into actual RPGs. The Mana series for instance. To their utter amazement, it worked ! FF7 sold 10 million copies worldwide and the series as a whole became one of the biggest shoes around. However many players complained about turn-based being a turn off.

Turn-based still sells truckloads nowadays, but not nearly as much as FF7 did, I assume that' s why they caved in. They dream of reaching the summit again so they' ll cater to any popular request.

 

As Patman said, this was originally a spin-off.

That said, it seems dependent on the director as of late. FF has never really had a consistent battle system. It was an ATB during the PS era, speed based battle system in FFX and X-2 (X-2 with jobs instead of skills etc), MMO-like in FFXII, and a new type of ATB in FFXIII and XIII-2. All of those eras had a different director for each game. To me, switching so much after the PS eras consistency signals they're trying to reinvent FF's combat and refine it for the modern era. You know, make it adapt so it doesn't die. Why it went into full KH/Crisis Core... Well, Nomura is a big factor on that and it is a more gripping way to have a combat system that really only centers around one character. With any luck, an FF will sell like VII and then that battle system will stick.

Personally, I don't think they're throwing turn-based out the window. The re-release of X/X-2 makes me think they're trying to see if it still sticks. We'll probably see a blend of the two by the time we hear about the inevitable FFXVI

 

I believe they intended to make this completely diffrent from the start seen from the original trailers I was always thinking how they'd make this trailer intertwine with the gameplay of the general FF battle sequence but I always thought they'd be making it more like kingdom hearts' battle system anyways before battle gameplay was even released because of the trailer. I feel like since they've put so much effort into developing this anyways they wanted to develop a unique ff game in the first place

 

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Just more milking, which didn' t prevent SE to make fewer and fewer purely turn based original games (and to strand them on handhelds).
This however gives me hope :

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/03/31/bravely-defaults-success-west-making-square-enix-rethink-jrpgs/

 

eeeee I don't think it's milking. We know that Square are low on funds every action they're making right now is being thought out properly for once. Their milking is more of scavenging for funds to keep them going to the release of FFXV and hopefully from there if it's successful it'll help them with other projects.

 

If it' s not milking I don' t know what is. Not that I have anything against it, it makes up for planned obsolescence. My point was that, despite games like FF III&IV DS selling well, SE was obviously trying to occidentalize itself this last gen. The article I linked confirms it, they' re somehow still surprised to find out that an original old school game, made with Japan in mind, can be a hit here. They still haven' t left their insecurities behind.

Nomura' s surprise when he came to Paris recently and realized how popular KH is in France was also very telling. Like, seriously ?

So yeah, I' m glad to hear them say they' ll shift their focus back on core gamers from now on. And I hope it also means they' ll finally think of localization as an intrinsic part of the development cycle, not as a mere afterthought. It would be about damn time.

 

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I'm really curious how far into development they are. It came up in a discussion last night, but they have not showed any actual gameplay footage yet, which is concerning to say the least. We kept being told to be patient, but at the point of near 8 years since it's first announcement and only seeing CGI trailers...it's annoying, lol. I'm hoping that at E3 or something of the sort, Square will straight up say "we are this far in development and probably won't be done for another x amount of years. Here's some beta gameplay to enjoy!".

KH3 I'm not even thinking about at this point since even they said it was way too early for its announcement, but in regards to this game, there's very little excuse for the lack of info as to what's going on.

 

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Iwantitiwantitiwantitiwantitiwantit

I must have this. Heard things about it, seen things about it, GOD DAMNIT JUST GIVE ME IT! It looks and sounds amazing!

 

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Looks cool and all, really glad the menus aren't as distracting as it was like five years ago (what with character profiles moving around and all), but I really want to see gameplay footage showing you control the other characters and not just Noctis. Again, I think the style is just fine (aside from the lack of color in the outfits but whatevs, that's just preference), but switching between characters mid-battle would definitely be a plus.

Also, I dunno if it might be too late in development, but still wishing for at least ONE playable female character that's not a supposed antagonist D:

 

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