The Future of the Final Fantasy Franchise on the PS4

The Final Fantasy franchise is certainly not lacking when it comes to fans. There are plenty of gamers that have been playing it for years and will stick with it no matter what. Many fans, however, have been questioning the future of the franchise of late and have been dissatisfied with the most recent Final Fantasy games.

So what does the future hold for this essential franchise, especially as how it relates to the next generation of consoles and the PlayStation 4?

Going Back to Its Roots
For a lot of fans, Final Fantasy VII was the be all, end all of Final Fantasy. I know that for me, Final Fantasy VII was the game that made me stand up and take notice of the franchise. I was obviously aware of the franchise before that, but VII was the one that EVERYONE was playing.

So needless to say, a lot of fans have been clamoring for a remake of Final Fantasy VII. Some have even suggested a sort of reboot of the series with a focus on the plot, characters, etc. of FFVII as the basis of it all.

Square Enix Has Other Ideas
Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada has heard these cries from Final Fantasy fans, but he's not quite yet ready to look into a FFVII remake. Speaking during a Q&A session with Square Enix shareholders, Wada said that they're not going to even consider a FFVII remake until they can make a game that is better than the original Final Fantasy VII.

In a roundabout way, this is pretty much Square Enix's CEO admitting that all the Final Fantasy games following FFVII were not as good as VII. Whether this is his opinion or him merely following the critical reception of the games is anyone's guess, but the admission itself is huge.

Critical Reception
The Future of the Final Fantasy Franchise on the PS4 So exactly how did these various games perform when compared to Final Fantasy VII? To be sure, the comparison of subsequent Final Fantasy games to FFVII - and finding them lacking when doing so - is not based purely on the overall mood of fans when browsing message boards and the like.

Let's take a look at some critical scores.

Final Fantasy VII had a solid score of 92 among critics when it released back in '97. After that, Final Fantasy X and XII both ended up in the low 90s as far as score among critics is concerned. Moving along, Final Fantasy XIII received a comparatively abysmal score of 83 and Final Fantasy XIII-2 did even worse at 79.

To be fair, these scores aren't the worst out there. But when you're talking about the Final Fantasy franchise you have to expect a better performance.

The Future: Final Fantasy on the PS4
So with Yoichi Wada saying Square Enix isn't going to remake Final Fantasy VII until they can outdo it with a different Final Fantasy game, we have a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, they're actually TRYING to make a great game, with FFVII as the baseline. They recognize that, and that's something.

On the other hand, the fans of FFVII that want a current- or next-gen remake aren't going to get it anytime soon.

For my dollar, I'd love to see a remake or even just an HD upgrade (which plenty of older games are getting right now) come out for the PlayStation 4. It could even be a launch title. It would be huge and get plenty of people's attention.

All that's left now is to convince Yoichi Wada and Square Enix. What do you think?

Update - March 10th, 2013 -- New Final Fantasy Announced For PS4!

As previously reported, Square Enix was on-hand at the Feb. 20th unveiling of the PlayStation 4 and while the presentation mostly focused on the technical aspects of what the company is doing with the PS4, it did bring us one piece of news: the company is making a new Final Fantasy for the PlayStation 4.

Square Enix did not mention if this game was to be a remake of a past Final Fantasy, an existing game in a current Final Fantasy franchise (such as FFXIII-4), a spinoff of the brand (such as Final Fantasy Tactics) or a new iteration of the series, which would be Final Fantasy XV. Square Enix did mention that they would unveil this new game at E3 2013.

We will bring you news on this new Final Fantasy for the PS4 as soon as it is available!

Article by - Brett Huffman
Insert Date: 07/07/2012

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Comments

RIP FFVII

To be fair ff7 is my favourite child hood game i spent many many happy hours drilling it with it's great combat system and rich story an as much as part of me would love to see a remake with more missions more bosses better graphics etc i just don't see square enix working on that prospect anytime soon. Knowing how badly recieved the newer ff games have been it would be a bad move to remake such an old game as it would be like makeing a statement saying "hey we suck at makeing newer ff's so we are remakeing an old one" , but with that said i still believe a remake is highly possible but just not yet maybe after ff15. Heres to hopeing ;)

Platform Stop

Square Enix put the Playstation 1 on the map with FFVII. Reading through forums like Eurogamer's users , who completely believe that the Game Industry is in some sort of flux with itself - with technology - as if a barrier as been hit and that you can't go further. What I don't understand is that Epic is announcing as loudly as they can that their development platform solves every single problem for big production values in game development with a simple keystoke. Crytek are literally screaming at the developers that Cryengine3 can do anything you want in no time at all; with these ease of a child with crayons that has an unlimited childhood and a small budget. Sometimes, when I listen to gamers, I all hear is the biggest morons in some kind of collective, talking, talking, talking, talking and none of it would get past an interview with a game developer looking for fresh ideas, fresh minds and a clear outlook on the direction of the future of gaming. Eurogamer Users: Try SHUTTING THE FVCK UP for one single moment and crawl away in the hole you popped out of to talk a complete loud of BACKWARD THINKING that belongs NOWHERE in the world we live in.

Just pay attention

Mr Huffman, You noticed a good aspect which a lot of people overlook- the rating. I grew up on FFVII. I never understood everything from it since I was no more than 10 years old when it came out, but I've gone back to the game in recent years to play it over and it's still a legend. The fact that it scored so high is because it deserved it. The story, gameplay system, techniques, video, and especially soundtrack all made the game deserve its high score. Games these days end up skipping at least one of these attributes. Like I said, pay attention. You'll notice that FFVII had a system that worked fine if you were a young child, and it could be utilized better if you were an adult (similar with FFVIII-I replayed it 3 years ago and finally understood the junction system). Just look at how the battle system progressed- you focus on Limit Breaks to unlock new ones, you equip new magic to your weapons and armor to level it up to more powerful spells, enemies couldn't be avoided by running past them although battles could be escaped, and most of all, there were secrets! Not secret things that lead to trophies, but secret people and weapons to unlock that you wouldn't know about unless you followed a guide, or searched every corner after every event. Few people knew that there were almost 20 battles as the Condor Tower minigame. As a matter of fact, minigames! You could race chocobos, ride rollercoasters, play the motorcycle game... It was all these things and more that made people want to play FFVII over and over. FFXIII didn't even have a city that you could buy weapons, or even do anything in. I would love for a FF game that blended the difficulty of VIII, the side quests and experience guide of X, and everything of VII. For me, that would be a game of all games. Gosh, after all this thought of these old games, I think I'll go play one right now. So please, just pay attention to what actually makes the game.

FF Versus XIII

Am I the only one who thinks FF Versus XIII will be a launch title for the PS4? Its been in development FOREVER, and we havent received any new information on it in a long time as well. My bet is that if the PS4 is released this Christmas this game will be walking out with it. Well...my hope at least.

That

makes a lot of sense. Let's hope you're right. I would hate to see that game be ruined by a launch on a "dying" console.

Time/ Win or Fail

FF7-9 were my favorite final fantasy games, square did good all the way till 13, it wasn't as fun as they usually are and didn't have as many things to do as you did in the other games, but it still was a good game. If they try that dlc bs again though like with 13-2 there gonna p*** off the majority of there fan base who aren't willing to deal with dlc bs in a final fantasy game. If they do the right thing though and dont just worry about money like they did back then they'll make a successful game again.

squall

Cloud stole!!!! Zacks sword

FF Vesrus13 => XV

Do you guys remember the video a couple of months ago about versus becoming 15? i think it was fake but I still hope and believe this is the new Final Fantasy game being announced for E3. Personally if versus is not announced as 15 or mentioned at all during E3 I will have to come to terms with the fact that versus(the best looking final fantasy game ive seen in years) will never exist.

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