Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy Brand

September 27, 2011

At a press conference in Tokyo, Japan yesterday, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada said that the entire Final Fantasy brand has been damaged by its latest MMO title. Final Fantasy XIV, which launched in September of 2010 on PC, did not do as well as anticipated due mostly to serious technical issues, connectivity issues, and bugs at launch. This caused the PS3 version of the MMO to be delayed as the development team put its focus on fixing problems and generally improving the game to make customers happy.

"The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged," said Wada. "We'll continue with our reform work, which basically amounts to fully redoing the game, and hope to revive the FFXIV that should have been released."

Last year Producer Naoki Yoshida laid out a list of gameplay changes to be rolled out into the summer. In the early days of the launch Square Enix was forced to let customers play for free while it worked out all of the game's kinks. Obviously this has had an impact on the company financial standing in its most recent quarter. Luckily it has a number of Western franchises to fall back on, like Deus Ex: Human Revolution..

Source: Gamasutra

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Comments

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Mr.Tastix on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 16:50.

Wait, so the fact that there's over 10 games, most of which add nothing new to the genre or series as a whole and only seek to reinforce repetitive gameplay wasn't the reason the game has been damaged?

Well that's a relief! Good thing they're rebooting the entire series again, amirite?

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Randi Tastix - http://randomtastic.com

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by ecco6t9 on Tue, 09/27/2011 - 15:26.

Square Enix damaged to Final Fantasy brand, it could even be argued that the Crystal Chronicles games (While decent) further diluted the name.

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Grif on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 00:16.

To be fair, the original was great, if you had other people to play it with. Crystal Bearers wasn't bad, either.

Atlanta Video Games Examiner for examiner.com

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by ecco6t9 on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 16:11.

Exactly, it's a great series that should of been allowed to stand on it's own as Crystal Chronicles or considered the proper evolution of the Mana franchise which itself is related Final Fantasy.

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Grif on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 17:29.

So you're saying it shouldn't have had "Final Fantasy" in the title? I fail to see how a mere title can influence the quality of gameplay.

Therein lies another huge problem with our gaming society, we place too much weight on a mere title of a franchise, least of all Final Fantasy, which apparently carries a large expectation of the game to be nearly identical to the "blockbuster" games before it. But instead, we get bitching like "It's not enough like FF7", or "This has nothing to do with any of the other Final Fantasy games!"

I say, play each game, and judge it on its own merit. Take FFXIII for example. I loved the game, I enjoyed the story, and it has one of the greatest combat systems I've ever seen. Can't wait for the sequel.

It's like I'm constantly telling people who want more games like Final Fantasy 7: If you want Final Fantasy 7, then PLAY Final Fantasy 7. Just because a game isn't what you expected doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad game.

Atlanta Video Games Examiner for examiner.com

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Samster on Tue, 09/27/2011 - 13:08.

And 13 was the jewel in its crown, right?

Almost forgot my sarcasm disclaimer there. Having played FF13-2 at the Eurogamer Expo on Saturday, I can safely say the only thing damaging the FF brand right now is Square Enix.

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Erik on Tue, 09/27/2011 - 11:24.

The series ended for me at 9. 10 wasn't great, but it was good. Though in retrospect comparing it to everything that came after it was pretty great. But again that is only in comparison.

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Zerodash on Tue, 09/27/2011 - 10:27.

I Disagree. The audience for FFXIV is too small a subset (MMO players who also care about JRPGs and want them together) of the gaming audience for it to be the prime culprit in the damage to the FF name. Square has been mishandling the franchise for far longer than FFXIV was around.

The disappointment surrounding FFXIII and the sheer overmilking of the Final Fantasy namesake with endless spinoffs and rereleases are what damaged the brand. There was once a time when a new Final Fantasy game was a big event. Now, these games come so frequently and with so much more "fluff" that the franchise has been effectively devalued.

Final Fantasy could be argued to be analogous to Call of Duty: fair or not, it represents what is wrong with Japanese games in the way CoD represents all that is wrong with Western games.

...of course, when (not "if") the FF7 remake comes out, any negativity toward the brand will be irrelevant when it makes tons of money.

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Grif on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 00:26.

I agree on pretty much everything except the FF7 remake. I know I'm in the minority here, but I seriously hope it doesn't ever see the light of day. There's WAY better Final Fantasy games that could use a remake. 6 comes to mind. Re-releasing FF7 with all the bugs and translation errors fixed is one thing, but I, for one, do NOT want to see a high-definition Drag Cloud.

Again, I may be in the minority here, but I didn't have a problem with FF13. I genuinely enjoyed it.

Atlanta Video Games Examiner for examiner.com

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by lomdr on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 05:44.

How would you feel about a remake of 10...seriously, that's what they're doing right now: http://www.siliconera.com/2011/09/13/final-fantasy-x-is-being-remade-for...

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Monte on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 10:05.

Actually, looking at the comments, that is a mistake.

https://member.eu.square-enix.com/en/blogs/introducing-final-fantasy-x-p...

Square is remastering FFX (Giving it the HD treatment), not remaking it.

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Craig R. on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 16:32.

The mistake is not realizing that re-mastering FF10 for HD is a complete waste of time.

I'll never play 10 again. I enjoyed 9 a lot more than 10, and I won't play 9 again either. Never got into 8.

I could go for a remake/remaster of 6 or 7 though.

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Monte on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 16:48.

Best not to remaster 6 and 7. The graphics there are so low that it would not look very good if you beefed up the resolution. But a remake would be welcome; probably a remake for the PSP (though i lack a psp)

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by Grif on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 17:32.

Definitely best to remaster 6. Out of all the Final Fantasy games, I think 6 deserves it. It had the best storyline, the best gameplay, and of course, the best villain ever. Don't tell me you wouldn't want to see Sabin's Blitzes or Cyan's SwordTechs in HD. Also, Esper Terra. :3

Atlanta Video Games Examiner for examiner.com

Re: Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Damaged the Final Fantasy ...

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Tue, 09/27/2011 - 11:15.

Damned you ninja'd me on FF13.

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http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/

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E. Zachary Knight: Microsoft talks about the lack of backward compatability. You're backwards. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192801/If_youre_backwards_compatible_youre_really_backwards.php05/22/2013 - 1:39pm

E. Zachary Knight: That is absolutely nuts there. As bad an experience XBox Indie Games was, the problems weren't with the self published side of things. Forcing a publisher onto independent studios is not going to help.05/22/2013 - 10:43am

MaskedPixelante: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-22-microsoft-wont-let-indies-self-publish-on-xbox-one And the hits just keep on coming.05/22/2013 - 9:20am

E. Zachary Knight: AE: You beat me to it. That's what I get for taking the night off.05/22/2013 - 7:40am

E. Zachary Knight: To continue the confused and convoluted messaging system present in EA, They are making Wii U games: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192753/EA_is_working_on_Wii_U_games_after_all.php05/22/2013 - 7:33am

Imautobot: I gotta admit, I seriously believed Microsoft was going to "Bring It" with this new console. But they failed, and I think that failure might be Epic.05/22/2013 - 7:27am

Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm

Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm

Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm

Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

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