It's fairly common knowledge that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth enjoyed a relatively smooth development cycle, owing to the fact that Final Fantasy 7 Remake's team was largely kept intact, and the first game had obviously laid the foundations in terms of visuals and gameplay systems. It took Square Enix around three years to craft Rebirth, and it expects the same kind of timeline when it comes to the third (and final) title in the trilogy.
That's according to director Yoshinori Kitase (as reported by Audrey). He says that, once again, the third game will be put together by the same team, and that the goal is to create another title on par with Remake and Rebirth's overall quality. On that note, it sounds like part three's main story is already written — as you might have guessed — and the developer's thinking about recording voicework in the near future.
So, in short, we can expect the third instalment in the Remake trilogy to arrive in 2027, or thereabouts. However, it should be noted that an additional year of development was afforded to Remake's Yuffie DLC, which was part of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade on PS5. We don't yet know if Rebirth will receive a similar expansion, but if it does, we could be looking at 2028 for the third game.
It's worth mentioning that the PS5 will be seven years old in November 2027 — and by that point, we'll probably be looking towards the next PlayStation console, if previous generations are anything to go by. Still, the timing makes sense if Square Enix wants to get all three games on one platform.
How do you feel about this supposed timeline? What are your hopes and dreams for the third title? Have yourself a reunion in the comments section below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 77
Just in time for the 30 year anniversary!
I assume they'll be using Unreal Engine 5 for the third game, so it'll be interesting to see the graphical leap.
I think this gen gonna last to 2027 or 2028 so ff7 part 3 probably get ported to ps6 late on or launch crossgen.
It would possibly be a cross-gen game, with a special bundle collection for the ps6.
@Bentleyma I actually hope not cause UE5 is very heavy performance-wise. Yea it would be a nice visual upgrade but if we thought performance mode looked ugly now on UE4...
@Shadcai @Jay767 I would be shocked if there isn't a full three-game collection on PS6.
@Bentleyma I doubt it. Development would take a year or two longer to get things up to speed. It's why they decided not to use it for Rebirth.
I just hope the final part isn't so unnecessarily big and bloated. Took me over 100 hours to beat Part 2 -.-' after 50 hours I was already mentally done with this game
I was hoping dev on part 3 would be even quicker (2026) but I guess its is gonna be a big finale.
@Bentleyma - What @AdamNovice said!
Square Enix will save the UE5 shift for FF7:R Trilogy Remastered on PS6. 😅
I was hoping for 2026. I wouldn't be surprised if there were an Intergrade type DLC for Vincent in the meantime.
@Pranwell
I would probably not recommend that. Not just because the wait is so far away, but because they are long games and I would get bored if I played all three back to back. I love the games and the filler does not bother me one bit, but if I was playing them all at once it would get to me. Play Remake and Rebirth and that should be enough to tie you over. Then the final game, "reunion, Return, Rectal or whatever they call it, will feel like this big event that you have been waiting for.
Same thing happened with God of War 2018 and Ragnarok, I love the games and gameplay but I knew I'd get bored if I replayed GOW right before I started Ragnarok.
While I will still be around for this (I hope anyway), I'm riding that wave of mid 40's life crisis were I realise at some point I will get excited for a release and be dead before it arrives.
Happy Friday folks 😂
2027/8…..Jeez I hope I am still around to see how it all ends Kupo!
I thought they said they were aiming to have part 3 much sooner, a year and a half or so? This is 3 to 4 years?! Oh, FFS Squeenx! Twelve to thirteen years to release a remake of a game from nineteen ninety freaking seven. Split into a trilogy released every 3-4 years starting 5 years after the announcement. And they can't figure out why their sales suck??!
Imagine your 2015 self watching E3 if they told you the game you're watching an announcement for on your brand-spanking-new PS4 launch console is a trailer for a game you'll have to spend a combined $210+ to buy and won't actually be able to have all of it until 2028 on your PS6 after you've already played XV, XVI, and probably XVII? The "who won E3" conversation would have gone a lot differently the next day. Shenmue III came out 2 years later and the devs were literally begging the audience for money to fund the project during the same show.
It's so far away I'll actually be done XIV by then and I just started!
I love VII, but at this point we could have had FFXVII under our belts and XVIII pending in 2 years rather than milking the poor VII cow dry. I bought Remake but didn't play it yet. I won't be buying Rebirth until I can actually play the conclusion, which means the whole series doesn't even exist to me until post PS6.
Wow! SE really are milking this for all its worth.
Great. Guess I'll have one foot in the grave by the time this releases. I'll add this game to the bucket list. 😝
@NEStalgia Yeah its a shame they can't just magic up a 100 hour AAA game from scratch for a 2025 release 🙄
Makes sense. So kingdom hearts 4 2025/2026. And maybe that rumored FFIX remake
@DennisReynolds From scratch? Do they not already have a world, characters and overall storyboard 25 years in the vault? Do they not already have the world assets from Rebirth? All of ff7 takes place in the same world outside Midgar. It's a conclusion act. Sequels used to build on existing assets, it's part of the same world and story. They were supposed to remake a single PS1 game, not milk three 100 hour games from one PS1 game for 13 years across 3 hardware generations. If getting to Jenova in 1997 Said "Please wait until 2001, then insert disc 5 into your PS2" everyone would have just played Dragon Quest instead.
Imagine if naughty dog said they were going to remake Jak 2 into 3 100 hour games and part 3 should release in 2037 on PS7? The development and release schedule for this sub series is plain madness and the sluggish sales reflect that.
@3Above Doesn't that depend on how you use the engine though?
@McBurn I still haven’t beaten the final boss. I was checked out too, and that fight is a slog. Really cool at first then outstays its welcome. I want to do it but I just don’t know if I ever will. The game is amazing, but way too long and it detracts from its strengths.
Damn. Why so long?
It's probably going to be exclusive to ps6 n no PS5.
Honestly, I’ve enjoyed the remakes with the new story beats. I love the original, and it will always be there to enjoy. I wouldn’t have minded just a new coat of paint to be sure, but I’ll take these remakes for what they are. I’m enjoying the ride. Just got to stay alive to see it finished up! 😉
@Deadhunter I think a Dirge of Cerberus Remake-ish/Remaster one could come as well
@DeathlySW : Well, you can always look up the last scenes on YouTube, if you can't bring yourself to play the last fight. I do that with most games, where I loose interest in the gameplay, but still wanna see the story conclusion (:
@McBurn I did just that. It sucks because I went the whole thing avoiding spoilers, but this last fight was so much of a drag. Two hours and I was like “ok I’m done”. The core thing is that unlike many games, this one felt like it not only didn’t respect my time but actively wasted it. Destiny 2 is the closest I can think of, and I still enjoy it because the core gameplay is fun and very smooth. This one has a lot of jank to trudge through in order to truly feel seamless, and that’s before the whole debate about length comes into play.
I will say, I never much found Sephiroth to be a great villain. Passable but that’s it. This game made me actively not care about him, all his scenes are fan service and just have no weight.
@NEStalgia You understand each entry takes place in different locations, has different and new enemies and different game mechanics right? Did you think Rebirth was just Remake or something? Do you not know how sequels work? Do also understand this isn't a shot for shot remake? Did you cry when Dune Part 1 ended and you had to wait 2 years for Part 2?
As long as it’s on PS5 I’m good. That includes dual release, I’m ok w/ that as well if they want to use it to boost PS6 sales at launch (like a new PS console wouldn’t be sold out for 2 years anyway). If it’s a PS6 exclusive good chance I just watch it on YouTube.
@Bentleyma I don't think they will use UE5, otherwise it'll never be out by 2027
@NEStalgia I'm not sure if you've played Rebirth yet, but they've still got two new characters(how they play/movesets) and a big chunk of the world to build.(with Highwind traversal added) There's a lot to do yet.
Not to mention the fact they'll need to populate the areas already built with worthwhile content. A lot of leg work has been done in Rebirth, but considering what they've still got to get through story-wise, I; 'm worried they've left themselves with too much to get through for a 3 year dev cycle. I'll be happy if it's out in 2027, don't care about waiting. Plenty more to play in the meantime. If I thought the games were a cheap cash grab, i would've peaced out by now.
@NEStalgia Shemue III was released at the back end of 2019, so it took over 4 years to release. I don't think you can really judge until you've played Remake and Rebirth. If you did then you'd know how much effort has gone into each game. After how amazing Rebirth was I am more than happy for Square-Enix to take their time with the next installment.
@Bentleyma @__Seraph @DennisReynolds It's not really a matter of if each game is good stand-alone. I suspect I'll like them, but I'm also aware remake is controversial and turned a lot of people off. But if they want to make a whole new series of giant new games, why not just make.....a new series rather than try to cash in on FF7 nostalgia for as many decades as possible? It's the usual Square lack of direction. They announced a remake of a beloved game. Then announced it would be episodic. Then restarted development and decided to make the next 3 giant RPGs each one piece of 7 instead of either remaking 7 or making something truly new. Would Rebirth still be a good game if it were not dressed in an FF7 skin set and costume pack? I'm sure it would be. They're milking it plain and simple. And it's not even working, the sales are merely ok. I think the window for milking the nostalgia of 7 came and went and they overshot by a long shot. More of the market is looking for something new, and with the time they're spending on development, they could and should have done something new for these games.
I think splitting the game into two may have had some merit, but milking it into 3 games with this kind of development time instead of making a new FF entry with that team really jumped several sharks.
@DaniPooo oh definitely. But so far I can only think of 1 or 2 games like Robocop that run even close to 60fps on console using UE5. And with what Part 3 would entail I doubt that would be a stable 60.
I think of it like how Rocksteady made Arkham Knight on UE3 look better than even some games today, by sticking with what they knew and modifying it to suit their needs.
@Bentleyma probably not tbh. It's been in development a while, and UE5 is power hungry. And it'll release on PS5 which rebirrh is already struggling on
@NEStalgia gameplay is outstanding imo. You could skin this is any game and it'd have got the same reviews. I dunno why people call it milking, 12 years of full development is expensive. Given the sales aren't what's expected I doubt its made much
It's a shame, the ebola outbreak in 2026, and the mass world riots against the world governments in 2027 will see this delayed until 2029 earliest.
On a hopefully serious note, that's not a bad turnaround for what have been some massive games.
Well gives me time to work down the backlog.
Sounds about right. Completes the remake series just before the PS5 era ends and with enough time to put together a full remake collection for PS6's day one lineup. Going to be interested to see how Part 3 plays out. Many times the third part of a trilogy is the weakest, imo, but Rebirth was a big step up from Remake so hopefully the conclusion is even better.
“Boy I sure hope I’m not dead by the time the third game comes out!” (🤔)
@NEStalgia This is such a clown take. Anyone that thinks jamming the original FF7 into whatever the newest, shiniest dev engine is, with no other changes to gameplay or script would result in anything other than a laughing stock is deluding themselves. I admit it would be funny to see Cloud and the gang leave Midgar, and then take 30 steps to arrive at the next town though.
Once the remake series is finished, history will be very kind to it. The gameplay, voice acting, and graphics are all phenomenal. The story threads that are added and fully fleshed out are improvements to the original that elevate the characters to being more likable members of the cast than the original. The controversies arise over the unresolved mysteries that, after completing Rebirth, I have full faith Square will stick the landing on in part 3, and deliver a satisfying resolution.
@Andy22385 Exactly though. Milking one game for a drawn out 12 years trilogy doesn't make sense. If you put all 3 together in the end, will there be a lot of padding? More hours doesn't always mean better. Heck they copied 13% it off xiv arr even deleting quests and streaming others before end Walker because it was just to big and bloated.
I didn't say the milking was successful financially, only that the intention to milk it for cash drove the decision to split it into 3, 8 years ago. But that also is why the sales are lackluster. People lost interest except the hardcore fans but this series has way too big a budget to be little more than a fan service project. It's an awkward place.
@greengecko007 I did say modernizing gameplay.
I'm not really talking about what the game is, though. I'm taking about dragging out what was announced as a remake of an old game for over a decade and splitting it into 3 padded games. There is literally no other example of any game doing that. It's bizarre.
As an example Demons souls didn't need 3 games and 12 years to remake the original game in a state of the art engine is what it took to take a classic and refresh it for the state of technology and make it new. Usually a remake is exactly that. The original game remade and updated qol to adapt to modern conventions.
Remake it, reimagine it, whatever. But why do it in a trilogy other than to milk it for all they can?
That should give me time to finish Remake and Rebirth and FF16 for good measure
@NEStalgia Your own comparison highlights the differences. Demon's Souls PS5 is a remake of a then 10 year old PS3 game. FF7 Remake is a PS4 remake of a then over 20 year old PS1 game. Remaking FF7 involves remaking nearly everything. The world and environments of the original game are not scaled with realistic proportions due to hardware constraints at the time.
The game's story takes the cast on a trip across and through an entire planet. To make that scale believable a staggering amount of work is required. The team involved clearly understands this, and that you also need to fill your world with content. I don't want FF7 Remake to feel like a series of locations crammed into the size of my neighborhood for the sake of finishing development faster. And neither do I want to simply traverse from story point A to B in a huge empty world. The logical conclusion is to create an ambitious open world JRPG that captures the same feeling that was created in 1997, but in the 2020s.
I'm confident there will eventually be an all in one package for the entire FF7 Remake series, likely at the same time part 3 releases. Anyone too disturbed by not having the full story now can wait until then. I'll happily play and experience the game in chunks if it means I can do it earlier. See you in 2027.
@greengecko007 There's a balance in games between being large and being too large. Most games these days get that balance wrong. Assassin's Creed Odyssey syndrome where a game has a huge empty open world when a tighter environment would actually make the game density better paced. Yakuza series where much of the games are in cramped Kamurocho but feel large and fresh is a great example.
I don't mean that this series should be that dense, but there's a difference between what's needed to make the game scale feel large, even xv felt perfectly huge, vs bloat to pad something to 3 sequels to try to maximize its retail life.
I haven't seen rebirth yet, and I likely won't until 2027 as you said, since I'm waiting until it's all there, but the review here and elsewhere and many commenters have talked about it having that open world bloat. I know some day it's perfect but if Rob says there's bloat, and other critics agree,I Believe them, and it just speaks to the padding and more is better mentality. Sometimes there's a right length of time both in play time and wait time to experience a story.
I've played about 5h if remake before deciding to save it until it's all there. Tough I thought they're was 1-1.5 years left to Wait, but, I liked what I played, so I'm not knocking the series in general, but the trilogy decision really is unnecessary and isn't really doing favors to the game IMO.
You know damn well though that Sony will have a special edition of FF7 Remake Trilogy PS7 you know they will I'm calling it now. And if it has lights like PS5 they should be that lifestream green with a Matt black finish.
@McBurn I finished the game in 40 hours, indeed there was way too many bloating, but you could have skipped it all
@Skeletor85: You're right of course, but I'm just not that type of gamer.
I hope that Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 will be available for PC on the same day as for PlayStation.
@Bentleyma
If Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 is made in UE5 then the game will be locked at 30fps because PlayStation 5 isn't strong enough to run games made in UE5 at 60fps
@NEStalgia You sure are one big negative nancy making an issue out of nothing other than impatience. If they were really trying to milk it they would've gone and made it into 5 or 10 parts but no because they knew the rule of 3. Also it is not like Square Enix doesn't have multiple teams working on Final Fantasy games which is how we got FF16 from CBU 3.
@greengecko007
Completely agree with everything you have said. This is a story being reimagined and expanded, and can stand on its own as an expertly crafted tale with little to no knowledge of the original game. But it will be three games, not intended for a single playthrough.
Complaints of bloat in a huge jrpg are almost rediculous, its a pretty much an accepted part of the jrpg experience and part of the enjoyment of the title. Its like asking Sega to make 'Like a Dragon' with just the story missions. Such people are missing the point and should just go play a narritive action game and leave jrpg's to those of us that enjoy the format.
Whilst we are disussing this game, its pretty damning that theres no mention on Push of its domination of sales in Japan this month, selling 3x the amount of the 2nd place title (Princess Peach). They were quick to suggest it was a failure based on last months figures, which only included a few days of sales, but now the figures dont support their 'anti rebirth' rhetoric, they are silient.
@NEStalgia “ Shenmue III came out 2 years later”
It actually came out 4 years later in 2019.
@Titntin “ Complaints of bloat in a huge jrpg are almost rediculous, it’s a pretty much an accepted part of the jrpg experience and part of the enjoyment of the title. It’s like asking Sega to make 'Like a Dragon' with just the story missions. Such people are missing the point and should just go play a narritive action game and leave jrpg's to those of us that enjoy the format.”
I do think the complaints are earned. While bloat is very much what makes JRPGs… well JRPGs. You have to find a balance. Like a Dragon finds a very good balance in bloat, and you can easily run from story mission to story if you choose to. It bloat very rarely completely stop player progression. Only a few times it happens. It left up to the player most of time if they really want pad out their play session.
I haven’t played Rebirth TBH… Simply cause I don’t play my PS5. I’ll probably wait till the PC version so I can play it on my 5090 and i9 16900k when those parts release. But from what I hear and seen from gameplay streamed over discord from my friend group. The bloat in rebirth completely stop story progression to stand still. Every new mundane task seem to involves a minigame now.
I can't wait. Just finished Rebirth and holy hell... I really want to see what they can pull off in part 3.
@Titntin I did see a report from Famitsu that Rebirth was the best selling game in Japan for March and wondered why Push Square never reported on it.
@AverageGamer "Complaints of bloat in a huge jrpg are almost rediculous, it’s a pretty much an accepted part of the jrpg experience and part of the enjoyment of the title. It’s like asking Sega to make 'Like a Dragon' with just the story missions. Such people are missing the point and should just go play a narritive action game and leave jrpg's to those of us that enjoy the format.”
@Nepp67 what's really weird to me is my opinion on milking this this for so long is extremely common, as is the opinion on the long turn around. It's only the circle jerk that is this thread with only a handful of commenters of only of people who love it as is that it seems weird
TBH the fact that this thread drew basically no traffic at all other than the super fans is kind of revealing for broadly uninterested people are. Threads on xvi drew far more traffic, comments, and, yes, arguments. That's the part that's really weird.
Seems like "3 is 3-4 years away" created 2 reactions. "Yes! Take forever! It's perfect! Become GTA!". And "scroll, scroll, meh, scroll."
Milking things forever into trilogies (see The Hobbit) was all the rage in media when they announced this in 2015. But with the long wait, that era came and went before they started releasing it.
It's not that I don't like remake, but I think 1 or 2 would have been more right sized. Like why how isn't doing a 3rd Norse game. With Dev time 2 is long enough.
@BowTiesAreCool You are replying to the wrong person with that quote
@AverageGamer didn't see the quotes, thought it was a really sensible thing you came out with! 😆
Jesus Christ, they might as well not bother
People complaining about how long the story will take to finish always makes me think of that Blizzard phone Meme
“Do you guys not have TV Shows?”
@__jamiie
It is best to wait for Final Fantasy VII Remake Complete Edition
@GamingFan4Lyf
Square Enix will announce remastered versions of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for PS6 before the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3
@NEStalgia negative and positive opinions about every new final fantasy game are extremely common. Every new entry is called out for being not a real final fantasy, or similar. But there's a lot of threads also saying this is the best final fantasy ever. The existence of either or your vague sense of how many comments were in threads that are a year apart aren't compelling arguments.
VII was considered the gold standard by the gaming community for decades, and while this game could have definitely cut out some side content and been smaller, there is no way the game could have cut out enough to fit the story beats of the rest of the narrative in. The side content just takes up much less development since it can exist in the areas that are already there
They could have crushed this series into two games only by cutting down on the expanded world, fleshed out characters, and of course the new plot threads.
The OG devs said they weren't interested in working on remake if they couldn't flex some creativity with the story, so the options were a less robust, less fleshed out two game series made by the B team, or going all in for a world that made all the wild hopping around from the original feel like it fit in a more realistic looking environment that is actually populated and made by the OG devs.
They picked the latter, because VII was the gold standard and why skimp on their biggest project?
Demon's Souls was a remake so tightly bound to the original it emulates movement, the size of assets, almost every step and every swing of your weapon is built to be identical to the original. I'm so glad SE isn't going that route for VII so I'm not sure why you brought it up.
I can just imagine the nightmare of a VII remake with the same artless adherence to the original that the Mana remakes has.
The only way they could have crammed it into
@Zuken What the announced was a remake. That's it. Then years later they announced it wasn't actually that. A lot of people take exception to that. I don't care either way though I dislike them announcing one thing and doing another.
But my issue is the practical effect of splitting that one game into 3. Which is, yes, milking it, like the Hobbit. They "Said" they couldn't do it in 2 games. Square says a lot of things that are very clearly business directed bs. Listening to square is like listening to politicians.
Could the have made the scope of the game compelling in 2? I really don't see why not. In fact trilogies of the past 20 years would have been better at faster pacing and less bloat. Would xv have been better with less bloat? Yes for sure and that was one game. More isn't always better.
Again I haven't played it beyond a few hours of remake and I won't until the last is out most likely and I still have the life consuming 14 to work through, but even if I happen to end up liking it, it really don't think the business angle of milking, yes, milking, decided in an era when milking everything into trilogies was common, it's having the effect they intended in sales.
Like it or not, no remake project of a single story has ever been dragged out into a trilogy other than afaik the Hobbit. Which.... Yeah.
Edit though I can't wait for the Internet war when tlou2 becomes a tlou2 part 1, part 2 and part 3 remake over 13 years and changes the story completely 😂
2027!? BUT I WANT IT NOW! 😂
@3Above I also do not necessarily expect a stable 60 fps, however, I won't rule out the possibility with a pretty strong trade off on the visual side.
I think they rather aim for the PS5 Pro to hit 60 while still looking decent and 4k 60 on the PS6 (with an optional graphics mode that increases visual fidelity with VRR), or something like that.
Because at that point in time, the PS5 will be their lowest tier and Square Enix will most likely have PS6 devkits already.
I really doubt that they wouldn't take the chance of rereleasing all three games on the PS6 (all upgraded to run and look better of course)
@DaniPooo I agree. Theres no way SE wont re-release all 3. I just wish it wouldnt be so long of a wait for part 3
@NEStalgia You know, I think Final Fantasy VII fans would have been perfectly happy with the game being remade as a regular remake (just rebuilt from the ground up to look an feel better) like Link's Awakening, the Pokemon remakes, the 3d remakes of the 2D Final Fantasy games or the Mario RPG remake to just name a few. I wouldn't even have complained if they went with a similar look to Ever Crisis if they kept the gameplay mostly the same as the original.
This would have been a much smaller undertaking for them to take on and they could have still released it as one complete game.
But instead they went and rebooted the game in this huge grandiose way that has many fans left unsure about what they even think about it.
On one hand I love seeing the characters in their full glory, the presentation is absolutely gorgeous! The voice actors did a great job and the graphics are great. There's a lot of nostalgia there and the way the world is represented is just wonderful.
But on the other hand, the gameplay does not have the same feel as I would have liked them to replicate from the original, the sense of progression and getting stronger has been greatly reduced and the story has been altered in very confusing ways. (especially for people not familiar with the original)
On top of that, the wait between each entry is so long that I with my heart condition have had thought's like "I sure hope that I'm alive long enough to play the third part".
@DaniPooo "Happy medium" is a phrase that Squeenix just doesn't understand. What everyone wanted and was hyped for in 2015 was exactly what you say, just an updated remake to make the game the same but not feel like a PS1 game. It would have been so much cheaper, cost justified, would have been great.
Some people love that they stretched it out like this, but it's so over the top with so much extra cost when there was absolutely no expectation beyond hubris that it should sell so grand. 3 full price games across 3 generations most likely......instead of remaking one game? I get why people like it, it's basically taking a loss to please hardcore fans, I guess by offering way more game than should ever have been financially justified to make. But it's going to have a debilitating effect on the franchise going forward. We're already seeing Square start to panic about Rebirth, and celebrating turning FF into GoW as seeing growth. You don't have to connect many dots to know where that combination leads in the management offices, and it's self induced by overestimating how much they can milk a remake, and how long that market is ripe to milk.
The funny thing is they long responded to requests to remake 7 by saying they didn't want to do it because they weren't sure how to handle it in a way that wouldn't disappoint fans by changing something, seeing that no matter what they did, any change would lead to outcry. Then they announced they're actually going to do it. And only years later said they're doing it in episodes. And then only after it released said "oh yeah, it's not really a remake, even though the title says remake, it's a reboot and a new story."
Which, the idea is cool, but, it's obvious they didn't know what they were actually making from the start, couldn't agree on what they were making, and even between the first and second game changed their mind about what they were making (and blew up the budget.)
Of course this is the company that nearly went bankrupt selling Marvel during peak Marvel. Their decision making is.....dubious to say the least.
@NEStalgia I pretty much agree with everything you just said (Which is unusual for me, I tend to find myself in disagreement with people regarding this topic)
It's so funny to me this whole situation, It seems like something that could have been so easily avoided.
But you're right their management clearly does not understand what they are doing anymore.
It's a shame because they used to be setting the trend with Final Fantasy, not blindly following it. And being successful in doing so.
At the same time it seems like they are giving more love to their other jRPG titles, like Dragon Quest and the upcoming Mana title. Why does Final Fantasy (arguably their flagship game) have to be the guinea pig these days?
And then they create IP like Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler what are doing a better job at carrying on the legacy of the Final Fantasy than the new Final Fantasy games does.
It's just so confusing to me
@DaniPooo To be fair, they have a new CEO who's cracking a lot of skulls. I don't know if it will end up better or worse for the players, but it's kind of hard to imagine them messing up more than they have for the past 15 years. He's rearranging a lot of development so things aren't 10 year log development hells anymore. He's also a self-admitted binger of, it was either FF or DQ in his school years, who relayed that his teacher told him he'd never get anywhere in life if he just played FF(or DQ) all the time, and now he runs Squeenix lol. So he's at least someone from the inside who gets it despite being a money man. I have high hopes, but he's also the ruthless financial type, so IDK how it'll go.
I think to understand what they've done with FF you have to look more at what the FF brand represents to them, especially in Asia. It's kind of like Pokemon but smaller. It's not really about the mainline games, it's about selling merch, and clothing, and mobile titles, and casino games. I think a big invisible push for them with doing what they do with the FF games is trying to groom that market for "the brand" as a bigger thing than the games. Which means ignoring what the game market is looking for and running experiments to use it to bolster "brand recognition among target demographics." But, trying that with Yokai is how Level 5 failed badly.
It's also an older problem than it seems. That's how Monolith, the Xenoblade guys owned by Nintendo now, ended up breaking away from Square. They were a lot of the people responsible for FF6, FF7, FF8, FF9, FF10. But what they really wanted to work on was Xenogears. And Square kept refusing and telling them they had to just crank out more FF instead, and eventually they just left. They still are in contact with Nomura outside square which is how they ended up getting Nomura to design the Torna faction and aesthetic for XC2, which was really weird having a key FF/KH designer working on a Nintendo game, lol.
@NEStalgia Well there is always hope I guess.
But if I look at it from a a Japanese point of view I only get more confused since they are the same company that has Dragon Quest which is even more of a merch seller there.. But they have always been super careful to be faithful to that franchise for some reason. And I would say that Dragon Quest XI was probably their most successful one so far..
It's odd that they would take such a different approach with Final Fantasy.
@DaniPooo I agree, although I've been highly worried about DQXII ever since they announced it would be "more adult" around the same time they announced FFXVI would be what it is. They could be making the same mistakes there, too. If the next DQ is a serious looking hack and slash, they're going to need Embracer to buy some more studios lol.
@NEStalgia Yeah I feel the same way, however a darker tone could work out if it's done right. Like a more Tim Burton or Majoras Mask kind of dark rather than a Dark Souls or Diablo dark.
It would still need to retain the charm. Otherwise it would be a disaster I think.
But with the recent news about the DQXII development I am also quite worried about what will become of the game.
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