Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Has Damaged The Final Fantasy Brand [Square Enix Believes That Final Fantasy XIV Has 'Greatly Damaged' The Franchise, But Did The Downward Spiral Actually Begin Years Ago?]

Posted on TFTS by Eric Abent on Tuesday, 27. September 2011 under: Computer/Console Gaming

There’s really no denying that Square Enix really dropped the ball on Final Fantasy XIV. Their latest Final Fantasy-themed MMO launched to terrible reviews and slow uptake to fans, and the bug-plagued game is still being fixed today. Make no mistake, no one has really been taking Final Fantasy XIV seriously, and Square Enix seems to finally be catching on.

In fact, it seems that they’re realizing that the need the treat the Final Fantasy franchise with more care, because they’re not doing the brand any favors by releasing broken games like Final Fantasy XIV. At a press conference in Japan today, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada addressed the many problems surrounding Final Fantasy XIV, saying the Final Fantasy brand has been damaged with it’s release:

The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged. 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.

If you ask me, I think it might be a better idea to ditch the notion of a Final Fantasy MMO altogether and just focus on creating great RPGs like the ones that made them famous. I’m not sure that I agree with the idea that Final Fantasy XIV is the game that damaged the Final Fantasy brand either – but that actually Final Fantasy‘s downward spiral began with the shift to 3D gaming.

Yes, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy IX are held in high regard by many fans out there, but Final Fantasy X started this trend of sexually androgynous main characters and throwaway storylines. It seems like, ever since Final Fantasy games started showing up on the PS2, the Final Fantasy series began losing the touch that made the NES and SNES-era games instant classics.

But what do you think? Has Final Fantasy XIV damaged the Final Fantasy brand, or did the damage take place long before Final Fantasy XIV was released? How do you feel about the huge number of Final Fantasy spin-off we’ve been seeing lately? Finally, do you think Square Enix can get back on track with the Final Fantasy brand? If you do, what do you think they need to do? Head down to the comments section and sound off!

Source

Ash
I could never finish FF7, it just didn’t compare in graphics or presentation to the SNES versions which kept me hooked from the intro. Never seemed able to get into 8 or 9 either. The graphics in the PSX era were terrible and the games presentation suffered as a result. Never owned a PS2, so I couldn’t speak for those games, but if they are worse than 7 or 8, I’m not missing anything. In the SNES days I’d wake up having dreams I was Chrono and couldn’t stop playing FF6 for weeks and months (glad Warcraft never appealed to me in that way). Haven’t felt like that about RPGs until Mass Effect 2. Final Fantasy brand had been gone to me and was damage since 7 and poor efforts like Crystal Chronicles on Gamecube imo.
Aiden A.
The brand is way too used to be succefull and to have profit on this really solid fan base. They need to get shaken in terms of sales and popularity so they fully realise they have to step up.
Nin
It was damaged the moment they took the series away from what made it popular, namely exploration and self-contained stories, and started prioritising graphics and a more universal appeal that appealed to non-gamers.
X was not a Final Fantasy game
X-2 was an abomination
XII was a brief return to tradition with a poor combat system
XIII is just utterly dreadful. A pretty button-basher with the worst ever FF storyline.
tom
love love love FFVII, VIII and IX (along with the older snes/nes games obviously)
i quite enjoyed XII, i actually thought the battle system was excellent, it was the unbearably awful story and one dimensional characters that brought it down for me – a fault that has been consistent since X (which was a massive turd). X was definitely where they dropped the ball.
Chris Johnson
Download spiral? I think the title is supposed to say downward spiral!!