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Date Posted: 18:26:49 09/30/04 Thu
Author: Eregil
Author Host/IP: host156-241.pool80181.interbusiness.it / 80.181.241.156
Subject: a few thoughts (with ff7/8/10/10-2 spoilers)
In reply to: Hitomi Yuki 's message, "Eh. Got a question." on 13:45:11 09/30/04 Thu

Speaking for myself: my faith in Square Enix being able to pull out good sequels ended with their first FF sequel ever - FFX-2. Thus, I would have probably not welcome any announcement of further FF pre/sequels. But admittedly, I am particularly upset because they chose VII (my favourite) rather than another. I can elaborate, if you don't mind reading a long post.

In FF7 you can answer every question about how things ended up simply by reasoning on elements of the game. Yes, this includes whether mankind survived or not. Hint: Aeris' smile.

The only open business in what happens in the FF7 world is what the characters choose to do in their lives. Any possibility of a Final Fantasy-ish kind of story (world in danger, chosen one, etc.) for a sequel requires new threats, new villain(s), new everything.

This has already happened in X/X-2 (X being a game that stood perfectly on its own) and has lead to a story (that of X-2) which is unlikely (how the @*$# was Vegnagun hidden down there for so long) and inconsistent (in X, people killed like Shuyin become fiends or unsents, and Shuyin became the shadow he is in X-2?! wtf?).

The story in X-2 is forced, too, because the whole point of adding things to the story was to put Yuna and Tidus together again - no matter how little sense it made from the FFX point of view. I shiver at the thought of whatever unlikely element SE might have put in AC, in the very possible case that they had decided to put Cloud and Aeris together again.

This has made me lose faith in Square Enix being able to pull out a good story in the upcoming VII-related games. That plays a big part in determining my feelings about those games, but it's not all.

There's the cash cow issue discussed earlier on this board. X-2 contains a huge number of references to VII (the name Shinra, hints to a possibility that Farplane energy is used like Mako in VII). What was the point? Connecting the two series? Nojima said so, but I don't buy it.
Any attempt to connect X to VII will fail, no matter how many elements added in X-2 for that purpose, when you find inconsistencies from the VII point of view. Either Nojima has forgotten everything about VII or is in bad faith, because he knows that the worlds can't be connected.
The whole point of the VII references was to make people talk about VII again, years after its first release. If sequels had been planned for IX, the references subtly inserted in X-2 would have been to IX.

Nojima's (or Square Enix's) subtle scheme was, in fact, very successful. Even before the release of X-2 in the West, pre-release FAQs on Gamefaqs boards suggested that people play VII (again or for their first time) while waiting for X-2. Other threads there and in many forums talked about the connection. At least one site (one I've seen) was opened to gather fan-made connection theories (e.g. how to resolve - badly - the poorly resolved or even unresolved issues in the connection as talked about by Nojima).

In short, what mattered to Nojima and, generally speaking, Square Enix, was not to produce a good story, a game with a good plot, or even to preserve the goodness of a previously released plot like that of VII. It was to renew gamers' interest into VII, before its pre/sequels were announced. Money over art. Me = upset. While I understand that Square Enix as a company has to make money to survive, as a fan I'm extremely disappointed that Square Enix now cares less about producing good works (good in depth) than they used to.

But back on topic. You mention FF8 as an example.

I think FF8 could use a sequel, because its ending has unresolved issues (like what if Ultimecia, before being killed, controlled Rinoa after the ending party). FF8 is possibly the FF game which offers the best opportunities for a sequel in the FF style.

Still, I would not have welcome a FFVIII-2 after FFX-2. Reasons include those discussed above: X-2 having a weak story, and the possibility that, had a FFVIII sequel been in the planning stage, Square Enix would have introduced connections to VIII in X-2!

I could only be hyped about a Final Fantasy sequel now if:

a) that sequel were to be the first - wait, in fact, this has happened. X-2, duh. I was hyped about that game. I had loved FFX, though. I might have grown to be hyped about a FFVII-2, before that game. Not as much a FFVIII-2 or FFIX-2 since I would have said "why not VII or X which I liked better?" :) But still, if previews had been good, I could have become very interested in VIII-2 or IX-2.

b) X-2 had been good and other-FF-reference-free.

Since a) is a thing of the past and b) hasn't happened, well. You know the buzz.

Final word: as I have already implied, as of now I'd love Square Enix more than I do in reality, if they had sticked to stand-alone FFs.

Hope this clarifies my position. Now let's hear yours. :)

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