On Sunday, when I asked Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi what he thinks of the current state of the franchise he built, his answer was short and blunt. “Final Fantasy XV is taking too long.”
Is it?
Well, when The Game Now Called Final Fantasy XV was first announced back in May 2006, the president was George W. Bush; Kingdom Hearts II was brand new; pop star Lorde was 10 years old; “next-gen” meant Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3; the latter two consoles hadn’t even come out yet; Hannah Montana had just debuted; Twitter didn’t exist; Saddam Hussein was still alive; Little Miss Sunshine was about to hit theatres; and gamers across the world were all eagerly awaiting a little video game called Half-Life 2: Episode 1.
So, yes, Mr. Sakaguchi, we all agree with you there.Final Fantasy XV is taking too long. And while it’s silly for any of us to complain that director Tetsuya Nomura and crew are taking their time to make this game as good as possible, it’s also becoming apparent that with every passing month, the stakes are getting higher, not just for the future of Final Fantasy but for the future of role-playing games in Japan as a whole. It’s impossible to understate how much pressure is on this game.
That sounds a bit dramatic, so let’s zoom out a bit. First, some facts:
1) Though there are still plenty of Japanese RPGs out there — hey, Tales of Xillia 2 came out just two weeks ago! — the landscape is pretty grim these days, especially for people who prefer big screens over handhelds.
2) A large percentage of Japanese developers — including Sakaguchi himself — have abandoned console development to chase mobile gaming and the Puzzle & Dragons phenomenon.
3) One huge hit could change everything.
It’s no secret that the video game industry is and has always been about trends, and for JRPGs, Final Fantasy has always been on the vanguard. When Final Fantasy went 3D, other JRPGs were right behind it. When Final Fantasy went to PlayStations 1 and 2, other JRPGs followed suit. And when Final Fantasy declined, with only one single-player main instalment in the series even coming out during the last generation of consoles, other JRPGs simply started to disappear.
That’s where we circle back to Final Fantasy XV, which might rank up there with Half-Life 3 as one of the most highly-anticipated video games of the generation. We haven’t seen much from the game yet — and sceptics have questioned how much of FFXV even exists — but what we have seen looks spectacular.
Yet the longer we have to wait for even the tiniest morsel of information about the fifteenth Final Fantasy, the more sceptical fans get. At E3 2013, Square blew everyone away with the snazzy re-reveal trailer for Final Fantasy XV, but now it’s been 15 months without a word. The cynicism is spreading. In a NeoGAF thread today reporting that Square Enix had created a new studio for console RPGs, the first post read: “Oh, so FFXV is finally entering development.”
Goddamn.
At that E3, a lot of us optimists thought the re-reveal was a sign FFXV was actually coming out in the near future. Who would have thought we’d go another year and a half without hearing another word, or even seeing another screenshot? In fact, I made a steak dinner bet with Wired’s Chris Kohler: I said it’d be out in 2014; he said 2015. Chances are, we’re both gonna lose. No steak for anyone.
Back to the point. Last year, as we entered the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One era, I theorized that Japanese game developers are all watching Final Fantasy XV. Much like in the PlayStation 1 era, when the critical and commercial success of Final Fantasy VII led to a surplus of RPGs trying to cash off the popularity of Cloud and Aeris, I predicted that the fate of console RPGs in Japan this generation will hinge upon this one titanic game.
Hajime Tabata, co-director of Final Fantasy XV, seems to agree. Last week in Seattle, I asked him about the landscape of RPGs in Japan, and his thoughts mirrored mine:
There’s probably a cultural explanation for why the Japanese market is shifting toward handheld or smartphone devices. It’s pretty unique to Japan, where everyone is transporting — they have long train rides and bus rides to work, they have time to play handheld devices, or they’re spending more time in their own rooms vs. spending more time in the living room.
There’s this kind of trend to being more accessible. But since I was very young, I’ve played games for long hours, I spent long amounts of time in front of the TV, delving into the games. So I enjoy those types of games, and I naturally want to create those types of games for the current generation and the next generations to come.
So in terms of whether console games will be received moving forward, it’s not to say that I don’t have any concerns at all, but I believe that it will really depend on how Final Fantasy XV does. Because I really want more people to enjoy games in the living room, on a big screen. If Final Fantasy XV doesn’t do well, perhaps there’s not much of a future for console games. It kind of really depends on how that goes.
Look at that last line one more time. “If Final Fantasy XV doesn’t do well, perhaps there’s not much of a future for console games.” Even if Tabata is over-reaching — even if he’s just referring to the future of Square Enix and not of the Japanese industry as a whole — that is an inordinate amount of pressure. The people behind Final Fantasy XV are carrying the weight of an entire genre on their shoulders. No wonder it’s taking so long.
I mean, think about it this way: If Final Fantasy XV flops, it could be the last console Final Fantasy we ever see. We might see the series go to mobile, or we might see Square downsize and look for a buyout, or maybe they will outsource the brand — I don’t know. But I do know that a lot is riding on this one.
I also know that I really want to see what this game is like. Final Fantasy XV looks ambitious, interesting, and innovative in ways that we haven’t seen in a very long time. What RPG fan doesn’t want to pick it up and again experience that feeling of wonder that used to come with every new Final Fantasy game? Who doesn’t want to dig into that world, play around with that combat, meet all the new characters on the bromantic road trip that the folks behind FFXV promise it will be?
As we talked, Tabata told me that Square’s HD remake of Final Fantasy Type-0 will be out by the end of next summer, and that they look at Type-0 as a stopgap between now and FFXV. That means we won’t see FFXV until, at the very earliest, fall of 2015. What’s more likely is that the game won’t be out in the United States until 2016.
2016. Think about that. The game announced on May 6, 2006, might not be out until close to May 6, 2016. And every year, expectations grow higher. Ten years in development? This had better be good. Even putting aside whatever development struggles the folks at Square Enix must be going through, ten years is an insane amount of time. (In standard AAA development, even four years is considered very long for a game.)
All eyes are on them. Everyone’s waiting for this game. And if it fails to live up to RPG fans’ very lofty expectations, the future landscape console JRPGs might look even more dismal than it does today.
No pressure.
Random Encounters is a weekly column dedicated to all things JRPG.
Comments
19 responses to “The Final Fantasy XV Problem”
I’ve wanted an outsourcing of the FF franchise for years. There are plenty of great smaller devs out there capable of doing it justice in a unique way, one that isn’t push forward for 40 hours and watch 2 out of the three party members fight without your control (FF13 was the worst game I played last gen). Even a western developer…
The thing is that those studious could do so without needing the final fantasy IP. The problem with the series atm is that square-enix is being terrible with managing it… The fact that they had THREE XIII games, and ended the trilogy by making one of the more respectable characters in the series play dress-up (AND increased her cup-size), makes that abundantly clear.
I think if they tried going back to their roots as to what makes a GOOD game instead of trying to make a profit, they’d be doing alot better.
They semi outsourced bravely default ands it was amazing.
Honestly IMO all they need is a quick kick to the behind. That is what happened to FFXIV, the fallout of version 1 cause them great internal soul searching to create FFXIV ver2, and I honestly think that is a great game. SE as a company still has the brainpower and talent to create something amazing. They just need direction, but just not from the shareholders tho.
Everyone batten down the hatches to prepapre for the imminent “IT HASN’T BEEN IN ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT SINCE 2006!1!!1!!!” comments.
This game is going to be a trainwreck, and part of me will be glad to see the fallout. It will either be the final nail in Square Enix’s development coffin, or a wake up call that they seriously need to take their entire creative process back to the drawing board.
On the other hand, it will be sad to see the once great fanchise crash to the ground for the next and most likely final time.
Squeenix.. Y u break my heart for?
I can already tell you now from this and the character designs, this is not going to be the game that changes the western impression of jrpgs.
For me I am hoping that what has been shown is only the equivalent of what would be midgar in ff7. Big city where you meet everyone and everyone’s journey starts but ultimately being able to leave on an epic adventure that doesnt end shortly after it starts a la ff13.
Yeah, I mean, those character designs were cool in the west too, like 10-15 years ago. Not so much anymore. The main problem with ff13 was the story and the really shit characters and dialogue written by a 7 year old.
I’m also fairly convinced squeenix cant write a good story with interesting/non-corny overdone characters. If your going to waste so much on a video game, hire a real writer, like an author or something, dont do it inhouse squeenix, you’re not good anymore (or what passed as acceptable back then, isnt considered good anymore, the bar has been lifted).
Bravely Default, the only squeenix JRPG in years to get praise wasn’t made by them.
At times I forget this game was even on the board. I do remember once upon a time final fantasy XIII had 3 titles planned with separate stories under the one set of lore. What was their reasoning for turning the fabula nova chrysalis arc into a game with 2 sequels to begin with
This was an image that stuck to me on FFXV announcement. Speaks so many levels.
http://i.imgur.com/Ce9TFtu.jpeg
I am looking forward to this. It looks different than the other ff games.
Do developers ever know when they have made/are making something that will definitely be extraordinarily well received? Did Miyamoto know that SM64 was going to be a smash hit? I really hope Square know what they’re doing, that they know what things will only benefit the game, and what crap they can leave out. And for the love of God, can anyone write a good non-convoluted storyline that is nicely paced and definitively concluded in one installment?
I haven’t played a Final Fantasy games since 8, but to me that trailer looks too serious. I want a goofy FF game, gun arms and Chocobos and airships, not skinny emo teen melodrama.
Although, the teleporting combat looks like it might be cool in an action game.
to me, the last few games of FF have been too mature and too beautiful for their own good. they need more of the fun from Bravely default and better gameplay.
XV will be the game that kills Squeenix, and they know it. Regardless of whether they finally release or cancel, they’ve now put themselves in a position where they will never recover from the ensuing fallout. I know people in my gaming circles that are waiting to trash the hell out of XV just because it’s Squeenix.
What I really hate about all of this is the lemmings mentality that J-devs maintain with Squeenix and Final Fantasy. I think if console development in Japan is going to survive, then the devs need to stop playing follow the leader with Squeenix, and maybe, just MAYBE start thinking for themselves.
I miss Squaresoft
Me too. Shareholders ruin everything which is silly cause they then make no money for their “safe” decisions.