5 things Final Fantasy XV needs in order to equal the older games

"It's been a long time... Too long. Not much longer..."

That phrase at the end of the Final Fantasy XV trailer still gives me chills because it has indeed been too long. Up until now the game looks like it's going to be epic, but at the same time fans of the Final Fantasy games of the golden years (late 90's) are still pondering about if this one will really be the revival of the franchise we were waiting for. Up until now everything points to a resounding "yes", but there are still a few things that the game will need in order to be up to par with its older brothers, so let's see what are those "things" that are mandatory for the newest entry in the series.

Garden Festival (FFVIII)

1) Diversity of Events
Out of every Final Fantasy game in the 90's, we got a lot more than just fighting non-stop in order to advance the storyline. For example we have events like Fort Condor in FFVII, helping Selphie do the garden festival in FFVIII and even the spooky doom train in FFIII (VI). What diversity of events means is that the game needs to put us in all kinds of situations that add value to our experience and give us a little more than just punching our way through the story. The protagonists in FFXV are on a cross-country road trip, so if Square Enix doesn't do this, they will be missing a great opportunity.

How close is FFXV from this?
It seems real close, judging for the city parts, demo gameplay and especially from the footage that shows how the game will be while infiltrating a military base.

Celes thinking about ending her life (FFIII or VI)

2) Dramatic and touching situations
Drama and touching/sad/cute moments are part of what made the old Final Fantasy games so special.Tifa and Cloud talking about their childhood dreams while sitting in the park where they used to play in FFVII and the scene where Celes is singing alone at the top of the hill thinking about ending her life in FFIII (VI) are great examples of AAA story telling and Final Fantasy XV will need this in order to captivate players to a point where the game becomes unforgettable.

How close is FFXV from this?
It seems too early to tell, but at least we know that Noctis has a seemingly deep background story involving his family and the war which shows a lot of promise. Let's just hope that there are a lot more stories like that.

Treno: The Dark City (FFIX)

3) Towns that feel alive
Towns are a big part of what encompasses a good rpg game and as older Final Fantasy games have taught us, a good town in a FF game is one where everywhere we explore we find something cool, be it an item inside a house, a side story or just a cleverly placed dialogue. As FFXV is a next (current) generation game, fans expect it to have towns that mean a lot more than mere resting hubs (I am looking at you FFXIII!).

How close is FFXV from this?
The FFXV demo proved that this can be done in the game, as the garage had a lot of detail even though it was just a small place. They only need to keep this level of detail on the cities that Noctis and his friends will explore and this requirement will be fulfilled.

Zach's side quest (FFIII or VI)

4) Side quests that actually mean something
Older FF games had some side quests in them and most of them had a good purpose and reward, rather than just killing x number of enemies for experience points or fetching something for an item. We all know that the game will be open world and that this type of design makes it hard to add significance to everything, but at least they could throw some quests now and then that makes us feel that we did good when we decided to stray from the main story of the game.

How close is FFXV from this?
This one is really an unknown factor, so we will all know about it when we actually play the full game. If they manage to pull this off even when the game has an open world design, they will definitely receive a lot of appreciation for it.

Sephiroth (FFVII)

5) Have cool and admirable characters
From the days of old up to our present time. Rpg fans have always appreciated cool and/or admirable characters that we can feel catharsis for. Be it a brave girl with a troubled past, an iron clad military general that fights his/her rival on an epic fight or just a mercenary that redefines the term "coolness", FFXV definitely needs to have something along those lines or else it will not be as memorable as its predecessors.

How close is FFXV from this?
Well, the protagonists are cool, but we need some other characters because the heroic/evil factor can't just fall on them alone. The footage where they show the characters going through a military facility shows a mysterious lancer type character (later revealed to be a girl called Aranea Highwind) at the very end of the video so yeah, we may get some cool characters after all.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake: The Hard Challenges Ahead

Most of us were astounded when the very much acclaimed remake was finally announced at the Sony E3 conference, but after all the celebration I know many of us started thinking about it and began asking ourselves "How are they specifically going to do this?". The question comes from the fact that all of the Final Fantasy games in the 90's were more about design and style than graphics, so if this is to be a remake... What hurdles will they have to go over in order for this remake to be as good as we expect it to be? That question sets a chain reaction of doubts like the ones you will see below.

To be turn based or not to be?

The first thing that most likely passed through the mind of many fans is the fighting system. Back in the day Final Fantasy 7 was all about classic turned based combat, but in today's day and age Square Enix isn't so comfortable with it anymore. Ever since Final Fantasy XI Online, they have been transitioning from turn based to a more action oriented approach, only giving Final Fantasy XIII and XIII 2 a shot at the old school style just to turn it back into action based again with Lighting Returns. What Square Enix will do with a game as big as Final Fantasy 7 is anybody's guess, but if I had to give a definitive answer I would say that they will stick to turn based, but try to mix it up somehow or at least make it look fresh. They can't just go full action rpg on the game because then they would have to sacrifice a lot of depth that the game needs to be as epic as the original one, but hey that's just my humble opinion.

Scaled world map or something more realistic?

The world in Final Fantasy 7 is really big for a linear game, but the way it is connected has a lot to do with how fun it is to explore. Back in the day, the scaled world map not only served for grinding purposes, but also for finding hidden events and secrets that ranged from simple stuff like finding a hidden item to whole scenarios like Fort Condor. Now the people at Square Enix have to be thinking on how to do this without it looking dated. They know that they need a way for players to go from place to place, but they can't really go fully realistic (or with a boring menu based system) here because that will basically slash away 30% of the game. I know that this is a remake and it does not have to be a carbon copy of the original one, but in this aspect they will need to be really smart or else they will break the whole thing.

Materia system...Simplified?

The materia system is one of the most fun skill systems in any JRPG. It is kind of complex when you try it for the first time, but as you get good at it you will find all sorts of crazy materia combinations while you look for one that gives you an edge in battle. Now in the world we live in today, a system as complex as this can be a turn down for many players that could lack the time or patience to efficiently work with it, so it is quite possible that the developers of this remake are already thinking of ways to re-engineer the materia system in order to cater to both the fans and curious new players. There is also a chance that the system will be split in two, with the original version for fans of the game and a simpler version for anybody that feels like the materia system is too complex for them. A third and very distinct possibility is to re-make the whole system, but I personally see that as very unlikely.

Is dungeon complexity at risk?

One of the best things in Final Fantasy 7 was how good the dungeon and explorations parts where. From climbing through a mountain of junk and storming into a giant government building, to a Japanese styled tower and even a running train in a collision path, the way in which we experienced all of these places was very dynamic and had a lot of essence to it because they all were unique. Now the problem begins when translating all of those places from pre-rendered environments to full 3D ones. Will we be able to explore Don Corneo's mansion at will, peeping into every room? (Don't look at me like that, I know everybody will do that). Will we be able to invade the Shinra building in the same way we did in the original game with all the different paths and details to find? Will exploration in dungeons and places be as good as the original or will we find ourselves running through generic versions of these places? Square Enix has to give a lot of attention to this issue because it is not only about looking pretty, but also feeling like we are playing through a broader and enhanced version of the memorable places we used to know.

Are mini games and micro events at risk?

Final Fantasy games in the 90's were linear yes, but they had such a great variety of micro events and small stuff to do that they almost felt like they weren't. So how can Square Enix bring this to the remake? I know we are all hoping that they do so just like they did back then in the Square Soft days, but there's a possibility that they could take the lazy path and just throw a bunch of QTE events which is scary for any Final Fantasy fan out there and even more so when such a big game like this has a 2017 release date. Will they be hard pressed to sacrifice some of the awesome stuff that mini games and micro events added to the game or will they grind up, rise to the challenge and give us all the neat stuff? That my friends, is just a matter how much they want this game to succeed.

Wrapping it up

Will these challenges be conquered? Nobody knows...

The Final Fantasy 7 remake shows a lot of promise and has put all of our imaginations to work, but we also have to be aware that this is a big time production and a very long game. Let's just hope that they have been working on this for a long while now, or at least enough for it to be as loyal to the original as possible while giving us that little extra that the original couldn't on the technology we had back then. For now let's just hope and see because if the house of Final Fantasy does well in all of the previously mentioned challenges, we will be well on our way to one of the most epic games ever.


Bonus Stage!

Here I share you people, a video made by a friend of mine with his impressions of the FF7 remake reveal. It's really simple, but straight to the point.

Final Fantasy XV Has The Old School Vibe Going

Since the new Final Fantasy XV trailer was released, there have been mixed reactions especially coming from long time fans. Some of these fans (myself included) go for an optimistic approach, looking forward to this game bringing back the lost feeling that Final Fantasy games used to have for us while on the other hand there are those who state that the game looks like it will be something too far off what a Final Fantasy game is supposed to be. When Final Fantasy XIII was released it was not a bad game, but we quickly spotted how different it was from the original Final Fantasy style and far off from turn based combat or leveling systems the real difference was in the game's atmosphere itself. Today we are going to see why Final Fantasy XV looks like it will give the late 90's early 00's fans some loving in its own way.

Combining both the 2013 trailer and the recent one, we can begin to see some of the old school vibe piling up with this game. We have to take into account that Square Enix has been little by little giving us classic Final Fantasy material since they released Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn and the trend isn't showing any signs of stopping. Based on this fact let's see some aspects that support this point of view.

• Many fans are complaining about the game world looking "too modern" for a Final Fantasy game, but if you take a moment to remember some places in Final Fantasy VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and XII, it basically looks the same with a modern setting that features an architectonic style that crosses between modern and medieval with places taking shapes that range from cathedrals and temples to contemporary buildings you could see in any city on the world. The same thing happens with the strange characters with heavy pieces of armor that appear on the 2013 trailer. They look like knights and not robots as the "ultra-modern" approach may suggest.

• There is a nice and interesting contrast in clothing between several characters. Some of them are wearing ceremonial robes while others go for the modern style. This is very noticeable in the 2013 trailer where a faction of "priests" are confronted by a group of agents wearing modern business suits who kind of look like the Turks in Final Fantasy VII. It is also worth noting with the characters that appear on the recent trailer as they are all dressed in modern attires except the main character who has the over the top clothing that is classic on any Final Fantasy main character. The clothing in this game seems similar to the fans but fresh at the same time which is a good thing.

• Another aspect that shows that the game hasn't gone all the way into a modern environment are the weapons we see on both trailers. We have the classic big sword, smaller blades, fist weapons with the occasional use of guns. In fact the big sword that the main character uses looks like a cross between Cloud's buster sword and Squall's gun blade, so this character was most probably made with those two guys in mind so there's some nostalgia points right there.

• Giant creatures in both trailers gives the same vibe that we had on Final Fantasy IX when the summons took the center stage in the game. After that entry in the series, summons began to get smaller, but with XV it seems like  the giant being approach is back in style so who knows what we will see when the game is finally released. This time even normal fauna and flora in the game can look huge depending on the place you are in.

• The use of the car is something that has been talked about in both negative and positive ways. The curious aspect of this feature in the game is that if you look at it from a practical perspective it is the same as using a car on Final Fantasy VIII, only that this time you will really drive it around while in the classic game it was just used to move around the world map. This means that the open world structure that the new game will have is kind of a modern version of the giant world maps we used to have on classic Final Fantasy games.

• The Final Fantasy arpeggio at the end of the trailer says a lot to the fans. It is sort of a reassurance that all the classic nooks and crannies of the old games will make a comeback on this one. It shouldn't surprise you if the final game includes the classic fan fare (which was absent in XIII) and even some of the menu sounds effects that accompanied the classic games.

• This may not be something that is cast in stone, but the purpose the characters show in the second trailer, and the impression that is going to be a long trip in order to do what they plan to do is quite similar to the pilgrimage that Yuna takes in Final Fantasy X. The only difference between the two journeys is that on FFX it was a linear path, while in XV it will be an open world approach which will give players the freedom to explore the world at their own pace. 

Wrapping it up

The long awaited Final Fantasy game is the best bet we have at having a current generation Final Fantasy game that still caters to the fans of the series. The game is not the classic style turn based Final Fantasy game that some fans want, but if we open our minds a little and embrace some of the modern aspects that this game will feature there is a great chance that we will enjoy this game as much as we did with the classics and later on with Crisis Core. Let's just hope that the final product lives to our expectations and it becomes the success that Square Enix needs in order to feel confident enough to keep up with the jrpg effort.

Bonus Stage

In case you haven't seen the trailers, here you have both of them so you can get a sense of how the game will be.

E3 2013 Trailer

2014 TGS Trailer

5 JRPG Franchises We May Never See on Consoles Again

Although it is a niche market, role playing videogames (rpg) have always captivated the minds of many gamers around the world. Be it, because of their epic stories, likable characters, secrets to unlock or a deep sense of strategy, this genre is one that may never die. Still, not everything is peachy as Japanese rpg games are still having problems getting into the home console market. This side of the genre has not experienced any type of console boom since the beginning of the previous generation when Microsoft got a lot of j-rpg exclusives for the Xbox 360. Nowadays big scale console j-rpg games can be counted with one hand mostly because most of the fan favorite franchises that rpg gamers would love to see in the current generation have been abandoned, changed completely or downsized to a handheld or casual mobile game. These are 5 of those sagas that we may never see again unless some kind of miracle happens.

Note: This list focuses on the games that are very unlikely to make it to a home console. I know that some handheld titles are superb, but the focus here will be big scale console experiences like Nino Kuni, Tales of Xillia or the Persona series. 

Some will say that turn based battles are slow, but I think that the ATB system makes them fun.

1) Final Fantasy Games (Turn based - Classic Style)

Final Fantasy can basically be called the banner flag of the entire genre. The problem is that the franchise has changed in such a drastic way that many fans won't even recognize it as the saga they knew and loved. Evidence of this change came with the creation of Final Fantasy XIII. That was a time when the creators themselves admitted that they had been influenced by games like Call of Duty a, thing that is still daunting to many players out there. Another thing been that infamous moment in 2008 when the president of Square Enix gave a warning to all employees about the company focusing on mainstream experiences or "facing the consequences". All of this became a wave of change that basically washed off an entire saga away. Up to this day even though Square Enix has pledged to go back to their roots, it is very unlikely to see a full scale turn based FF game ever again on consoles as we did on previous generations.

The Koudelka/Shadow Hearts franchise sort of gave a new face to the genre at the time.

2) Shadow Hearts

Shadow Hearts is an j-rpg series that started with Koudelka which was an horror styled rpg (PS1) then, the game got its name changed to Shadow Hearts and spawned 3 games (keeping the dark undertones that identified it) and making it a series. This is another one of those j-rpg franchises that died off with the PS2 and basically disappeared. Reasons why don't see it nowadays are that its main publisher Midway, went bankrupt and was bought by Warner Bros. Also to put a little more salt in the wound, Shadow Hearts developer, a company called Sacnoth (later known as Nautilus) doesn't exist anymore as it was dissolved by its owner Azure (a pachinko machine company).

Grandia 2 was one of the games that helped the Dreamcast have the initial success it did.

3) Grandia

Grandia was one of those j-rpg games with great visuals, an intuitive and fun battle system and stylish game play. The first Grandia game was made in order to compete to the rpg giant Final Fantasy VII (appearing on both the Sega Saturn and the PS1) and later on, it became one of the most cherished franchises on the genre. The first two Grandia games are considered classics, but many fans believe that from that point on the series went into a downward spiral that killed the franchise popularity as gamers felt that Game Arts was stepping away from the original formula that made the game so popular. Another heavy blow was that the series original creator died in 2011 so the basic essence of the game may had died with him. Up until now there have been no announcements or even comments regarding the revival of this great series. It is important to mention that even though the first 2 Grandia games were the ones that people see as classics, the third one was not bad and it was just a casualty of the decrease in popularity that the series was suffering.

This was one of those with tightly packed towns where you had to play with the camera at all times.

4) Breath of Fire

Breath of Fire was Capcom's contender to the crown back in the j-rpg days, having its own best titles through the 16 to 32 bit eras. It had good anime styled graphics, an excellent story and well developed characters that made us feel like they had a very deep sense of purpose, all in an environment that had a kind of Celtic mystical mood. The series took a dive in Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter (which was praised in Japan, but shunned in America because it went too far from the original formula) and after that, gamers never heard of a new classic Breath of Fire game again. Capcom announced that they would be releasing Breath of Fire 6 in 2014, but the game looks nothing like the original and many fans fear that it will just be a casual mobile game with the Breath of Fire name on it. Right now, as half of Capcom is at sale, there is a slight possibility that an rpg-focused studio could get the rights to the game and make it right again, but it is still a very long shot.

A game that looked beautiful back in the days where pre-rendered backgrounds were still the rage.

5) Legend of the Dragoon

Legend of the Dragoon was one of the most acclaimed j-rpg games on the PS One. It had very advanced visuals for its time (exploiting the pre-rendered background trend), a long and interesting storyline and quality aspects that rivaled those of the Final Fantasy games of the time. The game was supposed to turn into a series and get a sequel, but for undisclosed reasons, Sony broke up the group and just cancelled the project in order to relocate resources. Now at our present day and after almost 15 years since it was first released, Sony hasn't shown any interest in reviving the franchise other than a PSN re-hash of the original game. Even Shuhei Yoshida has expressed that the game is one of his best memories in the time he has been working at Sony as he was part of the original team, but not even Yoshida seems to be able to bring this great j-rpg back from the grave.

My hat is of to Namco, because they have never given up on their Tales saga.

Wrapping it up:

Even though this list looks very pessimistic, I have to tell you people that this list was much larger. This article began with 10 j-rpg games that we may never see on consoles, but was later on reduced to 5 because half of them got at least mentioned or referenced meaning they could still come back, like Wild Arms for example. The j-rpg side of the genre is slowly gaining its strength back and it may be just a matter of time before we see it blooming again. Let's just make sure that we put our money where our mouths are and support the games when they come out.

Video game releases that never come. Why does this happen?

Right now, If you can think about one or more video games that you have been waiting for since like forever, then you are one of the many that ask themselves why do sometimes some game franchises just vanish, leaving only good memories and a pile of game release rumors.

At first it may seem to be just coincidental business decisions, because like every business, video games must evolve, but if one looks a little further, one can see that almost every game company has a game (or several) that they just abandoned, even when it was a big hit money printing machine.There are many possible reasons that we can think about and we are going to see some of them along with some theoretical solutions. You will be amazed on how different it could be and how perplexing it becomes as the opposite happens.

Note: This article is just a theoretical analysis based on common sense and it does not claim to be a video game business guru. This is more just like one of those thoughtful conversations that you could have with your friends when talking about games over some slices of pizza on a gaming afternoon.

Some companies easily become the Ted Dibiase of the video game industry.

All about the Benjamins

This one is the most obvious reasons so let's get it out of the way. Some games are left in development hell because there are no financial means or financial will "to do it correctly". This happens a lot with games that were pretty ambitious at their time and were only possible because they were cheaper to do back then. By ambitious it doesn't necessarily mean giant worlds or branching game play with a lot of options. It could just mean a game with a style of game play that is complex to do (even on a linear game standard) and takes time and resources in order for it to be interesting which seems to be a problem due to rising development costs.

Solution:

They need to stop thinking about those games in terms of the latest graphics, sound and effects and just make them prettier than their original versions without making a crater on their bank account. Make it look nice enough, but focus on building upon the game play that the game already had. So in summary, the solution is to re-route resources to the core elements of the game itself instead of the visuals and technical aspects. The fans will not mind if the game doesn't look like the a graphic powerhouse, they just want to continue the story, enjoy its game play and just have fun. Gamers fell in love with their creation, meaning story, characters and game play and not its polygons and resolution. An example of this is the new Legend of Zelda for the Wii U that was shown on this year's E3. The game looks gorgeous even on a platform that has a lot less power than the other rival consoles.

A quote that seems kind of hard to accept nowadays.

Change for the sake of change

This one came like a wave that drowned many of the previous fan favorite game franchises, specially between the DC/PS2/GC/Xbox and the PS3/Xbox360/Wii generations. Be it because of a change of president, CEO, owner, etc, some companies dumped great gaming franchises just because they did not fit into their new philosophy even if the game was almost guaranteed to be successful up to that point. Others killed franchises by changing them so much that they became rejected, thus turning them into franchises that did not sold copies anymore. The worst thing is that at the end of the road the blame is put on game itself and not the decisions made by the game company. It's like an army blaming a soldier for a blunder caused by something they ordered him to do. Change is good, but not every time. Sometimes it is best to not try to fix what is not broken.

Solution:

For them to explore the notion of NOT abandoning money making franchises just because they have an urge to make things different for the fun of it. The best thing to do is to assign small teams to make those games while keeping moderate production values and changing formats if needed (digital is cheaper). Make a study of where the fans of that game are lingering and aim for that, followed by clever marketing strategies, viral advertising and a good dose of screen time that could attract new crowds, specially on the web. Take for instance what Square Enix did with Bravely Default. The game was released on handheld where development is cheaper, but carried everything that their JRPG games are known for and became a great success that even changed the philosophy that the company had at the moment.

Moral of the story: Do not play with your fan's feelings.

Games held as trump cards

Some companies give the impression that they know they have a wanted game on their hands, but they sit on it because they expect to use it at a later time if needed. So they hold the game for a long time, limiting themselves to make small announcement and comments just to keep the fans happy and speculating. They let some "leaks" to go public and spawn some articles on the gaming media or maybe make a reference to the game on some random interview, all done with the purpose of keeping the game alive on stasis, sort of like Han Solo frozen in carbonite.

Solution

They need to realize that freezing or delaying a game is something that will only work for 3-5 years tops. Games that go longer than that away from the spot light start to fade, as gamers take refuge in other games and little by little lose interest in the original idea, up to the point when they can begin to see it as something "passe" and just plain ignore it when it finally comes out. This is the case of franchises like Duke Nukem and even the notorious Daikatana in the 90's. If they need to take a temporary break from a franchise, that is understandable, but coming out of the blue with a 10 year old concept and expecting gamers to go crazy over it would be like leaving a lover and saying "I will be back later" then come back 10 years after and expect that person to be single and waiting for you, it just doesn't work that way. So the bottom line is... If history has told us that something doesn't work then why do it?

War never changes, not even on the office.

A civil war of games 

This is one very theoretical reason, but quite possible if one takes into account how humans think. It is in human nature to protect our own things and with video game new I.P's (Intellectual Property) it isn't any different. New developers and rising talents will want to bring their ideas to the table and will most likely repel anything that means them living under the shadow of a successful franchise from the past. One example is the rumored problems that Hideo Kojima was having with the team assembled to create a new Zone of the Enders game as the group was not following his vision and this ended with Kojima losing interest in the project which is now dead. So things been like this mean that newer designers and project managers will try to influence the company into making new things, their things instead of building upon the already established. It is a natural instinct, but it is not always productive.

Solution

To be mindful of each of their employees on the creative/development department and see what are their influences and vision as game developers. Be sure to put the right people in the right projects. Do some assessments to get to know the members of their company and see how they react to different development options. Also get their strongest developers to feel comfortable with what they are doing and see how they influence those around them. Then when they finally have a profile of each of the members of their development team, they can assign teams more efficiently and have an all around better working environment which will make games to turn out better and be developed faster and with greater passion. Otherwise it would be a random affair, like putting plumbers to work as clothing designers.

Some of our childhood heroes are not there as we knew them anymore.

The heroes of the past been long gone

This one is all about the passing of time. As years come and go, some of the great developer teams that made some of our favorite games are little by little disbanding or changing. Other times, big-time developers retire or go into making their own developing studios for various reasons (some of them included in the things previously mentioned). Like Team Silent (original Silent Hill development team) disbanding,  Hironobu Sakaguchi (original Final Fantasy creator) forming his own team with Mistwalker, Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil creator) going solo with The Evil Within, Keiji Inafune (Mega Man's creator) leaving Capcom and even Koji Igarashi (Castlevania creator) leaving Konami in order to make games he wants to make without creative constraints and limitations.

Solution

The masterminds behind games can easily move to greener pastures, but sadly the franchises can't as they are property of the company itself, so what it would be good thing to do is for the game companies to publish the game, but lease the development of that game to its previous creator so that the game keeps its potential and both parties profit from the deal. It is something that will be barely noticed by gamers and all the popularity and loyal following the game has will be left unchanged, making it a win-win situation for everybody. In the case that the artist is not available any more, the best course of action would be to study his creation and come up with a game that feels fresh, but is true to its roots.

Wrapping things up

If you have a game that you crave as a fan, but never see it released, that game could pretty much be part of any of the situations previously explained. The industry is a hard place and the battle between business and creativity still rages on. As gamers, the least we can do is use our greatest weapon which is the net and show the gaming companies that these games are wanted and still mean business. If it worked for the Mass Effect 3 ending and made Microsoft backpedal from of their notorious policies, it could also work to see your favorite game franchises brought back to life.

Become the cavalry!

Don't just reminisce about the games, become active!

Here are some links to communities/petitions you can join/sign to help in the effort of bringing some lost games back to life:

100,000 Strong for Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3

Operation: Akumajo (Castlevania Demon War)

Final Fantasy VII Remake Request

The Last Guardian Petition: Make Toriko fly

Shenmue 3 500K: All Fans Needed

Various miscelaneus video game petitions

Has the gaming industry forgotten about millennials?

Some weird topic that just popped into my head and I thought was good enough to start the blog. it begins with a simple question, Has the gaming industry forgotten about  the so called millennials? Take into account that this comes from a "millennial" point of view since I was born in 1984, so let's go ahead and dig deep into this idea.

One of the great rpg franchises that deserve to come back.

The end of the millennial:

First of all, it would be a good thing to define what a "millennial" is. As they say, a millennial (or generation Y) is a person born in the time span from 1980 to the early 2000's. It is the generation that ranges from the styles of the 80's, the easy going abundance of the 90's and the shock of the early 2000's. From a gaming perspective, millennials have been there from the very beginning of gaming as an industry up to the point where everything changed. As a generation we are criticized for many things, most of that criticism coming without any facts, but if there is one thing in which we never faltered it is our taste for gaming.

It is not as exaggerated as path-cutscene-path, but it doesn't even come close to the designs of old.

Change for the sake of change:

When we talk about change, we mean the ways in which the industry has managed to change from one business model to another. At one point, some people used to say that the video game industry was immune to the effects of the economical crisis and we as gamers were totally believing it, because quality standards were still high regardless of the monetary turmoil. So imagine what a shock it was to see it all change and basically leave hanging a whole generation that grew accustomed to a gaming style that nowadays is called "niche", "core" or worst of all "not feasible". It can't be denied that great games have been released in these newer generations, but the change in style is very noticeable. Let's start by comparing these two styles as past and present and see which characteristics make them differ.

Past:

• Complex game design based on exploration.
• Vast use of various types of resources (graphic, sound and user interaction).
• Strong emphasis on story line.
• Gameplay over graphics.
• Games made to make you think hard in order to progress or develop skills over time.
• Medium to high learning curve.
• Product was almost every time a full game.
• Development cycles ranging from 2-4 years at minimum.
• Fiction topped reality in game content.

Present:

• Simple game design based on presentation.
• Recycling of game resources.
• Strong emphasis on making the player addicted to the game.
• Graphics over gameplay.
• Games made in a way that it doesn't annoy or frustrate gamers in any way (a.k.a easier difficulties).
• Low learning curve.
• Semi-complete product followed by tons of updates and downloadable content.
• Development trend of making games in 1 year.
• Reality tops fiction as visual artists make visual material closer to real life.

Every gaming company has their own Warios, screwing things up for the rest of us.

Change for the sake of money:

Each of the reasons why these two styles are complete opposites come from the same principle which is cheap production costs and maximum profits. Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that gaming in within itself is a business, but if we had to describe these two styles with a phrase, the past one would be "Make a kickass game so it sells well" while in the present it would be something like "Make a game that sells and somehow convince people that it is badass".

This is where millennials exit the scene as the ones who were dropped out as the prime customers of the gaming industry. Millennials lived through the many gaming eras that came to pass starting from the early Atari days and if one thing is to be expected from seen how gaming evolved through time is for games to get better; meaning longer, more challenging and more engaging. Millenials are a generation of gamers that have big expectations about gaming productions and will never forget the growth that the industry had, taking big leaps into better gaming experiences. This kind of thinking did not sounded so well to publishers and company investors because it meant more expenses and high risks.

This is when the people in business suits made the change and took power out of the artists hands and gave it to their "market analysts" or "mechandising people". The result of all this is the refusal to evolve and the embrace of a system that began simplifying games to a point that they mostly resemble a bad game from the 8 bit era, but with nice graphics. All this just because it is cheaper, faster and low risk. It is quite ironic for them to keep treating games like simple toys while at the same time saying that gaming has become a full fledged entertainment media with something for everyone. It just doesn't make sense.

Broken down Zero = how our gaming intelligence is treated.

This way of thinking prevented millennials from passing the torch to the newer generation as the new kids were lead to believe that the game development style from the past was too long, boring and passé while the one of the present was cutting edge and cool. People who still prefer the gaming style of the past are labelled as "hipsters" or called "people who still dwell on the past". Companies became rigid, most of the time ignoring what gamers want and using "modern gaming" as an excuse to give us less for our buck. Then as an excuse to get millennials even farther from having any influence, they began to release HD Remakes of famous games of the past just so they don't sell well and use that as an excuse to say "You see? Those games don't sell well any more. There is no reason to make new ones or follow that style of gameplay..."

The stale paradigm theory:

I have the little theory about how things should had been compared to how they are now. If we look into how the gaming industry was evolving, it would seem that people born in the mid 80's would have the industry at their feet from a content perspective. People who became gamers at that time would grow at the same pace as the industry does. So when they were kids the content of games would be mostly directed toward kids, then when going through their pre-teenage and teenage years the content would still be directed at them, then in early adulthood they would still be the poster children of the industry because now they would be the ones with money to spend and have the bigger enthusiasm toward games.

I apologize for the crappy style point chart he he. Just wanted to show the theory in some visual way.

If you see the small chart above, you can see that the emphasis in gaming content grew as people grew if you were a gamer in the 80's. Proof of this come in the games that were smashing successes at the time for each point on the time spans. In the 80's you could picture Mario, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Loony Tunes games, etc. As soon as the 90's came, more serious and beat them up/fighting/violent games became the norm, and at that time it captivated pre-teens and teens quite nicely. After that it all turned into a cinematic experience with a ton of JRPGs, survival horror and action games, now directed towards the teen-early adults age range. After that when the new millennium came, games became even more serious and adults were able to experience great experiences while still giving good stuff to the teens. 

Now after that, as gaming became entertainment media, it should had kept on the early adults/adults zone but instead it went back to the teens and got stuck there (with the occasional treat to adults over 40 which are points off the chart). Why did this happen? Because those age ranges meant cheaper development and lower risk. Please have in mind that this is just a theory.

Where could all the good stuff be? (btw Child of Light IS good stuff)

To wrap things up:

My conclusion is that millennials were taken out of the gaming scene as the biggest gaming market, because we grew accustomed to excellence and excellence costs more money, money they do not want to spend. So they trained newer generations to love watered down experiences and phased out everything that would resemble the gaming industry standard that lived up for almost 30 years. Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that we should still have games that look and feel exactly like in the past. What would be healthy for the industry is to mix up both old and new, past and present styles of development and come up with games that can show how much we have technically evolved, but without degrading the overall experience.

Currently, that mix between old and new is something that is mostly been done by indie developers, but big time companies are taking the hint like Square Enix, that have learned their lesson with Bravely Default, the people at Capcom who already promised that Resident Evil 7 will return to its "survival horror roots", after seen the franchise's value plunge drastically after Operation Racoon City and Resident Evil 6 or even games like Call of Duty or Titan Fall with new gameplay interactions that resemble the crazy first person shooter experiences of the past. The millennials may be out of the scene, but big chunks of our gaming taste are washing ashore and it is a matter of time until game companies are forced to do something about it.  

There is still hope my friends...