Square Enix
My renewed faith in them
Square enix are an old gaming company and have been going for 11 years now (28 years if you count Square soft) and I'll be honest here, haven't been too impressed with their recent games and or products. Having to wait nearly 8 years for FF XV is their biggest black mark at the moment and a lot of fans are turning away from this monolithic series that has spawned so many spinoffs and mini series simply because of the direction FF in particular has been taking.
Final Fantasy is a series which I hold very close to my heart, I've played all of the main games I.e. 1 through 13 so far and If you've played any FF game the way it goes, usually, is the first one you play is your favourite title. For me that was FF IX, the atmosphere of the game, the characters, the storyline, the Shakespearean esque soliloquy's that nearly all of the main characters have whether there spoken or thought and the music all sold me. FF IX is my favourite so far and its not that I don't also like the more recent FF games it just feels that the further from their roots that they get the less they feel like FF games. Let me clarify that statement, Final Fantasy to me is an epic struggle; light versus dark, good vs evil, the whole basis of the crystals hold sway over the world.
So what do I mean when I say my faith is renewed? Well lately I have found that I am enjoying FF less and less, with each subsequent release being less interesting than the last. I have no interest in playing Lightning Returns because as far as I care the series was finished at FF XIII-2 and thats where it should have finished. Lighting returns felt like an excuse to milk the cow even though she was barren. FF XIV similarly held no interest to me………until I heard of an event. Something, which as far as I know, has never been done before. The world came to an end.
Two years ago Square announced that they would be discontinuing service for Final Fantasy XIV online. The way they went about this was to create a clock counting down to the virtual doomsday in which meteor would crash into Eorzea (FF XIV's world). The event is actually part of the games storyline, the world of Eorzea goes through cycles of abundance (Astral Era's) and scarcity (Umbral Era's) the event that took place in FF XIV that closed the original game was the Seventh Umbral Era in which the planets moon grew bigger as it approached Eorzea, this along with the invasion of the Garlean empire obviously caused the people to panic.
I am going to stop there as my understanding of the event isn't great and I wasn't there to bear witness to it. The information I have is based on wiki readings and accounts by friends. To cut a long story short, Bahamut emerged from the moon and laid waste to a large portion of Eorzea a character within the story managed to save the adventurers (The player) by transporting them through time to a new Eorzea, and so the Seventh Astral Era begins and so does A Realm Reborn.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
I don't really invest much interest in the pay to play aspect of online gaming. I am of the belief that a game should be free to play to an extent. Having said that however I understand now why there is a subscription fee for FF XIV and why I would be happy to pay it. Online gaming, especially FF, isn't something that I took much interest in but recently having seen the massive leap forward that is a realm reborn I've had to revise my opinion. A realm reborn is a huge overhaul of FF XIV and it looks incredible especially when compared to the previous title. Whats encouraging about all of this is that Square are constantly releasing new patches with extra content, new missions, familiar bosses from previous games, hell Gilgamesh makes an experience (wouldn't be FF without him).
These updates aren't just a sign of Squares commitment to their fans but also just how much faith they are willing to put into a game as large as this. FF XIV ARR is a true fantasy game through and through and I honestly believe that at this moment in time it is a huge contributing factor to the rest of the series. Square release updates every couple of months and with each update comes about 3-5 hours of new content (Don't quote me on that outsiders opinion) Some of the updates are below:
This is the level of commitment that square are aiming for and I can honestly say that I am confident that any subsequent releases will be bolstered by this monolithic game. And here is what convinced me to buy and play FF XIV ARR. Their first expansion and hopefully the first in a long line of content.
Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn presents their first expansion Heavensward the scenario mostly tells the story of Dragoons, which coincidentally, are my favourite of the FF classes. This epic trailer looks to bring all new content and just to put it in perspective for a moment those videos above are simple patches to gameplay PATCHES and there is so much content in them. Just……I am just blown away.
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
This is one that unfortunately the rest of the world missed out on years ago when it was on the psp, unless like me you decided to import it. Type-0 is different from a lot of different titles that have come before it, for it is the most savage and relentless in reinforcing one consistent element in the games world and that element is death. Death plays a huge role in this unsung hero of FF's history and this Final Fantasy is brutal, seriously there's blood and violence and all sorts of stuff going on. If it sounds like I am exaggerating then I might be a bit why don't I leave the opening of the game below and you can make your own decision.
My advice? Abandon everything you think you know about FF because this changes everything. Too dramatic? Maybe but it is justified, type-0 takes an all new turn in terms of maturity it shows how far Final fantasy has come and how much further its planning to go. In this game Square are showing the brutality of war, using so many different concepts I mean if you watched the trailer you would know that those people were pleading for their lives and being gunned down in the process. Type-0 proves one thing in all of this, that this game is going to be harrowing in many different ways and that it is the grown up younger sibling of all other FF's to date. If you claim to be any type of fan then don't miss Type-0 HD.
Final Fantasy XV
The most anticipated of the series so far might not be that far off after all. At least its reassuring to hear that Type-0 HD will include a demo for FF XV which I interpret as a good sign. It means that FF XV will be here soon. Then again as I've mentioned before I am rather optimistic about stuff like this, the reality might be that we need to wait until the end of 2015 or worse 2016. Either way I am holding on hope. Don't let us down Square.
From everything that Square have shown so far it defiantly looks impressive, the open world concept obviously isn't for everyone and I know quite a few people who aren't happy about the whole "one button for everything" command, however I haven't played an FF game yet where I didn't press X the entire time for everything so I have no idea why anyone would complain about something like that (Bzzttt tangent, Sorry)
Its clear Square are trying to deliver big and promise bigger and I have to say, despite the wait, I am impressed by all of this. It looks to be a FF title unlike any other so far and if it delivers everything it promises then we are in for something special.
With a combat system that is akin to Kingdom Hearts, FF XV looks like a more grown up version of the latter although having said that I prefer to see them as two different things. The base work is there and there are similarities but there is still a very clear division between the two.
So the question for most people now isn't wether or not they will like the final product (Ha pun) its more a question of how long fans are willing to wait for something that arguably should have been released years ago as promised. And although I personally will be getting it regardless this is a blight on the fandom that, unfortunately, will NEVER go away like I've said before this better be the best that Square have to offer or otherwise they might be looking at the receding backs of a lot of their fan base. Ok maybe a bit too dramatic but they would suffer from this.
So all in all, despite what is going on with Square, I am redeemed by their commitment and honestly even though I am sure there are lots of people out there who would complain about the direction their going in but when you withstand criticism and an angry fan base telling you how disappointed they are, its refreshing to see that Square are pushing through it making even more content for their games, hearing the pleas of the fans regarding unreleased content, taking the criticism into consideration its all just so reassuring. I would say that this is the time to put your faith in Square as never before, to show them that their commitment wasn't wasted that all of their hard work will be repaid. To anyone losing faith out there hold on hope because the best they have to offer is just around the corner and remember their only human.
So what do I mean when I say my faith is renewed? Well lately I have found that I am enjoying FF less and less, with each subsequent release being less interesting than the last. I have no interest in playing Lightning Returns because as far as I care the series was finished at FF XIII-2 and thats where it should have finished. Lighting returns felt like an excuse to milk the cow even though she was barren. FF XIV similarly held no interest to me………until I heard of an event. Something, which as far as I know, has never been done before. The world came to an end.
Two years ago Square announced that they would be discontinuing service for Final Fantasy XIV online. The way they went about this was to create a clock counting down to the virtual doomsday in which meteor would crash into Eorzea (FF XIV's world). The event is actually part of the games storyline, the world of Eorzea goes through cycles of abundance (Astral Era's) and scarcity (Umbral Era's) the event that took place in FF XIV that closed the original game was the Seventh Umbral Era in which the planets moon grew bigger as it approached Eorzea, this along with the invasion of the Garlean empire obviously caused the people to panic.
I am going to stop there as my understanding of the event isn't great and I wasn't there to bear witness to it. The information I have is based on wiki readings and accounts by friends. To cut a long story short, Bahamut emerged from the moon and laid waste to a large portion of Eorzea a character within the story managed to save the adventurers (The player) by transporting them through time to a new Eorzea, and so the Seventh Astral Era begins and so does A Realm Reborn.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
I don't really invest much interest in the pay to play aspect of online gaming. I am of the belief that a game should be free to play to an extent. Having said that however I understand now why there is a subscription fee for FF XIV and why I would be happy to pay it. Online gaming, especially FF, isn't something that I took much interest in but recently having seen the massive leap forward that is a realm reborn I've had to revise my opinion. A realm reborn is a huge overhaul of FF XIV and it looks incredible especially when compared to the previous title. Whats encouraging about all of this is that Square are constantly releasing new patches with extra content, new missions, familiar bosses from previous games, hell Gilgamesh makes an experience (wouldn't be FF without him).
These updates aren't just a sign of Squares commitment to their fans but also just how much faith they are willing to put into a game as large as this. FF XIV ARR is a true fantasy game through and through and I honestly believe that at this moment in time it is a huge contributing factor to the rest of the series. Square release updates every couple of months and with each update comes about 3-5 hours of new content (Don't quote me on that outsiders opinion) Some of the updates are below:
This is the level of commitment that square are aiming for and I can honestly say that I am confident that any subsequent releases will be bolstered by this monolithic game. And here is what convinced me to buy and play FF XIV ARR. Their first expansion and hopefully the first in a long line of content.
Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn presents their first expansion Heavensward the scenario mostly tells the story of Dragoons, which coincidentally, are my favourite of the FF classes. This epic trailer looks to bring all new content and just to put it in perspective for a moment those videos above are simple patches to gameplay PATCHES and there is so much content in them. Just……I am just blown away.
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
This is one that unfortunately the rest of the world missed out on years ago when it was on the psp, unless like me you decided to import it. Type-0 is different from a lot of different titles that have come before it, for it is the most savage and relentless in reinforcing one consistent element in the games world and that element is death. Death plays a huge role in this unsung hero of FF's history and this Final Fantasy is brutal, seriously there's blood and violence and all sorts of stuff going on. If it sounds like I am exaggerating then I might be a bit why don't I leave the opening of the game below and you can make your own decision.
My advice? Abandon everything you think you know about FF because this changes everything. Too dramatic? Maybe but it is justified, type-0 takes an all new turn in terms of maturity it shows how far Final fantasy has come and how much further its planning to go. In this game Square are showing the brutality of war, using so many different concepts I mean if you watched the trailer you would know that those people were pleading for their lives and being gunned down in the process. Type-0 proves one thing in all of this, that this game is going to be harrowing in many different ways and that it is the grown up younger sibling of all other FF's to date. If you claim to be any type of fan then don't miss Type-0 HD.
Final Fantasy XV
The most anticipated of the series so far might not be that far off after all. At least its reassuring to hear that Type-0 HD will include a demo for FF XV which I interpret as a good sign. It means that FF XV will be here soon. Then again as I've mentioned before I am rather optimistic about stuff like this, the reality might be that we need to wait until the end of 2015 or worse 2016. Either way I am holding on hope. Don't let us down Square.
From everything that Square have shown so far it defiantly looks impressive, the open world concept obviously isn't for everyone and I know quite a few people who aren't happy about the whole "one button for everything" command, however I haven't played an FF game yet where I didn't press X the entire time for everything so I have no idea why anyone would complain about something like that (Bzzttt tangent, Sorry)
Its clear Square are trying to deliver big and promise bigger and I have to say, despite the wait, I am impressed by all of this. It looks to be a FF title unlike any other so far and if it delivers everything it promises then we are in for something special.
With a combat system that is akin to Kingdom Hearts, FF XV looks like a more grown up version of the latter although having said that I prefer to see them as two different things. The base work is there and there are similarities but there is still a very clear division between the two.
So the question for most people now isn't wether or not they will like the final product (Ha pun) its more a question of how long fans are willing to wait for something that arguably should have been released years ago as promised. And although I personally will be getting it regardless this is a blight on the fandom that, unfortunately, will NEVER go away like I've said before this better be the best that Square have to offer or otherwise they might be looking at the receding backs of a lot of their fan base. Ok maybe a bit too dramatic but they would suffer from this.
So all in all, despite what is going on with Square, I am redeemed by their commitment and honestly even though I am sure there are lots of people out there who would complain about the direction their going in but when you withstand criticism and an angry fan base telling you how disappointed they are, its refreshing to see that Square are pushing through it making even more content for their games, hearing the pleas of the fans regarding unreleased content, taking the criticism into consideration its all just so reassuring. I would say that this is the time to put your faith in Square as never before, to show them that their commitment wasn't wasted that all of their hard work will be repaid. To anyone losing faith out there hold on hope because the best they have to offer is just around the corner and remember their only human.
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