FFXV

[owlmoose]

Once upon a time, I was very excited for this game. Then my trust in Squeenix began eroding, until this happened, and I washed my hands of it.

Which means that I completely forgot that a new game in what used to be my favorite series is coming out today, until I saw a poster for it on my way home from work.

How things change.

Comments

[cumuluscastle]

My little sister is going to play it, but I haven't really been on board with Final Fantasy games since I, for the first time in the series, didn't bother to finish FFXIII. I might watch a Let's Play and call it a day.

[sarasa_cat]

...an all-male party feels almost more approachable for players. Even the presence of one female in the group will change their behaviour, so that they'll act differently. So to give the most natural feeling, to make them feel sincere and honest, having them all the same gender made sense in that way...

Yet another case of me swearing that all of global popular culture is becoming far more conservative/retrograde as the pendulum swings. When I said this (not to you, but in general) almost 2 years ago, people often looked at me sideways. Now I think people are starting to see the light darkness.

...

Yeah, I'm playing DAI tonight.

[ukefied]

Right? Though have you seen Conan O'Brien's "Clueless Gamer" for FFXV? Because it is hilarious. (Final Fantasy Entourage.)

[heavenscalyx]

Yeah, I've been seeing chatter about FF15-Sausage Party for a while, so I kind of knew it was coming out, but yeah, Tabata's interview killed any interest I had in it. I haven't been able to play a Final Fantasy game since FFX-2. We tried FF12, but the pseudo-rape-killing-scene made us (metaphorically) throw the controller across the room. We tried FF13, but five minutes in, running into Comic Relief Black Man With A Bird Living In His Afro put another metaphorical dent in the wall, no matter what people told us about the nearly-text lesbians in it.

I'm really really frustrated with JRPGs right now. I was looking forward to Persona 5, and then I read about the Ugly Gay Stereotypes that appear in it and I was like, no, I'm hanging onto liking the series and not trying P5, because it might ruin P4, with its canonical genderqueer character and lovable nearly-text gay boy (despite the horrible option to "turn" the genderqueer character "back" to female that's available) for me. We tried the Tales games, LOVED Vesperia, but Xillia is... not awful, but dull as dishwater. I have another Tales, can't remember which, to try, but haven't mustered the go-juice to do it.

I have, however, started the Mass Effect series, which is pretty fun.

I mourn the Suikoden series, because it was usually fun and occasionally (Suikoden 5) brilliant.

[owlmoose]

I've never been that deeply into JRPGs -- FF might be the only series from which I've completed a game -- but it does seem like the genre is faltering right now. I've been meaning to try Persona but I appreciate the heads-up about potential problems there.

It took me a while to figure out which death scene you meant in FFXII; now that I do, I can understand being put off by it, but I don't recall there being anything else like it in the game, and if you ever feel like giving it another shot, I recommend it.

I enjoy the Mass Effect games, although they didn't grab me quite as hard as the Dragon Age series. Still, I'm looking forward to the new one.

[owlmoose]

It was FFXIII-2 for me -- although I never really warmed to XIII, we did manage to finish it, but it's probably the first one I've felt zero urge to replay.

[owlmoose]

For all Bioware's faults, I feel as though they keep attempting to push forward and make new mistakes each time, rather than backsliding and repeating the old ones.

Yet another case of me swearing that all of global popular culture is becoming far more conservative/retrograde as the pendulum swings.

My long-standing hope is that it's all backlash -- a response to progress, and therefore not sustainable -- but it's harder to feel that way all the time.

[owlmoose]

Thanks for the rec, that was pretty funny. :) If anyone else is curious, the video is here:

https://youtu.be/eXJFbsQBvLw

That said, I think his complaints could largely be applied to pretty much any open-world RPG, especially the more recent ones that take longer to get started.

[cumuluscastle]

That was possibly all I needed to see.

[ukefied]

My favorite part of all the Clueless Gamers is when Conan's enthusiastic friend starts getting into the lore and Conan's eyes just glaze over. It reminds me of myself explaining such things to non gaming friends. XD

[lassarina]

Nomura and Tabata are why we cannot fucking have nice things.

(Weird moment though: seeing ads for FFXV on television; the last time I remember seeing TV ads for an FF game was 7.)

[laceblade]

It's making me very afraid for what the FF7 remake is going to look like.

in which I utterly don't talk about FFXV in a post about FFXV

[auronlu]

Enough FF fans on my Tumblr dash (thankfully not too many) have posted about the sausagefest coming out that I was aware of the release. But as far as I'm concerned, it's just an excuse to get a few extra goodies on FFRK to commemorate it.

The odd thing is that I've been having a resurgence of fun in Final Fantasy despite the fact that I don't trust Squeenix to do anything good any longer. I'm having an absolute BALL with FFRK, coming to an FF game about a year after all my friends played it, as usual. No coincidence, I think, that the best newish FF right now is Final Fantasy farmed out to another developer. It's deliberate nostalgia for fans of old games. Limited, due to being a mobile app game, but I'm digging it as a quick break on and off throughout the day.

That incredibly talented Auron/Braska fan on Tumblr, kingcael, is writing slightly woobified but enjoyable (for me) Auron fic, and drawing some pretty gorgeous FFX fanart. (And she's giving me tastefully yum Lulu and Lulu/Yuna fanart as well).

And of course there's always the FFX graphic novel Guardian, although I'm afraid Mintywolf is hitting burnout. (It's a pity she wasn't posting this ten to twelve years ago when we were all more active in FFX fandom; the new generation of fans doesn't participate or give thoughtful critique the way we used to when we had more time & energy and engagement in the sort of thing she's doing now).

But yeah, at this point I wish Squeenix would lease the FF7 remake out to DeNA. Except they're good on game mechanics and cute graphics, but can't necessarily do story. BUT NEITHER CAN SQUEENIX ANY LONGER.

[heavenscalyx]

I really enjoyed everything we've tried of the Persona series. We haven't yet tried the version of Persona 2 with the canonically gay character -- it wasn't imported to the US with the other Persona 2 game, and only came much later for the PSP. Persona 3 was, I think, my favorite, with a character who was clearly influenced by Arisugawa Juri from Revolutionary Girl Utena, but Persona 4 was also delightful, so long as one steers clear of that particular problematic romance option with Naoto.

If you ever feel inclined, I really really really recommend Suikoden 5. It's set in a Queendom, our main character is a prince who is NOT in line with the throne, and the plot is motivated by sibling love, not romance. And it is, in part, about stopping patriarchy from fucking up your society. Suikoden is really good at wrenching heartstrings and stuff, but also just fabulous at plot and characters. I mean, the whole point of the Suikoden series is recruiting 108 people for your army to overthrow evil. It's pretty awesome.

I tore through the Dragon Age series too, but Mass Effect is the space opera with a female lead I've been longing for, apparently.

[mako_lies]

I couldn't ignore it was coming out if only because the hype-train in Japan is so so real for this game (like all the conbinis had signs etc. etc. plus all my kiddos know I love FF so they kept asking "Bri-sensei, new game play?").

But yah. Haven't felt any real urge to play it. After XIII (which, for all its faults did center on ladies and the relationships between ladies), it just feels like such a huge regression. And like, the boy band road trip is just... ugh. Ugh. As far as Square goes, I think the only things I'm generally looking forward to in any real way are the Zodiac Age and Kingdom Hearts 3. :/ I've been playing FF almost my entire life: the fact that I'm not even remotely interested in their newest installment is :/ :/ :/ :/