REBUTTAL TO: A Response to the Curious
With the release of the Final Fantasy XII demo, opinions have been as thick as flies in the air about whether Square-Enix can keep the momentum of their Final Fantasy franchise going, or if this further departure from the norm (as Final Fantasy XI could be argued as the first major departure for the series) might be more trouble then it's worth. People have both condemned the game as an imitation of FFXI, or argued in its favor, stating that the game shouldn’t be judged until the final version is released.
Michael Cunningham, my fellow staffer, opined against comparing the two, in his "A Response to the Curious." After a four-point argument breaking down the difference between the two games in the series, he offered a challenge: to "take FFXI out of the equation for one minute, and tell me why you dislike it."
Unfortunately, I’m not so sure that can be done, as tempting as it might seem. Both are games in the Final Fantasy series. One directly follows the other. The game that will be the freshest is everyone’s mind when they begin to play FFXII will be its spiritual predecessor, FFXI. While not a direct sequel (as Final Fantasy X-2 was to Final Fantasy X), XII still deserves some scrutiny as the next game in line for Square-Enix’s holy grail. I’ll address each of his points in order. Note that I’ve paraphrased some of these, when necessary.
1) "All enemies are on-screen": As game technology progresses and becomes more capable of putting more sprites and characters on the screen, it stands to reason that RPGs will begin to phase out the random battles, perhaps for good. Is there any doubt that once FFXII shows this "feature" to players, that other companies won’t fall in line and do the exact same thing? However, Magna Carta shows its enemies on screen, and no one compares it to an MMORPG.
2) "Combat is similar": At this point, it’s simply too early to tell where the "automated combat" in FFXII will go; that the demo doesn’t show a more-finished build is disappointing, to say the least. This could easily be the most glaring similarity between the two games, one that begs the question of just whether or not S.E. was content to "borrow" the system of FFXI, make just enough tweaks to maintain originality, slapped a bunch of pre-written code onto FFXII, and called it a day. Who knows why this was done? And why didn’t they choose a more orthodox combat system, as with every other "offline" FF? Whatever the reasoning, it still has an air of "copycatting" at first glance.
3) "The Active/Wait time system": As FFXII is not an MMORPG, and the Active/Wait system is a familiar part of the FF series, it’s expected for this to be a part of the game’s combat. However, it ties back into my second point: why not simply include the Active/Wait feature alone with a "normal" combat system? If FFXII wanted to allow its players to fight in a more realistic setting (which would explain showing all enemies on screen at all times), why include an Active/Wait option at all?
4) "FFXII is not an MMORPG": Obviously, I’ve no argument here. FFXII is not an online RPG, and hasn’t been marketed as one. It does borrow from its online-enabled cousin, but is not itself an MMORPG. However, almost every RPG in existence has its shares of twists and turns as it tells the story it’s meant to tell, with characters joining up, switching allegiances, or leaving just to join up again later. This might be a rough comparison, but just because you don’t play a game where you interact with other players doesn’t mean you can’t lose members of your party.
Whatever people's opinions might be, Final Fantasy XII is coming, which means that people will get to see the results for themselves in just a few months. Never has the series had so much to lose, not even when Square made the then-enormous jump from two dimensions to three. The company does have a good track record when it comes to innovation and taking risks, but sometimes their actions leave a person scratching their head in confusion (like, for example, making the eleventh iteration of the Final Fantasy series an online-only game).
The world has been waiting for another "regular" Final Fantasy for more then half a decade, and now, the world is watching to see whether S.E. can make another RPG worthy of that name.
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