Did Square Enix Destroy Final Fantasy…Or Did We?

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII currently holds a Metascore of 67 with an average User Score of 55.

For those who have been following and adoring the series for decades, that doesn’t seem possible. Regardless of personal preference, the game simply isn’t very good. Personally, I see it as a completely nonsensical, ridiculously dumbed-down action/RPG, but that’s mostly subjective. If the game was actually decent, I’d simply shrug my shoulders and say, “well, it went in a different direction. It ain’t my cup of tea anymore, but at least it still has that trademark FF quality.”

And yet, it doesn’t. They’ve been changing things up and experimenting ever since Final Fantasy XIII, which would’ve been fine had that experimentation not been all about watering down and “streamlining.” By the way, the latter term is just code for “take out more depth, put in more flashy action.”

Needless to say, Final Fantasy is a mere shadow of its former glorious self.

Is it really Square Enix’s fault?

I’ve asked myself this question countless times.

See, I’m not big on blaming developers a lot. The reason is simple: We, as the consumers, dictate the market trends. You can’t complain about Call of Duty ruling the world because the people caused that to happen. Millions wanted to buy the game and they did. Maybe you didn’t; maybe you think CoD is a great example of everything that’s currently wrong with the industry. In the end, though, you were outvoted by your fellow consumers.

Japanese publishers have been seeing the same trend for years and years. They’ve been watching Westerners respond in droves to the flashiest, dumbest productions possible (this includes movies, of course). The slow, the ponderous, the thoughtful; that which might actually require some semblance of brain activity, never sells anywhere near as well as the mindless. That’s just a fact when dealing with the masses.

And unfortunately for companies like Square Enix, gaming is definitely a mass market industry now. Therefore, you can no longer survive by exclusively catering to a niche group; in this case, the group that wants the slower, the more thoughtful, the more cerebral. Oh, you can continue to exist and even thrive, but you’ll never be as big or as successful as the companies that embrace the mass populace.

Square Enix has been wanting to do exactly that for years. So, if you look at the trends and you look at what they’ve tried to do (this includes purchasing Eidos and putting out titles like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Sleeping Dogs, and Tomb Raider), it makes sense. Right?

We’ve been buying certain games. We made certain franchises and publishers very, very rich. Nobody crammed Call of Duty down our throats. We crammed it down our own throats. It’s merely about meeting demand.

But wait, it’s not as simple as all that

If you stick with that argument, you can’t blame Square Enix for speeding up and dumbing down Final Fantasy. In the mind of that company’s executives, they’d probably just call this “adapting.” If that was true, we’d be at fault.

I don’t think we are, though.

There’s one key element to the previous argument that we neglected to mention: The interpretation of the existing fanbase. I’m going to make this very plain: No veteran Final Fantasy fan ever – repeat ever – wanted to see the game go flashier and more action-y. None. These fans loved the games for a reason, and it’s because those games were the way they were. Changing that means losing those fans, and that’s a group you spent decades cultivating.

Basically, Square Enix ditched the loyal fans in an attempt to get new ones. That doesn’t make any sense, though. Wouldn’t you just want to add new fans? Tearing down what you already built and starting fresh isn’t even remotely logical. Square Enix made one colossal mistake: They thought role-playing fans wanted a more action-oriented experience, and they also thought those who played action games and shooters would gravitate toward Final Fantasy.

That’s wrong on both counts. Nothing you did to FF would make the latter group interested, as they’ll always see it as a JRPG in which they have no interest, and the former group hates you for changing the series into something unrecognizable. The result? The plummeting sales we’ve seen from entry to entry in the recent trilogy.

The consumer isn’t entirely absolved, but most of the blame centers on the publisher

Okay, so end point: The consumer did create the belief in Square Enix’s minds that their path was the right one. However, the publisher completely misinterpreted the situation and as such, have worked to dismantle a once proud franchise. It’s not beyond saving yet but unless they go back to being an RPG – or they go full-on action – with FFXV, they’ll continue to alienate just about everyone.