That’s a little more than a faux pas, and while FFXIV: ARR has more than made up for the initial FFXIV disaster, the fact remains that this was the third strike in a row for the franchise. Never mind the fact that during that time a sequel was released for FFXIII, with the threequel just around the corner, both of which felt entirely superfluous following FFXIII’s conclusion.
FFXIV: ARR launched just a couple months after Versus XIII resurfaced with its official rebrand to Final Fantasy XV, so in late 2013, fans were feeling hopeful for the series again. Here we are three years later, and for the most part all we’ve been getting is a constant drip-feed of mostly non-news:
This is Cidney, or is it Cindy? She’s related to this game’s Cid, probably. You’ve got a car, and this is a story about brotherhood and family. King Regis’s design has changed like five times, but this is how he’ll really look in the final version. We promise. No moogles in this game. What’s that? A Twitter poll says you WANT moogles? Okay, we’ll throw them in somehow, why not. By the way, Stella is gone. Lunafreya is new. Also, you can ride chocobos and go fishing. Did we mention that you’ll use officially licensed Coleman camping equipment? And man, that Ignis is one fine cook. And hey! The bad guy in Final Fantasy XV is going to be the baddest Final Fantasy villain EVER. We’re trusting you to trust us on this, but we’re not giving you any more details on the matter.
There seems to be a new interview, Active Time Report with Hajime Tabata (the game’s director since it became FFXV), or other sort of update every few months, but ultimately we know barely anything about the game. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as hopefully playing the proper release will give fans lots to discover for themselves. And while the bro-trip seems underwhelming to a lot of people right now, it’s likely that we’ll get a deeper look at Noctis’ relationship with each of the core party members throughout the course of the game.
Episode Duscae, the demo that came with Type-0 HD, definitely helped to soothe fans as it showed there really, truly was something coherent and playable that the average Joe could play and try out, and now we know that FFXV is most definitely coming out this year. Still, the whole hullabaloo to get to this point has left many fans feeling incredibly uncertain and wary. There are still so many ifs, ands, and buts surrounding FFXV, but if the game is positively met, that will go a long way in bringing the older fans of the series back into the fold, approaching the inevitable Final Fantasy XVI with more optimism and hopefulness instead of frustration and disappointment.
Conversely, if Final Fantasy XV is anything short of amazing, it’s going to feel like a huge slap in the face to those fans who have been essentially waiting ten years for this game. Yes, FFXV is going to be a far cry from the original Versus XIII premise, but in the minds of those fans who gazed longingly upon that 2006 E3 announcement video, this is a game that’s been a decade in the making. That’s not an easy amount of pressure to live up to, and expectations are almost unreasonably high at this point.
Basically, Final Fantasy XV pretty much has to perform well if Square Enix wants to continue the core numbered titles with any faith from their fans, lest they stick to perpetually making spin-offs with cameos and guest appearances from older, more beloved titles.
What are your thoughts on FFXV? Feel free to share in the comments below.
