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Survey Reveals That Final Fantasy Players Thirst Story And Exploration
Posted on Saturday, February 11 @ 17:01:02 Eastern by Jonathan_Leack

There's no doubt about it, RPGs have been losing their flavor lately, and it's hard to put a finger on exactly what is causing this worrying trend. What is for sure is that Final Fantasy isn't leading the scene like it used to, and we're all left wondering how a company as renowned as Square Enix could let this happen.
A survey conducted by GameVision Research asked participants to point out what matters most when it comes to enjoying a game like Final Fantasy, and the results were staggering. A full 45% of those asked stated that they prefer "involvement in story" more than anything else. Almost as important was "exploration and discovery", which accrued tally marks from 33% of those polled.
I'm not really surprised by these results, but Square Enix should be. Instead of sticking with what worked in the older titles, the past few releases have had stories and exploration that's comparable to Call of Duty. Sakaguchi wasn't kidding when he said that gameplay is going backwards as the result of a high emphasis on eye candy.
You'd think that a second time around would be the charm, but Final Fantasy XIII-2 proved that a bad story can actually get worse. Okay, so it's not the end of the world, but it's been a painful generation for those of us who enjoyed the classic RPGs and thought that better graphics would be a good thing.
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Personally I was glad to see Final Fantasy try something new. Wish it coulda been more of a slam dunk, but not many studios are willing to experiment with the formula after THAT many installations.
It's just Final Fantasy that is just doing terribly. Though to be fair, 8, 10, and 12 were all vast changes from the typical style of the game. So they've shown they could change up the gameplay and still deliver a good game.
I want old school turn based combat back. Sure the new combat may "look" more visually active and apealing but its not what I expect out of a final fantasy. Final Fantasy XII also had a combat system you could literally automate most of the battles to play by themselves.
That said, I would welcome another turn based RPG. It's like strategy games; just because RTS is out there doesn't mean Civilization should abandon their model to 'compete' with them (thankfully this didn't happen).
Also props for headlining this article with one of my favorite opening shots in video games.