When it's difficult to bash

 I want to bash this guy for being wrong. It's always fun to bash somebody with an opinion, because I'm so used to people having pretty terrible ones.

 This guy has his mind in the right place, though. "An Objection to Originality" is something that got me thinking about two factors: the masses and the creators of these games. that's a difficult line, because someone has to be blamed. There is a lack of original franchises out there, or at least originality as a whole. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but there is a line that was crossed somewhere.

 Do I blame the writer for being wrong? No, he's right.

 Do I blame the masses for buying good sequels? No, because the key word is "good" in most respects.

 Do I blame the developers? Yes.

 In a direct response to David R.'s post, I have to blame the developers on this one. Am I going to ignore FIFA 10 because it's a rehash of a franchise? Am I going to cancel my pre-order to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 because it's a sequel? Am I going to shun the next Zelda for being a Nintendo self-wank franchise? No. These are all going to be terrific games, and there is no one that will tell you to ignore them. That person would be stupid.

 The point he's trying to make is that people do vote with the dollar. If people are willing to buy $100 worth of track-packs for Rock Band, then that is expressing that they are willing to pay for it. People like me hate those people, because there should be at least a little bit of criticism levied on the companies who want to screw you and your wallet for their profit. $2 for a song that is way too limited in usage bothers me, especially when iTunes songs cost a dollar and you actually get to own the song for personal use. That Resident Evil 5 deathmatch DLC? Total BS. That should have been in the game.

 However, if a game is good, it should sell well. Sometimes there are financial flops like Beyond Good and Evil that sold poorly with no explanation as to why, but for the most part if a game sells well, the developers know that they product was appreciated. Supply and demand.

 Now I point to Squeenix to demonstrate my point as to where the blame really lies, because let's face it, these guys do this stuff on a daily basis.

 We can't get a good follow-up to the Chrono series to save our lives, but apparently, Squeenix has decided that we love Final Fantasy VII too much to let it go. When it came to Final fantasy 1-VII, we got a tremendous amount of originality and, I know this may sound foreign, individuality in each installment. From then on, each game became less unique. For as good a game as it was, Final Fantasy XII even took the Ivalice world from Tactics, and I found it very hard to believe that Nomura didn't just get lazy and throw Tidus and Zidane together to make Vaan.

 I'm having a hard time building up the desire to play Final Fantasy XIII because the characters just don't feel right. I've seen them all before, and nothing looks terribly compelling. The Final Fantasy formula seems to be a rehash of everything that happened before it. Nothing seems fantastical anymore, and its as if the series is borrowing from itself too much. Yet, this is what we're given. Sure, people buy it, but the Final Fantasy series has lost a lot of credit overexposing itself.

 As I said, people still buy it and if the games are good, why not? What matters is that Squeenix is arguably ignoring other franchises to make sure they make the safe bet for cash. Final Fantasy XIII has a wealth of games coming out for it that clones Final Fantasy VII's gaiden series. It's difficult to point to any series recently other than Dragon Quest that has felt original and excellent, whereas in the PSX days Final Fantasy wasn't the only RPG series in town. Parasite Eve (which is thankfully returning), Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, and other RPG's at least took the company's experience in the genre and put it to use developing different IP's that have had various success, but at least they were trying. If there was a game idea that brought something new to the table, then it didn't necessarily have to be a Final Fantasy game.

 Hell, Final Fantasy never had direct sequels for the longest time, but Final Fantasy X sold so well that it was decided that a Charlie's Angels type RPG was necessary. Why couldn't this have been another game? Was it really that necessary to extend an already complete story, and then not even really build off of it? That was a cash-in tactic without any doubt. Even the "new" character introduced felt unoriginal and generic. This game could have been a separate game with new ideas and maybe a little quirkiness to love, but instead we got Yuna again. Nobody wanted Yuna again.

 Basically, developers have so much cash on their hands that they won't take risks. You have major games out there with engines that define the genres they were made for, but it seems like all of the ideas are getting strapped to these franchises as well. I would love to play an original, epic RPG outside of the big guns, but I can't because they don't exist. Chrono Trigger, for example, somehow rallied all the major brains within Squaresoft and got them involved on a single game outside of Final Fantasy. I find it hard to believe that no other game deserves that kind of attention. I understand that this involves a little bit of money, but if you're going to make bank off of every Final Fantasy sequel and cash-in title, can it really be that hard to expand yourself?

 Another good example would be Hideo Kojima. Remember when he made games that didn't have Metal Gear in the title? When this man does anything more than produce a game, it ends up being good. Snatcher and Policenauts, though spiritually close, were amazing games. I understand that you have a baby and you want to take care of it, but please take a break every now and then and surprise us.

 That's why I can blame the developers. Yes, they have their money-makers that wind up being very good games, but there are other places to put the development cash. No one is asking for an A-lister to headline a game like Brutal Legend to create a new IP. All we really want is something different now and then. No one is asking for developers to come up with a new engine or millions spent on voice actors and music, but if the tools that are at their disposal could give some new ideas a place to develop and a compelling new story to go along with it, then the community has always been open. In the past, those ideas turned into rock-solid games. Why not now?

 We'll pay for a good game, and we have paid for good games. We just don't have a lot of choice in the matter. If you're going the RPG route, you're pretty much stuck waiting for Final Fantasy XIII or playing Fallout 3. If you're an FPS person, you go with the elite game that has the multiplayer masses online. If you're a sports fan, you go with the best. If you're a racing fan, you have a choice on which playing style fits you, and beyond the Burnout's and GT's, there's crap. Adventure fans get a lot of watered down action outside of the few A-list titles. So if you're a gamer, you put your money where the quality is. You don't have much of a choice, anyway. Digg It Stumble it ! Reddit