Games Thirst – Amazing Life
Dear Square-Enix,
I’ve never written a letter to a publisher/developer before because I never felt the need to but today is the day of reckoning.
First let me congratulate you on the unmatched work you’ve done with the Final Fantasy franchise and the huge amount of success you’ve had and no doubt will continue to in the future. I said no doubt but probably I should take that back; you see, recently your president, Yoichi Wada said some things that immediately caught my attention, words I did not receive too well and ever since then, I’ve been in a perturbed state that has been difficult to shake off. This letter won’t be long so let’s isolate the problem to better deal with the dilemma.
Yoichi Wada spoke to Edge in a recent interview in which he said that he thought it was time the Final Fantasy team move on to create and generate some ‘next generation’ forms of play.” In fact here’s the full quote:
“I believe Final Fantasy XIII is going to be something special and that it’s going to be well received by the audience,” your boss said.
“but whether we are going to continue to internally create this type of game remains to be seen, because I actually feel that the team that was involved with Final Fantasy XIII should move on to create and generate some ‘next generation’ forms of play.”
And later he said: “I really think that the Final Fantasy team could create something completely different but at the moment they’re strictly catering to the particular audience they have now.”
I must be honest, after reading the interview, I felt my spirit drop. Now a 27yr old young man, I grew up playing final Fantasy games from NES days and although I was introduced to the franchise from a young age, true love happened when Final Fantasy VII came out. The mechanics of the franchise have basically been the same with little changes between each iteration. It’s the story that sets each Final Fantasy title apart, nothing “new” or “modern” would drastically change the game’s appeal in a positive light; people love Final Fantasy mainly because they’re awesome RPGs with second to none storytelling, and therefore I see no reason to move away from those elements.
I understand that we’re in a ‘new modern world’ but that doesn’t mean everything has to change along with it; some things are better left untethered, untouched and intact. If my mind serves me right, recently you said you wanted Final Fantasy to last forever so you’re definitely not talking about abandoning the franchise, but rather turning it into something different. I admire your passion, taking risk is what has made your company successful, but I also believe there are certain risks one should never take.
Remember the Final Fantasy audience has aged with it, are you willing to alienate this entire crowed in the name of “change”? The games have sold extremely well throughout the years and recently on the PS3 in Japan when the latest title, FFXIII sold almost two million copies in one week. I don’t know about you but my eyes can’t see anyone crying “change” with those numbers.
To conclude, I’ll say only this: If it ain’t broke, then please Square-Enix don’t fix it; the franchise isn’t perfect but it’s one of the most outstanding ever forged, don’t ruin it.
Yours Sincerely
Ernice Gilbert
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