Bah, to hell with Squenix! Sure they are a skilled company but they have lost a lot of their lustre as of late in my opinion. The glory days of the SNES and PS1 are a stark contrast to todays company. Yes, I enjoyed FFX but after that they went way downhill. We've had FFX-2 which is an abomination and goes against everything the series stood for (a captivating story and likeable characters), FFXII's bizarre MMO style combat which is just wrong compared to the classic RPG gaming the series is renowned for (seriously, I stopped reading up on and hyping FFXII after I heard they [Square] had ditched the old gameplay I loved) and having a seemingly endless amount of spin-offs and side stories (FFX-2 and the FF7 extensions like Dirge, Crisis Core and the movie are the biggest example). Now, Final Fantasy VII is not my favourite--everyone has one to call their own just like how -Zaku- loves FFIX and I can call VIII my own (no offence to -Zaku- of coarse :P)--so it's almost insulting to me having the self proclaimed 'most popular' RPG on the planet pimped until near death with a slew of spin-offs. I reckon of SE just kept their head down we could of seen FFXIII on PS2 and be wowed by XIV on PS3.
Don't get me wrong, i'm still looking forward to FF3 on the DS and love Kingdom Hearts to death but the series I once loved has been destroyed and degraded to a shambling one-after-the-other series. I have moved on to better things recently with Xenosaga's episodes, Dragon Quest VIII, Knights of The Old Republic and have my copy of Disgaea 2 with a free art book on pre-order. That is why I have stopped believing in a once magical company and have moved onto believing in smaller yet miles better companies like Atlus (especially Nippon Ichi as the posters above have mentioned), BioWare (my choice of the two you stated I should choose between), Level 5 (for DQVIII, Dark Cloud / Chronicle and the upcoming White Night Story and Rogue Galaxy) and finally Mistwalker and their upcoming Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon which blew me away at TGS and restored my faith in the classic JRPG (plus Hironobu Sakaguchi is the helmer and the team is made up of FF's composer plus some of the Chrono team) so it's a given that they will be incredible. They have the potential to beat FFXIII at its own game to be brutally honest.
I would also like to specially mention the upcoming Eternal Sonata from the Baton Kaitos team and Bioshock from Irrational Games. Eternal Sonata is looking beautiful on the 360 and is further proof that the console could be the smaller scaled JRPGs future home. I love the cel-shaded art stylings and the story and originality is to die for. Set within the dreams of dying composer Chopin who is suffering from a terminal illness, it follows a group of young girls with terminal illnesses too who embark on a magical adventure (bizarrely it's based on an actual dream he had on his death bed). If that is not the most original thing you've ever heard in an RPG other than 'cocky and overly optomistic hero saves the world' then I reckon the reader of this speech is beyond help and needs to check their views on postmodernism. Bioshock is also looking beautiful on the 360 and reminds me of Oblivion combined with System Shock 2 but under the sea and featuring little girls who harvest the magical 'adam' from deceased corpses. All these games I have listed to me are just something more. They feel fresh and new and as if they are injecting life back into a genre that Square has accidentally killed by trying to appeal to the mass market (the interview with the FFXII team proves this)......
"In addition, they responded to the criticism that some have leveled at the game by pointing out that the Final Fantasy series has always been about change, and that many purists were upset when they transitioned to full 3D environments in Final Fantasy X. They said that they weren't as worried as they might have otherwise been about the combat system were it not for the massively multiplayer Final Fantasy XI having alreadyincorporated combat taking place in real time. Thus, they felt that their fans had already been softened up for the inclusion of a similar system in Final Fantasy XII. In addition, they admitted that the hardcore purists were usually going to be impossible to please, but that they wanted to attempt to create a system so fun to use that even those purists would come around. "
As underlined, this is exactly how I feel about the series as of now. It's ruined and the trailer for XIII proves it even further (the combat speed is all wrong). As the said, I -Â a 'hardcore purist' - am not ammused and this is primarily a reason why I favour the better blood of Atlus, BioWare, Irrational, Level 5 and Mistwalker.....
That answered your question Fuzzy? :)
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