Could Episodic Games Improve Quality?

This right here happens to be a bit controversial. Especially among gamers who recently discovered that Final Fantasy VII Remake is being split into more games. Like most, I was pretty bummed out at first. But when I started seeing more and more of it unveiling, I started thinking 🤔: "You know what? I think this might be the best thing to have ever happened to it!"

An episodic rpg means more story, more content and a more epic game overall. Like Xenosaga or the infamous FFXIII with a mix of good and bad entries. So, what if (and this is just my opinion) more videogames started making games episodic? Would you guys be against it? Or do you think it'll actually improve some games? Doesn't have to be an rpg, just a game with a big storyline in general. Like even Halo or even Last of Us.

Like, imagine Resident Evil 2 Remake was split into two games. Claire gets a game and Leon gets a game. Now Capcom can focus on their playthroughs individually and make each of them unique experiences. Now the stories are more fleshed out and each game can have more story content. Wouldn't that be the coolest thing ever?! I think so! But I know I can't speak for everyone...What do you guys think?

Well one could make a quality episodic game, a quality stand-alone game, or a number of quality games broken up into sequels. One structure isn’t really inherently better over another, the game itself and the developer’s vision and delivery needs to fit that format for the game’s quality to be there.

Lol, no. Just make a complete game the first time. Gaming doesn't need to milk the hell out of every game with full price "episodes".

This. It's why games like Resident Evil Remakes aren't going this route and Capcom could have done similar but they didn't.

Waiting 10 years for another Final Fantasy VII episode sounds wonderful.

How's Sin: Episode 2 and Half Life 2: Episode 3 coming along?

No in the end they just feel like half ass projects.

No, they're just a money grab and empty promises.

I don't think they are benificial to gamers. Just put out the finished article when it's ready.

No direct correlation here really. Episodic releases could be amazing, shit, or anything in between, just like any other game.

And more game doesn't = better game. Too many games feel bloated and padded out as is, running out of good ideas and variety early on, far overstaying their welcome.

I don't have a strong opinion either way, judge on a game by game basis as always.

That being said, I think the current industry would be more inclined to leverage episodes as a way to dig deeper into your pocket rather than giving you a higher quality experience.

@davillain-:

Arguably, Resident Evil remakes don't normally have as much story to cover either. So to be episodic, it would require a ton of new story mixed in.

Some games are fine with being episodic because they are short and cheap. As in their total cost would be roughly around the same price of a full game and the episodes are released in a reasonable time. However, games that are not short or were originally one game that is converted into multiple games doesn't read as beneficial or good for the game. The game is mostly likely going to be padded for fake hours of content and the overall experience diluted purely for monetary gains.

Games as a service is the best episodic gaming.

LOL no.

I would rather take FF7 episodic than wait for the whole story on this scale and improvement. If they made the entire story with this amount of detail and scale compared to the original it would never come out or take a ridiculous amount of dev time. I'm hoping they can do it in three releases and cant wait to visit the golden saucer.

I think some of these studios need to focus on one game at a time. That would help quality.

No. Who's to say FFVII will ever be finished? What happens if they decide to just wrap it up with part 2 and cram whatever they had planned for part 3 in and it no longer makes sense? Look at other games, like Sonic 4. That was a mess. And we nearly didn't get Season 3 of the Walking Dead at all. No, the best bet is to plan out a game in its entirety, make it and move on, not string along your audience with the hopes that at sometime before they die, the project will be complete. Seriously, there are gamers in their 40s-60s that may not be around by the time FFVII Remake gets finished the way they're taking their every loving time with this.

@JustPlainLucas:

"What happens if they decide to just wrap it up with part 2"

- To me, that's actually a best case scenario. Because that would mean that it will undoubtedly start and end on ps4. All we do know is that SE is currently working on part 2 as we speak.

@Pedro:

"games that are not short or were originally one game that is converted into multiple games doesn't read as beneficial or good for the game."

- I can already guess what game you're referring to. But you gotta think fair. Regardless of how we might feel about it, it IS possible to successfully expand an old game with worthwhile story and content. But that all depends on the developer. The videogame industry is a very greedy industry, after all. So it's only natural for consumers to feel distrustful.

As for the "fake hours" you mentioned, yeah; we've all seen plenty of that. Collectibles and level grinding are among that. Though it's a bit of a generalization to automatically assume an expanded game *will have* padding, as opposed to seeing the final product. Sort of like being guilty until proven innocent.

It is definitely possible for the expansion of an older IP to offer a worthwhile story and content but, we are talking about Square Enix. I cannot give them the benefit of the doubt based on their history.

Maybe it would make sense for small publishers and developers or one struggling financially (like Capcom with RE Revelations 2 when they were at their lowest point), but Square Enix doing this now is somewhat questionable. Maybe they're doing it this way to stay on a tighter schedule, otherwise a wait until it's done approach might keep it in a delay cycle, which has been an issue with them in past. Plus, they can get ahead of generation fall-off early, otherwise if they wait then releasing when people are moving onto next gen consoles, they might not sell as much, and if they release it on next gen systems, they have a smaller userbase to sell to. It wouldn't surprise me if the FFVII release strategy is really about maximizing profits, not a quality thing. This also might not be as much an issue with BC between systems mediating that concern, but, part of me suspects there might be next gen re-release to exploit double dipping. I hope this won't be case, I would hope with compatibility between next and current gen consoles that purchasing a title on either gives players access to both versions.

@Pedro:

That's fair enough. Square Enix does have kind of a shit record. They got a lot to prove on FFVII.

@lamprey263:

"part of me suspects there might be next gen re-release to exploit double dipping."

- Ohhhh yeah! There is definitely gonna be a double dip on that! I can see it now.....

"FINAL FANTASY VII Remake COMPLETE 4K"

Which will be like, the exact same game but higher res textures. And it'll have whatever dlc it gets.

I can only think of one episodic release that has been good (Hitman).

They could make a quality episodic series like SMT:Digital Devil Saga part 1 and 2 (one of my fav JRPG) or they could do something like Xenosaga trilogy where part 2 nearly killed the series.

I only hope FF7R expands Cloud and Aerith relationship before the ineviable. I want to grind that ultimate limit break for Aerith and I hope I can do it in this episode.

Now, that is just laughable.

I don't mind if a few games or franchises become episodic, like Telltale Games but If episodic games becomes the new trend in the gaming industry than that would just be incredibly dumb. It would play right into the hands of EA, Activsion, etc

With development taking longer and longer, maybe it would be such a bad thing.

No. Just, NO! Don't give Capcom any ideas. If they could get away with it, they would charge for separate episodes, character story routes, costumes and raid/mercenaries mode.

I could see a very small pool of games doing episodic games well with unique ideas, but majority games will be ruined by bad actors trying to slice up an already made game.

Also, if a game fails to sell on target. You might not get to complete the story/saga.

Agree with most of what has been said already! Another thing to take into consideration is the fact how hard it is to follow a story if has been 2-3 years since you last visited it!? I mean I have trouble enough remembering what happened last season on my favorite shows and these are usually less than a year apart... I mean do anyone actually remember in details what happened in season 2 in Westworld??

Episodic game could mean the whole thing will be longer and more polished when it's out. But it probably mostly means they can charge more money for it, and that you'll have to wait for the game to come out several times.

I'd personally be really pissed if a game I wanted was episodic, and I definitely wouldn't support it.

@Ghost120x:

"It would play right into the hands of EA, Activsion, etc"

- I don't doubt that there would be a good amount of developers using the idea for bad intentions. But the majority of the consumer base aren't THAT stupid.

Like, say if worst case scenario: Square Enix decided to be total assholes about FFVII Remake and give you the first game with only a 5 hour main story and just fill out the rest of the game with useless filler. Like collectibles, badly made mini activities and incredibly repetitive fetch quests. Would we really be dumb enough to praise it for that? Like, as in, give 10/10s across the board? I'd like to think we wouldn't. And the sales would plummet once reviews start coming out.

As slippery as developers can be, bad practice always backfire on them. Like Fallout 76. So that serves as encouragement to do better and actually *try* to make a quality product.

This 100%.

@sakaixx:

SMT:Digital Devil Saga part 1 and 2

Never heard of that series before. Is it a pc-only game?

Its an Atlus game and part of the Shin Megami Tensei games and don't blame you its petty niche especially now that the series is on Nintendo only, limiting its already small base. SMT Digital Devil Saga, SMT 3: Nocturne, Persona 3 and Persona 4 on the PS2 is to me peak of Atlus game making. No game in the series since able to top this game. Give it a try on emulation or something as copies of the game is quite expensive and its only on PS2.

@sakaixx:

Dang, it's a ps2 game? Well, I might check it out, anyway. But looks like it'll have to be as a ps2 classic on ps3. if it's Atlus, it's gotta be good.

No... this doesn't need to be a thing. It worked out a couple/few times in the past, but more often than not it's a failure. I do not want to see the industry go in this direction for the most part. It never was and still isn't a good precedent to set for the future of gaming. When it works it works well, but when it fails we are left with half finished story lines. This makes it way too easy for devs to back out and use excuses. I would much rather pay for and receive a full game, and pay for additional DLC down the road if I enjoyed the game enough to that point.

@WitIsWisdom:

I know. Shenmue did us dirty like that too with Shenmue 3. We might not even get to see what happens after that and get left with *another* cliffhanger. They should've ended it with 3, considering how long it took to get the funds to make it.

No. I get that there are ALOT of FF7 fans here, but best thing ever to happen for the game? Using over 100 devs and over 10 years to make something episodic that we already know what happens in? Yikes. No that is not good.

Imagine if they took those same devs and made 3-4 great new games instead.

What a waste.

For me personally, I guess it depends on how much they are planning to put out. If it's a trilogy, then I could potentially accept that. Anything more, maybe not. As I find that I can personally grow inpatient of things quickly these days. I think the hype would eventually just die down for people. When you have just a standalone game you can draw a quick conclusion from that. With episodic releases, probably not depending on what you prefer.

EDIT: Got sidetracked. To answer your question, no I don't think so.

i have yet to see a game that was made better for being an episodic one than if it was released as full game

@nepu7supastar7: I can't imagine how serialising something would improve it.

I'm not sure about that logic. So when you're finished with a 10-hour "episode", you'd wait 6 months or longer for more content...?

I'd rather wait several years for a proper RPG title with tons of content.

You have MMOs and games as a service titles that get periodically updated with more major content, and I'm fine with that.

@IgGy621985:

The exact length is a bit of an unknown. At least for FFVII Remake, it's been stated that it will be at least 20-30 hours long and it's 2 discs. And that's not counting all the sidequests and stuff. So I'm sure there will be more than enough for it to qualify as a full game. People were fine with it when it came to Xenosaga. And it's following the same structure as Final Fantasy XIII trilogy.

Episodic games will improve quality as the developer has better opportunity to focus on each milestone and give them the individual attention they need. Anyone who creates large projects knows this. The penalty is that games that bomb will not receive new episodes. But that threat is diminished with the lower pricing of individual episodes vs paying for a full game.