What did we expect? Honestly, were RPG-fans worldwide held with bated breath, believing that Square Enix were about to pull of the coup that JRPGs sorely need? The answer is no. No we weren't because this is a genre so backwards facing that its still wearing a sideways flipped cap and humming the tune to "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" Final Fantasy has, well honestly, lost its fantasy.
Following on from the tunnel-vision of the last installment, the rare occasion of a direct sequel to the series is an effort for the Japanese developer to right the wrongs, do the do overs, and get it right this time - except they haven't really. It still feels as claustrophobic, except in a different way: the game is in a time warp, more so than the storyline.
Western RPGs for some time have been getting better, from the moral-greys of Witcher 2, to the lovely dialogue-wheel mechanics of Mass Effect, storyline has moved away from the sword and sorcery, D&D heavy campaigns to something approaching exciting and innovative. So while one side of the world has hurtled forward from its naval-gazing, comic store roots, the other has simply sat still in the sludge of anime emotes and tired scripting.
You know things have got bad when adding a "jump" button is hailed as Square Enix breaking the fourth wall and literally throwing arms out to fans like a pop-star on a victory lap. Invisible walls are still prevalent, linearity is still as obvious, and the one source that truly made these games interesting, storyline, is now sadly lacking.
How many times can we watch Serah utter the phrase "Am I dreaming?" or "Is Lighting really alive?" likewise just how long can we hang tight listening to Noel opinioning on how "WOW COCOON WASN'T THERE IN MYYYYY TIME". It just gets dull and droll, boring and bland, annoying and infuriating, and simply smacks of a cultural divide that is widening by every release.
In a world post Skyrim, hell even Daggerfall, we as gamers can expect something that lives up to the technology of the times, and yet Final Fantasy is no more inventive than it was in 1992 - actually less so. The mechanics are tired, and instead of heading in a direction of realism, or just entertainment, innovation in JRPG's seems to be simply adding tags of "ACTIVE TIME BATTLE LAPSE" or "SUPER SPECIAL COMBO EVENT" the more exuberant the language, the more intense and high-octane it all sounds, the more superfluous it all becomes.
There was a time when Final Fantasy lead the way for mainstream RPGs, did away with the stuffy nonsense of D20 dice and the like, now it is as entrenched in its ways, as institutionalized as the thing it once countered. I think it is time to proclaim that the king of JRPGs is dead, and perhaps the genre itself is flagging with little signs of recovery - or should we call it "ULTRA MEGA TIME LAPSE SEQUENCE". Your choice I suppose.
