Right I know most of that.

"This week's edition of Critical Reception examines online reaction to Square Enix's RPG sequel Final Fantasy XIII-2, which reviewers describe as "an encouraging step in the right direction." Final Fantasy XIII-2 currently earns a score of 81 out of 100 at Metacritic.com."

Saying that there are some negatives with a product isn't enough. You need to know how much. A lot of this "reasoning" about the weaknesses of 13 seem to come down to personal distaste, and not facts.

I know how businesses work. I am saying the 13 criticism comes down to "hardcore gamer rage." Maybe it doesn't, but when I ask for proof I get the run-around.

FF is kind of shitting on the hardcore western gamer. No diversity, more cut scenes, no Japanese dialogue. We want them to be failing, for our critiques to matter, but so far they seem to be running middle of the pack with other AAA.

The truth is, as far as sales go, we don't matter. If they pleased us and the masses then sure everything would be better. I've waited for a proper follow-up to 7 since 7. And I know for sure being pushed on the back foot is bad internally for Square, because they aren't sharpening their design skills. But that happens to all AAA as they try to move into the future.

We want 13 to be this proof of respect-the-gamer, but it only sort-of is. Accessibility makes bank, no matter how you spin it. Eventually Square will get their act together, but what they are doing now is no different than what they did with 9. Profit, scale, risk-management: they stay alive.

8-14 is all the same attitude.

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A crash would need a super-duper-Minecraft-like explosion.

edit:

13-3 might be bad though - I don't know enough about it.

I think trust is a crucial element here. I want to trust that a game will not stop short, or go on longer than needed. If I am near the end I'll bust through to the end. But if I'm not I might need to not play that game for a while.

I remember when I was a kid playing Secret of Evermore. I was a big SNES RPG guy. Secret of Mana is the more popular partner to Evermore, but I loved them both. Evermore totaled me as a kid. Some parts were so overwhelming I'd be forced to put down the game for months, before I had the courage and insight to continue.

How long is this swamp? How many more places are there to go? These kinds of questions - the mystery of what was left - was important. I wanted to wonder.

Game-length indicators are like those arrows you get in Bioshock, and other games, that point to your objective. You have a world, then a meta-game 4th-wall-breaker... that just gets in there and fucks everything up.

But how fun is it to get lost and frustrated? I want to explore, but not get stuck. I want to trust the game's length, but I don't want to be blindsided by it.

There's a big issue here I think. Game-length indicators aren't the most important thing in games, but like it's interesting to think about why they matter, and how to deal with them appropriately. There's a lot of space here to make effective decisions.

that's funny. I like learning this way, through entertaining battles.

try and see what happens. you worry too much. if the experience sucks you'll find out best by trying. quitting and switching to something else is easy. doing nothing is the only bad thing.

Gimmy I was just looking for why you thought ff13 "hurt the brand." I know my business 101.

In SMW when you beat the Secret Star Road you get the hidden zone, with level names like "Tubular" and "Gnarly." Those are the best levels. Yeah.

....

First you said expectation didn't matter. Now you are saying it is the critical ingredient. Was FFXIII-2 below expectations? If it was, sure your argument stands.

Tilbert do you know the budget for 13-2? I don't. If they made a profit then the game was a success. Even though it is worse than 13, they explored certain ideas, satisfied the customers who complained about 13, kept the brand alive, and kept devs busy.

You mentioned alarm bells. Maybe you're right. But I think we'd need to see slim profit margins for that. Maybe that's what they had?

8.0 sequels, low-budget, don't ruin franchises... unless sales bomb. Given 13-2 was developed in half the time as 13, and made half the sales, I think that's decent.

Maybe you just want 13 to be dumb, because you didn't like it? I don't like the linearity and cut-scenes either, but, as far as sales go, Square keeps on paddling.

@tilbert the sequels were developed faster, probably for less money. I don't think Square expected smashes with them.

I wonder. I wish Japanese audio was in there. Jeeze.

related:

there was the paint-by-numbers Skies of Arcadia

nooo, I luv Skies!

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I don't know what you guys are talking about with FF13. There was some lash-back in the west, but it sold well. From wikipedia: "The game sold more than one million copies in North America in its release month. In March 2010, Square Enix stated that Final Fantasy XIII was the fastest-selling title in the franchise's history." The game went on to sell at least 7 million copies. That's all right. That's Halo big.

The big questions are these:
 - how much is the AAA propped up by hype?
 - how quickly will consumers become disillusioned with hype?

If the answer to both questions is "lots," then your crash is in there.

I learned to play Agricola in slow motion.

I want to play a video game that teaches me how to play a complicated board game - random thought.

That, or they'd need to mass produce a new ET for the Wii-U, Xbox One and PS4.

In the 80s everyone stopped buying games all at once. That would have to happen again for a crash to happen. Consumers would have to suddenly switch to indie titles or movies as a substitute.

in ff7 you get an approximate idea of how far you are based on what disc you're on lol. kinda makes me wonder if someone who played the game on steam for the first time rather than the ps1 experiences it differently.

I forgot about this. When I changed discs I'd reflect on how far I'd come, how much content approximately was left. The last disc is always a let-down - super short.

There's a big overlap between LD and a strong flow state induced by a game.