Board 8 > Just got back from Japan and its sad to see how much FF has fallen there

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just got back from a month long vacation to Japan and it's crazy to me how much FF has become a non-factor here. I didn't even realize FFXVI released since I saw maybe one small ad for it at a department store my whole time there.

Meanwhile, I get blasted with TotK, Splatoon 3 and Switch Sports ads several times a day.

Console gaming in Japan is close to dead.

Even as a jrpg fan Final Fantasy has felt irrelevant to me for a decade now.

FF14 is massive in Japan

FF really has fallen in Japan

it's fallen everywhere else too, but it has fallen in Japan

MacArrowny posted...

FF14 is massive in Japan

Among the hardcore otaku yes, but hardly among the mainstream. The brand definitely has become some thing just for the MMO otakus at this point and perhaps Squenix is content with that.

I think Squeenix (and all the other major Japanese devs) are happy with the massive overseas numbers they're consistently enjoying

I would hardly call the top selling game in the country a non-factor

I was there in early June and admittedly I wasn't paying attention to advertisements, but it seemed like any store with video game anything had plenty of FF merch. It's not on Genshin's level but it still seemed pretty popular?

I saw a ton of advertisements for ff16 when i was there in may

But yeah, not nearly as much as totk which was EVERYWHERE

The real question is whats the coolest thing you ate while you were there?

https://youtu.be/2WZ2jkfNpFU

I recall the place being crazy for FFX and FFXIII but not so much XII or XV. I imagine the female leads tended to be a big draw. Also the other games have been a bit more western-focused maybe. I dont keep up with the sales and havent been there since 2020 though.

Im not too surprised, but the series is still doing pretty well. Japan has just pretty much completely moved away from console gaming (Switch excluded since it can go handheld).

I mean, really this is all part of a near-20 year gradual decline of FF (that is largely reflected globally though not as consistent) which is not due to any one game or cause but a mix of mismanagement from Square and changes in the market. You already have the people going see thats why they made a mistake changing it which ignores the fact that reportedly word of mouth is good and the game is showing normal second week drops for a FF game. Its obviously part of a bigger issue.

Here is my hot take: Final Fantasy needs to get back to launching on Nintendo if it wants to regain the market in Japan. Its not that console gaming is dead in Japan, its that overall the Switch is dominant there. XVI is the first numbered FF game to not launch on the then lead console in Japan. That has to be having a significant effect. Of course then it gets into tricky discussions about the partnership with Sony and whether or not to pursue the kind of visual fidelity and spectacle that these games have done fairly consistently until now. FFXVI will do fine numbers worldwide but its never going to be a God of War Ragnarok in terms of sales for a big budget PS exclusive. So should it even try to be that?

TomNook7 posted...

The real question is whats the coolest thing you ate while you were there?

Full fugu course probably, although it didn't have much of a taste.

It's difficult to push a mainline game onto Nintendo's console when the entire company is pushing FF as a franchise that prides itself in having state of the art visuals, and the Switch is basically 2 Wii's strapped together with a cheap monitor.

With the way Square likes to focus on top of the line graphics I cant see them going back to Nintendo because even their next console wont hold a candle specs wise to the PS5

squexa posted...

Full fugu course probably, although it didn't have much of a taste.

dope

Well yeah my point is that they cant really have their cake and eat it too about this, but the correct choice may be to cool it on the cutting edge visuals. Especially since I dont think its controversial to say that while we have not yet plateaued on visuals, diminishing returns started long ago.

Of course if The Witcher 3 and Doom Eternal can run on a Switch I think you can get a lot of stuff on whatever its successor winds up being. With compromises obviously but I think you could still have a great looking FFXVII on a Switch 2.

Bold of you to assume the Switch 2 will be much stronger than the Switch 1!

Also *compromises", those games look and run like ass, I'd rather not be able to play them at all than play those versions.

Square is releasing RPGs on Switch. Having them focus primarily on games with lower production values was likely a lost cause as of like FF7.

I dont think FF has to keep going in this giant AAA direction honestly

Id be down for FF17 just being a retro throwback/return to form like mega man 9 or sonic mania something. Itd be able to run on nintendo platforms too

FF18 just do cel shaded graphics and let yoko taro do it, fuck it

I actually really like that FF can keep reinventing itself and trying crazy shit

Square could technically try a lot of different things, but top visuals is what they want FF to be so until that changes I wouldnt expect anything too different from them. I cant even imagine a world where Square goes back to retro looking FF games for the main series.

swordz9 posted...

Square could technically try a lot of different things, but top visuals is what they want FF to be so until that changes I wouldnt expect anything too different from them. I cant even imagine a world where Square goes back to retro looking FF games for the main series.

Nor should that world exist

We're already getting oversaturated with throwback retro looking RPGs as it is, INCLUDING from Square, and Square isn't even making any of the good ones.

Also Yoko Taro is already in the FFXVI credits.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Bold of you to assume the Switch 2 will be much stronger than the Switch 1!

Also *compromises", those games look and run like ass, I'd rather not be able to play them at all than play those versions.

Doom Eternal does not run or look like ass. You picked a bad example for that, it's widely considered an industry standard example of how to do a port to a less powerful console because it maintains extremely seamless FPS and plays great with gyroscopic controls.

Square has a bunch of lower fidelity RPGs and they can make FF spinoffs anytime they want. Even 7R is technically a lower fidelity spinoff. But the mainline will always be trying to push the tech.

It's an FPS at 30 frames that struggles to run in 720p in docked mode, that's ass.

It doesn't get points because it's "stable", you can make any game run stable if you compromise it enough.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

you can make any game run stable if you compromise it enough

gamers try not to say the dumbest shit possible challenge (impossible)

Yeah I think both of those points are not correct. The Doom Eternal port is basically black magic, and Witcher 3 is pretty damn good post-patches. The Switch 2 will not be a titan but is expected to be around PS4-levels with DLSS. That is ample power for good looking games. Not the bleeding edge, but AAA with impressive visuals. DLSS will be a game changer for whats possible on a machine like this which is quite a bit already. If it has it!

OK well maybe not ANY game.

But the point is that Doom Eternal on Switch is not something anyone should ever settle with forcing themselves through if they have any other option.

If you DON'T have any other option...then yeah, the game works. It turns on and you can play it.

But I'm on the books as a framerate snob who's completely dropped playing games before because they were locked at 30.

But also, FFVIIR is a really good looking game but it was never top-tier for its hardware in the way that older games were or XVI is. If the future of FF is looks as good as FFVIIR that doesnt sound so bad!

FFVIIR looks completely fine! People meme on the N64 door, but otherwise the game looked great. Not looking as good as XVI is not a problem, that game is causing some PS5's to die, that's not really a standard you have to strive towards.

But also clean out your PS5s, people.

The door is (was?) just a QA problem. And it stands out more because there isn't wacky stuff like that all over the game.

It's iconic.

If they fixed it that's a shame, just like the Endwalker grapes.

I totally agree that 7R is as good as any AAA needs to look and you can find basically no fault in it, but the AAA arms race will never agree to that. They would rather have super high end but faulty graphics because they know how well it sells. And the only way to fund that is to make it a huge mainline game with a ton of marketing.

They've been chasing the west for so many years now, it would make sense for Japan to fall off

UshiromiyaEva posted...

It's an FPS at 30 frames that struggles to run in 720p in docked mode, that's ass.

It doesn't get points because it's "stable", you can make any game run stable if you compromise it enough.

16 drops to 30 and 720p at times in performance mode too

colliding posted...

They've been chasing the west for so many years now, it would make sense for Japan to fall off

Many years? Like, since the 80s? FF has always been more westernized than other JRPGs

MacArrowny posted...

16 drops to 30 and 720p at times in performance mode too

Never experienced this once, unless it was hidden in a cutscene transition or something. It never dropped during gameplay and that's all that matters.

Yeah FF has been mostly popular outside of Japan since VII, although that share of the market has obviously increased significantly. However it should be noted that FF is not what it was worldwide either. And I do think the platform exclusivity is hurting it, thats part of why XV did so well.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Never experienced this once, unless it was hidden in a cutscene transition or something. It never dropped during gameplay and that's all that matters.

If you didn't notice it you're just bad at noticing frame rate on your own

OK Mac.

LightningStrikes posted...

Yeah FF has been mostly popular outside of Japan since VII, although that share of the market has obviously increased significantly. However it should be noted that FF is not what it was worldwide either. And I do think the platform exclusivity is hurting it, thats part of why XV did so well.

FFXV launched on PS4 and XB1, with 90% of its sales on PS4. Launching on the Series too wouldn't have made a huge difference for XVI.

The numbers Ive seen have always been over 20% on Xbox, and we cannot forget the PC either. Or, for that matter, the rerelease.

LightningStrikes posted...

XVI is the first numbered FF game to not launch on the then lead console in Japan.

Wasn't the Wii the lead console when XIII launched?

Dragon Quest is the one that's always launched on the lead console in Japan, hence IX on DS and XI course corrected to be on 3DS.

You got me, though only narrowly. The Wii was still just outselling the PS3 in 2009 and 2010 in Japan, while after the PS3 was selling more while the Wii fell off a cliff starting in 2011. Wii topped it lifetime 12.8m to 10.5m. So the Wii sold more overall but the PS3 was selling for longer. There was definitely a period where the PS3 was the top console in Japan, but after XIIIs launch.

LightningStrikes posted...

The numbers Ive seen have always been over 20% on Xbox, and we cannot forget the PC either. Or, for that matter, the rerelease.

Sure, but we only have early sales for 16, currently. 15 didn't launch on PC either, and the rerelease was years later, so those aren't relevant for the comparison yet.

Leonhart4 posted...

Nor should that world exist

They make the best looking games here

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/2/AAXBdhAAEoxe.jpg