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I do think you’ve hit the nail on the head as far as the whole “we don’t have to do everything well, we just need to do one or two things well” mentality. Call of Duty does multiplayer well, but not singleplayer or innovation. Final Fantasy XIII did combat well, but the story was awful.

As far as #3 goes, it won’t work without #1. I’ve also addressed the whole “it gets good 25 hours in” B.S. It’s like saying “Star Wars is good once you get to Empire Strikes Back”. Yeah, it might be a high point, but you’re not going to say that “A New Hope” was absolute crap, are you?

On #3: I can’t wait until the joke isn’t “it starts out boring, but gets good 20 hours into the game,” but rather “it starts out boring, but gets good 3 games into the series.”

So we need to discuss this next podcast, you mean?

I hate to be the one to bring this up, but Final Fantasy XIV is already out. It’s an MMO.

On a related note, it’s horrible and everyone hates it. No, seriously. I imagine that this game has likely been in the planning stages for a while now, but I’m curious if Final Fantasy XIV’s spectacular failure both critically and commercially has anything to do with the fairly short window between announcement and release (particularly for a Final Fantasy game).

In regards to X-2, I liked it but I didn’t like it. My biggest beef was this it was the whole ‘pop star’ arch. Teenie-bop is not really my thing. However, the game was enjoyable and the connecting storyline was good as well.

So, in my typical fashion, I am all about some more FF. If it adds to the story, great! If it is something to bide my time until 14 hits, I am fine w/ that as well.

I think it’s more interesting that 1) They’re doing another direct sequel when Final Fantasy X-2 wasn’t well received and feelings among “core” Final Fantasy fans towards FF XIII was mixed, at best, 2) They’re apparently putting this game on a fast track for 360 and PS3, when most of these one-offs are hand-held and phone games, and 3) The game is apparently going to hit U.S. shores before the other Final Fantasy XIII spin-offs, even though they were announced years ago.

I do agree, however, that this seems to be a derivitave of the Activision model. Rather than doing a proper sequel every year (and penalizing you on the multiplayer front for waiting for the price to go down), what Square is doing here is a multi-step process:

1) Establish a world with a proper AAA release

2) Expand the world with hand-held and phone games, which are cheaper to develop, and should help offset development costs for future releases.

3) Make the whole thing confusing as hell, so you feel compelled to play all the games in the series.

4) Profit.

I don’t know about you, but this might be a job for Chainsaw Buffet.

Considering how every new FF game turns into a small franchise, it’s almost as if the gaming industry as a whole is slowly sliding towards the Activision “every new IP must be a franchise” model (if nothing else, because it works).