I would ALSO say the same thing about console war dummies!

It must be so exhausting to be a PC gamer.

My best co-op partner for Halo completely ditched the series because Halo 5 got rid of split-screen.

The Citadel DLC is so good and honestly I wish more games had a “goof-em-up” adventure where you can just see everybody let loose and be dumbasses.

I just think her outfit is so goddamn stupid.

I will be honest: I did not think of any of the sequels as “mainline” entries in the series. They feel much more obviously like spinoffs.

Eh, see I don’t even think something like FFVII is all that mechanically different than any other menu-based Final Fantasy game. Sure, they have limit breaks and the things you learn abilities from are called Materia instead of Espers, but it’s still largely a similar experience.

Well, sure, but RE4 set out to reinvent survival horror and then wound up more or less accidentally reinvented third-person shooters. RE5 and RE6 came from a place of “all these other action games learned from RE4 so clearly we can outdo them” while ignoring the fact that it was never intended to be an action series.

Yeah, I mean: I admit there is some truth to the idea that we’ve yet to see a AAA menu-based (premium, not free-to-play) RPG that is not named Pokemon sell gangbusters to a mainstream audience.

Yeah, I mean, honestly, I think an argument could be made that the Legend of Zelda series has seen more mechanical experimentation and reinvention than the mainline Final Fantasy series.

Yeah, I guess in terms of Pokemon I was comparing the way those games have changed with how the pre-FFXIII games were all more or less within the same space. Sorry I didn’t make that clear.

Cool, that’s good to hear. I’m still spending a scary amount with Tears of the Kingdom so I’m not sure when I’ll be moving on from that game but surely at some point I’ll break free of it.

I mean, I heard FFXVI is good, but that’s mostly been from folks who really love Devil May Cry / Bayonetta / whatever. I don’t generally play those games so I’m not exactly running out the door to play it but I’ll give it a shot at some point.

Not really? RE5/6 and FFXVI are both examples of a series pivoting to a new (much more popular) genre in an attempt to increase sales. In both cases it seems like it has worked.

Did I not mention XI and XIV? I’m looking at my comment at the top of the thread and I’m seeing it right there. I said XI, XII, XIV and XV are the main games that I think can be argued are “reinventions” of the series.

Okay, but not really? Like, if you want to compare it to other series it’s certainly not been any more experimental with its mechanics any more than Pokemon or Metal Gear Solid or Resident Evil or The Legend of Zelda or even friggin’ Super Mario.

I mean, I read the whole thing, which is probably where you’re struggling.

Again, I’d say that no meaningful contingent of people is arguing for Final Fantasy XVI to play like a retro game nor are they saying a Final Fantasy game needs to be a menu-based RPG. I’m certainly not arguing that.

Okay, but that is not what we’re talking about.