Xinghan "Jenova" Chen is the creative director of ThatGameCompany. He was also in charge of flOw. Prior that he was lead designer at Maxis on Spore (not that you could tell from the first level). He's recently given an interview to Digital Arts in which he went over a few salient points.
One of these concerned the difference between a game like Flower (reviewed here) which lasts a few hours and entails making the world a nicer place, and Final Fantasy. It's a revealing insight. Jenova says, "I force myself to play some games...like Final Fantasy XII.
"I had to struggle through because of all the [endless quests]. Even though I really wanted to know how the story ended, after a couple weeks I had to just give up. The chore of making your character gain more experience to complete the game had no relevance to real life. And that is where a lot of games lose people."
We can already hear millions of FF fans beginning a tsunami of a rant. We can also see several heads in the SPOnG office nodding in huge agreement.
Jenova also has a theory about the current state of gaming and how we can proceed.
"Games are still largely seen as a toy and not just by the mainstream audience, but by some developers as well..."
"...no one asks you if you're a film watcher or if you're a reader, but when it always comes to games, you're a gamer. That's because we've got a ways to go. People use phrases like "cool" and "fun," but seeking a more sophisticated audience means doing more. People read a book, for example, but there's this thought that they will absorb something from it. Something mentally stimulating that they will be able to use elsewhere."
One of these concerned the difference between a game like Flower (reviewed here) which lasts a few hours and entails making the world a nicer place, and Final Fantasy. It's a revealing insight. Jenova says, "I force myself to play some games...like Final Fantasy XII.
"I had to struggle through because of all the [endless quests]. Even though I really wanted to know how the story ended, after a couple weeks I had to just give up. The chore of making your character gain more experience to complete the game had no relevance to real life. And that is where a lot of games lose people."
We can already hear millions of FF fans beginning a tsunami of a rant. We can also see several heads in the SPOnG office nodding in huge agreement.
Jenova also has a theory about the current state of gaming and how we can proceed.
"Games are still largely seen as a toy and not just by the mainstream audience, but by some developers as well..."
"...no one asks you if you're a film watcher or if you're a reader, but when it always comes to games, you're a gamer. That's because we've got a ways to go. People use phrases like "cool" and "fun," but seeking a more sophisticated audience means doing more. People read a book, for example, but there's this thought that they will absorb something from it. Something mentally stimulating that they will be able to use elsewhere."
Games:
Flower
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Comments
Joji 16 Feb 2009 17:52
1/2
I hear and understand this. I stopped playing them because of such issues with FF games.
I feel the FF games should delve further into characters, with real problems like Persona does. Unfortunately Square get caught up in too much pointless teen angst and emoness, that much is lost.
I feel the FF games should delve further into characters, with real problems like Persona does. Unfortunately Square get caught up in too much pointless teen angst and emoness, that much is lost.
Daz 16 Feb 2009 23:47
2/2
the last time I played FFXII (which was only a few weeks ago actually) those "endless quests" where optional