Do not you dare drop the numbers from the Last Fantasy names, Sq. Enix
On: May 23, 2023
Last Fantasy 16 is doing its final lap of console previews forward of a launch subsequent month, although sadly on PC we’re not going to be enjoying it anytime quickly. Extra regarding, although, is one thing Yoshida advised GQ UK in an interview at the moment: there have been talks “with the higher-ups” at Sq. Enix about ditching the numbers for the Last Fantasy sequence as a result of they are often complicated for brand new gamers.
“A number of gamers are going to come back in and so they’re going to take a look at it like a comic book e book where you must learn from the start to know what is going on on now,” Yoshida stated. “It is laborious for advertising as a result of each numbered title that we launch within the sequence, we’ve got to enter it like, ‘It’s OK, you do not have to play the remainder of them.”
I get it—16 is a fairly large quantity. It takes years to learn to rely that top, and the thought of there being 15 different numbers you must take into consideration earlier than you get to 16? Fairly intimidating. There’s additionally the roman numeral problem issue. We use plain ol’ numbers right here on PC Gamer, however formally the game’s Last Fantasy XVI. How are kids speculated to play this now-M-rated sequence if they can not even learn the title!?
Yoshida additionally argues, moderately, that persevering with to quantity every new game within the sequence might trigger issues for his first and first love, the MMO Last Fantasy 14. “You get a brand new participant coming in and it is like, ‘Wait a minute, why do I’ve to play Last Fantasy 14 if 16 is out?'” he imagined. “Why do not we simply name it Last Fantasy On-line—simply do away with the quantity altogether, and that’ll make it simpler to know.”
Aside from the truth that that is unforgivable Last Fantasy 11 erasure, I sympathize with the purpose. However to this I current my indeniable counterpoint: a historical past of videogame names from Sq. Enix that do not merely depend on a quantity to speak that they seem to be a new entry in a longrunning sequence.
Stranger of Paradise: Last Fantasy Origin
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Last Chapter Prologue
Bravely Second: Finish Layer (to not be confused with Bravely Default II)
Last Fantasy Sort-0
Last Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord
Dirge of Cerberus: Last Fantasy VII
Last Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Conflict of the Visions: Last Fantasy Courageous Exvius
This isn’t even mentioning the atrocities Sq. has dedicated with non-sequels like The Quiet Man, Numerous Daylife, and SINoALICE. Sq. Enix weaponizes phrases like few different game publishers within the enterprise. I refuse to learn to pronounce “SINoALICE” or “Exvius” and may’t think about what the following Last Fantasy could be known as in the event that they dropped the numbers. I have already got many years of observe saying “seventeen.” Do not inform me that was for nothing!
(Picture credit score: Sq. Enix, legends of Localization)
And , as ridiculous as all these names are, they’re no worse than western game studios’ obsession with rebooting sequence, making it exhaustive to Google or focus on every model:
Every time one other game sequence ditches numbering, odds are good we’ll find yourself seeing one in all these generic subtitles slapped onto them as an alternative:
Legends
Infinite
Rising
Origins
Reckoning
Revolution
Unleashed
Eww.
At the moment, I give due to Capcom for the sturdy, pure Road Fighter 6 slightly than Road Fighter Legends or Road Fighter: Unleashed. And I thank Last Fantasy 16 for not simply being known as Last Fantasy. Google search is already hanging by a thread. Do not go breaking the web, for all our sakes, Sq. Enix. Simply preserve these numbers where they belong.
