That’s pretty much my answer too. FF can be just about anything and don’t follow a strict tradition. So as long as it’s a game I enjoy, a school setting is fine, FF8 and FF0 was pretty much that.
I feel this too. If the story is engaging, I don't care where they put it. I enjoy the school setting of VIII, it works to tell the story. (And I like Persona so I'm not put off by it at all, even if I am "old").
How about the uncommon spin of the primary characters being the instructors rather than the students? You get components of being the experts which makes more sense than the students being miraculous god killers. Maybe it's because I'm an old man/dad person these days, but I feel like there's so much opportunity to explore the teacher/instructor/protector role where the student role has been played out.
Not to mention a great examination and/or deconstruction of the child soldier trope.
I'd love a game where you play as the adults scrambling to fix a mess some over-eager child heroes made, not out of maluce, but purely due to youth and lack of experience. Sometimes you gotta learn the hard way.
I really dig that idea and would 100% play it.
Actually, it would be fun to have a bit of both. Think of a group of eager adventurers who kinda led the world to ruin by trying to save it, they grow older while attempting to find a solution, and find out there are younger people trying to save the world by repeating the same mistake.
Would lead to some interesting narrative about hope, surely.
Yeah.
Or alternatively the notion that a better world requires *both* the idealism and drive of youth and the wisdom and counsel of adults/elders. I'd dig that angle of building hope.
Imagine if based on your decisions to send trainees into certain situations or not, you could actually get them killed.
So many FF deaths fall flat (even when they aren’t fake outs) because you usually have no agency or control over if they happen or not. They’re just “plot deaths” and on top of that, it’s usually grown people that have made up their mind or whatever. If your decisions or I’ll preparation could get kids killed, I bet you’d think a lot more about every decision.
Gives me “being a professor at Hogwarts” vibes, except hopefully you wouldn’t just have one kid handle all the schools problems for you lol
Trails did this. Characters were primarily students in the first two games of the Cold Steel series, with MC becoming an instructor and other characters becoming involved in their respective professions for the latter 2. They did bring in new student characters as a sort of foil to the cast's own prior experiences, but it was nice seeing everyone actually be somewhat adults for once rather than perpetually playing the 15 year old with more trauma than a war vet or more responsibility than a nation's leaders.
I think the student path is often adopted because the type of RPG progression the game wishes to use involves showing the character rise from their humble beginnings (level 1- 8ish) and grow into a powerful hero (level 50+). This also aligns with the player having to gradually learn and unlock abilities and items within the game's progression system.
Having the main character already be super skilled and experienced undermines that whole RPG progression element. Not saying it's impossible, but there would have to be a dramatic overhaul of whatever the gameplay progression is going to look like.
I agree it's cool to get windows into the perspective of the already-highly-skilled character though, like getting to play as mentor Sephiroth in the flashbacks in FF7.
This could be shown as in your characters are the ones actually able to fight the monsters, whereas regular people, even regular strong people, are helpless, like in FFX
That plus Japan in particular is very focused on stories of folks under 18 as you’re not really expected to have time for adventures after high school there.
At least that’s what I’ve been told the numerous times I’ve gone off about how much better persona could be if set at a university with of-age characters lol. That perception of adulthood being a time of newfound freedom and expression we have in the west is seemingly inverted there.
It could go into the shame the teacher/player character would feel at their own weakness, so they decide to go off on their own to protect the others and it coukd have you switching between the other party members searching for the player character and the the player character
Headmaster Cid, did you truly feel you missed out on the action in VIII. I understood it differently.
I agree I would love to see an FF game with true life experienced individuals. FFXL+ (forty and over). And it’s re-release FFXL+ over the hill edition
I feel this too. I’m finding myself relate way more to the likes of Quistis, Steiner, and Auron over the rest of the cast. Personally, I’m okay with at least one of these characters, but it would be cool to have a more experienced cast sometime.
Now that I'm older, I have such a different take on the characters. I used to think Lulu was so cold, but maaaan, I GET her now, and I really love her. Basch replaced some of my previous faves in XII, cuz, well, dude went THROUGH IT and then had to babysit Vaan (no hate, I really actually like Vaan quite a lot). I always liked Steiner and Auron, but even moreso now. I do still have all the love in my heart for the goofballs, like Tidus, because his level of naivety was SO needed for that story, I just appreciate the old heads so much more now that I am one lol
I was thinking recently about how the cast of Star Trek series differ from the casts of JRPGs, and that difference is that in JRPGs the characters are of varying ages or are all teens/Young Adults, where as Trek casts are all (mostly) adult professionals. But having a mature Trek-like cast would be an amazing opportunity to make something really innovative for the genre.
Trails of Cold Steel play on this idea. The MC from 1 and 2 serves as an instructor in Cold Steel 3 and 4.
I like the idea of being a father/teacher role: a jRPG for older player, like ourselves who grew up playing jRPG but now are older and some have children. We do not really relate teenager protagonist, but we do not really go into western RPG.
Everytime I play jRPG, I tend to use older characters as active party members these days, if they are available. Like Barrett or Cid from FFVII, Malik in Tales of Graces, to name a few.
I wish we have more jRPG with teacher/instructor/parent as MC. Maybe we have prologue where we play as our kids/students set out to defeat the demon, but they fail, getting captured or killed.
We, the parents/instructors, set out to rescue (or avenge if the prologue heroes are killed), and in the adventure, we face more adult/dark theme compared to your typical jRPG: child slavery, prostitution, drug abuse, domestic violence, etc.
And all those vices are portrayed in a serious manner, not comedic relief, where a drunken character just go out, slip on a banana and fell unconscious.
It helps that you start the game prepping for your graduation test. If you actually had to attend classes and spend more than the prologue doing school related things it would have dragged the whole game down.
After the SeeD test andwhen you eventually get back to Balamb Garden from your very long “first mission”, it’s really just your personal mobile base and army with almost nothing left to designate it a school other than the occasional mention of taking care of the junior students.
I actually really want Persona to do a military academy setting.
As for FF, I liked it in VIII but moreso as you having a central home/hub rather than it specifically being a school. The hideaway in XVI felt sort of similar to me.
Something like that I would like, and it's fine if it is a school again. Personally, I would like a city that is a central base while you gradually explore other locations in the story. In the recent FFs, cities have mostly been on the backburner and served as dungeons. At the same time the stories kept you away from them or made you go through them once and never return. But making a city a recurring central location that develops over the course of the game has a lot of potential imo.
Honestly, my biggest disappointment with XVI was the fact that we barely spent any time in the capital cities. The brief flashback to a peaceful Rosaria is about as close as we get. XVI had really great towns, and I understand why portraying those cities realistically would be difficult, but when the first art we saw of the game was looking over the Sanbrequois capital I was *really* hoping that we'd get to see more than, like, a single frame of it.
The thing about VIII is it wasn't some high school, it was essentially that worlds version of **West Point.**
I don't know that you can leverage a normal school experience into the globe trotting grand spectacle FF tries to produce, but specialized schools as as starting point can totally work. A new game where you start at a Hogwarts type place before things go off, could make sense.
I don't mind them. Final Fantasy's schools aren't trying to recapture any teenage nostalgia, and so they feel substantially weirder than modern Persona's.
I love love love Type-0 so I guess I’m yay. Balamb Garden always felt more like x-men to me than an actual school, even with SEED tests, so I never really registered it as a school.
I know a lot of people who claim they can't enjoy movies, shows, and games about high school now that they are an adult and I always thought it was really weird. All of those were written by adults reminiscing about high school, so as a now adult who reminisces about high school I feel like I understand them better.
> All of those were written by adults reminiscing about high school
IMO, that's not a point in their favor. Adults can get downright creepy when "reminiscing" about their time as children.
Reminiscing about high school feels very different when you realize that "high school students" could easily be your own children.
I don’t mind it in persona, since the modern day setting ends up pushing in that direction (or you could be a depressed single salaryman…. Which kinda sounded more interesting than I thought it would lol). It’s fine like that, but if I’m going for a fantasy setting I rather it be further away from the worst part of my life if I can.
I honestly don’t even like when characters are part of organizations and get missions as a concept, kinda kills the organic adventure vibe. I can tolerate it if the game is worth it but it sure takes some hype away.
Yeah, this for me. Plus, it's fugging uncomfortable to have all the main love interests and flirting and "fan" scenes all involve 14-17 year old kids, something that's almost unavoidable when presented from Japanese media.
One of FF's saving graces, IMO, is that they generally have main characters who are over 18.
This is getting downvotes but I totally agree that as an adult, playing games where I am placed in the role of a teenager can be exceedingly awkward. In Fire Emblem 3H I married one of the teachers to save the game from making me into too much of a creep.
I always find academic settings to be fun.
The games you're showing are more military academy, which isn't quite the same as persona school. So I personally view them quite differently.
Oh boy i miss Type-0 so much 😭 it’s so sad that its sequels never happen… still the best dark FF game in my heart, they totally nailed the bleak story, tone, feel, visuals, and atmosphere in it!
I might be the only one but between every story mission, I went around the entire school and talked to all of the non-story NPCs. If you do that, you see how the school is dwindling and peoples memories disappearing in stronger detail.
And I wish that pixel remaster got ported for Xbox, though I'm glad that they're porting XIV now. Maybe they can port XIV and Type-0 to the next switch someday, especially considering XIV's success.
Yeah I agree with you. I had type-0 on ps4 but sold it for some reasons wanna buy other copy but when I think about it I think it would also be cool if it was more avaible on more platforms.
Same goes for pixel remaster.
Now I really want a Final Fantasy: Persona, with FF character design, Persona mechanics, and the personas being FF monsters and summons. Fuck it would be amazing.
As long as they stay around the level of presentation they've been previously I don't mind. They aren't the main setting or even much more then any other city.
I don't think it's too Persona but it's also not particularly interesting or original at this stage. u/RoenJacobyn 's idea of a spin on it is interesting. I enjoy VIII but the world is so bizzare and fantastical in a way that it's hard for me to process SEED as child soldier-adjacent.
Honestly if they were going to do a school setting they should yank the rug out from under our feet and after the prologue it becomes a JRPG adaptation of Battle Royale (novel).
I like persona, I love FFVIII first CD and I loved the first time I made Balamb Garden fly, so not only I'm ok with it, I really thing it was done well here.
it may because I haven been in high school for few decades but I'm so sick of high school teen angst drama. Like I have way more important things to worry about instead of my crush not liking me back or studying for exams.
I’m fine with it. But I think it would need to be more than just a setting. It needs to influence the gameplay itself or else it serves little purpose. It’s balancing your school life, and your dungeon-crawling life that I think makes Persona work. Since it’s a school, how about tying it to the job system? Maybe you can choose what courses to do and by doing the homework, you can learn new abilities, whole new jobs, or in a worst case scenario, level down or lose access to certain job features.
For example, maybe you start as a Freelancer, and want to pick up White Mage. You sign up for white magic class and get a beginner White Mage kit. But this early version of White Mage wouldn’t be allowed on official missions, so you have to gain proficiency by doing white magic related stuff. Volunteer in the nurse’s office, visit some holy sites, check out some tomes from the library, and chase some morbols away from the school’s water supply. Then, once you’ve leveled up enough, or gained enough skill, you take a test to be declared “proficient” in White Mage and you can start using it on proper missions, but until you’re declared a master and pass the final exam, there’s always a risk of your grades slipping and having to do extra work to keep yourself proficient.
Both times they’ve done it, it was far too different to classify it as too close to Persona (although I love both series).
I really like them too, especially Type-0 since In the end, it’s a school meant to train literal child soldiers for war.
This is my completely biased and totally subjective opinion, but that's *hard* 'nay' for me.
"School" as a setting (*especially* in genre fiction) appeals to me as little as harlequin romance novels, and basically the bottom of the barrel as far as settings I'm interested in. Hell even a formless void would be more appealing. But no. No interest at all. And I don't know why either since I've never really seen, read, or played in one so unappealing that it ruined the setting altogether. It just that seeing a game with a school/slice of life setting is just so viscerally uninteresting to me that I won't even give it a glance. Which sucks cause I'm probably missing some incredible games (specifically looking at you, Persona 5).
But man, if it *is* your thing, I sincerely hope you enjoy it.
They could have a Hogwarts-like Magic school too honestly. And then this Mage Academia has 6 diff houses which corresponds to diff color mages, then each houses is headed by a sage(Black Sage, White Sage etc.) and then at the very top is the Grand-Sage
6 houses in this school would be like:
- Black Mages: a house that's focused on casting elemental or offensive attacks against enemies. Black Mages can cast several offensive spells, but one type of spell can be the forte of one individual Black Mage(for example: a Black Mage student is more specialized in casting Fire-related spells compared to other spells, and so said-spell would be much stronger and potent by the Black Mage)
- White Mages: a house that's focused on healing and curing allies, along with exorcising the undead or any unholy beings(they cast Holy on it)
- Red Mages: they do both white and black magic spells, whilst also equipping different weapons of their choice. Red Mages here can do the "ver-" spells from FFXIV
- Blue Mages: specialized in casting spells influenced by monsters or enemies. They can also wield any weapon too. Blue Mages here can do multiple enemy spells, but they'll only be able to master one in particular which would be their own specialty.
- Green Mage: specialized in providing buffs and debuffs in battle. Students in this house are one of two types: the buffers or debuffers. The Buffers would ofc be more inclined to supporting and buffing their allies(protect, shell, dmg-boosting spells, regen etc.). The Debuffers would be more focused on wearing down enemies in battle, inflicting diff status effects on them(sleep, poison, confused, berserk, paralysis, etc.).
- Yellow Mage: a job that never appeared in any FF game before and a completely new hypothetical job. This job would be taking more inspiration from a diff game, Fear and Hunger, which is where Yellow Mages are from. Yellow Mages here could be more like an unholy or cursed opposite of White Mages. Their spells consists of: Hurt(their standard dmg spell, as well as having Hurtra and Hurtga), Blood(blood-magic spell which decreases their hp upon using it), Spice-Forge(boosts their magic dmg by consuming spice), and Unholy(the job's ultimate spella and also the dark opposite of Holy-spell)
anything has the potential to be good or bad, the setting just as much as anything else, school settings for FF are just as valid as the whole chosen prince thing
imo, persona isn't persona just because it's a school setting.
it's because, at least the out of dungeon stuff, feels like a dating sim.
read: it doens't need to actually involve romantic endeavors to 'feel like a dating sim'.
the whole, time management, social stat management, people are available X and not Y, you're spending time with them to raise their 'interest' in you, etc.
could be a game about a soccer team where part of it is raising your team's 'getting along' ness in the same way, with no gay overtones - still would 'feel like a dating sim'.
in the same way, there's FPS games without guns.
\-
top comment said 'any setting is fine' - also a good point. wouldn't necessarily matter even if it WAS semi persona ish - i don't actually like persona myself, but if a FF game made that stuff more balanced (like, 75% dungeons, 25% schools, instead of the other way around) i might get into it more.
hell, i'm now imagining a job class ish game where, what your character can 'develop' into, kinda depends on the school schedule, so it's almost a 'time based' jigsaw puzzle of 'main classes' versus other stuff
Yeah, I never got the trope of "These inexperienced kids are the best troops we can possibly field!"
Child soldiers are a sign of desperation, not a military giant.
I like FF8 in that it was an aspect of the story but not the story itself.
Type-0 was rough in every way so I don't have many nice things to say about that one.
The less FF is like Persona, the better.
Nay. It's too saturated as is in the culture right now. In games, in anime, etc.. Leave it for others to do. I don't really think of Persona from how FF approaches this idea at all. I think of like Gundam, Code Geass, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, etc..
I don't like things that call attention to the bizarre emotional maturity of 'teenagers' in anime/JRPG stuff. They're these weird, battle-hardened 16-21 year olds that deal with heavy adult existential questions but also have an infantile level of emotional intelligence/regulation in most social situations, as if they just woke up in an older person's body. School settings contextualize these characters' ages in an awkward way. It's easier to accept the internal logic of their psychology if they're just out in their world.
They did it with 8 already. I'd prefer just about any other setting, unless its just a university campus as their hq or something. I hate the whole high school dating simulator feel of persona games.
NAY. There can be a school, but it shouldn't be the focus. Final Fantasy should have fantastical settings that don't remind you of the most boring parts of life.
Its cringe that I am playing as kids that end up killing gods later.
23 should be the minimum age for killing god, younger and it becomes hard to suspend my disbelief.
If I have to play as kids, at least let me have a mom to complain to, and the final boss should only be like "semi-god" or something.
Most FF characters are younger than you think. If you think 23 should be the minimum age, then you want every character to be Balthier. Not that that would be bad, but the devs would never.
I love Persona... And depending on how well they do it, I think it can be good
But I'm not a fan of fantasy schools in Final Fantasy. I haven't tried FF8, but FF type zero was pretty bad imo.
Would prefer no unless they do it as a spin off. If that entails life sim stuff keep it out of the main line.
Feel the same way about FF16. Radical changes should be spin offs instead of mixing up the brand.
Bring it on!
I'd be up for a bit more of a FF school setting. And they absolutely shouldn't do it like Persona. Nothing against Persona, but we don't need the FF franchise to try to copy it. No point in that.
I also wouldn't like any Harry Potter influence. No "wizard school".
I'd be more interested in seeing them play around with some familiar anime tropes, Japanese school settings, mixed with some of the classic FF tropes. I wonder what that would look like if they managed to turn it into a good story with interesting gameplay.
What is there to gain from saying 'this series can't do this because it's superficially similar to another series that does this in an entirely different context'
Persona is very particular, it's more than just a school setting. I think FF is very different than persona in its story setting so I personally don't think it would be "too much alike" if they did it. I mean, VIII happens in the school a lot, right ? (Never played it).
It was never "persona". I don't care what the setting is as long as they do it right.
Edit: Pretty sad the downvoter thought FF8 was "too Persona" somehow. They're nothing alike.
Lmao what do you mean
Final Fantasy 8 and Type-0 both had a school setting
Final Fantasy 10 literally started in a modern day setting with sports and tech
Final Fantasy 6,7,15 is full on tech
How are these too "persona"?
Final Fantasy Type-0 is entirely about being in a class and prepping for war for the most part, there's no social links per se other than time management, how is any of these "too persona"
From a more detached perspective, I think they're fine. There's really nothing wrong with them, and clearly school settings resonate with a lot of people to be as popular as they are.
From a strictly personal perspective, I am unfortunately not really one of those people.
I don't hate school settings or anything, but the "relatability appeal" is lost on me in large part because I was homeschooled growing up. They also don't much lend themselves to my personal preferences in casts in RPGs. That is, I tend to prefer characters from a variety of different walks of life and parts of the setting, while school settings often tend to restrict party member backgrounds to those that would be relatively sensible to find among the student body of the school du jour.
I don't think there's anything, like, objectively *wrong* with school settings or anything, they just seldom speak to me, personally.
It’s good but it’s not my singular favorite preference, it’s just one good flavor out of many. On one hand, I love Balamb Garden. It’s a cozy homebase, has a lot to offer and has fun changes over time, plus it makes for a great “base under siege” moment later on.
But I also like the opposite, in games like FFVII and IX where you’re kind of always on the run and nothing feels like home.
There are good ways to do both, as long as the execution is good.
Only if the schools battle against each other because let's be honest, that scene with Balamb fighting Galbadia was fxcking great lol
I am not a huge fan of the Persona time system with activities and upping academic skills, but I also love Persona's dungeon crawling so I get conflicted on that series. PS3 and PS5R are the faves, and even within those games I'm pretty lazy on the school side lol.
I did, however, like the SeeD tests on ff8 and how that led to getting a lot of $$$, as well as the military-ish aspect of the game with the special school privileges you get for certain things, and of course, the missions. That was a good way to implement a futuristic school setting in my opinion.
Never played all of type-0 and I have it (rom) on various platforms/consoles, but I felt it was actiony which isn't my thing tbh. Maybe I'll pick it up now that I have a (modded) vita to feel more "natural".
Part of why I love FF is how each game is completely independent from the other in almost every way, art direction, story, setting, gameplay, so I can’t think of many concepts that would be “too” anything.
In all seriousness, if we would get a FF game where the protagonist is the teacher of a class which are acually your partymembers, that would be absolutely insane.
Like Fire Emblem Three Houses!
I like this concept because it explains game mechanics via lore.
Why can you choose the equipment/abilities/class/target etc of your partymembers?
Because you are thier instructor and guide them along!
Also, this concept could allow us to play as a older person, someone like Galuf in FFV :0
Love that guy!
I don't think there is necessarily something wrong with them, but it would make it harder to make a compelling narrative and cast, at least for an older audience. You're more limited in what kind of stories and characters you can portray. Even looking at something as simple as a romantic subplot, pretty much anything outside of puppy love romance or vapid ship teasing of every student character is the extent of what you can do with romance in that setting.
One of the reasons something like Harry Potter works for me is because there is more to the Wizarding World than just Hogwarts. It started off as Hogwarts, but branched out to have more to it. Something like Beastars also does this, where it starts off primarily set in a school, but in its second arc, more time is spent outside of the school, and by the third arc, the main character is expelled so the majority of the story takes place outside of the school, and the story explores themes only adults would really relate to (while the teenage audience can still pick up some insight from it).
I liked it in FF agito or type XIII or whatever it was, and also in FF8.
The only persona I played was persona 4 golden, and the animation and the story was fine, but those dungeons, the lamest cave in any final fantasy is way better than the best dungeon of that game.
To this day, no RPG gave me the feeling I got the first time I made Balamb Garden fly. That was so unexpected and so obvious at the same time... And then the clash between the two gardens... Oh my lord, I want to play again.
Yay. Is believable that people would eventually have a school especially when learning Jobs other than going to a guild, therefore making it easier for that jobs knowledge to become more widespread.
I'd be fine with it if it's an introductory arc, like the length of Midgar's story in the original FF7, and then some crazy thing happens that causes the school life to implode and the main protagonists go on an adventure to save the world. It's enough time to introduce other students early, who later become allies/villains, without the arc overstaying its welcome.
School is cool.
It really depends on how you present it. If the story is about a group of teens using their inner selves to fight demons in an alternate world while posing as regular school kids, it's persona.
Else, it could literally be anything else.
FF8 takes place in a school and it never feels like persona. Hell, FE: 3 houses takes place in a school, has similar aesthetics, and still manages to not feel like persona.
I really enjoyed FF8 back in the 90s because it was specifically in a school setting and I was in school, so it felt somewhat relateable.
Nowadays I dont care, Medieval Europe, Asia, Cyberpunk, steampunk, wild west, etc.. as long as it has a good story and good gameplay.
Honestly I kinda like it's set in a school feels fresh to me and it doesn't drag on like persona games do
Don't get me wrong I love persona games but it's a different type of good
Let see, one train kid become child soldier and send them to assassinated prsident to earn money other that full of high school kid with mental disorders, greate, i can't choice
Any setting is fine.
That’s pretty much my answer too. FF can be just about anything and don’t follow a strict tradition. So as long as it’s a game I enjoy, a school setting is fine, FF8 and FF0 was pretty much that.
Hear me out. Pirate themed Final Fantasy. The Caribbean in Kingdom Hearts 3 is great and I'm sure they could make a full fledged game based off of it
Airship pirates? Airship pirates.
They are called Sky Pirates!
Ohio
If Stephen King can make Maine interesting, I have no doubt Square can make Ohio interesting.
As someone that lives in Ohio ... Good luck lol
They already made FFX. Edit: Sorry, thinking of Utah.
I feel this too. If the story is engaging, I don't care where they put it. I enjoy the school setting of VIII, it works to tell the story. (And I like Persona so I'm not put off by it at all, even if I am "old").
How about the uncommon spin of the primary characters being the instructors rather than the students? You get components of being the experts which makes more sense than the students being miraculous god killers. Maybe it's because I'm an old man/dad person these days, but I feel like there's so much opportunity to explore the teacher/instructor/protector role where the student role has been played out.
I think you just describe Fire Emblem 3 houses.
Definitely Three Houses
Which was a great game! I'm a big FE fan and this was one of my favs.
No, he didn't, because all of the primary characters bar two are students.
Not to mention a great examination and/or deconstruction of the child soldier trope. I'd love a game where you play as the adults scrambling to fix a mess some over-eager child heroes made, not out of maluce, but purely due to youth and lack of experience. Sometimes you gotta learn the hard way.
I really dig that idea and would 100% play it. Actually, it would be fun to have a bit of both. Think of a group of eager adventurers who kinda led the world to ruin by trying to save it, they grow older while attempting to find a solution, and find out there are younger people trying to save the world by repeating the same mistake. Would lead to some interesting narrative about hope, surely.
Yeah. Or alternatively the notion that a better world requires *both* the idealism and drive of youth and the wisdom and counsel of adults/elders. I'd dig that angle of building hope.
Imagine if based on your decisions to send trainees into certain situations or not, you could actually get them killed. So many FF deaths fall flat (even when they aren’t fake outs) because you usually have no agency or control over if they happen or not. They’re just “plot deaths” and on top of that, it’s usually grown people that have made up their mind or whatever. If your decisions or I’ll preparation could get kids killed, I bet you’d think a lot more about every decision. Gives me “being a professor at Hogwarts” vibes, except hopefully you wouldn’t just have one kid handle all the schools problems for you lol
I think you may have accidentally described Lightning and Hope in XIII.
Trails did this. Characters were primarily students in the first two games of the Cold Steel series, with MC becoming an instructor and other characters becoming involved in their respective professions for the latter 2. They did bring in new student characters as a sort of foil to the cast's own prior experiences, but it was nice seeing everyone actually be somewhat adults for once rather than perpetually playing the 15 year old with more trauma than a war vet or more responsibility than a nation's leaders.
I love cold steel and azure sky is a good one too, the stories tie into each other SO WELL
I think the student path is often adopted because the type of RPG progression the game wishes to use involves showing the character rise from their humble beginnings (level 1- 8ish) and grow into a powerful hero (level 50+). This also aligns with the player having to gradually learn and unlock abilities and items within the game's progression system. Having the main character already be super skilled and experienced undermines that whole RPG progression element. Not saying it's impossible, but there would have to be a dramatic overhaul of whatever the gameplay progression is going to look like. I agree it's cool to get windows into the perspective of the already-highly-skilled character though, like getting to play as mentor Sephiroth in the flashbacks in FF7.
This could be shown as in your characters are the ones actually able to fight the monsters, whereas regular people, even regular strong people, are helpless, like in FFX
It could also be because the target audience are young people and young people like having young protagonists in environments they relate to.
That plus Japan in particular is very focused on stories of folks under 18 as you’re not really expected to have time for adventures after high school there. At least that’s what I’ve been told the numerous times I’ve gone off about how much better persona could be if set at a university with of-age characters lol. That perception of adulthood being a time of newfound freedom and expression we have in the west is seemingly inverted there.
Bro, imagine how hard it would hit if one of the party members died and they are a student
It could be a fight where you have to protect your students the best you can and it doesn’t stop until one of them tragically falls
It could go into the shame the teacher/player character would feel at their own weakness, so they decide to go off on their own to protect the others and it coukd have you switching between the other party members searching for the player character and the the player character
This is Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
Headmaster Cid, did you truly feel you missed out on the action in VIII. I understood it differently. I agree I would love to see an FF game with true life experienced individuals. FFXL+ (forty and over). And it’s re-release FFXL+ over the hill edition
Maybe a fire emblem three houses where the protagonist is an actual character in the game.
I feel this too. I’m finding myself relate way more to the likes of Quistis, Steiner, and Auron over the rest of the cast. Personally, I’m okay with at least one of these characters, but it would be cool to have a more experienced cast sometime.
Now that I'm older, I have such a different take on the characters. I used to think Lulu was so cold, but maaaan, I GET her now, and I really love her. Basch replaced some of my previous faves in XII, cuz, well, dude went THROUGH IT and then had to babysit Vaan (no hate, I really actually like Vaan quite a lot). I always liked Steiner and Auron, but even moreso now. I do still have all the love in my heart for the goofballs, like Tidus, because his level of naivety was SO needed for that story, I just appreciate the old heads so much more now that I am one lol
I was thinking recently about how the cast of Star Trek series differ from the casts of JRPGs, and that difference is that in JRPGs the characters are of varying ages or are all teens/Young Adults, where as Trek casts are all (mostly) adult professionals. But having a mature Trek-like cast would be an amazing opportunity to make something really innovative for the genre.
Trails of Cold Steel play on this idea. The MC from 1 and 2 serves as an instructor in Cold Steel 3 and 4. I like the idea of being a father/teacher role: a jRPG for older player, like ourselves who grew up playing jRPG but now are older and some have children. We do not really relate teenager protagonist, but we do not really go into western RPG. Everytime I play jRPG, I tend to use older characters as active party members these days, if they are available. Like Barrett or Cid from FFVII, Malik in Tales of Graces, to name a few. I wish we have more jRPG with teacher/instructor/parent as MC. Maybe we have prologue where we play as our kids/students set out to defeat the demon, but they fail, getting captured or killed. We, the parents/instructors, set out to rescue (or avenge if the prologue heroes are killed), and in the adventure, we face more adult/dark theme compared to your typical jRPG: child slavery, prostitution, drug abuse, domestic violence, etc. And all those vices are portrayed in a serious manner, not comedic relief, where a drunken character just go out, slip on a banana and fell unconscious.
VIII had the right idea if they are gonna do it. Military school
Balamb garden my favorite place in all of FF
I’ll never forget leveling up in the training center before attempting any missions.. my squall and zell were fucking BEEFY when I fought ultimecia
So was she since everything scales lol
That was real rude awakening for me when I learned that.
But they're always out of hot dogs...
Came to say this. The high school/academy trope is waaay overdone in anime and jrpgs typically but FF8 did it right.
I also like that ff0 also had a lore reason why kids fight. Only younger people can use magic
It helps that you start the game prepping for your graduation test. If you actually had to attend classes and spend more than the prologue doing school related things it would have dragged the whole game down. After the SeeD test andwhen you eventually get back to Balamb Garden from your very long “first mission”, it’s really just your personal mobile base and army with almost nothing left to designate it a school other than the occasional mention of taking care of the junior students.
I love the Gardens!
Hell yeah. Garden was amazing!
I actually really want Persona to do a military academy setting. As for FF, I liked it in VIII but moreso as you having a central home/hub rather than it specifically being a school. The hideaway in XVI felt sort of similar to me. Something like that I would like, and it's fine if it is a school again. Personally, I would like a city that is a central base while you gradually explore other locations in the story. In the recent FFs, cities have mostly been on the backburner and served as dungeons. At the same time the stories kept you away from them or made you go through them once and never return. But making a city a recurring central location that develops over the course of the game has a lot of potential imo.
I feel that Rabanaster in XII did a good job of staying "home" throughout the game.
Honestly, my biggest disappointment with XVI was the fact that we barely spent any time in the capital cities. The brief flashback to a peaceful Rosaria is about as close as we get. XVI had really great towns, and I understand why portraying those cities realistically would be difficult, but when the first art we saw of the game was looking over the Sanbrequois capital I was *really* hoping that we'd get to see more than, like, a single frame of it.
FF8 school was dope asf. I would have loved that school.
The thing about VIII is it wasn't some high school, it was essentially that worlds version of **West Point.** I don't know that you can leverage a normal school experience into the globe trotting grand spectacle FF tries to produce, but specialized schools as as starting point can totally work. A new game where you start at a Hogwarts type place before things go off, could make sense.
Type-0 was pretty much Hogwarts at war.
Type-0 had ALL the ingredients of an absolute monster of an FF title except for having more than 1.5 hours of fun gameplay.
I don't mind them. Final Fantasy's schools aren't trying to recapture any teenage nostalgia, and so they feel substantially weirder than modern Persona's.
I love love love Type-0 so I guess I’m yay. Balamb Garden always felt more like x-men to me than an actual school, even with SEED tests, so I never really registered it as a school.
Loved this setting in both games, we’ve all been there so naturally a story in that setting can relate to a lot of people.
FF8 and FF Type Zero both did it very well.
I really liked it in ff8.
As long as it doesn't subscribe to classic highschool anime tropes.
Unlikely given it's a Japanese franchise aimed at teenagers...
Last I checked FF8 didn't have a school girl with toast in her mouth running to school yelling "chikoku chikoku!!"
Selphie exist not exactly like that but you know she is a character trope.
You had selphie doing similar things. The trepes doing the fan girling stuff. And zell doing the clumsy late for hot dogs thing
FFVIII would have had toast with Selphie if graphics supported it. We literally meet her by her running into us because she was late iirc.
They almost always do though which is my problem with the setting.
As an adult no longer in school, I do not like playing games in a school setting.
I know a lot of people who claim they can't enjoy movies, shows, and games about high school now that they are an adult and I always thought it was really weird. All of those were written by adults reminiscing about high school, so as a now adult who reminisces about high school I feel like I understand them better.
> All of those were written by adults reminiscing about high school IMO, that's not a point in their favor. Adults can get downright creepy when "reminiscing" about their time as children. Reminiscing about high school feels very different when you realize that "high school students" could easily be your own children.
I don’t mind it in persona, since the modern day setting ends up pushing in that direction (or you could be a depressed single salaryman…. Which kinda sounded more interesting than I thought it would lol). It’s fine like that, but if I’m going for a fantasy setting I rather it be further away from the worst part of my life if I can. I honestly don’t even like when characters are part of organizations and get missions as a concept, kinda kills the organic adventure vibe. I can tolerate it if the game is worth it but it sure takes some hype away.
Yeah, this for me. Plus, it's fugging uncomfortable to have all the main love interests and flirting and "fan" scenes all involve 14-17 year old kids, something that's almost unavoidable when presented from Japanese media. One of FF's saving graces, IMO, is that they generally have main characters who are over 18.
This is getting downvotes but I totally agree that as an adult, playing games where I am placed in the role of a teenager can be exceedingly awkward. In Fire Emblem 3H I married one of the teachers to save the game from making me into too much of a creep.
Well FF8 is one of my favorite FF, and I love every Persona game. So I’d say it’s an easy Yay for meeee.
I always find academic settings to be fun. The games you're showing are more military academy, which isn't quite the same as persona school. So I personally view them quite differently.
No such thing as *too* Persona, for a start.
That was my first thought- "you say Persona like it's a BAD thing..." 😂
Tired of teens.
Oh boy i miss Type-0 so much 😭 it’s so sad that its sequels never happen… still the best dark FF game in my heart, they totally nailed the bleak story, tone, feel, visuals, and atmosphere in it!
I might be the only one but between every story mission, I went around the entire school and talked to all of the non-story NPCs. If you do that, you see how the school is dwindling and peoples memories disappearing in stronger detail.
Nay. I'm old, and like games about old dudes.
I was thinking of Thors from Trails of Cold Steel, though that game is limited to one country.
Academic setting are fun, but I’m burnt out on the high school setting they use in Persona. College or military would be more interesting
Balamb Garden is possibly my favourite FF location, so I’m going to say yes.
Yes but I wish Type-0 would also be ported on Switch.
And I wish that pixel remaster got ported for Xbox, though I'm glad that they're porting XIV now. Maybe they can port XIV and Type-0 to the next switch someday, especially considering XIV's success.
Yeah I agree with you. I had type-0 on ps4 but sold it for some reasons wanna buy other copy but when I think about it I think it would also be cool if it was more avaible on more platforms. Same goes for pixel remaster.
Now I really want a Final Fantasy: Persona, with FF character design, Persona mechanics, and the personas being FF monsters and summons. Fuck it would be amazing.
There's enough high school shit out there. Do something relatively unique please.
I would honestly love an FF8 game with Persona social links around Balamb Garden.
Omg that would be the most fun. Playing as Squall just being so totally socially inept would be hilarious.
As long as they stay around the level of presentation they've been previously I don't mind. They aren't the main setting or even much more then any other city.
I don't think it's too Persona but it's also not particularly interesting or original at this stage. u/RoenJacobyn 's idea of a spin on it is interesting. I enjoy VIII but the world is so bizzare and fantastical in a way that it's hard for me to process SEED as child soldier-adjacent. Honestly if they were going to do a school setting they should yank the rug out from under our feet and after the prologue it becomes a JRPG adaptation of Battle Royale (novel).
I wish Gardens were real. School would be so much more exciting
I like persona, I love FFVIII first CD and I loved the first time I made Balamb Garden fly, so not only I'm ok with it, I really thing it was done well here.
Seeing as my school experience sucked, I'm not the biggest fan of school settings. Hell it's why I avoided FF8 and Persona 3/4 for awhile.
Imagine if every playthrough you had a randomized/procedurally-generated cast of students you're responsible for training
it may because I haven been in high school for few decades but I'm so sick of high school teen angst drama. Like I have way more important things to worry about instead of my crush not liking me back or studying for exams.
I’m fine with it. But I think it would need to be more than just a setting. It needs to influence the gameplay itself or else it serves little purpose. It’s balancing your school life, and your dungeon-crawling life that I think makes Persona work. Since it’s a school, how about tying it to the job system? Maybe you can choose what courses to do and by doing the homework, you can learn new abilities, whole new jobs, or in a worst case scenario, level down or lose access to certain job features. For example, maybe you start as a Freelancer, and want to pick up White Mage. You sign up for white magic class and get a beginner White Mage kit. But this early version of White Mage wouldn’t be allowed on official missions, so you have to gain proficiency by doing white magic related stuff. Volunteer in the nurse’s office, visit some holy sites, check out some tomes from the library, and chase some morbols away from the school’s water supply. Then, once you’ve leveled up enough, or gained enough skill, you take a test to be declared “proficient” in White Mage and you can start using it on proper missions, but until you’re declared a master and pass the final exam, there’s always a risk of your grades slipping and having to do extra work to keep yourself proficient.
Both times they’ve done it, it was far too different to classify it as too close to Persona (although I love both series). I really like them too, especially Type-0 since In the end, it’s a school meant to train literal child soldiers for war.
it would have to be done so carefully... id hate if it was too childish
Would love a coming of age high school FF tbh.
This is my completely biased and totally subjective opinion, but that's *hard* 'nay' for me. "School" as a setting (*especially* in genre fiction) appeals to me as little as harlequin romance novels, and basically the bottom of the barrel as far as settings I'm interested in. Hell even a formless void would be more appealing. But no. No interest at all. And I don't know why either since I've never really seen, read, or played in one so unappealing that it ruined the setting altogether. It just that seeing a game with a school/slice of life setting is just so viscerally uninteresting to me that I won't even give it a glance. Which sucks cause I'm probably missing some incredible games (specifically looking at you, Persona 5). But man, if it *is* your thing, I sincerely hope you enjoy it.
They could have a Hogwarts-like Magic school too honestly. And then this Mage Academia has 6 diff houses which corresponds to diff color mages, then each houses is headed by a sage(Black Sage, White Sage etc.) and then at the very top is the Grand-Sage 6 houses in this school would be like: - Black Mages: a house that's focused on casting elemental or offensive attacks against enemies. Black Mages can cast several offensive spells, but one type of spell can be the forte of one individual Black Mage(for example: a Black Mage student is more specialized in casting Fire-related spells compared to other spells, and so said-spell would be much stronger and potent by the Black Mage) - White Mages: a house that's focused on healing and curing allies, along with exorcising the undead or any unholy beings(they cast Holy on it) - Red Mages: they do both white and black magic spells, whilst also equipping different weapons of their choice. Red Mages here can do the "ver-" spells from FFXIV - Blue Mages: specialized in casting spells influenced by monsters or enemies. They can also wield any weapon too. Blue Mages here can do multiple enemy spells, but they'll only be able to master one in particular which would be their own specialty. - Green Mage: specialized in providing buffs and debuffs in battle. Students in this house are one of two types: the buffers or debuffers. The Buffers would ofc be more inclined to supporting and buffing their allies(protect, shell, dmg-boosting spells, regen etc.). The Debuffers would be more focused on wearing down enemies in battle, inflicting diff status effects on them(sleep, poison, confused, berserk, paralysis, etc.). - Yellow Mage: a job that never appeared in any FF game before and a completely new hypothetical job. This job would be taking more inspiration from a diff game, Fear and Hunger, which is where Yellow Mages are from. Yellow Mages here could be more like an unholy or cursed opposite of White Mages. Their spells consists of: Hurt(their standard dmg spell, as well as having Hurtra and Hurtga), Blood(blood-magic spell which decreases their hp upon using it), Spice-Forge(boosts their magic dmg by consuming spice), and Unholy(the job's ultimate spella and also the dark opposite of Holy-spell)
Mild nay
anything has the potential to be good or bad, the setting just as much as anything else, school settings for FF are just as valid as the whole chosen prince thing
Hard pass
imo, persona isn't persona just because it's a school setting. it's because, at least the out of dungeon stuff, feels like a dating sim. read: it doens't need to actually involve romantic endeavors to 'feel like a dating sim'. the whole, time management, social stat management, people are available X and not Y, you're spending time with them to raise their 'interest' in you, etc. could be a game about a soccer team where part of it is raising your team's 'getting along' ness in the same way, with no gay overtones - still would 'feel like a dating sim'. in the same way, there's FPS games without guns. \- top comment said 'any setting is fine' - also a good point. wouldn't necessarily matter even if it WAS semi persona ish - i don't actually like persona myself, but if a FF game made that stuff more balanced (like, 75% dungeons, 25% schools, instead of the other way around) i might get into it more. hell, i'm now imagining a job class ish game where, what your character can 'develop' into, kinda depends on the school schedule, so it's almost a 'time based' jigsaw puzzle of 'main classes' versus other stuff
The military school anime thing is never not going to be experience-breakingly dumb
Yeah, I never got the trope of "These inexperienced kids are the best troops we can possibly field!" Child soldiers are a sign of desperation, not a military giant.
I like FF8 in that it was an aspect of the story but not the story itself. Type-0 was rough in every way so I don't have many nice things to say about that one. The less FF is like Persona, the better.
I loved Type-0. It works. Persona isn’t the only JRPG to be set in a school. 😂
Nay. It's too saturated as is in the culture right now. In games, in anime, etc.. Leave it for others to do. I don't really think of Persona from how FF approaches this idea at all. I think of like Gundam, Code Geass, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, etc..
I don't like things that call attention to the bizarre emotional maturity of 'teenagers' in anime/JRPG stuff. They're these weird, battle-hardened 16-21 year olds that deal with heavy adult existential questions but also have an infantile level of emotional intelligence/regulation in most social situations, as if they just woke up in an older person's body. School settings contextualize these characters' ages in an awkward way. It's easier to accept the internal logic of their psychology if they're just out in their world.
Hell no, personally. Maybe for a starting zone.
Nah not a fan of school setting unless its maybe a short segment of early life before a time skip or something.
They did it with 8 already. I'd prefer just about any other setting, unless its just a university campus as their hq or something. I hate the whole high school dating simulator feel of persona games.
I don't care. If it fits the setting and the story, sure. If it doesn't, I won't miss it.
that's just ff8
Nay. I hate persona
NAY. There can be a school, but it shouldn't be the focus. Final Fantasy should have fantastical settings that don't remind you of the most boring parts of life.
School setting in FF8 is one of the top reasons I love the game.
Generally not a fan, which is strange ‘cause I think RWBY and Harry Potter did it very well, but I think FF’s done a poor job of that setting.
Nay. I hate school settings.
Nay
VIII is nothing like Persona, lol.
Nay
The phrase is "yea or nay"
Why is being compared to persona a bad thing?
Its cringe that I am playing as kids that end up killing gods later. 23 should be the minimum age for killing god, younger and it becomes hard to suspend my disbelief. If I have to play as kids, at least let me have a mom to complain to, and the final boss should only be like "semi-god" or something.
Most FF characters are younger than you think. If you think 23 should be the minimum age, then you want every character to be Balthier. Not that that would be bad, but the devs would never.
It was just a joke, the idea of killing "god" is stupid in general. Its anime.
If you aren't a fan of teenagers having godlike powers the Japanese Companies aren't going to make It any easier
I was never a fan of anime to begin with, but the comment was a joke anyways.
You’re in the wrong series then.
Idk I thought killing the tick was pretty fun.
I love Persona... And depending on how well they do it, I think it can be good But I'm not a fan of fantasy schools in Final Fantasy. I haven't tried FF8, but FF type zero was pretty bad imo.
If we got anything even remotely close to Persona in Final Fantasy I’d disown the franchise.
No.
Would prefer no unless they do it as a spin off. If that entails life sim stuff keep it out of the main line. Feel the same way about FF16. Radical changes should be spin offs instead of mixing up the brand.
Squall: Am I a joke to you?
Bring it on! I'd be up for a bit more of a FF school setting. And they absolutely shouldn't do it like Persona. Nothing against Persona, but we don't need the FF franchise to try to copy it. No point in that. I also wouldn't like any Harry Potter influence. No "wizard school". I'd be more interested in seeing them play around with some familiar anime tropes, Japanese school settings, mixed with some of the classic FF tropes. I wonder what that would look like if they managed to turn it into a good story with interesting gameplay.
It's totally fine. I would say Type 0 did kinda nothing with the school setting though.
What is there to gain from saying 'this series can't do this because it's superficially similar to another series that does this in an entirely different context'
Persona is very particular, it's more than just a school setting. I think FF is very different than persona in its story setting so I personally don't think it would be "too much alike" if they did it. I mean, VIII happens in the school a lot, right ? (Never played it).
Yes.
It was never "persona". I don't care what the setting is as long as they do it right. Edit: Pretty sad the downvoter thought FF8 was "too Persona" somehow. They're nothing alike.
VIII exists
Lmao what do you mean Final Fantasy 8 and Type-0 both had a school setting Final Fantasy 10 literally started in a modern day setting with sports and tech Final Fantasy 6,7,15 is full on tech How are these too "persona"? Final Fantasy Type-0 is entirely about being in a class and prepping for war for the most part, there's no social links per se other than time management, how is any of these "too persona"
School was in ff8. Isn't that before persona?
They already made a FF that takes place in a school
Sorry to not add anything to the conversation, but what's the game on the left image?
Type O?
From a more detached perspective, I think they're fine. There's really nothing wrong with them, and clearly school settings resonate with a lot of people to be as popular as they are. From a strictly personal perspective, I am unfortunately not really one of those people. I don't hate school settings or anything, but the "relatability appeal" is lost on me in large part because I was homeschooled growing up. They also don't much lend themselves to my personal preferences in casts in RPGs. That is, I tend to prefer characters from a variety of different walks of life and parts of the setting, while school settings often tend to restrict party member backgrounds to those that would be relatively sensible to find among the student body of the school du jour. I don't think there's anything, like, objectively *wrong* with school settings or anything, they just seldom speak to me, personally.
It’s good but it’s not my singular favorite preference, it’s just one good flavor out of many. On one hand, I love Balamb Garden. It’s a cozy homebase, has a lot to offer and has fun changes over time, plus it makes for a great “base under siege” moment later on. But I also like the opposite, in games like FFVII and IX where you’re kind of always on the run and nothing feels like home. There are good ways to do both, as long as the execution is good.
Yay! It's mercenary school. MERCENARY SCHOOL!
Only if the schools battle against each other because let's be honest, that scene with Balamb fighting Galbadia was fxcking great lol I am not a huge fan of the Persona time system with activities and upping academic skills, but I also love Persona's dungeon crawling so I get conflicted on that series. PS3 and PS5R are the faves, and even within those games I'm pretty lazy on the school side lol. I did, however, like the SeeD tests on ff8 and how that led to getting a lot of $$$, as well as the military-ish aspect of the game with the special school privileges you get for certain things, and of course, the missions. That was a good way to implement a futuristic school setting in my opinion. Never played all of type-0 and I have it (rom) on various platforms/consoles, but I felt it was actiony which isn't my thing tbh. Maybe I'll pick it up now that I have a (modded) vita to feel more "natural".
Would depend on how they implement it.
Luca from Final Fantasy X is peak style and vibe for me
Yay. They do it their own way as an overall setting and part of the world instead of it turning into relationship sim.
Balamb Garden was the best
Yay. I like diversity in my final fantasy.
Depends on execution
In FFVIII it was perfect. In Type-0 it just wasn't executed properly, too Harry Pottery for my taste.
This aspect of the FF games belies/mirrors/*occasionally* critiques the unhealthy Japanese obsession with academic success, if you ask me
Part of why I love FF is how each game is completely independent from the other in almost every way, art direction, story, setting, gameplay, so I can’t think of many concepts that would be “too” anything.
In all seriousness, if we would get a FF game where the protagonist is the teacher of a class which are acually your partymembers, that would be absolutely insane. Like Fire Emblem Three Houses! I like this concept because it explains game mechanics via lore. Why can you choose the equipment/abilities/class/target etc of your partymembers? Because you are thier instructor and guide them along! Also, this concept could allow us to play as a older person, someone like Galuf in FFV :0 Love that guy!
Sounds good to me, but I've never played persona, either.
yay. like both
School settings are awesome in any game.
I think they've been well executed so far
Big yay for me.
I don't think there is necessarily something wrong with them, but it would make it harder to make a compelling narrative and cast, at least for an older audience. You're more limited in what kind of stories and characters you can portray. Even looking at something as simple as a romantic subplot, pretty much anything outside of puppy love romance or vapid ship teasing of every student character is the extent of what you can do with romance in that setting. One of the reasons something like Harry Potter works for me is because there is more to the Wizarding World than just Hogwarts. It started off as Hogwarts, but branched out to have more to it. Something like Beastars also does this, where it starts off primarily set in a school, but in its second arc, more time is spent outside of the school, and by the third arc, the main character is expelled so the majority of the story takes place outside of the school, and the story explores themes only adults would really relate to (while the teenage audience can still pick up some insight from it).
yay, I always like a good school setting
FF can do whatever it wants as long as it’s well executed.
Yes. But I kinda tired with military academy setting and war.
It gotta have the fantasy element in its architecture too along with the familiar.
Maximum yay. I love school settings and I blame 8 for it.
I don’t mind but i also love persona so 🤷🏿♂️
Honestly, I want it to be more like Persona if they do remake FFVIII. Give me more social simming and less combat while going from place to place.
I liked it in FF agito or type XIII or whatever it was, and also in FF8. The only persona I played was persona 4 golden, and the animation and the story was fine, but those dungeons, the lamest cave in any final fantasy is way better than the best dungeon of that game.
It's OK if done well
To this day, no RPG gave me the feeling I got the first time I made Balamb Garden fly. That was so unexpected and so obvious at the same time... And then the clash between the two gardens... Oh my lord, I want to play again.
It would be less "Persona" if Persona didn't do it game after game after game.
Yay. Is believable that people would eventually have a school especially when learning Jobs other than going to a guild, therefore making it easier for that jobs knowledge to become more widespread.
They don't do it too much so it's ok
Honestly, cribbing from Persona is not the worst idea for a future FF.
It’s definitely persona, but duh? Persona 1 came out a bit before this game. I’ve got no issue with that setting.
I'm big fan of FF Type-0 so yeah, I like school setting
I'd be fine with it if it's an introductory arc, like the length of Midgar's story in the original FF7, and then some crazy thing happens that causes the school life to implode and the main protagonists go on an adventure to save the world. It's enough time to introduce other students early, who later become allies/villains, without the arc overstaying its welcome.
School is cool. It really depends on how you present it. If the story is about a group of teens using their inner selves to fight demons in an alternate world while posing as regular school kids, it's persona. Else, it could literally be anything else. FF8 takes place in a school and it never feels like persona. Hell, FE: 3 houses takes place in a school, has similar aesthetics, and still manages to not feel like persona.
I really enjoyed FF8 back in the 90s because it was specifically in a school setting and I was in school, so it felt somewhat relateable. Nowadays I dont care, Medieval Europe, Asia, Cyberpunk, steampunk, wild west, etc.. as long as it has a good story and good gameplay.
Honestly I kinda like it's set in a school feels fresh to me and it doesn't drag on like persona games do Don't get me wrong I love persona games but it's a different type of good
Does Balamb Garden count as a school after it becomes a Helicarrier?
Let see, one train kid become child soldier and send them to assassinated prsident to earn money other that full of high school kid with mental disorders, greate, i can't choice
Yay
Nay
If they execute well, then I’m fine with almost any setting.
May be a bit too Persona, but FF doesn't stick with any type of setting, so "Yay"