A comment that is being thrown a lot is
going back to the basics. What is back to basics? Exactly what does it entail? Let us look at what was written:
+I wish Square would go back to the basics like FFIV and FFVI, and even FFVII (although I didn't like technology and stuff as much but loved the story and characters) instead of trying to be all dramatic and big budget like.
+what i liked so much about 9 was that it had the old school FF feel. black wizard, classic folk/medieval settings. it was a gem that far too many people shit on.
of course, these are the same people that think 8 and 10 were tits.
Let us get a list based on these comments
- Medieval environment
- Character Designs and Styles
- Character development
- Not too Dramatic
That was done in FF9 exactly as you wished – kingdoms, knights, its all there in spades; hell in FF9 they even refused to get too much advanced tech because everything was driven by steam power (although to be fair - steam power is
not medieval technology). After 8 Final fantasies, they did indeed go ‘back to the basics’. Didn’t seem like they forgot. Since then we are on FF14 – but we’ve only really had 3 more RPGs since then – 10, 12, 13. FF9 is relatively recent in that regard, Square hasn’t strayed away too far. Even FF12’s environment is reminiscent of a medieval environment, and it even takes place in the same land of FFT.
Furthermore, the post references FF7 as fitting the bill to go 'back to the basics', but immediately follows up with a contradictory statement saying that "you didn't like the technology". How can we ‘go back to the basics’, when it seems the fundamentals are not explained clearly?
Go look at a FF3/6 --> there is no 'back to basics' argument right there with regard the environment because this game involved technology everywhere - big ass robots shooting lasers, empire with warrior troops of different tiers that will bust out guns, bosses that will throw missiles at you, etc. etc. the medieval fantasy doesn't exist in the way that it is claimed. Closest thing would be “1800s England accidently stumbles upon Lasers” , and the 1800s was not the medieval period in any sense.
Sure FF1 had that environment…but FF1 had a robot race as well. Doesn’t fit ‘medieval folklore’ very well when there is a race of robots with their own town.
Let us revise that list
- Medieval environment  Nope, not consistent
- Character Designs and Styles
- Character development
- Not too Dramatic
So I'm assuming than that it isn't about the medieval environment...it must be something else. Is it characters walking around in a robe and wizard hat? FF7 had absolutely none of that - I remember a guy with an elite merc group and a big ass sword, another guy with a gun grafted to his arm, another vampire-esque character that literally used guns, a guy with a ship that put on turbo thrusters, characters that work for corporations, etc. etc.
Where is the robe and wizard had in FF6? I don’t see it. Where are the clearly define knights in FF6? A rune knight? Would anyone know that unless they went in to see her exact title? We do have a classic knight, but we got to remember that he was made over the top and not the name, and they even used his speak mannerisms as a way to poke fun at him.
Let us revise that list
- Medieval environment  Nope, not consistent
- Character Designs and Styles  Nope, not consistent
- Character development
- Not too Dramatic
So then, is ‘back to basics’ really about a desire to have characters play the initial role they were intended to play(ie: A mage is the black magic user, a priest is a white magic user, period! You don’t learn the other spells)? Another way to put it is like this: have very limited character growth beyond whatever expectation that the developers set? Dagger had the healing role, therefore, she must always be the healer? Yuna has to play the role of the healer? Is that it? Clearly it is all I can that can logically make sense as the enviornments and character designs don't fit what you claimed them to fit.
To be honest, even though you can build characters to do whatever you want (my Tidus in FF10 is an awesome healer), if you want to truly min/max you have to follow their initial set paths: Let lulu be the black mage master, let Yuna pump out magic like crazy (and she was clearly my most powerful white magic user).
And even historically, it isn’t always true that FF restricted classes like this – FF5 (which you would probably cite as fitting that medieval feel) had a job system that literally let one build a character in any way that they preferred.
Lets go back to FF3/6 for a moment – even though each character started off with unique base stats – if you simply chose your espers correctly you could make a magic user a strong formidable character and vice versa just by switching the espers right before they leveled – +2 to str +2 to magic depending on what you want. Of course, it is just easier to let the user with high magic damage focus on magic, but it isn’t anywhere near keeping them as unique individual characters that have their own roles.
Let us revise that list
- Medieval environment  Nope, not consistent
- Character Designs and Styles  Nope, not consistent
- Character development  Nope, not consistent
- Not too Dramatic
That leaves us with ‘Dramatic’. Was the story in FF_anything NOT dramatic? Save the world/universe/galaxy! That is every FF summed up! For each era in which the game existed, FF pushed graphical boundaries and presentation (although IMO Chrono Cross looked better than FF9…but I think I enjoyed the art more as well). The complaint that it is too dramatic, and focuses on big budget is the result of more money being poured into the gaming industry.
Let us revise that list
- Medieval environment  Nope, not consistent
- Character Designs and Styles  Nope, not consistent
- Character development  Nope, not consistent
- Not too Dramatic  Nope, they were all dramatic
....or perhaps you are idealizing what the games actually were, and instead you are fitting your own memories to the game~
Although, to be fair, FF1 did fit your description…somewhat (if we forget about the robots).
FF5 fits it....if we forget that everyone can be everything.
FFT fits it....the environment is exactly as you want, but watch me turn my entire party into calculators and roll over anything. Geek Power FTW. Or watch me turn them all into OPed monks and face melt anything that stand in my way…of course, if I run into super OPed Chocobos I’m essentially pwned.
There are very very few things common between most FFs, and they revolve around relatively pointless things (someone named Cid, a bird called a chocobo) that isn’t key to a story. Even ATB, which was a hallmark of the series for the whole 1990s, was tossed away (and for many good reasons as it just wastes time).
What makes FF a FF is a an RPG with a story with fantasy elements involving magic and linear plot with high production values that is produced by a company called SquareSoft. Regretfully, we can add in ‘emo characters’ to that list as well as it seems to be more and more true.