[Spira]

wow Geno.. you're right. Somehow the Crystal Grande and the Sun-Cryst were totally blocked out from my mind. I guess I was trying to forget what awful areas they were. XII would in fact have a Crystal theme then.. my bad.

Originally Posted by Garland

The main fact is Spira, that XI made a major bypass from the series. Yes, it is true that over time the series has jumped and nested from one console to another, but FF was still due on the ps2, ruling that XI came before XII and yet XII was placed on the PS2 in the same style that X was. This explains the creation of X-2, which served as a filler for those not willing to subscribe to XI between X and XII. This also explains why XI has generated so much income for the company, because of the very fact that it is a subscription based MMO. If we were to determine income simply by the level of buyers of the original game itself, i'm sure that it would be much lower than most.

You know, I often think you're making these things up to justify your own reasoning. FFX-2 was created due to the popularity of FFX. It had nothing to do with issues of continuity or filler on the PS2. XI was already in place.
If you want to count X-2 as filler, then VII: DoC is also filler. Both are not part of the main series lineage. See my point?
X-2 was a quick way to make money with less resources. Square was on the verge of bankruptcy. I'm sure you remember The Spirits Within. That was why Square was ultimately absorbed by Enix...

By the way, the number of buyers of the original FFXI game itself actually does supercede X and XII in sales copies. This is due in part, to the fact that S-E keeps banning RMT and they persistantly come back, but it still counts towards sales. Of course, the main bulk of income from XI comes from monthly subscription.. but its profit has offset the production costs to the extent that the starter pack costs only $1.99 and comes with free 30-days subscription. Definitely more buyers.

Final Fantasy I -was- very much influenced by D&D. Monsters such as "Mindflayer" are examples of this. It was only later that the series began to branch out and expand, and become more original in it's theme. Most people who talk of the "true final fantasy" usually refer to the fantasy swords and magic element in some of the titles and not the tech heavy, sci fi style, maybe it is you who do not know -what- it is -we- were talking about.

True, FF1 was influenced by D&D, but the series hasn't evolved to be more like D&D has it? Various themes that existed in FF1 didn't make it to future instalments but the Crystal theme is and has always been the most prevalent theme in the FF series.
Besides, most people don't really know what "true final fantasy" is because a majority of the modern playerbase who play FF didn't even know of its existance till FF7.
Once again, I have NEVER made the statement that FF is about tech heavy or sci-fi styles. And I NEVER did say it was pure D&D sword and sorcery stuff only. I said, and I reiterate, that it is much about Crystals, and a mix of medieval and advanced magic-cum-science technology. Floating castles, dimensional rifts, flying ships, mechanical monstrosities, mythical beasts, summons, magic, swords, guns, blue magic, etc...
Come to think of it, every FF so far has had a dimensional rift in some way, even though it isn't exactly a theme.

Infact, the "great crystal" is reffered to in every series dating from the original, Spira was made from the great crystal, and the spheres were a by product from it. VII's Materia is told in a similar manner, which adds as further evidense that X and VII's worlds are linked. Though this was debated, it is explained in X-2, that is, if you actually played it.

Rubbish. Crystals are not mentioned in VII or X at all. They are also not mentioned in FFII, FFVI and FFVIII. Materia is solidified energy from the lifestream. There is also no "proof" of X and VII being linked. In the developer interview, Kazushige Nojima has suggested that the link is implied, and is a notion that exists in his head (he is the writer for both stories after all) but is not an official connection.

For the record, I've played and completed every numbered FF title and its spinoffs, multiple times. I play in both japanese and english. The only exceptions right now is Before Crisis: FFVII which is JP mobile phone only, and Crisis Core, which isn't out in the US yet.