[Alastor]

What I'm really interested in is working with the creative aspects of the game. While I have done some programming (Java, C++ and going to learn GML), it's not what I want to work with. Regarding gameplay, I would like to design how gameplay works as well (in fact, this is the part I am MOST interested in, and naturally, story and level design comes with this). That's different from programming. And just to make this clear, remaining ignorant about programming would be a baaaaad idea. XD

Basically all your talk about how one man can make games to compete in the market is wrong. Every game idea I have is one that can be applied to one of the current generation of consoles. I don't want to limit myself to like, 8-bit NES when I know I can work with a Nintendo DS if I'd like. And it would take too much time to do all the programming, graphic designing, sound editing, composing, etc. etc. etc. all by myself. Even you must know this. In order to develop a game that can compete in the market today, you'll need a group of at least 20 people.

Now to tie this in with the topic at hand... I personally would have liked it if Square focused less on FF, and try to come up with brand new titles. Not saying they should drop FF because it's their flagship. But instead of having all their teams working with various FF games, why not cancel 1 or 2 of these spin-offs and create something new? This is what I mean. They're making money. FF sells. They wanna keep it that way, I'm okay with that, but I do get disappointed as some of the FF's don't hold the quality an FF game should. By that I mean great gameplay, fun sidequests, involving and great story with great characters accompanied by a beautiful score.

I love when game companies take new creative steps. Remember Capcom? All they did was Resident Evil. But then came Onimusha and Devil May Cry. Soon followed Monster Hunter, and then we had Clover Studios creating Viewtiful Joe and Okami. This kind of initiative I like!