Few things gain as much traction in the video game industry as a good old-fashioned comeback story. It?s part of the reason why players latched on to The Last Guardian to the point that, even when all seemed lost for Team Ico?s poignant action-adventure title, there remained some semblance of hope that Trico would still take flight after so long spent circling the jaws of development hell. Ditto for Final Fantasy XV, which began life under the moniker of Versus XIII back in ?06, before enduring a tortured production process of twists, turns, and an internal overhaul that resulted in Hajime Tabata being placed in the driving seat.
Remarkably, both The Last Guardian and FFXV made it to market within a week of one another, and achieved relative success while doing so, proving that, yes, even when the threat of cancellation looms, the possibility of a comeback is never too far away from the pixelated horizon. With Final Fantasy XIV, it?s a little different. Square Enix’s wildly ambitious MMORPG initially released in 2014 and was considered by many to be the natural successor to FFXI, which also took the core elements of the Final Fantasy franchise and projected them onto an MMO-sized canvas. But for all its promise, FFXIV underwhelmed quite spectacularly ? so much so that Square placed subscription fees on hold, tapped new leadership, and postponed the PS3 port indefinitely mere months after launch.
A Realm Reborn
That was in 2010, when producer, designer, and all-around...