So... you've got a friend who isn't a current FF fan or even a lapsed FF fan. Or if they are lapsed, they maybe played one game around the PS1 era. Maybe they're not even that into JRPGs, but let's assume they do like RPGs in general. They play Dragon Age, The Witcher, Fallout and Elder Scrolls - IE a prime audience for FF15 to grow into. So. My question to you is this: based on the materials Square has released for the game, how do you sell the game to them?
Let's set the stage here: for me, these friends are in their mid-20s. Some with kids, some without, all with careers and partners and all that stuff. They are 'core' gamers in the respect that they all own up-to-date consoles and equipment, and buy many games a year. But they don't spend time on twitter or NeoGAF or the like, and they maybe have an RSS to one or two major game sites. That's it. They've never watched an E3 press conference live in their life. They may have seen a bit of FF15 somehow, but mostly they haven't been in its marketing sights. I've sold them on games often; a link posted into a group chat, by whipping my phone out in the pub and showing them a few minutes of video over drinks. It's not impossible. So, again - how do you sell to them?
I ask this based off a chat being had elsewhere: we were discussing FF15's showing over the past few years. I think a lot of fans have been focused on quantity of demos and showings - and in that, fans tend to fall into two camps.
One group is saying: "This pace is great. It's been 10 years. It's time for all the information,"
And the other is saying: "No, they're showing too much. It's like we know everything already," (Which admittedly isn't helped by spoilers and leaks, but let's put that aside for a second.
In fact, let's put all that aside for a second -- because as I said the reason I got to the question of how you sell the game to a friend is because I think they've done quite well with quantity of information (I think they've nailed it, actually), but I have concerns about quality.
What I've been feeling is that there isn't one slice of promotion for this game I could point a friend like that to. A one-stop-shop that a person could see and become sold on. Now don't get me wrong - this is a gigantic game, so one certainly can't expect to get everything in a few minutes, but it's about selling it, not elaborating everything, of course.
Let me elaborate: The Reclaim Your Throne trailer is a great broad-audience hitting trailer, but much of the rest of Uncovered wasn't really relevant to that audience. Too long, too droning, and ultimately there wasn't actually much gameplay.
Duscae is a good slice - a great slice, even, but is now fairly dated to the actual game, which is a weird incidence but it is what it is. I don't really personally rate Platinum, and I actually think the playing as a kid would be something of a turn-off to some of those potential converts.
I'm left with one clip I adore, which is the Stealth Base segment. That's a wonderfully edited video. In three and a half minutes it ironically tells me more about what the game actually is than most of Uncovered. I just wish there'd been more of that, you know?! If there'd been 15 or 20 minutes of footage as dense and interesting as that without loads and loads of talking, without interruption, without focusing too deeply on one thing (the E3 demo's mistake) - a strong vertical slice, basically - I feel like I could convert somebody to FF15's cause with one or two youtube links... and in this day and age, I think that's incredibly valuable.
Also: Kingsglaive. Those trailers are great, the world looks fascinating in them, and THOSE can sell the game. (Indeed, I've felt compelled to link the last two Kingsglaive trailers to my non-fan friends, so that says something.)
Anyway, yeah - what would you do? Do you feel like the stuff released can be targeted that way? This isn't me asking for advice, but me posing the question to see how people feel about how the game has been shown off in the run up to its launch.
Let's set the stage here: for me, these friends are in their mid-20s. Some with kids, some without, all with careers and partners and all that stuff. They are 'core' gamers in the respect that they all own up-to-date consoles and equipment, and buy many games a year. But they don't spend time on twitter or NeoGAF or the like, and they maybe have an RSS to one or two major game sites. That's it. They've never watched an E3 press conference live in their life. They may have seen a bit of FF15 somehow, but mostly they haven't been in its marketing sights. I've sold them on games often; a link posted into a group chat, by whipping my phone out in the pub and showing them a few minutes of video over drinks. It's not impossible. So, again - how do you sell to them?
I ask this based off a chat being had elsewhere: we were discussing FF15's showing over the past few years. I think a lot of fans have been focused on quantity of demos and showings - and in that, fans tend to fall into two camps.
One group is saying: "This pace is great. It's been 10 years. It's time for all the information,"
And the other is saying: "No, they're showing too much. It's like we know everything already," (Which admittedly isn't helped by spoilers and leaks, but let's put that aside for a second.
In fact, let's put all that aside for a second -- because as I said the reason I got to the question of how you sell the game to a friend is because I think they've done quite well with quantity of information (I think they've nailed it, actually), but I have concerns about quality.
What I've been feeling is that there isn't one slice of promotion for this game I could point a friend like that to. A one-stop-shop that a person could see and become sold on. Now don't get me wrong - this is a gigantic game, so one certainly can't expect to get everything in a few minutes, but it's about selling it, not elaborating everything, of course.
Let me elaborate: The Reclaim Your Throne trailer is a great broad-audience hitting trailer, but much of the rest of Uncovered wasn't really relevant to that audience. Too long, too droning, and ultimately there wasn't actually much gameplay.
Duscae is a good slice - a great slice, even, but is now fairly dated to the actual game, which is a weird incidence but it is what it is. I don't really personally rate Platinum, and I actually think the playing as a kid would be something of a turn-off to some of those potential converts.
I'm left with one clip I adore, which is the Stealth Base segment. That's a wonderfully edited video. In three and a half minutes it ironically tells me more about what the game actually is than most of Uncovered. I just wish there'd been more of that, you know?! If there'd been 15 or 20 minutes of footage as dense and interesting as that without loads and loads of talking, without interruption, without focusing too deeply on one thing (the E3 demo's mistake) - a strong vertical slice, basically - I feel like I could convert somebody to FF15's cause with one or two youtube links... and in this day and age, I think that's incredibly valuable.
Also: Kingsglaive. Those trailers are great, the world looks fascinating in them, and THOSE can sell the game. (Indeed, I've felt compelled to link the last two Kingsglaive trailers to my non-fan friends, so that says something.)
Anyway, yeah - what would you do? Do you feel like the stuff released can be targeted that way? This isn't me asking for advice, but me posing the question to see how people feel about how the game has been shown off in the run up to its launch.
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