I'm not here to be a Versus stan, dampen anything that anyone's saying, or to put in my own two cents or anything like that. Granted, I fell in love with the idea of Versus since it came out. I still remember recording the trailers off of youtube on my crappy flip phone just to rewatch them back in grade school. Thing is, I think Versus just needs to be put down. The idea is very cool, but I just don't think Square's ready to push out a tripe-A title of that level of darkness and maturity yet. I know a lot of games of theirs push the envelop, but they're just not quite there yet.
Personally, I think they just need to finish up XV and let it go for awhile. Put off making any sequels until they can put more effort into their other, current IPs. Maybe pushing for a new one like XVI that I know we've all likely been anxious for, or at least getting KH3 and the VII remake out the door. I can forgive all these DLC and patches since XV's dev cycle was so wonky since day one, but pushing out content into 2019, well more than two years after its release, is a bit much. I honestly think they could cut down the number of DLC's and save them for extraneous content like anime, manga, mobile games--things that just aren't as large a burden.
As for Versus, while the original concepts will always be dear to me, I think it's time to let it rest. While I think it would be amazing to have a game of that caliber, ambition, and grittiness/darkness/moral ambiguity, I just don't think XV is the place to place those eggs. Technology is a rapidly changing thing, and video games as a social phenomenon changes rapidly with it. I still remember, pretty recently too, that video games were seen as childish and not a medium to deliver darker, more sophisticated story-telling. Square isn't a company known for making gritty, dark titles and Versus came at a time before the market really reflected these changes. Nowadays, since Japan's making a shift towards mobile gaming and the console market is becoming increasingly more relevant to the Western market, I really think Square could do this sooner than we think. XV felt like a gung-ho chance to experiment with a west-centric game, what with it being open-world--which is something westernized gaming is leaning more and more towards.
Thing is, I just don't think XV was the game for super dark themes. It was experimental, and it had its moments of pushing the envelop, but it's still a T-rated game. Most triple-A titles, that I've seen, are M-rated by far. Almost to the point that it's standard, because the industry understands its demographics are maturing from the kids who loved Pokemon and LoZ and Mario to people who want darker games, like the Witcher series, Silent Hill, Soulsborne, Uncharted--what have you. I think Square likely understands this, or is beginning to, and I have faith the 7 remake could push closer to an M-rating if not be M-rated altogether. XVI might even be the first dark and gritty FF that we've been hoping for, that could retain Versus' ambition and spirit.
Until then, I like Versus as something that "belongs" to fandom. I like that people can spin wild theories, can build their own stories, and tell the tale they thought Versus had the potential to become. I'm someone who like writing fanfic, and making Versus into the vision I thought it could become is something I enjoy doing. And I enjoy reading other people's theories for that matter.
Anyhow, this is really all I have to say on it.
