A few questions about Square-Enix

[Alakaizer]

Partway through FF6, though, they lost Ted Woolsey, the localizer chiefly responsible for the whimsical dialogue (and admittedly very liberal translations) characterized by Super Nintendo-era Square RPGs like Chrono Trigger and indeed FF6 itself ("You spoony bard!"). This is one of the changes in staff that marked a dramatic tone shift in Square's localization style, which from then on tended to be more faithful to the original tone of the games' Japanese scripts. For FF7, which was really gritty and dramatic, this proved a positive boon; for other games in their catalog it tended to border on pretentiousness, which is one of the factors that's dragged Square back so much with its older audiences.

FF9 was an attempt to go "back to the basics" while still progressing with new gameplay ideas. Except now they were known for having realistic characters and imaginative blends of fantasy and science fiction, and FF9 was a huge throwback to the super-deformed chibi-like style of the older games as opposed to something more faithful to the new style they'd developed with 7 and 8, so most people simply ignore it. It's damn good, though, and successfully blends the old style with Square's new, more serious tone of storytelling.

I think the only thing I can correct you on is that "You spoony bard!" was IV, not VI. I grew up with that game, and it was when Tellah was blasting the charisma out of Edward(Hmmm...a despised character named Edward...) for running off with his daughter. One of those rare cutscene fights, where you weren't in control, the only other one that I can remember being FuSoYa and Golbez eating it at the hands(tentacles?) of Zemus.

And I loved IX. One of my favorites. It cracked me up when I realized Zidane's head followed any attractive woman in his field of view.

 

[Korten12]

I think Tetsuya Nomura ruined it not sony. That guy became the new character designer and just fucked everything up then the games went to shit and now I don't want to play them.

Tetsuya made FF7, the story and characters and since that is known as one of the best FF's, I know its your opinion buts its kinda hard to say that the game wasnt successful.

 

[Nicarus]

Squaresoft games were good. Enix games were good. I think the troubles began when they merged together. :/

I never thought of it that way. I liked both Brave Fencer Musashi and Terranigma, made by the separate companies.

 

[FinalHeart95]

There's been a general consensus that the Final Fantasy series has, for a long time, been in decline, starting with FFX (this is particularly evident with the public opinion on FFX-2, FFXII, and FFXIII). Meanwhile, the games that came out on the Nintendo consoles are seen as timeless classics. So my question is this: do you think Sony has ruined Square-Enix?

Personally, I see Square-Enix's recent moves as an attempt to distance themselves from the company that's at least partially responsible for their downfall. They have yet to produce a PS3 exclusive, yet they HAVE made 360 and Wii/DS exclusives. Versus will likely be multiplatform and KH3 will probably be Wii exclusive. What do you think?

A final question, which is similar to my earlier thread about SE: could Nintendo or MS buy SE and make it a first-party developer? Both SE and either MS/Ninty would see it as a good move, in my opinion.

It's not really a general consensus. On gaming forums, yes, but then again, gaming forums usually contain people that have been gaming for a long time, and are more apt to have started on the Nintendo FFs. They are the ones that hate the new games, generally. The younger generation though, including me, have actually grown up on the NEWER games, having us like those more. Basically, everything is seen through Nostalgia Glasses.

Versus COULD be multiplatform. Until they say otherwise, assume that it is a PS3 exclusive. Also... KHIII won't be on the Wii. For one thing, they have yet to make any high-profile games on the Wii, and I doubt they'll start now. Also, development for KHIII hasn't even started yet.

Trust me, for the sake of the gamers, you DON'T want either of those companies buying Squeenix. That will make all of their games exclusive to that console, which will shut out a lot of people. It's not really a good move for SE either because they make more money from multi-platform games than they would if those same games were exclusives.

 

[Tarmon'gaidin]

And KH3 will probably be Wii exclusive. What do you think?

No it won't you silly person. It will most likely be a PS3 exclusive.
Oh and by the way Dissidia was a PSP exclusive.

Sorry for completely ignoring the rest of your thread but this was such a blatantly stupid remark that I could do no else then atack you for it.

 

[slipknot4]

I don't play allot of SE games but i know for sure that they do release and publish allot of good games and in my own opinion, Square Enix has never been looking this good in ages.
KH3 around the corner, FF13 and Just Cause. The Future lies ahead of them.

 

[CountArioch]

Eh, I find that modern FF games insist upon themselves. Everything has too many moving parts (if that even makes sense, everything seems too complex, from character design to weapons to monsters and so forth).

I enjoyed FFX-2. It had fast-paced battles, it had attractive young women changing into various skimpy outfits, it's a good time.

 

[PopeJewish]

you and I must have different definitions of "internationally." Mine includes Japan. I agree DQ doesn't sell as well as FF outside of Japan, but all sales worldwide for DQ are consistently better, meaning the series consistently makes more money (especially when you consider that games in Japan are much more expensive than they are in the US), meaning it's a bigger series over all. That was the point I was trying to make.

I only meant internationally as in the areas outside of Japan. Poor choice of words perhaps, but the point still stands that Final Fantasy is one of the most well-known series in the entire world whereas Dragon Quest is only known in Japan and on videogame sites where the vast majority haven't even played it anyways. It sucks and I wish Dragon Quest had as much popularity as Final Fantasy did as the games are easily as good as those of the FF series, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Out of interest, what is the cost of games in Japan?

Fair enough. I was simply trying to say that, from a financial point of view, Dragon Quest sells better, so Enix had more money (Plus the whole FF Spirits Within debacle that cost Squaresoft loads of money).

Uh games here usually cost around 8000 yen (~$88 USD) for new releases on ps3/x360, though I've seen them higher. Old games are also still quite pricey. For instance Super Mario Galaxy at the shops last week was still around 5500 yen (~$61 USD) and it's been out for how long? I know SMG2 comes out here tomorrow, but the price of the original never once dipped below 5000 yen since the game was released.

 

[zombiesinc]

I'll eternally love Squaresoft.

Square-Enix has been a mixed bag of emotions. I'm a FF fan, but between my expectations and the hype, I was more disappointed than I ever thought possible with a FF title. But that's not to say I didn't enjoy them, or that they weren't good games. It's more so that they didn't meet my expectations because I was so in love with a few previous titles in the series.

As for Sony ruining Square... no. No, they have not.

 

[Grand_Arcana]

EDIT:

About the PS3 exclusives I say this: Fu*k Sony. It's Sony's fault that I never got to play any of the Japan exclusive games (KHFM, FFX Int., FFXII IZJS, ect.) because Sony won't localize a remake if there isn't enough additional content. So. . . yeah.

You weren't around in the days of the NES/SNES were you...
FFII, FFIII & FFV were all curiously absent from a release outside of Japan. Instead we got the shite that was FF:Mystic Quest (blurgh!).

If anything, being on a Sony console has allowed for more worldwide releases. Just sayin'

That's a good point, but we didn't miss miss much with FFII