Poll: The thing about Square Enix

[badgersprite]

Well, the latest Final Fantasies are still selling hugely in Japan, so they must be doing something right. Our reaction to the latest games may be completely different from that in their local market. Presumably, the changes they've made have been business decisions. Whether they're smart or not, I don't know, but they're doing whatever they think will make them money.

If you really think a big corporation is in this industry to make a game that people won't complain about or that will make people on The Escapist happy, then, I'm sorry, but they're not. They just want money. Whatever people keep buying, they will keep making.

I kind of see the Final Fantasy games kind of like crack in that way. They may not actually be good, but people buy them just because it's final fantasy. So we probably have a reason to complain for the sake of a video games industry with a soul.

Well, I'll concur with that completely. God knows I was excited for FFXIII even though I didn't like XII at all, because I adored VII-X. I even liked X-2!

I guess Final Fantasy is kind of like the gaming equivalent to something on the level of Star Wars. The name recognition and nostalgia factor is so huge that people will go and pay money for it, even if they hated the most recent incarnation of it. People know that great stories have come out of the franchise in the past, so we want to believe each new installment will be just like those we remember. But then people come along and change everything because all they want is to throw in anything that they think will appeal to any demographic that can get them more money.

Call me a cynical socialist (you wouldn't be wrong if you did), but I've always been one to stand by the theory that money makes people stupid. Not the amounts of money we get; I'm talking the millions and billions of dollars that go into huge industries, and to CEOs. The more of that money they have, the stupider they get, and the worse decisions they make. Even the smartest people/businesses among us eventually reach a point where they have so much money that it just rots their brain and makes them lose what was great when they first started out and were struggling to make their ideas come to life.

All I hope is that Final Fantasy's downturn in quality inspires some young, hungry game developer to pop up and try to fill the void, and churn out something that keeps this style of RPG alive and viable.

 

[Saxm13]

I don't really play Final Fantasy games for gameplay. I'm kinda only interested in the stories, characters AND THE MUSIC!

Totally a Kingdom Hearts fanboy though.

 

[FinalHeart95]

Look up Mistwalker. There is your Final Fantasy.

Really. Lost Odyssey was epic.

True. Lost Odyssey is probably the best JRPG this generation, although I know some would vouch for Vesperia.

I kind of liked FFXIII though. Not as much as Lost Odyssey, but it was okay.

 

[2733]

the thing about square enix that confuses me is that they have been siting on a massive pile of money called "Kingdom hearts on Wii" but have yet to cash in.

 

[Nmil-ek]

About the only things I'm looking forward to from square are Dissidia 2 and MAYBE versus xiii if they actually release more info this decade.

*sigh* what happened man Xenogears, VI, VII, brave fencer musashi.

 

[badgersprite]

Well, the latest Final Fantasies are still selling hugely in Japan, so they must be doing something right. Our reaction to the latest games may be completely different from that in their local market. Presumably, the changes they've made have been business decisions. Whether they're smart or not, I don't know, but they're doing whatever they think will make them money.

If you really think a big corporation is in this industry to make a game that people won't complain about or that will make people on The Escapist happy, then, I'm sorry, but they're not. They just want money. Whatever people keep buying, they will keep making.

Incorrect. The newer Final Fantasies are actually being loathed in Japan. They have record-breaking returns within a few days for the newer ones. FFXIII, in particular, basically rode back onto the Used Shelves, and they can't sell them.

XIV seems to be the same deal. Many Japanese magazines, blogs, and game critics reviling it.

So, no, Square is pretty much seen as shit everywhere now...

Ooh. Thank you very much for correcting me on that. That cheered me up immensely.

I must have been thinking back to very outdated sales figures online for when the game first came out. Or, maybe gaming news outlets were just lying and assumed people liked it because of initial sales without doing the research. They probably weren't allowed to say people in Japan didn't like it until after FFXIII started selling here.

This is fantastic. I'm now a little more optimistic that a bad impact on Square Enix's bottom line will encourage them to get their heads out of their arses and make a decent game that isn't reliant on cinematics, or doesn't get stuck so long in development that it's outdated by the time of its release.

 

[MikailCaboose]

Well, at least I can get the original Final Fantasy creator with Mystwalker. God I can't wait for The Last Story! (If that's still the working name, I haven't actually checked up on it recently)

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Look up Mistwalker. There is your Final Fantasy.

Really. Lost Odyssey was epic.

True. Lost Odyssey is probably the best JRPG this generation, although I know some would vouch for Vesperia.

I kind of liked FFXIII though. Not as much as Lost Odyssey, but it was okay.

*vouches for Vesperia*

 

[Madara XIII]

I agree!!!

Square Enix really wen't into a Lull and if it weren't for Birth By Sleep I'd have lost all hope for them

Exactly man, Kingdom Hearts is barely saving them, it sorta evens them out compared with Final Fantasy *continues playing as Aqua*

Indeed, Oh btw fair warning. Aqua's last boss is a *****!!!

Right now I already beat Ventus' and Aqua's story and as of Now almost done with Terra's (who may now be my favorite Kingdom hearts character mainly because of the 3 people he becomes)

 

[Asdalan08]

Auto-attack every round? Clear proof that you didn't actually play FFXIII if ever it was needed.

I think you'll find I have played and completed the main story of XIII.

I'm sorry I didn't specify... Switch between Evened Odds for buffing, Diversity for a little attack healing, Relentless Assault for an all out attack, Maybe a little Cerberus and Combat Clinic for the emergency healing... the only thing you do in each of these paradigms is spam X because the game chooses it for you and you wouldn't really do anything else.

But in other FF's you would have to go through a list of commands and choose one that best suited the situation, sure in random battles you would just spam Attack but in XIII the same applies for bosses... and all enemies. When I said it didn't have Turn-based combat I mean't that you didn't choose what one character did, then the other character, then the other character. In XIII you just press X and then stare at your HP bar to see if you need to switch paradigms. Plus the story is shit.

 

[Steppin Razor]

Indeed, they've kinda sucked for almost a decade now and are getting worse.

They seem to have serious problems with their project management, claiming that considering the amount of work to make graphics that deserve HD, it is hard to make towns in the conventional style [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98084-FF13-Producer-Explains-Why-FF7-Remake-is-Unlikely], or that enough content was deleted from the project (FF13) to make an additional game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.168724-Mounds-of-Content-Cut-from-Final-Fantasy-XIII].

The of course there's the debacle that is FF14, which was announced years ago but came out as an unfinished, unpolished, copy-pasted train wreck with very little content.

I have no confidence that the management of SE are competent.

A question - why do you go into every single thread about JRPGs, particularly the Final Fantasy ones, when you hate the genre? Surely you have better things to do than continually go into the same threads over and over to spout off your bullshit about how much Square Enix and JRPGs such?

Some people liked the game.
I tried Really, Really hard to enjoy FFXIII, but i just cant.

I miss the days of FFX and before. FF7,8,9,10 are where the games should be at.

And I'm ok with that. It's not a game for everyone. I just get annoyed when people think they should have some say over the creative output from these game companies because they liked some of their games in the past. If they really don't like the way a game series is headed - just stop buying the bloody games.

Incorrect. The newer Final Fantasies are actually being loathed in Japan. They have record-breaking returns within a few days for the newer ones. FFXIII, in particular, basically rode back onto the Used Shelves, and they can't sell them.

Source?

Also, Square Enix will be re releasing FFXIII in Japan in December. Just saying.

 

[Galaxy613]

The thing about Square Enix is I can't stop calling them "Squenix".

 

[Blue_vision]

Well, I'll concur with that completely. God knows I was excited for FFXIII even though I didn't like XII at all, because I adored VII-X. I even liked X-2!

I guess Final Fantasy is kind of like the gaming equivalent to something on the level of Star Wars. The name recognition and nostalgia factor is so huge that people will go and pay money for it, even if they hated the most recent incarnation of it. People know that great stories have come out of the franchise in the past, so we want to believe each new installment will be just like those we remember. But then people come along and change everything because all they want is to throw in anything that they think will appeal to any demographic that can get them more money.

Call me a cynical socialist (you wouldn't be wrong if you did), but I've always been one to stand by the theory that money makes people stupid. Not the amounts of money we get; I'm talking the millions and billions of dollars that go into huge industries, and to CEOs. The more of that money they have, the stupider they get, and the worse decisions they make. Even the smartest people/businesses among us eventually reach a point where they have so much money that it just rots their brain and makes them lose what was great when they first started out and were struggling to make their ideas come to life.

All I hope is that Final Fantasy's downturn in quality inspires some young, hungry game developer to pop up and try to fill the void, and churn out something that keeps this style of RPG alive and viable.

Exactly I didn't personally like any of the Final Fantasy games, but I could see the appeal of a few, like III and VII. But now we've got over 13 of them, and it's just a big hulking monstrosity of the same thing ground down to a blunt object.
Though I'll say that any money makes people stupid. Money in that kind of million dollar sense just makes people soulless.

Try: Just Cause 2.

Tried it. It was fun, I will give you that. But it was fun for about 2 hours and then it lost its appeal for another week.

So, they made a game where you blow shit up and dive out of planes. It may be entertaining for a while, but its something that almost any other game dev could have come up with. I mean... "I got it guys. Lets make a game where we blow shit up. This is gonna be like a revolution. This is the next Half Life. I cant think of ANY game that has done that before."

That's a valid opinion to have, and I hate the game with it's terrible writing, voice acting, and awkward sequences. But the sheer openness and creativity of blowing shit up gives it infinitely lasting appeal, imo.
And I like the way it (probably unintentionally,) plays out like a terrible, terrible hollywood action flick. It's endearing in a weird retarded kind of way.

 

[Tanis]

Blame FF7, it went downhill from there.

Sure, they tried doing some decent stuff, Einhander & FFT come to mind, but overall it has been fairly down hill.

Personally, I felt FFX-2 was better than the majority of FF, if not most SE, games to come out.
Mostly for the game play.

 

[Kulingile]

FF10 was the last one I fully enjoyed. FF12 was cool, I really liked it from a technical standpoint (NO random encounters!!), although the characters, story, and music weren't as memorable as previous games.

Anyways, Square Enix can do whatever they want, as long as they give me my KH3 and don't do something stupid to screw it up! I getting tired of these prequels and spin-offs.

 

[IkeGreil29]

Square, before the whole Enix thing, was pretty excellent.

The original FFs, and Super Mario RPG were such good games...
I dunno what to think though. They have potential they choose to throw away...