Square Enix is a ?Complete Failure?

[Valis7]

Well, at least according to former executive Hisashi Suzuki:

Spoiler

"The merger was a complete failure. There's no vision for the future."

Link

Usually I'd chalk this up as sour grapes, but looking a the whole picture - he does have a point; the Square brand name doesn't carry as much weight now as it did before the merger with Enix. Most would argue the games have just gotten worse (I'm certainly in that camp), others might blame the continuing focus on spin-offs and remakes. Either way, numbers don't lie - and they're not good according to the latest fiscal report.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

There was a point in time where I bought anything with the Squaresoft/Square Enix name on it.


Now, unless I see otherwise, I assume everything with that name is shite.

 

[Cheesepower5]

At least the Enix half of the equation hasn't gone off the deep-end yet? That's not a big deal here, though.

 

[AnarchistScum]

Supreme Commander 2 was a huge failure. Other than that, I only think I've played one other square enix title and that is Just Cause 2. I avoid their games like the plague.

 

[Tanis]

When SE stopped giving a damn about its original fanbase and started trying to 'Madden' FF7...

Well, I'd say that's when it went downhill.

 

[recruit00]

When SE stopped giving a damn about its original fanbase and started trying to 'Madden' FF7...

Well, I'd say that's when it went downhill.

How the hell did they try to "Madden" FF7. Every single one of the main FF games is different in gameplay and story. How are they taking the same character idea and giving them new uniforms... Wait a minute... Damn you!

But no seriously, I am a Squeenix lover so I am typically on their side (but not always). FF XIII should have stopped at the first one. I would have been fine if they didn't make XIII-2 (which I am still compelled to play at some point) and it would be so much better if they weren't doing Lightning Returns concept wise because not using the same world for more than two games is their thing, after that it gets weird. The game play concepts sound interesting though.

Just as a little thing
FFI-No sequel
FFII- No sequel
FFIII- No sequel
FFIV- After Years
FFV- No sequel
FFVI- No sequel
FFVII- First sequel as Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core et al. add stupid retcons and have dumb stories
FFVIII- No sequel
FFIX- No sequel
FFX- X-2 Resounding agreement that the story sucks. Decent amount of people like the gameplay
FFXI- Hundreds of expansions though not really Westernized
FFXII- Revenant Wings which was on DS and starred Vaan... AFAIK, no real opinion on this one
FFXIII- XIII-2 which fixed some game play things but costumes became strange(r)and the worst moogle ever. Lightning Returns which is taking a Majora's Mask approach maybe?

I do take Squeenix games with a grain of salt but chances are I will play through most of the main series. FFX is waiting until I have nothing to do and I am willing to do something else while the cutscenes don't skip.

I have beaten the first two DQ games (Surprisingly very few Blizzards) and when I get bored will probably do the next two.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I have been saying SE has been crap since the merger, pretty much since right after the merger.

I too used to buy ANYTHING Enix and Square. Final Fantasy was the 3rd game I ever played, and Chrono Trigger/FF4 and FF6 ruled my SNES. Along with Soulblazer, Illusion of Gaia, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Saga Frontier, FF Tactics, Vagrant Story, and so on.

I forget the exact time in their catalogues the merger happened but I do know that Enix hasn't done jack that I'm aware of since apart from port old DQ games and make DQ9. Square has done little more than make inferior FF games. I would have said progressively worse but for me it goes FF7 (shit), FF8 (pretty good), FF9 (Completely forgettable), FF10 (Shit aside from Auron, Rikku, and Lulu), FF12 (pretty good), FF13 (shit that keeps on shitting out sequels), and Versus (might be good who knows).

They DID make some new FF Tactics games that were alright, but no where near as good as the original's story.

I honestly don't know how they went from 2 excellent companies that each had a library of great IPs, to one company that barely even puts out games anymore and they mostly end up disappointments.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

So...
I guess I'm the only one here who liked Human Revolution...
I'll be leaving this thread now.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Dungeon Siege 3 is the only one from Square Enix I've played recently and I thought it was okay, even though it felt 'Japanized' and not as good as the previous two. It had the same problem as usual with sequels, too much simplification.

 

[Ryotknife]

Not as good as they used to be, But they still put out good games from time to time. And sadly still the best hope for JRPGs.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

So...
I guess I'm the only one here who liked Human Revolution...
I'll be leaving this thread now.

Most people attribute Human Revolution's awesomeness to Eidos, not Square.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

So...
I guess I'm the only one here who liked Human Revolution...
I'll be leaving this thread now.

Most people attribute Human Revolution's awesomeness to Eidos, not Square.

Point taken. But even still, it's a good game that has square slapped on the game info.

 

[Do4600]

I'm guessing that you don't recall many of the games that Square made/published prior to the merger. They were not that impressive, games such as All Star Pro-Wrestling II, FFX-2, Unlimited Saga, the games they put on the Wonder Swan Color. It wasn't some beautiful company taken by Enix. They were on a downtrend beforehand. If anything, Enix saved this company.

In the same time period they released Fantasy Hearts and FFX which are not only best sellers but really good games. The reason Square lost money was because their movie was a absolute failure not because their games stopped selling or were of poor quality.

 

[scorptatious]

FF9 (Completely unforgettable),

Fixed that for you.

OT: I honestly thought XIII wasn't that bad a game. I can understand why people would hate it though.

That being said, I don't think it really needed a sequel. Let alone two.

 

[pat34us]

Well they bought their major competition (Enix with DQ) So they have no reason to try to get better, they know people will buy anthing that has "Final Fantasy" on the box.

 

[Sacman]

Square is still okay in my book, sure they have made some horrendous decisions (Final Fantasy 13 being one of those decisions) but they have made The World Ends With You, the Kingdom Hearts series, the Dragon Quest series (not a fan, but insanely popular) and other good games like Nier!

WEll actually Nier was developed by Cavia, only really remembered for their Drakengard series... Which funnily enough Nier is a part of... Square only published the game...<.<

So...
I guess I'm the only one here who liked Human Revolution...
I'll be leaving this thread now.

well actually, Deus Ex Human Revolution was developed by Eidos Montreal... it was only published by square and even than that's only because they acquired the entirety of Eidos, in the early 2000's... they had almost nothing to do with actual development and only published the game, and even than had nothing to do with the mac version...<.<

And lets not forget, Square are the ones who pushed to make Deus Ex more console friendly, effectively ruining Invisible War, with not just it's focus but management problems... as lead designer Harvey Smith has revealed...

OT: Square should stick to publishing, it's what they're best at me thinks... cause as the last few years have shown, actually developing games has been mixed to terrible...<.<

 

[Arakasi]

I'd like to agree that Squeenix is a failure, but they were involved in Just Cause 2.