Dough For Enix

[Zexion_01]

Square-Enix is much more money hungry than Squaresoft was. Think about it the first thing square releases when Square and Enix merge is a sequel (FF X-2) and has continued to whore classic FF franchises and not making any new additions to the series. Before Enix FF sequels were unheard of; now FF X, VII and XII all have sequels/spin-off and more are to come (FF XIII). Agree?

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Its not really surprising to be honest, the majority of gaming companies only care about money nowadays, at least a lot of people thought VII, X and XII were at least half decent. SE may be more money hungry that Squaresoft were but thats marketing for you.

 

[RioDragon]

I much agree. However, I do not blame Enix for this... I just think that the remnants of Square-Enix had accumulated large egos and decided to let that fact be known after Shigeru Miyamoto left (which was before or during the development of ten) and took most of the veteran Square employees with him, including Yoshitaka Amano, the primary character designer, and Nobuo Uematsu, the composer (who left for the most part after 10). So what makes those ego-freaks who are left in Square-Enix to do as they please...? All the elite veterans who kept them in check are gone and made their own company, Mistwalker.

 

[DJ Popup of Death]

I've never heard of Mistwalker...have they made anything yet?

 

[Lord Varys]

I just think that the remnants of Square-Enix had accumulated large egos and decided to let that fact be known after Shigeru Miyamoto left (which was before or during the development of ten)

You mean Hironobu Sakaguchi. Shigeru Miyamoto is the guy at Nintendo. Also, Sakaguchi left after X-2, he was Executive Producer for it.


DJ wrote:

I've never heard of Mistwalker...have they made anything yet?

They've made Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey (yet to be released in the US).

For the first post in this thread.

Game companies need to make money in order to survive, if they need to make a sequel, or upgrade previous titles with improved, or new graphics, so be it. With more money they can be allowed to make new games, even a handful of new games with some even being new Intellectual Properties.

As for Enix, they had nothing to do with Square going to the sequel or remake route, FFX-2 went into production and was released in Japan prior to the Enix merger. And "ego's" had nothing to do with it either, if people think that Sakaguchi and some of the other veteran members of Squaresoft had anything to do with blocking sequels being made is wrong, like I previously said in this post, Sakaguchi (father of FF) was the Executive Producer of FFX-2. If he was against it, I seriously doubt he would've been involved with the project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_X-2 <-- Check the link to see for yourself.

 

[RioDragon]

Oy... sorry with the Shigeru thing... sometimes I say one name when I mean another because I know the names of so many game lampoons...

Anywho, I'd more quickly blame the Square side of Square-Enix than Enix for any of their issues... After all, Enix was the origin of the tradition Japanese RPG with Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior), which of course, was the inspiration for FF. That and I've never had any qualms for Enix titles that come out of SE, except for the design of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time when it came to the female characters... Just the tiniest design issues kept me from wanting to play it...

 

[Scarlet]

Yes they have. Mistwalker made Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey which are both for the Xbox 360. Blue Dragon, eh, it's mixed some, people like it, some people didn't. It's more of a rental game. As for Lost Odyssey, the game looks great and this is what I got from Wikipedia:

Famitsu awarded the game a score of a 36/40, with all four critics each giving the game a 9.[5] This was 1 point less than the 37/40 score Mistwalker's debut RPG, Blue Dragon, was given by the publication.
Lost Odyssey reportedly sold 40,000 copies in Japan on its first day at retail, around 50% of the shipment

As for Square ENIX, I don't know... They're a bigger company now so they can develop many games at the same time. Square Enix was awesome enough to re-release FFIII on the DS. Which in my opinion... It was smart on their part. Non-Japanese Final Fantasy fans wanted to play FFIII. As for other re-released such as I, II, IV, V, VI, well they weren't that bad. They made the games a little easier and added extra stuff when you beat the game. I was pleased, but I wasn't too happy when they changed the script a bit to make the game more PG.

Eh, we'll see how Square ENIX goes in the future. Yeah, they keep remaking Final Fantasy games and milking FFVII.... Although, I have to admit! FFIV remake for the DS looks awesome!

 

[Rockman X]

Yes they have. Mistwalker made Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey which are both for the Xbox 360. Blue Dragon, eh, it's mixed some, people like it, some people didn't. It's more of a rental game.

Blue Dragon reminds me of Dragon Quest.....or anything else Toriyama has designed, for that matter. Everything he makes looks the same. However, it's more of a traditional RPG and the soundtrack is pretty good (I downloaded it), so if I ever get a 360 I'll buy it. Lost Odyssey, from what I saw of the opening cinematic, looks like it has steampunk elements (which just about made me orgasm the first time I saw it).

As for Square ENIX, I don't know... They're a bigger company now so they can develop many games at the same time. Square Enix was awesome enough to re-release FFIII on the DS. Which in my opinion... It was smart on their part. Non-Japanese Final Fantasy fans wanted to play FFIII. As for other re-released such as I, II, IV, V, VI, well they weren't that bad. They made the games a little easier and added extra stuff when you beat the game. I was pleased, but I wasn't too happy when they changed the script a bit to make the game more PG.

Anyone who's not a complete fanboy will have noticed that the only quality, truly good games SE has come out with are *ZOMG* remakes of Squaresoft's games. Left on their own, SE relies on Nomura, pretty graphics and Cloud to make mediocre games that fanboys eat up.

And the remakes themselves are likely made to draw in discerning, old FF fans who know the difference between a good RPG and a half-assed, graphics-whoring action-RPG.

 

[Busta]

It's not simply Square-Enix just randomly making games; it's us as fans too who play a huge part in their production.

You always hear and see fans saying that they want so much more from a game. They play a great game like FFVII, FFX, FFXII or any others and they want MORE MORE MORE.

Now we have Dirge of Cerberus, Advent Children, FFX-2, DS spin-offs for FFXII, etc...

We can't solely blame Squenix for their success in sales and production, because in all actuality, we asked for it.

 

[Onceman]

Square-Enix is much more money hungry than Squaresoft was. Think about it the first thing square releases when Square and Enix merge is a sequel (FF X-2) and has continued to whore classic FF franchises and not making any new additions to the series. Before Enix FF sequels were unheard of; now FF X, VII and XII all have sequels/spin-off and more are to come (FF XIII). Agree?

Wow. Here's a subject that's never EVER been discussed and/or beaten to death on this board. However, it's good to see some of the responses below haven't ALL been jumping on the S-E bashing bandwagon. Before you go ballistic bashing Square for this the new business model of sequels and spinoffs, look at the company's history since 2001.

The catalyst for it all was the failure of The Spirits Within. It resulted in a massive loss for the company in the tens of millions of dollars region (upwards of 100 million, actually). And what happens next? Well, first they sold roughly a third of the company's total stock to Sony to recoup some losses. After that came the merger with Enix, a company that has done well in Japan, but stagnated in outer territories. Meanwhile, development costs continue to skyrocket, which promise to take a massive leap with the looming "new" generation of consoles looming.

The last part came with Hironobu Sakaguchi's expulsion from the company. Yes, the statement was that he left of his own accord, but S-E is a Japanese company, and Japanese business culture is rife with examples of firing those responsible who have failed and shamed their company...and the Spirits Within was entirely Sakaguchi's baby. He even admitted in interviews prior to the film's release that, should it fail, it would do enormous damage to the company. We all know that it did fail, and spectacularly so.

The days of casually throwing away an entire world/battle system/characters/storyline is no longer economically feasible with development costs.

In the end, those much-maligned sequels, remakes and spinoffs that your hated "fanboys/girls" keep buying is making the next full chapter of FF possible. They're cheaper to make, using established engines/character designs/storylines, and yes, they make money. And if the company isn't making money, you wouldn't have a Final Fantasy franchise anymore to bitch about.

So they're trying to make money. Does that make them money whores? Well, so are you every time you go to work.

Money whore.

 

[Rockman X]

Wow. Here's a subject that's never EVER been discussed and/or beaten to death on this board. However, it's good to see some of the responses below haven't ALL been jumping on the S-E bashing bandwagon. Before you go ballistic bashing Square for this the new business model of sequels and spinoffs, look at the company's history since 2001.

The catalyst for it all was the failure of The Spirits Within. It resulted in a massive loss for the company in the tens of millions of dollars region (upwards of 100 million, actually). And what happens next? Well, first they sold roughly a third of the company's total stock to Sony to recoup some losses. After that came the merger with Enix, a company that has done well in Japan, but stagnated in outer territories. Meanwhile, development costs continue to skyrocket, which promise to take a massive leap with the looming "new" generation of consoles looming.

The last part came with Hironobu Sakaguchi's expulsion from the company. Yes, the statement was that he left of his own accord, but S-E is a Japanese company, and Japanese business culture is rife with examples of firing those responsible who have failed and shamed their company...and the Spirits Within was entirely Sakaguchi's baby. He even admitted in interviews prior to the film's release that, should it fail, it would do enormous damage to the company. We all know that it did fail, and spectacularly so.

The days of casually throwing away an entire world/battle system/characters/storyline is no longer economically feasible with development costs.

What was the point of saying that stuff? We already knew all that (at least I did anyway), are you trying to sound smart by stating obvious things anyone could pull off Wikipedia?

In the end, those much-maligned sequels, remakes and spinoffs that your hated "fanboys/girls" keep buying is making the next full chapter of FF possible. They're cheaper to make, using established engines/character designs/storylines, and yes, they make money. And if the company isn't making money, you wouldn't have a Final Fantasy franchise anymore to bitch about.

That's what makes them money whores. The fact that they take the easy way out by making cheap, predictable games that rip off Star Wars' storyline (XII, anyone?) rather than putting serious time and effort into just one or two games at a time proves it. SquareSoft did fine financially before Spirits Within, and they weren't churning out dozens of halfassed games to draw in fanboys.

So they're trying to make money. Does that make them money whores? Well, so are you every time you go to work.

Money whore.

They aren't trying to make money, they don't have to try anymore. All they have to do is remake old classics and slap Nomura's designs onto the games and they've got their money right there.

And last time I checked, you can't get anywhere in life without money. Having a job doesn't make you a money whore, it's necessary if you want to have any semblance of a quality life. Sure, some people would probably rather sit under a tree all day and philosophize, but will that put food on their table or give them shelter? No. Money makes the world go 'round, mah boi, so if you're not making money you'll end up poor and on the street.

 

[Howl]

I'm used to waiting a good solid 2 (or more) anticipation-filled years, saving up for the next installment to come out. And now...I don't have the funds to buy all of the constant FF releases.
Didn't the tactics remake and Revenant wings come out in the same season?

How many FFs have been released this year?

 

[Onceman]

What was the point of saying that stuff? We already knew all that (at least I did anyway), are you trying to sound smart by stating obvious things anyone could pull off Wikipedia?

That's what makes them money whores. The fact that they take the easy way out by making cheap, predictable games that rip off Star Wars' storyline (XII, anyone?) rather than putting serious time and effort into just one or two games at a time proves it. SquareSoft did fine financially before Spirits Within, and they weren't churning out dozens of halfassed games to draw in fanboys.

Well, let's start from the top...the reason for all that history is because half the people here don't bother to look at the financial reasons that have led to the state of the company. Instead, a lot of people whine and bitch without knowing why things are the way they are. Besides, you COMPLETELY missed the point, as evidenced by "SquareSoft did fine financially before Spirits Within" comment. Of course they were doing fine before Spirits Within, that was the point. After Spirits Within is another matter altogether. Sakaguchi damn near sunk the ship to the point Square had to sell off a chunk of itself to Sony, and also merge with another company to keep going. More evidence that you missed the point, or didn't bother to even read, is the comment about "putting serious time and effort into one or two games at a time." Like it or not, Square-Enix is a huge company with loads of employees. With development costs in the tens of millions per major game, you're not going to feed them all with one or two anymore. Did you even read the post to which you're responding?

So, no, I'm not trying to sound smart, though my question would be are you trying to feel important somehow, coming to a board day after day, posting the same tired tripe that 85% around here already bandy about that Square-Enix are money-grubbing whores?

Anyway, whatever. I haven't posted here in awhile because it's turned into a FF/S-E hatefest. So they came out with another spinoff. Big deal. I don't have to buy it, and neither do you. There's plenty of stuff with the Final Fantasy name slapped on it I don't care to buy. In the grand scheme, nobody's life is really going to change if they make another sequel or remake. But that's beside the point. From a handful of responses in this thread, I thought the overall attitude might have somewhat changed, but I imagine those who aren't bitching about Square are just a drop in the pond.

 

[Rockman X]

Well, let's start from the top...the reason for all that history is because half the people here don't bother to look at the financial reasons that have led to the state of the company. Instead, a lot of people whine and bitch without knowing why things are the way they are. Besides, you COMPLETELY missed the point, as evidenced by "SquareSoft did fine financially before Spirits Within" comment. Of course they were doing fine before Spirits Within, that was the point. After Spirits Within is another matter altogether. Sakaguchi damn near sunk the ship to the point Square had to sell off a chunk of itself to Sony, and also merge with another company to keep going. More evidence that you missed the point, or didn't bother to even read, is the comment about "putting serious time and effort into one or two games at a time." Like it or not, Square-Enix is a huge company with loads of employees. With development costs in the tens of millions per major game, you're not going to feed them all with one or two anymore. Did you even read the post to which you're responding?

Yes, I did read the post. You seem to have not noticed that most of the stuff SE is coming out with is halfassed.

You're right, SE is a huge company, they can easily work on multiple projects at a time and still produce a ton of quality games. Here's the kicker: that's not happening. Despite their enormity, they choose to:

1. Rely on fanboys/girls to sell games (VII compilation)
2. Give old games a fresh coat of paint (at least they're finally making some 3D and with voice acting)
3. Intentionally muddle plots and leave stories unfinished so they can sell spinoffs (Kingdom Hearts series, FF12)

So, no, I'm not trying to sound smart, though my question would be are you trying to feel important somehow, coming to a board day after day, posting the same tired tripe that 85% around here already bandy about that Square-Enix are money-grubbing whores?

No, I'm not trying to feel important. Are you trying to feel important by defending SE? Alot of times people will try to go against a large consensus because it makes them stand out.

Anyway, whatever. I haven't posted here in awhile because it's turned into a FF/S-E hatefest.

Boohoo. Then maybe you'd prefer hanging out with people who like to defend SE's halfassed, easy-way-out business practices.

So they came out with another spinoff. Big deal. I don't have to buy it, and neither do you.

You're right, I don't have to buy it. Moreover, I refuse to. It's the principal of the matter that annoys me. Seeing our beloved SquareSoft transformed into the EA of RPGs annoys me.

But that's beside the point. From a handful of responses in this thread, I thought the overall attitude might have somewhat changed, but I imagine those who aren't bitching about Square are just a drop in the pond.

Boohoo. That's because the people "bitching about Square" are people who have seen Square turn from a company that cared about its games to another corporate giant relying on whatever makes the girls and boys wet themselves to sell their games.

 

[RioDragon]

Boohoo. That's because the people "bitching about Square" are people who have seen Square turn from a company that cared about its games to another corporate giant relying on whatever makes the girls and boys wet themselves to sell their games.

Hear, hear! God... I got into Final Fantasy right after FFIX came out when one of my friends introduced me to FFVIII, which quickly became one of my fave PSone games. Everything about was so well-planned out despite it having some of the best graphics for the PSone for it's time. You can't really say that about the newer, Square-Enix titles... Their first entry, X-2, was FAR from spectacular... And what did they do to follow it up...? A worthless MMO that shouldn't even be THOUGHT OF as an FF title. And after that...? FFXII, which was an obvious rip-off of Star Wars both story-wise and gameplay wise... (Remember KotOR? Basically the same gameplay.) Pepper in the remakes of the older Squaresoft games and what do you have of worth...? Pretty much the remakes... And that's just because the whole games had been built before, by a Square that actually gave a crap what they did.

 

[Rockman X]

Hear, hear! God... I got into Final Fantasy right after FFIX came out when one of my friends introduced me to FFVIII, which quickly became one of my fave PSone games. Everything about was so well-planned out despite it having some of the best graphics for the PSone for it's time. You can't really say that about the newer, Square-Enix titles... Their first entry, X-2, was FAR from spectacular... And what did they do to follow it up...? A worthless MMO that shouldn't even be THOUGHT OF as an FF title. And after that...? FFXII, which was an obvious rip-off of Star Wars both story-wise and gameplay wise... (Remember KotOR? Basically the same gameplay.) Pepper in the remakes of the older Squaresoft games and what do you have of worth...? Pretty much the remakes... And that's just because the whole games had been built before, by a Square that actually gave a crap what they did.

Truth. It's actually quite pathetic that X-2 was so abysmal, given that it was in the same world. The production team didn't have to work as hard since the world and such had already been made, so maybe they got lazy from that. And believe me, I don't think of XI as a FF

Square always had top-notch graphics, maybe not so much in the gameplay but definitely always in the FMVs (especially IX, its FMVs can rival some PS2 games), and their games never suffered from lack of focus in other areas. Seems like graphics are pretty much all that SE focuses on and they let good gameplay, characters and story fall by the wayside.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Seems like graphics are pretty much all that SE focuses on and they let good gameplay, characters and story fall by the wayside.

Very true. The likes of VII, IX and X had (in my opinion) the best graphics for the time they were released, but at the same time at least the gameplay, characters and story were fairly good. However, I agree with you that the production team must have 'got lazy' in X-2, either that or they had very little story/development, in which it had no right to be made to start with. But apart from that XII stands out horribly, the graphics were tremendous and won several awards for it, but though the storyline was 'alright' at best, it how a lot more potential if more focus was put into it. The same goes with the characters, I seriously can't think what was good about them, they lacked: background, depth, personality, emotion...and in all honesty in some parts of the game I didn't really know what purpose they were serving. I disliked the battle system but really that comes down to personal opinions since a lot of people do and don't like it.

Anyway, over the past couple of years FF has gone downhill but hopefully, for us and SE, XIII doesn't suck horribly.

 

[Rockman X]

Well according to an interview with a few of the production team's members, they hadn't even planned on making a sequel. It was only after fans freaked out about that Eternal Calm scene. They were all about "change" in X-2...and they ended up changing too much. I can just hear Nomura talking after hearing the fans' reaction to Eternal Calm.

"ZOMG U GUISE THEY LIEK IT WE MUST MAEK FOR MOAR MONIES"

And the whole dress-up notion for the battle system (which, I must admit, actually worked fairly well) was inspired by animu with transforming girls (think Sailor Moon and the like) and other transforming heros. So perfect example of cashing in on overused pop culture (and if you don't believe it's overused, even the characters in the Japanese version of Ninja Turtles could transform, both the turtles AND the villains).

Interview here: http://www.ffshrine.org/ffx2/ffx2_interviewteam.php

 

[Lord Varys]

Onceman, I think you deserve some praise for some of your points.

It is rather unfortunate that some fail to see that Square-Enix really has no choice to re-release games with fresh a coat of paint, or remake them with 3d graphics and voice-overs. Besides that, it's also good for gamers that have never played those games.

It's also sad that all fans of a particular FF game that's getting sequels are all being grouped together and being called fanboys because some of them actually wanted to see more of this particular FF's story and characters. I didn't know it was so wrong to actually want to see more of certain characters and or story.

And let's all jump down Square-Enix's throat because Final Fantasy XII supposedly copied a few things from Star Wars. SE should also be bashed for copying themselves since FFXII had an evil empire, just like FFVI had. But, I guess it's wrong to look to other forms of media for inspiration. FFS! Parts of stories have been ripped off for years. Take Romeo and Juliet for example. Or even, The Lord of the Rings; ever read Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara? You will find parts in there that definitely remind you of LOTR. In the end it's what's done differently that sets them apart, for better or worst; FFXII still had a good story (that's subjective for everyone) despite the few references to Star Wars.

Square-Enix is an RPG company that has over 3,000 employees (according to Wikipedia). These people need to be paid while money is also going into new games. Square-Enix is simply not a company that can afford to go 2 years between a release of a major game, without making some form of profit, otherwise their shareholders will become worried that the company is losing money.

These are not the days of "The All-Mighty SquareSoft", which some people are obviously stuck dwelling in the past, where development costs were a lot CHEAPER then than they are now. The best way for them to make money, which will then go into making new games, is to re-release old games. Not only is that their best way, it's really their only way. Sure it's cheap, but these games will sell as we have seen, otherwise they wouldn't continue to port them to handhelds. To make an entirely new game with a new world, new characters and new story would take time and money; more time and money than it would to re-release an older game with improved graphics. I should also add these re-releases are a good way of holding their fans over until their newer games are released.

Bashing SE for making sequels, for re-releasing old games with improvements, is quite simply sad and pathetic. They are doing what any other company would do, they are doing what any other company has a right to do, to make games and survive while doing so. It's a shame that some can't see that because they are too selfish and blinded by their own expectations of what a game company should be.

SE were most likely going this route whether or not The Spirits Within had bombed at the box office. Why else would SquareSoft, with Hironobu Sakaguchi leading the project, work on a feature length CGI movie? An RPG company making such a bold and risky move as that should've been a big hint they were looking to branch out and try different things. As a result of the movie bombing, SE had to close their studio in Hawaii.

In the end, I think the SE bashers are just fooling themselves into believing that SE was a company that it's not, a company that would have never changed, would never adapt to stay alive.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Onceman, I think you deserve some praise for some of your points.

It is rather unfortunate that some fail to see that Square-Enix really has no choice to re-release games with fresh a coat of paint, or remake them with 3d graphics and voice-overs. Besides that, it's also good for gamers that have never played those games.

Sorry, but unless I have completely missed something no one is particularly bothered at the fact that they are re-releasing some of the older games because in all fairness it does give some of the younger fans to play them. "(at least they're finally making some 3D and with voice acting)"

It's also sad that all fans of a particular FF game that's getting sequels are all being grouped together and being called fanboys because some of them actually wanted to see more of this particular FF's story and characters. I didn't know it was so wrong to actually want to see more of certain characters and or story.

Everyone wants to see more of the characters and story, however, why should people buy a series of games just to make sure that they know about the whole story that could have been covered in the main and first game released? Or, take X-2 for example, that could single handedly be the most hated FF game (bar XI) purely because it didn't need to be made, there was absolutely no need to make a sequel to X because the ending of it tied everything up and they should have left it how it was.

And let's all jump down Square-Enix's throat because Final Fantasy XII supposedly copied a few things from Star Wars. SE should also be bashed for copying themselves since FFXII had an evil empire, just like FFVI had. But, I guess it's wrong to look to other forms of media for inspiration. FFS! Parts of stories have been ripped off for years. Take Romeo and Juliet for example. Or even, The Lord of the Rings; ever read Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara? You will find parts in there that definitely remind you of LOTR. In the end it's what's done differently that sets them apart, for better or worst; FFXII still had a good story (that's subjective for everyone) despite the few references to Star Wars.

How do you bash over using the ideas again? There are plently of ideas that are used: battles systems, number of characters you are allowed to use, moogles, chocobos...the list is endless. However, you make a game good and nobody cares where the inspiration comes from, but when SE made XII half finished and lacking in almost everything then don't you think questions should be asked? Take 300 (the film), everyone could have bashed it over being like LoTR but it was seen as a great film so no one cared less.

Square-Enix is an RPG company that has over 3,000 employees (according to Wikipedia). These people need to be paid while money is also going into new games. Square-Enix is simply not a company that can afford to go 2 years between a release of a major game, without making some form of profit, otherwise their shareholders will become worried that the company is losing money.

SE is a business and it is a business that does not solely rely on 're-releasing' games to bring in revenue. They have films, manga, merchandise and OTHER FRANCHISES that can make them a huge amount of money. FFAC is purely 100% money grabbing, why on earth did they release a film when the 'complete' version is being released 2 years after the first release of the film? What are ALL 3000+ employees actually doing anyway?

These are not the days of "The All-Mighty SquareSoft", which some people are obviously stuck dwelling in the past, where development costs were a lot CHEAPER then than they are now. The best way for them to make money, which will then go into making new games, is to re-release old games. Not only is that their best way, it's really their only way. Sure it's cheap, but these games will sell as we have seen, otherwise they wouldn't continue to port them to handhelds. To make an entirely new game with a new world, new characters and new story would take time and money; more time and money than it would to re-release an older game with improved graphics. I should also add these re-releases are a good way of holding their fans over until their newer games are released.

To get straight to the point. Development of games were undoubtedly cheaper many years ago. Yet, whilst development has become more expensive so has the stuff they sell, it should be no different to many years ago. It costs them more so they sell if for more whilst their fans numbers have increased. Also because they will have more fans they will receive more money so games should, theoretically speaking, be getting better not worse.

Bashing SE for making sequels, for re-releasing old games with improvements, is quite simply sad and pathetic. They are doing what any other company would do, they are doing what any other company has a right to do, to make games and survive while doing so. It's a shame that some can't see that because they are too selfish and blinded by their own expectations of what a game company should be.

Again, no one has bashed 're-releasing' games just the fact they are getting worse at making the main ones, ie, XII.

SE were most likely going this route whether or not The Spirits Within had bombed at the box office. Why else would SquareSoft, with Hironobu Sakaguchi leading the project, work on a feature length CGI movie? An RPG company making such a bold and risky move as that should've been a big hint they were looking to branch out and try different things. As a result of the movie bombing, SE had to close their studio in Hawaii.

Films are all about money, not trying different things. As a result of the movie bombing Square lost $123 million (£61.5 million), Absolutely no company could afford to lose that much money so the studio that shut down in Hawaii was Square's fault to begin with. At this point Enix had nothing to do with Square and in fact delayed the merger until several years later.

In the end, I think the SE bashers are just fooling themselves into believing that SE was a company that it's not, a company that would have never changed, would never adapt to stay alive.

Lol