Anyone notice the difference between Squaresoft FFs and Square Enix FFs?

[DrossVanity]

I recently replayed FFVII-X and despite having very different plots and tempos, they all had several things in common. They were all immersive, captivating/interesting, and most importantly FUN.

However here I am about halfway through FFXII and I can't help but feel something is missing. This game just doesn't feel like FF. The plot is dull and I really couldn't care less about what happens, the characters are uninteresting/not needed, and the game play is just ok.

It seems to me that the FFs made by squaresoft had a real magic to them that the square enix ones are severly lacking. Has anyone else noticed this?

IMO Enix needs to stay the **** away from FF and just let square do what it has always done, make awesome games.

 

[Xephonai]

I recently replayed FFVII-X and despite having very different plots and tempos, they all had several things in common. They were all immersive, captivating/interesting, and most importantly FUN.

However here I am about halfway through FFXII and I can't help but feel something is missing. This game just doesn't feel like FF. The plot is dull and I really couldn't care less about what happens, the characters are uninteresting/not needed, and the game play is just ok.

It seems to me that the FFs made by squaresoft had a real magic to them that the square enix ones are severly lacking. Has anyone else noticed this?

IMO Enix needs to stay the **** away from FF and just let square do what it has always done, make awesome games.

First off, what you are saying is what a lot of people have been saying, especially on final fantasy forums for sometime. However, I have been playing final fantasy games since 1994 and XII is in my top 3 of all time.

Also, I want to point out that Enix does not touch any of Square side, they are working on the Dragon Quests titles (which might I add have been stomping FF games in quality for time according to reviews) and VP series along with some others. So please don't blame quality on the brighter side of S-E that side being Enix which in Japan is carrying Square at the moment.

 

[L]

Yeah, SS ones kick ass and SE ones blow dogs for quarters.

Final Fantasy XII and few spinoffs (i.e., something as important as Crisis Core) are the few exceptions.

Not to mention SE Final Fantasies are like the PS3 now. They are very shiny and sexy, but they take so long to make that no one really gives a fuck.

It also seems that SE FFs are more focused on how pretty they look instead of how immersive their gameplay is. tits or gtfo imho

 

[Ohri-Jin]

SS (SquareSoft) was just a symbol , a name, yes some retired etc.? Im not sure though or tranferred etc.. but its just a symbol...a new age, I think even with the same name they would still do what they did now...thats life etc.. things will always change.

 

[DrossVanity]

First off, what you are saying is what a lot of people have been saying, especially on final fantasy forums for sometime. However, I have been playing final fantasy games since 1994 and XII is in my top 3 of all time.

Also, I want to point out that Enix does not touch any of Square side, they are working on the Dragon Quests titles (which might I add have been stomping FF games in quality for time according to reviews) and VP series along with some others. So please don't blame quality on the brighter side of S-E that side being Enix which in Japan is carrying Square at the moment.

I guess I jumped to conclusions about Enix being the reason for the difference in the quality (IMO) of the newer FFs but FFXII is definetly missing something that the older FFs had. Did a lot of creators/designers of FF leave square after FFX?

 

[Excalibur-king]

Well Square really focus on story telling, even with that they still manage to make great games that are fun and that you could play for hours and hours, about Enix, well they have done some decent games like ffx and ffx-2 but i much rather prefer Square games too.

to me FF12 is one of the best games for PS2, yeah the story wasn't as interesting, but everything else was really good, i just love the sense of exploration that you get from FF12, and how you can see your enemies before you attack them.

 

[DrossVanity]

Well Square really focus on story telling, even with that they still manage to make great games that are fun and that you could play for hours and hours, about Enix, well they have done some decent games like ffx and ffx-2 but i much rather prefer Square games too.

to me FF12 is one of the best games for PS2, yeah the story wasn't as interesting, but everything else was really good, i just love the sense of exploration that you get from FF12, and how you can see your enemies before you attack them.

Yeah I like all the things you stated about FFXII. The break away from the random battles doesn't bother me one bit (however I'm not too crazy about the MMORPG style combat).

Also, wasn't FFX done by squaresoft?

 

[CassinoChips]

Did a lot of creators/designers of FF leave square after FFX?

FFXII was created and designed by mostly the same people who did Vagrant Story which, if you've played, is miles away from Final Fantasy in terms of plot, style, combat, and most other things you can think of. So they took it in their own direction, which alienated some mainstream Final Fantasy fans. Personally, I just took the game for what it was, which, in my opinion, is an entertaining game to play. I put more hours into that one in a single play-thru than any other FF I've played. And I don't regret it at all.

To answer the original question, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that they've stepped away from the same type of game. If they just recycle the same game over and over and just increase the roman numeral by 1 (I), it just gets stale. I appreciate them going a different tack with XII. It was refreshing. But that's just this man's opinion.

 

[Sum1sgruj]

I notice a difference, though it's kinda hard to explain. I guess a descent way to say it is Squaresoft sort of stuck to it's traditional counter-parts while Enix leaned toward mainstream. A good example would be overworlds/world maps.

 

[Doomtrain]

Agreed about FFXII. The game would easily have been my favourite if it hadnt have been for the shit story and shit characters bar Balthier and Ashe.

The battle system was wicked as was the hunts and all the sidequests. But such a weak storyline really let it down.

I remember playing it the first time and in the first 5 minutes I was on edge it had such great potential.

 

[DarkShadow]

In Short,Squaresoft produced the better games than Square Enix.............

But since the merger Hironobu Skaguchi (man who created Final Fantasy) and Nobou Uematsu (music composer) both left. And they are two of the most key people in Square.

I wouldn't blame Square Enix for the failed Final Fantasy they produced (even though I like FFXII,but most people didn't) I'd say the key people left which is what made the series a bit crapper than how it was before.

 

[Linnaete]

Well, Squaresoft's games definitely prove to be very likeable to the general consensus. SE on the other hand have churned out titles that have proved to be very divisive in terms of opinions. I appreciate Square Enix's efforts in trying to move the franchise forward and embracing new gameplay ideas, otherwise the wholly traditional template of FFI-IX or X would struggle from staleness in the present gaming climate. However, I just don't like the company's method of doing this.

FFXIII. I've said this many times before, so if you know what I'm about to say, you can look away now. I like how they're implementing fresh ideas into it, refining the battle system and all that, but I don't like all that emphasis in the visuals. It looks nice. But so what? Gameplay has allegedly taken a backseat to graphics and CGI, where visuals mask the minimalism of the gameplay. It's no good if there isn't enough gameplay to go along with the beautiful visuals. So while I praise SE for trying to evolve the franchise, they should also remember to put in some more meat in the gameplay, rather than mostly focusing years on fancy CGI.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Square's failure has nothing to do with Sakaguchi leaving, the guy has done nothing impressive since he's left. Square's failure is solely down to the direction they're trying to take, and imo Wada. They need to drop the whole "westernisation" bullshit and try to start making good games, which they've failed to do thus far.

 

[DarkShadow]

I'd say they have no option but to look into new ideas into the gameplay......you can't use the same one all the time. But the only problem with that is the battle systems are boring and like FFXIII you feel like you hardly have any control of the other players. RPG's altogether need fresh new ideas........

@Mercurial I was just stating since Sakaguchi left the company have gone downhill......even though he has done nothing impressive since he's left you can't say it would of been worse if he stayed. But Square failure isn't entirly down on him!

 

[Excalibur-king]

Yeah I like all the things you stated about FFXII. The break away from the random battles doesn't bother me one bit (however I'm not too crazy about the MMORPG style combat).

Also, wasn't FFX done by squaresoft?

I think it was, i haven't played FFX in years, but i do remember that it was very linear to me, but the story,characters and gameplay was awesome alot of fun.

 

[Exoskeleton]

I think Enix made Squaresoft games worse. They killed FF Tactics series for me....something I can NEVER forgive! NEVER!

I think ever since Enix mosied on in the FF games have gotten more childish and less fun. There's just something missing entirely from the Square Enix team and their FF games. Not all of their games are bad but their FF games make me wanna cough up a moogle pompom. FF is slowly but surley changing for the worse. We're in an era where cute moogles don't even exist anymore and where chocobo's are just birds thrown in. The spells and summons are different for me. Everything that made Final Fantasy what it is seems to be....lacking lately. I'm concerned for the series...

 

[DarkShadow]

I think Enix made Squaresoft games worse. They killed FF Tactics series for me....something I can NEVER forgive! NEVER!

I think ever since Enix mosied on in the FF games have gotten more childish and less fun. There's just something missing entirely from the Square Enix team and their FF games. Not all of their games are bad but their FF games make me wanna cough up a moogle pompom. FF is slowly but surley changing for the worse. We're in an era where cute moogles don't even exist anymore and where chocobo's are just birds thrown in. The spells and summons are different for me. Everything that made Final Fantasy what it is seems to be....lacking lately. I'm concerned for the series...

I wouldn't blame SE for the FF series dying..........but altogether I think RPG's have become unpopular than they used to be before. If we were still in the same generation of gaming like back in th days I'm sure the FF series wouldn't be that bad. But I see what you mean here!

Most people who hate FFXIII say it's too linear and the gameplay is crap.
But because things are developing (games console) you can't have the same battle system. Let's just say FFXIII had FFVI battle system......the game would be a LOT worser than the current one right now!

as for messing up tactics they've done the same thing with FFX and FFVII with the horrible FFX-2 and all the FFVII spin-offs which to some people ruined the story.

 

[VinnieJones]

I wouldn't blame SE for the FF series dying..........but altogether I think RPG's have become unpopular than they used to be before. If we were still in the same generation of gaming like back in th days I'm sure the FF series wouldn't be that bad.

This I agree with.

Guns and machines are more popular than swords and dragons nowadays, so SE had no choice but to modernize the series. Also the old-school RPG style of gameplay is no longer favoured by the majority.

Then there's also the case that Final Fantasy lost any sort of style after removing the crystal part and the constant changes made in the battle system; any story involving any characters can become a FF game as long as it has the same names for magic and items, so XII was a perfectly acceptable title in the series despite it's battle style and the way it wasn't exactly 'kill the bad guy and save the world etc'. FF has become very available for change, so developers of the latest titles could do whatever the hell they want and arrange anything and it will still be called Final Fantasy (and so XIII was born, unfortunately), which will obviously anger some of the old fans of the series.

Dragon Quest on the other hand has always followed the same path of killing some big badass boss and saving the world, whilst having the same battle style throughout, so the developers of the new titles had no choice but to follow this. So maybe that's why fans of DQ aren't as critical of SE than fans of FF.

Anyway my point is that FF is a series that can change in so many areas that it is so easily affected by the current trend and so called 'Westernization'. SE are just taking advantage of this.

 

[Ewan]

Well... correct me if I'm wrong but SS made 10 FF titles and SE have made... 2. Not really a good comparison TBH. I'm talking about main FF titles, not spin offs etc.

I'll wait until they make more games to make a fair comparison. After all, I've only actually played 1 SE FF and that was FF12.

Personally, I suspect that I'm not going to really enjoy many more FF games ragerdless of who makes them (although Versus looks promising but does that count? ) because even when I go to ones that I loved, I just don't feel the same 'magic' as I did when I was younger. I prefer more raw and gripping story lines and ultimately that's what I want from a game before gameplay. I don't think FF will offer me that anymore because it's essentially teenagers saving the world every time.

 

[ANGRYWOLF]

I disagree that the changes Square has made to FF were to move it forward.I think they were designed to provide cheap thrills to the masses.
Less developed characters.Less well conceived plotlines.
More graphics and visuals.
More CGI..as someone else pointed out. Cheap theatrics basically.
No towns in FFXIII for example.The claim that to do everything would be too much work.
Do less work...give the illusion there's more there. A more shallow experience.

Squaresoft was imo a better company..did a better job..made better rpgs that it did after the merger with Enix.