What are Square-Enix Doing?

[CloudReaper656]

Ok look.... final fantasy for me has always been the best games ever including the spin offs and references like kingdom hearts and x-2 (although x-2 is where i start my rant...) but i dont if you reading this feel the same but square enix really need to sort their act out, i think positively that i can speak for the massive majority of the ff, kh fans outthere when i say WE NEED MORE CLASSIC FF!!! i cant stand the new ff games they suck!!! ff xi aside we need the atb back!!! why does it have to be about free running around fighting without cut-scenes? bring back the old ff's like 6,7,8,9,10 they were amazing!!! 7 and 8 were the best with the best story lines and battle systems ever and many people will agree so please tell me square enix (who obviously made a mistake with the whole ENIX thing... Wheres the SOFT? lol) why make these new ff games with new battle systems when the old versions were clearly superior? the story lines since FFX have been awesome but everything is different and they dont feel like an amazing RPG anymore which i thought final fantasy was supposed to be.......

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

I completely agree, I'd love to see the standards back the likes of FFIX but that's not what people really want anymore outside of FF fans, admitedly I think the standards of Final Fantasy games have gone downhill say the merge with Enix, which happened because of the failure of The Spirits Within (I think?) but kids want shiny graphics with high speed gameplay nowadays, they don't want to sit thinking about what move they're gonna do next or who they're going to attack. FFXII to me was a disappointment but I do think SE raised their standards a little regardless, and I think they're carefully taking their time over XIII as to not rush it and kill it. So I think there will be improvements in the near future 8D

 

[CloudReaper656]

I suppose your not wrong but i dunno maybe im just getting to that stage where i say 'back in my day' lol it would just appeal more to me and the majority vote to see games with a deeper story rather than just the linea and shiney and new up to date gameplay which is not what (to me anyway) final fantasy was about... i mean if i wanted a hack and slash game with a final fantasy taste id be playing dynasty warriors while listening to one winged angel...

 

[GalaxyFlare]

Yeah sqaure enix is kind of losing its way how long can you live off old success cause if tyey dont produce stuff we will want to play then what good are they this ios why FFXIII is so critical to the future of the FF if this screw up how many people will wait around for another 4 years......crazy ass%^%^

 

[Sora_lion_heart]

sum up on how I feel.

ha, I feel the same way. but to me it started with 10. they cut out a world map, they took levels away, and the story was just lacking to me. FF11 shouldn't even have been in the series. Its a online game and the fighting, weapons, side quests are nothing like a final fantasy game. I could see the point but its just a waste of time to play and pay. so after my hatred for 11 came and gone they come out with 12, which I laughed at when I seen my friend playing it. He said it was ff12 and I was like dang, gotta give it a chance. I did I'm down to three things left to do in it but I don't like it.

bring back world maps
bring back atb
give up on sequels and prequels

 

[Ashe B'nargin]

Ever since Squaresoft became SquareEnix we had to suffer through the disastrous Final Fantasy X-2, watch Final Fantasy VII get spammed through many sequels and some of else felt disappointed with Final Fantasy 11 and Final Fantasy 12...

But think that Square just went through a slight slump, all companies go through a stage of highs and lows in their success, and now they are gaining themselves back together again..

Crisis Core is truly a epic game, it had some mistakes but what game doesn't ?
Final Fantasy 13 looks very promising, and VS F13 no different..
Not to mention the birth of the Kingdom Hearts series shouldn't really be a regret.

Though understand that things can get worse, worried that Enix is done finishing ruining Final Fantasy VII so now they are moving on to destroy Kingdom Hearts, and milk us with tons of Final Fantasy 13 games/ spin off material..

Though is trusting of SE that they are just upgrading and trying to become a more better company, and trying to improve.
Though sometimes when you try and improve, things just get worse. Sometimes it's just better to let things be, and do miss the old days of Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX and even X..

And miss the old Cloud from the old original FF VII before he was destroyed into a bishie for young fourteen year old girls..
>___> {Sorry AC fans, but really feel that way }

But yes BRING BACK WORLD MAPS IN FF13 OTHERWISE WILL THROW SOMETHING..

 

[Vladislak]

My biggest complaint is the lack of interesting plots they've come up with recently.
And don't even get me started about character development. There's more to a character than looking badass.

It's like they've decided that as long as a game has fast paced action and flashy graphics then it'll be an awesome game.

And whatever happened to the medieval setting they used to use a lot. It left around FFVII, then we saw it kind of return for FFIX... and then it just fell of the map completely! Now all we're seeing is flashy high-tech cities and hordes of enemies sporting machine guns and other futuristic/modern weapons.

Heck, Shelke in DoC sported two lightsabers for her weapons! >_>


FFX was good. The plot was enjoyable and the characters were fun (and well developed). But after that... Well it's like they fired everyone who ever worked on an FF game and hired a bunch guys that are too lazy to put any thought into the franchise.

Note: The part about the medieval setting leaving around FFVII is in no way meant to bash the game. At that point adding all that high-tech stuff was a newer concept, now it's just getting old though.

 

[Platinum_Lies]

Isn't the team working on XIII the team that worked on X?

I'm happy as long as XIII doesn't come out anywhere near as bad as XII. There is only one game in the series that has actually brought me to the brink of hatred and that is FFXII.

As long as XIII brings character development and a well paced story back to the "main" franchise, I will be happy.

It just surprises me that after such an emotionally bland game as XII, they release the emotional equivalent to the nuke with Crisis Core within two years...

 

[One-winged Demon]

Actually after FFVIII SE started to do experiments.Some of them were succesful and others epic failed.I hope that they will get serious and develop FFXIII very well.

 

[Shu]

Well I don't want to seem condescending to Japanese Rpgs all around, but I have to be honest with myself in saying I haven't had my socks knocked off since FFX. I am one of those dudes, that pick up one rpg per generation unless of course it has SE on it, then it's an auto buy.

I grew up on amazing Rpgs.. and a few non-SE Rpgs I will list:

1) Shining Force - Sega Genesis
2) Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete - PSX
3) Legend of Dragoon - PSX
4) Xenogears - (grin - might recognize the siggy) - PSX
5) Chrono Trigger (well this is an SE, but no FF title) - PSX

This list could go on forever, but each of these rpgs had a damn unique thing whether it be the combat system or the FMVS. One thing they did not lack were story lines though.

These days to get a good story line out of an RPG, it's like pulling teeth. It's either they mimick another game or they leave way to many loops holes for people to ponder. Why? Well they are afraid to branch off because of the potential in loss of sales. The risk level outways their creative potential. So that's why we are left with the same repetitive story lines in FF as of recent to. I mean honestly, would you have still bought FFXII if it didn't have the "Final fantasy" label on it?

I would have rented it till the end, but the story straight up pissed me the hell off. I'm still in the cooling off phase lol.

We will have to see though what FFXIII will bring, but my thoughts are we still have a while to go till we see a newer and more innovative rpg style + keeping to the unique story lines.

 

[strifehart]

i think it has a lot to do with nerfing the difficulty level. i don't think it's as much as the battle systems in the more recent FF's are poorly designed or lack depth as much as it that the difficulty of the monsters don't force the player to truly dive into it. there's honestly a lot to do with the battle systems, and in fact they're quite extensive. the problem is, it's much easier (and more boring) to just hack and slash. i don't know about you guys, but i never used a single esper in FFXII. didn't give them to anybody. i just didn't need to. and after i set up my gambits in the "automatic" fashion, i barely had to play at all. just run around and watch my guys target and demolish anything in their paths. yeah that's ridiculously boring, but there's so much potential in the battle system. if an enemy actually managed to get through my barrage of attacks and lay a critical blow, i'd be forced to switch out or rethink my gambits. maybe even manually enter in a few commands. the point is, i think the problem doesn't lie with the systems themselves (i think they're actually innovative and interesting) but the problem is in the difficulty.

 

[Ravencroft]

The Enix side of or current Final fantasy games just BUTCHERED our past. They took our good old games and are trying to remake them (speaking of FFVII). It's like Square is Japan and Enix is America. Enix takes good Square works and butchers them. My reference here is speaking of how the American film industry is getting less creative by remaking old classic movies and my good Asian movies! It's as if Enix is running out of ideas.

A lot of people are iffy on FFX, but I am glad with it. It just made the chopping block from the Squaresoft to Square Enix transition. Despite the diff battle systems and level feature, I still liked it. After SE did the complimation of FFVII, my favourite game became FFX rather than FFVII. Just like when I was back in school, I used to like anime and manga. There were just so many kids obsessing over it that I just lost interest. It's like that with today's SE Final Fantasy games. I played my friend's demo FFXII a few years ago, EPIC PHAIL! My hopes for the FFXIII series are slim-to-none. I don't think it's necessary for them to make 3 games for FFXIII.

I put it this way in my mind: Making FFXIII into 3 separate games could possibly bring doom to SE. They went downhill since FFX-2. Then the FFVII compilation, then FFXI, and the couple of FFXII games, but trying to start making a compilation series on an FF game that has yet to be released is totally bad. Especially with the way our economy is at this current stage. Making 3 separate games might cause SE to have financial issues. Who is going to be able to afford to get all 3 FFXIII games? I say the number 13 may curse SE.

(I apologize if I don't make sense in some parts as I was typign this while almost dead asleep. *goes to bed now*)

 

[Misty]

So you played a demo of XII and that was it? Sure.

If they sucked so badly, why do so many people enjoy them? Why do these games still sell well? Different people like different things. Some are clingy to the past, and still want the same things again and again. I have played these games for long enough to realise that for me, I wanted something different. I was happy when XII came along, finally a game with a battle system that was different, challenging. And no generic love plot.

I think the lack of quality just seems to occur in spin off titles, and piss poor sequels for the most part. Seriously, did we really need a Revenant Wings, or a Dirge of Cerberus?

 

[Scarlet]

Consider two things: Hironobu Sakaguchi and the unpopularity of JRPG games/Japanese gaming market lacking currently.

Sakaguchi is the creator of the Final Fantasy series. He pretty much IS Final Fantasy. He left Square Enix in 2004 as well as a few others who worked on the original series. Nobuo Uematsu for example. Square's lovely composer who worked on the series soundtracks. The only music Nobuo Uematsu is writing for Square Enix now is any re-composing of FF's main theme.

What I'm trying to say is, don't expect the future Final Fantasy games to be the same. There is a whole new different team working on the Final Fantasy series now.

I pretty much lost faith in Square Enix. The only Square Enix series I'm keeping track of is Kingdom Hearts and the occasional re-makes of older FF games. I'm not even sure if I want to throw down 60 bucks for Final Fantasy XIII.

Why do these games still sell well?

These games sell well but not as well as before. FFVII sold almost 10 million copies, while Crisis Core sold about 2 million copies. Crisis Core did well for a PSP exclusive, but the only other Square Enix game I can think of that did well recently was The World Ends with You. Even so, it's a cult hit.

Dissidia did well in Japan but... That's Japan. >_>

Anyway, Square Enix game sales have been declining.

I think the lack of quality just seems to occur in spin off titles, and piss poor sequels for the most part. Seriously, did we really need a Revenant Wings, or a Dirge of Cerberus?

No, we didn't really need them. It seems like these spin-offs have been slowing them down a lot. Do we really need those extra spin-offs on the cellphone? FFIV's sequel came out of no where.

Funny how they released spin-offs such as the ones you mentioned above so quickly, yet.... They've been lagging behind FFXIII. It shouldn't be taking this long.

Moving on.... The Japanese gaming market has been lacking lately. In fact, in a recent interview I read the designer of Metal Gear Solid 4, Kojma, admitted he was jealous of Western developers. Right now, the Japanese gaming market isn't doing as well as the Western gaming market.

Haven't you guys realized that the popularity of JRPGs is at a very low point? Valkyria Chronicles, great JRPG, received positive feedback from critics and players. This game only sold about 120,000 copies in the US. JRPGs aren't popular. =/ Right now FPS and action games are dominating the gaming market.

With companies such as Valve, Rockstar, Blizzard, and Nintendo doing so well don't expect Square Enix to be up there anytime soon.

 

[Shu]

Seriously, did we really need a Revenant Wings, or a Dirge of Cerberus?

Am I the only one who actually liked Dirge of Cerberus? Trust me I love my fair share of RPGs and stuff, but honestly I am an all around gamer.

I have tried to deny my geeky tendencies and if you met me in person you would probably never guess I have them, but I can pretty much get down with any genre, whether it be a RACER/RPG/FPS/RTS/FIGHTER... I guess partly because I co-owned a gaming LAN center with a bud back in the day. I also attempted doing game reviews when I was a wee teenager, but could not keep up with the whole "vlog" generation. That is the new "IN" as of today even. I also have played most every game system for the exception of Jaguar and Nintendo DS.

So back on topic... I loved Dirge, but not specifically for the story line. It was a great fps in my honest opinion. I loved the engine that they ran the game on too; it was really smooth. Now with the story loop holes they ripped through FFVII, they couldn't help but mind fawk us. Now we are all waiting patiently on hands and knees for a new FFVII release. Will it happen.. at this point I don't care.

Now back to the Japanese RPGs in general, they need help. In my opinion they need to go back to the drawing board. I love new graphics and new gameplay, but honestly I have FPS's for that. If the story does not keep me captivated, I will rate the game badly for it being an RPG. That's just the way it stands. I think the developers have the game engines and code down to an art, but what we are all waiting for is a story that knocks us off our feet. It might take 10 years from now, but I'll wait.

 

[Shyne]

Ok look.... final fantasy for me has always been the best games ever including the spin offs and references like kingdom hearts and x-2 (although x-2 is where i start my rant...) but i dont if you reading this feel the same but square enix really need to sort their act out, i think positively that i can speak for the massive majority of the ff, kh fans outthere when i say WE NEED MORE CLASSIC FF!!! i cant stand the new ff games they suck!!! ff xi aside we need the atb back!!! why does it have to be about free running around fighting without cut-scenes? bring back the old ff's like 6,7,8,9,10 they were amazing!!! 7 and 8 were the best with the best story lines and battle systems ever and many people will agree so please tell me square enix (who obviously made a mistake with the whole ENIX thing... Wheres the SOFT? lol) why make these new ff games with new battle systems when the old versions were clearly superior? the story lines since FFX have been awesome but everything is different and they dont feel like an amazing RPG anymore which i thought final fantasy was supposed to be.......

I was agreeing with you til you said the storylines since FFX have been awesome...No they haven't.

The gameplay wasn't *bad* with FFX, but it just wasn't appealing to me because the story was so bad, i didn't feel like running through hours of gameplay to get to the next boss battle.

And that's what ALL the new FF's feel like ,running through the game to play big bosses.

FFIX was the last seriously GOOD FF title.

I completely agree, I'd love to see the standards back the likes of FFIX but that's not what people really want anymore outside of FF fans, admitedly I think the standards of Final Fantasy games have gone downhill say the merge with Enix, which happened because of the failure of The Spirits Within (I think?) but kids want shiny graphics with high speed gameplay nowadays, they don't want to sit thinking about what move they're gonna do next or who they're going to attack. FFXII to me was a disappointment but I do think SE raised their standards a little regardless, and I think they're carefully taking their time over XIII as to not rush it and kill it. So I think there will be improvements in the near future 8D

Yep, Spirits Within bankrupted Squaresoft and hence why they became Square-Enix, so they could continue making games, but since the change, the games have been crap.

FFXII was the worst FF released, apart from FFXI and XIII... i don't hold much hopes for.

Unless FFXIII is as good as 7,8 or 9, i think i'm gonna give up on the series.

 

[Shu]

Wait you said FFXI was bad? That is all a matter of opinion. I played the heck out of that game before the official release of World of Warcraft. Now looking back since I haven't played both in quite some time, I would have to say it's one of their top releases in FF history.

It also was and still is one of their top money makers thanks to players still paying large amounts of money to play online.

You would honestly have to devote a good bit of time to realize it was an excellent game for it's time. The graphics might have not been up to par with the recent new gen system graphics or new gen PC graphics, but as for story line game play and others, this game excelled.

So if I were to honestly throw my opinion based on difficulty and replay value FFXI was rated top 5 of these games:

1) World of warcraft - they keep their content updated.. daily. Hands down top design team and game engine. Very interactive. Way too addictive for the normal gamer.

2) FFXI - Overly good "party" concepts, amazing story lines, and good character development. Every person had their part, not just a filler like some raids I've been in for WoW. You can change jobs to whatever you would like, such as you did in Tactics, but it made for much more of an interactive game. If you were good at this game, some say you could play any RPG with hands tied behind your back.

3) Lineage II - All around fun game to play with a group of friends. They put everything in Lineage in there and amped it up a few wattz. This game was a must buy for it's time.

4) SWG - I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars, but I heard this was a top seller for 3 straight years. It even rivaled WoW for some time as well, but the replay value is very harsh.

5) DAoC - PvP aspect was ungodly. Replay value is very harsh because this game was out so long. No power lvl system.

6) City Of Heroes - Takes your normal comic book and brings it the life with a character you create. It makes for amazing team work, but you can be an all around bad ass in no time. Too expensive though per month.

 

[Franice]

For the life of me, I can't understand why people like that whole cut scene random battle crap. It's irritating, slow, clunky, annoying, and totally redundant. And I think if Square returns to that, it's going to make the series worse. Then not only will you have shallow characters and story, you'll have annoying game play on top of that. But, oh, it'll be just like the old days!

95% of battles in FF games are random, have no bearing on the story, and can be solved with repetitive mashing of the A button. That's strategy? Yes, SE could have done a lot of things better in FFXII, but the battle system was a huge improvement. Never once did I think, "Oh fuck, not again!" It didn't bore me to death. Fluidity is a good thing.

This all said, I never played FFs when I was a kid, I don't have those fuzzy nostalgic feelings, and I'm not really a fan of the old games. So, perhaps I'm not the stereotypical FF fan. Maybe I'm just part of the general audience they're making the games for now, which I why I adore FFXII, expect a certain quality of graphics when I pay $500 for a console, and get pissed when I have to sit through repetitive random battling. Oh well.

 

[Eight]

It's easy to say "yeah, stick to classic way of things" but what you gotta keep in mind is that they can easily do exactly sorta thing they did with all FFs, but what will really be new? Many people will just look at the case and go "Meh, same crap, different story, characters and settings".

Though a change in story, characters, and setting is good enough difference for some, the rest want a bigger difference. They want a different battle system, a change in timeline, a REAL change in characters (Some want to see futuristic character, which FFXIII seems to be promising). It's supply and demand peoplez, and fast paced seems to be the demand at this moment in time.

Square also do it to attract a bigger audience to their games, an audience of which they won't attract by doing the same sorta thing over and over again. You may say "Yeah, but they'll lose an audience in the process" well yeah, they will, but only a small group, I mean, sure, there is the occasional FF game that seems a bit "No." I should know (I didn't find FF12:RW all that, and FF7: DoC I won't even go near) but that doesn't make most fans give up on the series, for example, the complainers here are an example, they complain about the latest games, but they haven't seem to given up faith in FF overall.

Besides, they do have the odd remake of the classics to keep the "I don't like change" fans liking the series.

I, for one, don't have a problem with FF's change, I think that some of the new FFs are a nice change and are still good. Sorry people, it's the wave of the future, change is inevitable. I'm one that is sorry to see things go, but also happy to welcome new things (depending on what the new thing is of course)

 

[Sephiroth2k]

well with me i really did not like what they did with 10 no levels anymore no world map = no fun anymore, ff 12 got the levels back but had no battle scenes (free roam battles) which i found to be fun reminded me of kingdom hearts 1 and 2.

with final fantasy 13 i hope that they have the free roam battles again but if they dont i am not going to rant about it :notfunny: lol.

what i really want to know about though is with the final fantasy 7 remake (NO flaming me please) i have heared alot of rumours but nothing conclusive, is it just a rumour or something more?