Jimquisition: Batman Is Everything Wrong With Square Enix

[RedmistSM]

It's pretty clear they're aware of their problems, Jim(except they don't want to throw their lead artist under the bus, I assume). Didn't you read that huge interview in USgamer a while ago? It was all about how they made things too complicated and hard on themselves, because the new hardware took too much time/effort to learn to use in the way they were used to, as I recall. http://www.usgamer.net/articles/where-final-fantasy-went-wrong-and-how-square-enix-is-righting-it

 

[direkiller]

can anyone suggest an icon of gaming that didn't come from a definitively great game?

Zero Wing: Lord Cats.
He is more a icon of memes but dammit i am counting it.

 

[Something Amyss]

Yeah the odds of me buying another FF game are somewhere in the realm of slim to none. Although using the S03 engine and combat system would be a good start. A comprehensible plot would also go a long way.

Yeah, I'll be more likely to buy a game if it's got good story or good gameplay. Final Fantasy has not had either of late, from what I can tell.

I wouldn't mind a big budget RPG now and again, but SE seems to have gone off the rails. Also, my definition of "big budget" might be different than SE, as they can't seem to keep it in their wallets.

 

[EndlessSporadic]

I am actually quite thankful Square is pushing the hair graphics. The way most hair is done is just so pathetic. AMD is trying to simulate real hair with TressFX but it just isn't cutting it. I am a person who will always yell from the rooftops "function over form", but I would be genuinely upset if their hair techniques disappeared.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

...Damn, that Batman figurine is the 90's in a nutshell.

Now I like JRPG outfits, but mainly when they don't go overboard.

("I wish I had more zippers so I could tell you to zip it!" - Neku Sakuraba, The World Ends With You")

But yeah... Square-Enix seems to prefer to go style over substance, don't they?

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

I'm guessing that if you went on a friends picnic with Square Enix, the sandwiches would be overdesigned...

HA! Truly.

They'd have 8 slices of bread, 14 mustards, and zippers on the cold cuts.

And probably licorice whips. God, do I hate licorice.

 

[WoodyBBad]

I rather liked the Batman figure.

 

[Dragonbums]

The only fallacy I'd point out in this video is that Jim accused Lightning of having no personality but briefly lionized Link a few moments prior.

He wasn't talking about Link's personality though. He was merely talking about the iconic image of Link. Which is a hero in green garb.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Hey! You forgot to mention Dante from original Devil May Cry series. For an anime-styled character he's remarkably simple and memorable. Red trenchcoat, white hair, giant sword with a skull and two huge pistols, one white and one black. Simple, memorable, iconic.

Spoiler: and you forgot

The least graphically impressive title to come out of Square Enix is also the best. Not that they had anything to do with actual development, but it's relevant.

Anyway, this might be the funniest episode yet. I loved the rant. And they deserve it oh so much.

 

[Dragonbums]

Eh...is this problem with Square Enix or is it a problem with Tetsuya Nomura? Asides from the graphics thing, which is still primarily on Nomura, most of these comes from Tetsuya's tastes and his inability to stop announcing things when there are unfinished projects.

I was going to say the same thing. It seems that Tetsuya is like the all knowing leader of Square Enix when it comes to what/how things get designed and whether or not they are improved upon.

If we are to focus in on the bataman thing- it seems really unfair to say that all of Square Enix has this issue, when you notice the fact that the figurine was made and designed by one person. That one person also has a high seat in the design department of Square Enix.

It would be like complaining that all the Pokemon look like some shit a kid could come up with and say that the company as a whole doesn't understand about how to make complex things when Ken Sugimori- the guy in charge of the design elements of the company- always picks and designs things that children can come up with.

At least from a design perspective, the only way to fix Square's issue is to either give Tetsuya the boot, make him realize how ridiculous his designs are becoming, or put another lead design artist above him that calls the shots for what passes and what needs to go back to the drawing board.

 

[Dragonbums]

Pokemon is another example of this.
They started out pretty tame (sure there are a few examples of over designed) but then as the generations go on each gen gets more and more cluttered with their designs.

But the tameness mostly came from game limitations. One can only imagine what first gen Pokemon would look like if they weren't restricted to two damn colors. All things considered not many Pokemon are over designed. The only one that comes to my mind of going a bit too far are some of the Mega evolutions, Garchomp, and the Luxray evolution line. I would also say Generation 5 starters as well, but I think they were specifically based on a Chinese(?) theme.

Other than that, Generation 6 was pretty fucking tame, and Sugimori himself has stated he plans on making more simple Pokemon. I only hope that it's not Gen 1 simple. Seriously, nothing is more boring than another basic ass rat with larger teeth.

 

[Dragonbums]

What new game as Square enix done lately? I think the last one was The world ends with you back in 2008. Since then, it's been nothing but Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts games. They're milking those franchise for all that they're worth. Right now, i think they are working on 5 different Final Fantasy's which is ridiculous.

Also, NEVER FORGET All The Bravest. NEVER. FORGET.

Didn't they just release Bravely Default? I'm surprised you immediately forgot about that one. It was well received.

 

[LoneWolf83]

I disagree Jim

Graphics OBVIOUSLY ARE NOT that expensive.

Metro Last Light? One of the best looking games EVER made, makes EVERYTHING Square Enix did look like shit. It makes em look like morons.
And it was done on a small budget.

F*cking STALKER Clear Sky from 2008 looks better then any PS3/360 exclusive ever made, with advanced physics and effects and UNMATCHED AI...
On a small budget. It STILL LOOKS impressive in 2014. Damn.


It is not the engines and the graphis nor even the art that is expensive. QA, Optimization for bad hardware (consoles...), Voice acting by hollywoond actors and INSANE marketing. That is expensive.

Tech? Not so much

STALKER: Clear Sky can run on my crappy laptop I got because it was light and small. When looking at number of polygons and numbers of pixels, those games can't hold a candle next to modern triple A games, the difference between them is not graphics, it's how the graphics are presented. Triple a developers today go for raw graphical fidelity, more polygons and more pixels, that is what costs so much. STALKER developers, Metro developers, etc didn't go for raw graphical fidelity, they made those games look better with less. Look at Shadow of the Colossus, it's a PS2 game but it looks like it could be a PS3 game, games don't need more polygons and pixels to look good, they need better aesthetics.

 

[KingdomFantasyXIII]

Actually, a lot of this is wrong. Jim is just making things up because he's angry over Square Enix in general. He's the J. Jonah Jameson of The Escapist.

Let's actually take a REAL look at what happened and why:

The Batman deal:
http://www.siliconera.com/2014/07/25/tetsuya-nomuras-batman-figurine-came-canceled-videogame-project/

Tetsuya Nomura:
"Many years ago, I worked on a different project and the concept and idea was kind of already there. Unfortunately, that project didn?t pan out and it never saw the light of day. When the merchandise team started expanding into the DC Comics Variant figures, they approached me and said, ?We remember you drew a sort of Batman design back then. Would you be able to share that with us??

So DC was the one who asked for this concept and loved the idea of it. It wasn't Nomura going crazy, it was DC just saying "We like it!"

Second, the "Over-designing" of Square Enix

A lot of things from Japan are "over-designed" in Japan. See some of the more recent efforts:

http://31.media.tumblr.com/87a12aba7a4bf7ea72d60e6008b0daaa/tumblr_mv8oijm28e1ssr51lo1_1280.png
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120904015655/xenoblade/images/0/00/Compilation_Armor_Shulk.jpg
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140605204250/kingdomhearts/images/e/ef/Sora_KHIII.png
http://desktop.freewallpaper4.me/view/original/1628/blazblue-calamity-trigger.jpg
http://wallpaperpanda.com/wallpapers/aib/yEk/aibyEk9iG.jpg

And that's just a few designs off the top of my head. Welcome to Japan Jim Sterling, it kind of comes with the territory.

And while we are at it, how about instead of "cleverly" choosing the Lightning Returns Armor, how about choosing her original outfit? Like the one seen in the ORIGINAL FF13.
http://www.cosplayisland.co.uk/files/costumes/2639/55437/FFXIII-Lightning_CG.png

If anything, Lightning's original design is pretty good by Japan standards. Not too overly ridiculous yet not too simple. It's a good blend.

"Nobody is going to remember Lightning"

And yet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_(Final_Fantasy)#Reception

"Beyond the individual games, Lightning has been popular among characters in gaming. In a VideoGamer.com's listing of the best ten Final Fantasy characters, Lightning was sixth with the writer Yin Poole finding her interesting in the course of the game despite still finding her similar to Cloud. In 2011, IGN ranked Lightning among the best Final Fantasy characters, saying that she demonstrated that "a delicate balance can exist between strength and tenderness, even in the midst of her incredible acrobatic feats." In GameZone's list regarding the same subject, Lightning was eighth owing to her visual appearance as well as the character's determination which made her "one of the strongest female leaders of the Final Fantasy series." Cheat Code Central also listed her as one of the top ten "badass" women of video games for her independence that distances her from previous Final Fantasy heroines. Lightning ranked second in AfterEllen's list of the "hottest" video game characters. In Game Informer's list of top ten heroes of 2010, Lightning was ranked eighth and praised for her as the only protagonist in Final Fantasy XIII who "seemed capable of taking on the corrupt government of Cocoon", and that her "no-nonsense approach to her mission [made] her the game's standout hero". She was included twice in lists by Complex as the 19th greatest Final Fantasy character and the 39th greatest heroine in video game history.

The gaming community has received her positively as a character. In 2010, she was ranked as the 34th most popular video game character in Japan in a Famitsu poll. In 2013, Lightning was voted the favorite female Final Fantasy character in an official poll by Square Enix, and in that year's Dengeki PlayStation Awards, she was voted best video game character of the year for her appearance in Lightning Returns. Out of all the Final Fantasy XIII cast, Lightning was voted as the most popular character in a Microsoft poll. She was voted as the best character in XIII by IGN in 2014 after a two-week period of voting by readers of the site. Professional journalists and game developers have also ranked her high among important female video game characters, with her coming third in a list of top female characters in an RPG or JRPG during a panel at PAX Prime 2013.


http://www.siliconera.com/2014/01/06/final-fantasy-airborne-brigade-players-vote-yuna-popular-heroine/
http://www.novacrystallis.com/2013/01/japan-ranks-their-favorite-female-characters-from-the-final-fantasy-series/
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/24/the-most-popular-final-fantasy-characters-of-all-time
http://squareportal.net/2014/03/17/lightning-voted-as-the-best-character-of-2013-at-dengeki-playstation-awards/comment-page-1/

Not to mention the fan-clubs she has on Tumblr, facebook, deviantart, etc. It's actually quite easy to find them. So that argument is out the window

"Nobody wanted or understood Final Fantasy XIII. Hell, I don't remember anything from Final Fantasy XIII"

Well to start off with Jim personally, there is the fact that he reviewed the game despite not completing it.

http://www.destructoid.com/review-final-fantasy-xiii-167136.phtml
http://www.dualshockers.com/2010/03/17/what-exactly-is-jim-sterling-reviewing-not-much-apparently/
http://www.destructoid.com/100-objective-review-final-fantasy-xiii-179178.phtml

So that might be his first problem. If you actually never finished the game, then how are you suppose to understand any of it? Or even remember any of it?

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII-2#Development

"Hints at a sequel to Final Fantasy XIII were first given when Square Enix stated they would be willing to create a direct sequel if the fans want it. They also said the first installment had enough cut content to fill a new game. Late 2010, in an interview from the Final Fantasy XIII Ultimania Omega, Motomu Toriyama proclaimed the idea to make a story where Lightning "ends up happy in the end." Furthermore, an autographed postcard was personally sent by Tetsuya Nomura to members of the Japanese Square Enix Members community, with an artwork of Lightning and a message saying "She must not be forgotten." Later, Square Enix registered the domain for the game. The game was officially announced at the "Square Enix 1st Production Department Premiere" event on January 18, 2011.

Toriyama has said in an interview with Famitsu[7]the main reason they decided to make a sequel is that there was demand throughout the world and because the development staff wanted to portray Lightning's character further, to give her a clear conclusion. This ended up not being the case, however, and Lightning's story was to be continued in the sequel Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/267878/final-fantasy-xiii-sequel-depends-on-fan-reaction/
http://andriasang.com/comtou/ffxiii_and_fnc_interviews/

And guess what? People bought it.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/14/square-enix-sees-6-billion-yen-profit-in-fiscal-2012-thanks-to-d/

"Final Fantasy 15's designs are not simple and overdesigned"

Um, are we looking at the same game? Because I don't think you are.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1002955_10151560410908369_1411197292_n.jpg
http://www.novacrystallis.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/FF15x.jpg
http://www.novacrystallis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/51c8ae26_Final-Fantasy-XV-Trailer-Screenshot.jpg
http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/streams/2013/June/130613/6C7866575-setting.blocks_desktop_large.jpg

If anything, this looks actually a lot more normal than what comes out of Japan in design sake.

So next time you try to "critique" something, you better do some research on the subject rather than making baseless accusations. Is Square Enix perfect? No. Is it "the best company ever made, like EVAH!!!"? No.

But is it like the nasty picture you have painted the company out to be? Nope. ^_^

 

[ayvee]

This seems less like everything that's wrong with Square Enix and more like everything that's wrong with Tetsuya Nomura.

Also isn't Jim a huge fan of Final Fantasy X? Because in terms of overdesigned aesthetics I think that's clearly the biggest offender in the franchise. I mean just compare the outfits of the playable cast in X to those in XIII. I also think the story in X is every bit as senseless and self-indulgent (and LINEAR), but it doesn't seem to draw nearly the same amount of ire.

 

[KingdomFantasyXIII]

This seems less like everything that's wrong with Square Enix and more like everything that's wrong with Tetsuya Nomura.

Also isn't Jim a huge fan of Final Fantasy X? Because in terms of overdesigned aesthetics I think that's clearly the biggest offender in the franchise. I mean just compare the outfits of the playable cast in X to those in XIII. I also think the story in X is every bit as senseless and self-indulgent (and LINEAR), but it doesn't seem to draw nearly the same amount of ire.

You mean Jim Sterling is being hypocritical about his statements over Final Fantasy and Square Enix? It's as if he is just doing this to get clicks or something!

 

[ayvee]

This seems less like everything that's wrong with Square Enix and more like everything that's wrong with Tetsuya Nomura.

Also isn't Jim a huge fan of Final Fantasy X? Because in terms of overdesigned aesthetics I think that's clearly the biggest offender in the franchise. I mean just compare the outfits of the playable cast in X to those in XIII. I also think the story in X is every bit as senseless and self-indulgent (and LINEAR), but it doesn't seem to draw nearly the same amount of ire.

You mean Jim Sterling is being hypocritical about his statements over Final Fantasy and Square Enix? It's as if he is just doing this to get clicks or something!

Say it ain't so!

But yeah, this video is pretty off-point.

 

[DrOswald]

This seems less like everything that's wrong with Square Enix and more like everything that's wrong with Tetsuya Nomura.

Also isn't Jim a huge fan of Final Fantasy X? Because in terms of overdesigned aesthetics I think that's clearly the biggest offender in the franchise. I mean just compare the outfits of the playable cast in X to those in XIII. I also think the story in X is every bit as senseless and self-indulgent (and LINEAR), but it doesn't seem to draw nearly the same amount of ire.

You mean Jim Sterling is being hypocritical about his statements over Final Fantasy and Square Enix? It's as if he is just doing this to get clicks or something!

It's almost as if Jim knows that Square, you know, hired him and continues to employ him. That makes his mistakes their mistakes.

Square is a big company. This isn't some indie dev studio stuck using art created by their high school buddy because he will work for peanuts. This is Square Enix.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Yeah the odds of me buying another FF game are somewhere in the realm of slim to none. Although using the S03 engine and combat system would be a good start. A comprehensible plot would also go a long way.

Yeah, I'll be more likely to buy a game if it's got good story or good gameplay. Final Fantasy has not had either of late, from what I can tell.

I wouldn't mind a big budget RPG now and again, but SE seems to have gone off the rails. Also, my definition of "big budget" might be different than SE, as they can't seem to keep it in their wallets.

Good story or good gameplay, or preferably both. Interestingly enough there's a couple of JRPG-esque games on Steam of that look like the sort of thing Square used to make. I haven't tried any of them though.

 

[attackshark]

i get the distinct feeling that you are not, in fact, sorry, jim sterling.