Square Enix is a ?Complete Failure?

[lacktheknack]

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

Ninnnnnja'd!

Just Cause 2 is the pinnacle of the "blow stuff up" sub-genre. And there's a great big Squeenix logo attached to it. Not everything they do is sub-par.

 

[Zhukov]

They've published some decent stuff.

I have zero interest in the games they make themselves though.

 

[shrekfan246]

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...

Uh... Eidos wasn't acquired by Square until 2009. The original takeover was 2005, 2 years after Invisible War was released.

Agreed that they should mostly stick with publishing things, though, as they've managed to put Final Fantasy Versus XIII into development hell, holding Kingdom Hearts III hostage with it, and they decided it'd be a great idea to not localize Final Fantasy Type-0. Also, three Final Fantasy XIII's.

 

[RatRace123]

Now to be fair, they do publish some awesome games.

But it's hard kind of hard to argue failure when they decide to make not 1, not 2, but 3 Final Fantasy XIII games.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I don't know, Sleeping Dogs was pretty good.

 

[Your Gaffer]

I have played many of their games in the past but they are done for, it is just not the same company it was. Enix made some fine games but the Square games were the ones I liked the most. My favorite JRPG of all time, Xenogears, was a Square game.

But now there are many other great developers out there and Squenix has proven many times now they can't make a great game anymore. I don't even think about them anymore.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

I guess their reputation doesn't matter at this point.

Anyone looking forward to FF14 and FF15?

 

[Terrible Opinions]

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.

Square only published that. It was made by Obsidian, a California-based developer.

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...<.<

Though related via a bizarre alternate ending, comparing the two ain't fair. NieR was something beautiful. Drakengard was a pile of shit that a pile of shit would shit.

 

[Lee Quitt]

People need to learn the difference between publishing a game and making a game. This thread is really good example.

Anyway not a fan of sq, but damn their acquisition of western talent was a masterstroke, point in case: DXHR.

 

[debtcollector]

I liked XIII. Good day to you, sir.

 

[BernardoOne]

They publish really awesome games. Just Cause 2, Quantum Conodrum, Sleeping Dogs, Deus Ex Human Revolution... all awesome! Personally I love them for how quickly they drop the prices for their games

 

[Lost In The Void]

As a publisher I love them. Sleeping Dogs, Human Revolution and the like are excellent games and they do well to publish them. As a developer....lolnope

 

[Epona]

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.

What does Madden FF7 mean?

The truth is that they strayed too far from the formula people loved and we got Final Fantasy X which is linear as shit, Final Fantasy XII which is a great game but not a great Final Fantasy game and Final Fantasy XIII which took linearity to a new level (though I liked it, still not a great Final Fantasy game).

It amazes me that they just can't get it through their heads that people loved Final Fantasy VI, VII and Chrono Trigger and they don't seem to take what's great from those games and improve on them. Also, why did they abandon the Mana formula after the SNES? Why do they refuse to make a new entry in the Chrono series?

It's that kind of shit that makes them look incompetent to me.

 

[ClockworkAngel]

I've enjoyed some of the games they've published like Just Cause 2, Sleeping Dogs and .. a few more if I sat down and thought about it. But as far as games they actually make? I've haven't liked a SE game in years.

 

[krazykidd]

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.

What about star ocean?

OT: Squaresoft was my favorite developpers . I too bought everything with a squaresoft stamp on it . And then FFXIII-2 happened. Fooled me once with X-2 , fooled me twice with XIII-2 . They can fuck off now .

In my opinion Final fantasy is the only series that could get away with yearly releases if done properly . All they need is 3 different development teams , and since FF is not suppose to have a connection between them , just realease one every year. It takes about 3 years to developpe one game so , have each team start a year appart , and BOOM massive amount of money!

 

[dimensional]

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.

Wow looks like we have almost completely different views on the later FF games I would say 7 was awesome 8 was good 9 was good 10 was great 12 was awful 13 was ok as for the earlier ones 4 and 6 were really good but 1,3 and 5 were forgettable and 2 was a steaming pile of crap also I didnt much care for ff tactics.

Overall the PS days were squares heyday like most companies the quality of their titles has been all over the place I do like they take a risk on the FF games and change it up each iteration unlike say Dragon Quest which while fun plays it pretty safe gameplay wise.

As for their being no vision for the future that is possible but I dont think they are alone there.

 

[God's Clown]

I actually enjoyed FF13 and 13-2(beginning of first, and ending of second both suck, but outside of that good.) They aren't a complete failure by any means, they are like every other game developer, some gold, some shit.

 

[Doom972]

I don't think that the merger had much to do with the declining quality of their JRPGs. I really like Squeenix's revival of Eidos IPs (Especially Deus Ex), so I wouldn't call them a failure.

 

[Andy Shandy]

I quite enjoy Squeenix's stuff both developed (like The Last Remnant and Final Fantasy XIII) and published (like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Just Cause 2).

 

[DracoSuave]

Moving away from subjective discussions of video game quality a second.


It's very clear that SquareEnix has a direction, only a fool doesn't see that. Its leadership stated a long time ago that Japan was growing more and more irrelevant in the international video game market. SquareEnix is obviously trying to emulate and possibly become much like EA, Activision, TakeTwo, and other large publishers in the act of acquiring and publishing multiple brands and becoming a larger player on the international market.

Eidos?

Eidos doesn't exist any more. It's Square Enix Europe, and the Eidos brand is being retired.

I quite enjoy Squeenix's stuff both developed (like The Last Remnant and Final Fantasy XIII) and published (like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Just Cause 2).

SquareEnix didn't 'publish' Deus Ex: Human Revolution in the same sense EA didn't 'publish' Mass Effect 3, and Activision didn't 'publish' Mists of Pandaria. The house-formerly-known-as-Eidos is completely SquareEnix now, even in name. Eidos is to SquareEnix what BioWare is to EA. A fully paid-for, bought subsidiary that toes the company line and is structured and produces according to the parent's business plan.

It's very clear what they're doing. They're shifting focus to the international market and Westernizing their focus. Their big releases are things like Arkham City, Hitman, stuff like that. They're trying to shake off their 'Japanese RPG Developer' brand and going to more of a 'Develop All The Things' with that, plus their platform development.

I can see why this would scare a Japanese executive--the Japanese video game industry has always been blind to the international market to some degree, and the possibility exists that he's merely being reactionary.

On the other hand... I -liked- SquareEnix the 'Japanese RPG Developer', in the same way I like Atlus for what it is. I don't think I like the idea of SquareEnix the 'Internation EA Competitor'. I don't know, THAT scares me more than any discussion of declining Final Fantasy quality, to be quite honest.