Square Enix is a ?Complete Failure?

[MammothBlade]

Square-Enix has lost direction, but it still has an abundance of talent. Some S-E creative influence has filtered through to the Eidos IPs, and it shows positively.

I don't want Squeenix to fail. It needs to get its arse in gear. I think it HAS been taking creative risks with new IPs such as The World Ends With You (very successful) and The Last Remnant (fail), but it's been burned by a few significant failures. Also, it's not taken good care of its established franchises. Final Fantasy is in bad shape after the colossal bomb that was/is XIV, and to a lesser extent the mediocrity of XIII [sup]1[/sup]. I know they're trying to rectify that with a reboot for FFXIV, but the reputation of the series has been damaged, and Versus XIII is in limbo. I was looking forward to it, but at this rate it will be the next Duke Nukem Forever. *sigh*

If there's one thing Square-Enix need to learn, it's that they should focus on getting things right rather than juggle dozens of projects at once.

[sup]1) I mean in my personal opinion, Final Fantasy XIII was the most superficial FF ever. It wasn't a well-rounded and fleshed-out game on par with most of its predecessors. Pretty, charming, but its gameplay was so so boring.[/sup]

 

[Baron_Rouge]

Hold on...didn't they publish Deus Ex at least? That was awesome. And Just Cause 2 was immense fun as well. Also, I think Final Fantasy XII was made after the merger, and that was one of the more awesome Final Fantasy's, in my opinion. Sleeping Dogs is also generally ocnsidered to be really good, as far as I can tell. They can't be a complete failure.

 

[Charli]

Need a minute to stop twitching from the bloke who said FFIX was forgettable... Shame on you, sir.

You're not alone... Unintended pun.


I'm not going to go into a huge rant but I will state for the record that FF10 was their last 'decent' attempt for me.

Anything there after apart from Kingdom Hearts 2 (and even that held seeds of their story/art direction which wasn't sitting quite well with me) has failed to hold my attention and I am now very skeptical at buying anything with SE's name on it. Let alone a final fantasy.

The art style is bland, the stories and filler pieces are soulless, it just looks like cash grab after cash grab. TWEWY looked interesting but the studio barely got behind it! And subsequently it's only got a 'cult' following.


Too many projects, creatively drained, not enough funneling of resources into a few key things. And yeah they've lost alot of RPG footing in the Western Market. I can go into why, but I'd take up more ranting than I care to at this hour. There are reasons I agree with this guy.

Creatively bankrupt sounds fitting. I won't renounce my childhood so easily, hell Sega did more damning things to my memories of iconic video game franchises but something is rotten in Square Enix and it needs addressing before it collapses.


Edit: we're not talking about their publishing here folks, I'm talking their development.

 

[Jfswift]

That's a bit unfair. I felt that the new Deus ex was pretty cool. I didn't mind FF 13 that much either really. I keep seeing that the new FF isn't very good though so maybe the company is getting worse?

 

[Zio_IV]

Honestly, while I understand some people's misgivings towards Square-Enix (I'll admit they've become incredibly eccentric lately), I don't really think they truly deserve to be called "a complete failure". I also thought, at one time, that they deserved what hate they were getting, but then I took a step back and realized: Even the worst games made by Squaresoft, Enix, and Square-Enix are usually better than most games out there.

The Final Fantasy series gets the most amount of undeserved flak, I think. Have any FF games truly played identical to one another? No, they haven't. Even though the ATB system was in play from FF2-FF9, all of the mechanics that influenced how you customize your party and play within that ATB system have been different every time, with no replication between games, even if they take place in the same universe. They at least try to innovate every time, to one degree or another. Whether or not they succeed or fall short for certain titles is open for discussion of course, but I don't think they deserve all the hate they get.

That said, all I really want is for the Enix team to make a true sequel to Valkyrie Profile. Covenant of the Plume was good, but we need a real next-gen VP.

 

[The_Echo]

All can be forgiven for them if THEY WOULD JUST RELEASE KINGDOM HEARTS 3 already! Jeez...

Calm down. It's not even being developed yet. The releases that have happened in the meantime since II are important to the plot and set the stage for III, and have all been released with about a year between them. So, there's no real reason to complain. (EDIT: Except for these games being spread across platforms, but hey, that's what the HD ReMIX is for.)

as they've managed to put Final Fantasy Versus XIII into development hell, holding Kingdom Hearts III hostage with it

Y'know, it's been seven years now... I think they should just drop Versus XIII. If that's all that's holding up development on KHIII, I don't see why they can't at least put it on hold and develop a game they can actually finish. Not like Versus XIII is going anywhere anyway.

OT: I wouldn't call Square Enix a complete failure, not by a long shot. They haven't made the best decisions, but I think a company is only a "complete failure" when it actually fails completely.

 

[Olas]

All can be forgiven for them if THEY WOULD JUST RELEASE KINGDOM HEARTS 3 already! Jeez...

Don't hold your breath.

Though at least they are still releasing some Kingdom Hearts games to remind us they haven't forgotten the IP.

 

[tokae]

I'd like to say that I don't give a shit about Square Enix anymore but I can't.
I really liked XIII-2. I still play Just Cause 2 at times. I love the Crystal Chronicles-series and the Tactics-games. Dragon Quest is a great series, so is Kingdom Hearts. The World Ends With You is one of my favorite games ever.

Granted that I have no clue what Dirge of Cerberus even means but I just can't dislike them. I can't not care.

 

[Beautiful End]

Yeah. there was a time when Squaresoft was pretty good and I would buy anything made by them. Hell, I bought every PS1 FF, The Bouncer, Chrono Trigger and Kingdom Hearts just because it has Squaresoft on the cover (KH1 was made by Square alone). But after the merge...oh boy.

It's not that they don't have good game, it's just that they're not as good as to what they got us used to. Honestly, I love the PS1-and-below FFs while the newer FF games are...not as memorable. FFXII was good but it could have been better. FFXIII...well, I'm not even gonna elaborate on that one. Drakengard, Star Ocean, the other KHs, TWEWY, Dissidia; they're okay. Hell, some are REALLY good. But most of their games nowadays feel like they're missing something.

Oh, what I would give to see a FF game like those released about 15 years ago. Or KH3. Either/or.

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.

Am I the only one who got this?

I agree anyway. You got Dirge of Cerberus, Before Crisis, Crisis Core, the movie...I'm pretty sure I'm still forgetting a couple. But the point is they're just trying to milk their golden goose for all its worth. Hey, it's not even the same as Madden, now that I think about it. With Madden, you know what you're getting. With the FF7 spin-offs, they were all different genres, prequels and sequels being released randomly.

I'm not one to judge but I dunno what the hell is going on with them. They know what fans want. They've done great tons of times before. And yet, they keep doing the same old dumb mistakes. FFXIII Versus? Come on, is it really being developed or is this the longest trolling in history? Just cancel the damn thing already. If it's not out after who knows how many years (Or even close to being finished. Or started!), just toss it away and move on. If that's the only excuse they have to hold KH3 from being produce, then I call bullshit on that.
I mean, at this rate, I'm starting to feel like they're gonna pull a Megaman Legends 3 on us.

I wanna keep my faith on them but it's nearly impossible by now.

 

[shrekfan246]

as they've managed to put Final Fantasy Versus XIII into development hell, holding Kingdom Hearts III hostage with it

Y'know, it's been seven years now... I think they should just drop Versus XIII. If that's all that's holding up development on KHIII, I don't see why they can't at least put it on hold and develop a game they can actually finish. Not like Versus XIII is going anywhere anyway.

Nomura has stated that he doesn't want to begin work on KH3 until they're finished with Versus XIII. Now, I don't know the specific ins-and-outs of why Versus has fallen into such deep development hell, but it really is the one SquareEnix-developed property currently "in development" that I've actually been interested in these past few years. All promotional material for it points to it really being a unique, new, and interesting direction, and honestly, after KH and KH2 I'm willing to give Nomura the benefit of the doubt up to a certain point.

But if it's never going to be completed, then I agree that it should probably just be scrapped because eventually it'll just have taken so long that it suffers from the Duke Nukem effect of being a stitched-together relic of its time that will never live up to the hype generated about it.

 

[ASan83]

I think I may just be done with SquareEnix. Final Fantasy XIII was the last straw. Yeah, the story was decent, and (some) characters were good, but it wasn't what the series had been up until that point. No towns, no airship, no freedom, no world to explore. Hell, you barely even fight in that game (Who the fuck thought auto-battle would be a good idea?). Against my better judgement, tried XIII-2, and it was no better. Before that, the series could do no wrong. Liked X-2, XII was alright (If only because Balthier is a badass. Fuck Vann, HE'S the main character, at least in my own deluded mind), LOVED Crisis Core, DoC was a 'meh', but I got through it. Those last two, though... *shudder*

Here's a hint: instead of spending your entire budget tarting the game up, how about actually making it so you can actually play it, and have it be an interactive movie? (Although, if they end up making another Dissidia, I'd forgive and forget. Love me some Dissidia).

 

[Sylveria]

At least the Enix half of the equation hasn't gone off the deep-end yet? That's not a big deal here, though.

Only piece of Enix that is left is the Dragon Quest series.. and even that is jumping the shark and taking the FF11/14 route.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

They've published some decent stuff.

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

Seconded. I haven't liked many (if any) of the games they've made this gen, but they've published some of my favourites.

Their PC ports are always fantastic, too.

 

[Jason Rayes]

Hmm, a complete failure is a bit strong. For myself, they have lost trust, which is probably just as bad in the long run. They publish some great games, but at this stage, anything developed by them in house comes with a big question mark. I think their biggest crime is milking the Final Fantasy name to death. I realize this series is already something you love or hate, but the latest versions require serious blinkers to love. They have gone from a developer who I used to buy software from without question to a dev I look at pretty closely before I purchase. I haven't bought an in house game since FF XIII, most disappointing purchase ever.

 

[Do4600]

And where's Bushido Blade 3 anyway? Best verses game ever, you could easily play 90 matches and not get bored. No new entry in 14 years.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

Do I agree that they need to get their shit together? yes. Do I think every single game theyve made since the merger was awful? heck no, a lot of them were great.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

So...
I guess I'm the only one here who liked Human Revolution...
I'll be leaving this thread now.

There, there, Kermit. I liked Human Revolution too. It's, sadly, one of the very few good games to come from this publisher in recent years.