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Square-Enix Q3/13: ¥5.7b/$61M loss amid console market, praises social/mobile/browser

Nekofrog

Banned
Listen to Meccanical. "Living in a real world" lol. Towns are a gimmick. You can do much better world building without the use of some static buildings.

What if the town serves a purpose to the story?

Lufia, for example. You play the game and visit a few towns that are normal and happy. Then you happen upon a town that is completely decimated. Utterly destroyed. You can explore the entire thing if you want, but it's a wasteland. And it's intended to be, to show the power of the enemy you're facing.
 
What if the town serves a purpose to the story?

Lufia, for example. You play the game and visit a few towns that are normal and happy. Then you happen upon a town that is completely decimated. Utterly destroyed. You can explore the entire thing if you want, but it's a wasteland. And it's intended to be, to show the power of the enemy you're facing.

He'll probably say something like "a cutscene would have displayed that much better in a shorter amount of time" or something.

Prove me wrong worldrevolution pls
 
Nojima.

Nojima was missing from FFXIII.

It's why the game's concept is good yet the actual execution is not.

Toriyama didn't come up with the concept so he can't even be given credit for that.

Thanks for the reply mate. I had no idea Nojima-san was so instrumental in making FF X such a well directed game. I thought it was the Guch leaving after X that caused it all to go down the toilet.
 

Nuklear

Banned
Company loses 5 billion and still refuses to make a FF7 remake which is basically a license to print money.

Honestly this company deserves to go under. It makes so many boneheaded mistakes.
 
Thanks for the reply mate. I had no idea Nojima-san was so instrumental in making FF X such a well directed game. I thought it was the Guch leaving after X that caused it all to go to down the toilet.

Gooch became kind of hands off with FF after FFV, besides VII and IX.
 

SougoXIII

Member
Company loses 5 billion and still refuses to make a FF7 remake which is basically a license to print money.

Honestly this company deserves to go under. It makes so many boneheaded mistakes.

You do realise that if they decide to remake FFVII, the cost will cripple them right? They basically have to recreate a PS1 Jrpg's massive scale and content while not make it look like ass. Consider all of their output in the current generation couldn't even match FFXII's level of content, you wouldn't see any remake of the Ps1 FF any time soon.
 

Nekofrog

Banned
Company loses 5 billion and still refuses to make a FF7 remake which is basically a license to print money.

Honestly this company deserves to go under. It makes so many boneheaded mistakes.

that's the thing. people are always assuming ff7 remake is going to be this instant success that rakes in money. but the only people who want it are the people who played it when it came out. i'd wager to say most gamers these days either weren't alive when ff7 came out, or were too young to play it (3-5).

i honestly believe that it would not make any difference for square. it'd be a success, but it would hardly be a runaway success.
 

farnham

Banned
Gooch became kind of hands off with FF after FFV, besides VII and IX.

Yup but the gooch games this gen (BD, LO, TLS) were all better than ffxiii

So he being tjere def. Helped raising quality id say.

Why is Wada still leading the company? He's been mismanaging Square for years now. And it shows.

He is good at merging and acquring. have you give em that. I actually hope nintendo kicks iwata out to get wada yoichi.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
If Square-Enix got to a point where they needed a buy out (FFXIV 2.0 bombs, vXIII bombs, LR: FFXIII bombs, KH bombs etc.), I see one of two scenarios.

1) SE merges with another company like Capcom or Tecmo-Koei
2) Enix divests from Square and Nintendo buys a majority share of Enix. Sony then buys a majority share in Square.
 

Shosai

Banned
You may personally want linear games with towns spread out evenly in a way that emphasizes pacing, but you don't speak for everyone. RE4 is often credited as being one of the best paced games ever, and it doesn't have anything like towns in JRPGs. The pacing in that game is closer to FFXIII than FFX.

I...never heard anyone credit RE4 for its pacing. I'm not even sure if its right to compare a survival horror to an RPG, as they both have different goals, audience expectations, and means of meeting those expectations. But the fact that towns help establish pacing doesn't mean that they are the only mechanic to do so. It's a concept that exists in films and novels, and as loosely defined a managing the tone from one point in the story to the next.

An action sequence can be exciting, and a character's speech can be dramatic, but if either of things goes on too long or begin to repeat themselves, they become boring. Final Fantasy XIII has a great battle system, but when killing monsters gets boring after an hour or three, then there's nothing else to do but to shut off the game.

I don't really buy the argument that towns are critical for pacing, or that pacing even matters that much to most people. Look at most open world games like Skyrim. You don't really have pacing. You don't really even have to go to towns unless you want to. Story is almost irrelevant.

One of the benefits of sandbox games is that the player gets to consume the game at their own pace. The developers have to worry less about doling out just the right amounts of action and exposition without boring the audience, because the player defines the game's pace to match whatever they feel like. In Skyrim they can go out and explore the wilderness. Eventually, exploration gets boring. So by then they decide to start killing some monsters, until fighting gets boring. Then they can go to town and sell things, learn about local lore, read books, and loot houses. Until that gets boring. Then they can get a quest to explore a side temple. By this point they're up for exploring the wilderness again. Repeat. This is how 70-hour games are born.

Some people who just want to get through the game think the pacing in XIII is better, because it trims some of the fat and they can just get through the main story and finish the game.

Some people don't see games as just something to "get through". They see the journey itself as something to be enjoyed. If the entire purpose of a game is to just see it finished, why bother having gameplay? Just give us an auto-play button then.

I just think in the context of this conversation it's moving the goal post so people can keep complaining about a game from 2009.

My main point remains the same, FFXIII lacked towns, and it's story, pacing, and world-building suffered for it. I enjoyed FFXIII, but not as much as past FF games, and I find it fun to compare them and figure out why. It makes it easier to articulate what made them enjoyable. It wasn't huge monsters or crazy weapons, but more subtler things, such as a ragtag cast of characters that exist not for their own sake, but to act as avenues of information for larger story concepts.
 

farnham

Banned
that's the thing. people are always assuming ff7 remake is going to be this instant success that rakes in money. but the only people who want it are the people who played it when it came out. i'd wager to say most gamers these days either weren't alive when ff7 came out, or were too young to play it (3-5).

i honestly believe that it would not make any difference for square. it'd be a success, but it would hardly be a runaway success.

I agree

A FF7 remake is not going to reach FF7 numbers and is going to be hated by fans unless made absolutely perfect.
 

farnham

Banned
If Square-Enix got to a point where they needed a buy out (FFXIV 2.0 bombs, vXIII bombs, LR: FFXIII bombs, KH bombs etc.), I see one of two scenarios.

1) SE merges with another company like Capcom or Tecmo-Koei
2) Enix divests from Square and Nintendo buys a majority share of Enix. Sony then buys a majority share in Square.

2 is even more unlikely than a nintendo or sony buyout.

I dont think capcom or tecmo koei management would like to merge with SE seing how Wada yoichi won over control despite Enix was the company buying squaresoft
 

CorvoSol

Member
Sure he'll go great with my Nomupuff.

Great! I can use him with my Tabatasaurus Rex.

Listen to Meccanical. "Living in a real world" lol. Towns are a gimmick. You can do much better world building without the use of some static buildings.

It's like you never played any game with a quest before ever. A town is a place for a player to go restock, get clues about upcoming dungeons and sidequests, and the odd piece of information about the story. But they can also be used as good story-telling points, like in FF2, when the Empire wipes them out.

What am I supposed to do, search Chocolina's pockets for the items I once lifted from bookshelves and pots?
 
What am I supposed to do, search Chocolina's pockets for the items I once lifted from bookshelves and pots?

Some fans of current SE would find any reason to skease on Chocolina so while you may not want to, pretty sure some other people I have seen would.

>_>
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
What can I say, I like change. I like SE doin different shit. I like their output. /happyfan
Sucks if you aren't.
 
What can I say, I like change. I like SE doin different shit. I like their output. /happyfan
Sucks if you aren't.

"I don't have any preference because SE are wonderful gods. All my body and soul are belong to them. May they whisk my worldly flesh to the cleansing fires and bathe my soul in the holy light of Toriyama Kami-sama. May Lightning be praised!"
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
"I don't have any preference because SE are wonderful gods. All my body and soul are belong to them. May they whisk my worldly flesh to the cleansing fires and bathe my soul in the holy light of Toriyama Kami-sama. May Lightning be praised!"

You have a million rpgs with towns and fetch quests and walls to spam x on to find a potion. Does it really piss you off that much they didn't use the same formula again for 13 lol?

I might be a fanboy for certain things but SE is not one of them lol. I just don't need the same shit for my entire life. Why Zelda and Mario and all Nintendo ips suck now.
 

DJIzana

Member
You have a million rpgs with towns and fetch quests and walls to spam x on to find a potion. Does it really piss you off that much they didn't use the same formula again for 13 lol?

I might be a fanboy for certain things but SE is not one of them lol. I just don't need the same shit for my entire life. Why Zelda and Mario and all Nintendo ips suck now.

Wow... I don't even... LOL. So all Zelda and Mario games have been the same eh?

tumblr_m9hksk074c1r50mmk.gif
 

CorvoSol

Member
You have a million rpgs with towns and fetch quests and walls to spam x on to find a potion. Does it really piss you off that much they didn't use the same formula again for 13 lol?

I might be a fanboy for certain things but SE is not one of them lol. I just don't need the same shit for my entire life. Why Zelda and Mario and all Nintendo ips suck now.

So you didn't play Galaxy or Galaxy 2, then.
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
AHAHAHA.

Ha

ha.

NO SHUT UP WHAT YOU ARE SAYING IS CRAZY.


What did I say that was factually wrong? You choose something from a list to collect, and they put you in a predetermined playpen to go get it. The opposite of 64 or Sunshine. Well not as extreme as opposite, but def more limiting. In the end, minus the gravity, the same game. Let's see the next new leap. Or you want star/8 red/100 forever now?
 

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
An expensive new console with more expensive games will solve everything!

Now the whole industry can pull off a Sony!
 

Coxy

Member
What did I say that was factually wrong? You choose something from a list to collect, and they put you in a predetermined playpen to go get it. The opposite of 64 or Sunshine. Well not as extreme as opposite, but def more limiting. In the end, minus the gravity, the same game. Let's see the next new leap. Or you want star/8 red/100 forever now?

so after complaining about towns you are now complaining about how limiting is is to not have hub areas, uh...
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
so after complaining about towns you are now complaining about how limiting is is to not have hub areas, uh...

Er I was talkin about the actual level selection/design being limited, compared to the earlier entries allowing the player to explore most of each stage. I got nutin against hubs, but this is 4 hub Marios now. Change isn't allowed?

12 FFs with towns, 1 isn't allowed? Lol.
 

Goli

Member
It seems worldrevolution isn't allowed to express his (different) opinions without everyone jumping in to conclusions and putting words in his mouth. This is gonna turn into the same thing FF ATB's thread did. And more content for NeoGAFShitPosts.
 

Erethian

Member
What can I say, I like change. I like SE doin different shit. I like their output. /happyfan
Sucks if you aren't.

You mean sucks for SE. Because the Final Fantasy brand has been in a slow, inexorable decline and they don't know how to stop it. Only make it lose relevance faster.
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
It seems worldrevolution isn't allowed to express his (different) opinions without everyone jumping in to conclusions and putting words in his mouth. This is gonna turn into the same thing FF ATB's thread did. And more content for NeoGAFShitPosts.

Haha it's gaf gaming side, I'm used to it. I never "lose" arguments because I only state my opinions and never attack others'.

You mean sucks for SE. Because the Final Fantasy brand has been in a slow, inexorable decline and they don't know how to stop it. Only make it lose relevance faster.

Shrug, if I get games I like I'm happy. There's good SE games with and without the FF brand this gen.
 

Lady Bird

Matsuno's Goebbels
There's no problem with RPGs lacking towns and so, as long as they compensate with different pacing mechanics. But FFXIII does not compensate with different mechanics. Important systems were downright stripped for the sake of a story-telling ideal, the designers were completely clueless about the side effects their changes would create, and in the end, ironically, even the story-telling ended up suffering with this because it lost mechanics that were rich at improving immersion, forcing the clueless designers to throw all the side-details into boring recaps.

Towns are not that necessary for world immersion. FF 13's datalogs were basically what town NPCs would say, just condensed.
Novels are not that necessary for story-telling. Wikipedia's recaps of said novels are basically what the books would say, just condensed.
 

CorvoSol

Member
What did I say that was factually wrong? You choose something from a list to collect, and they put you in a predetermined playpen to go get it. The opposite of 64 or Sunshine. Well not as extreme as opposite, but def more limiting. In the end, minus the gravity, the same game. Let's see the next new leap. Or you want star/8 red/100 forever now?

Well, everything you said was wrong, but more to the point, it's ignorant as can be. We're talking MARIO here. The series with the most variety of all video games ever. Do you want an FPS Mario? THERE IS one. Educational? THERE IS ONE. RPG? GOT THAT. ANY KIND OF SPORT? YEAH WE HAVE ALL OF THEM. RACING? YUP. Platforming? YOU BETCHA.

And here you are, bitching because the formula is somehow stale. Mario is all-encompassing. But let's pretend that somehow, your inevitably bitchy response "But I'm only talking about platformers!" is in any way valid. Understand, first, that I'm entertaining that more for when Jaxword comes along to argue with me than I am pretending anything you say is in any way valid.

Now, as I was saying Looking at JUST the platformers. You have literally shot yourself into a goddamn corner on this one. Sure, you can say Mario Galaxy is about collecting coins and stars and shizz, but then, you can also say ANY Final Fantasy is about collecting swords, fighting monsters and saving the world. Boiling a game down to its end goal is perhaps the most asinine form of appraisal of all time.

But beyond that, there's the hilariously incorrect claim that Mario Galaxy is 1)bite-sized levels and 2)somehow smaller than Mario Sunshine. Which is stunning, because Sunshine really DOES include "bite-sized" levels in terms of the levels without the FLUDD. What makes these levels noteworthy isn't length though, but difficulty. A platformer isn't about bloating the goddamn game with huge open worlds. It's about delivering a neat, tidy, platform jumping experience, which Mario Galaxy does.

Nevermind the fact that there are a plethora of courses between Galaxy 1 and 2 that are deviations from jumping in "gravity" as you so pin-headedly describe it, but about surfing around, flying on some bird thing, or rolling around on a giant marble. Forget all that for a moment and consider the fact that Galaxy delivers variety even as a platformer. There are huge differences between levels like Bowser's Castle and Purple Coins on Luigi. The Gusty Garden Galaxy isn't the same as The Perfect Run.

12 FFs with towns, 1 isn't allowed? Lol.

You know where this all shrivels up and dies and hopefully your posts with it, though? The fact that 13 wasn't meant to not have towns. They didn't CHOOSE to not include towns. They just fucked up so much during production that nobody bothered to make them. This is a game that HAD NO DISTINCT AGREEMENT UPON ITS FORM UNTIL AFTER THE DEMO CAME OUT. MERE MONTHS BEFORE THE GAME ACTUALLY LAUNCHED.

XIII is a horrible waste of potential and a foulup only overshadowed by XIV's magnificent crash shortly afterward.

Nothing about how crappy XIII is is some manner of styllistic suck. They didn't CHOOSE not to have towns, or back tracking, or a coherent plot, or the ability to turn left or right, or anything to that effect. They just plain screwed up.
 

Lady Bird

Matsuno's Goebbels
They even wanted for FFXIII to have western-like elements, but it was not possible because when they thought of it, it was too late in development to implement them. No matter how some might try to twist it, FFXIII's development was terrible, both due to company management and to the clueless game's direction.

I still remember one of the very first interviews for the game, where Kitase has said that FFXIII would revolutionize the progression structure of the genre, but it would still have "towns where you can buy stuff" (it was even supposed to have a political rank system that would change the dialogues of the NPCs, and Lightning's rank would be determined by the colors of her shoulder's armor).

Or when they were "considering" the idea of using the summon's vehicles outside of combat for traveling. Lol.
 
D

Deleted member 20920

Unconfirmed Member
If Square-Enix got to a point where they needed a buy out (FFXIV 2.0 bombs, vXIII bombs, LR: FFXIII bombs, KH bombs etc.), I see one of two scenarios.

1) SE merges with another company like Capcom or Tecmo-Koei
2) Enix divests from Square and Nintendo buys a majority share of Enix. Sony then buys a majority share in Square.

I don't think SE can just split into Square and Enix separately. They're one single entity.

I don't think FFXIV bombing will kill them. It's the next set of games that will determine their future fate. They still have lots of cash I think.

They even wanted for FFXIII to have western-like elements, but it was not possible because when they thought of it, it was too late in development to implement them. No matter how some might try to twist it, FFXIII's development was terrible, both due to company management and to the clueless game's direction.

I still remember one of the very first interviews for the game, where Kitase has said that FFXIII would revolutionize the progression structure of the genre, but it would still have "towns where you can buy stuff" (it was even supposed to have a political rank system that would change the dialogues of the NPCs, and Lightning's rank would be determined by the colors of her shoulder's armor).

Or when they were "considering" the idea of using the summon's vehicles outside of combat for traveling. Lol.

They probably cut out loads of stuff after the development nightmare. I suspect much of the plot was removed from the point where the party goes to Gran Pulse. That felt like a mid game point and then we ended up with "We can do it!" repetitions for the second half instead of anything meaningful. For a game that was supposed to focus on story, the story felt really half baked and incomplete.
 

CorvoSol

Member
They probably cut out loads of stuff after the development nightmare. I suspect much of the plot was removed from the point where the party goes to Gran Pulse. That felt like a mid game point and then we ended up with "We can do it!" repetitions for the second half instead of anything meaningful. For a game that was supposed to focus on story, the story felt really half baked and incomplete.

I feel Oerba is where the plot goes wrong. I mean, there are a lot of problems before that, but at that point it's painfully obvious. Because Hope is all "HEY WE SHOULD GO TO OERBA THAT IS WHERE ANSWERS."

And instead we get nothing but the villain saying "HEY WE NEED TO END THE GAME NOW BECAUSE REASON"

In an SNES RPG, that'd've been time for a second or third world map. In a PSX RPG that moment would've been a switching of discs. Instead it's a straight shot to a final dungeon, and it feels jarring, even with the rest of the game.
 

sonicmj1

Member
What did I say that was factually wrong? You choose something from a list to collect, and they put you in a predetermined playpen to go get it. The opposite of 64 or Sunshine. Well not as extreme as opposite, but def more limiting. In the end, minus the gravity, the same game. Let's see the next new leap. Or you want star/8 red/100 forever now?

You said that Galaxy was the opposite of earlier 3D Marios, then two sentences later, you say it's the same?

Make up your mind!
 

AOC83

Banned
You do realise that if they decide to remake FFVII, the cost will cripple them right?

The only things that cripple them in the moment are their gigantic MMO turd that already cost them a fortune and is guaranteed to bomb when it finally sees the light of the day and on top if that the alienating of their fanbase with that piece of shit FF 13 and it´s successors.

When everything is said and done this generation they will not only have lost tremendous amounts of money, but also the last bit of benevolence from their old fans.
 
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