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Square-Enix, quality at the heart of the company but lot of weird experimentation that holds them back.

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
I had been feeling quite upbeat about Square coming off the back of last gen. Whilst far from perfect, following a few releases I had started feeling upbeat about the company again after their shitshow during the PS3/360 era.

For PS4 gen we had KH3, FF7R, NieR Replicant, NieR Automata, FF14 ARR, DQXI, FFXHD PS4, FFXII Zodiac age that all had markers of quality that had been missing from the companies output for a while. Whilst I really disliked FF15, it was also good to get that released in a fairly timely manner following the reboot.

So, going into this gen, we know FF7-R part 2 will come, as well as FF16, DQXII, more FF14, hopefully KH4, Forespoken and a proper NieR sequel. A very solid output from one publisher.

But instead, rather than focus on delivering those games which I think will be fairly well received and fans are excited about, they seem to always damage their own reputation by churning out these really fucking weird games. Then yesterday they made the mistake of gearing their entire conference to show these said projects.

Just strange to me that the company doesn't realise its true potential. Far too much bloat imo...

Anyone else share my sentiments, or think that I'm off the mark here?
 

Elysion

Banned
I agree. All the budget and resources they always put into all these spin-offs should be put into proper sequels to their big franchises. Maybe then we could go back to having three mainline Final Fantasies per generation again, instead of only one (or two, if we‘re lucky). This Final Fantasy Origins thing for example should‘ve been a proper FF17 instead, with a proper budget and developed alongside FF16, to be released a year or two after FF16.

That‘s how SE used to do it once upon a time. In fact, at one point they even announced three mainline FFs at the same time (9, 10 and 11), all of which released within a span of a few years.
 

Skelterz

Member
They have forgotten what made them succeed to begin with and more importantly they’ve forgotten the people that came along for the ride, Sadly Square and the FF IP are now under strict Nomura lead and it sucks hard.
 

YukiOnna

Member
I have no complaints about the quality of their output for the past several years and they have a stellar line up coming from their Japanese branch in the works so there's no doom and gloom from me. People also exaggerate the Nomura thing a fair bit imo, but that's irrelevant. They also have a healthy AA/mid tier output for everyone, as well. The only thing that sucked was their out of touch presentation where I think it was better to not show up at all in that way.
 

SpokkX

Member
No i disagree. square enix does lack talent today - it is that simple

the only great games they have produced in years have been largely outsourced (Nier Automata)

their good inhouse stuff has been uncommon (dq11, octopath, remakes of old good games) and mostly just a mess (ff13, ff15, kh3, balan, whatever new stuff)
 
I disagree; who is better? Ubisoft for example doesn’t stray from the formula and has stagnated, and no one is putting out as consistent and diverse a string of quality games.
Sure they miss with some of their games, but then follow up with something fantastic.
 

Skelterz

Member
No i disagree. square enix does lack talent today - it is that simple

the only great games they have produced in years have been largely outsourced (Nier Automata)

their good inhouse stuff has been uncommon (dq11, octopath, remakes of old good games) and mostly just a mess (ff13, ff15, kh3, balan, whatever new stuff)
DQ11 was the best game they have made in around 10 or so years, maybe more.
 
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I think the doom and gloom is not warranted. They have been moving towards action RPGs for a while. They're basically just now hiring all the top talent they can to help them make solid gameplay. Team Ninja is as solid as it gets. Platinum is as solid as it gets. Ex-DMC staffer is working on FFXVI. FFVII R was pretty great. XIV doing great.

Hopefully over time they will figure out how to make more solid gameplay internally, but at least they are farming it out to the right people. And the battle system for FFVII R was a big improvement for them.

At the same time, they're innovating with the older RPGs as well, with Octopath, Project triangle. Even DQXII just got an announcement and seems like an intriguing, darker entry potentially.

Having a couple mediocre announcements is not the end of the world. Hell, The World Ends with you 2 is coming out any day now and no one's even talking about it right now. Previews were all very positive.
 
They have forgotten what made them succeed to begin with and more importantly they’ve forgotten the people that came along for the ride, Sadly Square and the FF IP are now under strict Nomura lead and it sucks hard.
I believe it is actually Yoshinori Kitase who is in charge of the Final Fantasy brand now. Tetsuya Nomura is leading the Final Fantasy VII Remake projects.

Final Fantasy XVI does look pretty good though. I wanted to see more of that game during E3. I was expecting we would see it again but instead we got Final Fantasy Origin and its "bold new vision".
 
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BlackM1st

Banned
All the budget and resources they always put into all these spin-offs should be put into proper sequels to their big franchises.
More like to be put into proper Genshin Impact killer. Chinese companies make insane amounts on money while SE is busy burying itself.One GI like project can fund most of SE experimental endeavors.
 

Ezquimacore

Banned
Current Square is just weird. It's a gamble with their games these days so you never know if you're going to get a quality product or not.
 

Skelterz

Member
I believe it is actually Yoshinori Kitase who is in charge of the Final Fantasy brand now. Tetsuya Nomura is leading the Final Fantasy VII Remake projects.

Final Fantasy XVI does look pretty good though.
Hmm that may technically be true but his poison seeps in…
 

mejin

Member
Nothing will ever explain how they could fuck so bad a partnership with Platinum and Team Ninja. Dunno how they continue to convince Marvel to make games of their ips.

But they still have some solid games rpgs coming, so I'm okay for now.
 
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kiphalfton

Member
KH3, FF7R, NieR Replicant, NieR Automata, FF14 ARR, DQXI, FFXHD PS4, FFXII Zodiac age

The striked out stuff is either a remake or remaster, and so I wouldn't really say it "counts". Or in the case of KH3 just isn't good (you can also add FFXV to that category, which you didn't note).

Square has crap output. That's pretty much the take away. And that's for a long-ass generation (i.e. the PS4/X1 generation, which lasted what like >7 years).
 
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lachesis

Member
I think if anything, Nomura's 8th grader syndrome is what bothered me the most. Yikes.
For that reason, I'm wasn't too excited with FF7's character design compared to Amano's artful renditions back in the day.
 

Kagey K

Banned
I just question some of the decisions they make.

Like lets do a pixel perfect remake of the first 6 FF games and then only release them on Steam/Mobile. It feels like they intentionally handicap themselves and make things harder than they have to be.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Balan, Quiet Man and Avengers all likely commercial flops. Guardians may be a a flop too, along with FF Origins and Babylon.

Mainline FF, NieR, KH and DQ is what brings home the cheese. Just focus on those and if you're gonna experiment, work on reviving beloved IPs, like Chrono dammit!
 

Sethbacca

Member
What we wanted - FF6 remake in Octopath engine
What we get - FF Origins & Pixel Remaster

Fucking mehhhh. If you're going to attempt to give us what we want, can you just give us what we want.
 
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I had been feeling quite upbeat about Square coming off the back of last gen. Whilst far from perfect, following a few releases I had started feeling upbeat about the company again after their shitshow during the PS3/360 era.

For PS4 gen we had KH3, FF7R, NieR Replicant, NieR Automata, FF14 ARR, DQXI, FFXHD PS4, FFXII Zodiac age that all had markers of quality that had been missing from the companies output for a while. Whilst I really disliked FF15, it was also good to get that released in a fairly timely manner following the reboot.

So, going into this gen, we know FF7-R part 2 will come, as well as FF16, DQXII, more FF14, hopefully KH4, Forespoken and a proper NieR sequel. A very solid output from one publisher.

But instead, rather than focus on delivering those games which I think will be fairly well received and fans are excited about, they seem to always damage their own reputation by churning out these really fucking weird games. Then yesterday they made the mistake of gearing their entire conference to show these said projects.

Just strange to me that the company doesn't realise its true potential. Far too much bloat imo...

Anyone else share my sentiments, or think that I'm off the mark here?
There is so much wrong with this.
So let me get this straight, you are mad that square are trying new things?
You want them to churn out the same thing without side projects?

Sorry but 1 the best game they announced yesterday wasn't even by square, it was team ninja (a studio I have complete faith in) Square-enix has had a bunch of developers, if you don't like what they have in addition to FF games than don't watch. Them hiring other studios to make other games aren't going to hurt the main games.

Square used to Have tri-ace make new jrpgs all the time, gone.
Square used to make cool games outside of FF. Vagrant story, Parasite Eve, FF tactics, Brave Fencer Musashi, and tons of other jrpg goodness from the ps1 era.

I want a new Vagrant story and parasite eve , or something new in those worlds or new world entirley. That won't happen if they just do what they have been pushing out only numbered FF titles, mmo and kingdom hearts.... boring.
 
I just question some of the decisions they make.

Like lets do a pixel perfect remake of the first 6 FF games and then only release them on Steam/Mobile. It feels like they intentionally handicap themselves and make things harder than they have to be.
I won't disagree with this. It is idiotic. Especially since people on PC can already emulate those games.
They have also already been on mobile, and most people outside of japan (at least in the states) don't play games like that on their phone. Most phone games that people play oare stupid candy crush match 3s or all those dumb f2play garbage.

They are also charging an arm and a leg, "releasing individually for $20" is highway robbery.
This should of been a collection with intro screen where you select your game and have it on the switch. I would pay $60 for a switch 1-6 collection. Hell it could even be in the old nes/snes pixel graphics (id prefer the FF1/2 anniversary, and FF4 psp remake graphics).

I want them to expierement but at the same time release your damn stuff on the switch and ps4 already.
Switch already has FF 7,8,9,10,10-2,12 Why can't they add the first 6 games?
Is it because people in japan are mobile phone obsessed? That's got to be it.

So many good old games could be rereleased, vagrant story, parasite eve, or have sequels made. PS1 era is a treasure trove.
 

sublimit

Banned
I think they had an insane last genaration in terms of quality games and this genaration has only just begun. To judge their entire output based just on just one lackluster presentation is naive to say the least.
 

Bkdk

Member
They did a great job on ff7 remake, especially on those amazing character designs, no idea why they won’t focus on ff7 remake part 2. With their current trashy lineup they are showing, why not just cancel all of them right now and bring deus ex back. Even another tomb raider would be fine.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Nah let them experiment. Having a few games that don’t quite make it is better than p me saying the same crap over and over.
 

Rat Rage

Member
Square is dead.

What they've turned the Final Fantasy IP into (reminder: once a pinnacle of JRGPs ) is grotesque.
 

martino

Member
enix saves square because enix know good da and content >>>>>>>>>>>>>> compete with better than yourself for graphics crown at the expanse of them
 
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