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Square-Enix's financials: the elephant in the room

Toth

Member
This argument is happening again?

Gezz. I can't wait until Lightning Returns and Final Fantasy XIV come out and Square Enix can move on. This bickering is getting old.

XIII fans need to accept that the XIII series is universally panned and very few people like it. They need to accept that Square Enix needs to move on to greener pastures and better worlds/stories.

XIII haters need to accept that there are SOME Final Fantasy XIII fans. Yes they exist. No it's not because they have bad taste. They obviously, genuinely love the game. Let them be. Yes I know they make outrageous statements sometimes but that comes with the territory of being a fan.

I love Kingdom Hearts II and think its the second best KH game. But I have accepted that its not the opinion the majority holds. I understand people's frustrations with the game. Doesn't make me love it even less. I don't need to actively try to change people's opinion on the game. The only thing that matters is that I like the game and that I know other people who like the game. <--- Why don't we try this approach for a while. I think both sides will cool off a bit if we just did this.

I understand what you are saying but since when is FfXIII universally panned??? Last I looked the game was at like 83 on meta critic. Not quite as high as past FFs yes but since when is that 'panned'. More vocal GAFers aside, the user ratings on metAcritic are above 80 for both titles.
 
Also the Square Enix Events page is teasing stuff.... and playing with my emotions.

@SQEX_EVENTS said:
Oh! Of course, E3!

Blueprints, game kiosks, check. Fancy trailers, checkity-check. Looks exciting!

Wait...what is that?

A new addition?
https://twitter.com/sqex_events/status/332643664088137728

Square Enix Events said:
Just pulled off another Judge's Day! Flawless if I do say so myself. Now..back to that big project I mentioned.

And the new thing...
https://twitter.com/sqex_events/status/334137999468158976

So they're hyping something. Lets hope what they show will get them back on track and get most of the fanbase excited again.
 

Village

Member
This argument is happening again?

Gezz. I can't wait until Lightning Returns and Final Fantasy XIV come out and Square Enix can move on. This bickering is getting old.

XIII fans need to accept that the XIII series is universally panned and very few people like it. They need to accept that Square Enix needs to move on to greener pastures and better worlds/stories.

XIII haters need to accept that there are SOME Final Fantasy XIII fans. Yes they exist. No it's not because they have bad taste. They obviously, genuinely love the game. Let them be. Yes I know they make outrageous statements sometimes but that comes with the territory of being a fan.

I love Kingdom Hearts II and think its the second best KH game. But I have accepted that its not the opinion the majority holds. I understand people's frustrations with the game. Doesn't make me love it even less. I don't need to actively try to change people's opinion on the game. The only thing that matters is that I like the game and that I know other people who like the game. <--- Why don't we try this approach for a while. I think both sides will cool off a bit if we just did this.

You may want to reevaluate your views.

Uno) Japan really likes lightning apparently.

Dos) There is a large disconnect between the people who talk about kh on forums and the people who buy kh. So people on forums are no where near the amount of people buying kh games. So the "majority" is most likely a minority with keyboards.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Also the Square Enix Events page is teasing stuff.... and playing with my emotions.


https://twitter.com/sqex_events/status/332643664088137728


https://twitter.com/sqex_events/status/334137999468158976

So they're hyping something. Lets hope what they show will get them back on track and get most of the fanbase excited again.

That twitter account makes me think a hyper obnoxious 10 year old is typing stuff on it. Words are coming out but IMO nothing meaningful is being said.

---------------------

Japan also likes Lightning's VA. So that might be a factor.
 
I understand what you are saying but since when is FfXIII universally panned??? Last I looked the game was at like 83 on meta critic. Not quite as high as past FFs yes but since when is that 'panned'. More vocal GAFers aside, the user ratings on metAcritic are above 80 for both titles.

Yeah. FFXIV Vanilla. That is what you might call 'universally panned'.

FFXIII still received decent critical reaction for the most part, if I recall correctly.
I don't think anyone seriously reviewing the game glossed over the major flaws (and there were a few significant ones), but there was still enough quality in the overall product to warrant an average-to-above average rating, IMO.
That said- people did apparently vote with their wallets with FFXIII-2 and will, I expect, with Lightning Returns.
 

Manu

Member
Yeah. FFXIV Vanilla. That is what you might call 'universally panned'.

FFXIII still received decent critical reaction for the most part, if I recall correctly.
I don't think anyone seriously reviewing the game glossed over the major flaws (and there were a few significant ones), but there was still enough quality in the overall product to warrant an average-to-above average rating, IMO.
That said- people did apparently vote with their wallets with FFXIII-2 and will, I expect, with Lightning Returns.

I just started XIII-2 and have a question, does it take a nosedive later into the game? Because what I've played so far seems to have improved a lot of the most criticized aspects of XIII. Does it get that worse?
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
I just started XIII-2 and have a question, does it take a nosedive later into the game? Because what I've played so far seems to have improved a lot of the most criticized aspects of XIII. Does it get that worse?

Gameplay aspects are improved. The story is as fantastic as ever.
 
Yeah. FFXIV Vanilla. That is what you might call 'universally panned'.

FFXIII still received decent critical reaction for the most part, if I recall correctly.
I don't think anyone seriously reviewing the game glossed over the major flaws (and there were a few significant ones), but there was still enough quality in the overall product to warrant an average-to-above average rating, IMO.
That said- people did apparently vote with their wallets with FFXIII-2 and will, I expect, with Lightning Returns.

Eh, 3.1 million sold (according to Kitase at least) with lord know how much DLC sold doesn't sound too shabby all things considered. I could see LT sales at 3.5 million or so. Again, not to shabby for a sequel with 75% recycled assets made in a year and a half.
 

libregkd

Member
Dunno why but the whole look of the town in some instances reminds me of Xenogears.

Or it's just me.
From what I remember Xenogears originally started out as a concept for FFVII before it was deemed not "fantasy" enough or something like that and was made into its own game.
 
Bart, I know you like to defend Square. But...they're kinda right.

Square Enix is in a better position than say, Konami, but not by much.

Look at their financials. People yew and haw about the yearly Final Fantasy titles, but the fact remains that if S-E didn't put out Final Fantasy titles in such rapid succession, they would die. Fact. They are using Final Fantasy as a very, very not quite so stable - due to lack of profit in games like XIII-2 and XIV, Type-0 not out worldwide, and Versus not out period - profit. Buying Eidos was the smartest thing they've done to propel their longevity.

But like Konami, they've failed to bank on prior past well earning franchises. Franchises like Kingdom Hearts have not even been SEEN on the hd systems aside from the ports.

They've failed to create new ips. This started back in the ps2 era, KH aside, which has left their portfolio very thin, portable titles aside. And whatever new ips they have created (The World Ends With You, Blood of Bahamut, even remakes of old Final Fantasy games) haven't done particularly great in terms of sales.

Final Fantasy is a crutch when they need it. Eidos titles can't continue to save them, especially not all of those are selling well, ala Just Cause 2 and Sleeping Dogs or Hitman Absolution.

Square Enix is in trouble. Final Fantasy may not be completely irrelevant - yet - but it is not in the average gamers stream of conscious. The series no longer commands the power it once did, nor excites like it once did and I'm really scared of the damage that XIII, its sequels, and 14 have done on the franchise. Unfortunately we WON'T know what damage it has done until 15 hits. But as it stands now, things are not looking good, and depending on how S-E takes this, it will only get worse.

Oh, I won't deny they are in trouble. You are absolutely correct on that.
I just think calling them 'the laughing stock of the industry', at this point, is a bit extreme.
 

Toth

Member
Lin, SE already said XIII-2 and Type-0 were profitable. Type -0 could more so if SE actually released it here....
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Type 0's main problem is marketing ergo what platform to put it on. The original plan for Vita was scrapped or so Tabata says. Mostly due to Square being hesitant and some kind of crap between Square and Sony or something like that.

No one knows what went on with it.
 

Casimir

Unconfirmed Member
I don't get how anyone could think otherwise.

FFX, FFXII, DQVIII, VP Silmeria... some of that was among the company's best output.

Grandia 3 and FFX-2 weren't nearly as bad as they get painted to be either.

One of the most uninspired and ultimately terrible games released. Before FFXIII was released, FFX-2 was the nadir of the series.
 
Didn't Sakaguchi create the monolith situation? Xenosaga came out in 2001, but how long after 98 did those gears begin to turn?
 
First off I didn't really see anything about financials in there. Just more about talent issues. But it's an easy trap to fall into to think "If only SquarEnix had x person working on y game it'd be great again!" But the problems at Square are far from just being that they lost top talent. Yes, that will hurt many companies and it's really hurting them right now. But, Square's inability to properly gauge the market and invest accordingly could kill the company outright.

I'll go back to what I said in the other thread. Square has a branding problem. The talent problem is fairly easy to fix. Either find the right person and throw money at them or give your younger talent a way to grow into those roles. But even bringing back Sakaguchi isn't going to help if development is bloated unwieldy and impossibly expensive.

That's one thing I see again and again on GAF is people thinking "Well if they just make x game." Or "If they could just get x person". That's a nice fan fantasy. But the problems there are deep and systemic. Sure it would help to bring back those they've lost. But in the state the company is in right now it wouldn't do much good. Why does nobody talk about the elephant in the room? Because you worry more about patient dying from loss of limb than the fact that their limbs are weak.

That's the thing, though; talented proven individuals either play the game and survive unscathed (Kawazu and Nomura) or don't and end up wasted (Ito and Matsuno). Many many more just leave at the height of their careers and creative heights without any mass fuckup to warrant it (unlike The Gooch and Tanaka). Years upon years are spent piddling at projects while pet projects are the face of the company in the interrum.

They have a problem which your diagnosis is a symptom of: Shitty Management. Shitty management that would allow this. Shitty management that could not create a battleplan to right the ship. Shitty management that would see talent and see to it that talent worked in a productive atmosphere without breaking the bank. Shitty management that is so paranoid about other pubs headhunting their young talent (ignoring the above), that they teach on a need to know basis only, leading to "Cobblestone Girls" making up the bulk of the young guns on-staff.

Instead, we get three outcomes. It's either A) Horii's baby, B) a good handheld game that sneaks out under the radar or C) a devisive delayed clusterfuck.

I agree with the points the OP mentioned; the life of that company is fueling the competition, and its the upper management responsible.
 

ronito

Member
That's the thing, though; talented proven individuals either play the game and survive unscathed (Kawazu and Nomura) or don't and end up wasted (Ito and Matsuno). Many many more just leave at the height of their careers and creative heights without any mass fuckup to warrant it (unlike The Gooch and Tanaka). Years upon years are spent piddling at projects while pet projects are the face of the company in the interrum.

They have a problem which your diagnosis is a symptom of: Shitty Management. Shitty management that would allow this. Shitty management that could not create a battleplan to right the ship. Shitty management that would see talent and see to it that talent worked in a productive atmosphere without breaking the bank. Shitty management that is so paranoid about other pubs headhunting their young talent (ignoring the above), that they teach on a need to know basis only, leading to "Cobblestone Girls" making up the bulk of the young guns on-staff.

Instead, we get three outcomes. It's either A) Horii's baby, B) a good handheld game that sneaks out under the radar or C) a devisive delayed clusterfuck.

I agree with the points the OP mentioned; the life of that company is fueling the competition, and its the upper management responsible.

I don't necessarily disagree. My point however is instead of thinking regaining top talent is going to fix anything, even after they deal with their management problems. They have to even get through some very large systemic issues before any top talent can even make a dent. Right now, they should be more engaged in creating a functional environment that would foster top talent. I just don't think they're there yet or at least in their Japan arm. Eidos seems to be doing fairly well for themselves and promoting the Eidos lead was a smart move. However, the astoundingly dumb projections for their games keeps them in the mire. The fact that they came out and said that they think that the problem was they didn't spend enough on marketing points to the fact that they just don't get it. Hitman/Tomb Raider aren't bad games by any means but thinking they're going to sell orders of magnitude more than even GAF would have predicted points to a very large problem. And yes it's mainly with upper management.
 
I don't necessarily disagree. My point however is instead of thinking regaining top talent is going to fix anything, even after they deal with their management problems. They have to even get through some very large systemic issues before any top talent can even make a dent. Right now, they should be more engaged in creating a functional environment that would foster top talent. I just don't think they're there yet or at least in their Japan arm. Eidos seems to be doing fairly well for themselves and promoting the Eidos lead was a smart move. However, the astoundingly dumb projections for their games keeps them in the mire. The fact that they came out and said that they think that the problem was they didn't spend enough on marketing points to the fact that they just don't get it. Hitman/Tomb Raider aren't bad games by any means but thinking they're going to sell orders of magnitude more than even GAF would have predicted points to a very large problem. And yes it's mainly with upper management.

Yeah, you're right in both posts, I'm trying to find the root problem, not the later dominoes.

And to take the spotlight off the home divisions, Eidos did gangbusters on those IP that they had never accomplished before at their previous heights. What happened? Board plies on tons of marketing, tons of PR, tons of responsibility to make up for faceplants elsewhere in the company and lo and behold "good's not good enough". Eidos is starting to get the treatment that many of the old masters who once walked the halls of Squaresoft got: being fingered as the problem instead of not enough of a solution and the blame is piled on. Toxic. Just toxic.
 

Shinta

Banned
Yeah, you're right in both posts, I'm trying to find the root problem, not the later dominoes.

And to take the spotlight off the home divisions, Eidos did gangbusters on those IP that they had never accomplished before at their previous heights. What happened? Board plies on tons of marketing, tons of PR, tons of responsibility to make up for faceplants elsewhere in the company and lo and behold "good's not good enough". Eidos is starting to get the treatment that many of the old masters who once walked the halls of Squaresoft got: being fingered as the problem instead of not enough of a solution and the blame is piled on. Toxic. Just toxic.

They remade Tomb Raider at least once. Thief has been in development hell according to several sources. The projects are costing too much, and aren't being managed super-effectively either. There's no denying they have extremely talented teams though. Tomb Raider blew me away.

But yeah, you're exaggerating how much they are scapegoating Eidos. The head of Eidos got promoted.
 

ronito

Member
I have to agree with that. As I pointed out the Eidos head got promoted and that gave me hope the new CEO knew what he was doing because I'd do exactly the same. I think the issue is that Square keeps thinking things are bigger than they need to be. The unrealistic sales forecast of Tomb Raider and Hitman show that. If they think they are going to sell a game that's going to sell 6 million copies then certainly they need to invest in dev like they are. However, if you're investing in a game like its going to sell 6 million that really is only going to sell perhaps half that realistically then you'll be lucky to make any return.
 

Elios83

Member
I agree with the OP, but it's not just about the talents, those can be replaced, afterall there are many talented people in the world who wish to have their chance.
The problem is the management, the situation that SE is facing right now has its origins during the PS2 days when they have slowly stopped to innovate and create great new titles replacing them with cheap projects, remakes and spinoffs, trusting that their fans would buy them anyway if the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest name was written on them.
Then, just like many other japanese companies, they have failed in transitioning from PS2 to PS3. They have been unable to develop modern games in time and with decent budgets. FFXIII, FFXIV and Versus XIII are all examples of terrible project management.
The only good thing they have done is with the Eidos side of the company, but they can't expect that those games all become 5 million sellers so that the sinking japanese ship can be saved.
Wada should have been fired long ago, now who knows about the new management, it would be nice to see them well prepared for the next gen at E3...but with all their smartphones talk...it might be a lost bet...LOL.
 

dog$

Hates quality gaming
I tried to read that but your love for the Enter key meant I couldn't. Format properly.

Agreed. Let's fix that.

In light of Square-Enix's recent financial woes, I felt it would be a good time to take a look at an ongoing problem the company doesn't seem to register in its reports. And that is how the company has been hemorrhaging talent for more than a decade, despite various acquisitions, which in turn can be felt in the games published over the last two generations.

The PlayStation era saw Squaresoft lose key staff from games like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger to the independently-spirited Love-de-Lic. They produced some very unique titles on the PS1 and Dreamcast before dissolving into Skip, Vanpool, and Punchline. Skip and Vanpool have since become 2nd party to Nintendo and have had a hand in many of Nintendo's more original titles, like the Artstyle games, Giftpia, Chibi-Robo and (Vanpool) Tingle's Zelda offshoots and Paper Mario Sticker Star.

Many of Squaresoft's most beloved titles published during the PlayStation era were produced by none other than Hironobu Sakaguchi. After the disastrous gamble on the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, he was essentially forced out of the company. He went on to form Mistwalker, which has produced titles for Microsoft and, more recently, Nintendo. Mistwalker has been hit-or-miss, but The Last Story (Wii) and Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360) were considered by many gamers superior to Square-Enix's best output this gen.

There's no denying that Squaresoft on PS1 was fantastic, but that their PS2 line-up failed to recapture that same magic or enthusiasm for new ideas. The problem got even worse with the current generation, and judging by their new direction things are only going to get worse.

More talent was shed during the PS2/Gameboy Advance era. Staff from the Xenosaga team became Monolith, and the Mana team branched off to form Brownie Brown (now 1up Studio), both of which are now 2nd party developers to Nintendo. They of course are now responsible for Nintendo RPGs Baten Kaitos, Xenoblade, and upcoming X, and the less celebrated Magical Vacation series (and Mother 3) respectively. Furthermore, other staff who worked on beloved SNES titles like Super Mario RPG left to form AlphaDream, which quickly became 2nd party to Nintendo after their first GBA title, a cute RPG called Tomato Adventure - and would develop the Mario & Luigi games.

Another major loss came when Matsuno left the company mid-development of Final Fantasy XII (reappearing to collaborate with Level-5 on Guild 01), and it appears that Hideo Minaba (artist, FF9) has also left the company around the same time (working on titles like A.S.H. and Little King's Story). Around this time Matsuno's mainstay composers (Sakimoto + Iwata) left to form Basiscape, and mostly do work with Vanillaware these days. S-E seems content to release versions of their past successes, like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre, but where does Team Ogre go from there without them?

Meanwhile, Tri-Ace has had a string of failures in this past generation which puts their future in jeopardy. They have shed key staff who have gone on to make cool titles like Radiant Historia on Nintendo DS. GameArts has also not published a new entry in the Grandia series, and has been relegated to releasing an endless stream of remakes of Lunar but are showing promise on PS Vita.

Another collaborater[sic], Level-5, is no longer working much with the company since the announcement that Dragon Quest X would be developed internally. It could be said that Level-5 was responsible for some of Square-Enix's best games of the past two generations, namely Dragon Quest VIII and IX. They seem to embody the spirit of the old Squaresoft by regularly developing new franchises with fresh concepts, as well as RPGs like Ni no Kuni.

The result has been a steady decline in original, compelling titles from Square-Enix over the past two console generations.

So who's left?

Well, Yuji Hori (of Dragon Quest fame) is still there, which is pretty important. They also have Tetsuya Nomura (but he seems to have lost the ability to self edit).

But I think the most important people left at the company are the teams responsible for the portable games - the best output by the company in recent years - who have been working on games like Final Fantasy III + IV remakes, Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light, and Bravely Default. Mainly Tomoya Asano and Akihiko Yoshida. Yoshida is an incredible artist, and should he leave for greener pastures that will leave only Nomura to handle most design work - yuck! And Asano, who has been working with outsourcing companies like Matrix, could easily leave to work for them on original titles. So things are looking pretty grim.

I'm sure fellow Gaffers could easily expand and expound on this list, but suffice to say Square-Enix isn't the company it once was, and it seems like the majority of their former staff now work at companies which are 2nd party (or have extremely close ties) to Nintendo.
Much better.
The thread title doesn't match the contents of the opening post.
Yep.
 

Polari

Member
Agreed. Let's fix that.

Cheers. OP makes some good points, but it's nothing we haven't known for a long time. There are a number of different roads that management can take in order to resolve it, and there's no conventional wisdom as to which one is most likely to lead to success. You look at the list of studio closures since 2006 that was posted today, and the industry really is in turmoil. I think we're on the verge of a paradigm shift in terms of the way games are developed and brought to market.
 

CorvoSol

Member
*clears throat*

Also clears throat. I played Type-0. In fact, I think a pretty decent amount of people on GAF did. Yes, Square's being an ass and won't localize it, but there's still people who can give you an opinion of the game, since they played it.

But I also think that Square's handheld output from the DS/PSP era was glorious. Of late (re: 3DS/Vita era) it's been sorely diminished. Dragon Quest remakes notwithstanding, Bravely Default is their only big title JRPG for either hand held.

I would also say that while PS2 era wasn't as stellar as PS1, it was better than OP suggests. X-2 I cannot comment on, but X and XII were good games. PS2 was the silver age to PS1's gold.

I will warrant though that their console output during the Wii/PS3 era has been shameful, and one can only hope the Wii U/PS4 will see a better showing, though, judging from the aforementioned 3DS/PSV, I'm not optimistic.
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
I'll take a new Einhander and Bushido Blade ten times over than another Kingdom Hearts. And this is coming from a big Disney fan.
 
Square Enix used to be the guys who built the JRPG genre.

Almost none of those guys are there anymore

The best business move SE could ever make would be trying to win some of them back through collaboration
 

CorvoSol

Member
That twitter account makes me think a hyper obnoxious 10 year old is typing stuff on it. Words are coming out but IMO nothing meaningful is being said.

---------------------

Japan also likes Lightning's VA. So that might be a factor.

Isn't her VA Maaya Sakamoto? She's sort of ridiculously famous. She's been in everything from Vision of Escaflowne to Final Fantasy to Evangelion (even if her character in Evangelion is possibly worse than Kaworu).

Kinda hard not to like her.
 

CamHostage

Member
Good article. But I noticed something when I got to this line...

The result has been a steady decline in original, compelling titles from Square-Enix over the past two console generations.

It's interesting that this is the result you arrive at after summing up history for several paragraphs on all the companies that these Square-Enix luminaries went on to found post S-E ... because almost every single one of them suffered a similar downfall.

Overall, a good half of the titles from the companies cited never even made it out of Japan, and that's just the start of the conversation. Mistwalker and Brownie Brown, those are not at all success stories in my book given the struggles and downturns, and even with Square-Enix's weak output over that time the comparison to Mistwalker's best is a matter of personal taste as to which had the best since neither company launched a title that defined the generation (unless we consider the unspectacular FFXIII and Lost Odyssey to be exactly that definition for Japanese game development.) Those are the Square ex-pats, on the Enix side you have collaborators Tri-Ace and Game Arts both struggling to maintain past franchises or launch new ones. You then have the weirdos like Skip & Punchline... I respect Giftpia a lot but that's talent that wasn't going to make the Square Enix games people want anymore as the generation changed. The mighty Level-5 even bares its balding deterioration this generation as it turned from a AAA groundbreaker to a Japanese-exclusive kiddie toymaker (some good stuff is in there to be sure, but White Knight Chronicle seems to have been the end of a road for them, and even the safe Ni-No-Kuni managed to prove that dead end.) The only ones that survived and thrived were the ones that managed to hook up with Nintendo, and while they are enjoying that relationship, one could point out that all of them save Monolith seem to be sitting in a comfort zone producing titles that could be considered "old-school", styled with the same look and play that is several generations off of the cutting edge.

In other words, Square-Enix's downturn is not necessarily a case of a tragic brain drain that, if plugged up, would have saved its fortunes and continued the glory age of past generations. Rather, Square-Enix's misfortunes are a micro case study of the macro viewpoint of the Japanese gaming business. Everybody is slipping, everybody is looking for answers as to what to do next, everybody is falling back on past successes where possible in order to fight on at best strength.

You conclude your list by saying that for Square-Enix "things are looking pretty grim", but given the picture you painted, that's could have been the case if these talents had stayed too. Everybody faced it tough in Japan this generation. Square-Enix at least is indicating that it might have answers as to how to battle back next-gen, I'm not sure when or if we'll see anything from any of its former collaborators that shows they're ready to slay that same elephant in the room.
 

Celine

Member
But I also think that Square's handheld output from the DS/PSP era was glorious. Of late (re: 3DS/Vita era) it's been sorely diminished. Dragon Quest remakes notwithstanding, Bravely Default is their only big title JRPG for either hand held.

Most of SE handheld output on DS/PSP came after a few years down the road for both.
Specifically on DS, the support could be categorized in ports/remakes of past masterpiece (Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Front Mission, SaGa), original games but with relatively small budget (TWEWY, Sigma Harmonics, Children of Mana) and original games with high production values (Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light).
Most of the RPG by SE for DS were from the first category.
 

Mael

Member
It's just as linear as FFXIII is, but without any of the interesting story or gameplay.

What have Metroid Other M got to do with a discussion of Square Enix?
I mean that's the only game this applies to so you're obviously talking about it.
 

CorvoSol

Member
Most of SE handheld output on DS/PSP came after a few years down the road for both.
Specifically on DS, the support could be categorized in ports/remakes of past masterpiece (Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Front Mission, SaGa), original games but with relatively small budget (TWEWY, Sigma Harmonics, Children of Mana) and original games with high production values (Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light).
Most of the RPG by SE for DS were from the first category.

Fair enough, and if Square suddenly starts putting out games like TWEWY and the like on 3DS and PSV, I will happily recant. I haven't lost faith in handheld Square yet, though my faith in the possibility their products will be localized has diminished. Console Square is dead to me, though.
 

cafemomo

Member
They need to accept that Square Enix needs to move on to greener pastures and better worlds/stories.

Only people who started with XIII as their first FF game wants the saga to continue.

As much as I love XIII (XIII-2 is a different story, imo that game shouldn't have even existed in the first place, but I digress), Squeenix needs to move on from the XIII saga.

I'd hate to see the franchise I grew up with get stagnated due to a game and a character I like. (which is already happening)
 

Mael

Member
Fair enough, and if Square suddenly starts putting out games like TWEWY and the like on 3DS and PSV, I will happily recant. I haven't lost faith in handheld Square yet, though my faith in the possibility their products will be localized has diminished. Console Square is dead to me, though.

Don't hold your breath they've got nothing announced so far but e3 is not far that can change but looking at the latest development...
magic_8ball_outlook_not_so_good.jpg
 
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