Post by TonberryKing on Apr 7, 2019 4:02:03 GMT
There is no denying the impact that square Enix as a whole had on me growong up. Games like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts have molded me into the gamer that I am today. It was those game series that got me into RPGs as a whole and made me love the deep narratives that people could tell. Without a doubt it was the amazing adventure of Zidane and company that got me into games as a whole my love for Squaresoft goes deep. But modern day Square Enix seems to be a mixed bag, for every step forward they take they seem to take two steps back. I don't hate Square and they have some incredible games on the market right now, Nier Automata, and Dragon Quest XI just to name a few.
What should have been a match made in history the merger of Squaresoft and Enix excited many gamers. Among both companies they had a library of amazing RPGs to remake port and choose from groups of talented people. But what would stand after the PS2 era of games Square Enix started shifting focus and direction as a company. Hironobu Sakaguchi had a philosophy to let developers make what they wanted, he trusted each and every one of those people to craft something meaningful and full of life. But higher ups at square were not appeased, Square had many successful titles but none could recapture the success of Final Fantasy VII. Simply put Square Enix wantes to focus on actual sequels to Final Fantasy, I half imagine Square Enix wanted both. X 2 was demanded by fans but I think to some degree Square wanted to ride the success they they happily obliged.
The PS3 and 360 era should have been spectacular. Games like Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant showed Square were still willing to take risks and make new and exciting IPs Squares decision however to make thes me games exclusively for the 360 was a stupid move. The 360 wasn't a console that Japanese gamers were willing to invest in, their loyalty laid with Sony not a company from the west they barely new anything about. Couple with those games not selling well on there home turf and people coming off of the market oversaturated with RPG's and people feeling burnout in the west, it was a bad decision on Squares part.
The Fabula Nova Crystalis was supposed to be Square Enix's saving grace. But poor decisions, bad leadership, and forcing all games to run on an engine that had major issues and wasn't built for open world enviorments caused many troubled developments along the way. The idea Square Enix had was to create a series of games for Final Fantasy XIII rather than just one game. By creating a lore rich of history and world building the project was ment to span across multiple games. This would allow Square Enix to also bridge the gap between numbered installments and allow them to have multiple teams working on multiple projects. (Oddly enough Square wasn't only company trying to attempt this at this time; Nihon Falcom was trying this very thing with the Trails in the Sky series. a vision that is still going strong today and is about 70% complete. The key difference is Falcom has great leadership which is why this has been a success.)
Final Fantasy XIII launched to mix reception, many fans ripped into it for it's linearity, less than stellar plot, melodramatic characters, and a mixed bag on the combat system. While I will go to bat for Final Fantasy XIII, because I think it was overhated by people who barely even touched or didnt play it at all. I can openly admit it had its flaws, its linear nature and most of its backstory hidden in menues was two major parts of contention for me. This was where I think Square Enix struggles. Square's goal was to appeal to the wider western audience the noted they had taken inspiration from first person shooters which is why the game felt so linear. This was the first clear signal hire ups at square were out of touch with there fan base. This left the fate of the franchise on Tetsuya Nomura's ambitious project Final Fantasy Versus XIII to save the day.
Versus XIII seemed like an ambitious project one many were excited about. Final Fantasy looked like it would take a different turn into a more mature and darker experience. Versus XIII had its own complations though. The Crystal Tools engine simply struggled to handle a game being touted as open world the game was simply to massive for what was trying to be made. Couple that with the complations the project had I also think the backlash from Final Fantasy XIII seemed to make them reconsider their strategy. Nomura went on record stating that higher ups suggested the game be scaled down and turned into a mobile game. He was not happy. In the mean time Square Enix would pump out to more sequels to Final Fantasy XIII to hold over fans. Any hope of seeing how the Fabula Nova Crystalis potential realized died on the PS3. It didn't help thst most engines either didn't have support for japanese developers unreal engine 3 didn't have translations in Japan. Many japanese developers at the time had a hard time making the transition to HD for this reason.
After what seemed forever Square Enix decided that it was time to resurrect Versus XIII and rebrand it Final Fantasy XV. Hajime Tabata was put in charge and yet again Square Enix would force all in House developers to us the luminous engine. Just as before it had a bunch of complications Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III went through a myriad of problems before they came to fruition. The latter being completely reworked for another engine Unreal Engine 4. Upon release both games felt as though they were rushed to meet a deadline leaving the games feeling incomplete. This became evidently clear when XV had loads of DlC and updates to expand and explain its story one of the key factors I struggle to truly love XV.
Square Enix also relies to heavily on Tetsuya Nomura due to his success with Kingdom Hearts and setting the staple for action based combat in JRPGs. The man is clearly talemted but he can't direct everything meanwhile Square vetrans such as Hiroyuki Ito who created the ATB system we know and love today, Co directed Final Fantasy VI alongside Yasunori Kitase and single handedly directed Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy XII, strictly working on mobile games. Squares overemphasis on mobile games is causing a rift in the industry for sure especially when you have so many talented people working on mobile titles. Even Chrono Trigger and Parasite Eves director is working on mobile. The past 20 years of square enix has been nothing but a trail of bad leadership and stupid decisions. All because Square really thought they new what the western market wanted.
There is hope games Like I Am Setsuna though not perfect show square can make good classic RPGs, Tokyo RPG factory keeps learning and growing. Square Enix found new success with Nier Automata a game I think that could handle its own franchise and its something I think square should do. Dragon Quest XI is one of this generations best RPGs. If square can learn Nomura cant do everything and put faith back in there developers they might be able to capture that magic yet again. They also need to realized mobile games are okay but you cant put your best talent on these projects amd spread yourself thin. They also need to realized that live service doesnt to RPGs justice unless its an mmo. Square enix continues to intrigue me amd dissapoin me at the same time but time will tell if they change there ways or give fans the middle finger. With them shifting focus onto using the unreal engine instead of pushing developers to use an in house engine I hope this is the step in the right direction and allows them to spread there wings and yet again become a beloved studio pumping out quality titles left and right.
What should have been a match made in history the merger of Squaresoft and Enix excited many gamers. Among both companies they had a library of amazing RPGs to remake port and choose from groups of talented people. But what would stand after the PS2 era of games Square Enix started shifting focus and direction as a company. Hironobu Sakaguchi had a philosophy to let developers make what they wanted, he trusted each and every one of those people to craft something meaningful and full of life. But higher ups at square were not appeased, Square had many successful titles but none could recapture the success of Final Fantasy VII. Simply put Square Enix wantes to focus on actual sequels to Final Fantasy, I half imagine Square Enix wanted both. X 2 was demanded by fans but I think to some degree Square wanted to ride the success they they happily obliged.
The PS3 and 360 era should have been spectacular. Games like Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant showed Square were still willing to take risks and make new and exciting IPs Squares decision however to make thes me games exclusively for the 360 was a stupid move. The 360 wasn't a console that Japanese gamers were willing to invest in, their loyalty laid with Sony not a company from the west they barely new anything about. Couple with those games not selling well on there home turf and people coming off of the market oversaturated with RPG's and people feeling burnout in the west, it was a bad decision on Squares part.
The Fabula Nova Crystalis was supposed to be Square Enix's saving grace. But poor decisions, bad leadership, and forcing all games to run on an engine that had major issues and wasn't built for open world enviorments caused many troubled developments along the way. The idea Square Enix had was to create a series of games for Final Fantasy XIII rather than just one game. By creating a lore rich of history and world building the project was ment to span across multiple games. This would allow Square Enix to also bridge the gap between numbered installments and allow them to have multiple teams working on multiple projects. (Oddly enough Square wasn't only company trying to attempt this at this time; Nihon Falcom was trying this very thing with the Trails in the Sky series. a vision that is still going strong today and is about 70% complete. The key difference is Falcom has great leadership which is why this has been a success.)
Final Fantasy XIII launched to mix reception, many fans ripped into it for it's linearity, less than stellar plot, melodramatic characters, and a mixed bag on the combat system. While I will go to bat for Final Fantasy XIII, because I think it was overhated by people who barely even touched or didnt play it at all. I can openly admit it had its flaws, its linear nature and most of its backstory hidden in menues was two major parts of contention for me. This was where I think Square Enix struggles. Square's goal was to appeal to the wider western audience the noted they had taken inspiration from first person shooters which is why the game felt so linear. This was the first clear signal hire ups at square were out of touch with there fan base. This left the fate of the franchise on Tetsuya Nomura's ambitious project Final Fantasy Versus XIII to save the day.
Versus XIII seemed like an ambitious project one many were excited about. Final Fantasy looked like it would take a different turn into a more mature and darker experience. Versus XIII had its own complations though. The Crystal Tools engine simply struggled to handle a game being touted as open world the game was simply to massive for what was trying to be made. Couple that with the complations the project had I also think the backlash from Final Fantasy XIII seemed to make them reconsider their strategy. Nomura went on record stating that higher ups suggested the game be scaled down and turned into a mobile game. He was not happy. In the mean time Square Enix would pump out to more sequels to Final Fantasy XIII to hold over fans. Any hope of seeing how the Fabula Nova Crystalis potential realized died on the PS3. It didn't help thst most engines either didn't have support for japanese developers unreal engine 3 didn't have translations in Japan. Many japanese developers at the time had a hard time making the transition to HD for this reason.
After what seemed forever Square Enix decided that it was time to resurrect Versus XIII and rebrand it Final Fantasy XV. Hajime Tabata was put in charge and yet again Square Enix would force all in House developers to us the luminous engine. Just as before it had a bunch of complications Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III went through a myriad of problems before they came to fruition. The latter being completely reworked for another engine Unreal Engine 4. Upon release both games felt as though they were rushed to meet a deadline leaving the games feeling incomplete. This became evidently clear when XV had loads of DlC and updates to expand and explain its story one of the key factors I struggle to truly love XV.
Square Enix also relies to heavily on Tetsuya Nomura due to his success with Kingdom Hearts and setting the staple for action based combat in JRPGs. The man is clearly talemted but he can't direct everything meanwhile Square vetrans such as Hiroyuki Ito who created the ATB system we know and love today, Co directed Final Fantasy VI alongside Yasunori Kitase and single handedly directed Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy XII, strictly working on mobile games. Squares overemphasis on mobile games is causing a rift in the industry for sure especially when you have so many talented people working on mobile titles. Even Chrono Trigger and Parasite Eves director is working on mobile. The past 20 years of square enix has been nothing but a trail of bad leadership and stupid decisions. All because Square really thought they new what the western market wanted.
There is hope games Like I Am Setsuna though not perfect show square can make good classic RPGs, Tokyo RPG factory keeps learning and growing. Square Enix found new success with Nier Automata a game I think that could handle its own franchise and its something I think square should do. Dragon Quest XI is one of this generations best RPGs. If square can learn Nomura cant do everything and put faith back in there developers they might be able to capture that magic yet again. They also need to realized mobile games are okay but you cant put your best talent on these projects amd spread yourself thin. They also need to realized that live service doesnt to RPGs justice unless its an mmo. Square enix continues to intrigue me amd dissapoin me at the same time but time will tell if they change there ways or give fans the middle finger. With them shifting focus onto using the unreal engine instead of pushing developers to use an in house engine I hope this is the step in the right direction and allows them to spread there wings and yet again become a beloved studio pumping out quality titles left and right.
