What exactly is SquareEnix problem?

[J T]

Call me crazy, but I love the belt buckles, the spikey hair, the zippers, and the androgony. Final Fantasy games of the last 10 years have had a flair for the extravagant and I feel like they've done excellent work at creating grand scale fantasy worlds full of intersting looking characters.

My problem with them is that they can't tell a damn story anymore and so many of their characters are so patently obnoxious that not even their wild styled hairdos and outfits can cover up the bad taste their personalities leave behind. I usually find that I get all excited by trailers and screenshots, and then I play their games and I think they were better off as a series of images on a website than they were a videogame. SquareEnix hires great visual and sound artists, but they're such a huge corporation now and their productions involve so many different teams that I'm not sure there is eve anyone at the helm of the ship that really knows where any one of the games is going anymore or what the story even is about. This is why they never satisfy. Their beautiful productions appear so full of promise, but without any clear direction they can never deliver on that promise.

I've played Final Fantasy games since they were first released, but the only ones I've ever cared enough to finish have been on the NES, the SNES, or the Playstation. I've rarely even reached the halfway point of any of their games after that.

[isiolia]

Aye, GRIN had their own problems.

SE, I think, does have their issues. By and large, I think they're mostly planning/strategy issues though. They just don't seem to have great direction when it comes to larger-scale stuff. IE, things I've read about FFXIII's development has them generating waaay too many assets for it (an extra game's worth), and not having defined capabilities for the engine due to it being developed concurrently.

To a point, however, I think things might be more on the industry as a whole, and their customers.

While I'm not trying to say that JRPGs are bad or anything, objectively speaking, they were the lion's share of what was available for console gamers for a good long while. In 2000 - which was a great year for RPGs by any count - the PSX saw stuff like FFIX, Vagrant Story, and Valkyrie Profile. The PC saw Deus Ex, Baldur's Gate II, and Diablo II, offhand. No real crossover there - consoles did see Deus Ex eventually (and the sequel was ruined trying to cater to them to boot)...but for the most part, JRPGs were what you got if you had a console.
More recently, JRPG sales are relatively low across the board. It's not just SE. Maybe it's due to a wider range of RPGs available, or a shift in focus overall (not like console gamers were buying FPS games for online play much in 2000).

While one stance might be that the genre hasn't translated well into the current gen...maybe it's more that folks don't give it a chance. While FFXII wasn't perfect, it was an attempt to innovate - the backlash resulted in XIII, which didn't try to at all.

To a point, there may need to be adaptation on the player's part as well.

[lisalover1]

I don't think Square nor Enix have ever been the same since the merger, and ther 32-bit generation was their last times where they showed incredible creativity and promise. I liked many of their last-gen games they released; heck, Kingdom Hearts has stayed as my favorite game of all time ever since I played it. But, it just wasn't the same as in the 32-bit era, and this generation has been the one where nearly all hope has been lost for Square Enix console games. However, they are curiously doing phenomenal in the handheld and mobile market, with games like The World Ends With You, Chaos Rings, remakes of both Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre, localizations/remakes of Dragon Quest IV, V, and VI, as well as the new IX, and a bunch of other games which have been great.

[YoshiEgg25]

At one point, GRIN was directed to deliver its code to Japan via fax.

[BoringSupreez]

At one point, GRIN was directed to deliver its code to Japan via fax.

That's the worst idea ever.

[jfrost]

Maybe Square Enix were just trolling GRIN.

"LOL you're too shitty for us to even care how you send your crap."

[o.pwuaioc]

irixith is talking about the people that started playing them on SNES, I would assume. Finding people that started playing them on SNES and actually like Square Enix is a difficult task (although I know there are some).

I think there's further a difference between people who started playing FFIII and those who started playing FFI and FFII. That might be a different topic though...

[brunoafh]

I think there's further a difference between people who started playing FFIII and those who started playing FFI and FFII. That might be a different topic though...

When you say FFII and FFIII, are you referring to IV and VI?

[MidnightRider]

Yup. Those of us that grew up with both Square and Enix before they ever thought of merging together are most likely to be the ones griping about the leather and zippers and hairstyles and "is he male or female I DON'T KNOW".

And people like my younger brother, who grew up playing PS2 and Wii, actually somehow LIKE the art style of the modern FF games. I can't stand it, I just hate the whole girly-boy look. Why do the Japanese like effeminate males so much anyway?

Don't even get me started on what they did to Cid in FFXIII.

"Bishonen" (pretty boy or whatever) is a raving trend though very apparent in most modern anime as well. Very rare to see shows with MEN in it thesedays.

*cough*CastlevaniaespeciallywhattheydidtoSimonBelmont*cough*

[o.pwuaioc]

I think there's further a difference between people who started playing FFIII and those who started playing FFI and FFII. That might be a different topic though...

When you say FFII and FFIII, are you referring to IV and VI?

When I was a kid they were II and III. But yeah, except the American releases, because I had the American games. I never did look into what the difference between VI US and VI JP was, if there was one at all.