Squeenix officially going down hill

[endersblade]

I was reading this:

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2016/08...edium=facebook

It boggles my mind that SE can't figure out why they are losing money. They keep trying to reinvent the fucking wheel. Look at how well-received games like Chrono Trigger, FFT, FF7, FF8, FF10 were highly praised. Now look at 13, Type-0, and the myriad others they've released in the past decade. Forgettable. Even downright bad. Of course, each and every one of them has their own fanatical followers. You can't really blame them for holding onto a sinking nostalgic ship I guess.

It really saddens me to see companies that I grew up loving trying, in my eyes, to absolutely ruin everything they touch. They KNOW what works. They KNOW what we want. But they must be allergic to money, because they continually spit out lackluster crap.

I'm not saying they need to go the retro route like soooooooo many other companies (mostly indie, I guess) are doing. They can continue releasing top-notch graphical games. But the gameplay needs to come back. The deep story needs to come back. The memorable characters need to come back. The drama, the heartbreak, the humor, NONE of it is where it should be.

Now I know, my title was just a wee bit click-baity. And I know SE as a whole isn't doing as bad as the RPG Factory section. But seriously, they have derailed so far at this point I don't think they can get back on track.

[Graeham]

I think they've made some questionable decisions but at the same time I don't feel like they're going downhill to the point of no return. I'm very optimistic about FFXIV after hearing very positive reviews of Kingsglaive and FFXIV continues to provide me with plenty of enjoyment with each new content patch. I didn't really like FFXIII but Type-0 was...decent enough. Not the best FF title by any means but I loved the music and the combat was pretty enjoyable.

Then there's the FFVII Remake on the horizon which also interests me - I have faith that they won't screw that up. I also firmly believe that a lot of 'fans' of the franchise are simply selfish and have lofty expectations and struggle to enjoy any new game simply due to misguided nostalgia and a sense of entitlement/urge to find any and all reasons to criticise the newer games.

[Tech614]

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about, the entire startup cost of the studio is factored into that loss not just the development of a single game. It also doesn't factor in western sales.

[Aori]

It wasn't really SE, it was Tokyo RPG Factory, an indie studio. This is just a failed project, this is mere peanuts for SE on the whole.

[PACOX]

Is SE actually doing bad or just not to your likeless. I mean in my book Nintendo should close down tomorrow because I don't like the direction that they've gone but the company isn't doing bad.

A company that SE backs did bad, do you know how many publisher backed companies end up folding while the publishers move on. Think about it this way, do book publishers go under if their writers fail? No. If a film group has a bad movie, does it go under?

Maybe its time to find another favorite company? I've stepped away from JRPGs a while ago but I'm sure theres other publishers out there.

FF13 didn't fail in SE's eyes, they've made 3 iterations of the game and they've all sold pretty well.
FF14 ended up being a hit after its relaunch
FF15 is a highly anticipated game and will make them a lot of money by name alone.
Then you have their various offshoots like Tomb Raider and Hitman (only ones I can think of right now without Google).
Also, Kingdom Heart 3 will sell consoles. People will literally be dropping $400 to play the game.

SE is fine.

[Tech614]

It wasn't really SE, it was Tokyo RPG Factory, an indie studio. This is just a failed project, this is mere peanuts for SE on the whole.

It wasn't a failed project.

1) No western sales accounted for in the earnings report.

2) The entire startup cost of the studio was factored in, not just the game development. They started a new small studio as a long term project not just to make a single game.

[Aori]

It wasn't a failed project.

1) No western sales accounted for in the earnings report.

2) The entire startup cost of the studio was factored in, not just the game development. They started a new small studio as a long term project not just to make a single game.

However if I am Setsuna sales doesn't please SE, Tokyo RPG Factory gets shut down and the loss remains. It really depends on what SE expects of their first project.

[kaamila]

I for one look forward to the open-world, real time combat system coming to FF-XV. Wouldn't have played it otherwise.

[Tech614]

However if I am Setsuna sales doesn't please SE, Tokyo RPG Factory gets shut down and the loss remains. It really depends on what SE expects of their first project.

Where is your evidence they are at risk of getting shut down?

In fact all evidence points to them already being in full development of another title AND in the process of porting Setsuna to mobile. If square thought Setsuna was a failure it would have been dead then and there in Japan, never localized, never ported to PC and certainly not getting a mobile port.

Square wants them to be a studio that can crank out small budget classical rpgs every 1.5 years. The startup cost of the studio was obviously going to be more then a single game.

Basically you're using click bait to form some baseless opinion and make hyperbolic comments.

[endersblade]

Basically you're using click bait to form some baseless opinion and make hyperbolic comments.

And you're more than welcome to just ignore the post and move on, yet you didn't.

Besides, everyone else is doing it, why can't I join in on the fun?

[antelope591]

My favorite videogame company of all time...will always have a special place for me for the games they put out up to FFX. But quite simply they haven't kept up with the times. In a world of Witcher 3's and Skyrim's you need to do something special to keep up in the RPG market. Unfortunately the old Square format simply doesn't work anymore. We'll see what happens with FF15 but I'm not setting my hopes too high.

[KrazyK923]

Don't worry, they'll make it all back when they fleece FF7 fans into buying the whole HD Remake for 180 bucks a pop.

[Duncanîdaho]

XIII was actually the first non-MMO Final Fantasy I didn't finish. Besides Lightning and Fang I thought all the characters were too generic or they just annoyed me. The only things I enjoyed about the game was the combat system and pretty spell visuals which apparently aren't enough on there own to keep me interested. As for the company itself I felt like it was in some confused state of limbo for a bit there. They were trying to walk this line between the new generation of players and the old ones and we ended up with a product that just didn't feel right to most in XIII and its sequels.

That being said I'm having a lot of fun with the Final Fantasy Record Keeper App game that I discovered it like a month ago and have heard and read good things about XIV. I think I enjoy RK because it is in the SNES combat and art style(modernized) and I don't feel like I'm being forced to pay real money like most other Mobile games. The game has a surprising amount of depth for a Mobile game as well, in regards to your character selection, gear and skills. It really hits that nostalgic note for me. It's funny how they have put so much money into various games since FFX and its the cheap mobile App game that manages to keep my attention. With the remade seven coming out too I'm hoping they are back on track.

[endersblade]

My favorite videogame company of all time...will always have a special place for me for the games they put out up to FFX. But quite simply they haven't kept up with the times. In a world of Witcher 3's and Skyrim's you need to do something special to keep up in the RPG market. Unfortunately the old Square format simply doesn't work anymore. We'll see what happens with FF15 but I'm not setting my hopes too high.

I'm cautiously optimistic about 15. I've seen enough previews and teasers that I think I'm going to like it. But I thought the same thing about 13. I completed the first 13, I can't finish 13-2, and there's no way I'll even start 13-3.

As for the FF7 remake/reboot whatever we're calling it now, I will be playing it. Mandatory. Aeris' death was my first game-related traumatic experience. I have to now see it as an adult, in HD, already having PTSD. This should be interesting. Like most people I'd assume, I know almost nothing about it at this point, so I don't really know what to expect.

I was never a Kingdom Hearts fan. Mixing with Disney just doesn't do it for me. I understand that the games get phenomenal ratings and all that. More power to them. Just not my cup of tea.

I've been a follower of FF games since I played the first Final Fantasy Adventure game on Gameboy (which actually turn out to be prequels to the SaGa series, not Final Fantasy) and traveling over the various consoles as new games released. I still own cartridges and CDs of every FF and Chrono game they released. As well as various others. Square has always been my favorite gaming company, and I was really put out when they merged with Enix - you'd think two powerhouse gaming companies, with two major game series coming together like that would be just the bee's knees, but I think their merger ended up ruining both companies.

[dope_danny]

They've been doing worse by the year for quite a while now. The most obvious example is how Toriyama was put in charge of the "fabula nova crystalis project" and 13 came out as a love letter to this rule 63 fem cloud tulpa waifu lightning and agito 13 wouldnt come out for years and versus 13 still doesnt release till next month. Yet they had to make two 13 sequels just to recoup losses on all the resources and time spent making far more assetts for 13 than it ever used. It was an exercise in a delusional obsessive poisoning the brand well on a level worse than the phantom menace and star wars circa 2001.

The trouble is SE's higher ups seem to not know what made squaresoft popular to begin with. Like every japanese company that failed they follow the "aim for western appeal" not realising this dilutes or outright removes what made their games stand out to begin with and as the core audience leaves they just go "wha happen?" and then meet the success of the bravely default games with incredulity stating "we didnt think the west wanted games made for a japanese audience anymore". The irony being that we have been down this road before when they released a "western" final fantasy on the NES and it was a fisher price tier joke and everyone just played 3/6 instead. Apparently that lesson has been forgotten over time.

So now you have "15" which is a decade old development hell rebuild of a rebuild of a rebuild of a ps3 side game like dirge of cerberus that looks like a "spam X to win" diet coke version of kindgom hearts with a confirmed season pass and a "if it bombs we wont make console FF games anymore" hostage scenario and even as a die hard FF fan theres only so much patience i can have for the main series games. They want it to be the 7-10 era of "holy shit these cutscenes meng, best of E3" again without knowing why those games worked and aiming for wider market appeal and western market appeal which has been the ruination of every japanese franchise since like 2008 when games stopped being games and tried to be movies.

It has apparently reached the point in their home region that japanese children know final fantasy from the theatrythmn games -which are great games to be fair- but even the mobile games arent popular. So they had the 'decade of lightning' that pushed a LOT of fans away with its bottom of the barrel design that only the lowest level of standards could enjoy and no matter how they try and differentiate this 13 spin off as its own thing now that stink of the pink haired ip despoiler is still there and the forecasts aint looking so hot and they dont understand why.

After a solid decade of being nothing but garbage -though at least XIV is a damn sight better than the XIII titles including the valkyrie profile game they scrapped to rework into lightning returns- they need a hit and XV doesnt look like it because they dont seem to understand what people want from final fantasy even after rereleases of 7 and 9 still make a shit ton of moolah for them. There will always be games like Bravely Default that offer the proper FF experience but people have been wanting a return to form for FF games for over ten years now and sadly it looks like SE has no idea how to do that and prefer to chase money not noticing how it almost tanked companies like capcom that did the exact same 5 years ago.

and thats just FF. Square Enix as a whole is now a company where its spin offs are far better than its mainline games in every franchise it produces. If you told me that circa 1999 i would call you crazy. But thats bad leadership for you. It took a risk of brankruptcy for Capcom to start turning it around. I'm sure the FF7 remake will make them money but until they get new leadership the majority of their teams are creatively dead.

Look at FF14. They ran it into the ground and it took a whole new team to go "yeah i can save this, heres all my ideas" and its the second biggest sub mmorpg after wow now. Sometimes you need a shake up and boy does SE need one before it goes full Konami.

[unholytestament]

Don't worry, they'll make it all back when they fleece FF7 fans into buying the whole HD Remake for 180 bucks a pop.

I kept saying that despite this highly amusing train wreck that has been its development I was still going to buy FF15 to see if it was worth the wait. But now the news comes down that it will have so much DLC that they're offering a season pass.

I am going to have to wait for the game of the year edition for a fucking Final Fantasy game.

I weep for the future of Kingdom Hearts.

[Usagi Senshi]

SquareEnix still looks pretty damn solid to me with lots of good titles coming out and they kept me as a FFXIV subscriber for 3 years now.

Also, Danny, I don't feel SE is anywhere near Konami's level of fuckery, not even close.

[Fencers]

I Am Setsuna is really excellent too. It was likely under marketed. SE and their subs are really poor marketers.

[caervek]

Enix were awesome back in the day, ****ing Square >.>

[dope_danny]

Also, Danny, I don't feel SE is anywhere near Konami's level of fuckery, not even close.

Not in general, i just mean they are also pushing the "mobile game exclusivity is the future" stuff, they are saying "FFXV decides if the games keep coming out on consoles or not" and you know they have higher ups wanting dat pokemon go money to use a recent example.