Astras

@phantomsnake said:

Yes, I've lost all confidence. With the exception of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which is a Square Enix game only by a technicality, they haven't released anything exciting since The World Ends with You. FFXIII was an entirely vapid experience (though I do like the soundtrack) and FFXIII-2 actually looks worse. At this point I want to see Square Enix do an FFVII remake, not because it would be awesome (since they would probably find a way to ruin it), but to prove that there are still people over there who are listening to their customers and can make half-decent business decisions because, right now, I have no idea what they're thinking.

I guess I should qualify this by mentioning that I never got into the Dragon Quest and Star Ocean games (pretty much the Enix side of things) so I can't speak to their quality.

Not sure that they have the skill or tools to even make a FF7 remake anymore, the project with the engine that they have been using since ff10 would be too much for them.

Even though a few years ago they did tease us with the FF7 tech demo :P

@Demoskinos said:

I'm enjoying Final Fantasy XIII-2 more than Skyrim. So no I haven't. In fact... while its REALLY stupid at this point to even utter the words "Game of the year" I wouldn't be suprised if FFXIII-2 showed up in my personal list at the end of the year. I'm enjoying it that much. XIII was my 2010 GOTY. People keep saying SQUARE DOESN' T GET IT ANYMORE REMEMBER THE OLD DAYS? Yeah, I do and those games were fine and so was XIII.

I think the general audience has moved on. The era where JRPG's were a mainstream thing is over they are no longer relevant. Just look at fighting games. Sure, they never went away but for the longest time the general populus was not getting excited about fighting games AT ALL. It was a niche market for a niche crowd. JRPG's are now in that niche market. And its pretty obvious how big a impact WRPG games like Elder Scrolls , Dragon Age etc... have all had on the RPG market even japanes companies are trying to make games like Dragons Dogma or Dark Souls that disinctly feel influenced by western fantasy tastes.

Sure, i'm happy for you that you enjoy the new games although I feel that the problem for me lies more in the engine and execution of the game at a playable level rather than the evolution of the genre.

SE's products feel like they have drifted away from key fundamentals that were even apparent in legacy JRPG's in favour of overly linear story telling. In terms of JRPG's in general, im not sure the term "No longer relevant" is appropriate.

@JazGalaxy said:

Square was killing it in the playstation era of tonal, einhander, bushido blade, tactics and front mission.band then came the awful playstation 2 era when square decided they wanted to be " cool". The bouncer was garbage and everything after that was unplayable. Kingdom hearts too.

I forgot about some of those Ps1 games, awesome memories!

@ShadowSkill11 said:

@Astras: ...FF13-2 does have town hubs and doesn't keep the last games mostly corridor asthetic. Have you at least read a review before making outdated assumptions based solely on the previous game?

Really, from what I have seen and read, having a few corridor's branching off a main path hardly qualifies. Having a map grid representing different time periods also from what I have read is pretty linear in where you need to go and ends up being more of a level select then much else.

@SirOptimusPrime said:

I feel like the route that has been described by the press, including our very own Jeff Gertsman, is the way for them to go - taking notes from the Western acquisitions and branching out in general. I also totally agree on their inability to go anywhere with the FF franchise. They just need to let the dying horse lie or hand it off to other people (never going to happen). I want a pretty hefty overhaul for the next FF, but I highly doubt that's going to happen which fucking sucks.

Agreed, it's a damn shame to be honest. I was kinda clinging to the hope that other RPG's of this generation might have rubbed off on them and they might favour a change in there engine which it seems is still an iteration of the FF10 engine.

It seems that they design there games now around there engine limitations, maybe letting it die would be for the best. As for FF14, is anyone playing that?

@ShadowSkill11 said:

@Astras: So accorsing to your logic it would be perfectly fine to say that Shadow Complex is a better game than Skyrim because it's a quality game?

accorsing to my logic :P, i'm saying that I would have thought that the FF games of this generation would have had real towns to explore that act as quest and interactive hubs that would have pushed me to explore the surroundings and progress with a story... instead of being shoved relentlessly down some corridor.

@ShadowSkill11 said:

Well you know what they say about opinions like the one you're spouting right? They are just like assholes. Everyone's got one. One thing though. I really don't understand why you would compare any FInal Fantasy game to SkyRim though. Beyond having a sword and humans in them they are nothing alike.

I think that you can compare the quality of the 2 games. They are both Role playing experiences. Years ago I would have thought that Final fantasy's direction would of been something closer to this type of game, granted not as sandboxed.

I remember the day that I used to be interested in everything that was Square or Enix. From the Final fantasy series to the Dragon quest series they really knew how to execute fantastic gaming experiences.

I'm not sure if it's the fact that I'm getting older or that the market has grown to a state where other gaming giant's such as Bioware and Bestheda have taken the RPG mantle but to me it really seems that Square Enix has lost the ability to make competive games of this genre.

I thought that FF13 was the game that confirmed my suspicions that S-E has grown stale and it's designers have opted for a linear and very predictable approach but the new game FF13-2 is the first in series that I simply am not going to buy.

I thought that I would wait and read the reviews with this one, I have also watched some game footage and frankly it just looks like a complete waste of time.

How can they really expect me to go from a masterpiece like Skyrim to purchase this??? I am not sure what there target market is anymore, I have either drifted away from it or it's just getting much smaller.

I would give anything if they just realised that it's not all about creating graphics and they put all there resources into making a fixed 3d world or a really pollished 2d or isometric RPG with some REAL exploration and role playing.

Granted i guess Deus ex was an ok game but also after the monumental failure of FF14, it's obvious that the company needs to go back to it's roots, stop thinking about investors and cutting corners, pull some money out of the Art department and plough some resources back into Game design and development.

@JoeyRavn said:

@The_LMFAO_Guy said:

That's how apologist are. When they see someone criticize their favorite web site, company, etc, they will act hostile on those who oppose what they're doing because they like to believe that they're no flaws at all.

Believe me, I've seen situation like this in the other web sites that I've been in, and the sad part is that mods don't do anything to those types of users. Having that guy calling you a "moron" was defiantly uncalled for, and should get modded for it.

Yes, people who bite the flamebait have to be punished, not the ones that start the trolling. Because this topic hasn't been created and discussed a myriad of times, and this specific thread adds a lot to the debate.

Amazing.

Really, because I thought that the new content had just been recently released.

@AmatureIdiot said:

I think the content balance is about right. The coverage of current games and news is free as it will attract a wide group of people looking for coverage of that game/news, who aren't really attached to the staff or the site, and will earn its keep in ad revenue. Then the more niche stuff like last save is as much about the staff as the game, and so needs to be subsidised by member money, as its audience is limited to people who really follow Giant Bomb.

Personally I think the new stuff has already justified the money I paid, and has freshened up the site after the site had become a little stale in the couple of months before the snes party.

If your looking for a non member new segment check out the fear gauntlet, I literally put off watching the newest random ass pc game episode for a new fear gauntlet.

KK, didn't realise that the paid content had run stale, I guess the paid users do need content to justify their sub. Yeah it just seems that running a model whereby they must provide levels of content for different types of users must be difficult, the subscriber model in certain way's just seems more trouble than it's worth.