What the Hell Has Happened to Square Enix?

Squaresoft was a major part of my childhood growing up. Knowing for Christmas or my birthday I had a 40+ hour RPG present waiting for me to divulge into was all I wanted. Every month, my excitement grew more and more for each game they developed as I flipped to the RPG section of my GamePro magazine and drooled over the two or three new screenshots they provided. Their games helped me become a better reader and made me realize that games could be more than the side-scroller genre I was so fond of. They could tell amazing fantasy tales filled with interesting characters and were easily my favorite development studio as a child next to Nintendo.

Nowadays, Square Enix is nothing but a joke to me. What once was a company I would throw money at with each new release has become nothing but an exaggerated laugh each time I hear news about them. Their games fail to do anything interesting and only show that the company is struggling to keep up with modern times. It started last generation when Square Enix started developing questionable IPs and sequels to numbered Final Fantasy games, which was unheard of until then. Now Square Enix is just as confused as their fans are with this crazy new direction try are taking which is rehashing old titles on every console available and creating spinoffs that review terribly.

I don’t want to beat a dead horse but just want to reiterate that I simply hated Final Fantasy XIII. I tried to trick myself into thinking I liked it only to sink 25 hours into it and regret every minute I wasted. The story was inconceivable, the characters were stereotypically stupid and that combat system could not hold my interest at all. I’ve written about the game in the past as to why I hated taking off work to play this game so I’ll just leave it at that.

I’ve not been much of an MMO guy so deciding to finally try one out with the next Final Fantasy, which came out the same year as FFXIII, turned out to be a huge hassle and I gave up on trying fighting my way through their shitty system of getting into the beta. I watched for days as the client downloaded, starting and stopping every now and then to see if it froze up until I gave up on it and decided to wait for reviews. I read multiple impressions pieces on it and followed Phil Kollar from Game Informer as he struggled with the game trying to find any sort of fun within. Quite simply, the game was broken and to this day continues to do so. I applaud Square Enix to continue to offer the service for free but still am aggravated to know gamers went to stores and bought a broken game.

FFXIII did decent but wasn’t what people expected, yet Square continues to kill it’s series with multiple spinoffs, including a direct sequel, which I’m sure will be a main focus at E3. And to top it off, just recently sites have been reporting of yet another entry to the MMO genre that isn’t tied into Final Fantasy that should be released next year. Will FFXIV be fixed by then? Will it finally be available to PS3 owners? Will gamers even give a shit?

I’m not afraid of change; I kind of liked FFXII even though it wasn’t a typical turn based RPG. I also haven’t grown tired of this genre of games because im still playing through Pokémon which I’m thoroughly enjoying.  Square announced they want to innovate the series with modern times but seems go wildly into directions I don’t want. Turn based isn’t bad, neither are random battles. Mario, Pokemon, these games still do turn based quite well and still sell great to a large audience. You know how many gamers want a new Pokémon game for current home consoles?

You would think the company has tons of money to use for their top tier franchises. It seems every month they release an old entry to one of their franchises to a console it wasn’t available for previously. They must keep doing this for a reason; hell Nintendo as a company is known for this. I for one could care less to play these older games on my phone or PSP. Instead of focusing on this, why can’t they put their resources to something new? Or if they want to remake games, why always go for FFIV? Final Fantasy VII would sell tremendously if they would just remake the game for HD consoles. They claim it would be too much money, but how much have they wasted so far on their latest MMO which hadn’t seen a month of revenue yet? I’m not claiming I want FFVII to be remade, but just putting it on the PSN got a million downloads. People want this game but Square fails to notice.

The company needs to do something because what they are doing now is losing them money. Maybe acquiring Eidos wasn’t the right thing for them where they should have been focusing on how to better their internal studios. E3 is going to be an interesting show for them, when they come out showcasing all the new spinoffs and this new MMO that looking at comments across the web is unanimously unwanted. Hopefully they have something that could make me a believer again but for now I’ll focus on the developers who are doing the RPG genre right.

Squaresoft was a major part of my childhood growing up. Knowing for Christmas or my birthday I had a 40+ hour RPG present waiting for me to divulge into was all I wanted. Every month, my excitement grew more and more for each game they developed as I flipped to the RPG section of my GamePro magazine and drooled over the two or three new screenshots they provided. Their games helped me become a better reader and made me realize that games could be more than the side-scroller genre I was so fond of. They could tell amazing fantasy tales filled with interesting characters and were easily my favorite development studio as a child next to Nintendo.

Nowadays, Square Enix is nothing but a joke to me. What once was a company I would throw money at with each new release has become nothing but an exaggerated laugh each time I hear news about them. Their games fail to do anything interesting and only show that the company is struggling to keep up with modern times. It started last generation when Square Enix started developing questionable IPs and sequels to numbered Final Fantasy games, which was unheard of until then. Now Square Enix is just as confused as their fans are with this crazy new direction try are taking which is rehashing old titles on every console available and creating spinoffs that review terribly.

I don’t want to beat a dead horse but just want to reiterate that I simply hated Final Fantasy XIII. I tried to trick myself into thinking I liked it only to sink 25 hours into it and regret every minute I wasted. The story was inconceivable, the characters were stereotypically stupid and that combat system could not hold my interest at all. I’ve written about the game in the past as to why I hated taking off work to play this game so I’ll just leave it at that.

I’ve not been much of an MMO guy so deciding to finally try one out with the next Final Fantasy, which came out the same year as FFXIII, turned out to be a huge hassle and I gave up on trying fighting my way through their shitty system of getting into the beta. I watched for days as the client downloaded, starting and stopping every now and then to see if it froze up until I gave up on it and decided to wait for reviews. I read multiple impressions pieces on it and followed Phil Kollar from Game Informer as he struggled with the game trying to find any sort of fun within. Quite simply, the game was broken and to this day continues to do so. I applaud Square Enix to continue to offer the service for free but still am aggravated to know gamers went to stores and bought a broken game.

FFXIII did decent but wasn’t what people expected, yet Square continues to kill it’s series with multiple spinoffs, including a direct sequel, which I’m sure will be a main focus at E3. And to top it off, just recently sites have been reporting of yet another entry to the MMO genre that isn’t tied into Final Fantasy that should be released next year. Will FFXIV be fixed by then? Will it finally be available to PS3 owners? Will gamers even give a shit?

I’m not afraid of change; I kind of liked FFXII even though it wasn’t a typical turn based RPG. I also haven’t grown tired of this genre of games because im still playing through Pokémon which I’m thoroughly enjoying.  Square announced they want to innovate the series with modern times but seems go wildly into directions I don’t want. Turn based isn’t bad, neither are random battles. Mario, Pokemon, these games still do turn based quite well and still sell great to a large audience. You know how many gamers want a new Pokémon game for current home consoles?

You would think the company has tons of money to use for their top tier franchises. It seems every month they release an old entry to one of their franchises to a console it wasn’t available for previously. They must keep doing this for a reason; hell Nintendo as a company is known for this. I for one could care less to play these older games on my phone or PSP. Instead of focusing on this, why can’t they put their resources to something new? Or if they want to remake games, why always go for FFIV? Final Fantasy VII would sell tremendously if they would just remake the game for HD consoles. They claim it would be too much money, but how much have they wasted so far on their latest MMO which hadn’t seen a month of revenue yet? I’m not claiming I want FFVII to be remade, but just putting it on the PSN got a million downloads. People want this game but Square fails to notice.

The company needs to do something because what they are doing now is losing them money. Maybe acquiring Eidos wasn’t the right thing for them where they should have been focusing on how to better their internal studios. E3 is going to be an interesting show for them, when they come out showcasing all the new spinoffs and this new MMO that looking at comments across the web is unanimously unwanted. Hopefully they have something that could make me a believer again but for now I’ll focus on the developers who are doing the RPG genre right.

I agree completely, I feel like they started going downhill during the PS2 era than fell completely during that string of releases consisting of Infinite Undiscovery (dumbest name ever), that that other game I forget the name of (they ported it to steam).

I wish they never made that first Final Fantasy movie all those years ago. This was mentioned on the bombcast some time ago, but this movie was probably the catalyst of thieir downfall. So much resources into a project that was awful. Besides FF X most of their titles have been fairly bad. I've never played the Kingdom Hearts games though.

It's sad though because like the OP said I loved this company and cherished everything they releases back in the SNES/PS1 era's.

The Dragon Quest games on DS are terrific. But, besides that Square lost it's touch. 

I think some of the guys up top have to move over and give some of their younger talented employees a chance to give direction to their Final Fantasy titles. It is no industry secret that once someone comes a producer, it's bloody hard to get rid of them. The same people have been sitting at the top for a long time, and they've been putting out the same product over and over again. I couldn't help but notice in FF13 how some character designs were so 'typically Nomura'. Final Fantasy to me was a special series in that each game, bearing a new universe, characters and story, was much more interchangeable in terms of game mechanics and themes than sequels to other games. They've gotten FF games to the point of watered down rehashes and it has to stop. I think the series is still savable but they need to admit they are going wrong, which I don't think they will. Get some Westerners in on the games even, who loved the older Final Fantasy games and understand what a Final Fantasy game is meant to be.

Ah! And I couldn't be happier about it! :)

I'm on the same page as everyone else here. I have fond memories of Square games prior to the previous generation of consoles, but ever since the PlayStation 2, I've had a difficult time getting into anything they release. To be honest, I'm not even sure what they release anymore, so my judgment may be unfair. However, I remember the days of games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy VI, and so many of the other gems they released. 
 
Part of my lack of interest in Square has been my increase in interest in "western" style games. I was never a huge PC gamer in the 90's, but ever since the original Xbox, traditional PC developers work on consoles have been far more interesting to me. Fallout 3, the original Knights of the Old Republic, and other western RPGs have caught my interest.  MMOs....not so much. 
 
I think that's part of it. Growing up as a console gamer, I was never really exposed to the classic PC RPGs. Sometimes I feel my love for old Square games was more naiveté than anything else. Then again, I'm not sure. 
 
Good blog post by the way. Definitely weird to see a giant like Square fall.

Good read :) 
I really don't like JRPGs, so I might not be the best judge as to the quality of Square Enix recent titles.

Well they made FF7, and it sucked but everyone loved it. It probably fucked their perception up pretty bad hahah

I've been saying this for quite a few years now, but they really drove it home with Final Fantasy XIII and XIV.   Squenix has lost touch with the Western marketplace completely.  Their games used to be so cutting edge.  They just seem like a shadow of what they used to be.
 
 
Nier is pretty cool though.

.... 
 
They're now selling wooden chests for $3000 a pop. 
 
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/05/26/dragon_quest_treasure_box/

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! 
 
YOU STOLE THIS ARTICLE WORD FOR WORD! 
 
http://64bitbastard.com/2011/05/26/what-the-hell-has-happened-to-square-enix/

@KaosAngel said:

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! 
 
YOU STOLE THIS ARTICLE WORD FOR WORD! 
 
http://64bitbastard.com/2011/05/26/what-the-hell-has-happened-to-square-enix/

It' probably the same dude, dude.

A lot has happened.  
I still enjoy most of their games though

@laserbolts: the gamestop guy made fun of me when I bought X-2. It was one of those uncontrollable laughs where your cheeks vibrate and you snort. Guy was an asshole.

@august said:

@KaosAngel said:

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! 
 
YOU STOLE THIS ARTICLE WORD FOR WORD! 
 
http://64bitbastard.com/2011/05/26/what-the-hell-has-happened-to-square-enix/

It' probably the same dude, dude.

Tis the internet, guilty until proven innocent.  EDIT:  Did some more digging, names match up.  Carry on.  He is innocent.

Yeah, remember when Square was coming  out with imaginative, unique titles for the PS1?  Stuff like Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve 1 and 2, Bushio Blade, Einhander, iS - Internal Section, Braver Fencer Musashi, Ehrgeiz, Xenogears, etc. etc. etc.  The list is amazing, and long.  Even the PS2 had some good Square games, well, only 2, Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2.  KH 1 and 2 aren't super great, but they're interesting fusions of a lot of disparate elements.
 
There's three fundamental problems Square is facing:
 
1.  They (seemingly) don't want to actually create sequels.  I mean sequels to non-FF games.  Where's the Vagrant Story sequel?  Where's Kingdom Hearts 3?  Where's the REAL Parasite Eve 3?  Instead they keep releasing side-story, or half-assed reboots, The 3rd Birthday, Dirge of Carebearus (that's the PROPER spelling of that shitty game), Birth by Sleep, Crisis Core, FF versus 13, FF Type-0, Final Fantasy 13-2, etc. etc.  
 
Side story -- I had a friend once who believed ALL the Final Fantasy 7 stuff made sense.  And that Square has a great master-plan for that series.  Like, Dirge of Carebearus, Crisis Core, Before Crisis, Advent Children, Last Order, etc.  He believed in some  maniacal story about how it was all a perfect timeline, etc.  My only question to him (which would drive him nuts) was, "So...where does Final Fantasy 7: Snowboarding fit into the timeline?"
 
They need to stop completely with this shit.  This leads me to point 2.
 
2.  Stop making games for the PSP.  People might care in Japan, but you're a multi-national company.  People don't care about it so much in NA, or Europe.  And hey, I love, LOVE Crisis Core.  But even that game would've been better on an actual console.  Either make new shit for the PSP/DS/3DS, or just port crap over.  But your obsession with this side-story nonsense, without actually completing the main story is insane.
 
And finally, 3.  "Shit or get off the pot" time.  Look, just remake (and fix) Final Fantasy 7.  It's what people want, because of the nostalgia factor.  You're likely to completely fuck it up, but get it out of the way.  Make sequels (actual, full-on, story-driven/advancing, game-advancing, sequels) to the games people want.  Not a huge number of people give a shit about the 3rd FF 13 spin-off game.  But, people might care, and buy a sequel to Vagrant Story, or Kingdom Hearts, or actual good game series.  Also, it's hard to be called "Final" anything, when you're working on the 43rd one, at this point.

@Krisgebis: thanks for reading. Their older games are definitely worth checking out if you ever get an itch to play a RPG.