It looks like SE won't be making anything fresh for quite a while, thanks to president Wada's classy ultimatum. So... it looks like for the next few years all we'll be seeing are feverishly hermaphroditic teenagers in cookie-cutter RPGs (offered in two varieties: post-FFVII crap or post-FFVII action-oriented crap), as well as some other uncreative ventures that are basically ctrl-c/ctrl-v'd from one project to another. Yet another reason why I hate current video games and companies - call me crazy, but I'm actually looking forward to a Square Enix-less future. I'd love to see that place fall apart.

Ehhh... but the article opens by saying The World Ends With You is one of the 'unique' games they won't be making. And yet it's exactly the same crap as that Crisis Core game only with j-pop and dodgy controls. Move forward, fight, stop for conversation (man, I'm so moody and cool), move forward, fight and so on.

I'm really not seeing what I'll be missing out on. I probably would have cared many years ago but I've regretted buying just about any SE game I've bought recently. I really have to stop buying them...

From a business standpoint this is structurally sound. But it is bad news for gamers. I wonder why and how they let jackasses like this guy become president?

Believe or not, the predecessor was even worse than Wada.

I personally haven't noticed any creativity from Squeenix in years! I  Barring remakes, they haven't made a single game I enjoyed since FF Tactics (although to be fair, I do want to play Dragon Quest VIII). Fortunately, Atlus is here to save us

-avatar!

The fact that anyone would even have to say such a gag-worthy statement makes me die a little inside...

...and makes me even care less that I almost never buy any games lately, nor have any of the current generation consoles.

Do kinda want Disgaea III though....blah.

-Joshua

It was always my belief that the big-name titles kind of funded the lesser known stuff.  I'm sure FFXIII could get them enough money to develop two new IP's. 

Yeah, I'm a little depressed now too.  It's a shame to see a company that did so much for the development of video games as a musical, graphical, and almost spiritual medium (for some of us anyways) fall on hard times.

How much would it be to localize Code Age Commanders?!  There's a new IP that I'd love to see.

I wouldn't be so sure about FFXIII making money. The problem SEx (or at least the Square portion of it) has is the pricy cutting edge direction they took around a decade ago is now starting to fire back at them in a way where it's no more ensured that the major IPs are profitable themselves.

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Perhaps, but those new things will still be catering to casual gamers rather than hardcore gamers.  There are different ways to read that line about going 'beyond traditional Square Enix'.   What is traditional Square Enix exactly?  I mean, Kingdom Hearts is considered an original title, and it was a huge success.  I still think it's a 'casual' title, however, and not at all what I'd like from SE.

Considering that this follows on the heels of Square wanting to buy other companies because they can't deal with the competition, I think there's plenty of reason for people to be concerned about a new emphasis on 'mainstream' titles.  Even if they're not remakes and cell phone games, they could still be shallow action titles instead.

I don't understand why they'd expect continuity in annual profits when it's only every couple of years that a really major game is released. This year we got no Final Fantasy XIII or Dragon Quest IX, just Crisis Core. Square Enix have done well considering, not that I agree with any of their post-FFX approach.

Well, not just Crisis Core (Front Mission DS & Chocobo Tales come quickest to mind), but yeah, the basic logic of the argument stands. As far as their oversea sales are concerned, maybe they'd be doing better if they didn't treat territories besides Japan like unwelcome strays. From a business standpoint, if Kingdom Hearts as a whole has done better business in the US than Japan, then why are the Final Mixes Japan-only? Also, if there's a huge gulf between their next major console releases and now, why not take the time to localize some stuff they've skipped over (FRONTMISSION5FRONTMISSION5FRONTMISSION5)?

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I've pretty much divorced myself from buying any square-enix products. I bought VP2 and FFXII and only finished VP2 which was okay. This is a very narrow view of things though as I'm just sick of RPGs in general (except the few staples I kept.) However, I will say I don't look at a SE game and automatically think "this has got to be good" like I did in the PS1 Square days.

Last Square-Enix game I enjoyed was...Final Fantasy X. Even I can't believe that was roughly 7 years ago. And even that was a pleasant surprise after feeling somewhat burned by a lot of their PS1-era stuff (and the Bouncer, if you want to say PS2).

Conclusion: They can continue to suck for all I care, but couldn't they do it a little less blatantly?

I still have Valkyrie Profile 2 sitting around at home.  I promised to get to it earlier - I *loved* VP so if only for that, but having since played a small bit of it (not enough to make a good judgement admittingly) and seeing it to be not nearly as edgy as the first... I don't know if I want to play it now merely because I liked the first game so much   Odin Sphere looks like something I'll appreciate much more to be honest.

My last favourite Square game was Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, which I think was one of the last games before the merger (the Jpaanese release was a few months before that as I recall.)

Yeah, I have to agree here. I was actually quite surprised how much I enjoyed X considering I didn't play it until after 2004 since I originally bought my PS2 for Star Ocean 3, which wasn't nearly as good as I initially thought it was.

The only thing I really liked about SO3 was how down to earth some of the dialogue was, especially that of Cliff. Then again, I got sick of Fayt whining about the UP3.

Well, I'm aware of most of Square Enix's releases despite how little I buy (my last purchase was Final Fantasy XII and I hated it by the end). I was just talking about best-sellers. Sorry for not making that clear.

Say what you will about S-E, but I'm definitely looking forward to Dragon Quest IV coming to the DS this September.  And I'll stick it out with them if they really do end up bringing V and VI over as well.

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Dragon Quest is Enix property, Grandia is GameArts property, Star Ocean is Tri-Ace property, Radiata Stories is Tri-Ace property, Valkyrie Profile is Tri-Ace property? Enix made GameArts and Tri-Ace their property, and with the S-E merger, Enix property became Square property.

I don't understand what everyone else is complaining about; good stuff is still coming out of the Enix half of the corporation; it's just that the Square half is beating the FF franchise to death, but hey, some people are just still learning about FF; Square is introducing it to a whole new generation.

I'm enjoying all great get-out of Dawn of Mana, even if it plays more so like a mix of a Kingdom Hearts/Devil May Cry game; Dirge of Cerberus is the first third-person shooter I've actually been able to play, since it actually has decent controls; I don't care too much about FFXII, but I suppose I'll get around to it.

I'm sure I'll enjoy FFXIII; I've enjoyed all previous games in the franchise, no matter what departures they've made from the previous installments.

I could other spend most of my time in this cyber wasteland we call the internet, bellowing away about how things suck, or I could actually go do something productive, stress-relieving, or both...like actually playing video-games. Now, which one of those two sounds more enjoyable to you?

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P.S. I'm going to hold out hope for Front Mission V and Code Age Commanders forever.

Your definition of property is wrong. Enix had the majority share, so the notion of Square assimilating Enix is basically wrong as well. Game Arts is independent from Square Enix so you're wrong that Enix ever assimilated it. Your hope is misplaced too.

Damn, man, stop being such a negative, nit-picking Nancy...

When 90% of the content of a post is wrong, I can't help it. I know I correct you a lot, but that's not because I like persecuting you. It's because you're frequently wrong.

Heeeyyy, only about 20% (1/5) of my post was incorrect...just that first paragraph.

So long as Enix keeps making games and we see a SaGa and/or Mana game every once and awhile I'm fine with it.

Where's our remakes of RS2 and RS3 like they did with Minstrel Song? *drools*

EDIT: My original post was too reactionary.  My bad

Still, I won't forgive SE for not releasing Front Mission 5 to North America.

I enjoyed DQ8 (and will definitely enjoy the DS releases) but yeah, I'm mostly done with Square Enix. Have you guys checked out the trailer to Infinite Undiscovery? I actually started laughing halfway through and I'm pretty sure I was supposed to take it seriously.

IU didn't even start as a Square Enix game as Microsoft contracted tri-Ace to do it. One year after its announcement Square Enix took over the publishing, likely due to Microsoft thinking the game will seller better then when publishing it itself.

I know the difference between developer and publisher is hard to grasp from outside, but a little background knowledge would be nice to see especially in threads like this one.

Yeah, I'm actually kind of shocked at just how many people came into this thread and repeatedly lumped Tri-Ace in with Square Enix.  Regardless of who publishes their titles, they're still a separate company, guys...

I am more than aware of the difference. I was referring to pretty much everything that Square Enix PUBLISHES, not necessarily develops.

Seeing as Tri-Ace only ever developed games for Enix/ Square-Enix, is doesn't mean anything that it's a separate company; it might as well be an Enix development team called Tri-Ace. The Enix part of Square-Enix almost always leaves the development part of games to third parties (although they probably should be called 1st or 2nd parties), but the game remains supervised by the Enix people.

For what it's worth, I disagree with almost everything I've read so far, I still enjoy Square-Enix games as much as I used to, but there are just so many games coming out now (compared to 10-15 years ago), that I spent less time with them than I used to. I'd go so far as to say I couldn't enjoy those games now as much as I used to, for various reasons. I tried replaying the PS1 version of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross the other day, and they just looked... so pixelated. Part of it is because HDTV’s aren’t so great for older games, but part of it is also because I'm now used to HD graphics and little pixel characters just don't have the same emotional impact. There's also the fact that I'm 27 now as opposed to 14 or 19. Nostalgia and Technology don't mix so well.

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Eh they still release stuff Im glad to play, such as Final Fantasy Tactics A2 next month.

and Im at least privy to some of there remakes.

Granted they do FFIV on the DS right, then they still have that one going for themselves....

Honestly, I had a blast with FFXII.  The story kind of broke down towards the end, but once you get used to the new system, battles take less and the game seems to flow a little better.  Oh, and I don't have to mention the phenomenal score that went with the game.

So, if Square has to try and do new stuff, bring it on.  They've always had a certain style that continues to captivate me and to see that style applied to, let's say a platformer, or shooter (Einhander 2 anyone?), the results might just be excellent.  I'll continue to cross my fingers.