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I think Square must be in serious financial trouble, look at all the games they have been releasing. Then there was the whole movie thing... honestly I wouldn't be surprised if next year the start pushing porn games or something. How much longer can this last?
This is one of the things that I love about the Ecco games.Quote:
Originally Posted by 17daysolderthannes
I was a big fan of Square in the PSX era. They put out a lot of games, and only a couple were duds. I'd say the same about SNES if they hadn't left so many of their games in Japan. But on PS2... I don't know what it was, but when they switched to PS2, I immediately stopped liking their games. I think their only PS2 games I enjoyed were Romancing Saga and Front Mission 4. And it's not really the PS2 itself, as I also hated Crystal Chronicles, and to this day I've liked very few of their games since 2000.
I was never a fan of Enix either. I always thought Dragon Warrior and Illusion of Gaia were just downright boring. Although I did enjoy Bust A Groove. I like Taito and Eidos, but I refuse to acknowledge them as being part of Square Enix.
Enix is the one company no one cares about for good reasons. I respect Taito greatly however in regards to classic and arcade gaming. As for Square, I did like FF6 alot, thought FF4 was overrated though, and I still want to get into FF1+2 (the GBA/PSX remakes of course) since they're mostly free of melodramatic BS and like alot of oldschool RPGs, leave more to the imagination. But in the PSX era, they did rock pretty hard but started to go downhill when transferring to the PS2 (in fact alot of respectable PS1-born franchises did like Crash, Spyro, etc. not just Squaresoft ones). Eidos is one company whose games I don't give a crap about for the most part. Some of the Tomb Raider games were better than others, but still not a really top company IMHO. In the meantime, I'm starting a seperate thread about Enix so we don't get off topic.
Don't bother. They are colossally boring games, and the battle systems are absolute relics in this day and age. I find it hard to believe that anyone who didn't play Final Fantasy back when it was released actually likes it. Phantasy Star is so far beyond FF it's scary.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5233
I used to own Final Fantasy Origins for PSX, and let me tell you, I agree with your post. I couldn't even finish the original FF, yet I love the original Phantasy Star to death because its sense of adventure was leagues above the original FF. Final Fantasy didn't grab me by the collar until VI for SNES, in which I played it a lot during my childhood. I've never played through any of the PSX or PS2 FF titles for the record, though I did play FF XI for a bit on XBOX 360.Quote:
Originally Posted by jerry coeurl
I been a gamer since the 90's (whole decade) and square for sure had excellent hits, some of the all time greatest such as: Final Fantasy 7 and Chrono Trigger as well as Secret of Mana. Final Fantasy 8 was also excellent of course, I was surprised by how much quality square retained after a titanic quality effort such as Final Fantasy 7, however, after Final Fantasy 8 things started to change somehow, and later deliveries of Final Fantasy never equaled the previous ones. In short, square from the past is better than today’s, that’s my opinion, the success of previous Final Fantasies over recent ones shows that a great game doesn’t depend completely by processing power nor graphic power, but rather and excellent story and fun-factor (music too), the fact is that many people will claim that is square is great, the answer is yes but it was greater
From what I played of the PSX FF Origins it wasn't too bad. I never started the second one. I also have them on wonderswan which is where the remakes originated. I'll have to see for myself.
FF2 is fundamentally broken and a useless game.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5233
You increase stats based on what effected your characters in battle, which means...you can beat your own characters to shit, kill the enemies, and watch as you become powerful, strutting your way to godhood one 'barely survived imp attack' at a time.
Final Fantasy 1 in origins is just nostalgic fan service for those who picked up the NES version years prior. It's nerfed though.
Square's 'Storytelling' peaked with Final Fantasy Tactics & Vagrant Story. I would hold Xenogears in a very high regard if they didn't essentially turn the game play 'off' on disc 2.
I love both eras, Squaresoft and Enix and Square Enix.
The SNES big three were fantastic: Final Fantasy 6 (III), Chrono Trigger, and Secret of Mana. Outside of those games, Final Fantasy 4 (II), Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Secret of Evermore, Super Mario RPG, and Actraiser 1 & 2 are all great. And if you include the releases outside of NA, you have Final Fantasy 5, Terranigma, Star Ocean, Dragon Quest 5 & 6, Front Mission, etc... That's just a wealth of riches.
I think Squaresoft somewhat peaked in the PSX era, but I love where Square Enix is at today. Granted, some of there newest releases have been duds (Infinite Undiscovery) and there series have been whored out (Star Ocean: The Last Hope, 50,000 different remakes or offshoots of Final Fantasy), but they've really been innovative as of late.
Final Fantasy XII and Dragon Quest VIII, the last two "true" entries in their biggest series' (in NA at least) were both excellent. And DQ IX looks to take the series in a very different direction, much like FF XII did. On top of that, the company has done some excellent work for the DS, most notably releasing remakes of unreleased classics like DQ V and FF III. Then there's the innovative stuff like the Crystal Chronicles series and The World Ends With You.
I don't know, I think they're doing all right *shrugs*.
Yes, yes, one thousand times yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knuckle Duster
Can I again comment on how much I love Final Fantasy XII? I'm only a third of the way through, but I have a feeling that it may end up being my all time favorite RPG.
Makes me both excited and nervous for Final Fantasy XIII. I'm also going to have to check out Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings one of these days.
FF XII is indeed awesome, and my favorite of the "main" series. The ball does get dropped in the last third of the game or so (at least, plot-wise), but it almost approaches FFT & Vagrant Story in terms of storytelling. Regardless, it's a fucking blast to play, the dialogue is great (almost Shakespearean, I would say) and the voice acting is the best I've ever heard in a game. It's a class act all the way, and I think I've logged more hours into that game than any other RPG aside from possibly Chrono Trigger & Phantasy Star IV.
Which reminds me. I need to play FF XII again!
The other problem with FFXII is that when it does drop the ball a bit, you can effectively grind the game by just 'setting macros & running around.' I don't mind it, but I certainly don't care for such an exploitable option being there.
Square's looking to expand the number of 'franchises' they pump out, and recently announced a sequel to Lufia with all the original (Taito) developers involved.
All Squeenix needs to do now is officially absorb GameArts :twisted:
Have you seen the trailer for Lufia?! I think it was posted somewhere on Gonintendo.com... too lazy to find the link. It looks pretty wacky.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knuckle Duster