Square Enix today vs Squaresoft from yesteryear

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Originally Posted by InternalPrimate

I think Secret of Evermore is maybe Square's most underrated game. Sure, it's a funny little American game based on the Seiken Densetsu style of play, but I loved the atmosphere. Maybe the reason I liked the game so much was because it was so different from the big three - Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy III (6).

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Yes, this company did no wrong by these releases, just another golden age for gaming.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

I like most of their SNES games. FF 2/4 is still good, aside from the poor translation. Super Mario RPG is excellent. Secret of Mana and Secret of Evermore are both great. If you count imports (that have since been translated), FF5, Front Mission, Bahamut Lagoon, Live A Live, Seiken Densetsu 3, and the Romancing Saga games are all good. On Game Boy, Final Fantasy Legend II is awesome, and I like Final Fantasy Adventure more than its remake. Mystic Quest isn't so hot, but other than that they had a rather good record. What don't you like?

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I guess I should have said their early Final Fantasy titles, that's really what I meant. Final Fantasy II/IV for instance, I didn't play until after FF III/VI, and I have never played past the point where Cecil becomes a Paladin. I just get bored around that point. I never liked Secret of Evermore, I'm not sure why. It just struck me as a lamer Secret of Mana, I guess. I liked Secret of Mana well enough, but I think Legend of Mana is even better, that's definitely my favorite in the series. Super Mario RPG was fun at the time, I guess, but going back to it is tough. I enjoy the Paper Mario style a whole lot more. I haven't played any of those import titles except for FFV, which I really didn't like. The job system was cool but the story was so generic, vanilla "fantasy" that I had to struggle to make any progress at all.

I love the Final Fantasy Legend games, as I'm a big fan of the SaGa series (SaGa Frontier is among my favorite games ever, and my third favorite SquareSoft release after Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story). Mystic Quest sucks. I don't think they were terrible pre-PSX, but they definitely hit their stride in the PSX days, imo. And I think the early Final Fantasy titles are really overrated, that's all.

Well, I do agree that Final Fantasy for NES (and FF2 and 3 for Famicom) were poor, along with pretty much all of their NES games (Rad Racer, etc.). But I really liked FF 2/4 on SNES. Except that nowadays it's better played on other systems, with an updated translation and use of the "harder" version (the original US version had weaker enemies and fewer levels and was called "Final Fantasy IV Easy Type" in Japan). I think the battle system was almost as good as 3/6, and the overall plot is pretty good (even if individual set pieces are less than stellar).

And good god man, if you love Saga Frontier and Final Fantasy Legend II, you really owe it to yourself to play Romancing Saga. The first one was remade for PS2 and got a US release. The second and third should have fan ROM translations, at least I know the third does (and the second is considered not as good anyway).

Yeah, I was unaware that they'd actually remade Romancing SaGa until about a month ago. I'm definitely gonna go hunting for it one of these days. It looks awesome.