by Deathsitexxi Wed Mar 27, 2013 4:09 pmMy perspective on why Square Enix games don’t sell as well in North America.
I read an article yesterday about Square Enix games not selling “well” in America, and for some reason wrote this. It’s rather long and the grammar kind of sucks but I figured I wrote it I might as well post it somewhere. Let me know what you think are the issues with Square in general, if you think there are any issues at all.
Does anybody remember the PS1 era of Square games? I remember them all very well. Why? Because when a game came out that said “Square Soft” on the case, I bought it with no questions asked. After Final Fantasy VII came out it was like Square Soft could do no wrong, but they also had a wider variety of genres. Games like Brave Fencer Musashi, Tobal , Xenogears, Bushido Blade, Parasite Eve, Front Mission Ehrgeiz, Einhander, and Vagrant Story. Sure for the most part they were known for their traditional JRPGs, but they were trying different things, which to me was always exciting. In those days, it seemed to me Square’s mantra was “What games do we want to make? Forget the risks let’s put it all out there!” I don’t think they just came up with ideas and put them into production without weighing the risks, but I do think things were a bit freer flowing during this time. I spent countless hours with these games and I have fond memories of them all. You could say it’s just nostalgia, and I would somewhat agree with you, I do factor that in. However, to this day I could still play most of these games (old graphics, controls and all) and have a good time with them.
Moving on to the Playstation 2 era we see some heavy hitters like: Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy X, Star Ocean, Drakengard, Valkyrie Profile 2 and Dirge of Cerberus. There was also a merger with Enix during this time which created the company we know today as Square Enix. During this era, understandably, Square seemed to change their approach. They started asking themselves a different question “What games are we willing to make? Let’s pick and choose carefully.” This was kind of a given, upon absorbing Enix they gained a much larger library of games to pull from. Games with fan bases already in place, games that were “guaranteed” to make money. Even before the merger though, their mind set had changed to this. I’m not saying they half assed any of these games, but I will say during the Playstation 2 era they started to “streamline” their games. Final Fantasy X is a perfect example of this.
Something I’ve always loved about Final Fantasy was taken out of the tenth version of the series, the World Map. To most, including myself at the time, it didn’t matter much, Final Fantasy X was a great game and I’m not ashamed to say I really enjoyed it. Looking back as a fan though, I can see that it was the beginning of a negative trend of cutting corners in the series. The open world map design sacrificed for tighter narrative and total Dev control of the flow of the game. However, there were more positives than negatives: excellent music, a fun battle system, awesome graphics, and for the first time ever. . . Voice acting! It was and still is hard to dislike the game if you are a Final Fantasy fan.
From this, we got the first sequel to a numbered Final Fantasy ever, Final Fantasy X-2. It doesn’t matter if you loved or hated this game, the fact of the matter is that X-2 was a recycled Final Fantasy X and was an attempt to cash in on the success of Final Fantasy X. Though I may have disliked the story and the changes they made to certain characters, I did enjoy the slight changes to the battle system (the changing outfits were kind of fun). That said, it was hard for me to complete this game. Not because of my dislike for the changes, but because I couldn’t shake the “cheap cash in” feeling. I couldn’t believe that the first sequel to a numbered Final Fantasy ended up being this game. In my mind, as the game was being developed, I thought “Oh man, they don’t have to create any new resources and can really focus on making the story that much better!” They didn’t have to make anything from the ground up, they reused areas, characters, monsters, etc. and the story we got was goofy and very nonsensical, which when compared to Final Fantasy X’s story was a big 180.
I used to be one of those guys that said “I’ve played every numbered Final Fantasy since its release, and I’m not about to miss an entry to the series” which prompted me to buying Final Fantasy XI. Yes, I bought the hard drive for the PS2 and played from my couch for 2 long years that I will never get back and I loved it. Being my first MMO experience I truly became an addict. Then Final Fantasy XII came out, and coming from my MMO addiction it was an easy transition to get into it. As a matter of fact, it was eerie just how much the 2 games had in common game play wise. To me, because of my in depth experience with XI, XII seemed like another quick cash in because of its MMO like feel and presentation. Copied and then pasted the MMO experience into a single player game making the graphics prettier and hoping no one would notice. Instead of partying with a group of my friends, I was programming them with in-game macros thereby making them an extension of myself. Don’t get me wrong, the art style was good and the production value was top notch. I had fun playing Final Fantasy XII, but I felt like they assumed most people skipped XI because it was online only, so they recycled several game mechanics from that knowing nobody would know the difference.
Enter Final Fantasy XIII & the PS3 era
Who didn’t stare at this game in awe when the Sqenix first started to tease this game? All of the fan-boy inside of me came to life as I watched and read every preview. I bought this game so excited, and by the time I was done with it I felt…nothing really. What I mean by that is, I played the game, thought it was good and didn’t touch it again. It didn’t dawn on me until months later when I was recommending games to my friend that I realized I was disappointed with the game. I not going to sit here and dog Final Fantasy XIII and its developers because they did their jobs and made a good JRPG, it just doesn’t seem to fit into the Final Fantasy series. And honestly, no one should be surprised at the linearity in the game because the series has been heading this direction since X. I even try to look at it in a cultural manner, as in; this game is perfect for the Japanese person who doesn’t have a ton of time to play games but wants their Final Fantasy fix. You can play the game in shorter sittings then you could other Final Fantasy games and accomplish enough to satisfy that RPG gamer inside of you. You don’t feel like you left any stone unturned because there were not that many stones to turn really, perfect for any OCD gamers out there. Then came Final Fantasy XIII-2…
I won’t lie to anyone here; I have yet to play Final Fantasy XIII-2. Not because I hated XIII so much I couldn’t be bothered to play it, but because I was focused on playing other games I was more interested in. Which in lies two big problems for Square in my eyes; series fatigue and fans seeing Final Fantasy XIII-2 as the next phase of Square Enix’s negative evolution, causing fans to become disinterested in their products. As a fan it seems as if they are not really concerned with what we want to play but are asking themselves “What can we re-use and re-package and call a brand new game? What is the biggest bang for our buck?” Now let’s not lie to ourselves and look like entitled cry baby gamers. No one asked for those experimental games like Tobal, Ehrgeiz, Drakengaurd or Bushido Blade and we loved them. They didn’t “listen” to us then, so nothing has really changed there. However, with that mantra change from the PS1 era “What games do we want to make?” to the PS3 era “How can we make the most money?” the nature of said games are changing into fake and empty feeling products. In the end, they are a company and companies are doing everything they can to make money but in some ways it feels like they have lost their fire for making games and are just going through the motions. When I say this I am referring to the main Square Enix company and not their satellite game makers.
A good example of what I mean is the new Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider’s single player experience is great; it’s Arkham City but with graphic kills. This game could have been a new IP all together but it was re-packaged as “Tomb Raider” for the name. With that being said, Crystal Dynamics did a great job making this game. Whether you like the direction of the series or not you can see the passion they put into making this game. It reminds me of the kind of games Square Enix used to make.
I look at my current PS3 game collection and there are maybe 2-3 core Square Enix games that I’ve purchased. This is a far cry from what my PS1 and PS2 collection looks like. Maybe I grew out of Square Enix’s style of gaming, but I can’t help but think it’s more along the lines of I’m waiting for the old Square to return.
I read an article yesterday about Square Enix games not selling “well” in America, and for some reason wrote this. It’s rather long and the grammar kind of sucks but I figured I wrote it I might as well post it somewhere. Let me know what you think are the issues with Square in general, if you think there are any issues at all.
Does anybody remember the PS1 era of Square games? I remember them all very well. Why? Because when a game came out that said “Square Soft” on the case, I bought it with no questions asked. After Final Fantasy VII came out it was like Square Soft could do no wrong, but they also had a wider variety of genres. Games like Brave Fencer Musashi, Tobal , Xenogears, Bushido Blade, Parasite Eve, Front Mission Ehrgeiz, Einhander, and Vagrant Story. Sure for the most part they were known for their traditional JRPGs, but they were trying different things, which to me was always exciting. In those days, it seemed to me Square’s mantra was “What games do we want to make? Forget the risks let’s put it all out there!” I don’t think they just came up with ideas and put them into production without weighing the risks, but I do think things were a bit freer flowing during this time. I spent countless hours with these games and I have fond memories of them all. You could say it’s just nostalgia, and I would somewhat agree with you, I do factor that in. However, to this day I could still play most of these games (old graphics, controls and all) and have a good time with them.
Moving on to the Playstation 2 era we see some heavy hitters like: Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy X, Star Ocean, Drakengard, Valkyrie Profile 2 and Dirge of Cerberus. There was also a merger with Enix during this time which created the company we know today as Square Enix. During this era, understandably, Square seemed to change their approach. They started asking themselves a different question “What games are we willing to make? Let’s pick and choose carefully.” This was kind of a given, upon absorbing Enix they gained a much larger library of games to pull from. Games with fan bases already in place, games that were “guaranteed” to make money. Even before the merger though, their mind set had changed to this. I’m not saying they half assed any of these games, but I will say during the Playstation 2 era they started to “streamline” their games. Final Fantasy X is a perfect example of this.
Something I’ve always loved about Final Fantasy was taken out of the tenth version of the series, the World Map. To most, including myself at the time, it didn’t matter much, Final Fantasy X was a great game and I’m not ashamed to say I really enjoyed it. Looking back as a fan though, I can see that it was the beginning of a negative trend of cutting corners in the series. The open world map design sacrificed for tighter narrative and total Dev control of the flow of the game. However, there were more positives than negatives: excellent music, a fun battle system, awesome graphics, and for the first time ever. . . Voice acting! It was and still is hard to dislike the game if you are a Final Fantasy fan.
From this, we got the first sequel to a numbered Final Fantasy ever, Final Fantasy X-2. It doesn’t matter if you loved or hated this game, the fact of the matter is that X-2 was a recycled Final Fantasy X and was an attempt to cash in on the success of Final Fantasy X. Though I may have disliked the story and the changes they made to certain characters, I did enjoy the slight changes to the battle system (the changing outfits were kind of fun). That said, it was hard for me to complete this game. Not because of my dislike for the changes, but because I couldn’t shake the “cheap cash in” feeling. I couldn’t believe that the first sequel to a numbered Final Fantasy ended up being this game. In my mind, as the game was being developed, I thought “Oh man, they don’t have to create any new resources and can really focus on making the story that much better!” They didn’t have to make anything from the ground up, they reused areas, characters, monsters, etc. and the story we got was goofy and very nonsensical, which when compared to Final Fantasy X’s story was a big 180.
I used to be one of those guys that said “I’ve played every numbered Final Fantasy since its release, and I’m not about to miss an entry to the series” which prompted me to buying Final Fantasy XI. Yes, I bought the hard drive for the PS2 and played from my couch for 2 long years that I will never get back and I loved it. Being my first MMO experience I truly became an addict. Then Final Fantasy XII came out, and coming from my MMO addiction it was an easy transition to get into it. As a matter of fact, it was eerie just how much the 2 games had in common game play wise. To me, because of my in depth experience with XI, XII seemed like another quick cash in because of its MMO like feel and presentation. Copied and then pasted the MMO experience into a single player game making the graphics prettier and hoping no one would notice. Instead of partying with a group of my friends, I was programming them with in-game macros thereby making them an extension of myself. Don’t get me wrong, the art style was good and the production value was top notch. I had fun playing Final Fantasy XII, but I felt like they assumed most people skipped XI because it was online only, so they recycled several game mechanics from that knowing nobody would know the difference.
Enter Final Fantasy XIII & the PS3 era
Who didn’t stare at this game in awe when the Sqenix first started to tease this game? All of the fan-boy inside of me came to life as I watched and read every preview. I bought this game so excited, and by the time I was done with it I felt…nothing really. What I mean by that is, I played the game, thought it was good and didn’t touch it again. It didn’t dawn on me until months later when I was recommending games to my friend that I realized I was disappointed with the game. I not going to sit here and dog Final Fantasy XIII and its developers because they did their jobs and made a good JRPG, it just doesn’t seem to fit into the Final Fantasy series. And honestly, no one should be surprised at the linearity in the game because the series has been heading this direction since X. I even try to look at it in a cultural manner, as in; this game is perfect for the Japanese person who doesn’t have a ton of time to play games but wants their Final Fantasy fix. You can play the game in shorter sittings then you could other Final Fantasy games and accomplish enough to satisfy that RPG gamer inside of you. You don’t feel like you left any stone unturned because there were not that many stones to turn really, perfect for any OCD gamers out there. Then came Final Fantasy XIII-2…
I won’t lie to anyone here; I have yet to play Final Fantasy XIII-2. Not because I hated XIII so much I couldn’t be bothered to play it, but because I was focused on playing other games I was more interested in. Which in lies two big problems for Square in my eyes; series fatigue and fans seeing Final Fantasy XIII-2 as the next phase of Square Enix’s negative evolution, causing fans to become disinterested in their products. As a fan it seems as if they are not really concerned with what we want to play but are asking themselves “What can we re-use and re-package and call a brand new game? What is the biggest bang for our buck?” Now let’s not lie to ourselves and look like entitled cry baby gamers. No one asked for those experimental games like Tobal, Ehrgeiz, Drakengaurd or Bushido Blade and we loved them. They didn’t “listen” to us then, so nothing has really changed there. However, with that mantra change from the PS1 era “What games do we want to make?” to the PS3 era “How can we make the most money?” the nature of said games are changing into fake and empty feeling products. In the end, they are a company and companies are doing everything they can to make money but in some ways it feels like they have lost their fire for making games and are just going through the motions. When I say this I am referring to the main Square Enix company and not their satellite game makers.
A good example of what I mean is the new Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider’s single player experience is great; it’s Arkham City but with graphic kills. This game could have been a new IP all together but it was re-packaged as “Tomb Raider” for the name. With that being said, Crystal Dynamics did a great job making this game. Whether you like the direction of the series or not you can see the passion they put into making this game. It reminds me of the kind of games Square Enix used to make.
I look at my current PS3 game collection and there are maybe 2-3 core Square Enix games that I’ve purchased. This is a far cry from what my PS1 and PS2 collection looks like. Maybe I grew out of Square Enix’s style of gaming, but I can’t help but think it’s more along the lines of I’m waiting for the old Square to return.
