Old man perspective fyi: Back in the day, Square set trends. Nowadays, I agree with you, they chase the trends. Square used to be a dev that didn't really seem to be afraid to experiment with the RPG genre, versus now, where it seems they make games based on what analytics tell them. It's like they went from a group of game developers that wanted to share their stories, ideas, and passions with the players, to people that ask their accounting team what they should create. Like I understand from a business perspective, if some gaming trend is just bringing in ridiculous money, why not try to get a piece of the pie? But that's a business decision, not a creative decision. And the more and more you make business decisions over creative ones, the more and more a company becomes just a shell of what it once was. And then the idea of success shifts from player's love for their games, to just, "how much money did it make?" For someone that has played games developed by Square for three decades, it's such a night and day difference between then and now, at least, in my experience. Square is behind other devs now, and imo, just straight up lost on wtf they want to do and who they are. They need to stop trying to people please and trend chase, put the analytics down,, and just go for the most creative and passionate idea in the room. Thanks for the vid, it was an interesting watch.
Thank you for watching and providing your perspective! It's been very eye opening experiencing Square in their prime with their classic 90s games vs. what they are like now.
The "what is Final Fantasy" is a really interesting topic tbh, I also had to explain it to some friends once, and with FFXVI a lot of people are also saying that it's not really a FF game. From the games that I played, it does feel like 1-9 feels a lot more consistent in their identity compared to the "newer" titles. While 16 is definitely still Final Fantasy imo, I can see why it gets people upset tbh. I kinda feel like the franchise needs to take a bit to really figure it out and establish a clearer identity, I would love if 17 takes it "back to basics" with an overworld system and stuff. But yeah, Square in general has been weird. Putting out games like Various Daylife, no marketing for NEO TWEWY and basically shadowdropping the steam port, making NieR 3 a mobile gacha that's basically lost media since it shut down, radio silence on Kingdom Hearts even if Missing Link was supposed to have a demo or beta a few months ago, ignoring fan demand for remakes and remasters, .... idk what theyre cooking
They've been cannibalizing sales and they know it. I was deciding between FFXVI and Visions of Mana on PC... And sure, I could've bought both, but the time investment... (Went with FF) And there's a remake of Romancing Saga 2 later this year
It never ceases to amaze me how tone deaf a lot of these bigger companies can be sometimes. Thanks for putting your opinion out there and for holding square enix accountable! Here’s hoping we will eventually see a Xenogears remake!
IF they were to ever do a Xenogears remake but make the FULL game, not the cut version that came out on Playstation, I'd seriously buy whatever system it would come out on just to play it.
Yes. That's my dream. For them to fully develop disc 2 and fix the issues they had with the dialogue. I'll have a full video with a wish list coming later!
I’m 42. When I was in high school FF7 was so huge at that time. Was groundbreaking for its time. I noticed quality of ffs going down after 10. I’m one of the odd ones that liked 13. But then i played 15 and told myself i was done with ff after that game. On a side note Paranormasight I liked quite a bit
Great video, and I do agree with your points, especially the not-strong marketing of their smaller IPs which really rubbed me the wrong way, as someone who's mostly did some, aka Visions of Mana and Star Ocean: The Divine Force, and them chasing trends or making games that no one really cares about aka Foamstars, when there is some valued IPs (older ones) there are sleeping as much as Bamco and Capcom have been doing. And yeah, they really need to fix the marketing, their spacing out of releases, and tone the budget and stop less about chasing what's popular nowadays to the point that what was popular, isn't so anymore by the time is out. ALSO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT REMAKE FINAL FANTASY IX IN MULTIPLE PARTS. Just look at your other Remakes outside of FF7, like Star Ocean 2, Live A Live, Trials of Mana, even Romancing Saga 2 that you got this month and Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D in November, which arguably is going to be a huge hit especially in Japan!
Yeah their remake game with the games you mentioned is really strong, so I hope they don't mess up FF9 and Tactics! Also they gotta do Xenogears next!!
Incredible video here!Everything discussed here is definitely worth deep thought, and something that needs to be talked about. If I would throw my two cents on this, Square Enix definitely has a budget and marketing problem. You see games like FFXVI and the FFVII Remake series that are really good, well received titles the series has had in a while. However, the fact that they cost an outrageous amount of money to make is just not viable, especially considering the future of the series. People do not want to wait more than 5 years for another big entry in the series. Investors also want a return on ROI and it seems like with the current state of how FF games are being developed, that is just not happening like it should be. Their marketing also needs serious work as well. I’ve heard more times than I can count where there were FF fans that didn’t even know FFXVI was releasing or was released, and the same for Rebirth as well. A lot of Square Enix games feel as though they should be getting more attention before release, but the reality is that these games go under the radar for many people.
Thanks for watching! Yeah I think the amount of money and resources they spend on games is crazy and they gotta scale it back! I think with FF17 potentially being multi platform and on the Switch 2, they might scale things back a bit in terms of scope and scale, but like I said... with some limitations they can get even more creative with presentation of the world and story!
I love the Remake series so far, but you're on point. The problem with the Remake series is we've approached the Kingdom Hearts problem. I love the Kingdom Hearts series as much as the next guy, but when you have a series that requires SO MUCH HOMEWORK to really understand what's happening, people will check out. Super fans like me, who played 7, watched Advent Children, played Crisis Core, played Dirge, and immediately saw the connections with the remake series do get something out of it. But that's just because I'm the low percentage who went all in from the get go. Good chat, brother!
I think you really nailed a lot of the discorse surrounding Square-Enix in the past few years. They announced that they want to have an aggressive multi-platform strategy going forward and if they can follow through on that they should be able to expand their audience. But like you said they have a huge problem with chasing trends. S-E really wants a big GaaS title and I don't think they'll give up on that completely. I hope I'm wrong and that they're able to figure out how to get around the bad and focus on what makes them great. Make less games like Foamstars but still keep games like Octopath Traveler II and Star Ocean 2R going alongside Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts. But try harder to reach a wider audience with these games instead of chasing what doesn't work for them.
Great video! I don't have a lot to say here because I haven't played any FF games, but you are correct in assuming that even the thought of playing all of FF7 media is daunting, so much to do. As for Xenogears, I would really love to see them remaking or even remastering the game, I know they won't; and if they do, Nintendo would probably do a better job at marketing the game than them.
I have to say I'm really worried that Square are digging themselves into a hole where they might need to be purchased by sony or something. All I can hope for is that they decide to make lower fidelity games and titles that really focus on the rich qualities that rpg and arpg fans gravitate toward. Praying that the Switch 2 creates the perfect storm for them to be honest, mid range performance that can output current gen image quality would be so good for the japanese gaming market right about now. I do think it's REALLY weird that they went for the fortnite approach with the western style live service model when they literally could've copied genshin impact but just with a bunch of original characters and a world littered with square enix references. I don't really play those games but I'd be there instantly...
Hot take warning: I feel like there's a lot of brand arrogance with Square these days. It almost feels like they genuinely think, "Oh well the masses will just buy it because we're Square Enix and everyone knows who Square Enix is." Totally aware this almost certainly isn't it, but just watching the doubling down, the throwing money at projects hoping it works, and endless trend chasing, it really does feel like Square has this mindset of, "It'll work because it's us doing it." And you know what, I'll be the first to admit, those of us online could be part of the problem. It's almost a requirement to glaze Square Enix if you want to have a positive presence in the community. It's even worse for you as a content creator. I can tell you're pulling your punches and really thinking over your words every other sentence during the critique portion. You dare to suggest they aren't the finest in JRPGs as far as the modern generation of gaming goes--because that was absolutely true back in the day--and you're thrown on a crucifix. That's not a healthy environment for a game developer to improve in. That only leads to stagnation and arrogance. Look at modern Pokemon and Genshin Impact even. Square Enix is on a bullet train in that direction at the rate they're going.
Haha I will say during the FF16 controversy back last year I remember many creators being bashed for their analysis of the sales and direction of the series! xD I did hold back a bit, but if you check out some of my older Pokemon and Game Freak videos you might see a more critical side of me xD
a bit out of topic, but i kinda wish Monolith Soft would do a Xenoblade with an ambience and atmospheric like the Blade Runner movies, that would be really cool, i think they could rock it (funny enough blade runner is a character-driven story, but Monolith Soft could transform it into a plot-driven story for sure xD)
The money from the gears merch better be going to funding the xenogears remake. But tbh, i'm not sure i want them to remake gears because i'm scared they will not do a good job and they will ruin it, so maybe it's better for it to be left alone. I feel like the problem with FF identity is that FF is a series that focus on character-driven stories and these type of stories are really a hit or miss because every game has a new protagonist so we the players have to go through the main character journey in the story and that's different for every FF. Like yeah, we have party members, the world needs to be saved in every FF but we see the world through the main characters thoughts, view points and feelings, it's the main character that pushes the plot, especially in FF like 7, 8, 16, and eveything else seems to revolve around the protagonist and, in my opinion, that's a bit limiting. While Xenoblade series is focused on plot-driven stories, yes each game has a different main protagonist but all the characters are important, you can play as any of them, all of them feel important for the world, the plot pushes them, not the other way around, the world feels alive, the world seems to be moving even without the protagonist, so that's why it's a plot-driven story, it doesn't focus only on the main characters struggles but also on every other character and the on world too, that's why every xenoblade feels like it's connected, every xenoblade feels familiar, even Xenoblade X it's different but still feels like a Xenoblade game. FF has also a few plot-driven games like FF12 and FF Tactics, i think FF6 and maybe FF5 are also a bit more plot-driven stories if my memory serves. (FF4 i feel like it's a mix of both, i don't remember much the game but i know it focuses a lot on the main character struggle, but also later in the game feels like a plot-driven story....)
I played Squaresoft games back during the "golden age." Like any romantisized period, it wasn't perfect... Load times, lack of (good) strategy guides, late rental fees... Good times 👍 That said, I'm finishing FFXVI on PC, and it's the first FF game I actually played since FFXII came out on PS2. There is alot I like about it, but it often fails to be a good story or a good video game. I would say it suffers from problems that are common for this current era of gaming (the silver age) and FF is a series that has its hey-day during the last era of gaming (the golden age), where a story in a game was still a novelty. Still--- I'd recommend playing Saga Frontier 2, which imo had a better (and similar) story than FFXVI. And hasn't been remastered (unlike the 1st game). And if I had some advice for how Swuare should make a FF game a FF game (besides chocobos and moogles).... Make it a love story. The best FF games are love stories (i.e. FF 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4)
I think the problem is that big companies pressure the devs to make the next biggest thing and push the current gen of consoles to the limits making the games take far to long to make and all the classics get left behind. Square Enix isn't going to give us players what we want because the company big wigs think they know better. I love JRPGs and grew up with them. I would love to see Xenogears and Mana games as well as FF come to the modern consoles in better styles and graphics but sadly I think that won't happen. Would be cool though.
FF16 never felt like final fantasy. Still enjoyed it tho. FF Rebirth was my game of the year until Metaphor came out. It blew it out of the water. FF Rebirth is a real FF. Square needs to get their identity straight.
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Old man perspective fyi: Back in the day, Square set trends. Nowadays, I agree with you, they chase the trends. Square used to be a dev that didn't really seem to be afraid to experiment with the RPG genre, versus now, where it seems they make games based on what analytics tell them. It's like they went from a group of game developers that wanted to share their stories, ideas, and passions with the players, to people that ask their accounting team what they should create.
Like I understand from a business perspective, if some gaming trend is just bringing in ridiculous money, why not try to get a piece of the pie? But that's a business decision, not a creative decision. And the more and more you make business decisions over creative ones, the more and more a company becomes just a shell of what it once was. And then the idea of success shifts from player's love for their games, to just, "how much money did it make?"
For someone that has played games developed by Square for three decades, it's such a night and day difference between then and now, at least, in my experience. Square is behind other devs now, and imo, just straight up lost on wtf they want to do and who they are. They need to stop trying to people please and trend chase, put the analytics down,, and just go for the most creative and passionate idea in the room.
Thanks for the vid, it was an interesting watch.
Thank you for watching and providing your perspective! It's been very eye opening experiencing Square in their prime with their classic 90s games vs. what they are like now.
Insightful take! You would be surprised by how many gamers that would agree with you, not just for SquareEnix but also for the industry overall.
The "what is Final Fantasy" is a really interesting topic tbh, I also had to explain it to some friends once, and with FFXVI a lot of people are also saying that it's not really a FF game. From the games that I played, it does feel like 1-9 feels a lot more consistent in their identity compared to the "newer" titles. While 16 is definitely still Final Fantasy imo, I can see why it gets people upset tbh. I kinda feel like the franchise needs to take a bit to really figure it out and establish a clearer identity, I would love if 17 takes it "back to basics" with an overworld system and stuff.
But yeah, Square in general has been weird. Putting out games like Various Daylife, no marketing for NEO TWEWY and basically shadowdropping the steam port, making NieR 3 a mobile gacha that's basically lost media since it shut down, radio silence on Kingdom Hearts even if Missing Link was supposed to have a demo or beta a few months ago, ignoring fan demand for remakes and remasters, .... idk what theyre cooking
I'll never forgive them for not marketing those AA games properly 😭
They've been cannibalizing sales and they know it. I was deciding between FFXVI and Visions of Mana on PC... And sure, I could've bought both, but the time investment... (Went with FF)
And there's a remake of Romancing Saga 2 later this year
It never ceases to amaze me how tone deaf a lot of these bigger companies can be sometimes. Thanks for putting your opinion out there and for holding square enix accountable! Here’s hoping we will eventually see a Xenogears remake!
IF they were to ever do a Xenogears remake but make the FULL game, not the cut version that came out on Playstation, I'd seriously buy whatever system it would come out on just to play it.
Yes. That's my dream. For them to fully develop disc 2 and fix the issues they had with the dialogue. I'll have a full video with a wish list coming later!
I’m 42. When I was in high school FF7 was so huge at that time. Was groundbreaking for its time. I noticed quality of ffs going down after 10. I’m one of the odd ones that liked 13. But then i played 15 and told myself i was done with ff after that game. On a side note Paranormasight I liked quite a bit
I'm very excited to play 10 I think its classic vibe will really resonate with me. Idk why I never played it on PS2 back in the day!
Just started paranormasight. Good premise
Great video, and I do agree with your points, especially the not-strong marketing of their smaller IPs which really rubbed me the wrong way, as someone who's mostly did some, aka Visions of Mana and Star Ocean: The Divine Force, and them chasing trends or making games that no one really cares about aka Foamstars, when there is some valued IPs (older ones) there are sleeping as much as Bamco and Capcom have been doing.
And yeah, they really need to fix the marketing, their spacing out of releases, and tone the budget and stop less about chasing what's popular nowadays to the point that what was popular, isn't so anymore by the time is out.
ALSO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT REMAKE FINAL FANTASY IX IN MULTIPLE PARTS. Just look at your other Remakes outside of FF7, like Star Ocean 2, Live A Live, Trials of Mana, even Romancing Saga 2 that you got this month and Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D in November, which arguably is going to be a huge hit especially in Japan!
Yeah their remake game with the games you mentioned is really strong, so I hope they don't mess up FF9 and Tactics! Also they gotta do Xenogears next!!
Incredible video here!Everything discussed here is definitely worth deep thought, and something that needs to be talked about. If I would throw my two cents on this, Square Enix definitely has a budget and marketing problem.
You see games like FFXVI and the FFVII Remake series that are really good, well received titles the series has had in a while. However, the fact that they cost an outrageous amount of money to make is just not viable, especially considering the future of the series. People do not want to wait more than 5 years for another big entry in the series. Investors also want a return on ROI and it seems like with the current state of how FF games are being developed, that is just not happening like it should be.
Their marketing also needs serious work as well. I’ve heard more times than I can count where there were FF fans that didn’t even know FFXVI was releasing or was released, and the same for Rebirth as well. A lot of Square Enix games feel as though they should be getting more attention before release, but the reality is that these games go under the radar for many people.
Thanks for watching! Yeah I think the amount of money and resources they spend on games is crazy and they gotta scale it back! I think with FF17 potentially being multi platform and on the Switch 2, they might scale things back a bit in terms of scope and scale, but like I said... with some limitations they can get even more creative with presentation of the world and story!
I love the Remake series so far, but you're on point. The problem with the Remake series is we've approached the Kingdom Hearts problem. I love the Kingdom Hearts series as much as the next guy, but when you have a series that requires SO MUCH HOMEWORK to really understand what's happening, people will check out. Super fans like me, who played 7, watched Advent Children, played Crisis Core, played Dirge, and immediately saw the connections with the remake series do get something out of it. But that's just because I'm the low percentage who went all in from the get go. Good chat, brother!
Thanks! Yeah once I beat Remake I knew this would be more than just a simple retelling and I had to put in the extra effort to understand it all lol
This video is very insightful and honestly it made me so much more thankful and grateful for monolith soft and Atlus
Thank God they exist and I'm so excited to become a Falcom fan soon too!
I think you really nailed a lot of the discorse surrounding Square-Enix in the past few years. They announced that they want to have an aggressive multi-platform strategy going forward and if they can follow through on that they should be able to expand their audience. But like you said they have a huge problem with chasing trends. S-E really wants a big GaaS title and I don't think they'll give up on that completely. I hope I'm wrong and that they're able to figure out how to get around the bad and focus on what makes them great. Make less games like Foamstars but still keep games like Octopath Traveler II and Star Ocean 2R going alongside Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts. But try harder to reach a wider audience with these games instead of chasing what doesn't work for them.
Yes exactly. Grow your audience in a smart way and maintain the fans they have from before 🙏🏽
Great video!
I don't have a lot to say here because I haven't played any FF games, but you are correct in assuming that even the thought of playing all of FF7 media is daunting, so much to do.
As for Xenogears, I would really love to see them remaking or even remastering the game, I know they won't; and if they do, Nintendo would probably do a better job at marketing the game than them.
Good video, keep it up 🙂
I have to say I'm really worried that Square are digging themselves into a hole where they might need to be purchased by sony or something. All I can hope for is that they decide to make lower fidelity games and titles that really focus on the rich qualities that rpg and arpg fans gravitate toward. Praying that the Switch 2 creates the perfect storm for them to be honest, mid range performance that can output current gen image quality would be so good for the japanese gaming market right about now.
I do think it's REALLY weird that they went for the fortnite approach with the western style live service model when they literally could've copied genshin impact but just with a bunch of original characters and a world littered with square enix references. I don't really play those games but I'd be there instantly...
Hot take warning: I feel like there's a lot of brand arrogance with Square these days. It almost feels like they genuinely think, "Oh well the masses will just buy it because we're Square Enix and everyone knows who Square Enix is." Totally aware this almost certainly isn't it, but just watching the doubling down, the throwing money at projects hoping it works, and endless trend chasing, it really does feel like Square has this mindset of, "It'll work because it's us doing it."
And you know what, I'll be the first to admit, those of us online could be part of the problem. It's almost a requirement to glaze Square Enix if you want to have a positive presence in the community. It's even worse for you as a content creator. I can tell you're pulling your punches and really thinking over your words every other sentence during the critique portion. You dare to suggest they aren't the finest in JRPGs as far as the modern generation of gaming goes--because that was absolutely true back in the day--and you're thrown on a crucifix. That's not a healthy environment for a game developer to improve in. That only leads to stagnation and arrogance. Look at modern Pokemon and Genshin Impact even. Square Enix is on a bullet train in that direction at the rate they're going.
Haha I will say during the FF16 controversy back last year I remember many creators being bashed for their analysis of the sales and direction of the series! xD I did hold back a bit, but if you check out some of my older Pokemon and Game Freak videos you might see a more critical side of me xD
a bit out of topic, but i kinda wish Monolith Soft would do a Xenoblade with an ambience and atmospheric like the Blade Runner movies, that would be really cool, i think they could rock it (funny enough blade runner is a character-driven story, but Monolith Soft could transform it into a plot-driven story for sure xD)
The money from the gears merch better be going to funding the xenogears remake. But tbh, i'm not sure i want them to remake gears because i'm scared they will not do a good job and they will ruin it, so maybe it's better for it to be left alone.
I feel like the problem with FF identity is that FF is a series that focus on character-driven stories and these type of stories are really a hit or miss because every game has a new protagonist so we the players have to go through the main character journey in the story and that's different for every FF. Like yeah, we have party members, the world needs to be saved in every FF but we see the world through the main characters thoughts, view points and feelings, it's the main character that pushes the plot, especially in FF like 7, 8, 16, and eveything else seems to revolve around the protagonist and, in my opinion, that's a bit limiting.
While Xenoblade series is focused on plot-driven stories, yes each game has a different main protagonist but all the characters are important, you can play as any of them, all of them feel important for the world, the plot pushes them, not the other way around, the world feels alive, the world seems to be moving even without the protagonist, so that's why it's a plot-driven story, it doesn't focus only on the main characters struggles but also on every other character and the on world too, that's why every xenoblade feels like it's connected, every xenoblade feels familiar, even Xenoblade X it's different but still feels like a Xenoblade game.
FF has also a few plot-driven games like FF12 and FF Tactics, i think FF6 and maybe FF5 are also a bit more plot-driven stories if my memory serves.
(FF4 i feel like it's a mix of both, i don't remember much the game but i know it focuses a lot on the main character struggle, but also later in the game feels like a plot-driven story....)
I played Squaresoft games back during the "golden age." Like any romantisized period, it wasn't perfect... Load times, lack of (good) strategy guides, late rental fees... Good times 👍
That said, I'm finishing FFXVI on PC, and it's the first FF game I actually played since FFXII came out on PS2. There is alot I like about it, but it often fails to be a good story or a good video game. I would say it suffers from problems that are common for this current era of gaming (the silver age) and FF is a series that has its hey-day during the last era of gaming (the golden age), where a story in a game was still a novelty.
Still--- I'd recommend playing Saga Frontier 2, which imo had a better (and similar) story than FFXVI. And hasn't been remastered (unlike the 1st game).
And if I had some advice for how Swuare should make a FF game a FF game (besides chocobos and moogles).... Make it a love story. The best FF games are love stories (i.e. FF 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4)
I think the problem is that big companies pressure the devs to make the next biggest thing and push the current gen of consoles to the limits making the games take far to long to make and all the classics get left behind. Square Enix isn't going to give us players what we want because the company big wigs think they know better. I love JRPGs and grew up with them. I would love to see Xenogears and Mana games as well as FF come to the modern consoles in better styles and graphics but sadly I think that won't happen. Would be cool though.
Feels like we're screaming at a wall when criticizing Square Enix's misgivings nowadays.
Yeah same... They just don't change.
FF16 never felt like final fantasy. Still enjoyed it tho. FF Rebirth was my game of the year until Metaphor came out. It blew it out of the water. FF Rebirth is a real FF. Square needs to get their identity straight.
Yeah I've heard many say it was their favorite FF since FFX