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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kamikaze on September 16, 2004, 06:11:50 pm

Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Kamikaze on September 16, 2004, 06:11:50 pm
http://media.adventchildren.net/scans/jp0915.jpg <-- Magazine scan of Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus

Recently I've been kinda annoyed at Square-Enix as they've been bastardizing stories which have ended already. Best examples are Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children. Both took a storyline which ended near perfectly and are trying to continue it, in X-2's case it was absolutely horid. I'm still waiting on Advent Children.

Anyway, Square-Enix is doing two more Final Fantasy 7 spin-offs. One is a crappy looking mobile phone game and the other is a newly announced PS2 title about the Vincent character (see link).

I'm thinking Square-Enix has recently been focusing more on sucking money out of fans (who'll watch/play anything FF) with brand/game loyalty than making quality titles.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Taristin on September 16, 2004, 06:16:14 pm
...I'm still confused on how there can be 7 Final Fantasies...
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Martinus on September 16, 2004, 06:21:34 pm
[color=66ff00]...this is the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film, "The Never-Ending Story".
- Lionel Hutz

:D
[/color]
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Taristin on September 16, 2004, 06:23:23 pm
My point! :D
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: StratComm on September 16, 2004, 06:31:50 pm
Aren't there like 14 or so now?  And since none of them actually relate to the others I don't see why they bother with the franchise in the first place.

And I still think Chrono Trigger was the best game Square ever made.  Other than the whole bastardization of the paradoxes caused by time travel.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Kamikaze on September 16, 2004, 06:43:29 pm
It's a Final Fantasy because it was planned to be Squaresoft's last game, they were out of money and their games were mediocre. Ironically it sold well and enabled Squaresoft to continue the franchise.

Currently Final Fantasy 12 is in development.

*Also thinks Square-Enix should put more resources into other franchises* Instead of making 2 more spin-off FF7 games, it'd be much cooler to make another Chrono game or Saga (Romancing Saga 3 is a really cool SNES RPG, if you're an RPG fan it's a must-check-out game) game.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Tiara on September 16, 2004, 06:49:11 pm
Meh, complain all you want, I can't wait for more Final Fantasy.

Seriously, why do people complain when they want to further a very good story? If they can do it as good as they did with FF7, then I for one won't be complaining. I can't wait for it to come out. :D

Not that it has to be FF cuz i like almost any RPG :p

Though, the Chrono series as Kami mentioned, deserves another title as well. I would love to see a Chrono title on the PS2 :D Or a PS2 remake of Terranigme... ow boy! :D
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Kamikaze on September 16, 2004, 07:08:05 pm
I think that most FF games have been ended well and that a continuation would just lack drive. (Though I will probably end up buying any sequel games anyway)

I think that was the case with FFX-2, it was mediocre. If Advent Children does well (It'll definitely be excellent on the eye-candy part) then I guess Square-Enix will have proved me wrong. :)
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: NGTM-1R on September 16, 2004, 07:27:59 pm
SquareEnix does not think. I'm not sure they even have mental activity at all, after X-2.

Of course, one could have seen this coming following FF8.

*goes back to reading the "Magic 8 Squall" strip from ADVENTURERS!*

"All signs point to...'Whatever.' "
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Tiara on September 16, 2004, 07:29:42 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Kamikaze
I think that most FF games have been ended well and that a continuation would just lack drive. (Though I will probably end up buying any sequel games anyway)

I think that was the case with FFX-2, it was mediocre. If Advent Children does well (It'll definitely be excellent on the eye-candy part) then I guess Square-Enix will have proved me wrong. :)

I'm sorry but the FF7 storyline leaves much questions unanswered. Particularly about what happens now that the meter has impacted. What happens to Shinra? Do they continue mining the Lifestream anyway and keep on killing the planet? Etc etc etc...

I see this all to often. You kill the Big Boss and all is over. Well, not by a long shot. It never is.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Carl on September 16, 2004, 08:09:01 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Tiara

I'm sorry but the FF7 storyline leaves much questions unanswered. Particularly about what happens now that the meter has impacted. What happens to Shinra? Do they continue mining the Lifestream anyway and keep on killing the planet?


what happened to Admiral Bosch?
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on September 16, 2004, 08:16:24 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Tiara

I'm sorry but the FF7 storyline leaves much questions unanswered. Particularly about what happens now that the meter has impacted. What happens to Shinra? Do they continue mining the Lifestream anyway and keep on killing the planet? Etc etc etc...

I see this all to often. You kill the Big Boss and all is over. Well, not by a long shot. It never is.


Well, meteor didn't impact. If you look at the final FMV, Midgar isn't a crater.

X-2 was a silly letdown.

I'm actually kinda looking forward to Advent Children (hey, there's always hope, right?)
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: NGTM-1R on September 16, 2004, 08:26:44 pm
Sooo...you still have hope...
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: silverwolf on September 16, 2004, 10:59:54 pm
i'm looking forward to AC and FF:DG mainly because vinny lis my fav character .he just looks like a cooler version of me. I know the last "final fantasy" movie wasn't great but to me AC should do well it has a good plot. and nice eye candy. the only parts i don't like is they changed tifa to more of a rinoa like character and there are mentions of characters we never heard of (silver haired men anyone?)
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Setekh on September 16, 2004, 11:02:56 pm
Last I heard, the sequel to Chrono Cross (Chrono Break) was cancelled. The original CT was indeed awesome though, I don't even like RPGs all that much and I enjoyed that one for months. :)
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Kamikaze on September 16, 2004, 11:25:02 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Tiara

I'm sorry but the FF7 storyline leaves much questions unanswered. Particularly about what happens now that the meter has impacted. What happens to Shinra? Do they continue mining the Lifestream anyway and keep on killing the planet? Etc etc etc...

I see this all to often. You kill the Big Boss and all is over. Well, not by a long shot. It never is.


Are you sure you really want to know all of this though? I think it's appropriate to leave the aftermath (the clean up, restoration, peaceful life, whatever) to the player's imaginations and just leave the tale there.

I think after the final boss and the fundamental problem in the game is removed (in this case Sephiroth is dead, ShinRa is gone, the world will be fine until someone wants to leech the planet again) the drive to the story is gone. You have to make up some lame "oopsies, I guess we didn't solve it" (Remember Terminator 3? That sort of thing. Ugh) storyline to make it work.

Setekh: Squaresoft didn't necessarily have plans to make it in the first place, they just always tend to be ahead in trademarks/domains/whatever. I believe they've booked stuff for a few numbers ahead in the Final Fantasy series. I hope they eventually make a sequel, but if they do they better make the plot more understandable than Chrono Crosses. :p
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Clave on September 17, 2004, 01:10:41 am
I would rather play almost any other game on the planet than any of the FF series.

Sorry, but there it is, I just hate them with a vengeance.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Tiara on September 17, 2004, 03:05:24 am
Clave, to be blunt; If you don't have anything constructive to say, stay the f*ck out of the thread.

Quote
Originally posted by Kamikaze


Are you sure you really want to know all of this though? I think it's appropriate to leave the aftermath (the clean up, restoration, peaceful life, whatever) to the player's imaginations and just leave the tale there.

Screw traditional. I utterly and totally hate it when they do that. In all and any games/series/movies etc because it just leaves to many questions unanswered.

Quote
I think after the final boss and the fundamental problem in the game is removed (in this case Sephiroth is dead, ShinRa is gone, the world will be fine until someone wants to leech the planet again) the drive to the story is gone. You have to make up some lame "oopsies, I guess we didn't solve it" (Remember Terminator 3? That sort of thing. Ugh) storyline to make it work.

Shinra did't exactly get wiped off the planet IIRC. They still have that military base in Junon and have influence around the worlds, etc.

As I said, many questions remain unanswered. And i hate it when they don't finish stories because we will never know what really happened.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Gortef on September 17, 2004, 04:14:40 am
Can't really blame a company for trying to make money now can you? (allthough it's getting a bit amusing :D )

I don't mind them making sequels as long as the games are good. I liked FFVII Characters and am glad to see more of them.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: DaBrain on September 17, 2004, 04:26:59 am
I was a big Square/Enix fan until they killed the best fan project ever: :mad:

http://www.opcoder.com/projects/chrono/


:(
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: SadisticSid on September 17, 2004, 04:53:47 am
FF7, FF6, CT, and FF5 were the best titles Square produced. FF8 was pretty good, though incomparable to the earlier ones, but seems to be the last title they produced with the same sort of fun factor.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Tiara on September 17, 2004, 05:04:57 am
FF8 was too easy...

Aura + Lion Heart + Lion Heart + Lion Heart + Lion Heart, 100 Megaelixers when you trade one of those cards, etc etc etc...

I didn't die once throughout the entire game. Yet i enjoyed it quite a bit :) hey, nobody can beat sci-fi/fantasy mixes the way they did it in FF8 :D The FMVs in FF8 were truly astonishing IMO. It was as if I were watching a really good movie.

Though, I still prefer FF7 and FF6 as a game, FF8 had that 'spark' that created a really good atmosphere.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: aldo_14 on September 17, 2004, 05:45:43 am
They should have called it Penultimate Fantasy

:nervous:
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Ghostavo on September 17, 2004, 07:43:42 am
FF8 was too easy? Try to do it without GF's and see how you do... and yes, it is possible!!
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Tiara on September 17, 2004, 07:53:37 am
Quote
Originally posted by Ghostavo
FF8 was too easy? Try to do it without GF's and see how you do... and yes, it is possible!!

I barely used GF's... I really didn't like them in FF8. They didn't do very much damage (barring Odin & Eden). The sequance was nice but only made the battles last longer. Simple abilities and magic was just as good.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: JR2000Z on September 17, 2004, 09:25:01 am
FF8 is easy if you don't level up until very late in the game.

I never really liked FF7's story but since storytelling is Square's strongest point, it would be interesting what they could come up with...eventhough they seem to have some trouble of thinking of something original lately.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Ghostavo on September 17, 2004, 10:12:59 am
Without juctioning GFs... without juctioning magic and all those sort of things...
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: aldo_14 on September 17, 2004, 10:19:57 am
Incidentally, I'm thinking that Square-Enix are thinking......
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.CHING CHING!
(http://isotropic.org/uw/attic/money.jpg)
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Tiara on September 17, 2004, 10:23:58 am
They are thinking about 1, 5, 10 dollar bills and random coins? :p
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: aldo_14 on September 17, 2004, 10:31:57 am
Quote
Originally posted by Tiara
They are thinking about 1, 5, 10 dollar bills and random coins? :p


Yes?
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Turnsky on September 17, 2004, 10:35:02 am
Quote
Originally posted by Tiara
They are thinking about 1, 5, 10 dollar bills and random coins? :p


and lots of them! :p
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Mongoose on September 17, 2004, 12:50:45 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Tiara
They are thinking about 1, 5, 10 dollar bills and random coins? :p

You forgot the $20 :p.

Edit:  DaBrain, I know absolutely nothing about the Final Fantasy/Chrono games, but those screenshots are absolutely astounding for a fan-made game :eek2: .  I can imagine that many people were royally pissed about that getting cancelled.  If you feel like it, would you mind going into more detail about what that project was and why Square/Enix took legal action to stop it?
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Mongoose on September 17, 2004, 12:54:29 pm
/me hits New Post instead of Edit :p
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: aldo_14 on September 17, 2004, 01:42:13 pm
Quote
Originally posted by DaBrain
I was a big Square/Enix fan until they killed the best fan project ever: :mad:

http://www.opcoder.com/projects/chrono/


:(


Bloody hell that's professional looking.  Really professional looking.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on September 17, 2004, 02:04:20 pm
Wow. That looks freaking awesome. You say Square-Enix Killed it?
.
..
...
Dabrain, you've converted me. Square-Enix sucks.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: NGTM-1R on September 17, 2004, 03:52:04 pm
FF8 stank to high heaven.

The reason is simple: it goes by the name of Squall. Guy annoys the heck outta me. He's the only professionally-made fiction character I've ever wanted to kill...
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Zeronet on September 17, 2004, 03:56:14 pm
Well, they deliberately took FFX-2 in a different direction to most of their games, hences, its poorness when compared to other FF games.

As for Squall, he rules, he was just so anti-social, it was classy, the way he just didnt care about anything, or anyone and just got on with the job.
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Tiara on September 17, 2004, 04:10:37 pm
Quote
Originally posted by ngtm1r
The reason is simple: it goes by the name of Squall. Guy annoys the heck outta me. He's the only professionally-made fiction character I've ever wanted to kill...

Somehow, i think that was the whole point of his character :p

And seeing you saw how his personality was, I'd say they pretty much succeeded with his character :D
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Kamikaze on September 17, 2004, 07:03:25 pm
Quote
Originally posted by ngtm1r

The reason is simple: it goes by the name of Squall. Guy annoys the heck outta me. He's the only professionally-made fiction character I've ever wanted to kill...


I think he was one of the best characters in the franchise because he was such an anti-social moron. It was neat seeing how his personality gradually changed (due to the other characters) and matured throughout the game.

*Thinks some of the plot regarding Rinoa/Squall near 3/4s through the game was really cool*
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: Kamikaze on September 18, 2004, 03:12:13 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Kamikaze

Instead of making 2 more spin-off FF7 games, it'd be much cooler to make another Chrono game or Saga (Romancing Saga 3 is a really cool SNES RPG, if you're an RPG fan it's a must-check-out game) game.


Holy crap! Square is reading my mind! (or they read HLP.) :eek2: ;)

New Romancing Saga series game: (http://www.rpgamer.com/games/saga/rs/propaganda/rs001.jpg)
http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q3-2004/091704b.html

They're also making yet another MMORPG.
http://www.rpgamer.com/games/fearth/fearthss.html
Title: Square-Enix, what are you thinking?
Post by: redsniper on September 18, 2004, 03:39:09 pm
FF3 > all
FF8 = ok
Squall = cool in the beginning, sissy in the end