Menu Close

Square Enix Seeking Redemption In The Next Generation?

We haven't gotten Kingdom Hearts III . The Final Fantasy VII remake was a no-show (and now a virtual impossibility). Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 did little to appease the irritated long-time fans.

And while Square Enix has certainly branched out this generation and landed several top-tier titles ( Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the upcoming Sleeping Dogs and Tomb Raider leap to mind), the Squaresoft we once knew and loved is long gone. But what if they're just gearing up to storm out of the gate in the next generation? What if redemption will be found when the new consoles are on store shelves? Think about it.

There's really no knowing when Final Fantasy Versus XIII will come out, and many think that the constant delays are pushing the title into the next generation. Then you've got Kingdom Hearts III , which has been mentioned more than once but isn't right around the corner. One could also cite the next new installment in the primary series, Final Fantasy XV , which is but a glimmer in a developer's eye right now (or so we assume). And of course, the hopes for a FFVII remake will never die, despite the depressing facts that turn such hopes into pipe dreams.

Perhaps there's good reason to look forward to the next generation. Maybe that's where Square Enix will finally pay homage to all those disillusioned fans who would, in truth, be quick to jump on KHIII and, presumably, Versus XIII . Can you imagine if Square Enix had any of these titles available for the launch of a new console…?

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
45 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Lanre611
Lanre611
11 years ago

KH3 and versus13 for a launch lineup?

PS4's would fly off the shelves!

A high priced console would still sell well with such a lineup, not to mention any exclusives sony throws into the mix.

the thought makes me excited!

Phoenix
Phoenix
11 years ago

Well, lets not forget that SE will prolly multi-platform these titles…. damn you SE, damn you…

Mog
Mog
11 years ago

So they announced versus 13 in 2006 which was the year the ps3 came out and so they decide to release it on the ps4?
I fail to see any logic involved here so I doubt this game will be released on the ps4.

…. But square enix seems to lack logic so I wouldn't be surprised.

kokoro
kokoro
11 years ago

I miss you GunBladeMaster.

Lol forgot what you look like.

Mog
Mog
11 years ago

you forgot!?

…… me too

🙂

Manatu
Manatu
11 years ago

It doesn´t excite me… having to wait 8 years and having to buy a new hardware to play something promised years ago is not my kind of turn on.
Even if versus 13 comes out now, i am no longer bothered, Square no longer excites me.
Naughty Dog has the spotlight now.
(I would like to see Naughty Dog producing an RPG, doesnt matter if it is a JRPG or a WRPG)

Deathb4Dishonor
Deathb4Dishonor
11 years ago

I don't get it!… Why would they listen to us for next generation if they don't listen to us now in this generation of consoles… And while i DO appreciate they've expanded and are giving us games like tomb raider, sleeping dogs, and deus ex, I DON'T appreciate how their lacking in the RPG department for classic RPG stories and gameplay their known for

Temjin001
Temjin001
11 years ago

Yeah, S-E seems to be a company from a different world these days. Granted, Deus Ex, Just Cause 2, and the hope for a good new Tomb Raider is all well and nice. But these games weren't really ever part of S-E's identity to begin with, might as well have been published by 2K, THQ, or Sega. Anyhow, let's hope they pull their crap together for the next-gen. Maybe once their paychecks begin to shrink they'll work a little harder at remaining competitive.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
11 years ago

I'm not going to hold my breath, they had plenty of chances this generation to come back from the lunatic fringe and haven't demonstrated any desire to return to the right path.

When I think of the situation at SE I can't help but feel that, just to never admit to making mistakes, they will continue on the destructive path of ignoring the entire past fanbase right into the next generation. Even if we get those games they will likely be even more watered down rubbish.

Do we even want this disastrous team having anything to do with an FFVII remake?

Deathb4Dishonor
Deathb4Dishonor
11 years ago

You know i wanted a FFVII until you said that comment… Now I really don't want a remake… I really don't want them touching that game now

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
11 years ago

That's the conundrum for me, yes I want a remake but it has to stay the same just with updated graphics. I think they might "reimagine" it with a real time battle mechanic.

Akuma_
Akuma_
11 years ago

It is the Squeenix bosses who are the problem, and they aren't going to change just because it is a new generation. The only thing that could help is that maybe the next gen consoles will have an easier dev environment.

I agree about FFVII though, Squeenix would just screw it up.


Last edited by Akuma_ on 7/17/2012 6:10:08 PM

Lanre611
Lanre611
11 years ago

They've been disappointing, no doubts, but they're still around. So we wait for the big wigs to pull their heads out of their asses, in addition to speeding up production (though not at the cost of quality). They want to make money, so they will make lucrative games, something decent should pop out of their pipeline in the next year i imagine.

Deathb4Dishonor
Deathb4Dishonor
11 years ago

You sure have a lot of faith on them when they obviously ignore their fanbase

SmokeyPSD
SmokeyPSD
11 years ago

How about they just develop some worthy games this generation instead of complaining it's gone on for long enough. I will not give them credit for games such as Deus Ex, they did crap all other than make pretty CGI clips which is all they have been doing most of the time this generation as publisher to prop up marketability of some games.

DarthNemesis
DarthNemesis
11 years ago

LOL You are so right about the CGI cut scenes which are way over done in FFXIII.The characters are so dry and annoy me so much that I skip them.Vanille is an air head, Hope is a whiny little sissy that won't stop crying, Snow is just another love struck Twilight Saga type of character, and as a black man I am disappointed with the way they designed the black character.His lines are so irritating and I just wish I could kill him.They have to be the only company who still uses CGI for cut scenes instead of in game cut scenes.Sigh! I still have to wait for Ni No Kuni and Tales of Xillia to get some decent JRPG action even though I enjoyed WKC.

Riku994
Riku994
11 years ago

KH3 won't even begin development until after Versus is done, Nomura himself has said this many times.

Phoenix
Phoenix
11 years ago

Well, I would LOVE to see a new Grandia game, since SE owns it now ( I think ).

Anyways, even if they were to launch these games tomorrow, none would be day 1 pickups for me, SE has really let me down this gen, and I wouldnt trust anything they put out until many reviews & game footage was out.

dmiitrie
dmiitrie
11 years ago

I'll believe when I see it. I've been wary of Square since XII (the last FF I'll buy sight unseen) and neither the two XIII titles nor XIV demonstrate that they know or care what it takes to please anyone who remembers their 8- and 16-bit glory days. Honestly, I'm not sure what they could do to right themselves.

DarthNemesis
DarthNemesis
11 years ago

I think it may be too late for me. I finally just bought FFXIII and I must say not only is it the worse FF game in the numbered series that I have played,but it is also the worse Square game that I have ever played in my life.I appreciate FFXII more than I did before after finally playing FFXIII.I cannot believe that there are actually people who are long time fines of the series that like FFXIII.It is just one corridor after linear corridor with no freedom.Lightning is the only bright spot in the entire game pun intended.
Its not just the fact that KHIII and vsIII have not released,but Square has not developed any great games period this generation and have ruined the FF franchise.The game design of FFXIII is extremely bland,limited and uninspiring.


Last edited by DarthNemesis on 7/16/2012 10:51:28 PM

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
11 years ago

And XIII-2 ditches those corridors for a small set of medium sized maps that you reuse over and over again in different time periods. Talk about missing the point of the fan feedback.

I still like Lightning though, she could have headlined a good FF if SE had one in them to begin with.

Deathb4Dishonor
Deathb4Dishonor
11 years ago

it's sad when they use to make a 100+ hour game and i would finish and level up everyone and get everything and anything in the game and start the game all over and do it again bc they were games that were so good that you had no choice but to get hooked and addicted on it and keep playing it even after finishing it… Now i gotta force myself to finish FFXIII and XIII-2 just bc i had started them already… It's sad what Squaresoft have become

CHAOS THEORY X
CHAOS THEORY X
11 years ago

Can anybody tell me how they're doing financially? Or send me a link about it?

homura
homura
11 years ago

The visual quality of FFXIII is amazing and beautiful and I did like the story. Just looking at the very tiny details like the designs in the tiles it's high quality. The battle system has a lot of potential, I just wish i could edit my other two party members attack and spells. They wanted an Advent Children like battle in XIII when they're developing the battle system. It's not perfect but still it's a high quality game.

FFXIII-2 however is a massive downgrade for me, reused maps, they even made some of the monsters smaller. No water spells. And of course the fu**ed up story. ex. Cocoon is going to fall, Hope already knew it then why still build a fu**ing city right underneath it, the solution build another cocoon and the fu**ing things that's gonna make it float exist in a diiferent time periods, what a fu** up brilliant idea. Why just relocate. Gran Pulse is a big world. And the goddess is dead? Caius is still alive in the secret ending. What a fu**ed up story. XIII story is good, XIII-2 fu** it all up.

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
11 years ago

While the story was certainly the weakest part of FFXIII-2, I'm sorry to say that your analysis is really terrible. There are obvious, easy answers to your questions and accusations…it's as if you didn't even bother to follow the story.

homura
homura
11 years ago

Build a new floating cocoon to support humanity and the main ingredient is in different time period, they have too much faith in Serah and Noel. Explain to me why they have to build the city underneath cocoon which Hope already knew that is going to fall after meeting Noel. Even the grandmother of Noel thinks it's a stupid idea in the fragments before novel.

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
11 years ago

You're going to have to look that up. I don't have time to outline it but trust me, you're falling prey to the time leaps in that game.

homura
homura
11 years ago

cocoons going to fall, hope already knew it because of the oracle drive and Noel, still they build a city that's going to be acedemia underneath cocoon and a proto falcie which gonna kill hope in the future, noel and serah stop it created a 4xx academia where they meet hope and allyssa who travel using a time capsule, explaining that he didn't continue building the proto falcie. Hope agreed in the past that he's gonna do what he can to minimize the damage yet he put himself in crystal stasis to travel in the future. nice plan. that's my analysis.

here are some analysis from others i found in the internet.

(The need for another Cocoon is one of the bigger plot holes in the game. Academia flourished down on the ground, and during the course of the game, we can see it surviving almost 500 years, only to be destroyed by a gigantic paradox-like thing (which a Cocoon wouldn't be immune to either). The technology developed by the Academy is likely to be more than good enough to deal with any natural disaster or monster attack.

Anyway, the old Cocoon can't be used because it's built around a power source that is incompatible with non-falcie technology (whatever that means, just sounds like a convenient excuse by the writers to me). Hope's reasoning is terrible. Why is it worse to force evacuate everyone to a gigantic city on the ground, than it is to force evacuate everyone to a different gigantic city in the sky? With all the research, development and resources they poured into the Cocoon 2.0 project, they could probably have built another 2-3 Academia-size cities, and given them even better wildlife-defences. There are flying giant dragons on pulse, what would stop them from smacking a hole at the bottom of Cocoon? If Cocoon's shell is strong enough to withstand attacks like that, why couldn't they just give such a shell to a ground-based city?

We also have flying falcies on Pulse. What's stopping them from flying up to a new Cocoon and just blast half the population with cieth-rays? What, a strong outer shell, you say? Sort of like what you could give to a ground-based city? Unimaginable!

And again, Academia existed for 500 years and showed no sign of declining because of Pulse-variables.

Now, you see, a good story would have explained crap like this. If FF13-2 had a good and well though through story, we would have been given reasons why cities like Academia couldn't exist indefinitely, and why we absolutely had to make a city in the sky. Of course, 13-2 doesn't have anything even resembling an acceptable story.)


Last edited by homura on 7/17/2012 12:38:49 PM

Amnesiac
Amnesiac
11 years ago

hmm lets see..
Ignore your fanbase-

Don't give people what they want-
Spend too much time and money on projects not named Kingdom Hearts-

Continue to pump out "Final Fantasy" named games, although now they have become completely linear in format so its a huge misnomer-

Great business strategy SquareEnix!

I hate you.

DarthNemesis
DarthNemesis
11 years ago

Could we all agree that it would have been better if Square just made one big FFXIII game including Noctis and Lightning with Coocoon and Noctis world combined, adding the open world free roam and the best features of both games while giving the player the option for turn-based or real-time combat, and adding an online MMO component instead of making FFXIV? This would include all the content, mutliplayer, best characters, plots and abilities into one grand epic game for the ages.Square does not understand that quality is better than quantity and that making the best game possible is better than making several games just to milk the franchise with all of these different FF games.Noctis and Lightning could have headlined the best cast and best FF game of all time.SMH!

THEVERDIN
THEVERDIN
11 years ago

Yawn

Ole_Gunner
Ole_Gunner
11 years ago

Every other day theres a new Square Enix bashing article on PSX (rightly bashed)

But it honestly is getting a little tiresome and boring now Ben.

You could post way more interesting opinions and articles which you do so well!

Ludicrous_Liam
Ludicrous_Liam
11 years ago

I think he's finding it hard to let go.

Mind you, if NaughtyDog decided "Hey lets scrap Uncharted/TheLastOfUs and make an RPG with big, explorable maps with lots of sidequests…n stuff like that. Yeah!", I would have to…just…I don't even know lol. I'd be angry I know that – enough anger to write 10x the amount of articles on Square Enix Ben has done.

But even so Ben, perhaps it's time to accept Square Enix have a new vision – a vision that doesn't include the FF of old?

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
11 years ago

Nobody has bashed Square Enix in this article. Nobody has bashed Square Enix all year. I keep all S-E and FF-related articles to an absolute bare minimum (about once every two months) because the instant one shows up, people go, "Oh, it's all you post."

I have NO idea why. Maybe people can't count. Like five S-E-related stories all year out of seven hundred. …what sort of ratio is that again?

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
11 years ago

Everybody's a critic Ben, instead of commenting about the articles they evaluate them.

Underdog15
Underdog15
11 years ago

Ben, your statistical evidence has no place here. Why don't you come up with some made up facts for once like everyone else? Geeze…

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
11 years ago

Oh, I don't mind evaluation. I just mind gross exaggeration.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
11 years ago

I have to roll my eyes when people ignore the content and instead tell the writers how to do their job.

___________
___________
11 years ago

it would be nice, but im not holding my breath.
square are suffering from what every other asian developer is, sadly they cant understand, no refuse to understand that people do not want westernized games from eastern developers!
do you go to oakly for cheap sunnies?
NO!
so why would you go to square for a crappy action game?
i just wish they would get that through their thick head, that the road to redemption is actually going back to your old ways!
not copying what everyone else is doing!
sadly though the day this happens is the day earth is evacuated and civilization ceases to exist!

Deathb4Dishonor
Deathb4Dishonor
11 years ago

Good Rant… And I agree

Miggy
Miggy
11 years ago

I don't think they will. It honestly would not surprise me if they joined the bandwagon and just made a whole bunch of first-person shooters. Then the closest anyone will get to a FFVII remake will be a fps where you play as Barret or Vincent.

Underdog15
Underdog15
11 years ago

Like the tps where you ps3 as Vincent that they've already made! 😮

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
11 years ago

That game was bad, I shut it off quickly.

Amnesiac
Amnesiac
11 years ago

I think an action that best describes that particular game would be:
"mashing in the puzzle piece"

Jotun
Jotun
11 years ago

All they have to do, all they ever had to do, is design games like they used to. How can such creative, intelligent people not corrilate their floundering with the demise of their old franchises and designs? It all began with the merger with Enix and so too did the death of franchises like Dragon Quest on consoles, good FF games on consoles, Valkyrie Profile, the Mana series, and the turn-based battle system.

Time and time again they give us "what we want" meaning westernized battle systems and games that have totally lost that japanese flare that once drew us in. And still they try to sell to the non-fans through these design choices. None of us ever asked for change so the only way they'll renew the faith is go back to the original drawing board, erase the history of these past 5-10 years and just start over like it was 2001-02.

It's sad how one can very accurately place the death of their greatness on the timeline.

45
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x