New Square-Enix MMO this year

[Scias]

I think its more just a problem with JRPG companies. Because these days we're still getting damn good games over here. LA Noire, Red Dead Rdemption, the Mass Effect series, the Dragon Age series. But yeah, there is a problem in the gaming industry.

I always think its funny in a sad way when game companies stop paying attention to the fan base. I can just see it.

Game Companies:Who cares what the fans want? Its not like they're the people who pay us, we don't need to keep them happy.

People with brainsude, you need to stop taking whatever it is your on.

Yeah, the american industry is doing pretty good, at least compared to Japan. This reminds me of that one interview with Keiji Inafune when he resigned from Capcom. There's the link, it's pretty interesting.

Now, about S-E... To me, the last truly epic things they did were FFXII and KHII. And that was 2006. Birth by Sleep was pretty cool actually but wasn't enough, Dissidia/Duodecim are excellent games, but they're nothing more than a lot of fanservice. The Compilation was meh, KH Days and coded were utter shit, FFXIII was a pretty good game, but as a FF it failed miserably, XIV appearently was/IS a rollercoaster of failure (and btw, WHERE IS CID IN THAT GAME???), Versus at this rate will fail because it won't meet the unrealistic expectatives that they're hyping (also the fact that the thing was announced like 5 years ago and there's no release date on the horizon, each year builds more hype that can be fatal for the game in the end), XIII-2 looks meh, and it looks like KH will have at least two more silly little SIDE games until finally we hear news about KHIII.

...And then we have Type-0... That actually looks promising.

But yeah, overall, they're failling hard.

 

[Alex]

Final Fantasy XIII was a massively more coherent and engaging story than ACC. I hear Nier's story was pretty good too, but I've never played the game so I can't really pass judgement.

Advent Children, in all its forms, remains utterly derivative garbage

 

[Tetsujin]

Final Fantasy XIII was a massively more coherent and engaging story than ACC. I hear Nier's story was pretty good too, but I've never played the game so I can't really pass judgement.

Nier wasn't made by Square-Enix so it wouldn't count anyway.

I have to agree about FFXIII. It's not without flaws but still much better than Advent Children where the story is just an excuse plot to bring back as many characters as possible (and then have them barely interact with each other and give most of them 5 minutes screentime tops. )

 

[Alex]

Nier wasn't made by Square-Enix so it wouldn't count anyway

snap ><;

 

[Lord Noctis]

Final Fantasy XIII was a massively more coherent and engaging story than ACC. I hear Nier's story was pretty good too, but I've never played the game so I can't really pass judgement.

Advent Children, in all its forms, remains utterly derivative garbage

ACC is certainly not as good as the OG, or many of Squares other works, but to say its garbage is just silly. Its a huge improvement over AC.

I haven't played Nier so I can't speak to its quality any more than you can.

I suppose FFXIII is better strictly from the story-telling view-point, but overall it isn't as good as ACC was because it has a whole host of other problems. Still, you are right, FFXIII has the better story.

@Tetsujin AC was like that, but ACC was quite a bit better with both story and characters.

 

[Max Payne]

Comparing a 15+ hour game to an hour and half of film

derp

 

[Alex]

A huge improvement over Advent Children? 'A quite a bit of an improvement'?
Yeah I suppose it is, in the same way that having 2 months to live is an improvement over having one month to live. At the end of the day its still terrible. It is still an appalling example of story-telling and characterization.

Final Fantasy XIII is a far superior product in comparison in spite of its many flaws.
At least it didn't do its damnedest to turn some of the most beloved and well developed characters in the hearts of the fandom into crude and insulting charactertures of themselves, made by a team of idiots with as much grasp on story structure as a group of lobotomised children.

 

[Lord Noctis]

A huge improvement over Advent Children? 'A quite a bit of an improvement'?
Yeah I suppose it is, in the same way that having 2 months to live is an improvement over having one month to live. At the end of the day its still terrible. It is still an appalling example of story-telling and characterization.

I disagree. It wasn't all that good, but it wasn't terrible. The story was shallow and not all that original. But the characters weren't really that different from their FF7 selves. Cloud was mostly acting the way you'd expect him to act when faced with a negative situation over which he has no control. The other characters don't really have much screentime, but they seem to be the same characters they used to be. They just don't have a 30+ hour narrative to develop this time around.

 

[looneymoon]

Comparing a 15+ hour game to an hour and half of film

derp

If a comparison was to be made I would think FFXIII succeeds more as a game than AC does as a film?

idk /opinions

 

[Lord Noctis]

If a comparison was to be made I would think FFXIII succeeds more as a game than AC does as a film?

idk /opinions

It really does come down to opinions and prefferences.

I preffer ACC to FFXIII, but I can easily see why others would think differently, and why some don't like AC/C at all.

 

[Makoeyes987]

If a comparison was to be made I would think FFXIII succeeds more as a game than AC does as a film?

idk /opinions

How the hell do you figure that, when FFXIII was more a movie with only the most minimal pretext of gameplay? That's a straight up crock.

AC was a movie, period. It at least knew what it was.

 

[Dana Scully]

I suppose FFXIII is better strictly from the story-telling view-point, but overall it isn't as good as ACC was because it has a whole host of other problems. Still, you are right, FFXIII has the better story.

Well you can't exactly compare gameplay between the two, so what else is there to compare other than story/characters? Graphics? XIII was nothing if not fucking pretty. I liked ACC, but XIII was better on all fronts.

@topic: brb, shooting myself. then wada.

Edit: derp, missed a whole page of posts.

 

[Shademp]

My reaction is the same as always. Schadenfreude mixed with contempt.

The former emotion because these decisions by Square are so poor they enter the arena of idiocy. It's like watching the village idiot fall and hit himself over and over again.
The latter because Square, by the mere mention of them, reminds me that we do not live in a world where Final Fantasy is Hironobu Sakaguchi's intellectual property. Despite these news not necessarily having anything to do with Final Fantasy just the name "Square Enix" is enough to evoke deep resentment and hatred.
I should not care at all, but with FFVII being a prime obsession of mine it's difficult not to facepalm at the difference between then & now.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Well you can't exactly compare gameplay between the two, so what else is there to compare other than story/characters? Graphics? XIII was nothing if not fucking pretty. I liked ACC, but XIII was better on all fronts.

@topic: brb, shooting myself. then wada.

But ACC is also carrying the entirety of FFVII's story and lore behind it. That's a pretty fair comparison. And XIII and ACC were made with..the same graphics engine and by the same designers and character designers. I guess FFXIII would be prettier since..it's longer and has more diversity in its locals. But seriously?

 

[looneymoon]

How the hell do you figure that, when FFXIII was more a movie with only the most minimal pretext of gameplay? That's a straight up crock.

AC was a movie, period. It at least knew what it was.

I found FFXIII to be at least a below average game. There was some joy to be gained from it. AC on the other hand shit on the very face of film making.

once again, opinions opinions.

 

[Makoeyes987]

...Isn't that a tad melodramatic for a damn anime OVA? Christ, you'd think Cloud raped Marlene in the first scene or something.

Now, Freddy Got Fingered....shat on the very face of filming making.

 

[Dana Scully]

But ACC is also carrying the entirety of FFVII's story and lore behind it. That's a pretty fair comparison.

I'm sorry, but I am not going to give ACC the credit for the OGs plot. That's ridiculous.

And XIII and ACC were made with..the same graphics engine and by the same designers and character designers. I guess FFXIII would be prettier since..it's longer and has more diversity in its locals. But seriously?

Exactly. I was just pointing out that you can't say ACC beat XIII in the pretty department - I would argue that XIII was a little bit nicer looking, just because of those diverse locales you mentioned, but ACC was sexy in its own right.

 

[Makoeyes987]

I'm sorry, but I am not going to give ACC the credit for the OGs plot. That's ridiculous.

Would you not give the Star Wars prequels or the Force Unleashed games the credit of the original trilogy's plot? Since...you kinda need to know of them to understand said new story? It's meant to be a sequel of said OG and carries on where it left off. So why would you just try and divorce it like that?

Exactly. I was just pointing out that you can't say ACC beat XIII in the pretty department - I would argue that XIII was a little bit nicer looking, just because of those diverse locales you mentioned, but ACC was sexy in its own right.

Well I understand you then.

 

[Super Mario]

This gif is appropriate to describe my sentiments. SE please... your ruined Aya already, why can't you learn from mistakes?? ; ___ ;

 

[Dana Scully]

Would you not give the Star Wars prequels or the Force Unleashed games the credit of the original trilogy's plot?

Hell no.

Since...you kinda need to know of them to understand said new story? It's meant to be a sequel of said OG and carries on where it left off. So why would you just try and divorce it like that?

Ideally, it's a sequel/prequels job to improve on and expand the original story - either through plot or character development - while adding it's own original conflicts. Being based off an already established plot simply allows it to skip some of the backstory. A sequel should be judged on it's own, self-contained merits, with the only difference being that in place of world-development and character establishment it has continuity.

So that's why I'm not factoring in the OG's plot when comparing ACC to XIII.

Well I understand you then.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Hell no.

Ideally, it's a sequel/prequels job to improve on and expand the original story - either through plot or character development - while adding it's own original conflicts. Being based off an already established plot simply allows it to skip some of the backstory. A sequel should be judged on it's own, self-contained merits, with the only difference being that in place of world-development and character establishment it has continuity.

So that's why I'm not factoring in the OG's plot when comparing ACC to XIII.

Yeah, but how many sequels actually do that?

I mean, you really think Hirano thought any of that when he....attempted, to create Hellsing: The Dawn?

Sequels aren't about trying to market or expand to other people, they're 9 times out of 10 for the fans. Judging a sequel on its own is kinda setting an impossible standard.

I mean, let's be real here.

You really think Hirano thought any of that when he....attempted, to create Hellsing: The Dawn?

That's how most franchises go down.

Sequels aren't about trying to expand a market to other people, they're 9 times out of 10 for the fans. Judging a sequel on its own is kinda setting an impossible standard. Hell, look at Star Trek and its sequels too.

 

[Dana Scully]

Yeah, but how many sequels actually do that?

Not nearly enough, sadly.

I mean, you really think Hirano thought any of that when he....attempted, to create Hellsing: The Dawn?

There's a Hellsing prequel/sequel? WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS.

Sequels aren't about trying to market or expand to other people, they're 9 times out of 10 for the fans.

Yes, and it's perfectly okay for them to be blatant fan-service. However, that doesn't give them some get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to objectively judging their merit as a stand-alone story.

Judging a sequel on its own is kinda setting an impossible standard.

Erm, I really don't think so. Why shouldn't a sequel or prequel be judged on its own plot, or character development, or any of the other things you'd judge an original story by? The only difference is you're not starting with a blank slate - that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of room to grow.

I mean, let's be real here.

You really think Hirano thought any of that when he....attempted, to create Hellsing: The Dawn?

Why do I get the bad feeling from this statement that the Hellsing prequel/sequel is not very good. >:

That's how most franchises go down.

I understand the business behind making franchise sequels. Fan-service makes cash, and can even be very enjoyable. That doesn't mean it isn't a pile of rose-scented shit, though.

 

[Makoeyes987]

There's a Hellsing prequel/sequel? WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS.

Why do I get the bad feeling from this statement that the Hellsing prequel/sequel is not very good. >:

It's a prequel and it's stupid and was never finished.

 

[Terrafig]

SE's decisions in and of themselves make sense from a business-minded perspective. MMOs are more profitable, and sequels are made to satisfy the current fanbase. Regardless of whether this is the best strategy, it isn't a garbage one.

The biggest problem is that, once they make these decisions, they bask in their own genius (or something) for a while and nothing gets done until the last minute. Then they slap the SE logo on an old plot line with beefed up graphics that's otherwise completely gutted and hope it's more effective than rubbing two sticks together in the middle of a hurricane.

Also,

Comparing a 15+ hour game to an hour and half of film

derp

On plot and character alone, I don't see a problem with this.

 

[ForceStealer]

MMOs aren't even a sound business decision. They haven't been since WoW was released. I have no idea why companies keep trying.