Final Fantasy Versus XIII - PlayStation Conversation: Has Square Enix Fallen from Grace?

IGN Editors discuss whether or not Square Enix's best days are behind it.

[Nawert]

Simple answer: Yes.

[Ranma1]

Squaresoft games are better than Square Enix games.

So they now make worse quality games than when they were Squaresoft.

[Lilioups]

versus will own thats all i am saying

nomura is the man nuff said

[Lucretia]

wait ranma......sooo crisis core, type zero, birth by sleep, Dissidia duodecim, star ocean 1, 4 and dream drop distance all sucked??????

man, something crazy musta happened because I wasnt aware of that. also wasnt aware that just because 13 was an ok game and not amazing that it means all the other games suck too.

but haters gonna hate.

[LightofDarkness]

Squaresoft had begun to suck and stagnate well before the Enix merger, that's a pretty common misconception. This is a classic example of "post-hoc ergo propter hoc" (after this, therefore because of this). People always want someone to blame, but there's no one more deserving than Square's own half. How is it seemingly the Square franchises that are sub-par, while the Dragon Quest series continues to flourish? It's not about what Enix brought to the company, it's what Square has failed to bring.

Plus, the jump in quality between X and XIII is nowhere near as large as people seem to think, they're very similar games. Nostalgia can go a long way, I guess.

[Irishguy95]

Wow, Ign you really need to get your facts straight, 1st production department for Versus has been working on it fully since September of last year.

So versus Xiii has nearly been worked on a year fully, Xiii-2 took 18 months, this is what Versus looked like 6 months BEFORE the team really started going at it. http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Honestly can't be long left now

betting release date @ TGS and Versus being the main focus for S-E.

[ritsuka666]

Final Fantasy Versus XIII - PlayStation Conversation: Has Square Enix Fallen from Grace?"

Welcome for 2007 bro...anyway,Square is trying to appeal to an audience that doesn't exist for Jrpgs.

This is clearly shown in 13's crap character designs.

[TheLyonKing]

Yes ATM but they are trying new things. Though there practise of early announcements and long dev cycles need to go.

I think they were better as squaresoft but I still have faith that they are some really bright minds at square who can create a fantasy worth being proud off.

Someone told me that ff is over hyped and that we should stop perceiving it as amazing games so we will enjoy them again BUT I think that back in the day square set there game quality bar that high that we have every right to be hopeful.

Tl;dr
For now they are falling but have faith that they might get it right.

[KingOptimusOrigin111]

IGN = IGNORANCE

[WeskerChildReborned]

Like they say, you can't spell ignorance without IGN :P

[Diver]

damn ign desperate much. this is how you respond to running with craptakus article by attacking the company you screwed over already this week.

[KingOptimusOrigin111]

LOL!!!

[Xperia_ion]

There can be miracles when you believe *wave your hands together*

[iamtehpwn]

These long development times on Final Fantasy games are really hurting them. I remember one of the great things about Final Fantasy in the past was that the number iterations would come out fairly quickly enough so that if you didn't particularly like a Final Fantasy, A new would be coming out within the next year or two to be more of your taste. But somewhere after X, that sort of cycle began break.

[Draperc]

I think that's because FF games before X didn't have voice acting. Recording voice acting for every single character both major and minor in games as big or possibly bigger than FF games before X would no doubt take a very long time to do.
Versus is also apparently using the Luminous engine along with I think crystal tools as well, so that together with the fact that people working on Versus were temporarily pulled off Versus to work on FF13 and I would guess to some extent FF13-2 would explain why it's taking so long.

[iamtehpwn]

If that was a problem (voice acting), Why do regular iterations of mass effect in example come out come in such a short time?

[Draperc]

The Mass Effect games, even if you do all the character specific and dlc side quests, I would estimate are about 30-35 hours long. I haven't played 13 or 13-2, but I heard that those two were nearly twice as long and I remember easily being able to almost max out the play time timer in FF7 just from gathering all the potential party members and doing the main story. I haven't finished FF8 but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it were even longer than FF7. Also the FF games use their own game engine instead of a third party engine like Unreal 3 which means less work needs to be done.
Most development time for games that take 5+ years is making the game engine itself.

TL;DR the Mass Effect games are not as long as FF games and use a modified version of UE3 instead of their own from the ground up game engine.

[tidusforeverx2]

I disagree, and here's why....
Consider how many games were developed by the 1 production team on the ps3 and 360, 3 or 4 that really push the power of those systems. 13, 13-2... that might be it.... However that was also the first time they were working with production values up at the 1080 level, and Square has always been about pushing the limits. I don't think anyone would really disagree with that. It short it was their first true experience with how detailed it can get as seen in the Versus XIII trailer. Since that trailer came out they have reported that production values have been refined and increased since then so those videos aren't even the finished product and Square and Nomura is about making something that nothing can even come close too. And i would be willing to bet that 85% of the Japanese voice acting is already done. but we will probably know for sure at TGS or the Final Fantasy Conference a the beginning of September. one of the two if not both.

[Summons75]

Like how they didn't mention FF12 which had a 5 year dev cycle and 13 wasn't announced in 06 but 05 as a ps2 title and was in development for 5 years....there is nothing abnormal about what they are doing with versus 13

Ign is just trying to troll and failing badly

[Xperia_ion]

You have a cozy airship

[BitbyDeath]

Wouldn't Square Enix need to reach grace first in order to fall from it?

SquareSoft they are not.

[CLOUD1983]

Your comment deserve bubbles good Sir, very nicely said.

[RandomDude655]

They were never good. Squaresoft however were amazing.

[Raoh]

IGN is truly out of touch if they have to ask the question.

[Killman]

IGN is the same website that reported Kotaku's RUMOR of FFvs13's cancelation as FACT, so what do they know?

Yes, SE has been quite horrible this gen, but so have you IGN.

[TheTwelve]

I've never seen so many S-E defenders in one place. Although I think S-E sucks, it's just my opinion. If they have managed to win a whole new set of fans, or still are making the old ones happy, good for them. I, for one, are not pleased with them at ALL.

12

[chrispen9]

NO! Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance kicks ass! IGN, themselves, gave the game a 8.5! How is that falling from grace?

[iamlegend9999]

I knew it was a matter of time when IGN was gonna start bitching about it. There easy to read. Like that one article that said kingdom hearts suck. Mad people spammed that article to death

[Qrphe]

We can say SE screwed FFXIII and FFXIV, but they also made a bunch of great games this gen.

Hopefully they get back on track with vsXIII and XV.

[chrispen9]

On consoles, their games sucked but the portable games rocked!

[black911]

If The Kingdom Hearts 3 Box has a kinect picture on it(not PS3 Exclusive) then Yes.