Ex-Square Enix Developer Writes Defense of Recently Axed Boss

Yoichi Wada, Square Enix's president, is stepping down. The news came as a surprise. Wada has been Square Enix's only president since Square and Enix joined forces. Some are happy about this. Others are not.

Online in Japan, an individual claiming to have worked, until recently, at Square Enix as a programmer wrote a post about Wada's departure. The post isn't an attack on Wada, but rather, it seems to be a defense written in the wake of another Japanese site trashing Wada.

[zerocrossing]

Defending Wada, yeah... good luck with that one guys xD

[Ranma1]

Wada stepping down. Title should be more clear !!!

This is great mews

[kratos123]

"If anything, Wada's mistake, his weakness was that because he loved and cherished his developers so much that he put too much trust in them," the post continued.

That's why, the post continued, there were huge projects that needed to be ended or important people that needed to be let go, but weren't.

This explains why we were getting ff13 and why the nightmare game didn't end.

Plus i see this as a good thing the man didn't know what the fans were asking for and he kept pumping out lame final fantasy titles.

Were he should have kicked out toriyama and let more talented people do their thing.

And dont get me started on FF14, i am still surprised it took them this long to fire him

[LordHiggens]

I will be hanged for posting this, but ever since I saw this post about Wada being terminated...I've seen a lot of, "YAY WE CAN GET A FFVII REMASTER NOW!!!" I do not want this. With this Square that we have now they will only muck it up. Wada was right on one count...and that is they need to create a Final Fantasy that surpasses all expectations and is true the ways of the old ones. Only in that instance can a remaster of FFVII be remotely possible. I'd rather replay it on my ps3 in all it's blocky glory than have it tarnished and destroyed for this new generation who never got the chance to play this wonderful game.

[DragonKnight]

You're forgetting that Nomura still works at SE and that he was the director for FFVII. Of course, Sakaguchi was there to steer the game in the right direction, but Nomura was deep into its development as it was his first huge game that he worked extensively on for Squaresoft. Nomura handling an FFVII remake would keep the integrity of the original guaranteed.

[LordHiggens]

You are correct, but there is no guarantee that he will work on said remake if it ever happened...that's what worries me.

[wishingW3L]

the director of FF7 was Kitase. The designer Sakagushi. Nomura was the artist but he had some minor inputs on the story too.

Nomura's first big game was Kingdom Hearts.

[DragonKnight]

@wishingW3L: Damn, you're right. My bad. I had heard he had a major role beyond just being the character designer. Either way, his role at SE has improved since then so I'm sure he'd still be good for a remake.

[Baka-akaB]

I'm not a member of the let's remake FF7 band wagon either . Wasnt ears ago , still aint .

Not only because i'm not convinced it's a good idea whoever produce and direct it . At least not yet .

But also because i'd rather have those ressources directed at new games instead , FF or otherwise from Square .

So what if people think XIII sucked , doesnt mean we should go back instead to full on nostalgia instead of trying new games till it finally gets good again

[DragonKnight]

Wasting money on bad games until they get it right is incredibly inefficient and foolhardy though. I'm all for new games, but it is a pretty large consensus that SE's Past is still superior to its Present and possibly Future. We shouldn't have to suffer through terrible games in the hope they will finally return to their senses and realize what made them great in the first place.

[Baka-akaB]

It's not a necessity to suffer through terrible game hoping it gets better . Not what i mean . I just think that retreating into FF7 isnt going to help .

New quality games are a better use of their time and ours imo

[wishingW3L]

Square has nothing to go back to. Most of their talented developers already left the company. What they need is a miracle in finding new talents other than Nomura.

[Lykon]

I never played ffvii . Is it really good then? I remember trying to play a ff game on ps2 once and i lasted about 15 minutes . it was like a cartoon character at either end of the screen . and they would move slightly and then some numbers would come up. i was like wtf ! but i can sense that people really really really really love these games . i want to connect with some of that pleasure. How can i connect with it? I like pleasure.

[wishingW3L]

to play FF7 now you'll need lots of imagination because the game's ugly and archaic as hell. It's impossible to play it without the nostalgia goggles at this point. It aged terribly bad.

I played it for the first time a couple of years ago but I'm used to those graphics since I still play old games once in a while but people that only play current gen games... They will not be able to digest it.

[rainslacker]

The story is really good, and the game play is excellent. I would suggest if your going to play it try it on a portable with a smaller screen. Either that or play it on a old CRT TV if you have one available.

Wishing is right that the game is hard to stomach visually on a HDTV(particularly a bigger one). I routinely play older games, and this one is rather jarring with regards to how it's aged.

If you want to play an older FF game, then FF8 or FF9 is better in the visual department, but FF7 is still a classic worth investing time in getting to know.

[The Great Melon]

You and I feel the same. I didn't play FFVII as a kid, so it is difficult for me to appreciate the game as many others do. I want to enjoy it, but it just feels too clunky for me. I have been spoiled by newer games. =(

Some games just seem to age better than others. I only just played Metal Gear Solid this generation, but the graphics didn't bother me a bit. In fact, because I was a Nintendo die hard back then, the voice acting blew me away (N64 never had much in the way of voices).

[-Gespenst-]

I partly agree, although I don't think they should remake it at all. It's fine the way it is. I think a remake would retroactively spoil the original. It's the retroness of that game that actually makes it awesome- the memorable pre-rendered backdrops, the unique quality of the midi sounds Uematsu made use of, the silence of the characters, the character models themselves. I honestly wouldn't have any of that stuff any other way. Call it nostalgia but I think it's all magical and I still do today.

What they SHOULD do, is firstly, like you say, make a truly exceptional Final Fantasy game, and then, make a VII-2- something which they've obviously had a mind to do ever since the cliffhanger in Dirge of Cerberus. I mean what else was the compilation of VII for?

Maybe Versus will be that exceptional Final Fantasy game, and they make a VII-2 in a similar vein.

[Root]

I don't get it....we've wanted Wada gone for years and now that he has...well I just thought people would be making a bigger deal over it, I think I saw one article on it on here.

Thought it would be a hot topic or something

[r21]

Dont worry, everyone is celebrating and in anticipation of FFvs13 and KH3 finally being released. No more Lightning saga!

[Baka-akaB]

At this point most people are burned out and not sure it truly changes anything . Especially when you hear the blames and excuses from Wada and consort .

There s no sense or feeling yet than anything has changed over at SE , for the moment , only that the major screw up is finally gone .

[Tdmd]

@Root
Me too! I've read about this on facebook and then, I've come here to see how fans would react to the news. To my surprise, I saw no reaction at all! Not a single article about it!

[DaThreats]

He may be nice but JRPGS been missing and about all were failures

[Chrono]

Maybe he was nice with the staff, but that is not enough to make him a good CEO.

[-Gespenst-]

"That's why, the post continued, there were huge projects that needed to be ended or important people that needed to be let go, but weren't."

I wonder what "huge projects" he's referring to. Possibly XIII, since that was plagued by all sorts of issues during development. I hope he doesn't mean Versus.

Still, not that's he without talent, but it seems the problem is really Motomu Toriyama. I think he was given too much authority. He needs Kazushige Nojima, not just Daisuke Watanabe. Kazushige Nojima is just as competant as Hironobu Sakaguchi.

As for Wada, I never really saw the problem with the guy. He seemed really enthusiastic and supportive. I suppose this article points out the upshot of that, but nevertheless I think his heart was in the right place.

I think Toriyama and Kitase just need a little more guidance.

[Baka-akaB]

I wouldnt dare attacking his personality , after all i dont know the guy .

But he chain comboed one bad decision after another when it comes to square enix games on home consoles . And i'm not even talking about Final Fantasy .

I still remember how under his tenure a million seller franchise like Star Ocean became a niche title on a 360 dead in japan and a title ignored in the west .

Or their list of 360 exclusive jrpg failures such as Last Remnant , Infinite Undiscovery , in both sales and critical acclaim .

And it's not even about knocking down the 360 ... let's not forget huge failures like Front Mission Evolved while not localizing Front mission 5 , FF Type 0 still not localized , Forcing different design for Nier based on western/asian markets , Mindjack , Dungeon Siege 3 , Code Age Commanders (and the whole cancelled franchise out of it) etc

[-Gespenst-]

Hmmm, maybe he was just too enthusiastic about every project SE tried to develop? That or he was a little out of touch. Greenlighting Mindjack suggests that. But don't forget it's Motomu Toriyama who wrote that title.

The Nier thing was always a bit weird I'll give you that- total pandering. Also I don't think now that he's gone we're going to see Type-0 localised any faster. I think there's stuff they're not telling us about that. I mean I don't see why, if he was as enthusiastic as he seemed, he wouldn't have pushed for it to be released in the West. It's a Final Fantasy title for crying out loud.

Wait a minute Star Ocean is a million seller franchise? Hmmm, researched that and only The Second Story's just barely managed a million, and that game's, well, imo, totally meh. I'm pretty sure Star Ocean isn't considered that big an rpg franchise anyhow- perhaps among diehards, but as a big rpg fan myself, I personally consider them mediocre. I suppose in a way that speaks to more bad decision making on Wada's part though.

Still, if we're talking about Final Fantasy, a lot of the blame lies with Toriyama. I personally loved XIII and XIII-2 but it's hard to ignore some of their problems. They just need to work more closely with their writers.

[Baka-akaB]

Actually Star Ocean 3 was a hit too more than 600k in usa and pretty much as many in Japan .

The serie was selling better each new game till SE decided to drop it on a console that wasnt selling in Japan , and wasnt the defaut choice at the time of many western jrpgs fans

[majiebeast]

Maybe now the new CEO will localize type 0, there is no way that cant make a profit localization and vita porting costs shouldnt be that expensive. Plus they say the voice work was almost done. Lets hope the next ceo listens to what their audience wants and not a fortune teller.