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We are on the cusp of a Square Renaissance.

German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
sig-4634241.1150_squaresoft-prev.png


Squaresoft, a company that was loved all over the world for their amazing games that range all the way from the 80's to the early 2000's. They were an immense powerhouse of gaming development and they made hit after hit after hit. If they were a boxer, they would be KO'ing their opponents left and right. Sadly, for the past 15 years, the current incarnation, Square Enix, just doesn't have the prowess that they once did. Sure, they have done re-releases of some of their all time Squaresoft classics, but that only shows how much better they were.

B-BUT! Just look at some of their upcoming releases for the next five years and you'll see that we are on the verge of a new Golden Era for Square Enix:

-Final Fantasy XVI
- Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2
-Dragon Quest III HD
-Final Fantasy VII - Ever Crisis
-Triangle Strategy
-New Star Ocean : Divine Force
-Chrono Cross Remaster
(rumored)
-Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered (rumored)
-Tactics Ogre Remaster (rumored)
-Dragon Quest XII
-Dragon Quest X Offline/Online
-Kingdom Hearts 4
-Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier
-Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters
-Final Fantasy IX Remake (rumored)


So, what does gaf think? Will the upcoming five years be pure bliss for jrpg fans?
 
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RCU005

Member
If Final Fantasy XVI is a good as FFXIV and as polished as FFVII Remake, it's going to be epic.

I'm very excited for Dragon Quest XII. I loved every single second of XI and I'm intrigued as to what XII is going to be. Specially since they will make important changes. I really hope it turns out another instant classic.

FFVII Remake Part 2 is really hard to even imagine what the game will be. Improve the already great combat and there's nothing to worry about.

Kingdom Hearts 4 should get rid of Disney. It's weird that the story already evolved way beyond Disney, but it seems like people wouldn't consider it Kingdom Hearts without it. Also, it's going to take a while since other than having Nomura working on FFVIIR Part 2 (although not as involved), getting those licensing permissions for Disney worlds should be very difficult and take a very long.

They should also make a game from Verum Rex. Will they fusion it with Kingdom Hearts or make it their own thing?

I would also love a game about Union X. This needs a complete 3D remake and make it their own game. The story is great and it's the reason the story is continuing forward. I wonder how many people who didn't play it were clueless while playing KH3?

There's also Toyotaro's game as it was mentioned before.

Yep, it is indeed a new golden age from Square. There's only their west studios that need to improve. I think it was bad to get involved with Marvel. They do better when they are doing their own thing.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
I wish they’d bring back the classic Square Soft name. Square Enix always sounded soooo bad
 
More like Final Fantasy of Thrones


Prolonging a bad decision


Low effort remake with ugly Octopath style graphics


Low effort mobile game


Poor man's FF Tactics with ugly Octopath graphics


Tri-Ace's baby, not Square-Enix's


Remaster


Probably the PSP version ported to consoles and PC


Same as above


I have a bad feeling about this one


Ok


Enough is enough


Low effort game to suck money from FF7 fanboys


Low effort remasters of 90's games as an excuse to sell those games again for a high price


They will ruin it, I'm sure of it
You're getting tiresome. You hate everything unless it's unpopular. You have no opinions of your own - you just hate on anything other people like. Maybe you should just give up gaming since you hate it so much.
 
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AmuroChan

Member
I'm pretty lukewarm on half that list. A few of them are only rumored and unconfirmed. So we'll see. My biggest question with the remasters is whether they'll be done in-house or farmed out. I really hope they'll be done right and not just low-level ports. I'm looking forward to FFXVI as it seems to be a return to form. 13 and 15 really didn't do much for me. I'm also excited for DQ12 and intrigued by how they'll evolve the DQ formula.

I'm not that excited for KH4 or Star Ocean at this point. KH3 was a disappointment so I'm not that hyped for a KH4 right now. Star Ocean is a franchise that I really liked back in the day, but man has it fallen off the cliff with the last title. I have a lot of concerns with what I saw of Divine Force. From the little that have been shown, I'm not super confident that it'll be anything but average.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
I’ll believe it when I see it. I feel like I’ve seen predictions that a “JRPG Renaissance” is just around the corner like once a year for the last 2 decades. You could’ve made an impressive sounding list of upcoming games any year.

And…. Star Ocean? Seriously? Did the last couple entries not teach you anything? SO4 was so bad it almost convinced me the whole JRPG genre needed to be put out of its misery
 

Fbh

Member
I'm cautiously optimistic about XVI, VII Remake Part 2, DQXII and Triangle Strategy.

But to me Square are still in the "hope it's good!" category as opposed to the hype one .
 

Belthazar

Member
Are we? They released a lot of duds in the last couple years, so I doubt all of those games listed will be actually good. I still trust Horii to deliver with Dragon Quest tho.
 

GeekyDad

Member
...
-Chrono Cross Remaster (rumored)
-Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered (rumored)
-Tactics Ogre Remaster (rumored)
...

So, what does gaf think? Will the upcoming five years be pure bliss for jrpg fans?
I think if those rumors alone become fact, Square will have indeed risen again.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
They really only have Final Fantasy which is being spearheaded by FFXIV and Dragon Quest. Not much of a golden age IMO. I feel like their only real stand out games are XIV and DQ XI S. Honorable mention to Octopath.

Not to mention what 3-5 Gacha games?

I'd like to see a revival of some old stuff like Front Mission and Parasite Eve.

Drakengard series has potential in NieR with Yoko Taro. You can say Drakengard and NieR are different but they really aren't.

I'd like to see Tomb Raider return to form and be more like LAU in exploration and puzzles instead of poor story driven scenarios. Anniversary is probably IMO one of the best to date.

A proper Deus Ex game as a return to form with a new lead and story to show up Cyberpunk would be appreciated.

I have high hopes for XVI. Chocobo GP is easily a 10/10 for GILGAMESH alone.

People getting excited over ports and remasters is always hilarious to me.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
sig-4634241.1150_squaresoft-prev.png


Squaresoft, a company that was loved all over the world for their amazing games that range all the way from the 80's to the early 2000's. They were an immense powerhouse of gaming development and they made hit after hit after hit. If they were a boxer, they would be KO'ing their opponents left and right. Sadly, for the past 15 years, the current incarnation, Square Enix, just doesn't have the prowess that they once did. Sure, they have done re-releases of some of their all time Squaresoft classics, but that only shows how much better they were.

B-BUT! Just look at some of their upcoming releases for the next five years and you'll see that we are on the verge of a new Golden Era for Square Enix:

-Final Fantasy XVI
- Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2
-Dragon Quest III HD
-Final Fantasy VII - Ever Crisis
-Triangle Strategy
-New Star Ocean : Divine Force
-Chrono Cross Remaster
(rumored)
-Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered (rumored)
-Tactics Ogre Remaster (rumored)
-Dragon Quest XII
-Dragon Quest X Offline/Online
-Kingdom Hearts 4
-Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier
-Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters
-Final Fantasy IX Remake (rumored)


So, what does gaf think? Will the upcoming five years be pure bliss for jrpg fans?

I think you are doing a disservice to some of the smaller projects Square has also released over the past year. Remasters such as SaGa and Mana, but also new titles such as Dungeon Encounters and Voice of Cards. All excellent games!

Square still struggles immensely with how shit their western division is, but their JPN releases have increased in quality immensely.
 

Pejo

Member
OP, I wish.

If you notice in your own post, it's all sequels or remakes. There is no creativity left in S-E. There is no hope that they make the NEXT big IP or series. It's just whatever they can do to make moneymoneymoneymoney.

The culmination of this for me was them taking whatever stupid money that Timmy gave them for Kingdom Hearts going EGS exclusive. That's small time, no confidence in their IPs, making sure they get minimum profits thinking. That ain't good for what's coming next.

FFXVI is going to be the MOST focus tested FF game of all time. Dragon Quest XII promises to be a vastly different game than previous entries, which will chase away current fans and not attract enough new fans to make the series "successful" in their eyes. The pixel remasters have already shown that they don't give a FUCK about past fans. The fonts, the lack of options - choosing PSP improvements or original game stuff, etc. They're just dangling memberberries in front of all of the SNES/NES era fans, who they already pissed off with the time ghosts in FFVII:R.

Even one of their ONLY new promising IPs, Triangle Strategy, is banking on the modest success of Octopath Traveler and memberberry factor of FF Tactics.

Any remakes they make are going to be soulless cash grabs or preying on your nostalgia with minimal investment on their side.

They just don't have "it" anymore. It took me a long time to admit that to myself, but this S-E is a completely different company than Squaresoft of the 90s. I wouldn't get your hopes up, OP.
 

Tschumi

Member
Even if the slim chance items don't happen it could still be great.. if final fantasy 16 is a good as the great ff games i think i will get a ps5 and just go all in
 

Xaero Gravity

NEXT LEVEL lame™
As someone who played the Early Access version of The First Soldier, trust me when I tell you it's not something worth getting excited for
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
OP, I wish.

If you notice in your own post, it's all sequels or remakes. There is no creativity left in S-E. There is no hope that they make the NEXT big IP or series. It's just whatever they can do to make moneymoneymoneymoney.

It is mostly sequels/remakes/remasters in his list - but that doesn’t mean that Square hasn’t been churning out original, new content. Titles like Voice of Cards, Dungeon Encounters, I am Setsuna, etc. All good to great games.

As for being the ”next big ip/series”, I would argue that is an issue with all of entertainment media across the board. Not just Square.

And yes, companies need to make money. Otherwise they cease to exist.
The culmination of this for me was them taking whatever stupid money that Timmy gave them for Kingdom Hearts going EGS exclusive. That's small time, no confidence in their IPs, making sure they get minimum profits thinking. That ain't good for what's coming next.
EGS Exclusive means literally nothing. Now if they were actual platform exclusive, then I could understand where you are coming from. However, if you really wanted to play Kingdom Hearts on PC and the fact that you have to use one particular store front/loader is stopping you? You clearly didn’t give a shit about the game/series in the first place. If Steam or GoG paid the money for some exclusivity on it, you wouldn’t have batted a damn eye.

FFXVI is going to be the MOST focus tested FF game of all time. Dragon Quest XII promises to be a vastly different game than previous entries, which will chase away current fans and not attract enough new fans to make the series "successful" in their eyes. The pixel remasters have already shown that they don't give a FUCK about past fans. The fonts, the lack of options - choosing PSP improvements or original game stuff, etc. They're just dangling memberberries in front of all of the SNES/NES era fans, who they already pissed off with the time ghosts in FFVII:R.
You are basing this off of literally nothing and are making shit up. FFXVI is the most focus tested FF game of all time? Show proof. DQ12 is going to be a vastly different game? Literally nowhere has it been stated that will be the case, unless you are one of those insane types who think “darker story” means “they are changing literally everything”.

I love me some Final Fantasy, in fact maybe a bit too much, and I hold the originals near and dear to my heart as that is what I grew up with. The Pixel Remasters are actually really damn good now that I got to play them. They had a lot of love and care put into their design and the font? It isn’t that big of an issue. The lack of bloated filler content that didn’t feel well balanced? I can’t say I will miss it.

And as an SNES/NES era fan, FFVII:R didn‘t piss me off with the “time ghosts”. Clearly it didn’t piss off most fans either as it was a massive success within the community. Unless you think you speak for the entire franchise fan base?

Even one of their ONLY new promising IPs, Triangle Strategy, is banking on the modest success of Octopath Traveler and memberberry factor of FF Tactics.
Now I just know you are trolling.
Any remakes they make are going to be soulless cash grabs or preying on your nostalgia with minimal investment on their side.

They just don't have "it" anymore. It took me a long time to admit that to myself, but this S-E is a completely different company than Squaresoft of the 90s. I wouldn't get your hopes up, OP.
Y’know, except for the fact that their recent JPN releases and major IPs have been some of the most successful in their respective franchises? FFXIV Shadowbringers has been considered as one of the quintessential MMO expansions. Dragon Quest XI helped renew interest in the franchise outside of Japan and is considered one of, if not the best titles in the series. FFVII:R, despite your baseless ire with the title was a massive success and beloved by many.

They release new smaller titles that are growing cult followings, try new things, and allow for classical gameplay styles that people have been asking for.

Yes, Square Enix is no longer the company that people grew up with in the 90s. They are not Square, they are not Enix. But they also aren’t the same company that released FFXIV 1.0 and FFXIII. They are actively creating new IPs. They are pushing new ideas forward and giving a wide range of products that are heavily reminiscent of the SNES to PS1 era. The very thing people have been asking for for years.
 

Pejo

Member
It is mostly sequels/remakes/remasters in his list - but that doesn’t mean that Square hasn’t been churning out original, new content. Titles like Voice of Cards, Dungeon Encounters, I am Setsuna, etc. All good to great games.
Disagree. They were mediocre to bland games. Dungeon Encounters is a game that COULD have had a chance but they said "we're giving you 20 dollars to make this so do what you can". Tastes are subjective so I'll give you that they have taken some small budget chances with non-sequels. Still nothing like we saw even a few gens prior.
As for being the ”next big ip/series”, I would argue that is an issue with all of entertainment media across the board. Not just Square.

And yes, companies need to make money. Otherwise they cease to exist.
Thanks for the expert analysis, I had no idea companies were out to make money.
EGS Exclusive means literally nothing. Now if they were actual platform exclusive, then I could understand where you are coming from. However, if you really wanted to play Kingdom Hearts on PC and the fact that you have to use one particular store front/loader is stopping you? You clearly didn’t give a shit about the game/series in the first place. If Steam or GoG paid the money for some exclusivity on it, you wouldn’t have batted a damn eye.
Completely untrue. I really enjoyed the first KH. I liked the 2nd. I did not like the majority of the spinoffs. The fact that they took the guaranteed cash from EGS means they have no confidence in the IP on the PC platform. I'm not even going to respond to your "durr hurr it's just another launcher" point because it's been explained to death in other threads. You know or can easily find out why people don't want to support EGS paid exclusivity bullshit, but are being purposefully disingenuous here. Steam or GoG would never pay for exclusivity, so your whole point is trash.
You are basing this off of literally nothing and are making shit up. FFXVI is the most focus tested FF game of all time? Show proof. DQ12 is going to be a vastly different game? Literally nowhere has it been stated that will be the case, unless you are one of those insane types who think “darker story” means “they are changing literally everything”.
Confirmed battle system changes for DQXII, darker tone, "future of the series for the next 20 years". All of these things sound like they're throwing the DQ fans out with the bathwater. But no, let's trust the corporation to do the right thing, right? I will give you that I have no evidence of focus tested trash with FFXVI, but I guess you and I will both be in a "wait and see" situation with it. Final Fantasy May Cry is not what I was hoping for, personally.
I love me some Final Fantasy, in fact maybe a bit too much, and I hold the originals near and dear to my heart as that is what I grew up with. The Pixel Remasters are actually really damn good now that I got to play them. They had a lot of love and care put into their design and the font? It isn’t that big of an issue. The lack of bloated filler content that didn’t feel well balanced? I can’t say I will miss it.
Disagree. The music arrangements are fantastic, the pixel art is worse than any of the PSP entries. There was good content stripped for no good reason and replaced with nothing. This is subjective I guess, but I won't say that the pixel remasters are the definitive way to play all but maybe 1 of the games.
And as an SNES/NES era fan, FFVII:R didn‘t piss me off with the “time ghosts”. Clearly it didn’t piss off most fans either as it was a massive success within the community. Unless you think you speak for the entire franchise fan base?
Just because you have this nebulous group of people that like it doesn't invalidate or remove the group of people that thought the time ghosts were bullshit. All SE had to do was give a faithful remake, and they chose not to. As far as success goes, how are the sales for the FVII:R Yuffie DLC? I honestly don't know. I'm guessing since they shafted PS4 players and you subtract those fans that were disappointed with time ghost shenanigans, they probably aren't great. Still think that "whoah bro, sales dude" is the right answer here?
Now I just know you are trolling.
Disregarded, different opinions != trolling.
Y’know, except for the fact that their recent JPN releases and major IPs have been some of the most successful in their respective franchises? FFXIV Shadowbringers has been considered as one of the quintessential MMO expansions. Dragon Quest XI helped renew interest in the franchise outside of Japan and is considered one of, if not the best titles in the series. FFVII:R, despite your baseless ire with the title was a massive success and beloved by many.
DQ11 is great, one of my favorite JRPGs from last gen. That has nothing to do with this conversation. FFVII:R had over 5mil sales, minus the estimated 200 million to make (may be inaccurate, got it from an article linked from GameFAQs), minus marketing, costs of material etc. It was a success, but massive may be the wrong word. FFXIV, like FFXI before it, continue to be huge earners for the company.
They release new smaller titles that are growing cult followings, try new things, and allow for classical gameplay styles that people have been asking for.
Blanket statement, they also release garbage.
Yes, Square Enix is no longer the company that people grew up with in the 90s. They are not Square, they are not Enix. But they also aren’t the same company that released FFXIV 1.0 and FFXIII. They are actively creating new IPs. They are pushing new ideas forward and giving a wide range of products that are heavily reminiscent of the SNES to PS1 era. The very thing people have been asking for for years.
Disagree, which is my point. They are releasing safe sequels, changing longtime franchises to get a piece of that "western" success since JP aren't buying consoles that aren't Nintendo anymore. The people that are happy with SE's current and near future output are the same ones totally fine with slurping up Forza 10 and Uncharted 6. To be clear, I don't mind sequels, but S-E is doing nothing to promote their smaller IPs nor giving them the budget that they deserve to make a real dent in the mindshare of gamers. They were all completely shocked by the success of Nier: Auotmata, and have since literally whored the IP out to any mobile game that will give them some profit share for a collaboration.

There's nobody left in the company like Gooch, Tanaka, Takahashi, or Nojima. Ito is still with the company, but I can't explain what he's been doing the past decade.
 

EDMIX

Member
I would say that Square is a long ways away from any sort of “renaissance” there’s nothing on that list that’ll convince me otherwise.

Maybe I’m still bitter over what they’ve done to Deus Ex.

nah I'd say you just sound bitter.

With them breaking so many records with their new titles like KH, FF, DQ and many new IP like Octopath, I think they are doing just fine. FFVII remake and FF9 remake in the works is a cherry on top.

I generally believe the community exaggerates the shit out of many, many things. I say this as a fan of Metal Gear Solid....always remember it could be worse, they could be Konami.

Its why I think the crying and whining and fan fiction writing is a bit absurd when I feel Square is doing just fine.

Sequels, remakes, new IP, remasters of older games...I don't even know what more can really, REALLY be asked. They took risk, they put out new games, some flopped, many did well. It was a respectable effort and I think the community simply doesn't see this, they make it sound like not getting FF6 remake means death or something. Not getting some fanfiction version of a old title from elementary school isn't some death sentence vs no major Metal Gear Solid, no major Silent Hill, no Zone Of Enders, no Castlevania...for a WHOLE GENERATION! Its why I remind people that THAT is what bad is, that is a royal fuck up.

FFXV is not THAT bad of a fuck up, neither is KH3 or FFVII remake or anything like that.

I would have liked a better story from FFXV, I would have liked FF characters in KH3, I would have liked FFVII remake to be a complete thing vs ep, but I'm ok with that if that is what it takes to complete the project realistically with modern design, but those are not end of the world type situations as gamers tend to try their hardest to pretend they are lol

That isn't MG Surivive, that isn't Silent Hills canned bad, that isn't CP2077 the game crashing 60 times and AI doesn't exist bad.

I would have loved shit like Parasite Eve remake or a HD collection or something, but I never let that personal opinion cloud my judgement on how I believe they truly did during a generation. So with them moving as much units as they have ever moved, its the only thing I truly can measure with this to be honest, forthcoming and objective as I can be.


That being said, I do believe the should get back on Deus Ex as clearly a market is open for that type of RPG if they look at CP2077, Watchdogs series etc.
 

Shifty1897

Member
Square has no quality control. They need an internal review process that stops the release of bad games so that the Square Enix logo can be synonymous with quality (much like it did in the SNES/PS1 era).

You can't release games like The Quiet Man, Star Ocean 5, or Left Alive during a renaissance for your brand.
 

Rat Rage

Member
A appreciate your optimism, OP, but Squaresoft has long been dead.

Final Fantasy 16 is not even gonna be a JRPG, so I'm not looking forward to that AT ALL! And don't even let me start talking about FF7 R...

I do am looking forward to the SRPG Remasters/Ports and maybe Dragon Quest (crossing my fingers they change the music, but probably won't happen).
 

Spaceman292

Banned
sig-4634241.1150_squaresoft-prev.png


Squaresoft, a company that was loved all over the world for their amazing games that range all the way from the 80's to the early 2000's. They were an immense powerhouse of gaming development and they made hit after hit after hit. If they were a boxer, they would be KO'ing their opponents left and right. Sadly, for the past 15 years, the current incarnation, Square Enix, just doesn't have the prowess that they once did. Sure, they have done re-releases of some of their all time Squaresoft classics, but that only shows how much better they were.

B-BUT! Just look at some of their upcoming releases for the next five years and you'll see that we are on the verge of a new Golden Era for Square Enix:

-Final Fantasy XVI
- Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2
-Dragon Quest III HD
-Final Fantasy VII - Ever Crisis
-Triangle Strategy
-New Star Ocean : Divine Force
-Chrono Cross Remaster
(rumored)
-Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered (rumored)
-Tactics Ogre Remaster (rumored)
-Dragon Quest XII
-Dragon Quest X Offline/Online
-Kingdom Hearts 4
-Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier
-Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters
-Final Fantasy IX Remake (rumored)


So, what does gaf think? Will the upcoming five years be pure bliss for jrpg fans?
There's only like 3 real games on there that aren't remakes or remasters or rumours.
 
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