The Square Enix Griefing Thread

[TVB]

Spirits Within also made 80,000,000 or there abouts in the box office.

I'd like to know exactly how much Forspoken has made.

It's somewhat of a mystery for now until the actual total sales numbers get revealed (which I'm sure there still is, but I am pretty lazy to link it right now because I'm just tired and not really in the mood)

 

[The Zekenator]

I built my Bartz as a rogue and Galuf as a punch wizard, because I felt that those jobs best suited them. In contrast I made Leena a physical attacker and Faris a support mage, just to vary things up. But whether or not their jobs suited their characters, they were still the roles I had built them into over the course of the game. I couldn’t just press a button to swap around their Materia or GFs - so they still had an identity.


Unfortunately this seems to be an industry-wide problem, as budgets keep getting bigger and bigger. I always wonder why no one has made a game on par with PS1 era titles. Indies can’t do it, but even AA titles don’t have a fraction of the production values apparent in 20+ year old games. Surely there’s still an audience for these games?

When I played bravely 1 my general formula was

Tiz: Tank/Protector
Anges: Healer
Ringabel: Caster
Edea: Physical damage dealer.

I built specifically for those roles that I felt best fit the characters. This worked for awhile, but eventually I realized that spamming pirate sword master was perfectly fine and it just fucked everything up from there. The problem I find with job games are just rarely decently balanced and they're so open to exploits by the design of the systems that you just feel encouraged to break it even if you find the exploit by accident.

As much as I'm sure many people aren't a fan of Octopath Traveler, they had the restraint to force you to stick each character to their base job so at absolute most only two characters can be one combination and most the time it was all unique combos once you bring in the later unlockable jobs which had their own little unique interactions with each character (albeit some more than others). That was probably my favorite aspect of Octopath Traveler was knowing that Therion couldn't just drop Thief and every class combo he runs must use his Thief toolkit in some way.

Or you can play some game like Crystal Project (small PC indie game) where everyone is just generics so you just have pure gameplay which is perfectly fine too.

As far as the industry-wide problem, I'm of the opinion that SE is special with this. Their is a difference between Dad of War's big scope, or Ass Creed needing to push graphics, and SE trying to make a Final Fantasy or KH game. The huge amount of delays and production hell in every major project tells me that SE has a very unique problem. I don't know if its the suits, the directors, the artists, or someone else but SE is on a very huge extreme with how it produces its games. The fact FF7R took years just to make a part 1 that is almost as long as the original game just speaks to how overly produced everything is.

I think the only project comparable in recent history outside of a SE project is something like Cyberpunk 2077 or maybe Fallout 76 which to me is more just the usual Bethesda project except it slapped online in the laziest way possible. Every major AAA games feel big and highly produced, but not nearly as hard as FF15, Tomb Raider Reboot, FF7R, or KH3 was.

As for AA projects, I think those exist but they're usually somewhat niche and somewhat lean towards more an "A" than a "AA". They feel produced and backed enough in scale and scope to not be an indie game or some cheap crap farted out (like many of SE's attempts at making 'budget' titles to sell for 60 bucks) but not quite polished in production like AAA titles. I consider stuff like those Alchemist series and Trails games around that range even if they're obviously not graphically perfect, or to use SE as example stuff like Harvestella or the Live a Live remakes are around that level of production.

 

[Tarka Dhal]

As much as I'm sure many people aren't a fan of Octopath Traveler, they had the restraint to force you to stick each character to their base job so at absolute most only two characters can be one combination and most the time it was all unique combos once you bring in the later unlockable jobs which had their own little unique interactions with each character (albeit some more than others). That was probably my favorite aspect of Octopath Traveler was knowing that Therion couldn't just drop Thief and every class combo he runs must use his Thief toolkit in some way.

That’s a pretty neat way of handling things. I really enjoyed both of Octopath Traveler’s demos, but skipped out on buying it due to the extreme price point. I bought games like Final Fantasy XV, Dragon Quest XI, and Nier: Automata all at launch for less than what Square wanted for Octopath.

The huge amount of delays and production hell in every major project tells me that SE has a very unique problem. I don't know if its the suits, the directors, the artists, or someone else but SE is on a very huge extreme with how it produces its games.

This might also tie in to how Square seem perpetually disappointed with their sales, if they’re treating each game as a major tentpole project. I do suspect that there is some managerial fuckery at hand too. Moving offices based off the advice of a fortune teller, having Nomura head every major project for years, and betting the company on NFTs are just the things we see from the outside.

As for AA projects, I think those exist but they're usually somewhat niche and somewhat lean towards more an "A" than a "AA".

I really miss true handhelds. The DS and 3DS were absolute havens for tightly focused, low budget games - especially JRPGs. With the Switch everything is pricing itself at 50-60 dollars, and we aren’t seeing anywhere near the variety.

 

[pikachudidnothingwrong]

Thats a weird move. I thought the appeal of Dragon Quest was how much they stick to being a traditional jrpg.

I also thought that DQ 11, Persona 5, smt v and Like a dragon had somewhat revived the jrpg there. I guess current year eats at everything eventually.

The game featuring no party members is a red flag. The combat is gonna be like a Devil May Cry game and has the same dude responsible working on it.

The only final fantasy thing at this point is going to be the tittle and otherwise is another action game. Its like Mcdonalds became a pizza place that stopped selling burguers but kept the same branding.

Sadly the higher ups in charge of SE are dead set on the idea of how "over" TB is as a whole, so this (DQ) was only a matter of time. Just look at what's happened to Final Fantasy. Each new system worse and more retarded than the last, but a return to anything even close to TB is clearly off the table completely. Magic and skill are basically an afterthought, just like in western RPGs. They even managed to turn FFVII battle system into mindless hack and slash.

 

[Mr. Zed da Robot Poon Fed]

I still have no idea what an NFT even is

This'll help out.

They're basically for at least semi-famous people with too much time and too much money in their hands.

 

[The Zekenator]

That’s a pretty neat way of handling things. I really enjoyed both of Octopath Traveler’s demos, but skipped out on buying it due to the extreme price point. I bought games like Final Fantasy XV, Dragon Quest XI, and Nier: Automata all at launch for less than what Square wanted for Octopath.

I would encourage you to look into Square PC ports for these smaller scale titles you aren't willing to drop 60 USD on if you have an okay PC or if you want portability try Steam Deck. For example you can get Triangle Strategy right now for 30 bucks, Tactics Ogre Reborn for 35, and Octopath 1 is also 30. SE actually does port their shit to PC okay-ish and while it isn't as good as it could be, I would say for titles like this they are functional if you aren't trying to push them to your ultra PC's limits. It is a nice way to get their more interesting offerings at a nice discount.

The only PC port of theirs I really didn't like was DQ11, because some fucking retard decided to not have keyboard prompts on start so you just get told to press the xbox A button on start which pissed me off when I tried to play the demo when I couldn't figure out how to start the game. Less of a problem if you have a controller, but it just screamed laziness to me.

This might also tie in to how Square seem perpetually disappointed with their sales, if they’re treating each game as a major tentpole project. I do suspect that there is some managerial fuckery at hand too. Moving offices based off the advice of a fortune teller, having Nomura head every major project for years, and betting the company on NFTs are just the things we see from the outside.

It absolutely is. This is why Tomb Raider reboot sold multi millions of copies and still did poorly to the suits. Because that can be a true statement depending on the expected ROI for how much time and money was put into the project. The sense of scope is just fucked. I can't fully tell why this has happened as I hoped they learned literally anything from their engine adventures a couple generations ago.

They tried to make a push for midscale titles recently, but that problem was they pretty much slammed a bunch of them all at once (just look at SE's steam offerings in the past couple years) and not only are some half baked like Diofield Chornicles or that weird Yoko Taro card game he made two games for, they're also all vaguely JRPG-ish games so they just compete vs themselves. I don't know what the fuck anyone is doing there. Also remember SE was behind Balon Wonderworld too I also think the pricing for those titles was really scuffed, but at least on Steam that shit goes on sale eventually as Harvestella has gone to 35 a couple of times since release.

SE has legitimately tried to make midscale projects, but they're either not very good or they just released them too quickly likely to get a nice turnover on their investment.

Like I said earlier, when FFXIV's multi-month delays are the least fucked thing to occur with SE's production cycle, something is just fucked at its core.

I really miss true handhelds. The DS and 3DS were absolute havens for tightly focused, low budget games - especially JRPGs. With the Switch everything is pricing itself at 50-60 dollars, and we aren’t seeing anywhere near the variety.

I've personally found that niche is covered by the seldom few good indie offerings that come around once in awhile, or games shoved on Steam because every 60 dollar games go on sale there like I hinted at earlier. Although, I'm personally a fan of Rogue-like/lite games which heavily lend themselves to that type of production style, but I have seen some pretty okay RPG games come around in that space like Crystal Project or supposedly Chained Echoes I hear is pretty good for its scale.

 

[Tarka Dhal]

I would encourage you to look into Square PC ports for these smaller scale titles you aren't willing to drop 60 USD on if you have an okay PC or if you want portability try Steam Deck.

At the moment I don’t have a PC capable of much but, honestly, once the Switch’s lifecycle is over I’ll likely go full into PC gaming, largely for older games, indies and emulation. I’ll be jailbreaking my 3DS once the store shuts down at the end of the month, which will grant me access to a pretty solid library of portable titles that I have yet to play.

They tried to make a push for midscale titles recently, but that problem was they pretty much slammed a bunch of them all at once (just look at SE's steam offerings in the past couple years) and not only are some half baked like Diofield Chornicles or that weird Yoko Taro card game he made two games for, they're also all vaguely JRPG-ish games so they just compete vs themselves.

You’re right about that. Square has released quite a few games in the A-AA space that I’m looking for lately, but they all came so quickly that they blurred together with little chance to build interest. The pricing doesn’t help, either.

I've personally found that niche is covered by the seldom few good indie offerings that come around once in awhile, or games shoved on Steam because every 60 dollar games go on sale there like I hinted at earlier.

On the indie side: the game that I’m looking forward to is Sea of Stars, a Chrono Trigger-esque game by the developers of The Messenger. I don’t often back Kickstarter projects, nor do I have a good track record with the games I do crowdfund, but I’m hoping this one turns out alright.

 

[Pissmaster]

This'll help out.

View attachment 4817113

They're basically for at least semi-famous people with too much time and too much money in their hands.

Yeah, that's a good enough explanation.

The actual utility behind NFTs is a good idea that does not work in practice. The idea is to give individuality to digital goods. Imagine getting a cool, unique sword in an MMORPG. You should be able to sell that sword, right? Well, if the sword is associated with an NFT, you theoretically can. Problem is, how valuable would that sword actually be if the game shut down? The NFT would still be transferrable, but now you've got one that can't really do anything. The ownership of the item is now decentralized, but the item itself no longer exists, so you're trading essentially a ghost property.

Same deal with images, like those monkey things. They're just images, that can be ssaved or screenshotted and shared around, but the NFTs associated with them claim to establish ownership. But, there's no legal standing anywhere that says your NFT ownership works as a title in the real world, so if someone else jacks your NFT and sells it on shirts, you can't just show the judge your private key ownership and issue a takedown. Any kind of rights would be established through traditional means, not just who owns the NFT.

But, NFT owners actually believe that ownership of the private key == a title, and everyone involved in NFTs are either swindlers or retards, so that's why they have such a godawful reputation. Square Enix chugging along with an NFT game well over a year after the term became radioactive is unbelievable. It's a situation that'll be referenced in the future as one of the stupidest things a game company can ever possibly do.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

I'm retarded enough to consider a Crono NFT if it's cheap tbh

 

[Pissmaster]

Sadly the higher ups in charge of SE are dead set on the idea of how "over" TB is as a whole, so this (DQ) was only a matter of time. Just look at what's happened to Final Fantasy. Each new system worse and more retarded than the last, but a return to anything even close to TB is clearly off the table completely. Magic and skill are basically an afterthought, just like in western RPGs. They even managed to turn FFVII battle system into mindless hack and slash.

• Shin Megami Tensei is getting ported to everything
• Persona sells like hotcakes
• Yakuza got a big popularity boost after Like a Dragon went turn-based
• Pokemon keeps chugging along
• Classic Final Fantasy games still sell remarkably well, despite their age
• Undertale was a surprise hit that spawned tons of clones
• Dragon Quest never slowed down and 11 was fantastic

Square Enix are the biggest retards on the planet. Insisting turn based combat is dead and NFTs are the future is just, holy shit, they might become less insane if they smoke some meth.

 

[Thiletonomics]

• Shin Megami Tensei is getting ported to everything
• Persona sells like hotcakes
• Yakuza got a big popularity boost after Like a Dragon went turn-based
• Pokemon keeps chugging along
• Classic Final Fantasy games still sell remarkably well, despite their age
• Undertale was a surprise hit that spawned tons of clones
• Dragon Quest never slowed down and 11 was fantastic

Square Enix are the biggest retards on the planet. Insisting turn based combat is dead and NFTs are the future is just, holy shit, they might become less insane if they smoke some meth.

Fire Emblem is also still going, and the new game (Engage) was praised by players.

 

[Still Exceptional]

You know what's funny? People seemed to stop giving a shit about the FF7 remake remarkably fast. Even on the Final Fantasy subreddit any mention of FF7 is either to do with the characters themselves or the original game.

 

[TVB]

You know what's funny? People seemed to stop giving a shit about the FF7 remake remarkably fast. Even on the Final Fantasy subreddit any mention of FF7 is either to do with the characters themselves or the original game.

And remember when the trailer dropped back in 2019 during Squeenix's E3 coverage and people used to complain about Tifa's design? Nowadays, they can't even complain anymore because of how much of a generic nothing burger it completely is.

 

[Epoch]

You know what's funny? People seemed to stop giving a shit about the FF7 remake remarkably fast. Even on the Final Fantasy subreddit any mention of FF7 is either to do with the characters themselves or the original game.

Maybe if they had actually remade the game instead of making another Nomura action-rpg shitfest people would be talking about it more.

 

[Vapewizard]

You know what's funny? People seemed to stop giving a shit about the FF7 remake remarkably fast. Even on the Final Fantasy subreddit any mention of FF7 is either to do with the characters themselves or the original game.

Can't blame them. By the time that series is finished we're all gonna be at retirement age and the story is just going to be more cringy fanfic-tier stuff like all the other FF7 expanded universe stuff.

 

[ryuichi]

I wonder if Square Enix really worked with Mania Carta or if they were just bullshittin me.

 

[Tinnitus]

Forspoken has a 33% discount on Steam.

For those who wonder why i´m posting about it on March 24, 2023 i just felt like it.

 

[Epoch]

This showed up in an unrelated youtube search...

I don't think I need to say how retarded of a decision this would be from Sony. Also is it only the Sony Ponies that cope this hard about Sony being good or are the Xbots like it too? I stopped caring about consoles years ago.

 

[whatever I feel like]

This showed up in an unrelated youtube search...

I don't think I need to say how retarded of a decision this would be from Sony. Also is it only the Sony Ponies that cope this hard about Sony being good or are the Xbots like it too? I stopped caring about consoles years ago.

I don't want to listen to that... thing talk, does he have any actual evidence? Though, FWIW, I think S-E fits well with Sony's existing profile.

 

[Epoch]

I don't want to listen to that... thing talk, does he have any actual evidence? Though, FWIW, I think S-E fits well with Sony's existing profile.

I couldn't make it past the first few seconds, so probably nothing