Maybe it's one of those 'back in my day' deals, but I just find most modern Square games to be rubbish.

Square used to be a company that I would drop my cash on...even if I didn't really read/see any reviews.


Nowadays?
Hell no, I'm waiting for reviews and even then I'd rather play a demo first.


As a publisher, they're doing okay, but as a developer?
BAH!

Simple, all their talented staff left ages ago - leaving hacks like Tetsuya Nomura in charge. Although to be fair to SE, Naoki Yoshida has been doing very well handling the poisoned chalice of FFXIV's development after Tanaka screwed the game royally.

Unfortunately, I think a lot of SE's problem at the moment is simply because the higher-ups in the company meddle too much with development - specifically SE's President Yoiichi Wada. If that guy just stuck with the rest of the suits in the boardroom and left development completely in the hands of those he's paying to do so, then the company would be so much better off for it. But as it stands...

Look at how screwed up Final Fantasy XI Online and the first version of Final Fantasy XIV Online have been handled... and FFXI was SE's cashcow for a long time (earning them regular revenue). Like Enkidoh said, with the inadequate staff headed by a inept leader... the next Final Fantasy could be the proverbial final fantasy...

Square has been dead for a loooong time now.
The last (original) game from them I've had fun with was The World Ends With You.

The best from the original team left some time ago.

Hironobu Sakaguchi: Plot and gameplay.
Nobuo Uematsu: Music.
Yoshitaka Amano: Characters design, now he desings minor characters.

Now there are untalented people directing the main games, I think there's a lack of humilty.
These are the narcissists that direct today's FF...

Motomu Toriyama:

"Roses have many meanings" WTF? I bet that he feels proud of himslef just because he said that.
"The director wanted to make Caius' Theme into something that could surpass One-Winged Angel" LOL! Mizuta and Hamausu's music is boring, Shimomura is a nice option.

Yoshinori Kitase: His only good game is FFVIII but there's a lot of people that can't stand that title, it receives some hate because it's about teenagers and stuff.
He thinks that he's responsible of FF, watch/read the interviews.

Tetsuya Nomura: You can find in some menus "CHARACTER DESIGN: TETSUYA NOMURA", he thinks that his work is really great and important, just look at Lulu and Serah, they look like transvestites and Ignis looks like Travis Touchdown's gay version, LOL.

"The development team settled on the name Bravely Default: Flying Fairy so that the subtitle would abbreviate to "FF", as a reminder of the game's origins."
With persons like that FF can die right now and BD be the new star of Square Enix.

Lulu looks like a transvestite?

I'm not seeing it...

I don't hate her but she looks like the keen of the drag queens:

Dark eyebrows, big nose, wide neck, his crane (look at that chin), that dark point under her lips and a flamboyant dress (a lot of crossdressers love that).

Square still have talents to give jobs to.

Hiroyuki Ito (Brilliant Game Designer), Hiroshi Minagawa(Easily a good Director), Akihiko Yoshida(Better artist than Nomura IMO), Yoko Shimomura(Could fill the shoes of Uematsu), Hitoshi Sakimoto (Independent musician, but still hireable).


IMO they are the only people that could catch a glimpse of the magic of FF. Specially Ito.

Topopoz's right. There are still talented people working in the SquareEnix. They�re all just stuck working on other projects until they�ll be noticed by the higher-ups again.
In a recent interview Hiroyuki Ito was asked if he would consider returning to the Final Fantasy series. He replied, "I'm a working stiff, so if the president tells me to do it, I'll do it. Talk to Mr. Wada." So until Ito and others get their chance, we�re stuck with Nomura and Toriyama.

Also - The fans. Square has the longest franchise in video game history and it�s harder for them keep everyone satisfied. Old fans grow up and want more than characters with ridiculous hairdo and outfits and stories that are becoming clich� with each installment, while new fans embrace the same formula hardly wanting anything changed.

Also - The fans. Square has the longest franchise in video game history and it’s harder for them keep everyone satisfied. Old fans grow up and want more than characters with ridiculous hairdo and outfits and stories that are becoming clich� with each installment, while new fans embrace the same formula hardly wanting anything changed.

I'm not sure, that's more complex...

This time, Square Enix cared about the negative opinions from the casual gamers (maybe people that wanted to try a JRPG) and fans and not to the positive opinions from popular video game reviewers (IGN, GameSpot...) that's why FFXIII-2 had to be better than FFXIII.

Fans... There's something really diferent, fanboys/girls, those persons will "like" every FF game, it doesn't matter how bad the product is, they will buy it, "love" it and attack any person who doesn't think the same way.

While you are correct topopoz, Aniki, it's the upper eschelons of power at SE which need to utilize the resources they have available to them, more effectively than they have so far. There is the potential to make some great games to bring SE back up to the heights they previously enjoyed, but without proper guidance and leadership, they'll flounder and could conceivably end up like they did back in the 1980's, where Sakaguchi came up with the idea of Final Fantasy to save their collective asses.

Regarding the fans... You have your casual fans, who enjoy a good game/story/characters/etc and want something to escape into now and then. Then, the general fans... ones who can see both the good and bad, but as long as it's grabbed their attention, they'll stick it out. Next the critical consensus, these are the ones who read over EVERYTHING the game has to offer, critique almost every aspect and if they find something they don't like... they'll pounce! These three groups are pretty much universal, as is the fourth group... the rabid fan(atic)s... These are the worst kind around as to them, the company does no wrong, is always perfect and if you don't like even one aspect of said game, these 'people' will attack you with everything they can think of (which in the case of some of them, reverts back to the old "This is better than that because it is" mentality).

Companies now have to make games with a broader feel to get the most back from the fans... the days of single RPG, FPS, Platformer games (Ones which focused on one aspect) are over, and now combined genres of games are the flavor, as they are used to appeal to fans of multiple genres to buy them. With this practice though, they have to work harder to make it work altogether. Some succeed, others don't... and companies won't know until the initial sales.

They started listening to the morons in the gaming press who said the combat system was out of date. Once they changed from the traditional FF gameplay to a poor imitation of the Tales series that was it for me. Betting the farm on The Spirits Within and losing probably didn't help either.

XII was still amazing to me. I know XIII and XIII-2 weren't what most fans of the series were hoping for, but I'd hardly say Square are rubbish, or even done, as a lot of people on the net are saying. Personally, I just can't wait for XV.

Also, as the poster above me pointed out, there were so many complaints about the old battle system being outdated that they had to change it, and now the internet population is complaining that they listened to them, makes no sense to me?

And last year was the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy.
Did we get anything special?
Nah, just a massive collection of all FF games in the main series in one set so expensive that you'd have to sell the kidneys of everyone in your family just to get one.
As an FF fan who already has all the FF games in the main series, it seems pointless to waste the kidneys of my loved ones in such a manner.
That being said, being an FF fan as I am, I'd very likely be one of the first to lay down my pancreas to buy Final Fantasy 15, whether it turns out to be crap or not.

The problem with Square Enix is that they are coasting on their past successes. Rather than competing in the global market of video game innovation, they are simply using their reputation and the reputation of Final Fantasy to sell their games. Think about that, when was the last time Square Enix redisgned Final Fantasy in a well thought out, imaginative and fun way? My pick, 1999 Final Fantasy VIII.

Then there's FF Airborne Brigade on mobile which is hosted by Mobage/DeNA which with their other games we question them hosting it. (the chocobo farm during this event really sucks because it became a 100% money grab)

Lightning Returns seems kinda interesting as it seems like they borrowed the single player aspect from LoZ (Legend of Zelda) which only has one controllable character (Link). (are there any Zelda titles that have a party system or are they all single player, single controllable character games?) I would like to see how this game release turns out. It's funny I started at XIII which for both games I completed story wise (XIII-2 I also 100% cheevos unlocked) I have all the other Final Fantasy's too, but the only one I completed was Crisis Core and Dissidia 012 [duodecim] Final Fantasy...all the rest are still incomplete either stopped right after the beginning or in the middle of completion because I got stuck.

Sorry for bumping this thread.

Hasn't been the same company since 1999, bout the end of the PSX days.

Hasn't been the same company since 1999, bout the end of the PSX days.

I agree. Don't worry they might come back with awe-inspiring revolutionary game ! Don't lost faith yet.

Meanwhile at Square Enix Headquarters in TOKYO:Computer & Muppets - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d4RtvMQp10)