Square Enix General Discussion

[sigfried27]

Oh my gosh, I forgot that Mario RPG was a Squaresoft game. I loved that game.

Anyways, I like the Tales series too. Although the main plots are typically weak, the character development typically makes up for it. And I like the Wild Arms games, but I hate when they added a map searching system where nothing is on the world map until you get driections to eat and keep hitting the search button in a general area to find the towns or dungeons. I have a horrible sense of direction, so at one point, I was stuck for about a month because I couldn't find the next dungeon.

 

[SimmyC]

Well to be honest, I haven't played a lot of Square Enix games, though I will give my opinion on the few that I did play...

Final Fantasy 8: Actually thought it was okay. Until around the end of the third disc, and the beginning of the fourth when I felt the game just dragged. Got to a point where I stopped playing all together and haven't picked it up since.

Chrono Trigger: Pretty good game. Played it on my SNES... emulator. :unsure!: Unfortunately, never got around to finishing it since I hit this one boss, and couldn't figure out a way to defeat it (game doesn't give you a lot of chances to build up your character it seems. Which means of course you need to be more careful which character to use and what items to use etc.). After that, I had to delete the SNES emulator to save space (what happens when you have... had a computer that had VERY little HD space).

Einhander: One of their non-RPG games that they made. Thought it was a nice side scrolling shoot-em up. Not much to say other than that.

Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve 2: IMO, great game. First one suffered for its length though (about as long as say Resident Evil if you play it through and not worry about the 'long' special building I never got finished through). Still, I enjoyed the first game. Second one? Thought it was good too. But they did change a lot of the game that, from my understanding, wasn't well received by fans of the first. Even so, I enjoyed them enough that I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to these games (which given that I heard the first one wasn't all that well received, not holding my breath that it will actually happen).

Tales of Phantasia: Good game. Only played a part of it at the moment. :unsure!: Partly due to time, and of course, other distractions.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced: Thought it was a decent enough game. Had fun with it. Though here it seems a lot of those that played say, the original FFT thought it sucked. And that the story was ghey too. That could be true, but I still enjoyed the game on a very basic level nonetheless.

 

[coconutED]

Well let's see... I'm kind of fuzzy on exactly when they merged, but three games that I have played since then are:

KH2: No where near as good as the first, but I was able to get through it, if only so I could see how the story played out. The original was fresh when it came out, but the second felt like a weak rehash. The so called improvements over the first actually made the gameplay worse in my opinion. And I can never forgive what they did to Atlantica (my ears are still bleeding from that...). The inclusion of Jack Sparrow helps a great deal, but I still fell that KH would have been better served with a second disc to finish off the story instead of a sequel.

DQ 8: Ah, Dragon Quest, the last of the "Old School" RPGs... The Americanization this game went through during its trek accross the Pacific annoyed me, but nothing too big was changed, so I just delt with it (and turned the "Voice" volume to zero). Still, for my money, the series peaked with no. 5. 7 was so-so, with 8 being better, but not as good as 4, the best installment to make the states in my opinion. I'm hearing some bad rumors about 9 that I hope aren't true...

Grandia III: Note that SE only published this game, this and all other Grandias are the work of Game Arts. Now then, this is going to sound harsh but... for those of you who loved Grandia I and/or II and are dying to play III... don't. You're in for a huge let down. The graphics rock and the battle system is good, but about halfway through, the game literally collapses in on itself. This game would be considered short if were on a single CD (it's on 2 DVDs). Characters dissapear into thin air, never to be heard from again (ever!), plot points are left dissapointingly unresolved, and the difficulty increases exponentially near the end. For what it's worth the original is still the best (and the Locker Room scene pwns the Ghost Ship Pipe scene).

As far as Final Fantasy goes...never got into it. I tried to play 4, 6 and 7, but was never able to get into any of them. The only FF game that I ever finished was FF USA (mystic quest), but no one I know (including myself) considers that a true FF.

The Mana series... I'm in the minority here, but I believe that 2 is superior to 3. The gameplay was less clunky in my opinion. I also believe that the much hyped "Triangular Story System" or whatever it's called is a crock. Any combination of characters that you pick yields the exact same progression of events until the end, when depending on who you picked as your first character, one of the three main villians suddenly and without warning just happen to defeat the other two... Beyond the various back stories of the heros, there is no character development to speak of. There is no chemistry (good or bad) at all between your party members, reguardless of which ones you choose. On a side note, I am perplexed by the rumors that SD 2 is really half the game it was supposed to be. I can only imagine what stuff they had to cut out because the planned SNES Disk attachment got canned...

 

[toraneko]

Didn't hear about anything Seiken Densetsu-related regarding the aborted SNES CD-ROM.

BUT... the SNES CD-ROM later became the PlayStation, so the answers you seek may lay in that direction.

Now, re: SD3 party dynamics... I disagree. Just to give a few examples:
-Duran and Angela have interesting interactions
-Riesz is suspicious of Hawk
-Kevin and Carlie's interactions are funny ("This little girl... same age as me?!")
The presence or absence of a character in your party will affect how the enemies act/react toward your group as well.

 

[coconutED]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't all that stuff happen at the begining, when the party is comming together?

I also recall that characters that you did not choose pop up from time to time and interact with your party.

Maybe my expectations were too high. But whatever, despite being a largely dialouge driven story, I felt that the party members in SD 3 did not bond to the level they did in SD 2. I also felt that different parties did not change the experience in any significant way.

But like I said, I'm in the minority on this one, so I know that I'm fighting a losing battle.

 

[fuyu]

Dunno if anyone mentioned Valkyrie Profile Silmeria yet, but that's a fairly good game, which definately beats out FFXII's battle system. That, and you get to see Alicia in thigh highs, which is always a nice thing.

 

[locke69]

:jawdrop: I see that I'm the only person here that knows/owns that the FMA games for the PS2 came from Sqaure Enix.

Is FMA a RPG? As much as I like to say no, the answer is yes. Is the game any good? Provided that the game(s) as used and you like hitting the menu screen to quickly heal yourself and Al, then yes.

Though beating Scar in his only encounter was harder then beating the end-game bosses.

 

[sigfried27]

I see that I'm the only person here that knows/owns that the FMA games for the PS2 came from Sqaure Enix.

Is FMA a RPG? As much as I like to say no, the answer is yes. Is the game any good? Provided that the game(s) as used and you like hitting the menu screen to quickly heal yourself and Al, then yes.

Though beating Scar in his only encounter was harder then beating the end-game bosses.

No, your not the only one. I have owned both at some point in time. Still own the second one I think. I just forgot about them since...well...they kind of sucked. That's just the way it is.

And no, I didn't buy them used, so I dislike them even more, though for the first one I bought it from a store where if you have a week to return a game for full in store credit, so I beat it within that week and then got something else.

 

[Maschbot]

Favorite? Toss up between Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. I spent hours killing Nu's in prehistoric times; I never felt bored at all because I could always switch up my time and use new double techs. Super Mario RPG was a freaking awesome game; the interactive battle system with the timed hits (I spent forever trying to get the Super Jump awards), all the great little sidebars (like that one hidden boss in Monster Town, the one with the crystals); that game fired on all cylinders.

I did like FF XII... until I got towards the end. Marks with over a million HP? While I need a freaking buff to even get in the 9,000s? Who can hit me for about 2K damage per attack through my protect and shell, even though I've got the best armor? Screw that. When I went to fight the last esper, even though I wore the black masks (absorb dark element), he hit me with the instant kill side effect and wasted me. I almost put my controller through the screen.

Loved Grandia I. Never got around to the others.

I also loved Xenogears... until I got lost in the final dungeon. I seriously wandered around that place for about 3 hours trying to find the door.

 

[bigbabidi]

Square Enix games I played. What the hell, I'll give my thoughts.

Unless I missed it, no one's mentioned Secret of Evermore yet and it's made by Square. When it came out, it was cool. I imagine it would still be pretty fun to play even now.

Final Fantasy 4: The game that introduced me to the RPG genre. It was cool back then, and over a decade later, that hasn't changed. Not much else to say that hasn't already been said. The GBA version has some nice bonus content as well (switching party members).

Final Fantasy 5: As someone who loves FF4, FF6 and FFT, you'd think this game would rock my world. I was actually kinda disappointed with it though. I played FFT before this one, so I was used to having much more flexibility with job classes and their abilites from one class to another.

Final Fantasy 6: RPGs can't get much better than this, even today. Add the fact that it came out about twelve years ago and this game is easily one of the best ever. It has a good sized cast of characters, and unlike other games with a large cast, FF6 has areas that require groups, forcing you to actually use these people.

Chrono Trigger: Dual Techs and Triple Techs. 'Nuff said.

Seiken Densetsu: Fun. I can't remember too well, so I'll just leave it at that.

Final Fantasy 7: Anything I could say for this has already been said. Other than the fact that this game is what started the whole 'ultimate challenge' theme that so many other games use nowadays. Emerald and Ruby Weapon: Hard but fun to kill.

Final Fantasy 8: Not bad, but too much weird stuff story wise (those who've played know what I mean).

Final Fantasy 9: If Vivi and Eiko weren't in it, I'd think less of it. It's good.

Chrono Cross: If it wasn't supposed to be the sequal to a game of Chrono Trigger's calibur, it'd be better. This game should've done what FF6 did, force you to use multiple characters in a dungeon, especially since their cast is a good 3-4 times larger.

Final Fantasy X: It's good, but the last boss was way too easy. I beat him with 3 hits. Retarded.

Final Fantasy X-2: It would've been for the greater good of the world if this game didn't exist.

Radiata Stories: Fun. Especially if you can get the high level party members (Elwen kicks major ass).

Star Ocean, 'til the End of Time: Ignore the plot twist like I do, and the game is fantastic.

 

[sigfried27]

Emerald and Ruby Weapon: Hard but fun to kill.

Wrong, I managed to kill Emeral and ruby without KoTR, final attack, or any other typical set ups. Hell, they only managed to attack me once. One word...Slots.

At least in the PC version, getting game over with Cait Sith's slots even worked on the weapons, so I just built up a limit break, saved, and kept trying until I got game over. Never had to do any materia leveling, any chocobo training or anything like that. Essentially the only use Cait Sith has ever had in the game. Never would have used him if it weren't for the fact that he and Tifa were the only characters that friends of mine hadn't used to beat the game, and I wanted to be different.

 

[SotF]

Emerald and Ruby Weapon: Hard but fun to kill.

Wrong, I managed to kill Emeral and ruby without KoTR, final attack, or any other typical set ups. Hell, they only managed to attack me once. One word...Slots.

At least in the PC version, getting game over with Cait Sith's slots even worked on the weapons, so I just built up a limit break, saved, and kept trying until I got game over. Never had to do any materia leveling, any chocobo training or anything like that. Essentially the only use Cait Sith has ever had in the game. Never would have used him if it weren't for the fact that he and Tifa were the only characters that friends of mine hadn't used to beat the game, and I wanted to be different.

It works in the PS1 version as well, it's just as cheap as the other abilities. I beat Emerald by pounding it without anything of the sort.

Ruby...well, I still haven't beat that sucker as of yet.

 

[GenocideHeart]

I attacked ONCE against Emerald, then next turn it was dead.

How?

Lots and lots of Counter Attack Materia. I typically countered 15 times every time it attacked me, and after a while, such a beating added up tremendously.

The sucker never even had a chance to use Aire Tam Storm.

As for Ruby? I entered the battle with Cloud alone alive. It burrowed its tentacles right away. Phoenix summon. Epic stomping. Dead WEAPON.

They are easy as pie when you know what their gimmicks are. All you have to do is use your brain for more than mindlessly mashing X, and in Emerald's case, it's not that much more complicated.

 

[bigbabidi]

Yeah, I'll admit the weapons are alot easier nowadays than when I first played it. During my first playthrough though, Emerald was a bitch, plain and simple (I talked about that one in the 'Most Memorable RPG Moments' thread).

Ruby? Well, that's the one where the Game Over slots worked out for me. I did have a tough time when I tried to fight him fairly though (The fight lasted a good two hours).

And I agree about a ton of counter attacks, they kick ass.

But yeah, during my second playthrough of the game they weren't so bad.

 

[ttestagr]

Ruby was simple to kill. Double summon Hades and one of the Bahamuts. Mime. Hades freezes him and any Bahamut does unblockable damage. The Ultima counter that Ruby had for using Knights of the Round was a bit of a killer before you know about it though.

Emerald was harder, had to level up a bit to around the 70's and was able to just out pound the damn thing.