CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

When I was little (about 7 or 8) I recieved my very 3d gaming experience called a PLAYSTATION. I looked on the back of the box and I saw tons of games ans photo shots of the games and I saw a game called 'Star Ocean' which was the only title i didn`t recognize because at the time I thought everygame that wasn`t sports was called 'Crash Bandicoot' or 'Spyro The Dragon'.

TO THE POINT:

I started to get hooked to the FF series about 4 years later. I noticed the company was called 'Squaresoft'.
Now it is called 'Square-Enix.'

I saw a game in the store at age 14 (which is now) called Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and I thought back to when I saw that picture on the back of the PS1 box. So, I saw 'Square-Enix' on the back of the box and said: 'Wow, Squaresoft owned that game. What a coicidence.'

I soon found out why Squaresoft is now called Square-Enix. They merged with a company called 'Enix; which had a series out more popular than FF called Dragon Quest which is called Dragon Warriors here.
Square owns that series.

I got hooked to those grandia games and now:
It`s owned by Square.

Star Ocean was NOT owned by Square until either it`s first or second sequel.

I think this a sign that the rapture is near. WhY? Because in the end of man`s reign on the earth all the companies will merge into one so there would be no competition. Does anyone agree?

Square Soft and Enix merged last year. THus the last Star Ocean game is Square-Enix.

They make good games, so they continue to be popular and can afford to make different series. Merging with other large companies only cements that. But it's nearly impossible to entirely control an industry (Microsoft is experiencing the backlash from their efforts), so it is highly likely there will be many non-Square-Enix games in the future.

im kind of glad for the merger because square was on shaky ground before. spirits within reeeaaalllyy hurt them. i acctually have a lot of faith in the company besides extremely well founded doubts about ff12

Uh...You're overreacting quite a bit.

First of all, Square-Enix is a large and popular company, but they don't own everything.

None of the Star Ocean games were made by Square. They are the property of a small company called Tri-ace which typically released their games through Enix.

They certainly don't own all RPGs. The Tales series is owned by Namco. The Xenosaga games and Baten Kaitos were made by Monolith Soft/Namco. The Suikoden series is owned by Konami. Skies of Arcadia is owned by Sega. Nintendo has a few. Companies like Atlus, Working Designs, and Nippon Ichi have localized games that would otherwise never see the light of day in the US.
There are a lot of Japanese games, some of them very popular, that most people in the US have never heard of.

I have taken note that several top game designers and at least half-a-dozen composers have left Square-Enix and gone freelance/started their own companies. Something that I've found curious...
At any rate, as long as I enjoy Square-Enix's games, I'll continue to play them.

*waits for Dragon Quest VIII, Final Fantasy XII, and Kingdom Hearts II*

well right now my favoirte RPGs are coming from Nippon Ichi Soft

Gee I forgot when I actually liked Square, now all their games bore me and the RPGs I have played that I love are not even from them. I still have high hopes for FF XII and maybe they will come to their senses and give us a third Chrono game but until then, they're nothing special. And no, they don't own everything.

I got hooked to those grandia games

Grandia was released by Gamearts and as far as I've heard they aren't associated with either Square or Enix. It's funny that Xenosaga is mentioned though. Monolith soft and Namco may have that series now, but Xenogears was a Square game ^^

Rocketshipper wrote:Grandia was released by Gamearts and as far as I've heard they aren't associated with either Square or Enix. It's funny that Xenosaga is mentioned though. Monolith soft and Namco may have that series now, but Xenogears was a Square game ^^

True. But it still doesn't count as a Square-Enix game. After they left Square, several of Xenogear's chief developers formed Monolith Soft.

I can name half a dozen RPGs off the top of my head that are in no way affiliated with Square-Enix. (Grandia, Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, Skies of Arcadia, Evolution, Disgaea/Phantom Brave/La Pucelle Tacitcs)

I got into Square games right before the release of FFIX, and it's my opinion that after FFX came out, Square began to go downhill. They're not a bad company after the merger, but the products released just aren't what they used to be, as seems to be the trend amongst most company mergings. The fact that a lot of the people who have clasically worked with Square are starting to pack their bags and haul off (Uematsu being the most prominent of these) doesn't comfort me either. I don't see many good things in the future for Enix, especially considering my vague disappointment with FFXI and the horror I felt after seeing FFX-2, but here's hoping that things start to look better.

FFXII... "Non-linear" is not a term that should apply to any Japanese RPG... Multilinear (like Seiken Densetsu 3) is good, but not non-linear.

Anyhow, I have liked square's games more often than enix's, so I wonder how this WILL affect the future square/squaresoft sequals...

Of course, Square had the ability to screw up their sequals too... Legend Of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 4) was a horrible game... Why was that? Two big reasons: Non-linear (so the plot was just about gone) and no exploration... That "make your own map" crap needs to be put to eternal rest, never to be sprung on another gaming audience... The SD games went: Ok, Good, Best, Crap... Then good again when they remade SD1, but that's because it was essentially just Secret of Mana with SD1's story (expanded to the point of making a new story of halfway between SD2 and SD3 calibur) instead of SD2's.

I actually never played many Enix games... I played Robotrek a bit, and that was fun, but I really didn't like the first 2 Dragon Quest games... I never played star ocean, either... What other games were Enix known for? I know that the artist for FF4-6 moved over to enix and worked on a couple games... I wanted to try them out, but never got a chance to...

EDIT: I know you Final Fantasies will string me up for saying this, but Uematsu was getting old... His stuff was starting to all sound the same, and there are some other good composers in the Square staff... I say it's a good change that he's left. Just my opinion, and we know what that means (we also know that it's a logical falacy to say we or you in a statement like that, but we don't really care now do we?)

i acctually really enjoyed legend of mana. it was a great change of pace from what all rpgs are these days, besides the insane crazy looking npcs.
and skies of arcadia was mentioned...i count skies of arcadia to be one of the best rpgs of all time!

Bobtheduck wrote:FFXII... "Non-linear" is not a term that should apply to any Japanese RPG... Multilinear (like Seiken Densetsu 3) is good, but not non-linear.

Regarding Japanese consule RPGs, your statement is probably correct. I wouldn't say there are no non-linear RPGs from Japan. An argument could be made for FFXI being essentially non-linear, but that would highly depend on how strictly we set our definitions.

I've never played the newer games in the Dragon Quest series. The old ones were alright, if you enjoy killing monsters by pressing one button endlessly.

Bobtheduck wrote:FFXII... "Non-linear" is not a term that should apply to any Japanese RPG... Multilinear (like Seiken Densetsu 3) is good, but not non-linear.

Off the top of my head, I can't recall any console RPGs that are truly "non-linear"(aside from Seiken Densetsu 4, which I've never played, so I can't comment on). I'm certain that there are some that exist but...
There are a number of multilinear ones that I can think of.

I am a bit annoyed that the US wound up with Secret of Evermore instead of Seiken Densetsu 3.

EDIT: I know you Final Fantasies will string me up for saying this, but Uematsu was getting old... His stuff was starting to all sound the same, and there are some other good composers in the Square staff... I say it's a good change that he's left. Just my opinion, and we know what that means (we also know that it's a logical falacy to say we or you in a statement like that, but we don't really care now do we?)

*shrugs*
Most of Square-Enix's big composers have gone freelance, but they will still likely work on Square-Enix's projects in the future. Hitoshi Sakimoto is doing Final Fantasy XII.
Actually, it's been awhile since Uematsu has done an entire soundtrack. Final Fantasy IX was his last solo score.

I actually never played many Enix games... I played Robotrek a bit, and that was fun, but I really didn't like the first 2 Dragon Quest games... I never played star ocean, either... What other games were Enix known for? I know that the artist for FF4-6 moved over to enix and worked on a couple games... I wanted to try them out, but never got a chance to...

Well, I believe Enix made/published the Soul Blazer/Illusion of Gaia/Terranigma trilogy for the SNES. They published the Tri-ace game Valkyrie Profile for the PS1. Can't think of anything else at the moment. Many of their games were never localized.

I've never played the newer games in the Dragon Quest series. The old ones were alright, if you enjoy killing monsters by pressing one button endlessly.

I've never particularly been a fan of the Dragon Quest series. But Dragon Quest VIII did catch my attention, from what I've read in import previews/reviews.
Level 5 actually made the game. Enix publishes it.
So, I'll see when it gets released over here.

Bobtheduck wrote:I know you Final Fantasies will string me up for saying this, but Uematsu was getting old... His stuff was starting to all sound the same, and there are some other good composers in the Square staff...

I agree. Final Fantasy Tactics was done by Masaharu Iwata and Hitoshi Sakimoto, and the music in that game was excellent. Though I will miss his work, Uematsu leaving doesn't signify crappy music for future FF games. It will still be excellent, I'm sure.
Besides, FFX didn't have the classic FF theme in the end credits...it's been in every single FF game since number one...and I'm sure I'm not the only fan who was more than a little irritated at this.

uc pseudonym wrote:I've never played the newer games in the Dragon Quest series. The old ones were alright, if you enjoy killing monsters by pressing one button endlessly.

DW one was fun, two was okay...three wasn't good until you got to the end of the game and started having deja vu from the first one (which was fun). I saw DW VII for the Playstation and avoided it...it didn't appeal to me, considering how far technology had advanced and yet there it was, the SAME battle screen that's been in every DW game...lifeless monsters and lines indicating slashes. Fine for NES, but c'mon, this was PLAYSTATION.

Bob wrote:What other games were Enix known for?

MasterDias covered most of them...the only other two I can think of are Actraiser for SNES (a kind of SIM Earth/Golden Axe crossover) and Bust A Groove for PS1 (a dancing game).

Kokoro wrote:it's my opinion that after FFX came out, Square began to go downhill.

I think a little, yes. I was so looking forward to FFX-2, but was sorely, SORELY disappointed when I played it...I was hoping the job system would be like Tactics...sadly, this was not the case. I made it about 1/3 of the way through the game and haven't touched it since. I don't think I'll ever beat it, which kinda sucks because I'm curious as to the ending...I just don't have any interest in playing a crappy game to get to the end, no matter how bad I want to see it.

Further, Star Ocean 3 was only average. They got rid of a lot of things that made the second one kewl...you could only create items in a town instead of anywhere...and it is a THOUSAND times harder to create items in SO3 than it was in 2 (in fact, it's so hard and so far in the game I almost wondered if they had taken out that option). Not having a world map was irritating too. Sorry, I don't like running through already explored areas with uber-weak monsters to get to my next destination...they really tore the skill system from 2 apart as well, reducing them to combat skills only...and making them too difficult to juggle (c'mon, FIFTEEN skill points max for combat abilities? Gimme a break ><).

That, and the plot twist in the middle of the game was garbage...

blast, what was the name of that SNES game by Enix...Tales of Phantasia? something like that. it was weird.

dude, I hope you were kidding when you said this was a sign of the rapture...but let's not get into that.

ffx2 broke my heart. i dont think ill ever recover for having to stopping midway in a ff game because the games suckyness. and then, i lost of the hope i had in the world -_-

im not a fan of enix too much... ever play 7th saga? horrid game

enishi wrote:ffx2 broke my heart. i dont think ill ever recover for having to stopping midway in a ff game because the games suckyness. and then, i lost of the hope i had in the world -_-

Actually towards the end the game got pretty good.

I know i overreacted with the title of this thread, but who doesn`t?

"Grandia was released by Gamearts and as far as I've heard they aren't associated with either Square or Enix. It's funny that Xenosaga is mentioned though. Monolith soft and Namco may have that series now, but Xenogears was a Square game ^^"
posted by Rocketshipper

Yep, Grandia Xtreme is a Square-Enix game. It`s REALLy a Square-Enix game unlike Xenogears.

I actually wanna start playing those Dragon Warrior games. I`ll start with either VII or VIII.

Tom Dincht wrote:I think this a sign that the rapture is near. WhY? Because in the end of man`s reign on the earth all the companies will merge into one so there would be no competition. Does anyone agree?

LOL well they own alot but not all games. They mostly dominate RPGs which is a bit of a disappointment but don't worry about it too much.

ShiroiHikari wrote:blast, what was the name of that SNES game by Enix...Tales of Phantasia? something like that. it was weird.

Tales of Phantasia is a property of Wolf Team/Namco. Enix had nothing to do with it.

I think a little, yes. I was so looking forward to FFX-2, but was sorely, SORELY disappointed when I played it...I was hoping the job system would be like Tactics...sadly, this was not the case. I made it about 1/3 of the way through the game and haven't touched it since. I don't think I'll ever beat it, which kinda sucks because I'm curious as to the ending...I just don't have any interest in playing a crappy game to get to the end, no matter how bad I want to see it.

Further, Star Ocean 3 was only average. They got rid of a lot of things that made the second one kewl...you could only create items in a town instead of anywhere...and it is a THOUSAND times harder to create items in SO3 than it was in 2 (in fact, it's so hard and so far in the game I almost wondered if they had taken out that option). Not having a world map was irritating too. Sorry, I don't like running through already explored areas with uber-weak monsters to get to my next destination...they really tore the skill system from 2 apart as well, reducing them to combat skills only...and making them too difficult to juggle (c'mon, FIFTEEN skill points max for combat abilities? Gimme a break ><).

That, and the plot twist in the middle of the game was garbage...

I guess I'll speak in FF X-2's defense since I enjoyed it fair enough. I still like the first one quite a bit better however. I got the good ending but haven't bothered getting 100% completion for the perfect one.
FF X-2 did have a cooler last boss that X did... Final Fantasy X's last boss was...blah.

As for Star Ocean 3, I didn't take issue with the Item Creation system (aside from some inventors costing me more than they were worth) as much as the Private Action system which was rather disappointing compared to SO2's. The battle system did have its flaws as well. Still, while there are flaws, I have enjoyed the game. Albel has the best evil laugh ever.

"Grandia was released by Gamearts and as far as I've heard they aren't associated with either Square or Enix. It's funny that Xenosaga is mentioned though. Monolith soft and Namco may have that series now, but Xenogears was a Square game ^^"
posted by Rocketshipper

Yep, Grandia Xtreme is a Square-Enix game. It`s REALLy a Square-Enix game unlike Xenogears

*sighs*
Here is how it works. All of the Grandia games were developed by a Japanese company called Gamearts(also known for the Lunar series of RPGs). However, they don't usually publish their games in the US. Instead, other companies get the rights to publish them. As it turned out, Sony published the first Grandia in the US, Ubisoft got the rights to publish the second one, and Square-Enix wound up publishing Extreme.

Rsponding to the grandia thing: Yeah, I was wondering why the people who make Rayman published Grandia II. Well,i hope they make a 4th Grandia with at least FF10 graphics. I do know Grandia Online is being made right jnow but I also herd the characters are short with no faces besides eyes like in the 2nd. I heard Xtreme had ghetto graphics too. Haven`t played it.

Tom Dincht wrote:I think this a sign that the rapture is near. WhY? Because in the end of man`s reign on the earth all the companies will merge into one so there would be no competition. Does anyone agree?

Actually that is dealing with Wal-Mart but I have already said too much about it already .

On the subject they may be dominating the RPG genre but it doesn't mean that it could hold up all of its weight. I have a feeling people are going to have extremely high expectations of the company later and Squenix wont be able to keep up and it will eventually fall down.

daveedo wrote:well right now my favoirte RPGs are coming from Nippon Ichi Soft

Same. I love those games.

So Grandia 3 is being published by Square huh? And does anyone have info on Dragon Warrior VIII?

I actually liked a fair amount of Enix's games.... (7th saga WAS horrid though)

The Soul Blazer Trilogy is probably my favorite thing they put out.....

Soul Blazer: Very simple game, but somehow, I loved it.

Illusion of Gaea: (Sequel to Soul Blazer) Great game, great story, vastly underated.

Terranigma: (Sequel to Illusion of Gaea) NEVER RELEASED IN THE US for some incredibly bizzare reason, but still an excellent, excellent game. (The game is avaliable in English in the UK)

Enix also created Actraiser...... which is a truly awesome SNES game. If you can read Japanese, I would recommend the import version as it's harder and the levels are designed completely different.

I will issue a fair warning btw:
ACTRAISER 2 IS A PIECE OF CRAP! SAVE YOUR MONEY!

I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but Square-Enix apparently has some ownership on Full Metal Alchemist. Really, I was reading the manga and noticed this thing on the copyright that said "SQUARE-ENIX".

Well, yeah, it is one of their properties.
Full Metal Alchemist is published in Square-Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan.

The Soul Blazer Trilogy is probably my favorite thing they put out.....

Soul Blazer: Very simple game, but somehow, I loved it.

Illusion of Gaea: (Sequel to Soul Blazer) Great game, great story, vastly underated.

Terranigma: (Sequel to Illusion of Gaea) NEVER RELEASED IN THE US for some incredibly bizzare reason, but still an excellent, excellent game. (The game is avaliable in English in the UK)

Yeah, the Soul Blazer Trilogy was pretty cool. Except, I never did really figure out how they were supposed to be related...although, I didn't actually finish the last two...so...

im not a big fan of enix.... every play 7th saga? yeah terrible RPG. But they did create the dragon warrior series, but they didnt take the "step-up" like ff7 did... thus... Enix was less known that Squaresoft

i believe it was originally Square

Mr. SmartyPants wrote:im not a big fan of enix.... every play 7th saga? yeah terrible RPG. But they did create the dragon warrior series, but they didnt take the "step-up" like ff7 did... thus... Enix was less known that Squaresoft

i believe it was originally Square

Nah it was always Squaresoft back in the day.