Does Square Enix Deserve More Credit?
by Benjamin Yoder, posted on 13 September 2011 / 3,339 Views
In a world where Western developers dominate the industry, it's hard for Japanese developers to really hold their own. Outside of Nintendo, most Japanese developers are having trouble finding their place in today's market, especially on a world-wide scale. Some have stuck to niche markets around the world, others are chasing western tastes and in some cases, some have completely given up on regions outside their home territory. Larger developers have it a lot harder, as they not only need to stay on top of the Japanese market, but also try to regain lost ground in the Western markets. Split between two different design philosophies, it's hard to make a quality title that appeals to both markets. Many developers have given up finding this happy medium or gone the extreme of one way or the other. Square Enix, on the other hand, seems dead-set on making it work.
After being a dominate force the last two generations, it's a bit of surprise at how much of an after thought Square Enix has become as a developer. On their publishing side, recent titles from Eidos have cast quite a shadow on Square Enix's internal teams. Now-a-days Square Enix is often called out for not innovating enough and sticking to their big guns, specifically the Final Fantasy series. In terms of making use of that franchise, it's true. Add up all the portable Final Fantasy games across Nintendo DS, PSP and Wii and you're set for at least a year. While there's only been two HD Final Fantasies so far, there are still quite a few more on the way.
Despite criticisms of these titles and the general idea that Square Enix isn't evolving from their Japanese philosophies, I’d argue that they are one of the more adventurous companies when it comes to Japanese developers. Not only do they attempt to find a balance between development philosophies for a global market, they also have been pushing to create some unique and innovative titles, even if they have have big names slapped on them.
Final Fantasy XIV pushed many features that that didn't follow the World of Warcraft formula, with an engaging stamina based battle system, an economy that didn't rely on auction houses, as well as attempted change the role of a crafting system in an MMORPG. The 3rd Birthday took the Parasite Eve series in a new direction, essentially making it a third person with a bit of its own flair. A bit of an older title, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, had a world that encouraged heavy amounts of experimentation and threw the typical JPRG hero and plot out the window for more of an Indiana Jones-style action title. Square Enix must have not gotten the memo that different doesn't always equal good, because all of the titles mentioned above aren't exactly, um... the cream of the crop. It's a phase I think Square Enix had to go through, and possibly is still going through, to really understand what they need to do to succeed.
Revisiting Final Fantasy XIV, it's still a bit early to say if they'll find a healthy balance, but they've been reining the title back a bit to implement features that are more standard fare in MMORPGs. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is introducing dialogue trees where the player can make choices during conversations with NPCs, although they will have no effect on the plot outside of that dialogue. The title will have multiple endings through time traveling and going to different areas at different times. While we haven't seen much of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the gameplay we've seen hints at taking the traditional Kingdom Hearts gameplay style into a full Final Fantasy experience, as well as adding quite a few more Western features like including elements of third person shooting. Many JRPG elements seem to remain, but they're also implementing these other elements more commonly found in Western titles.
As long as it's profitable we'll continue to see the Final Fantasy name or other big franchises from Square Enix like Dragon Quest. Despite this, it's important to look beyond the name and at the software itself. Final Fantasy is probably one of the few franchises that can really adapt with ease to different settings and gameplay styles, whether it be in a main numbered entry or a spin-off. I definitely think Square Enix has their development heart in the right place, but they need to learn to build an experience around that to, yet again, make truly great software that gamers can't afford to miss
