Wada: “We’re So Bad We’ll Have To Rebuild Our Brands”

10 years to late.... also... they still the top average for the industry... so tell me whos to blame for buying all their crap?

What amazes me is that people are only just now figuring out that Squeenix makes terrible games. They've been making horrible titles since they came out with Final Fantasy VII and discovered they could get away with it.

Well, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

Agito and Versus XIII will surely be the fabled return of Square quality. Those two titles will realize the need for the company to be rent from the hands of Wada and Kitase. In all of this hate, which is not unfounded, let's not overlook the quality titles SE has brought: KH II,358/2 days, Birth By Sleep, The World Ends With You, Crisis Core, and Dissidia. It's a lot more accurate to say that SE completely screwed over their console efforts (360 *cough*) and did not seek the level of advancement and quality that brought them notoriety in the first place. All hope lays in Versus now.

Here is the regrettable truth.

Final Fantasy 7 was an excellent example of what happens when a decent - not amazing, as many seem to believe, but decent - RPG is made for a system whose technology is still being explored due to its recent foray into the market. Except for the cut-scenes, the game was unquestionably ugly...but it played fairly well and gave RPG fans the fix they had been waiting for since Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger, and thus is was well-received. (It was also the start of the pointy-haired whiner as the protagonist.

Final Fantasy 8 was a game whose lesson was clearly not learned. The graphical upgrade from Final Fantasy 7 to Final Fantasy 8 is immediately apparent to anyone who has played both games, but everything else fell to pieces. From the mandatory and irritating card game to the system that punishes you for even dabbling in magic to the unlikeable characters (with one or two exceptions, neither being the protagonist), Final Fantasy 8 was a train wreck and should have taught Square Enix one key lesson: Pretty Is Not Enough.

Final Fantasy 9 was very much a reversal of the mistakes of Final Fantasy 8. While it may have lacked the stylistic charm of 8, it had decent graphics and a very inventive system. It was a return to the old days of Final Fantasy, but with the new innovations that had come throughout the series, along with some new ones and some VERY memorable characters. In my opinion, Final Fantasy 9 was one of the strongest Final Fantasy games. Unfortunately, it was coming off of the dismal failure of its predecessor, and thus never got the acclaim it deserves.

Final Fantasy 10 was, in a word, a very beautiful game. Regardless of what you may think of its gameplay - which I feel was well-executed, even though it did tend to pigeonhole the characters into various roles - it was a feast for the eyes and, on many occasions, ears. While the gameplay lacked the innovation of 9, it was still decent, and the open-ended nature of character advancement and myriad of unlockables combined with an interesting and unique story to produce a positive experience overall.

Final Fantasy 11 was a mistake. In a world that was already saturated with MMOs, Square Enix opted to release their own and ignore the 800-pound gorilla in the room named WoW. With game mechanics that failed to live up to standards set by earlier entries in the field and a poorly designed economy, it was never among the top three MMOs during its time, and has proven to be a venture that should have been eschewed in favor of Square Enix doing what it does best.

I can offer no informed opinions on entries after that, as I finally gave up on the series once the MMO was released. I have heard good things about Final Fantasy 12, poor things about Final Fantasy 13, and the reviews I've seen of Final Fantasy 14 are jaw-droppingly bad...so much so that I assumed that it had to be some kind of hoax, only to be disappointed.

I would like very much for Square Enix to pull themselves out of this hole and create the excellent games that I know they are capable of producing, but I am no fool: the brand "Final Fantasy" has been permanently ruined for a large portion of their target audience. Would it be better for them to try to salvage the brand or to start a new one? I don't have the marketing experience to offer a coherent opinion on that either, but I know this much: IF they have the chance to pull away from death, this is their last one.

This is what you get for kicking out Sakaguchi, Squeenix.

Serves you right.

Now's the time to buy Square Enix stock.
The stock is bound to go only up. They are far from dead: Deus Ex, FF Agito, Tomb Raider reboot coming next year, and I am sure they will have something else up their sleeve. Even if not, Eidos profits will keep them from death.

So if we buy stock now for dirt cheap and they rebuild it according to plan we can make a killing.

I want Wada's fucking head on a silver platter. This guy should be forced to resign.

Seriously, we've all seen people in the game indutry being cut for way less than this ass-hat has pulled off.

I dearly love some of Square's games of old, so I wish them good fortune in their rebuilding.

so.... rebuild and repent? oh my at this rate they might come around again with some great games :D

Mistwalker.. believe it.

I wish Mistwalker to buy SE!

REVENGE!!;)

The first clue should have been all that World of Mana garbage. One of the greatest action/RPGs of all time, and they take away most of the RPG elements literally by removing the levels you gain after each dungeon... bullshit!

They are going to touch Xeno.
The apocalypse is coming.

I personally think every person or group that decides to pursue making an MMOG should learn from SquarEnix mistake. There are so many MMOGs out there that unless you put in some serious work to create something that is either original or ground breaking, your game will at best be the hit of the month.

I think they were onto something with FF12. Amazingly detailed visual assets, mostly fitting soundtrack, only a few quirky sound effects. Player tuned AI was a big selling point they really should have advertised on. The world was very detailed, it didn't at all feel mostly empty like the worlds in past FF games. Not trying to push FF12 as the best Square(Enix) game out there, but well it was the first one that really showed promise that they were starting to take thing seriously again.

Masses of fanboys made them think they didn't have to innovate their products.

I think it was all downhill after the Enix merge. Sad Square name doesn't carry the quality it once did.

The Enix side of Square-Enix is doing just fine

Dragon Quest 8 and 9 were both excellent and worthy additions to the series

It's not Enix's fault that Final Fantasy can't keep up, and the people blaming the declining quality of these titles on the merger with Enix are clearly just grasping at straws

I'm rooting for a power vacuum in which various makers all compete for top spot as the new RPG king, but ends with a rivalry like Square VS Enix that forces quality rather than brand-riding.

Squenix is the best example why mergers should be forbidden. It's killing the industry from within.

if main final fantasy games are their main franchise then I see no reason why they can't churn one out every year, activision manage it with their call of duty franchise.

Instead we wait 3 1/2 to 5 years for a new single player final fantasy game only for it to be absolute shite. In between we get a load of crappy spin off games that aren't worth shit and broken games like ff14.

Remember dirge of cerebus? Square have been churning out crap for years. The whole japanese gaming industry is one big fucking joke of late and when their flagship company produces dross like ff14 its time to call it a day. RIP japanese games

Have they really been slacking or were they just hoisted by their own petard?

Final Fantasy 14 is a piece of shit but then the MMO genre is stagnated beyond belief with a bunch of me-too endless grindathons that nobody really wants, so that's not really a surprise. Sony ruined it all for everyone with Everquest. Everyone started copying its basic gameplay design, including Blizzard with World of Warcraft.

So what about their other games? Even in the old days when some would say they were "Good," were they good because they were actually good, or were they good because there was little in the ways of the competition?

What I'm saying is that Final Fantasy games have never really been impressive in game mechanics, difficulty, replay value, etc. In the last 10 years you've had smaller companies like Atlus who've pretty much improved their Shin Megami Tensei titles to the point where they're better than anything Square maxes and Namco with the Tales series which has been good since Symphonia popping out games that are just far more interesting than what Square is making. Ok, sure, Namco is run by idiots who refuse to localize half of what they make, but Square has some serious competition now and they really didn't before.

What's changed in the last 10 years is that not only are there other Japanese companies making role playing games in similar style for the same gaming platforms Square does, but you've had the developers of previously PC-only games begin porting their games to consoles as well. Many of which are also better than what Square makes. Of course less people are going to buy Square's inferior games. What do you expect?

They have no choice really. Final Fantasy can't save them a second time.

The herp derp is rampant in this thread. First of all I'd like to say that enix killed square, not the other way around, at least from an RPG fan point of view. Second of all, people need to stop talking out of their asses. Tomb Raider is an Enix game not an Eidos game.

I wouldn't mind remakes or re-visioning of FF. I could play the games form no.1

You can do it Square Enix~ I have faith you you guuiiise ; A ; please rebuild your former gloryyyy

Fucking Wada. I wish for SQEX to fire him miles away from the company. Then hire another japanese guy, 100% nationalist.

welll i'm a fan of square enix and i almost played every game they made but sadly it is true... there previouse games kinda sucks..well i think it's not appropriate to blame square but be damn happy to blame there stupid C.E.O..

turning FFIV an MMORG!!!

Square Enix believed you could make good games just like you make "good films". Make a lot of awesome fights scenes, incredible effects(=graphics).

Except it doesn't work that way, even with a series as popular as final fantasy.

Now, if they concentrate on making fun games, maybe we could actually enjoy a final fantasy again.

Aha, I was used to hate 8 because I tought it was an horrible FF game, but seeing what the markets offers right now I find it a very nice game!

SE disappoints me in many aspect, but it would be sadder if they truly disappear. Remake of games, would show great graphic but no enjoyment in the stories, since most of the gamers already know the story--even until now i still remembers most of the FF8 and FF9's story which most people says highly forgettable.

Give them time, it's not like everyone'd always walk on top, this might be their time to walk on the bottomside of the wheel, and so they struggle to go to top again.

In recent years, they've published many good games, however. Nier, The World Ends with You, Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and Lord of Vermillion are just a few I can list off the top of my head.

Uh, what? Squeenix had nothing to do with TO:LUCT. That was all Quest.

fall of squenix? i think not. know your history, everybody! squaresoft has found themselves in a pinch by their own ambitions several times now, and they always manage to escape stronger than ever.

How can a 7-8 year old company be having a 10 year low? Wouldn't this be SE's all-time low?

Seriously more remakes?? I think people see SE as "Remake Game Developer Now". Maybe true that half of their games was remakes... and U people keep spoil lazy SquareEnix by buying it. I don't think remake Final Fantasy VII as best decision... look what they do to Advent Children and Crisis Core turning cloud from Cool Guy to Gay Bishonen.....

I'd rather have them work other series with different names don't touch Final Fantasy anymore SquareEnix!! you just make Grand game to cheap action drama....

Yay, SE suddenly realized that they've just been whoring their franchises out for the past decade. Now we can totally expect their games to have the old Squaresoft quality from now on! Hurray!

Oh wait-Wada basically promised the exact same thing in 2008...and didn't deliver at all. And again in 2009. Gosh, it's almost like he was just trying to sucker some more die-hard fans into keeping the faith (and more importantly, continuing with the pre-orders) for a while longer. Again...again.

the only fixing square needs is by removing wada. bring back the xenosaga team, chrono team, and the father of them all Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu.

until then, problems will just continue to arise.

another solution is by putting they're greatest PS1 games in the west, Xenogears, Parasite Eve Archives, Chrono Series, and the Saga series.

they like politicians
dont want to hear what peopla want
just wanna work for their own interest

now they get what they want.

And you know what?

Square Enix most EPIC FAIL was....
They created Human skin like real.
But when i see it, it was like PIG skin :D
they use it from FF spirit within until now :D
what an idiot

I'm hoping to could change it to "Circle Soft"

Yes, Now is the time for ATLUS' series Shin Megami Tensei.

Down with Square Enix!

This company sucks, now.

I'm happy when people speak/write about their company in past wording.

Funny is, if they failed so bad; I'd of rather SquareEnix go the Never Winter Nights road.

Let the community fix your fucking game, and make their own micro communities. Use it to see how your gamers/consumers think your new games should be.

I'll always be a fan of Dungeon Siege 1, that game was good only if you could make it not do that damn auto-attack every target coming in your range. But still, a auto-matic defense is bad ass... it got bad reviews, but when you see FF12, that shit was no different just "More innovative" with the same freaking approach.

One of the last major errors was FFXIV, not just because it has so many flaws, but because of FFXI. Let me explain.

As a former experienced FFXI player, seeing a new online game made by the same company,with the same races (they changed names, yeah........) and the fact you have to start from scratch......fuck that.
I spent countless hours, days, years to achieve what I got and now what? I tried to ignore technical flaws and everything hoping for some kind of client re-release and then they come out with XIV.
They could have just revamped XI. EVERYONE would have bought a full price new client with new graphics.
BUT NO. They make a crappy new game instead sending XI to death.

I was used to love Squaresoft (been playing since FF4) and Squarenix too. I don't hope for them to die (I actually enjoyed XIII, it's way better than X and XII anyway) but I hope to see less Nomura and hi-tech scenarios and more Amano and oldschool castles and crystals.

ffff yeah I misss IV and VI mostly. AND FINAL FANTASY TACTICS. THE REAL TACTICS. Not that advance shit.

Square Enix is getting circle.

Its amazing how screwed up SE gets just because XIV flopped.

I mean XIII was ok I guess, but easily the worst main FF since ff II but it was still good in the final third and it sold very well.

One FF does terribly and they almost collapse? Wtf are SE doing with their money?

It was a big mistake imho to make XI and XIV MMO games. They should have been ff online and ff online 2. I dont care for the genre which means ppl have to wait longer for a proper FF and when XIII lets ppl down of course ppl will get pissed at SE.

However I have NO sympathy for ppl who hate XII. That was a godly game, one of my fav. SE needs to continue more innovation like XII

Why aren't you giving your resignation letter Wada? Can't you see you're the problem?

missed the old Square Soft. . .
every great games are from them, and the greatness stopped after it became Square Enix . . .

you are the one to blame wada

Its fine if XII was not your thing, but XII is not crap from any objective level. Just because the story was bad dont make it rubbish.

So yeah hurry up SE and make XV and let it be awesome. However mess it up and even I will lose faith with you.

"and make them into something perfect. "

It started with the day you took the money from Microassholesnigashit

Stay Sony only and you can at least make good Final Fantasy Offline Games.

They don't have to rebuild all of their brands, in fact, they should keep them has they are and just make new ones like Vagran History, Drakengard or The World Ends With You. That way they can keep happy their old hardcore FF followers and get new people to enjoy new and differents franchises at the same time.

I can't figure out why Wada still has a job. I mean, contrition is a good first step, but he should not be employed by Square-Enix any longer.

Their latest MMORPG was so FUCKED after years of development that they SACKED THE ENTIRE DEV TEAM and made it free-to-play for the foreseeable future.

How is this excusable? Especially in Japanese corporate culture, which is so notoriously intolerable of any single failure that we see stuff like the INVENTOR OF THE GAMEBOY get a window-seat because the Virtual Boy was rushed to market AGAINST HIS RECOMMENDATIONS!

Are these not the sort of mistakes a leader needs to man-up and fall on his sword for? (Metaphorically speaking, of course.)