Life after Square

by Rando

Is there life after Square?

Nine times out of ten, if you ask someone who claims to be an RPGer what they think of when you mention Square, you'll get an answer that is in some way related to Final Fantasy 7. It's sad, but it's true. Most self-proclaimed RPGers got started with this game, and many of them have never played another.

In my eyes, Square committed suicide with the release of FF7. Square's integrity went down the tubes when they substituted flash for quality, and, with the exception of two, they have yet to recover. Don't get me wrong here, I mostly liked FF7 as I was playing through it, but as I got closer to the end, I realized how bad it was getting. Overall, it wasn't a bad game, but that's not to say it was good either.

But one company making one bad game isn't the issue...

What Square did with this game was put graphics over substance. Plain and simple. Square was trying to get a bunch of people into RPGs by making FF7 pretty. Seems reasonable enough, trying to generate interest in your genre, but not at the cost of your integrity and only if you do it once. That last part is where Square messed up. Their recent games have been less than acceptable, again with the exception of two. If you still don't know, the exceptions I am talking about are Xenogears and Final Fantasy Tactics. These are the only two games since FF7 which have held a candle to the games of Square's "glory days." Many RPGers would like to know what happened to the great games like Chrono Trigger. I think I've figured it out.

Pretty games sell. Final Fantasy 8, Parasite Eve, and Vagrant Story sold terrifically, and they looked great. The stories sucked, but that's okay, Square's "new breed" of RPGers don't like games with a story. As bad as this sounds, it must be true, because they continue to churn out garbage, and it continues to sell like crazy.

There is hope for all of us "old" RPGers, and it comes in the form of other companies. We haven't always had to depend solely on Square to give us RPGs, but until the aforementioned FF7, we've depended on them to give us quality games with great stories. Now, many of us are finding that Sega, Working Designs, Enix, and Konami have also put out quality games. We have found refuge in series like Shining Force, Soul Blazer, Star Ocean, and Phantasy Star. With recent releases like Lunar: SSSC and the Suikoden series, smaller companies have shown Square that there is competition out there.

Good. Maybe Square will wise up and start making games for RPGers again. It's not likely, but even if they don't, we'll always have our other companies to turn to.

Is there life after Square?

It looks like it.