Thursday, May 29, 2008

Found on Kingdom Hearts Network

"After a lackluster yearly financial statement, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has reportedly told his employees to quit making quirky games and focus on the mainstream appeal. It's a rumor, but seems pretty reasonable to us. If true, look for endless iterations of the Final Fantasy series and fewer Japan-only titles coming from Square."

Reportedly being the operative word here, and so it's no surprise that it's a rumor. Still, this means that the Romancing Saga/Saga Frontier Series, once considered Final Fantasy's evil twin, is most likely going to die. Kingdom Hearts Coded, the new one that no one seems to care about, may end up getting canned. Looks like Kingdom Hearts is now Final Fantasy's new "twin", only not so evil.

The Saga Series is wonderful, but LORDY it's hard. Not that KH is easy, but it's not non-linear and not quite as hair pulling in terms of frustration. And, in Kingdom Hearts, the overall characterization is a bit better, even if many of them come from Final Fantasy and Disney Worlds.

I wonder about Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile though. Star Ocean is a wonderful series and there's a reason why the VP games tend to be sought after. I don't think they're going anywhere, but I do tend to worry that they may end up being swallowed by the Final Fantasy juggernaut. Course the same could be said for non-Square games, but I'm not too worried about those, except for the Suikoden series.

I'm not worried at all about 358/2 and Birth By Sleep. Those two are obviously "safe".

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