A fairly unlikely possobility of Square going under.

[NeoCracker]

Lets say, for the sake of discussion, Square enix goes under and sells off it's IP's. Who would you like to see pick up each IP?

Atlus, I think, is the best canidate for Valkyrie Profile. When I played Covenent of the Plume, I loved the Idea of Sacrificing your allies to obtain great power. The Idea that the people you sacrificed were actually characters with personalities and stories was amazing. The problem was the execution was abysmal. The characters were poorly written, and the characters had little to no relevance on anything after their introduction arc. Give a franchise and Ideas like this to Megaten, and I could see an absolutely stunning game unfold.

Obsidian seems like the most logical choice to hand Deus Ex over too. These guys can write a damned good open world game, as we saw with Fall Out New Vegas. Hell, that is one of the only WRPG's that I fealt your choices actually mattered in the grand scheme of things. I certainly feel they would handle the ending of thier game far better the Square/Eidos did.

Lufia was a bit harder to pick. There aren't a lot of companies out there that really do much to crank out more traditional SNES/PS1 era RPG's anymore. Though thinking on it, I came up with Camelot Game Studios. Their work on Golden Sun was always great. They have experience setting up more Puzzle based Dungeons, which was always one of Lufia's Highlights for me.

What got even harder was the next two franchises. Firstly Dragon Quest. There was the Idea I had to hand that one over to Camelot as well. A good choice, but I have a bit more radical Idea. One that will probably make poor Wolfy shake his head at me with shame. But Gust Studios, the makers of the Atelier franchise. I think they could easily capture the more light hearted nature and hilarious use of PUns from the Dragon Quest games, and they have always done good with keeping a great narrative. As long as they can reign in some of the more excessive goofiness they like to use, I think they could churn out a great DQ game.

And of course, there is the inevitable 'Who get's Final Fantasy?'. There are two options I would consider here. I think I would go with the later, but I'll throw out option one first.

Mist Walker Games. The reason should be obvious, this is the Studio run by Sakaguchi, the guy who was involved in all my favorite Final Fantasies. This man is an amazing director. The problem is the quality that they have been turning out. Both Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey were highly disappointing games, and I hear mixed Reviews of Last story. If Sakaguchi could hand over the running of the company to another, and actually put his full focus behind the game, I think he could give a lot of us what we've been waiting for, another great FF.

Since I don't know if that would happen, I will go with option 2, Level 5. Look no further the their work on White Knight Chronicles to see how much detail they can put into their worlds, or DQ IX to see their talent at more typical JRPG's. (Even though IX was way to easy and exploitable. :p) Pair that with the interview with Level 5 creator I posted in General gaming a while ago, I think it's a safe bet a good FF game could be made by these guys.

There are a lot of games under Squares wing right now, so I wont' get through them all, but what are your thoughts? What games would you like to see handled by what compaines?

[Laddy]

Prett much this is how it should go down.

A sick part of me thinks that Obsidian making Final Fantasy would be sexy as hell.

[ShinGundam]

Mistwalker isn't a studio, they don't have any programmers or game designers.

I don't think many of SE's IPs fit the current gaming climate anyway, so i am indifferent.

[NeoCracker]

If WIkipedia is to be believed it is a Studio. :p

They just seem to to co-develope their games with other people a lot. :p

[Wolf Kanno]

This is kind of a morbid topic...

[NeoCracker]

This is kind of a morbid topic...

Morbid is such a strong word.

I like to think of it more as 'Progressive' or 'Pragmatic'.

[Wolf Kanno]

This is kind of a morbid topic...

Morbid is such a strong word.

I like to think of it more as 'Progressive' or 'Pragmatic'.

I feel like I'm at one of my family reunions listening to my relatives talk about what their going to take when Grandma dies. :eep:

[NeoCracker]

This is kind of a morbid topic...

Morbid is such a strong word.

I like to think of it more as 'Progressive' or 'Pragmatic'.

I feel like I'm at one of my family reunions listening to my relatives talk about what their going to take when Grandma dies. :eep:

Better make sure the stuff goes to someone worthwhile then! :monster:

[Goldenboko]

If Spirits Within didn't kill SE, FFXIV won't either.

[Fynn]

Hand FF over to Monolith Soft!

[VeloZer0]

Actually Spirits Within did technically kill Squaresoft, leading to the formation of Square Enix.

That said at this point I don't I would mind all that much. I haven't exactly been thrilled with anything SE has produced in a long time, the best thing SE has been managing to do for me is mediocrity.

[Hollycat]

I'd pass kingdom hearts to insomniac, since of all the developers, they are the best in terms of graphics (for cartoony games like kh, spyro, and rc) and they seem pretty damn good at putting out successful games.

[NeoCracker]

Hand FF over to Monolith Soft!

I think I'd rather see Monolith Soft Pick up Star ocean then FF. I don't really feel FF is quite suited for Monoliths more 'What the fuck' style of story. :p

[Wolf Kanno]

Actually Spirits Within did technically kill Squaresoft, leading to the formation of Square Enix.

That said at this point I don't I would mind all that much. I haven't exactly been thrilled with anything SE has produced in a long time, the best thing SE has been managing to do for me is mediocrity.

From what I heard, the merger was happening either way, the films flop just allowed Enix to have more leverage in business negotiations.

[Skyblade]

I'd like Atlus to grab them all, honestly. They're a company that actually knows how to write (which is getting rarer and rarer in this industry), and they know how to make excellent traditional JRPGs in terms of mechanics.

Oh, and they're pretty good about listening to their fans as well.

Atlus would rock a Chrono Trigger sequel, and anyone who's played Radiant Historia knows it.

[NeoCracker]

I'd like Atlus to grab them all, honestly. They're a company that actually knows how to right (which is getting rarer and rarer in this industry), and they know how to make excellent traditional JRPGs in terms of mechanics.

Oh, and they're pretty good about listening to their fans as well.

Atlus would rock a Chrono Trigger sequel, and anyone who's played Radiant Historia knows it.

The Problem here is all of the best Atlus titles are coming from the same team. If you throw all of these RPG's to Atlus, we are going to have massive gaps between each release for the titles given all the work is on so few people. :p

[Roogle]

How did Square Enix come to hold the Lufia series as a property? I thought they were only involved in publishing the titles.

[Ouch!]

Wait, people thought Lost Odyssey was disappointing? What the hell is wrong with people?

[Quindiana Jones]

Nobody thought Lost Odyssey was disappointing. Everybody appreciated how fantastic it was.

Note: "everybody" refers only to people whose opinions are worth considering. ;)

[Flaming Ice]

Hand FF over to Monolith Soft!


Exactly this.


And lost odyssey is a good game :) (besides those kelolons)

[Skyblade]

I'd like Atlus to grab them all, honestly. They're a company that actually knows how to right (which is getting rarer and rarer in this industry), and they know how to make excellent traditional JRPGs in terms of mechanics.

Oh, and they're pretty good about listening to their fans as well.

Atlus would rock a Chrono Trigger sequel, and anyone who's played Radiant Historia knows it.

The Problem here is all of the best Atlus titles are coming from the same team. If you throw all of these RPG's to Atlus, we are going to have massive gaps between each release for the titles given all the work is on so few people. :p

So, Atlus will have to hire more guys and there will finally be a job opening for me there, yay!

Yeah, Atlus doesn't have the fastest turn around time. But if they could increase their size while holding on to their quality, we would have the most awesome development company ever.

[NeoCracker]

Wait, people thought Lost Odyssey was disappointing? What the hell is wrong with people?

It wasn't a bad game, just kind of lack luster. I was a bit put off mostly because I fealt "The Thousand Years of Memories' were telling more interesting tales then the main plot, which couldn't hold my attention that well. :p




I'd like Atlus to grab them all, honestly. They're a company that actually knows how to right (which is getting rarer and rarer in this industry), and they know how to make excellent traditional JRPGs in terms of mechanics.

Oh, and they're pretty good about listening to their fans as well.

Atlus would rock a Chrono Trigger sequel, and anyone who's played Radiant Historia knows it.

The Problem here is all of the best Atlus titles are coming from the same team. If you throw all of these RPG's to Atlus, we are going to have massive gaps between each release for the titles given all the work is on so few people. :p

So, Atlus will have to hire more guys and there will finally be a job opening for me there, yay!

Yeah, Atlus doesn't have the fastest turn around time. But if they could increase their size while holding on to their quality, we would have the most awesome development company ever.

Yeah, unless you find a way to clone them, I don't see that being to likely. :p

Also, we'd want a good variety of people making different games to keep the market full of varied titles. :p

[Bolivar]

I'm not sure if SE actually owns Dragon Quest; Yuji Horii isn't an employee, and as long as his production company could still design the game and farm out development to whoever they want, which is the typical case, I think we'd be good. But I don't think anyone other than Level 5 deserves it.

As with most of the others, I think the best scenario would be to see a few of the key developers form a smaller company, attract investors, and buy out the properties. A small team of Kitase, Ito, Minagawa, Nomura, etc. developing new ideas and then outsourcing development to From Software/Platinum Games would be really great IMO.

I'd like to see Ogre Battle get bought out by Yatsumi Matsuno who would then form his own production company. Honestly, I would just like to see successor studios to Square.


Actually Spirits Within did technically kill Squaresoft, leading to the formation of Square Enix.

This is correct, the Spirits Within caused Square to be bought by Enix and immediately implement a strategy of exploiting only 2-3 IPs in not just spinoffs, but entire spinoff series'. Most mergers are in fact acquisitions, and this was certainly the case when you look at share conversion and board control.

[Wolf Kanno]

Actually Spirits Within did technically kill Squaresoft, leading to the formation of Square Enix.

This is correct, the Spirits Within caused Square to be bought by Enix and immediately implement a strategy of exploiting only 2-3 IPs in not just spinoffs, but entire spinoff series'. Most mergers are in fact acquisitions, and this was certainly the case when you look at share conversion and board control.

This is incorrect, the merger was being talked about before Spirits Within had been released (http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/06/18/square-enix-and-namco-reveal-first-tie-up-details). Though as I stated earlier, the film flopping allowed Enix to have the upper hand in the merger (http://www.gamingunion.net/news/the-history-of-square-enix-the-formation--5250.html). You are correct that Wada's solution was creating sequels and exploiting IPs though, so we can blame the film for that.

I honestly don't understand why Horii doesn't just join Level-5 at this point. I'm sure it would make the companies legal departments happy to say the least.

I'm also more for the company just breaking up into smaller companies though I would prefer if Ito formed his own company with Matsuno or got swooped up by Mistwalker, Atlus, or Level-5. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing Nomura go into manga. I just feel like his art style and his stories would work better that way. I could see Kitase joing Mistwalker as well, or going independent consultant designer, I couldn't imagine him joining a company and not be expecting to be in charge so those two options would give him the best leverage.

[Bolivar]

Hmm, those articles seem to only have evidence about an online partnership that included other companies. Businesses "talk" all the time, but I don't think that shifts the perception that Enix acquired Square after TSW and adapted to a safe IP-exploitation strategy.

[black orb]

Valkyrie Profile.
>>> Dont dare to touch it..
I know tri-Ace guys can be lame at times but hell, the original one was flawless..:luca:

[Wolf Kanno]

Hmm, those articles seem to only have evidence about an online partnership that included other companies. Businesses "talk" all the time, but I don't think that shifts the perception that Enix acquired Square after TSW and adapted to a safe IP-exploitation strategy.

Except this article (http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q2-2003/042503e.html) states from Enix's former president that they were discussing a merger prior to the release of TSW and that TSW's poor performance almost made Enix back out of the deal. For clarity sakes, Drakengard, which was mentioned in the article was a 2003 title in Japan and early 2004 US title, meaning they were discussing the possibility of a merger in late 2000/early 2001 which would still make it months prior to TSW's release. The main article I linked even showed it wasn't until Wada had lead the company back into the black financially in 2003 that the merger actually went through, meaning it was most likely an inevitable business deal that wasn't directly a result of the TSW (since it almost killed the deal and largely delayed everything among other issues) though I will concur that the idea of making sequels and milking franchises for wealth is partly TSW's fault, since had X-2 bombed, I'm not sure what direction the company would have taken, but the resignation of the former president due to the lost from the film let Wada into power, and as this article has shown, he's pretty much an accountant and the mastermind of making franchises out of popular games in the company catalog. I still find it amusing that despite the financial lost, Square's shares were still more profitable than Enix.

[Skyblade]

In the event they do go under, I think EoFF should hold a fundraiser with the intent of purchasing the Ivalice Alliance and Chrono IPs.

Think about it. We have writers, artists, animators, programmers... We have tons of people with incredible dedication to the series and skills many would happily use to make such games.

If we could secure even one of our beloved franchises, think what we could do with it. We could start out with simple projects, released through Steam, XBox Live Arcade, and PSN, and slowly work up to bigger projects and full scale games if we can make a profit.

We could actually turn EoFF into a game developer. I'd happily work on an FF game for free, just for the experience and exposure. And I'm sure I'm not alone. And if the game started to make money, then we could start splitting profits and funding larger projects. It'd be complicated, but it could work.

[Old Manus]

Frankly a change of developer might stop the FF rot.

[Roogle]

In the event they do go under, I think EoFF should hold a fundraiser with the intent of purchasing the Ivalice Alliance and Chrono IPs.

We could actually turn EoFF into a game developer. I'd happily work on an FF game for free, just for the experience and exposure. And I'm sure I'm not alone. And if the game started to make money, then we could start splitting profits and funding larger projects. It'd be complicated, but it could work.

The price for the rights to a game series are likely too large for this community to handle. I cannot imagine that we would all be able to raise enough money to purchase the rights to a series. Also, the community is not in direct control of the ownership of the site, so there might be a conflict of interests there.

[Skyblade]

In the event they do go under, I think EoFF should hold a fundraiser with the intent of purchasing the Ivalice Alliance and Chrono IPs.

We could actually turn EoFF into a game developer. I'd happily work on an FF game for free, just for the experience and exposure. And I'm sure I'm not alone. And if the game started to make money, then we could start splitting profits and funding larger projects. It'd be complicated, but it could work.

The price for the rights to a game series are likely too large for this community to handle. I cannot imagine that we would all be able to raise enough money to purchase the rights to a series. Also, the community is not in direct control of the ownership of the site, so there might be a conflict of interests there.

Oh, fine. Bring reality in to ruin the dream. :(

[Del Murder]

Maybe we can save enough to buy Vagrant Story at least, though we'll probably just end up with Einhänder.

[Greatermaximus]

No, there's enough average gamers to keep this going right? Many of the games I've played throughout the years had enough 'common sense' to keep me into them. As well as surprise, wonder, excitement and whatever other feelings we might have.

[ShinGundam]

Why people here want FF IPs when we have an infinite supply of FF clone from both community and commercial releases?