What it says on the tin, but also counting eras before the merger, what time frame do you consider to be the companies "Golden Era" so to speak?
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What it says on the tin, but also counting eras before the merger, what time frame do you consider to be the companies "Golden Era" so to speak?
Dragon Quest IV
ActRaiser
Soul Blazer
Dragon Quest V
ActRaiser 2
Illusion of Gaia
Terranigma
Dragon Quest VI
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy V
Secret of Mana
Final Fantasy VI
Chrono Trigger
Seiken Densentsu 3
Secret of Evermore
These games are all between 1990 and 1995, so, umm, good luck to anything else.
Final Fantasy IV- Final Fantasy X.
So about 1991 ? to 2001.
- 1984 to 1986- The Struggling Era ( Before Final Fantasy, Square is struggling to stay afloat )
- 1987 to 1990- The New Age Era ( Final Fantasy games are a big success ! Final Fantasy becomes a rival to fan favourite in Japan, Dragon Quest )
- 1991 to 2001- Golden Age ( Whatever Square touches it just turns into gold. Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and the big time Final Fantasy VII ! The age ends with the success of Final Fantasy X )
- 2002 to 2003- Before the Merg Era ( Final Fantasy X-2 comes out and is a big disappointment, Kingdom Hearts also comes out and gets mixed reviews. )
- 2004 to 2010- New Merg Era ( Square merges with Enix )
- 2010 to Today- The Depressing Era ( Final Fantasy XIII becomes one of the most hated Final Fantasy games in its history. Square cannot be trusted with its mobile ports. Square creates All The Bravest, the worst Final Fantasy games ever made. Final Fantasy XV becomes a struggle. )
I had trouble getting into many of either company's SNES entries. I think the only one I really enjoyed was FFVI. I definitely enjoyed the PS1 era games a lot more. I didn't grow up with either company the way a lot of people did. The SNES was on its way out when I finally got a chance to dabble in their entries. And they quickly moved away from things I enjoyed in the PS1 era. So somewhere from around FFVI/Chrono Trigger, to FFVII/Xenogears. I mildly enjoyed Brave Fencer Musashi and Final Fantasy Tactics. But FFVIII pushed me away and I had trouble getting back in good graces with them ever since, and gave up after FFX
Taking away my personal views of their games, I'll put it into FF rather than SE because I don't know enough about their other games.
FFI to FFV - Spring
FFVI to FFIX, FFT - Summer
FFX to FFXII, including Compilation of VII, FFTA - Autumn
FFXIII Trilogy, FFXIV 1.x, Type 0 - Winter
FFXIV ARR - FFXV - Spring
FFX could perhaps be included in the summer, but for me it never quite reached the heights of the previous games when it came to mass acclaim at launch. Will be interesting to see if FFXVI continues an upward trend or if we skip summer and jump straight back to Autumn, Scotland style.
BoB's seasons analogy is super apt; I'll go with that.
I'd probably say 1990-2000, you would be hard pressed to find any truly awful games released by Square in this decade. Even Enix largely released some stellar hits like DQV-VII, E.V.O., Robotrek, and the first two Star Ocean games.
I'd agree on 1990-2000. I don't know if it's my age (34) or what, but practically everything from that generation of games holds up and lots of them hold places in my favorite games of all time.
I think Squaresoft put out much better stuff before the merger with Enix.
Also going with 90-2001
This is when Brave Fencer Musashi came out and it's the best Square game. Soooo