Is Square Enix on the cusp of a brand new golden age, or is it nonetheless swimming upstream? Right now, it’s actually laborious to inform.
On one hand, Final Fantasy 16 appears to be like completely balls-to-the-wall unbelievable. You’ve additionally received the corporate placing out all kinds of video games that actually play to its strengths. There’s much-anticipated remasters like Chrono Cross, Crisis Core, and Live A Live. There’s collection continuations and revivals for the likes of Valkyrie, SaGa, and Star Ocean. And there’s fascinating new bets starting from the nichely obscure like Voice of Cards and Paranormasight to attention-grabbing new takes on a number of the ideas the corporate is greatest identified for, like Harvestella and Diofield Chronicle.
On the flip facet, it appears barely anyone performed a variety of these video games. Some of them launched with little fanfare; it was simple to overlook that one thing like Star Ocean: The Divine Force had even launched. But the standard and breadth is a badge of honor, not less than. As a buddy of mine argued, even when a failure, that line-up was a breath of recent air.
And then, clearly, you’ve received Forspoken. Forspoken is an enormous ol’ swing and a miss. It’s a good recreation, you understand – higher than the web at giant actually gave it credit score for. Some undeniably cringeworthy and dodgy parts grew to become a lightning rod for the haters, a few of whom clearly solely disliked the sport for its protagonist’s id. In reality, Forspoken form of jogged my memory of the primary run-out of a variety of franchises – the primary Assassin’s Creed, as an illustration. It’s an uneven, stumbly proof-of-concept with a wildly bloated finances that most likely would’ve gotten manner higher in a sequel. Not that it issues now, thoughts: Forspoken developer Luminous Productions is closing, with its workforce absorbed into and scattered throughout the remainder of Square Enix. That much-improved sequel will most likely by no means occur.
And thus concludes an evaluation of the state of Square Enix: an attention-grabbing slate, maybe poorly scheduled, typically under-marketed, and sometimes misunderstood. A good quantity of vital success, however probably not as a lot business success as is perhaps anticipated or deserved. Though, as ever, a brand new Final Fantasy peeks over the horizon, threatening to alter the dialog solely.
This complete thought course of was triggered by a Square Enix anniversary, for right now marks 25 years because the launch of the unique Parasite Eve. It will get one to considering: that is actually the quintessential Square recreation of its period that isn’t a Final Fantasy recreation. It’s slightly bit acquainted, slightly bit bizarre. It’s very audacious. And it’s precisely the form of recreation Square Enix ought to be making extra of now.
When you see folks hand-wringing over Final Fantasy 16 being clearly impressed by Western RPGs and jettisoning a bunch of collection traditions, keep in mind this: this form of factor has been Square Enix’s MO without end – even again earlier than Enix was within the image. Parasite Eve is the right exampl; launched two years after Resident Evil and pitched in Japan because the “Hollywood RPG”, it mingled survival horror motion with Square’s RPG chops. And the result’s fantastic.
Parasite Eve was pretty much as good as an all-new property, as whereas it’s based mostly on a Japanese novel of the identical title, the e book’s viewers was comparatively small on the time. Square Enix expertly traded on its skyrocketing status and the success of Final Fantasy 7 at the moment, ensuring just about each PS1 RPG it put out was distinctive indirectly, taking standard parts and concepts from elsewhere and forcing them into some twisted type of their RPG framework.
It’s this that’s Parasite Eve’s magic, its X-Factor. The mixture of mechanics, concepts, and aesthetics is solely completely pitched. A fan of FF7 may come to this recreation and see in it a lineage from these creators and that recreation. But so too may a Resident Evil or Silent Hill fan, who in flip would possibly achieve a better appreciation for RPGs.
Parasite Eve didn’t really feel as huge as a brand new Final Fantasy, but it surely additionally didn’t really feel small and insignificant: it felt like Square was throwing the whole lot on the wall. It’s extra assured and confident than a lot of Square’s makes an attempt at all-new franchises right now, even because it took dangers. Make no mistake that this was a dangerous recreation, too – with its horror parts, by being the corporate’s first ever M-rated recreation, and even by having an unprecedented variety of Westerners on its workforce, with a part of Parasite Eve’s growth happening in Hawaii.
Parasite Eve as a collection finally stalled, after all. There was a good sequel, after which a reasonably wretched threequel that (on the very least) had participating gameplay. But to my thoughts, it stays the template I want Square Enix would observe when attempting to ascertain new issues. It’s the right mixture of acquainted and new, of protected and adventurous.
It’s additionally nonetheless good, and startlingly distinctive, even now, 25 years later. It’s a beautiful historic artifact – and one which maybe trendy Square may be taught a lesson or two from.
