I read the article earlier today, and instantly agreed. But he asks one good question:
"Maybe it was always like that?"
I hardly ever played any SE games, my personal disgust with their style mostly emanated from seeing their cheesy trailers/artworks/game names/characters/cosplayers. Recently I decided to give them a chance, starting with a few classics - maybe their quality just came down over the years? So I bought Chrono Trigger and FFIV for the DS. While Chrono Trigger started out great, the dreadful turn based combat spoiled the fun for me, and after a few too many plot/location twists, it felt arbitrary.
With FFIV it was much worse. The story was the most obvious slice of cheese I'd ever read. Noone who dies is ever dead, friend or foe. Talking holy chrystals. Babyfaced characters are supposed to be kings and queens. The world map looks like it was taken straight from the Chrono Trigger construction set (or vice versa)! It's literally the same! And the turn based combat... really, I'll never understand what could be fun about that. It's basically:
# enter cave
# random encounter
# laser barrage laser barrage laser barrage bad breath bad breath bad breath BOO YOU'RE DEAD
# the party has fallen
# ok guess I wasn't supposed to come here just yet...
Nothing ever gets an explanation. Is "Laser Barrage" a magical attack, or a physical? "Object 199"? How am I supposed to know what to do? The healing staff "heals the target". OK. But when I hit my teammate over the head with it, he get's hurt - and kills me with a counterattack? Does "Reflect" block Eidolons? Is that kind of stuff common knowledge in Japan?
Why am I writing this? Because I realized: I don't hate what Square has become, I would have always hated their games. I hate RPGs. It's a cheap way of game design to me, to the point that I wonder what could be so hard about churning them out. They copy all the assets, rearrange them, make up a ludicrous story and invent some new BOO YOU'RE DEAD attacks to piss you off.
To each their own. I know now that I shouldn't comment on Square's supposed downfall, because I would have hated their games in 1991 already. Oh and don't be too hard on me, at least I spent 80 hours trying.
