History Gush / SquareEnix

* VideoGame/ChronoCross is definitely one of my favorite games and the shining example of EvenBetterSequel in video gaming, VideoGame/ChronoTrigger. First off, the battle system is unique from anything I've seen in any other RPG while still being fun in its own right. The characters manage to be mostly unique and interesting (though, I am a sucker for RPG with [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics large casts]] [[{{Suikoden}} of characters]]). The backgrounds are, in a word, stunning and the art style is one of my favorites in a game. The music, if anything, is even better than Chrono Trigger's. I literally cried when I first heard [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome The Stars, Wind, and Waves]]. In fact, the ''only'' major criticism for this game I can think of is the plot, which is endlessly confusing and has some pretty big plot holes. Still, Chrono Cross remains one of my favorites.

** While I have no argument there, even the Compilation can be great. CrisisCore has a story almost as deep as the original, and it feels like the stage is being set for a rather epic story that can diverge from the original, include elements from it, and still turn out okay.
*** Heavily disagree on the story in CrisisCore being on the originals' level (it could've done without the Project G/cloning stuff) but the gameplay is excellent. Fighting enemies in CrisisCore is even more fun than fighting in the original!

** Of special note, I have to quote ''WebVideo/ExtraCredits'' when they mentioned the social boss battles. Hopefully they'll make the rest of the game companies sit up and take notice that wittling away at a life bar isn't the only way to have a satisfying, pulse pounding confrontation with an antagonist.

* Christ on toast, ''VideoGame/LiveALive''. I had to emulate it, of course, and after spending some time with it, I don't regret it at all. It's just ''adorable''. The first scenario I played, the prehistoric one, was very innovative in conveying the story without dialog. I am only about halfway through the game, but I think this is one of the most fun games I've played in a while. They don't make 'em like this anymore. The game is like a hybrid of a more-functioning ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'' and a less-overexposed ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. If you don't have any moral qualms about emulating older games(and let's face it, who does?), then run, don't walk to your nearest computer and get the fan translated ROM from one of those less skeevy emulator sites (I suggest Cool [[UsefulNotes/ReadOnlyMemory ROM]]s) to get your hands on ''VideoGame/LiveALive''!

** Not to sound shallow, but the production values are what seals the deal for me with both games. The visuals are just amazing. The scenery makes me wish I were really there. And the soundtracks are just wonderful. Together, these two aspects create a world you never want to leave.

** As a 2000's-born troper, I can consider myself blessed that I got the opportunity to play ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. I was so impressed with the plot that I now want to become a plot writer for video games in general! I pretty much owe almost all my appreciation for old games (especially JRPGs!) to this game (and maybe {{ChronoTrigger}}, too.).

** I'm not exaggerating when I say that Kingdom Hearts may be the one thing that helped me the most develop as a person. Before I left for college, I was in a serious funk, not knowing really who I was. My dorm's lounge had a PS2 bolted to the floor, and after watching some friends play [=KH2=], I thought I'd give it a try. I ''LOVED'' it. By the time I had finished, I was no longer ashamed of my love of Disney or video games. Before, I was very "closeted" about my hobbies and my nostalgia, but playing [=KH2=], with my friends watching and cheering me on, made me much more open about them and ProudToBeAGeek.

** ''Chrono Trigger'' is basically a nerd's wet dream come true. Featuring Akira Toriyama (Best known for Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump) as the character designer and artist, Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest) and Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy) as designers, and Yasunori Mitsuda (Xenogear, Mario Party) and Nobou Uematsu (Final Fantasy) as composers, that alone should convince any reader to buy this game straight onto their PSP or DS or iOS or [=PS3=] or Wii or even (My favorite of all) the SNES off of Amazon. Though be warning the PS1/3/P versions have slow loading times. Also, if you hear the terms "New game+" or "multiple endings" and don't immediately think of this game, then you obviously haven't played it.

** ''Chrono Trigger'' is basically a nerd's wet dream come true. Featuring Akira Toriyama (Best known for Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump) as the character designer and artist, Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest) and Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy) as designers, and Yasunori Mitsuda (Xenogear, Mario Party) and Nobou Uematsu (Final Fantasy) as composers, that alone should convince any reader to buy this game straight onto their PSP or DS or iOS or PS3 or Wii or even (My favorite of all) the SNES off of Amazon. Though be warning the PS1/3/P versions have slow loading times. Also, if you hear the terms "New game+" or "multiple endings" and don't immediately think of this game, then you obviously haven't played it.

* ''{{Terranigma}}'' is a truly amazing game that sadly gets far too little recognition. The story is great, the gameplay is enormously fun, the music is excellent, and it has possibly the most touching BittersweetEnding of any game out there.

* ''KingdomHearts'' has its flaws, like everything else. I won't deny that- heck, even I'm getting frustrated with Creator/SquareEnix for not being consistent with the canon. But the series has still been fun to play for me, and even though the retcons get irritating and the Nobodies needed to be explained better I even enjoy the story. It's Disney without being overly kiddy (definitely a dose of sugar and light, yes, but not overly dumbed down or TastesLikeDiabetes) and that makes my inner child {{squee}}.

** The thing is, Disney's brand of feel-good ''isn't'' the TastesLikeDiabetes kind, really, and the fact that Mickey Mouse works so well as a BadassLongcoat proves it. The ''KingdomHearts'' franchise reminds us all of why we like Disney movies in the first place.

** I also love the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' games. The new games coming out might be iffy (due to Square messing up canon) but the first ''KingdomHearts'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' are pretty much the most amazing games ever made! They combine the Disney of my childhood with stuff I'm into now almost perfectly. Major awesomeness!

**** Nah, the original KingdomHearts will always be the best KH game of all time for me. Everyone knows that the FirstInstallmentWins.

** I just loved the magic-based puzzles in Kingdom Hearts(the first), though many were optional they were fun to find and only required common sense to complete(like using thunder on the broken wire in Traverse Town, or casting stop on the Big Ben to halt Phantom's doom spell). And magic was so well detailed in a subtle way, like using it on the fireplace in Cid's accessory shop(while the fireplace didn't actually affect anything and wasn't even a puzzle it could still be lit by fire or put out by blizzard and the smoke stack would either release smoke when you went outside or not accordingly).

** In [[{{Tropers/VillainFan42}} this troper's]] humble opinion, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' is not only the MagnumOpus of the series, but of gaming in general. In addition to what the above tropers brought up, I really enjoyed the Magicite system, allowing the player to fully customize which characters learned what magic and make a diverse party of characters, each with their own role and abilities, rather than making the party members interchangeable like Materia ended up doing. In addition, the [[{{Main/Woolseyism}} brilliant SNES dub]] is always a treat.

** I also love the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' games. The new games coming out might be iffy (due to Square messing up canon) but the first ''KingdomHearts'', ''ChainOfMemories'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' are pretty much the most amazing games ever made! They combine the Disney of my childhood with stuff I'm into now almost perfectly. Major awesomeness!

* ''KingdomHearts'' has its flaws. I won't deny that- heck, even I'm getting frustrated with Creator/SquareEnix for not being consistent with the canon. But the series has still been fun to play for me, and even though the retcons get irritating and the Nobodies needed to be explained better I even enjoy the story. It's Disney without being overly kiddy (definitely a dose of sugar and light, yes, but not overly dumbed down or TastesLikeDiabetes) and that makes my inner child {{squee}}.

* ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' may not be able to stand up to the likes of ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'' or ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'', but it's a delightful fighting game all the same, pitting the heavy-hitters from every FF game up to its release in high-flying high-energy duels. ''Dissidia 012'' refined the formula even more, on top of adding more fan favorites to the roster.

* ''KingdomHearts'' has its flaws. I won't deny that- heck, even I'm getting frustrated with SquareEnix for not being consistent with the canon. But the series has still been fun to play for me, and even though the retcons get irritating and the Nobodies needed to be explained better I even enjoy the story. It's Disney without being overly kiddy (definitely a dose of sugar and light, yes, but not overly dumbed down or TastesLikeDiabetes) and that makes my inner child {{squee}}.

** This troper wouldn't neccesarilly ''mind'' a VII remake...but ALSO for the love of all that's reasonable, ''please'' don't retcon stuff or tie it into the [[FanNickname complication]], Square!

** Of special note, I have to quote ''WebVideo/ExtraCredits'' when they mentioned the social boss battles. Hopefully they'll make the rest of the game companies sit up and take notice that wittleing away at a life bar isn't the only way to have a satisfying, pulse pounding confrontation with an antagonist.

*** Birth By Sleep! I'm happy that you're becoming the new [[ConfirmationBias sacred cow]] of the series and [[KanyeWest imma let you finish]], but for this troper, Chain of Memories was the best KH game of all time!

* In a genre that has [[{{YMMV}} arguably stagnated a little]], 2010's NieR is a much needed breath of fresh-air. While the gameplay is subpar and it's lacking polish in some areas, it makes up for this in spades by having a completely unique, highly memorable cast, arguably one of the greatest localizations of any japanese game ever (with surprisingly natural dialogue and unusually good voice-acting for the most part), an amazing use of game mechanics as storytelling in several ways (Ending D is one of the most powerful moments of any game i've ever played, period), one of the best soundtracks in video game history. The game completely avoids, subverts, deconstructs, and parodies so many aspects of not only JRPG's, but games, in a way that is completely engaging from beginning to end. Even in the areas that it's strongest I don't think it's perfect, but I feel comfortable calling it one of the best JRPG narratives of all time, easily above most of the other games SE themselves have done, even if that's in part because of SeinfeldisUnfunny. Even the weakest link in the game, the main character, still works in a way that a lot of movie characters do, in that he's not the most complex character, but still very sympathetic and likable, with good relationships with the other characters, especially Yonah. Most JRPG's usually don't even achieve THAT. It's rather surprising that cavia, a studio known for making mostly terrible/mediocre low-budget games (with one that was [[{{VideoGame/Drakengard}} still arguably bad but at least pretty interesting]]), actually had it in them to create a game that had this much soul in it. When the sequel to the game was announced in 2015 with literally a dream team of talent I'd want working on my dream JRPG, I almost cried. The fact that SE was willing to fund both Drakengard 3 and that game, with such an all-star development team, shows that they are not nearly as bad as some people think they are, because they still have artistic ambitions that matter to them beyond simply making money.

* In a genre that has [[YMMV arguably stagnated a little]], 2010's NieR is a much needed breath of fresh-air. While the gameplay is subpar and it's lacking polish in some areas, it makes up for this in spades by having a completely unique, highly memorable cast, arguably one of the greatest localizations of any japanese game ever (with surprisingly natural dialogue and unusually good voice-acting for the most part), an amazing use of game mechanics as storytelling in several ways (Ending D is one of the most powerful moments of any game i've ever played, period), one of the best soundtracks in video game history. The game completely avoids, subverts, deconstructs, and parodies so many aspects of not only JRPG's, but games, in a way that is completely engaging from beginning to end. Even in the areas that it's strongest I don't think it's perfect, but I feel comfortable calling it one of the best JRPG narratives of all time, easily above most of the other games SE themselves have done, even if that's in part because of SeinfeldisUnfunny. Even the weakest link in the game, the main character, still works in a way that a lot of movie characters do, in that he's not the most complex character, but still very sympathetic and likable, with good relationships with the other characters, especially Yonah. Most JRPG's usually don't even achieve THAT. It's rather surprising that cavia, a studio known for making mostly terrible/mediocre low-budget games (with one that was [[{{VideoGame/Drakengard}} still arguably bad but at least pretty interesting]]), actually had it in them to create a game that had this much soul in it. When the sequel to the game was announced in 2015 with literally a dream team of talent I'd want working on my dream JRPG, I almost cried. The fact that SE was willing to fund both Drakengard 3 and that game, with such an all-star development team, shows that they are not nearly as bad as some people think they are, because they still have artistic ambitions that matter to them beyond simply making money.

* In a genre that has [[YourMileageMayVary arguably stagnated a little]], 2010's NieR is a much needed breath of fresh-air. While the gameplay is subpar and it's lacking polish in some areas, it makes up for this in spades by having a completely unique, highly memorable cast, arguably one of the greatest localizations of any japanese game ever (with surprisingly natural dialogue and unusually good voice-acting for the most part), an amazing use of game mechanics as storytelling in several ways (Ending D is one of the most powerful moments of any game i've ever played, period), one of the best soundtracks in video game history. The game completely avoids, subverts, deconstructs, and parodies so many aspects of not only JRPG's, but games, in a way that is completely engaging from beginning to end. Even in the areas that it's strongest I don't think it's perfect, but I feel comfortable calling it one of the best JRPG narratives of all time, easily above most of the other games SE themselves have done, even if that's in part because of SeinfeldisUnfunny. Even the weakest link in the game, the main character, still works in a way that a lot of movie characters do, in that he's not the most complex character, but still very sympathetic and likable, with good relationships with the other characters, especially Yonah. Most JRPG's usually don't even achieve THAT. It's rather surprising that cavia, a studio known for making mostly terrible/mediocre low-budget games (with one that was [[{{VideoGame/Drakengard}} still arguably bad but at least pretty interesting]]), actually had it in them to create a game that had this much soul in it. When the sequel to the game was announced in 2015 with literally a dream team of talent I'd want working on my dream JRPG, I almost cried. The fact that SE was willing to fund both Drakengard 3 and that game, with such an all-star development team, shows that they are not nearly as bad as some people think they are, because they still have artistic ambitions that matter to them beyond simply making money.

* ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' may not be able to stand up to the likes of ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'' or ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'', but it's a delightful fighting game all the same, pitting the heavy-hitters from every FF game up to its release in high-flying high-energy duels. ''Dissidia 012'' refined the formula even more, on top of adding more fan favorites to the roster.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' had its share of problems. But as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39j5v8jlndM End of an Era]] can show you... no one can tear your heart out and crush it like Square Enix. If you were one of the original 1.0 players, you knew your avatar was down there. Watching. Knowing that they couldn't stop THAT. And then white, nothing but white...

** Indeed, Mickey has proven that characters like him CAN be taken seriously. He pulls it off so well, that it shows the writing genius of the game creators. When Donald and Goofy aren't being used as the [[KingdomHeartsII comic relief]], they can [[KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories pull it off]] [[KingdomHearts pretty well, too]].

**** Fair enough. It still bears repeating: Disney =/= TastesLikeDiabetes. [[HighSchoolMusical Most of the time.]]

** I also love the ''KingdomHearts'' games. The new games coming out might be iffy (due to Square messing up canon) but the first ''KingdomHearts'', ''ChainOfMemories'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' are pretty much the most amazing games ever made! They combine the Disney of my childhood with stuff I'm into now almost perfectly. Major awesomeness!

* Christ on toast, ''VideoGame/LiveALive''. I had to emulate it, of course, and after spending some time with it, I don't regret it at all. It's just ''adorable''. The first scenario I played, the prehistoric one, was very innovative in conveying the story without dialog. I am only about halfway through the game, but I think this is one of the most fun games I've played in a while. They don't make 'em like this anymore. The game is like a hybrid of a more-functioning ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'' and a less-overexposed ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. If you don't have any moral qualms about emulating older games(and let's face it, who does?), then run, don't walk to your nearest computer and get the fan translated ROM from one of those less skeevy emulator sites (I suggest Cool {{ROM}}s) to get your hands on ''LiveALive''!

** [[{{Tropers/Serperoth}} This troper]] is a fan of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''. The entire game is simply STAGGERING. Gameplay that combines simplicity with depth, breathtaking visuals, a story which is comparable to a Shakespearean tragedy (I'm not exaggerating much), and some of the most relateable characters in video game history., not to mention all the in-jokes, large or small ("No cloud, no squall shall hinder us", Doga and Une, Bobby Corwen...). Kefka is still my favourite villain, but you have to give credit to someone who can appear threatening while wearing a thong, a bra-like creation and a cape. Further Final Fantasy fans, feel free to fortify my favouritism. I'll just add something about the music. IT'S THE BEST MUSIC FROM A VIDEO GAME. Each and every song both fits the scene it plays in (You're Not Alone, Freya's Theme), and is FANTASTIC to listen to. My father, no "deaf, dumb and blind kid", heard that. It remains to this day the only good thing about video games he'll concede to. Nobuo Uematsu toured Europe to gain inspiration for the soundtrack, and only now is he recovering from having overworked himself. 'Nuff said (although feel free to elaborate, of course).

* I don't care how bad it is or how little sense it makes, ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'' will always be one of my favorite games ever. To say nothing of the friggin awesome soundtrack, regarded by even the composer herself as her best work.
* Though this may seem like an odd choice of a game to gush about, I adore TheatrhythmFinalFantasy! Fantastic music (of course, it's FinalFantasy), an interesting twist on the RhythmGame formula by adding RPG elements, and the Chaos Theatre is just...so...much...fun! I can't stop coming back for more!

* FinalFantasyXIV had its share of problems. But as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39j5v8jlndM End of an Era]] can show you... no one can tear your heart out and crush it like Square Enix. If you were one of the original 1.0 players, you knew your avatar was down there. Watching. Knowing that they couldn't stop THAT. And then white, nothing but white...