Line #7 WordSaladTitle/SquareEnix


1	->''Right, here's something that really washes my dogs: Creator/SquareEnix's naming conventions, though to use the word "convention" when talking about Square Enix and names is like using the word "brevity" when talking about a conservative neoreactionary's [=YouTube=] video. When it comes to pretentious, waffly, purple prosey, downright insensible fucking game names, nobody is better at their terrible job than Square Enix.''
2	-->-- '''[[WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}} Jim Sterling]]''', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU5GMcJD87M Square Enix Has Stupid Game Names]]''
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4	Creator/SquareEnix tends to be rather infamous for their... [[WordSaladTitle questionable game titles]], which often range between awkwardly descriptive to generally incomprehensible.
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7	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': contrary to CommonKnowledge, the first ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy\|I}}'' was not called such because Square believed that it would be their final game. [[https://kotaku.com/debunking-the-final-fantasy-naming-myth-1707389344 The creators simply wanted a name that would abbreviate to "FF".]] It was originally going to be called "Fighting Fantasy" until they realized ''[[Literature/FightingFantasy that title was already taken]]''.
8	** Some of the side-games have some impressively strange and difficult to understand names. ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' refers to the main character's gun and symbol. ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'' is an ironic comparison of Christ to Sephiroth (and there are also a lot of children). ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIIRevenantWings Revenant Wings]]'' might be referring to the lack of emotion of the winged-species, or perhaps the various undead winged-villains. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'''s old title ''Final Fantasy Versus XIII'', and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0'' was ''Agito XIII''.
9	*** ''Agito XIII'''s subtitle was changed to "Type-0." Which also makes little sense. The word Agito would have referred to the title of a Savior in the game's mythology. The game ''did'' turn out to be about a team of students named "Class Zero" but that was always there anyway so what the Type is meant to be is unknown.
10	*** Not to mention that the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' games come under the collective title of Fabula Nova Crystallis (Latin for New Tale of the Crystal), despite having very little to do with each other other than vague thematic and mythos connections.
11	*** The "Versus" part in ''Final Fantasy Versus XIII'" refers to the game being Creator/TetsuyaNomura's vision of Final Fantasy XIII, as opposed to Motomu Toriyama's game and its intended opposite, as shown by how white and black are used to symbolize both XIII and Versus XIII. The title also was about the opposing ideology of its two central protagonists Noctis and Stella and their world as a whole.
12	** ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy''. "Dissidia" is the Latin word for 'conflicts'. The prequel is called ''Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy'', wherein 012 is pronounced "Duodecim"; Latin for the number twelve. It's about the twelfth iteration of the GroundhogDayLoop, but the name makes absolutely no sense to people who don't have it explained to them.
13	*** Then there's the tie-in prequel, whose title reads ''Dissidia Duodecim Prologus 012 Final Fantasy''. One assumes Square was by this point ''asking'' for mockery.
14	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2''. The ''A2'' obviously refers to the fact that it's the sequel to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', but since it's on the DS rather than the GBA, they reduced "Advance" to "A" to avert ArtifactTitle.
15	** ''VideoGame/TheatrhythmFinalFantasy''. "Theatrhythm" is itself a nonsense portmanteau of the words "theater" and "rhythm", referring to the stage play-esque presentation of the game and the fact that it's also a RhythmGame. It got a few sequels which are further musical and stage references(''Curtain Call'' and ''All-Star Carnival''), but the latest installment takes the cake: ''Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line'', which not only drops the "Final Fantasy" name (in reference to how it's more of a "best of" of Square Enix music rather than almost strictly ''Final Fantasy'' songs this time around) but also tacks on a new subtitle which refers to the last line of a musical composition (in reference to how ''Final Bar Line'' is supposedly the final ''Theatrhythm'' game). Unsurprisingly, Tetsuya Nomura himself bestowed the name ''Final Bar Line''.
16	* The ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' series is full of this:
17	** First, ''Bravely Default'' itself. WordOfGod says that it's supposed to mean "Have courage and renounce the promises and responsibilities that are expected of you," and the translation of that used in the English version of the game is "Have the courage to think and act on your own. And have the courage to disobey." It's technically correct English, as "default" can be a verb meaning failing to meet an obligation (even if that definition isn't often used outside of legalese), and the game is encouraging the player to do so ''bravely''. The English version adds another meaning to the title by naming one of the game mechanics after it; "Brave" to take an extra turn and "Default" to skip your turn and save it for later.
18	** The first game also has the Japanese subtitle ''Flying Fairy'', which on the surface refers to the heroes' FairyCompanion Airy but also is tied to a late-game spoiler: [[spoiler:by taking away the "FF" - a reference to the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' franchise that ''Bravely Default'' spun off from - it becomes "Lying Airy"]]. The English translation of the subtitle, ''Where the Fairy Flies'', carries much of the same meanings ([[spoiler:"Airy Lies"]]). The Japanese version also got an UpdatedRerelease with the subtitle ''For the Sequel'' based on how some of the updates were borrowed from the sequel's development.
19	** The sequel is ''VideoGame/BravelySecond: End Layer''. "Bravely Second" is not only the ''second'' work in a ''"Bravely"'' series, but it also refers to a "Bravely Second" game mechanic that debuted in the original game (though it's not clear why the mechanic was named that in the first place). As for "End Layer" - [[spoiler:add "SP", which stands for the resource you spend to use the Bravely Second mechanic, and you get "Send Player" - which is what you need to do in order to rewind time]].
20	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has had some infamous examples. The first {{Oddly Named Sequel\|2ElectricBoogaloo}} subtitle was ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'', which described Namine's ability to break the links of memories between people, and sounded pretty cool even before explanation. After ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', though, there was ''coded'', which did kinda make sense, referring to how the game takes place in a virtual simulation of Jiminy's Journal from the first two games. Then came the DS and PSP games ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 358/2 Days]]'' (phrased "Three-Five-Eight Days Over-Two") and ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'' respectively. ''358/2 Days'' is feasibly explained by the game taking place over the course of, well, 358 days for two people, with the significance of the number 358 being that it's one week short of a full 365 day year, with the last week taking place at the start of ''II''. ''Birth by Sleep'' refers to the sleep (coma) of the main character Ventus, which led to the birth (awakening) of Sora as the protagonist of the events in ''Kingdom Hearts''. There's also a TitleDrop in the secret ending, when [[spoiler: Ansem the Wise refers to those waiting for Sora to release them from their various fates as those waiting for 'their new beginning, their birth by sleep'.]]
21	** There's also ''Reverse/Rebirth'' (aka [[AnotherSideAnotherStory Riku mode]]) in ''Chain of Memories''. There is a bit of logic to the title when taken separately (the player goes back to replay the events of the game, but from Riku's perspective, and it depicts his RedemptionQuest) but when you put it together it makes no sense whatsoever. This is a "pun" that got LostInTranslation — if you transcribe them into Japanese kana, Reverse and Rebirth can be written the exact same way (リバース, ''ribâsu'', is a proper transliteration for both). Of course, the game uses two different transliterations to make sure it still makes sense, but even then, the Japanese pronunciations are very close if not identical.
22	** The "3D" in ''VideoGame/{{Kingdom Hearts 3D\|DreamDropDistance}}'' stands for "Dream Drop Distance", and refers to "how deeply you drop into your dreams" or more clearly, "how far you fall into dreaming". It was chosen mainly to provide a SuperTitle64Advance.
23	** While the compilation that features the HD rerelease of the aforementioned ''3D'' often gets made fun of for having a ridiculous name, its meaning is fairly clear. ''Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue''. The numbering of "2.8" is rather unusual[[note]]Dream Drop Distance, taking place after all the games in the 2.5 compilation, is numbered 2.6; ''A fragmentary passage'' is numbered 0.2 (detailed below); and the ''χ Back Cover'' movie ties into ''Kingdom Hearts χ'', therefore sharing its numbering of 0 (also detailed below); 2.6 + 0.2 + 0 = 2.8[[/note]], but it does make it obvious that it slots in neatly between ''2.5'' and ''III''. "Final Chapter Prologue" references that the three parts of the compilation are directly setting up for ''Kingdom Hearts III''.
24	*** Possibly taking the cake for complex titles in the series is one game in the ''2.8'' compilation: ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage''. The "Birth by Sleep" part references the fact that it directly picks up where ''Birth by Sleep'' left off story-wise and is effectively an extension of that game's epilogue. The "0.2" numbering is as follows: ''Kingdom Hearts χ'' (detailed below) describes the earliest events in the series, therefore making it EpisodeZeroTheBeginning in all but name. ''Birth by Sleep'' is the next entry after that, making it 0.1, and this game comes directly after that, making it 0.2. "A fragmentary passage" refers to the EldritchLocation that the player traverses, made up of twisted bits of worlds from previous games.
25	** The now defunct browser game was originally titled ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX''. This was mildly misleading because the series uses Roman numerals for numbered titles, so you'd be forgiven for reading it as "Kingdom Hearts ten." However, if you simply say the letter "X," you would still be wrong; it's meant to be pronounced "Kingdom Hearts Key," as in the Greek letter χ. Nevermind that the letter chi is only pronounced "key" in Japanese.
26	*** The mobile phone version of the game was originally called ''Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ,'' which was fine because the "χ" was pronounced the same way it had been in the browser game. However, the game was later rebranded as ''Kingdom Hearts Union χ,'' in which "χ" is pronounced as "cross." Nowadays the titles of both versions are frequently written with the intended reading in brackets (i.e. ''Kingdom Hearts Union χ [Cross]'')—including on their logos, which looks as silly as it sounds.
27	*** And if that wasn't enough, the game was rebranded again to ''Kingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road'' to signify the addition of ''Kingdom Hearts Dark Road'', a separate mode within the same app with its own story and gameplay but utilizing the engine and assets of ''Union χ''.
28	** And let's not forget [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI the game that started it all]]. Back then, who would have thought it would contain characters from both the [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney]] and ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' franchises?
29	* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'''s title is [[TitleDrop dropped]] and explained midway through the game- Mr. Hanekoma tells Neku that if he wants to enjoy life, he should broaden his horizons. The Japanese title, ''It's a Wonderful World'', was also explained at the same point in the corresponding version. It's all about opening up as a person.
30	* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' follows the travels of multiple protagonists, each with their own distinct stories. There are eight protagonists, thus there are eight such stories. So you have a game where you as the player effectively ''travel'' down eight different ''paths'', and "octo" is Latin for eight; hence the title.
31	%% Please don't add that the protagonists' names make up an "OCTOPATH" acronym, as that's not what the title is based on; if anything, the title was the basis for the character names.
32	* ''VideoGame/TriangleStrategy''. This one is a reference to the game's three-sided KarmaMeter mechanic, which tends to influence in-game decisions and plot developments of a military conflict between multiple nations. It is descriptive all right, but in a rather clunky manner. An unaware casual player would think this was a PuzzleGame of some sort going by the title alone.
33	* ''VideoGame/{{Tobal}} No. 1'' seems like a redundant case of Title1 in an otherwise-nonsensically titled franchise, but A) Tobal is a planet within the game's setting, and B) Tobal No. 1, in particular, refers to a fighting tournament taking place there.
34	* ''VideoGame/{{Harvestella}}'': It's a ActionRPG[=/=]FarmLifeSim hybrid with a bunch of ScienceFiction tropes. That being said, there were probably better ways to succintly describe this game than just an acronym of "harvest" and the latin word for "star".
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36	!!By tri-Ace
37	* ''VideoGame/InfiniteUndiscovery''. When one [[MeaninglessMeaningfulWords faux-profound word-concoction]] isn't enough, why not make it infinite?
38	* ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'': It's the profile of a Valkyrie. Maybe several valkyries. "Profile" meaning "a short biographical account of somebody" in this case. It could also refer to the side view used for normal gameplay since a view of someone from the side is called a profile view.

Context WordSaladTitle / SquareEnix