The rise and fall of my love affair with Square Enix

When I was in undergrad, I used to joke that I would be a licensed physician before Kingdom Hearts III was released. At the time, attending medical school was just a step above a pipe dream for me, yet here I am. Months away from starting residency, and Kingdom Hearts III is . . . I don't know, actually. Is it still even happening? How long has it been in production? Was the franchise just not as successful as I imagined? (Very possible, by the way. It's not like my teen self was business savvy.)

Months after every one else who might have cared, I got wind that SquareEnix is remaking Final Fantasy VII. I was surprised and a little disappointed by how little I cared. This is a game I played a lot as a kid, and I was even one of the few fools who bought Dirge of Cerberus at full price. Though I didn't watch Advent Children a million times as one of my friends did, I did enjoy it. Crisis Core remains one of my favorite games for the PSP, second to another Square title (the Final Fantasy X port). Yet my reaction to a FF VII remake is . . . meh.

'Meh' is a pretty good word to describe my current feelings for what was once one of my favorite videogame companies. There's no specific moment that shattered my illusions about their games, no instance that I can pin point that made me throw a controller against some wall and dramatically declare that I would never ever again give SquareEnix a cent. In fact, I've been playing Bravely Default this week, and the fact that I've enjoyed it so much is what triggered this post. I realized that I bought a SquareEnix game with every expectation to be disappointed, and that I was surprised not to regret the purchase.

Buy it on Amazon, if you like pressing A while listening to nice music

Though I didn't know it at the time, Final Fantasy XIII is where SquareEnix ceased to fill me with joy. Even I doubt I can adequately describe just how excited I was for this game, or even how I managed to afford it. All I know is that I had to work really hard to convince myself that I enjoyed it, and for a while I succeeded. I even forced myself to play through it during a Spring break (so I was in college when it came out, I guess).

I've blotted most of it from memory, or maybe it just wasn't good enough to stick with me, but FFXIII never really felt like a game. It was like an endless corridor with nice visuals, soothing music, and occasionally pressing A so the game could play itself. I don't remember NPCs, towns, side quests . . . even the characters are a blur. There was one with a lisp? I think.

In contrast, I could still write a semi-detailed synopsis of FFX even though it's been about as long since I played it. So it's not just that it's been so long since I played FXIII that I can't possibly be expected to remember it in detail.

According to babble on some gaming forums, the Fire Emblem franchise was in a bind before Awakening was released. Apparently, it was set to be the last game in the series. SquareEnix had been in a similar spot in the past and pulled through, so maybe they have it in them to make excellent games again. But I'd be lying if I said I had high hopes.