[Multiplatform] 3 New Square-Enix games

The one thing I find slightly frustrating these days is the amount of systems that SE is porting to... It feels like there is no kind of unity and that you basically have to buy one of every system if you were a pretty heavy fan of some of their recent games.

Are they milking it? Maybe just a bit, but I've seen much worse. Companies do these kinds of things when they become popular. Sometimes it works, they grow, and they make better quality milkage worth buying - and yes, there can be those kinds of things. There are people out there who want to know what happens in side-stories and spin-offs and who would pay anything to have it even if it were short and cheesy.

The worst fairly recent case of milking in the industry lately in my opinion comes from Koei. Koei was never really huge in North America but they had a loyal fanbase for their style of games. They were innovative at one time but now look at them.

www.koeigames.com ... Dynasty Warriors 5, Dynasty Warriors 5 Extreme Legends, Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires all released in a period of what? Less than 12 months? A new 3 Kingdoms game every year with only fairly minor adjustments and changes? Why?? And you know what happens? The loyal fans give up, move on, and stop buying the games. The company either figures it out and adjusts or goes bankrupt and/or gets bought out by someone else.

SE hasn't stooped that low yet. Heck, look at X-2. It was fanservice, yes, but still the combat and level scheme was fun and they tried to do something different with it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Kairi Li

I have to say I never care much about the DW games, the gameplay was a bit repetitive for me, but since fans like it and its still a solid game, I don't see that much of a problem, and most action games remain bascially the same most of the time.

Ah you see, that is part of the problem. Koei for years was known for making strategy games, not action games and strategy is where it built its original fanbase. Games like Nobunaga's Ambition, Uncharted Waters, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms are what made that company originally grow. Then they found a product that was hot on the market - the Dynasty Warriors series. Now the company focuses mostly on milking out that series while leaving most of its other products in obscurity. Uncharted Waters Online? Hardly even heard of in the US... What you get left with is a company that pissed off its original fans (strategy gamers) while milking a product to a different audience who's getting tired of your work (DW gamers).

This can happen to SE too, but it hasn't yet - though it's arguable. I hear there are some significant combat changes in FFXII that majorly vary from how the FF series was originally developed and changes like that can lead SE down a road where they really might not want to go. What's also good to see is that SE isn't making a new flagship game every year and are putting a bit of work into their main products. FFX was a three year project, and the time between FFX and FFXII has been quite some time.

There's nowhere I can't reach.