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Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

arstechnica.com

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Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#101

Post by morelisp »

robonerd wrote: post #56
baby wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of their games are really niche too. Nier is definitely not for everyone.

Few games are for everybody, but Nier: Automata sold millions of copies. The niche of action gamers who like asses is pretty big.

But Nier was even more interesting (formally experimental, better writing - at least in English translation, deeper characterization) and sold poorly.

I guess the lesson if you want to make an art game is to make half an art game and the other half ass.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#102

Post by kipchak »

robonerd wrote: post #56
baby wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of their games are really niche too. Nier is definitely not for everyone.

Few games are for everybody, but Nier: Automata sold millions of copies. The niche of action gamers who like asses is pretty big.

Maybe he's talking about the first in the series, Nier 2010?

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#103

Post by jimmyjazz14 »

fxtentacle wrote: post #85
bitwize wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original Tomb Raider was almost Minecraft-esque. It was composed of blocks of different heights and slopes in a 2D grid. This allowed the developers to create all sorts of scenarios from simple tools to put Lara through and really test all her abilities. I played through the first "new" Tomb Raider and it was very much "walk on the path marked walkable, climb the ledges/walls marked climbable, shoot the specially…

You have pretty much summarized what I liked about the new Tomb Raider: It's kinda linear, so you just go with the flow.

That's what I hate about it, its like a bad interactive movie. I also feel like the new Tomb Raiders focus way to much on combat and almost none on exploring.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#104

Post by acchow »

oneoff786 wrote: post #4

The newer tomb raider games are the most AAA games I’ve ever seen. Not saying they’re good, or bad, but every other moment is a handcrafted moment. It sort of works. A lot of it is platforming through crumbling environments. Which is pretty cool. It’s sort of overdone too. SquareEnix felt legendary growing up.

Crumbling environments looks really cool, but they kind of make an entire game around it :P

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#105

Post by garaetjjte »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #89
levesque wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I the only one that can't stand these games? They are so restrictive in their gameplay, so linear! It feels like watching an interactive movie more than playing a game.

When it's done well, I'm willing to embrace the cinematic nature of these games. Like a movie, the game is taking me on an adventure, but unlike a movie, I am responsible for whether my character succeeds or fails. If I don't jump at the right time, or deal with the attacker coming up behind me, my character will die and it will be my fault. Sure, I'm aware somewhere in the back of my mind that everything has been la…

>my character will die and it will be my fault.

About that... Tomb Raider 2013 has probably the most gruesome death animations I ever encountered in video game.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#107

Post by morelisp »

jerf wrote: post #70
swarnie wrote: post #10

I'd be interesting to see the full list of IP they've sold. The article only gives three examples, one game I've never heard of, one recycled shooter from the 2000s and then there is Tomb raider - a series with twenty instalments, already milked to dust for pre-sequels, squeals and reboots more times then seems fair. Clearly someone thinks they can squeeze a few more dollars out of people here but personally im not s…

I can't speak for the intention of the purchaser, but in their position I'd be looking to just unlock the teams. My impression of Square-Enix is that they've frankly just never been a company comfortable with being international, and it has shown for a very long time now. Just let the teams go produce something without the Eastern and Western design, management, marketing... heck, nearly all the philosophies clashing…

Specifically, this is Enix. Square had a considerably more international outlook and viewpoint, but even a lot of that seems to have been squeezed out since the merger.

You can look at the spun-off/second-party studios to see - from Square Monolith and AlphaDream consistently pushing formal boundaries of the JRPG, vs. from Enix tri-Ace's extremely conservative approach to Star Ocean and... I can't think of any other studios.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#108

Post by vinkelhake »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #51
TillE wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about Deus Ex is that there's nothing particularly special about the "IP". Anybody could make a near-future cyberpunk conspiracy-oriented immersive sim, and call it whatever. The modern Deus Ex games were really average, and (as detailed in the recent hbomberguy video) failed to grasp the key principles of level design that are required to make games like that work.

I think Human Revolution mainly fucked up its infamous boss fights. Beyond that, it's a decent Deus Ex game. Like it's not the greatest ever, but hard to say it's worse than Invisible War. A lot of what made the original good was unraveling the conspiracy. That's a trick you can only do once, and I think in large, that's why the sequels (including IW) don't have the same impact.

Yeah the boss fights in DX:HR came as a kick in the groin for players who focused on stealth. I'll just note that the Director's cut release revised the boss fights, expanded the arenas and added ways for stealth players to deal with them.

The Director's cut can also be played with commentary which I think was implemented really well.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#109

Post by egypturnash »

swarnie wrote: post #10

I'd be interesting to see the full list of IP they've sold. The article only gives three examples, one game I've never heard of, one recycled shooter from the 2000s and then there is Tomb raider - a series with twenty instalments, already milked to dust for pre-sequels, squeals and reboots more times then seems fair. Clearly someone thinks they can squeeze a few more dollars out of people here but personally im not s…

If you are curious, the game you’ve never heard of is definitely in the realm of “cult classic”.

The Legacy of Kain series is flawed in many ways; its reach exceeds its grasp in every installment, but there is a lot of solid vampire angst in between the places where the budget ran out. When it comes together it’s great IMHO.

Start with Soul Reaver, where you are a vampire who is killed in the opening cinematic, then resurrected as a Double Vampire who eats vampire souls in a dying world while railing against your Inevitable Doomed Destiny. Which, just so you know, is not resolved until Soul Reaver 2. Which IMHO you should play before either of the Kain games if you enjoy Soul Reaver.

These games are goth as fuck. If you do not have an inner goth then it’s probably going to feel like a bunch of pretentious whiny shit. But if you have an inner goth, she will eat this series up. My inner goth is quietly vibrating and squealing at this tiny, vague possibility of more Legacy of Kain.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#110

Post by sleepybrett »

de6u99er wrote: post #68
philipov wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They need to fire their loser NFT-deluded president and let YoshiP run the company.

It looks like all CEO's have agreed on legalizing pyramid schemes.

Pyramids are great for the pharaohs.
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