Reflections of the Week
"The Rise and Fall of the Square Empire"

Square is always a touchy topic on the Internet. I mean, to most webheads who also play consoles, they're pretty much sacred. But it has been no secret that the company has been going downhill recently.

While some people think that Square hasn't put out a quality title since Final Fantasy VI (III in North America), I don't really think that's true. While FF VII, VIII, and IX might not have been as memorable as the previous incarnations of the series, they certainly were quality games that sold very well and help to establish the Playstation as the supreme console in the 32/64-bit wars. But recently, we've seen nothing but pure crapola from the venerable company. The Bouncer? Give me a break. That game stunk, and might have been only playable for 4 hours before it either ended, or wasn't interesting anymore to warrant the repetitive gameplay. And then The Spirits Within came along, and everyone failed. I try not to laugh now when looking back, a bunch of Square fanboys kept insisting the movie would be great…here's an example of a conversation I would have with one of them (edited for grammar and spelling mistakes):

Square Fanboy: Man, the Final Fantasy movie is going to be the shiznit.

Matt: Sure it is, you keep telling yourself that. Remember "Titan A.E?"

Square Fanboy: Not really, why?

Matt: That was a total CGI-movie that sucked ass. Don't be surprised if the FF movie ends up the same way. And it doesn't even have real stars doing the voice acting. I bet that it will get its butt-kicked by Jurassic Park 3 or something…

Square Fanboy: **** you ****head. It won't suck. It will rock because it's Square.

Matt: (Clicks on ignore button)

I remember when I went to go see the movie, and the audience consisted of 8 Asian-American twentysomethings, and about 10-20 small children and their parents. That was the opening night to boot. It was sad. I remember going out of there liking the movie, but knowing that with that kind of audience, it wasn't going to go anywhere. Sure enough, it got beat that week by Legally Blonde, some comedy starring Reese Witherspoon that no one will remember 3 months from today.

So now, after loosing a heck of a lot of money, Square looks like it eventually may be sucked up by Sony and turned into a second-party developer (which they are already in all but name). I don't think that will be a bad thing, because it will keep the company afloat longer, but I also believe that under Sony, the company would probably release a string of sub-par games that will sell well but not play well. I really don't want Square to turn into that sort of entity. They would probably be better off dead then sucking alive. I just don't hope that they wouldn't try to hide in a cave somewhere.

I'm just praying that Final Fantasy X will prove to be as good as everyone is hyping it to be. So far, the Internet has put up some pretty favorable reviews, not that it isn't expected, but some have gone so far as to call it the best since Final Fantasy VI.

So now all we have to do is just wait a few more days until December 20th…

This Week in RPG History

- The boasting war goes on. Who really sold more consoles…Nintendo, or Microsoft? That's going to be a very interesting answer when all of the information is revealed. According to NPD Intelect, Microsoft has the edge. But Nintendo maintains that Intelect doesn't count the sales of Wal-Mart (which is true), which the company claims sold the most GameCubes. On the week when the consoles were released, I remember heading over to the local CompUSA to go buy a copy of Star Wars: Galatic Battlegrounds. And what did I see? A bunch of Xboxes for sale, and not a GameCube in the store. A trip to Best Buy offered the same results. I also didn't see a copy of Luigi's Mansion or Halo available anywhere either, but I did see quite a bunch of NFL Fevers and a whole heck of a lot of Metal Gear Solid 2s.

- Thought you had heard enough about Square in this column already? Well, there's more. Apparently, Square has been chosen as the sponsor for the World Wrestling Federation's Royal Rumble, which is traditionally the company's second or third best-selling event all year. I think this is actually a smart move, because both companies have a similar target audience of ages 15-25, and both need business to pick up. Most of Square's current hopes all hinge on the success of Final Fantasy X…and with that in mind, the company has also planned a celebration for the game's release, which takes place today actually. So if you live in the San Francisco area, you may want to check this event out. It starts at 2 P.M. on 101 Fourth Street, and the first 500 there will receive Squaresoft hats or beanies. Again, these are all good moves for Square, who apparently isn't pulling any stops when it comes to promoting FFX. By the way, you should be able to pick up FFX in stores come December 20th.

- Bioware has truly proven what kind of class they have. For quite some time, the company has donated money to health organizations in their home province of Alberta, Canada and to children's health facilities. The two Joint CEOs of the company, Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, are former physicians and also very classy gentlemen who are always happy to give an interview or discuss the industry. You can read more about this story by clicking here.

- Here's a very good question: Who really would want to buy the PS2 Hard Drive, which may cost over $150 and cut load times for FFX by 2-5 seconds?

PRice Watch - 12/16 to 12/22

The Diablo II expansion can be bought for $19.99 at Best Buy. Another good deal there is a 40GB Hard Drive for the PC for only $129.99, and you also get a free $40 Gift Card by mail. Oh yeah, and after rebates, 128 MB of SDRAM will only cost you $14.99.

Everquest: Shadows of Luclin can be found at CompUSA for $19.99. You can also pick up Final Fantasy IX for $14.99, as well as Pool of Radience for $39.99. Oh yeah, and a cordless iTouch Keyboard is only $59.99.

Metal Gear Solid 2 is $36.99 at Circuit City. And Hot Date, the new Sims expansion, is $14.99. Onimusha Warlords just happens to be $24.99 too.

Stuff

-I finally got to see the Harry Potter, and while I can't say it wasn't impressive and enjoyable, it does feel like it's 2 ½ hours long. I enjoyed the scene with that game the most though. Good stuff there. But the best part of my experience with that movie were the two trailers that played beforehand: Star Wars Episode II, and Lord of the Rings. Just those 3-4 minutes of preview were enough to warrant the cost of the ticket. And speaking of LotR, it's only a few days away from release on December 19th.

-On an update from an earlier story, Jason Giambi did sign with the Yankees, for $120,000,000 over 7 years. I'm sure that made a lot of people happy, especially Commisioner Bud Selig, who has partially placed blame on baseball's financial troubles on the "players' greed."

That's about all I have to say for now. But anyways, if you have any questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions, hate mail, or anything else to say about the issues in this column, send them to Matt@allrpg.com (and if you have rants about the RPG-industry in general, send them to letters@allrpg.com). I'm still looking for a cool banner too, so if anyone would like to make one and send it to the above address, I'll be eternally grateful.