Is it finally safe to say Sega>SE for JRPGs

**Althena** · 10-07-2024, 04:01 PM

What are games you would consider comparing?

**Random Encounter** · 10-07-2024, 04:11 PM

I will say SE as a whole has been stagnant for awhile. XIV is pretty much the best modern thing they've had going for them, and the only things I've enjoyed from them lately are their remakes. My opinion may change once I try FFXVI, but I think they probably need to rethink their future strategies.

**The Grimace** · 10-08-2024, 02:09 AM

Heavy disagree.

Persona 3 is a game that positively changed my entire life. Persona 4 and 5 are also fantastic. I have not played Reload or Royal, but will in the future. I do not doubt Atlus's quality. I'm confident Metaphor: ReFantazio will also be a smash hit, though I will not be playing it immediately on release because there are SO MANY good games coming out that I just don't have the time.

I am replaying Final Fantasy XVI right now and it plays even better than it did year ago thanks to Creative Studio III's Quality of Life and Balancing update, and I am highly anticipating experiencing the game's DLCs when I get far enough. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is also an extremely good game. The only issues of these two games were having not been released on PC, and that's a huge fucking shame because more people should have had the opportunity to play them at launch. Square-Enix sabotaged their own games with their timed Exclusivity. These two games are definitely more action-oriented rather than turn-based, but they do what they aim extremely well.

Bottom line: both companies' development teams are extremely good at what they do. Square-Enix's games are not bad, but their PS5 gates need to end if they want to thrive. And from what earnings reports and stock meetings reveal, this will hopefully be a thing of the past.

**Selbaek** · 10-08-2024, 02:19 PM

Originally posted by The Grimace

Heavy disagree.

Persona 3 is a game that positively changed my entire life. Persona 4 and 5 are also fantastic. I have not played Reload or Royal, but will in the future. I do not doubt Atlus's quality. I'm confident Metaphor: ReFantazio will also be a smash hit, though I will not be playing it immediately on release because there are SO MANY good games coming out that I just don't have the time.

I am replaying Final Fantasy XVI right now and it plays even better than it did year ago thanks to Creative Studio III's Quality of Life and Balancing update, and I am highly anticipating experiencing the game's DLCs when I get far enough. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is also an extremely good game. The only issues of these two games were having not been released on PC, and that's a huge fucking shame because more people should have had the opportunity to play them at launch. Square-Enix sabotaged their own games with their timed Exclusivity. These two games are definitely more action-oriented rather than turn-based, but they do what they aim extremely well.

Bottom line: both companies' development teams are extremely good at what they do. Square-Enix's games are not bad, but their PS5 gates need to end if they want to thrive. And from what earnings reports and stock meetings reveal, this will hopefully be a thing of the past.

Let's not forget that Bravely Default and Octopath Traveller are both franchises that SE has done really well with to keep that JRPG feeling alive, despite their original mainstay Final Fantasy branching away from the full stereotypical gameplay expectations. They also still have Dragon Quest, and while XII is still likely a ways away from a release, Dragon Quest 1, 2, and 3 HD2D remakes are all coming within a year which are very heavily within that stereotypical JRPG affair.

Square Enix is constantly reporting "unfortunate sales" but, honestly, I don't see their sales figures as failures. Rather, I think they have been playing a long con to get out of Sony's vice grips and actually launch titles multi-platform on day 1 so that their sales projections can look that much better to investors. But that's my opinion based on what I understand, not a fact.

Sega's JRPG lineup has really only been via Atlus. That's all good and well - they are releasing banger after banger - but nothing they have released has really interested me at a personal level lately. I don't really like sim-like games all that much, and as such the day-to-day character development Atlus utilizes in most of their RPGs turns me away. This isn't to say that I think Sega/Atlus is doing poorly, because they clearly aren't. I just lean more on the traditional mechanics and modern action that SE is pumping out so my perspective between the two is that SE is doing a lot more.

**Random Encounter** · 10-08-2024, 09:53 PM

I do love the graphical flourishes of the Octopath Traveler series and Live-a-Live. Would love for SE to take that engine and do more things with it. Also, rather than take years and years to bring us a multi-part take of a single game, I'd like to see them do smaller but more adventurous projects.

**The Grimace** · 10-09-2024, 02:11 AM

Sadly, Octopath Traveler's dev Acquire was bought by Kadokawa Corporation back in February. This doesn't necessarily mean we won't see anymore OT, but I expect it will be by a different dev.

The inner-workings of companies are absolutely exhausting.

https://www.ign.com/articles/fromsoftware-parent-company-acquires-octopath-traveler-developer