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Atlus > Square Enix?

FuryFury
edited October 2009 in General Chat
Hey Guys.

I was just thinking, Squaresoft (well, square enix now) had a huge run of great games. If you play the ps1, all the amazing RPG's are square. There's not a bad one among them, Xenogears, Vagrant Story etc.

You move onto ps2 and there's less good ones, but a lot of gems still. Of course, there's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and KH etc etc.

But I've been looking at review sites, and most of Squares new, non FF games have been pretty lame, getting averages of 6.5-7.5

And then I look at Atlus. Atlus has been around for awhile, but it's really getting big now. They've released the most (and best) RPG's on DS, and I personally believe that the Shin Megami Tensei series (I had only heard about it recently) is better than final fantasy.

I was just thinking, 6 years from now, is Square Enix just gonna be a big game company, but Atlus is going to be the shining hope for RPG gamers?

Just got me curious, I never thought Square would be overtaken in the RPG department.

Comments

  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited October 2009
    Atlus provides the best in Japanese RPGs, anyway. That's still not too great when compared to the best in western RPGs, but the Atlus games can actually be GOOD GAMES. And, when you compare that to the company that uses a list of tropes as a checklist in every design document, you're of course going to think they're a godsend.
  • FuryFury
    edited October 2009
    Oh, I pretty much meant JRPG's. There's a lot more of them out there than western rpg's, especially on the consoles. Still, Bioware has been making some kickass titles recently, and Bethesda is ok... sorta.

    I only knew about the SMT series recently, and I prefer it over FF. The only problem is that they have a much bigger time investment, like 40+ hours of grinding. Still, they're good if you're in the mood.

    Atlus is also porting a lot more japanese games over and publishing them in English too.
  • KaldireKaldire
    edited October 2009
    square enix cannot be compared to squaresoft, it was a merger that destroyed the integrity of their industry.
    squaresoft vs atlus might be a fight but sorry mate ATLUS for the win
  • natlinxznatlinxz
    edited October 2009
    They're mostly a publisher, they don't really make any games. That's why they have good games like Trauma Center, as well as crap like Etrian Oddysey. (an RPG with no story or memorable characters? What?!!)
  • strong badia the greatstrong badia the great
    edited October 2009
    square enix are well better
  • RawrRawr
    edited October 2009
    natlinxz wrote: »
    They're mostly a publisher, they don't really make any games. That's why they have good games like Trauma Center, as well as crap like Etrian Oddysey. (an RPG with no story or memorable characters? What?!!)
    Thats not true. Trauma Center was developed by Atlus, and Etrian Odyssey was part developed by Atlus. Megami Tensei series is also developed by Atlus.

    You're right on the part that Atlus America is just a publisher though. Atlus Japan on the other hand are a fully fledged developer.
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited October 2009
    natlinxz wrote: »
    They're mostly a publisher, they don't really make any games. That's why they have good games like Trauma Center, as well as crap like Etrian Oddysey. (an RPG with no story or memorable characters? What?!!)
    I haven't actually played Etrian Odyssey, so I can't speak directly on its behalf, even though I was looking forward to it and then the title sort of fell off to the wayside. But I've played many RPGs with little or no story that I've considered to be "good". Surprisingly enough, a game is not defined by a story, as hard as that is for some people to understand. Games are not a narrative medium by nature. I never needed a story to enjoy Go, Risk, Carcassonne, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, et cetera. Etrian Odyssey, from what I can tell, is more a love letter to the dungeon crawlers past than something made for gamers today, because from what I've seen it really echoes Wizardry and Might & Magic in terms of gameplay.

    Games actually tend to center around GAMEPLAY. This modern gamer disposition that games should be interactive player-coddling storybooks is really annoying.

    Oh, and at least according to the Wikipedia which we all know is completely accurate all the time, Atlus did develop Etrian Odyssey.

    Side Note: The Oddworld games have forever marred my spelling of the word "Odyssey", and only my browser's built-in spellcheck saves me from putting an odd spin on it.
  • FuryFury
    edited October 2009
    Etrian Odyssey is actually pretty good. I only got up to the second strata due to it's crushing difficulty, but it's by no means a bad game. You pretty much form a party of up to 5 warriors and venture into this dungeon, and you map it as you go.

    There isn't a story but it's just a dungeon crawler game with a shitload of character customization. Only problem is that you have to level up for ages due to it's insane difficulty level. Pretty much, it's a western RPG with JRPG character art, but no cutscenes or anything. Like one of those retro rpg's.

    I think Square Enix is more of a publisher than atlus. Atlus developed Persona 4, but it was published in Europe by Square Enix.

    I'm pretty sure Atlus developed the ps3 game Demon Souls, which according to gamespot is the best rpg of 2009. However, no-one is publishing it in Europe as of this date.....
  • KatanaKatana
    edited October 2009
    I'd say Rather Dashing is right about story sometimes being overrated, but I think what people refer to with "good writing" and such falls into a lot of categories. Just recently, I played the Unreal Tournament 3 mod The Ball, and it has such a well-developed atmosphere that even without words it seems to tell a very interesting, yet vague, story of its own (of course they ruined that with tomes telling of an ancient civilization in the newer episodes)
  • KaldireKaldire
    edited October 2009
    etrain rocks!

    its young kids that often dong like dungeon crawlers

    personally its a blast from the past... I WANT BARDS TALE and LANDS OF LORE remakes

    with original voice cast!
    number 1 engage!
  • WoodsyblueWoodsyblue
    edited October 2009
    I gave up on JRPG's a long time ago but I love the Trauma Center series so I think Atlis is awesome for that :D

    That being said you know what JRPG I actually am looking forward to? Ni no Kuni, the game Level 5 are producing with Studio Ghibli. The gameplay will probably be balls (It's a licence game after all) but I don't care, if it has even a fraction of the Studio Ghibli magic it will be worth it imo.
  • Mack DaddyMack Daddy
    edited October 2009
    ..and don't forget Demon's Souls:

    http://www.demons-souls.com/
  • FuryFury
    edited October 2009
    Shame that game doesn't have an European release date....
  • RawrRawr
    edited October 2009
    It's a PS3 game though, they're region free. So just import it?
  • FuryFury
    edited October 2009
    Rawr wrote: »
    It's a PS3 game though, they're region free. So just import it?

    The problem is that if you link it to your playstation account for online, it will try and download updates for the american version, and if there's ever an expansion pack in the form of dlc, it won't work with the imported version.

    It'll come out in Europe eventually, but I'm only gonna import single player games. The wait normally isn't that long anyway, Brutal Legend was only 2 days.
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