Squaresoft in the 90s APPRECIATION

[Days of Future Piff]

Can we take a moment to think back on how much of a legendary run they had throughout the 90s?

Both Square and Enix were so much better individually before the merge IMO.
...and that's no disrespect to Enix or Quintet because they also made a lot of great games throughout that era in their own right.
(Dragon Quest 5, Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia, Soul Blazer, Terranigma, etc.)

Speaking of Squaresoft, they dropped a lot of Japan-only piff that never made it to the United States (at least initially):

(Note: Final Fantasy 9 dropped in 2000.)

 

[Kenny West]

That merger brought out the worst in both companies

 

[Hersh]

spermario rpg the greatest rpg of all time.!!!!

 

[TheAnointedOne]

These games are almost mythical. You look at them shyts and can't believe all the work and effort that went into all of these. Especially with Xenogears. Like, someone actually sat down and wrote out that storyline.

You'll never see this much effort put into today's games. (outside of the graphics)

 

[Neuromancer]

Xenogears will always be their greatest triumph and missed opportunity.

 

[MajesticLion]

That PS1 run was something else

 

[Software]

The golden age for them for jrpgs

That formula was dropping hit after hit

We don't get good anime style games anymore outside of what Bandai Namco puts out and the occasional dragon quest release

 

[The Mad Titan]

Its crazy the TLC and just all in teams went with RPGS. Like for a niche genre companies would have their best talent... like ALL of it, working on RPGS that were promised to make any money at all. They would go for broke and it was sink or swim.

I think that's the kind of thing we will never see again with gaming today, from bigger studios again. Most of the JRPGS are comprised of some of the most talented men in the industry now.


Like the folks considered talented now I really can't even tell you...
Anyway SNES games>>>>>
Now the PS1 had a amazing run from SS, they really had more titles to drop (at least in the US) than on SNES. But those SNES games are cornerstones in JRPG and RPGs till this day.

 

[Neo. The Only. The One.]

I had FF3, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore and FF7

Squaresoft was indeed on top back in the day.

What happened to them? Before this year, the last time I played video games was 2005 and they was still on top when I left the game.

EDIT
I just remembered that I had FF Tactics too. I forgot all about that game

My friends had Parasite Eve

 

[old pig]

spermario rpg the greatest rpg of all time.!!!!

 

[boriquaking]

Ffviii and brave fencer musashi

 

[Days of Future Piff]

Squaresoft was on another level before the merger.
I'm just shouting out their unreleased Japan-only joints again:

All of these games have fan translations online. Live a Live has a remake on the Switch and and Seiken Densetsu 3 (Trials of Mana) got remade on Steam/Switch.

Final Fantasy 5 was a great game, and it introduced the job system (like in FF Tactics) as well as one of the GOAT recurring RPG bosses (Gilgamesh). It's a real shame that we ended up getting Mystic Quest instead of FF5.

If you like Gundam, play Front Mission Gun Hazard (with a translation patch). It has RPG elements (leveling up, buying new weapons and gear), but plays more like a sidescrolling action game (like Symphony of the Night for example).

Play Seiken Densetsu 3 while you're at it. It plays like Secret of Mana ,but is way more open ended with a bigger world, more characters, and multiple intersecting plot threads.

Live a Live is fire, but you might want to have a walkthrough handy for some parts.
(Avoid spoilers for the secret 8th chapter though!)

There are plenty of other dope SNES games that never saw release out here in the US, like Alchaest, Treasure Hunter G, Bahamut Lagoon, Romancing SaGa 3, etc.
Nintendo really messed up by sticking with cartridges over CD's in the 90s. That move almost deaded ALL of their 3rd party support, giving Sony a huge advantage with their Playstation.

 

[NZA]

nier automata is the example of a golden age square game in modern times

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Man...Square kept the streets fed brehs. I got legit chills coming into this thread just off the strength of Secret of Evermore alone.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Squaresoft is what really got me into RPG/Story focused games. I will stan in perpetuity