Square's best!

[triggerhappytonks]

Anybody know some great games Square made, I forgot a lot of them.

One day I might try to get all the great games by them.

[Britai 7018]

Throwing a couple out there...

Chrono Trigger

Final Fantasys... 4,5,6,7

Secret of Mana

Einhanzer

[bandit29]

Just a few ..Square hasn't had a good game in years..if it wasn't for rabid Square fanboys they'd be gone.

Xenogears

Chrono Trigger

Vagrant Story

Secret of Mana

FF7

[UN Spacy]

I was heavily into Squaresoft games around Final Fantasy 7.........that was the first game to totally pull me in the FF mythos. I ended up beating the game and haven't played another FF since (well I picked up FF8 but couldn't get into it......hated the junction system) FF7.

I'd have to say FF7 is my favorite........along with Parasite Eve (is there going to be a third installment.....Aya Brea is hot), Xenogears, and Einhander. B)

[Abombz!!]

Any game really..... but stay as far away as possible from Unlimited Saga.... I don't know what Square was smoking when they decided that game should've been released.

[TwinkiePlatter]

Final Fantasy VII and Einhander!!!

[JB0]

*ahem*

FF4-6, on the SNES. The Playstation ports have inexcusable problems(like MASSIVE slowdown and load times), and sold ONLY because they had the FF name on them.

Ditto for Chrono Trigger, which is hopelessly easy, but has one of the best game soundtracks of all time.

I may be in the minority here, but Chrono Cross is quite enjoyable.

Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve 2 are great.

The Front Mission series is also quite good.

Einhander. Whoever decided Square should make a scrolling shooter made a good call.

FF9 is good.

The NES title Rad Racer is a Square game, though this fact is unknown to many.

FF7 is mediocre, hardly as good as everyone says.

Avoid FF8 like the plague.

UN Spacy: Rumor is that the next PE game is going to be called "Parasite Eve: Rebirth" and will be a remake of the first game.

[Effect]

I wouldn't mind a remake. I really enjoyed Parasite Eve. I haven't gotten a chance to play the 2nd one.

As far as Squaresoft games I'd say just about all of the ones they've made. Never played Unlimited Saga though. The only other one I've had a problem with was The Bouncer. It was fun but way to short.

[Druna Skass]

Anybody know some great games Square made, I forgot a lot of them.

One day I might try to get all the great games by them.

Well as for Square's bin of games, it's kind of a love-it-or-hate-it thing, so just go rent whatever catches your eye. Some games are both praised and reviled like FFVIII, so I suppose with Square games it's more a matter of taste than making everyone happy.

As for a new Parasite Eve, I hope they keep some of the tracks from the first one, and either dump less crap on you or give you an unlimited inventory.

Has anyone beaten the Chrysler Building in the first one? I got about halfway though it with heavily souped up PSG-1.

[JB0]

Has anyone beaten the Chrysler Building in the first one? I got about halfway though it with heavily souped up PSG-1.

Me, once.

...

Almost twice, but the memory card ate my save the first time and I had to start over.

[Opus]

If it weren't for Final Fantasy Tactics I would have thrown my PSX away a long time ago.

[bob joe mac]

FF 4-7 +9

Chrono trigger

Xenogears

Kingdom hearts

Rudora

Mario RPG ( I think that was done by them)

[JB0]

Mario RPG ( I think that was done by them)

It was.

[triggerhappytonks]

They made a pretty cool fighting game called Eirghiz or something with cloud, tifa, vincent, Yuffie, and Red XII's father (there are others but they werent from FF7).

Has anybody heard or played this game?

[JB0]

They made a pretty cool fighting game called Eirghiz or something with cloud, tifa, vincent, Yuffie, and Red XII's father (there are others but they werent from FF7).

Has anybody heard or played this game?

I, umm, heard it sucked like no other fighting game.

On the other hand, they ALSO made Bushido Blade, which is the most realistic fighter yet made in terms of gameplay. You stab someone through the chest or slit their throat, they AREN'T getting back up.

...

Too bad about that one fight with the f'er carrying a gun. Royal pain, that one is.

[Yohsho]

Any Final Fantasy. My friend says 1 has the best story.

Einhander

Mario RPG

Parasite Eve

Chrono Trigger

Xenogears

Bushido Blade, personal call

Hey I like Enirghiz. I like playing as Yuffie, Tifa, Cloud and Vincent.

[JB0]

Meh.

Ultimately every Square game ever made, including Tom Sawyer, will be in this list, regardless of merit.

Short version: Square is JUST ANOTHER GAME COMPANY. Nothing really makes them any better than anyone else aside from they have fanboys.

[Chowser]

Xenogears was my all-time fave from Square. I haven't started Xenogears yet, let's see if they can keep up with Square. I'm trying FFX-International now.

still, FF7 was where the very first RPG I ever played, it was the reason I bought a PS.

Oh, why does Xenogears cost $$$ even used at the stores? I was going to pick one up for my lil' sister.

[David Hingtgen]

Heh heh.

Xenogears

FF 9,6,10,7,4,5,3,1 in that order.

Chrono Trigger

Kingdom Hearts

[JB0]

Oh, why does Xenogears cost $$$ even used at the stores? I was going to pick one up for my lil' sister.

Because it's hard to find.

It wasn't really popular in it's first run, so not many went out. But then it refused to die after they quit making it.

The price bounced down when Square shipped a second run, but it's bounced back up again since then.

[TheLoneWolf]

Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve 2 are great.

Parasite Eve is a great game, but I gotta disagree with you on PE2. I thought it was unoriginal and awful. Gone was the old PE gameplay and instead they gave us Resident Evil. That games only saving grace was its beautiful cinema scenes.

[Druna Skass]

Has anyone beaten the Chrysler Building in the first one? I got about halfway though it with heavily souped up PSG-1.

Me, once.

...

Almost twice, but the memory card ate my save the first time and I had to start over.

Anything special happen of just bragging rights?

[JB0]

Has anyone beaten the Chrysler Building in the first one? I got about halfway though it with heavily souped up PSG-1.

Me, once.

...

Almost twice, but the memory card ate my save the first time and I had to start over.

Anything special happen of just bragging rights?

How does an ending where Aya DOESN'T flip out and kill everyone sound?

[JB0]

Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve 2 are great.

Parasite Eve is a great game, but I gotta disagree with you on PE2. I thought it was unoriginal and awful. Gone was the old PE gameplay and instead they gave us Resident Evil. That games only saving grace was its beautiful cinema scenes.

PE1's gameplay was an embarassment.

PE2 has VASTLY superior gameplay.

[Druna Skass]

How does an ending where Aya DOESN'T flip out and kill everyone sound?

Eh, when did Aya flip out and kill people?

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

IMO, the best games from Square came in the forms of Front Mission 3, Einhander, and Xenogears. Like it says in the intro, FM3 is an absoute "wargasm" .

[JB0]

How does an ending where Aya DOESN'T flip out and kill everyone sound?

Eh, when did Aya flip out and kill people?

In the end sequence, during the opera scene.

Her mitochondria take over, making her the new Eve.

...

Perhaps kill isn't the right word, but they certainly aren't human anymore.

[Druna Skass]

Hmm, I though eveyone's mitochondria was evolving to be like Aya's. Since at the end Aya said something about her's evolving diffrently from Eve's. I just saw the eyes glow instead of them turning into freaks like with Melissa/Eve.

Anyway what's the Chrysler ending?

Edited September 26, 2003 by Druna Skass

[TheLoneWolf]

Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve 2 are great.

Parasite Eve is a great game, but I gotta disagree with you on PE2. I thought it was unoriginal and awful. Gone was the old PE gameplay and instead they gave us Resident Evil. That games only saving grace was its beautiful cinema scenes.

PE1's gameplay was an embarassment.

PE2 has VASTLY superior gameplay.

If being the 100th Resident Evil clone is what constitutes good gameplay, then yeah, I'd have to agree. Must also explain why PE2 went straight to the bargain bin.

[UN Spacy]

Speaking of Square's best.

The website for Final Fantasy 12 is NOW UP.

The classic FF music is sooooooooooooooooooooo sweet.

http://www.ff12.com/

B)

[JB0]

Hmm, I though eveyone's mitochondria was evolving to be like Aya's. Since at the end Aya said something about her's evolving diffrently from Eve's. I just saw the eyes glow instead of them turning into freaks like with Melissa/Eve.

Anyway what's the Chrysler ending?

Well, they also made a point out of dragging the old "mitochondrial attack" FMV out for the ending. You remember the one where they took a cell sample from Aya and mixed it with Maeda's blood, and showed the mitochondria attacking the cell nuclei?

When you realize that the game is based on a horror novel(as stated in the credits), it makes more sense for it to end that way.

Aya's statement that her mitochondria evolved diffrently is based on incomplete data.

Remember, at the time she said that, she didn't even know her and Melissa both got their powers from tissue transplants from Maya. Their mitochondria(at least the ones relevant to the discussion) evolved along the same route because they both had the same mitochondria.

And just to clarify, despite it's presentation in the game, events in the Chrysler Building actually take place between the final battle with the Ultimate Being and the opera show in the ending(actually, they override the main ending, but ...).

Major spoilers from here to post end.

This is all being pulled from memory here. I've got the general gist, but there may be some inaccuracies.

The Chrysler Building was "Plan B".

In case Eve failed, Klamp made a clone of Aya's sister Maya at the top of the building. She's under the control of her mitochondria, of course. At this point the clone's grown back to about the level Maya was when she died in the car wreck(I got the imprssion that Maya's mitochondria awakening may have been what CAUSED the car wreck in the first place, but not a real strong impression).

There's some rambling about the strongest mitochondria leading the revolution or something. With Maya up and in Eve mode, that means her, since as the original she's far stronger than MelissaEve was. Obviously, sister or not, you need to kick her ass before she gets out and unleashes a new and far worse reign of terror.

When you DO kick her ass, you prove that YOUR mitochondria are stronger(maybe Maya's eyes were her best feature? *shrugs*). They start revolting, taking over, whatever.

The screen starts blacking out as Aya clutches her head.

From the dialogue and that one FMV clip in the 1st ending, it's pretty strongly implied that this is what happened in the normal ending, where you never met Maya.

It fades to black.

Then Maya's spirit or something(real Maya, not MayaEve) makes some noise, and the screen goes back to normal. She seals your mitochondria's powers away, making you another normal human being again.

Roll credits.

...

Well, okay, it was a tad weird.

But the point is Aya doesn't become AyaEve. And that's a plus.

Ignoring that, it also provides a continuity fix so PE and PE2 hook together better. Remember you start with jack squat in terms of magic in PE2? That's why, because PE2 picks up off the chrysler Building ending instead of the main one.

Likely also why you don't get liberate in PE2. Aya keeps her powers on a far shorter leash now than she did in the first game, as she's "seen" what can happen when they get too out of control, and it scares her(hey, you'd be scared too).

Edited September 26, 2003 by JB0

[Druna Skass]

Ahh ok, thanks...

[JB0]

Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve 2 are great.

Parasite Eve is a great game, but I gotta disagree with you on PE2. I thought it was unoriginal and awful. Gone was the old PE gameplay and instead they gave us Resident Evil. That games only saving grace was its beautiful cinema scenes.

PE1's gameplay was an embarassment.

PE2 has VASTLY superior gameplay.

If being the 100th Resident Evil clone is what constitutes good gameplay, then yeah, I'd have to agree. Must also explain why PE2 went straight to the bargain bin.

I'm sorry, but good gameplay is NOT an M4 rifle that shoots 500 exploding poison gas shotgun shells.

It also isn't real-time motion but not real-time combat.

PE2 played realistically.

Sure it was a tad awkward at times, but it was LIGHTYEARS beyond PE1.

And in a game that takes place in the "real" world, and uses real weapons and armor, realism matters. Hell, if you wanna get REAL picky, my father criticized the game on the basis of being able to switch firing modes on the M4A1 in combat. On a REAL M4A1, you flip a switch. Aya shifted modes too fast to do that. And of course, she couldn't change fire modes at all with an attachment on.

I'm rather certain that some of the gameplay changes were actually in response to reviewers accusing PE1 of being a Resident Evil ripoff(and a bad one at that). It was something along the lines of "Okay, we're being billed as an RE game because our monsters were ugly mutations of real animals. What can we do about that?" "Ummm, we can run with it?" "Okay, do that.").

PE2 doesn't really restrict your supplies the way the RE series does, which is really what makes a survival horror game.

Well, unless you play in the hardest difficulty settings.

The ammo supply boxes ALONE made PE2 not an RE clone. Never mind being able to buy armor and healing items.

But mainly, being rid of the timer bar on physical attacks(I can squeeze 5 rounds out in 2 seconds, but I have to wait 2 minutes before I can do it again! Whee, my gun sucks!)and the idiotic customization system are what made PE2 so much better.

[Alpha Omega]

Let's see here:

Front Mission series

Einhander

Final Fantasy VII, VIII and Tactics

Chrono Trigger (Chrono Cross was aight too)

Vagrant Story

Parasite Eve 1 & 2

I can't really remember the rest. So I guess that's about it for me.

Edited September 26, 2003 by Alpha Omega

[Jemstone]

Oh, why does Xenogears cost $$$ even used at the stores?  I was going to pick one up for my lil' sister.

Because it's hard to find.

It wasn't really popular in it's first run, so not many went out. But then it refused to die after they quit making it.

The price bounced down when Square shipped a second run, but it's bounced back up again since then.

And to think I sold 3 brand new copies total on MW back in 01.

JBO, actually most of us from the NES days know Square made Rad Racer along with some very subpar games. It's really the casual gaming generation of the PS1 game fans who don't. It was no wonder back then when they were going bankrupt and created their first (and should have been last with that title) Final Fantasy game. I agree with you that Square is just another video game company and not that special. Despite my 2 top RPGs being Square games, they only have 3 games in my top 10. I was a bit shocked at the amount of "Squareheads" in the FF 72 thread but surprised I haven't seen more here.

Only Square games I really recommend are Xenogears and the SNES Chrono Trigger.

Edited September 26, 2003 by Jemstone