Forever Fantasy has made an interesting observation. They call out Square Enix’s habit of milking their two prized franchises, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, and what seems like an inabilty to produce anything new or unique (hey calm down, guys–their words, not mine).
However, ever since last year, SE has been taking more and more risks and as a result have been churning out more original titles for various consoles and handhelds. The most recent example of this is The World Ends With You which was a smashing hit in Japan despite its unorthodox gameplay and story. In fact, the game was so well-received that fans are now rabidly requesting a sequel.
That’s not all though. SE has announced several games that step outside the company’s comfort zone, including Sigma Harmonics for the Nintendo DS and Inifinite Discovery for the Xbox 360. I feel it’s always good to see a well-known company take risks and step outside the realms of what they’re comfortable making.
At the same time, I’m willing to bet this is all temporary until Final Fantasy XIII sells a billion copies and SE goes back to mass-producing RPGs. Kind of like what happened at the time of Final Fantasy VII’s release.
