Square Enix Party 2007 Round-Up
Our thoughts and first-hand impressions from Square Enix's annual Tokyo event.
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Finally, the other big game at the show as Tetsuya Nomura's It's A Wonderful World for the DS. Featuring highly stylized characters and a modern backdrop, the game was the most popular title in the entire show, spawning lines that were over three hours long. The title was the same as the TGS demo, so there wasn't any new content. It was really surprising to hear the comments of gamers as they left this area though. Most really enjoyed the visuals and the artstyle, but it's almost universally agreed that the game is far too hard and confusing because you have to control Neck via touch screen and at the same time, control his partner on the top screen with the face buttons.
"The juicy stuff was held in Square's closed theatre, where they showed extended trailers of Final Fantasy XIII and FFXII Versus."
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The theatre itself was jam-packed with people, and had lines that were just as line as the ones for Wonderful World. In fact, it wasn't the rule of no photographs or videos that really annoyed me during the show. It was the fact that for every single title, you had to line up for at least two hours to enjoy it. The shortest line was for FFAT2, and even that line took a good hour and a half to slog through.
The convention centre was spacious enough that people could walk around without being shoulder to shoulder with another patron, and it totally baffles me that Square Enix would force people to wait a good nine hours if they wanted to play two games (FF7 Crisis Core and Wonderful World) and enter the closed theatre. On the other hand, the stage area, where they had special concerts and interviews with voice actors and developers, usually had no lines, but then again, I attended a special stage show for Star Ocean, which doesn't garner nearly as much attention as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest.
Despite all of this, the aftertaste that the event left me was bittersweet.
It's great that the company is pumping out some high quality titles, but it's shocking that they're so reliant on Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy that they'll regulate their smaller franchises, like Parasite Eve, to mobile phone duty. Still, for anyone who enjoys the current output of Square Enix titles, you have a good year of gaming to look forward to.
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| Video Coverage (Latest Videos & Video FAQ) | |||
| PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO ANY MEDIA FILE ON KIKIZO | |||
| Description | Dur. | Size | Details |
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Final Fantasy XIII Direct feed trailer (PS3 - Square Enix) |
01:1l | 35MB | DF, ED, 16:9 852x480p60 4.2Mbps |
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FF12 Video Interview Square in-depth interview |
10:52 | 134MB | CAM, ED, 16:9 856x480/30p 5Mbps |
Satoru Iwata Video Interview - the late Nintendo president spoke with Kikizo in 2004 as 'Nintendo Revolution' loomed.
Kaz Hirai Video Interview - the first of Kikizo's interviews with the man who went on to become global head of Sony.
Ed Fries Video Interview - one of Xbox's founders discusses an epic journey from Excel to Xbox.
Yu Suzuki, the Kikizo Interview - we spend time with one of gaming's most revered creators.
Tetris - The Making of an Icon: Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers reveal the fascinating story behind Tetris
Rare founders, Chris and Tim Stamper - their only interview? Genuinely 'rare' sit down with founders of the legendary studio.
The History of First-Person Shooters - a retrospective, from Maze War to Modern Warfare