Microsoft's Layoffs Are a Harbinger of Doom for JRPGs (and the game industry as a whole) | GEMS
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- Опубліковано 11 лип 2024
- Microsoft is at it again, this time shuttering even more significant game developers in their portfolio -- including developers with award-winning games! The madness has to stop; and the consequences could honestly be pretty severe.
Never forget: This is #PhilsFault
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00:00 Intro
01:00 Square Enix games... cancelled?
01:49 The Microsoft of it all
15:47 Square Enix
22:55 Outro - Ігри
We will never see any change from Microsoft. The American business sphere is a wild West. They are no different than any other company, stomping out any subsidiary or employees without restraint or repercussion. The only thing we can do is walk away. Stop buying their consoles, services, and games. Yes, that will hurt more employees in the short term, but it will break this cycle. My two cents at least. Thoughtful, lovely video as always dude! ❤️
The big three have all taken done pretty hardcore anti consumer moves over the last five years. If you’re really that worried about the business practices of these massive corporations then play retro games.
@@kdogg7882 Agreed. Love my retro for sure!
The Cycle of what ... ?
@@grafphal5103 Them buying up studios and properties and destroying them with bad business decisions.
Agreed. Short term pain for long term gain.
Ummmm jrpgs where never in the xbox wheelhouse/echosystem. I dont understand jrpgs atm are 99% on playstation & nintendo consoles
Consoles aside, Microsoft is a Western mega corp who have bought up countless companies and released only mediocre/straight-up bad games for the past few years.
I’m personally not seeing a correlation with JRPGs which still has many big hitting franchises and generally made on considerably lower budgets.
Interesting conversation to be had though regardless
I think what he is trying to say is that Microsoft could also pick up those companies that create JRPGs and shutter their projects or completely screw things up.
I’ve been playing JRPGs all year on Xbox actually… Like a dragon (free with rewards points), P3R (game pass), unicorn overlord (points), Eiyuden (game pass)… looking forward to smtV, metaphor refantazio, and some western stuff too (wizardry, avowed). Plus I like playing a lot of indie games on game pass. So the idea that there are no jrpgs on Xbox is just rigid thinking.
@@JesseDylanMusic those jrpgs are multi console digital versions. Yes, they have physical games of those rpgs. BUT 99% of jrpg franchises are either on playstation OR switch. You go to xbox brand for fps, action, adventure, online games not jrpgs.
@@JCtheComicGeek I don’t. 🤷 I like game pass, and I like the Microsoft rewards program. I’m cheap. It’s not like I care about the PlayStation exclusives either. It’s very western action dominant (last of us, god of war, Spider-Man). And the switch is underpowered. I have all three, but I mostly play on Xbox.
This is a great format, and I appreciate you going over these topics from a specific angel of what your channels focus is. It is interesting to see how these companies affect the larger industry even when they don't necessarily focus on all the things that the fans enjoy (the little people that like jrpgs).
Thanks for that! It's great to hear.
I had not purchased a MS gaming product in probably a decade, at least, until very recently, when they released Hi Fi Rush on PS5. I loved that game, and the studio who made it is now dead. Great. Thanks, Phil.
Hey Brandon - I think you may be worrying too much or giving MS too much credit. This is happening across the board in all industries, it's the effect of the tightening economy (it's a recession by textbook definition). The Fed's Interest Rate Hikes has made Money itself more expensive, sounds weird to say that but that is basically what is happening during the period of Quantitative Tightening. Companies are cutting the Fat off, so to speak. Look at Streaming Services like Disney+, News Industry (lol), Tech Companies in Silicone Valley, or other VG Companies like Activision Blizzard, they're all downsizing and laying off. I don't think Sony is modeling itself after Microsoft, or that Microsoft is a unique trail blazer in Downsizing, this is standard business practice especially so in shrinking economy. NOW - that being said - this is not all doom and gloom. The talent doesn't just vanish just because it was released from Microsoft, this is the prime time that new studios are formed - smaller and more focused studios with a shared vision. Remember these studios were gobbled up by bigger Corpos like MS, they existed beforehand and they will exist again. As long as the appetite for these types of games exists, there will be creators. It's hard to explain in a youtube comment but basically - don't fret over the big multibillion dollar Corpo downsizing. If anything, think of it as them letting the talent out of prison.
Agreed. All these companies bought into endless expansion during the pandemic. The bubble burst. Their spreadsheets only care about the bottom line. The industry grew, then stopped growing. They could have predicted that and been more careful, but that’s just not how capitalism works unfortunately
I think the plans to axe these studios were long planned and kept quiet. It’s the nature of corporate greed. Save the big guy at the top by cutting off the “grunt” at the bottom. I’ve been a victim of a layoff in healthcare and it wasn’t justified in a lot of peoples eyes.
As far as Squeenix complaining about 7 Rebirth not selling well, do they remember that the ps4 is in more homes then the ps5? Add the fact that yes, it is a sequel, on a pricier console that is still a sticker shock to people and boom, it’s an uphill battle regardless of the pedigree.
The GEMS series gives you a chance to be more insightful and honest in a more genuine and transparent way. Thank you for it and keep it coming. 👍
I appreciate that, thank you! And yeah, I agree with all you've said, and particularly with layoffs, like... the CEO could take a 10% pay cut, still be one of the richest people in human history, and everybody could be paid to work for the next ten years. It's nuts.
The layoffs have nothing to do with game quality, they have everything to do with tightening monetary policy and inflation. These are macro-economic headwinds, which Microsoft doesn't control.
Anyway, Square makes part two of a trilogy, sales are lower and people panic, meanwhile, Falcom releases part 10, 11, 12, and 13 to a never-ending series 4 times in the last 5 years, and seems completely unbothered by how much money it makes, or doesn't make. These are both publicly traded companies, but one is owned by actual investors, while the other still has the founder as the majority share-holder.
I see what you're saying, and I think it's horrible for the industry as a whole... but I don't think Microsoft is that comparable to other major video game platforms/publishers. like, Nintendo is a purely video game company. if they shut down their video game company, they'd go under because they don't have anything else. if Microsoft shut down their video game company, they'd be fine. (also the answer to how Microsoft systems sell outside of America is: horrible, at least in Japan and Europe. I can't answer the Canada question either lol)
as for Squeenix, well, they keep pumping out good to great games so I end up okay with them overall, but I don't understand their public business decisions. it's like they keep announcing their worst decisions and stuff that makes their company looks so bad, like they FREQUENTLY shit-talk their own games' sales. I really can't decide if what they're doing with FF7 remake is good in terms of artistry - as you said, it is going back to what got them here and letting the devs take their time and make what they want - or horrible in terms of artistry - it's just going back to FF7 again, and you may disagree because you love the game and I do not, but the end of Rebirth absolutely infuriated me along those lines
i really like this rambly stuff, keep it coming :) you're also making very interesting points about the industry which i don't hear people talking about a lot.
That's good to hear, thank you!
Really enjoyed your discussion!!! Totally agree with you on everything.
Thanks Paige! We should do one of these co-op sometime, would be fun to have your voice involved in these sorts of discussions.
@@JustTheGems Hey, that’s a great idea! Would love to!
If another game never got made, there is enough out there that I will never run out of good jrpg's to play. UA-camrs, speed through games to make more videos, I take my time and actually enjoy them.
My strategy is to replay my favorites over and over and over and then feel stressed that I haven't played anything new to talk about... 😅🫠
How in the heck would M$ going down affect JRPG's seeing as most are on PS/Nintendo/PC, and despite what same my think all of gaming needs to be a bit better about not spreading themselves so think working on to many things at once.
I laid out my thoughts on how in the video...😅It's fine if you disagree with me, though.
@@JustTheGems Funny enough i didn't get to watch the whole vid because of storms in the area lol, on my phone now .
@@TakaChan569 We had big storms in our area last night too. Hope everything's good!
Hifi Rush was one of my favorite games of 2023 and one of my new favorite IPs so this news was pretty sad to hear. It's also interesting to see how Atlus is now pretty "buddy-buddy" with Xbox and their games are day 1 on gamepass 👀💀
Yeah, that Atlus partnership is very, very strange...
Only 50% of FF7 remake players finished it. So, Rebirth selling 2 times less than Remake is logical and expected.
Even less will finish Rebirth. Considering it's a much bigger more grindier game. I almost didn't finish it. Rebirth was too long and too bloated IMO. By the final chapter I just switched the difficulty to easy because I was so sick of the game I wanted to be done with it.
Yep, player churn is real.
Ninja Theory and Undead Labs fans should brace for impact because I don't see them surviving over the next two years.
Yeah I haven't heard ANYTHING about the new Senua. It's not gonna make the sort of money Microsoft is apparently demanding, either (and which runs contrary to ol' Phil saying he wants the studios they buy to feel free to be creative and tackle those off-the-beaten-path sort of projects.)
Never mind that FF7 Remake came out at the beginning of the pandemic. Of course it was going to sell better than its sequel
Very true.
That's just the consequence for thousands of people supporting Bethesda's/ABK's acquisitions. That was their intention since the beginning: pay for the bigger dev studios + the IPs. They didn't care about the smaller ones.
I'm surprised how I was mentioning this multiple times and people were saying I was a hater for expecting this terrible scenario. Congratulations to anyone that thought it was a great idea to support this terrible practice.
It would be even less surprising if Phil hadn't specifically said that they wanted the smaller studios to use the money they now had to invest in creative games (like Hi-Fi Rush for example). Like, did he know he was lying at the time he said that? Or was this a new and hasty decision?
Now if a studio gets bought out by a large corporation it's the equivalent of a death blow, sadly.
Also, we as the buyers really do have the power over these companies. Vote with your wallet as they say. That's why Redfall failed so bad, because people wouldn't buy into their monetization with that game, sadly the studio, and not the publisher, suffered because of it. We need to keep voting with our money though if we want to get what we want.
100%. We can demand they make a change or get out of this industry. I just hope they decide to change, because things are better the more people there are at the table.
Microsoft interacts with JRPGs?
Level-headed and informative, good stuff
Much appreciated!
Honestly I feel like jRPGs are a very resilient genre no matter what. They survived the 7th gen Phil Fish era when they were the laughingstock.
As for Xbox, I agree that it has generally been the platform of genres and games I don’t care for outside of Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesepria (was exclusive in English for 10 years so it counts). And a few other smaller AA titles like Kameo Elements of Power and Hi Fi Rush. But Gears and Halo have never been my thing. Ever since they started doing Kinect and trying to go after the Wii market, it’s never rebounded.
They are very resilient, and I've been pretty happy with what I've seen coming down the pipeline over the next several months.
I don't see what bearing Microsoft has on JRPGs, they have been a company whose not really had a lot of Japanese support outside Namco, Sega and Capcom until the recent addition of ff14 to the Xbox platform. The vast majority of JRPGs that come to console these days are on switch. Stuff like FF16 and Rebirth and to a lesser extent the souls titles are really outliers in the current JRPG landscape
The concern I have is that some bigger Japanese companies (like Square and Sony) seem to be looking to companies like Microsoft and trying to emulate them. I'm afraid if they keep doing that, then JRPGs will suffer, at least insofar as they're still being made by those companies.
@@JustTheGemseh I honestly feel like if they did buy up studios like square not much would be lost at this point. Also the examples you made for Xbox exclusive RPGs were not Microsoft products they were published on the hardware but lost odyssey was developed my Mistwalker, and Magna Carta 2 is softmax who is a South Korean developer. Mistwalker is still making games these days most recently with Apple Arcade. They released FANTASIAN which is pretty good just not on a platform most people want it on.
Oh Branden, Even if you don’t talk about JRPGs mate I’ll be watching 🍻
The video game space is definitely a weird time right now, for me Nintendo is the best just pound for pound video game experiences for me right now (Which is quite rare for me since i’m a Sega kid turned Sony teen) but Sony haven’t released a a new IP for the PS5 that I really care about, and Xbox outside of Tales of Vesperia back in the day and now Hi Fi Rush, I’ve never been a Xbox guy purely for their lack of JRPGs
Yeah, I wish Sony would model themselves after Nintendo and not Microsoft... Cheers man! 🍻
Arkane Austin got axed because of the absolute disaster that is Redfall. It's a real shame since that studio once brought us Prey, however they had already lost over 70% of their leadership anyway.
Prey while also well received was also a flop. Microsoft is not going to keep putting money into something if it is not making a profit.
We as a JRPG community have never really had a dog in the Xbox world, so I don't think we have much influence there.
We as a gaming community are starting to turn our back on Xbox hardware, and they are trying to reboot and a software brand.
I can hear the screams for another Fallout game from the Microsoft offices now. Here's hoping they don't ruin it with micro transactions or live service. Not good signs though since it seems like it won't be solely a Bethesda project at this point.
I don't know that everyone will follow Microsoft. That said, I actually see bigger developers moving away from JRPGs as an opportunity for smaller studios to jump in. Some of my favorite, standout gaming experiences have been from smaller developers not backed by a major studio. It is a shame for acquired studios that have been successful get shut down but the owners of those studios can take their pay day from the acquisition and move on to something else. It may not be the sequel to games we love but I see that as more opportunity rather than a loss.
Indies have been doing SO much to support the JRPG industry (and gaming as whole). They really don't get enough credit for that amid the crises that the big publishers create.
I like it when you talk about these subjects, honestly it's easy to think you just replay trails and FF from your content, LOL.
I have the opposite reaction you do...thoughI do think it's sad so many companies and creators suffer from these moves.
The news is impactful for me too...as Obsidian, bought by Microsoft in 2018, is one of my favorite companies. The finest if crpg developers.
However when Microsoft bought them, I knew that was the end, or at least the beginning of the end. Many of their planned games were canceled, and the freedom to work on other IP's...which became their forte...was gone. Microsoft cut their proposals for a new elder scrolls game (probably because New Vegas was an embarrassment to Bethesda). Grounded and the upcoming avowed are all they will have put out...since 2018. All because of Microsoft game studios.
So why am I positive and upbeat? Because I'm a real capitalist. And the wonders of real capitalism is creative destruction...that things have their time, and good things come from failure. Independent studios are getting more profitable, and providing more quality for a lower price. Success of contractors with games like Helldivers, Stellar Blade, Eiyuden, palworld, etc...and the big studios failing in the end are good for the consumer, especially in these days where the value of a dollar is dropping quickly.
Hopefully small studios wise up and avoid the magic deals big companies provide.
I think your like for Square is a but overwrought, they have the right attitude, but this is success based, not an investment in the future. I can think of many time Square has completely fumbled the ball. If I were to praise a game studio, it would be monolithsoft...despite their own sin of exclusivity.
In any case, I agree, but see nothing but good things. The industry needs to be blown up once in a while. It's stagnancy that hurts the industry, and our best work comes from growth and change.
Think about it Brandon...trails from Daybreak is probably here because an illegal translation group did a good translation of Crossbell...and without that, the wait would probably be another year...imagine that.
So cheer up Brandon, talented people will find work, and the mistakes of a big company doesn't mean we suffer, just bad ideas.
I honestly like your vision, but I think the ends that it can achieve are achievable without the short- to medium-term pain caused by Microsoft's management decisions. So I think the industry will ultimately be all right, but the human cost of it is a problem for me.
@JustTheGems you're right of course. Theres a better way, there's always a better way. There's a bigger philosophical debate to be had about that over humanity in general over unlearned lessons
The original Xbox was the first console I bought with Munch's Odyssey being the first console game I ever played to completion. I always hated shooters and loved JRPG/RPGs so it didn't take long for me to move to Playstation and Nintendo - though I have continued to buy XB every gen too. I have disliked Microsoft for many many years on computer I get Mac when I can or run Linux on PC hw but was always forced to get copy of Windows for work or for gaming. I really do wish MS would gtfo of gaming though I do love the Fable series... Recently I've been playing a whole lot more 'retro' systems as I have not been that happy with most of the new games I've been seeing. Right now I've playing a ton of Vita and 3DS...
Always had misgivings about the Xbox business model and while lay offs are nothing new when you see success now being rewarded with closer it feels different. I suspect the people making these decisions are not the Xbox management team but rather the MS board. It shows the board want to recoup the money they have been investing and the Xbox management are not able or willing to prevent the board from making the kind of decisions we have seen over the last few months. We now have people making decisions who have probably never played a game in their lives and know nothing about the industry much to the detriment of gamers and game developers.
Yeah, absolutely. Realistically, I know that it's higher up in the Microsoft chain of command where these decisions are being made, but I wish Phil and the rest of the Xbox execs had done a better job of managing upper management expectations (which is, sadly, a big part of any corporate position like that).
Loved the 360, since it was the PS3 and Wii. Most of the good RPGs on the PS3 were also on 360. The Wii at that point had at most DQ swing your arm back & forth and did not get it's greats till Wii U was already out.
Madden, NCAA (since it is coming back (only one I want)), CoD, Halo??, and other garbage
FF7: R2 - I have not picked it up and it is hard for me to pick it up. Would rather just seen it as one super long game, like 120+ hours just for the base game.
Think part of it is the suits think AI can do DEV jobs and Software Engineer jobs.
Hate you on the 65 comment, lol
We're gonna be old and gray before this new Elder Scrolls comes along...👴🏼
Young enough to still play, but old enough to know there will be 1000s of bugs that are there after the Super Special Extra that has no bugs in it Whatsoever Edition comes out.
goes to show money doesnt matter in the grand scheme of marketing. Nintendo the least money of the 3 big, still consistently puts out banger after banger of their own games with outdated tech of a 2015 cell phone in the form of a glorified nvidia shield tablet with tv support.
It's true. Nintendo has managed to catch magic in a bottle and it's crazy to me that Sony is trying to emulate MICROSOFT, and not Nintendo.
Ehhhh, Dont think its the harbinger of doom. MS doesn’t scare me anyways. I like another comment on here that business is the Wild West in some parts. It that makes sense because MS I bet is trying something to grow but realizing that they can’t do it. I believe its more lack of foresight than anything else.
What worries me is when Japanese companies start trying to emulate MS...
One aspect of American capitalism you are missing is how you are looking at Microsort as a singular entity. There companies are hydras with hundreds of heads fighting with each other. If a head gains some. Ontol, the beast will move in a confident fashion. If the action of that head creates immediate success the head will continue guiding but once an action looks like a mistake (such as buying all these game studios), the other heads will tear into that head. One of the results frequently is completely undoing what was just done.
That is why their actions make no sense. The suit that invested in the purchases is not the hand that then killed them.
Stop thinking of companies as singular.
It's true. The hydra metaphor is apt. Definitely not who we want being in charge of our arts and entertainment.
Also explains why Sony is starting to bend in that direction too.
No greed, like American greed. The thing that separates MS from Nintendo, Capcom, SquareEnix, Sega, etc -- MS is not a games company. They want subscription driven revenue without investing into the creativity needed for a game division to survive. Same issue with the AT&T's buyout of WB. They didn't want to invest into the creative process, but instead recycle old content while infusing low-cost reality content from Discovery to maintain a subscription service. It's a natural understanding that companies want to make money. The problem arises when the customer realizes that it's at the detrimental expense of its people & product.
100%. It's giving a suit who hasn't had a creative thought in his life the power over all these creative works, and that has basically never gone well...
The problem is really the whole AAA mindset as a whole. Even Square has essentially done the same thing, canceling smaller projects and doubling down on AAA. There was a big increase in money during the pandemic. Capitalism always thinks expansion can be perpetual. It can’t. The expansion ceased, checks came due, and so we’ve seen insane amounts of stuff getting cut. They don’t learn cause spreadsheets don’t care.
Agreed that the fundamentals of our environment sort of lend themselves to this sort of stuff happening on a cyclical basis. It sucks that we're in the downturn part of the cycle. Hopefully it doesn't last too long.
@@JustTheGems and some good things may come of it, depending on one’s perspective! If a person only likes AAA stuff, maybe bad. But if a person wants cheaper, uglier games that are more creative, and kinder to the industry and gamers and the people who make games… maybe we’ll see that. I hope. But I am maybe being naively optimistic.
they bought IP's, don't care about ppl making them. Lets talk corpo shit...if i want dollars from investor, which sound more solid? i need u to give me for this awesome new game,u can blah blah..or i need u for new COD. Guy who give money, know how cod popular is...but anything new is no, no!
the other issue with FF7 Rebirth is that FF7 Remake was marketed as just a remake of the original and even the demo played that up and then they started doing stupid time/universe stuff in it
but i do love the gameplay
Yeah that was a thing in Japan for awhile - maybe it still is? The whole making a remake that's ACTUALLY a sequel sort of thing. I can think of at least two other properties off the top of my head that did that. Don't know why it was such a big thing for creators recently.
About the poor sales of Rebirth. My personal thought is that it’s a PS5 exclusive. Yes, Remake was a PS4 exclusive-ish, but even though it’s “halfway” through its lifecycle, not a lot of people own a PS5. Whereas, almost every gamer I know owns a PS4.
Remake was also released during the pandemic. There were just a lot more people at home gaming.
True.
Yeah, exclusivity is definitely a huge part of it.
I think you are correct. The industry changing to compete with Microsoft is a real possibility and a big concern.
I'd be less concerned if Sony wasn't already fully moving in that direction, but alas...:(
It's not just first party Xbox stuff that's on game pass. Tons of third party games, Persona, Scarlet Nexus has been on there, Hollow Knight, tons of indie games and AAA JRPGs and the like. So, cutting these studios shouldn't diminish game pass offerings, at least not on its own.
This is a really weird take. Xbox is barely even adjacent to jrpgs.
Very strange video.
Did you watch enough to see my reasoning though? I think it's reasonable, but to each their own!
@@JustTheGems I just don't see it.
@@captainthunderbolt7541 fair enough!
We may eventually see AAA collapse. That would be a good thing and result in more stuff we like. Or we may see it get propped up by AI. AAA is totally unsustainable, but corporations will sacrifice people to keep it going as long as they can.
Xbox gamers DO NOT play jrpgs and if a game doesnt go to gamepass they aren't interested in it and they definitely DON'T buy games because *Phil "Pinocchio" Spencer* has pacified them
I do know some Xbox players who like JRPGs, so I feel kinda bad for them, but I'm more broadly worried that other companies will copy Xbox's business practices, because it's been lucrative for Microsoft.
Imagine what games Octopath II, Harvestella, Star Ocean SSR, Triangle Strategy and Diofield could have been if each one of them actually had 20% of the budget and time that Forspoken wasted...
Or maybe I'm wrong and these games are good *because* they don't target a wide audience, are made for the Switch (the dominant console in Japan) and are just low budget as a consequence of that... Is Square's bad business sense just a blessing in disguise, I wonder?
I don't think I'm exaggerating too much when I say that I don't ever recall seeing Square (Soft or Enix) make a single sane business decision in my entire life so, call me pessimistic, but I still kinda share your initial concerns about future JRPG cancellations. Regardless of what Square says...
I think there are still a handful of people at Square that are able to influence the decisions of the company to allow for these good games we've gotten from them. SOMEBODY had to be there talking the weirdo CEO off the whole NFT thing, after all. When those good voices retire, though -- and it's coming -- then we might be in BIG trouble.
I think square Enix cancelling games is worse. You know Sony didn’t give them anywhere near enough money to make ffvii exclusive to recoup the cost.
Game pass PC is doing pretty well in Japan actually. And, it has quite a few RPGs. There’s no one simple answer to this, except to blame AAA as a whole, which would be accurate. But at the same time, game pass has been great for indie games. And I’ve been playing RPGs (most of them Japanese) on Xbox all year. Like a dragon, P3R, unicorn overlord, dragons dogma, Eiyuden… will be playing smtV, metaphor refantazio… and plenty of indies (steamworld heist 2). There’s no easy way to look at this except to understand it’s how the myth of capitalism works. It destroys people, and most of what we love is unfortunately built on the backs of it
I find it interesting that u say u aren't anti-capitalist & then proceed to talk about the harm capitalist management is doing to the game industry... it's classic exploitation of workers to pursue short-term profits so they can horde wealth & then dismantle any potential future competition financially. there is no ethical business practice under capitalism. especially when you consider that Microsoft is more interested in things like their lucrative relationship with the IDF in utilizing & perfecting AI warfare in the largest gen0cide we've seen in our lifetime... they are involved in a lot of super f*cked up things around the globe that bring them more money than video games do, so they can farm the industry & leave behind desecrated land in their wake
obv the devs will continue to regroup & make games, they'll form unions so that kind of exploitation can't happen again & then eventually the current economic system will collapse & be replaced by something more sustainable & not based in exploitation, but for now ya things are gonna get worse until we make changes
I mean, yeah, I don't think capitalism is GOOD, like without any reservations or anything like that. But I kinda go with the flow since there isn't much choice. I think the people at the top have genuinely had their brain chemistry altered by the immense wealth they're hoarding, and that's why it's possible for one man (good ol' Phil) to damage thousands of people's lives and just, like, go on with his own. Same goes for all these mega-rich weirdos. They're fundamentally anti-social creatures.
After FF7 Rebirth. I never want to touch another JRPG again 😕 That game was just too long, and too bloated. I'm in my 40s, I want to play games that actually respect my time.
Are you the sort of the player that does all the side quests and whatnot? I could see Rebirth burning you out if so. But really, if you just focus on the main story, it's a pretty breezy ride and still feels very fulfilling, at least to me.
@@JustTheGems I disagree. If you just focus on the main story and nothing else, Your character will probably be under leveled. this will make the later parts of the game much harder. The last 3 chapters are pretty much nothing but boss fights. Unless you want to really struggle at the end, You are going to have to do the side content. There are also a lot of tacked on puzzles and mini games that are mandatory if you want to progress in the story. By Chapter 12 I was burnt-out and just wanted the game to end. By Chapter 13 I changed the game to easy because I was so tired of it and just wanted to be done with it quickly. and the ending was incredibly unsatisfying. All that multi-verse nonsense just made the story a convoluted mess.
I liked Remake a lot better. It was a lot more stream lined and focused. and I could at least make sense of the story.
Meh, players don't go with Xbox for their JRPG fixes and Japanese developers should stop even trying to make the brand sell over there as it NEVER got a chance.
Most JRPGs on Xbox aren't even brought to the consoles by the devs themselves, it's mostly Xbox Japan (or whatever the fuck they're called) and they tend to make inferior ports of them compared to natively made on Sony's and Nintendo's consoles.
You want to play JRPGs, then go for PS4/5, Switch and/or PC for them, NOT shitty Xbox.
Most do use Switch or PS for sure, but I know some that play on Xbox
@@JustTheGems Yeah, but again those are very few in the grand scheme of things
Plus, they're mostly playing inferior versions like I said cause most of the time the devs themselves aren't involved in those Xbox versions, not to mention Xbox is the inferior platform compared to PlayStation, which reinforces the lackluster ports on it
it's also quite ironic that for the 2nd time in their entire history that Square-Enix have followed the Western mentality of development and ended getting their asses bitten hard with so much issues they just need to do what's best for them: STOP COPYING WHAT THE WEST IS DOING AND CONTINUE WHAT YOU DO BEST!
When they first tried to market their games with Western gamers in mind, we ended up with the JRPG drought on the Wii, PS3 and X360.
The 2nd time they've copied Western developers in recent years, they've ended up with a LOT of games having failed commercially cause they were NOT their flagship franchises, so they barely got any marketing done for them at all, something most Western developers also did and also backfired hard.
You are allowed to take risks, but at least market them better to give awareness to everyone cause we would like to try them out instead of letting them be ignored until say UA-camrs ''discover'' them and talk about them on their channels.
Marketing is key. I feel like Harvestella should have performed better, and maybe more marketing budget would have helped.
@@JustTheGems It would also be even more successful by NOT being a Switch exclusive game
Not everyone play on Switch but are interested in the game, so it's quite stupid and anti-consuming that Square-Enix made that bold move
For a farming sim game, making it exclusive to 1 platform when others in the genre are multiplatform right off the bat is rather questionable... unless said platform integrates its features into the game which will then be a bitch to retool once ported to other platforms lol