Atlus>Square

[Rowan]

Atlus has never dissapointed me, so I guess they have that going for them. A strong history of quality games which are focused on the JRPG genre, something that Square did very well in the past, but in recent years have abandoned due to catoring to the 'general' gamer. What do you think? What does Square still continue to do well? what does atlus do thats better?

[Zargabaath]

Atlus has a better grasp on how to effectively run their company. Square for the better part of a decade has been sort of a train wreck. You never hear of Atlus going through development hell with their games. This has been a theme of SE of late. FFXII, my favorite, but it did not have the smoothest development. Loss of Yasumi Matsuno. Conflict between the dev teams as to where to take the story. Would not think they would have any input. That should fall with the writer and director. With FF XIII, the focus groups from the west annotate the linearity & other aspects of the game, but it is too late to take their data into consideration. That is definitely not a sign that the company as it all together.

Atlus also caters to their fans, seeming to be less about the bottom dollar and more about giving the fans what they want. They understand and cater to niche markets. With the big user base of the PSP, FF Type-0 would not have seem that difficult to release in the west. SE was hesitant, giving vague answers, till finally revealing a HD remake for the current gen. Sure it is great news that we will be able to play the game, but what really kept them from releasing it earlier.

Then the daddy of them all. The handling of FF XV. Almost ten years since announcement and it may come out next year. Maybe. I feel like SE should take a note from the producer of FF XIV, who has kept the fanbase in the loop since taking over. There is none of that chaotic mess over at Atlus.

I read an article over at siliconera about Tetsuya Nomura's batman design that was inspired from a cancelled game. And when they ask him about said cancelled project who couldn't talk about it and said they were trying to figure out the best way to discuss it... Really. Are they that tight-lipped on a cancelled project that they can't openly talk about it. That is pathetic. Stop trying to be all secretive and start making games that people love/want so you actually have a reason to be secretive.

[Angantyr]

As long as you mean Atlus and not Atlus USA, they're almost as bad as NISA.

[SuperSabin]

Atlus and Square are both good companies but something is missing, what about Tri-Ace? You can't have a talk about game companies that make JRPGs and leave out Tri-Ace. Also what about capcom, konami, and namco?

[Zargabaath]

Sabin, Rowan is talking about powerhouse JRPG companies, which SE may not even be considered one today since their biggest and "best" games are from Eidos...

Tri-Ace makes JRPGs, but they're not a powerhouse. Most of their new stuff has been meh. SO:TLH was my least favorite in the series just slathered in JRPG cliches no new spin on old tropes - something the Square of old was good at doing. And I couldn't really get into Resonance of Fate. As for Konami and Capcom, they don't really make JRPGs anymore. Their big properties - Suikoden and Breath of Fire - have been pretty much died off. Namco has done a better job at bringing Tales of games to the west as they ok with catering to a niche market which is why I don't really consider them a powerhouse JRPG company. Not on the level of Atlus or SE, even though SE is living off the success of its past. Once again SE's current history has not been JRPG heavy or gold.

[Andromeda]

You're forgetting two of the biggest producers of JRPGs during this console cycle. While they don't produce million sellers or highly regarded games they have made more games this generation combined than every single other company put together I'd imagine. Gust and Compile Hearts will produce at least one JRPG every single year and many times two or three. The other company that comes close I think in releases in NIS.

I consider Atlus a more niche company than Namco Bandai with their Tales series. The Tales series is bigger than most of Atlus' properties with the Persona series only recently taking off. While the Tales series has always been strong and is even stronger these days thanks to their attention to Western releases.