Square

Has Square forgotten how to make console games?  The company is doing fine with creating portable games like Dragon Quest 9 and Kingdom Hearts, but their home console games have been lacking.  FFXIII sold well, but not that well.  Front Mission is a mess.  FFXIV is being lambasted by it players. Star Ocean, Neir and Blurr have all been some what of misses.  So what is going on?

Forget for a moment about sales numbers since that's not what I am talking about here.  What I am talking about is the company's lack of being able to deliver a good story AND a fun game.  One the home console it seems that the company is trying to target different audiences and missing completely.  Take Neir for example.  A VERY Japanese game, with a main character that was switched out for a grizzled old man for western audiences, that ultimately made no sense.  Save you daughter. Okay, but I'm sick and tired of fighting shadows, may I have another enemy please? 

FFXIII took five years to develop.  Five...years.  What I played was not a game that was under development for five years.  The game is horrifically linear, the graphics do not have the usual polish, the dialog makes the player question their sanity, and then there's Snow. The most annoying character ever.  But I digress.  

I have to question the company's management.  What are they doing?  Games are taking much too long to produce.  I understand the system shift that the company made with FFXIII and they pretty much started from scratch, but why are all their other games taking taking so long to come out.  Where is Kindom Hearts 3, where is the new Final Fantasy base on XIII?  Is Square stretched to thin or are they not managed correctly?  This company has been know to create some fantastic games with beautiful stories, have they forgotten how to do that?