This year’s E3 marked the first time since 2019 that Square Enix showcased a presentation. The two year long wait at the biggest gaming conference of the year should have been worth the wait. But it fell flat really quick.
The first reveal was Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. I will admit that I was intrigued and interested since it is a single-player experience. But knowing how Marvel’s Avengers was handled, I could not let my guard down. The gameplay is not too bad. But did this need twenty minutes of airtime that could have went to something else? What was Square Enix thinking?
Those twenty minutes could have been towards any news on Final Fantasy XVI or Project Triangle Strategy. But we got nothing of those upcoming titles. In fact, the first showing of any Final Fantasy games, were the “2-D Pixel Remasters” of Final Fantasy I-VI. Who asked for this? I love Final Fantasy, but these should have came to consoles in one package instead of buying them individually on mobile or Steam.
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is the upcoming “Souls” inspired game set in the Final Fantasy universe. When I read the rumors of Square Enix possibly developing this take of Final Fantasy, I was curious. And then the awful dialogue of the characters about Chaos screeched my ears. At least Garland’s voice actor from the Dissidia Final Fantasy series somewhat saved that mess of a trailer.
This did not help due to the fact that the demo of Stranger of Paradise was corrupted and unplayable when you downloaded it. I have not seen a mess from Square Enix like this since the original launch of Final Fantasy XIV back in 2010.
The final nail in the coffin was the next offering of Marvel’s Avengers. Even with a diminishing player base, the War of Wakanda expansion includes Black Panther and the Wakanda location that will progress the story. The question is, why was this not in the original launch of the game in the first place?
The hits keep on coming with this year’s E3 and Square Enix should be embarrassed of themselves for pulling off a bad atrocity of a presentation. Hopefully they can recover from this.
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