SE, seriously, I think you need a corporate intervention.Follow

Exhibit A

It's really sad that a former great, continues to fumble with just about everything these days, decisions large and small. Their management culture must be... bizarre to say the least. I mean, what have they done in the last 5 years that was an unmitigated success? Anything? I may just be beating the "WOE IS SE" bell, but damn. Can't they do anything right?

God forbid! And Filthy what's this have to do with marketing lol. And its Kotaku, I thought we don't listen to anything Kotaku says since last time they cried wolf by saying Versus XIII was cancelled? How quickly we forget.

Just another mistake by SE, I am seriously questioning what they are doing. So we had a website that was updated then taken down, a release that was pulled off....

We all know how much Kotaku loves to give negative press towards SE. "HAHAH I TOLD YOU @#%^ERS, SE WON'T BE AT E3 BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT SHOWING A TRAILER!"

"VERSUS XIII WAS SCRAPPED!"

"SE IS BANKRUPT!"

Those are essentially all they say when they bring up SE. Kotaku for gaming, especially related to SE, is like going to Sankaku Complex for serious and important anime information. You just don't do it.



FFXIII was a success whether you want to admit it or not. It sold just as many copies as any other non-overrated FF game. The World Ends With You was a success. Kingdom Hearts while not fully the "last 5 years" was a successful series. Dragon Quest Online is pretty damn successful as well.

Honestly, if you hate SE so much, why do you continue to care? It makes no sense to ride on every single negative thing about SE then continue to hang around forums or care for news regarding them. They don't need an 'intervention" or anything, there could have been...wait for it....

A problem. HOLY sh*t, glitches and bugs happen with digitial distributions..whodathunkit?

Click the link I posted. It's a Square Enix website. Read it. Now read this...



There isn't anything negative in that. It's fair and accurate. SE accidentally sold a game that wasn't supposed to be available.

So fragile...

I know that there are some very protective SE fans here and I respect that. What I can't understand is... knowing that there are media outlets willing and eager to jump on every mistake you make and make it news; wouldn't you want to get out in front of something like this? They put a halt to sales. Couldn't they have come out with a short statement explaining what happened? As a consumer, do you really think that is too much to ask for?

Edited, Aug 6th 2012 12:12pm by FilthMcNasty

Um haven't other major companies had gafs like this? This is a somewhat common thing... Best Buy sells Call of Battlefield two days early, players bitch because they can't get online... etc...

Get a grip man, you didn't even hear about this before hex posted about it. Its not first page news, its just in your little bubble of negative nancys and hardly anyone will have been effected by hese excrutiating circumstances. This isn't 9/11, this is them releasing a game ahead of schedule by mistake, pulling it off the market AND....get this, they'll be releasing it soon again anyway. A zombie apocalypse wouldn't get this much reaction from you guys.

It isn't connected to marketing kyara10. There was a thread that you posted in which we had the argument 'Will SE be able to launch and sustain a worthwhile marketing campaign'. I got raked for stating that I was doubtful, yet when sh*t like this happens I'm not certain why anyone would be upset with me for feeling that way.


You sound like a hater here Kyara. Try to stay civil.

Never did I make it out to be a disastrous event and your comparison to 9/11 is tactless and pretty tasteless. It was a simple mistake, yes. Is SE going to fold as a result of it? No. It doesn't give anyone a whole lot of confidence in SE's ability to handle situations though.

People look at what you do and it earns you a rep. It's ironic that you can't understand that, yet at the same time you shoot off nonsense about 'negative nancy' to me for things that happened before. Pot, have you met kettle?

Edited, Aug 7th 2012 5:54am by FilthMcNasty

SE will get a 'corporate intervention' (lulz) the day after Zam gets an attitude adjustment.

Please stop pretending to be a fan. You're only lying to yourself.

And this sensationalism is almost worse than politics.

I've said it before, sometimes it seems like SE runs like a mom and pop development house with some of the mistakes they make. Having actually worked at a locally owned and operated shop Kachi could be spot on here. The mistakes they've been making seem like they don't know what they're doing sometimes, almost like they have management that has zero experience with things like digital distribution, billing over the internet, basic modern features no MMO should release without, ect. I'm confident that somewhere in SE upper management there's a bunch of old guys who make major decisions that never bothered to keep up with up to date best practices and methods. They're probably considered so important that the company feels no matter what they can do no wrong and probably always blame subordinates when things go wrong. When FFXIV bombed I think the problems this mentality causes came to its logical conclusion. These guys are Japanese so you know office politics is going to be 100 times worse than typical American office politics. I've been in meetings before where the company golden child spits out some rediculously stupid ideas that will hurt the product and confuse the users and everyone in the meeting just nods their head in agreement and says "oh good idea, let's do that" and if you speak you're concerns then you're just a negative Nancy our worse, you're not a team player. I imagine its a lot worse with a prideful Japanese company.

Its just that SE still doesn't look like it knows what its doing, like this is its first time doing things like selling a game without a box on a shelf (or developing an MMO, releasing it, marketing it, ect). They make too many mistakes to give the impression that they know what they're doing. That doesn't bode well for consumers.

I know some friends of mine would love to have their $80 back from buying the FFXIV collector's edition, but hey, what ya gonna do.

That's a different story IMO. Anytime you buy a CE for a game, especially an MMO... you are making a calculated risk. You take the chance that the sqag will make you feel the extra money was well spent, and that the game is actually worth playing (oh and that CE was limited enough to have a chance at increasing the value of your purchase). Even if XIV completely bombed I'd be happy with my NA and EU CE boxes, I would have a JP one too but I didn't find one at a price that was acceptable for me.

Actually the reason VII was taken down was simply because it was accidentally released for download early. This isn't a huge deal a lot of companies, even the successful ones, sometimes mess up and release games early and have to withdraw it.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118892-Final-Fantasy-VII-Accidentally-Re-released

For what? A $10 off coupon for the next company @#%^-up product? A free month of play? There was no way they were going to get a refund and you know it. I like how you think people with legit complaints were "whining babies". It shows how out of touch you are with the problem.

There was clearly a lot of people who were just as mad who felt cheated by SE. Offering them the chance to play the turd sandwich of a game for free wasn't enough since they were already disgusted at the game by that point and moved on. Buyer beware.

I know if I was hungry I would eat a bad meal knowing the person making it was working their ass off to make me a better one.

No, a full refund. It's not impossible to obtain. Probably not now, two years later. But if you grow up and actually make a stand where it matters instead of moping around like some passive aggressive tween nitwit, you'd be surprised at what you can actually get done.



Which is why you do directly to the company for issues like that instead of complaining on forums.

Yes, the game is broken, but sh*t all if they haven't bent over backwards to try to fix it. A completely reworking game engine, every player who has registered a FFXIV copy of the game gets the revamp free, with a free trial to figure out if it was enough or not. Those that stayed during the pay period got a permanent discount. Those who played during it got several unique treats. And we'll see if their efforts for the past two years have taken fruit or not pretty damn soon.

But if gestures like that aren't good enough for you, you go to the company and say as much, ask for a refund, and - provided you put some effort into it- you can actually get it. But don't come here and tell me "I bet my friends would have liked a refund for FFXIV..." when you know damn well they didn't even try for it.

I don't know what it is with the common idiocy here, but don't perpetuate the feeling of helplessness. "I want my 80 dollars back." Should only be responded by "Well, go get it!" And that should be the end of that conversation. This "I want it all and I want it handed to me with no effort." Mentality of the generation is utterly disgusting.

Suck it up and take initiative, or admit you're holding onto hope that A Realm Reborn is enough for you. It really is that simple - and honestly, that should be the approach you have to life. If there is something in your life you do not like, or has slighted you, you take action to correct it.



As far as SE's gestures. I've never seen a company go this far to try to make things right. I've never seen a company pull such a radical change in policy so quickly and remain consistent in the communication (Thirty Two letters from the Editor and counting. Open lines of communication where there was once only silence or the occasional interview. ) and feedback departments.

Granted, I'm as impatient as the next person when it comes to wanting to see gameplay. I happily work two jobs in customer service, but some of the things said here just makes me want to scream.

Yeah, but the fact you get the option is still a gesture of goodwill.

Difference here is that this isn't food, this is an evolving product.

The equivalent would be like someone gave you a half-frozen piece of steak that tasted like fish, and when you complained, they sat you down with the cook and a skillet, added flavors, recooked the beef, while someone else was working on a properly cooked entree. In the meanwhile you sat down with the cook and discussed cooking methods, spices, flavoring, etc with the cook while he chopped up the bad food recooked it and handed you pieces. Then make adjustments to the new entry back in the kitchen based off of your feedback and that of a five star millionaire restaurant.

Sure, you'll probably never be able to cook out the taste of fish in the meat but damned if they didn't try to make it taste good in the meanwhile.

Granted, that sort of approach isn't for everyone, and that's fine -but it was an interesting change of pacing.

Edited, Aug 9th 2012 11:57am by Hyrist

I'm sure that "I bought and played your game, but didn't enjoy it so give me my $80 back" will totally work.

So let's see the receipt of purchase and refunds.

In that case we've really nothing to discuss. I'll bow out and hope you the best in your future conversations and hope your reputation works as a compelling counterpoint.

hey gaxe,
the three billy goats called, they want their troll back.

seriously, I've been scanning these threads as a guest for weeks now, and you literally NEVER contribute anything positive to these forums. go troll somewhere else, you're not wanted here.

PS. yes i created an account just to tell you to QFT.

Edited, Aug 9th 2012 2:20pm by doughpatrol

Yeah, you're one to talk, filth.

At least you come with a disclaimer.

Gaxe is just another rog. Helpful sometimes, a pain in the ass most the times. The new poster is right to tell him to quit @#%^ing trolling. But Gaxe wanted proof that I got a refund on the collector's edition of Mass Effect 3 - like nobody ever got a refund for that game. *eyeroll* That was less trolling and more being ignorant of topic.

Except, dough, QFT means Quoted For Truth in this neck of the woods.

Context Sensitive acronyms are context sensitive.

Reminds me of an item sold at the registers at the retail customer service job I have. "Dictionary of Acronyms." Some of the stuff on it is just effing hilarious - none of them are even remotely common or would be use in the context given. I always tell the customers if they get one, they have to get a second for the person they're trying to text so that they'll know WTF they're talking about.

Edited, Aug 9th 2012 3:24pm by Hyrist

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[3] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[4] The noun troll may refer to the provocative message itself, as in: "That was an excellent troll you posted."

If he felt you just post to piss people off with responses that add no value to the topic being discussed, then he would infact be using the term correctly.

^ Considering you posted this twice, levauron, doesn't that make you a troll? :)

No, but technically you are by trying to divert the topic to being about a double post. :p

Back on topic -

Intervening upon Square Enix would be like trying to talk reason to a Hydra with a drinking problem.

It's the Hydra heads that are drinking that are the ones you need to talk to, but try figuring that which is that when the entire creature gets effected by the drunkenness.

So, which heads would you talk to? Let's make it easy and keep it to your top 3 group leads.

Loving the auto-ratedowns by the way. Let's see if you can get me blue.

Edited, Aug 9th 2012 6:30pm by Hyrist