If you are a gamer, then it’s very likely that you’ve heard of a small company named Square-Enix. I mean, they’ve been around for at least a little while now, so it would be pretty hard to not have seen them at least once.
For example one of their most popular games is a third person shooter called "MindJack." When it came out everyone was excited to play it, and it is something that's been discussed non stop since it was released! Sadly it never got a sequel, but it left it's mark on gaming history. And who can forget the game that really started it all? King's Knight! It was such a hit that one of their lesser known games called XV had the characters talking about how great it is!
Yeah, those games were great...
But okay, in all seriousness though, it really is nearly impossible to enjoy video games and to have never heard of Square-Enix. Final Fantasy is the true obvious one here, but you also have series such as Dragon Quest which came from the Enix side of things. There is also series like Nier, and games that used to be under them such as Tomb Raider. Square-Enix is no joke when it comes to the video game world, and series like Kingdom Hearts helped open them up to a much larger audience. Bottom line is, Square-Enix is no doubt one of the gaming giants, but that's not what I'm here to talk about today.
No, what I want to discuss is something I'm sure everyone has fallen for at least once. It's can be just as cool as it is an annoyance. Yeah, that's right, I'm talking about the "Square-Enix Intro Videos" they like to include in a lot of their games!
I still remember the first time I fell for it. I had rushed home from college with my brand new copy of Final Fantasy XIII-2, and I couldn't wait to play it! Sadly I wasn't able to start it up right away, but once night came I was ready to be all in for the next five or so hours!
I was still living with my parents at the time, so I made sure I shut my door to avoid waking anyone up, got comfortable in my chair, popped my game into my Xbox 360 for it to install, and then mashed A as fast as I could the moment the game was ready to play. To say that I was hyped would be an understatement! This was the game I had been waiting for, and I couldn't wait to continue my journey in that world!
(Yes, I'm a weird one who actually loves Final Fantasy XIII).
The moment the game started up I was greeted by the intro cutscene, and it looked AMAZING! It was a fight scene between Lightning and the new big bad Caius, and it was done in full on over the top Square-Enix fashion.
There wasn't any dialogue, but there really didn't need to be any. The imagery spoke for itself, and the music was very fitting! It made me even more excited to dive into the game, and felt like a perfect intro to this brand new adventure. As the title screen came into view I knew I was in for something special, and it all would truly begin the moment I hit start...
And that's when I realized just how true that would be...
Apparently everything I had just watched was the intro cutscene, but it was a silent version of it. Turns out, it did have dialogue! And I now had to watch it allover again with some additions! Yep, this is what I like to call the "Square-Enix Intro Video." They take the intro cutscene, make it play out as the "opening" when you start up a game, and then force you to watch it again once you actually start the game.
In theory, this is a cool idea because a lot of Square-Enix games have really nice opening cutscenes. Why not watch it again sometime? On the other hand, you actually never know what you are going to get with these openings. Some games might actually play the intro cutscene before the game starts up, and treat it as the game's beginning. In these cases, that first watch is really all you get. If you want to see it again, you'll have to start a new game. But then other times the video really is just an alternate version of what you'll watch when you first press start. Or maybe it wont even be an alternate? Maybe it'll flat out be the same opening? Again, it's not something you'll be sure of until you actually start the game and begin playing for yourself.
Changes are though, if it is a Square-Enix game, you most likely can skip that start... (But I also can't say that in full confidence.)
I'll admit that I've actually watched through multiple opening videos without realizing that I could've skipped them because I'll just have to watch them again, but other times I've willingly watched them because I discovered they were actually different for once. It's quite the conundrum because on one hand I don't want to miss out on anything, but on the other, I also don't want to spend five minutes watching a movie that I'm just going to have to rewatch as soon as it is over. Especially now days when I may only have half an hour to play something before going to bed, and ten minutes of that was taken up by seeing the same thing twice. It's a part of Square-Enix that will continue to haunt me for years to come I'm sure, and I'm sure that I'm not alone in this.
So with that being said, what about you guys? Feel free to leave your comment below! I'd love to hear your stories! (Guests can comment too by clicking Disqus as your login and selecting the guest option.)
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