The Square Enix tax

The other day I traded in a few games at my local Gamestop and decided to finally pick up Final Fantasy Tactics A2. I'd had my eye on the game since it was announced, having loved the GBA game, but I never could bring myself to pay $40 for the game. I'm sure it's worth it, but it just feels like the Square Enix powers that be are sitting around a boardroom and saying, "Screw our audience...they'll pay what we ask them to pay."

The pricing for games is all over the place, and price is no longer a defining factor of quality, if it ever was. You've got something fantastic and fresh like Patapon released at $20, while Square Enix feels what amounts to a direct port of the decade plus old game, Chrono Trigger, is worth twice that. Frankly, that's bullshit.

Now, I did pay full retail for The World Ends With You, but I felt that game deserved to be bought at that price. Like Patapon, it was a completely new experience which was executed almost flawlessly (could have done without the whole two-screen combat stuff). So, something like that, I'll pay. FFTA2? No. It's just a dressed-up version of a GBA game I could get for a fraction of the price. At this price, they can stuff it.

Well, that was my thought when it came out, but (bringing my tangent back to the original point...maybe) when you're trading in games it feels less like money. So, I got the game. And then it sat unopened for almost a week before I had buyers remorse and realized that there are other much more deserving games out there, waiting to be bought. I've read the reviews and forum opinions of Lock's Quest, and that seems like the kind of game that warrants full retail. New IP, claims of innovation. Sign me up. I returned FFTA2 today and I'll probably pick up Lock's Quest tomorrow. (Why not today?...I don't really like the staff at my local Gamestop, I much prefer the folks who run the one by my work. They can get my business. That's a whole other blog post.)

No doubt I'll be picking up FFTA2 at some point, when I find it cheap used or after a price drop. Those jackals in the Square Enix boardroom can siphon from the wallets of their fanboys, but I'm not one of them. Give me a good game at a fair market price and you can have all of the access to my wallet as you please.

(credit for stamp art found here)