The Best Square Enix Games That Get Better As You Play

Summary

• Square Enix games offer deep customization and content but may have faults like slow starts or handholding.
• RPGs like Final Fantasy 14 and NieR have lengthy content that takes time to unlock but offer a rewarding experience.
• Games like The Last Remnant and Visions Of Mana have challenging mechanics that require patience but are worth the effort.

Square and Enix have been making games for as long as console-based and computer games have been in fashion. Together, they joined forces in 2003 to create an empire, primarily built on role-playing games (RPGs). RPGs are some of the best games around as they give players deep customization options, from their characters to their gear and skills, and they are often stacked with content.

Even a ten out of ten Square Enix game can have some faults, though, like a slow start, hand-holding, or revealing new content far into the game’s story. So, even though the following Square Enix games are generally good, they can be tedious at first, but if players persevere, they will have a ton of fun.

8

Final Fantasy 14

Months’ Worth Of Content

Final Fantasy 11 is the ultimate trial of patience, and it could be argued that the game doesn’t get more fun, but it does get more tolerable. Final Fantasy 14 has a better start, as players don’t have to constantly grind to just get in on quests.

That said, it is an MMO, and it has been out for over a decade, meaning there are months, if not years, of content to see, and the game’s best takes a long time to unlock. Making friends and building out a character takes dedication, too, so naming any MMO is one of the most obvious choices here.

7

Front Mission 1st: Remake

Becoming A Mech Builder

Front Mission 1st: Remake is essentially a remake of the original SNES game. Fans can choose any one of the Front Mission games and, if they are a novice, they will be lost.

At its core, anyone can figure out how to move their mechs, or Wanzers as they are called, across the grid-based tiles, but customizing said Wanzers is the challenging part. Learning how to distribute weight between weapons and parts is something that requires patience and practice, but it will become second nature as players progress deeper into the game.

6

Kingdom Hearts 358/2

Better With Multiplayer

There are a number of titles in this series that start slowly, like Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories or Kingdom Hearts 2. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 is a special case, though, because while it doesn’t take a long time to get into the action, it takes a while to unlock what makes this game good: multiplayer.

Through story missions, players will unlock more members of Organization 13 to play with in four-player co-op missions, such as Axel or Xemnas. Beyond that, the coolest characters take a massive time sink into extra missions to unlock, like Goofy.

5

The Last Remnant

A Tactical Game That’s Hard To Parse

The Last Remnant was one of several experimental titles that Square Enix released for the Xbox 360. Eventually, this game did get remastered and ported to other consoles, which fixed a few things. However, even with these revisions, The Last Remnant is hard to master.

Combat is mostly automated once players trigger battles in dungeons, and getting the right character combos for the right situations is not easy. There are numerous mechanics introduced to the player early on, such as dominating weaknesses, along with additional ones that appear later, which can feel overwhelming, but it is worth it.

4

NieR (Gestalt/Replicant)

Unlocking The Party

When NieR was released as a spinoff of Drakengard in Japan, PS3 players got a younger version of the hero via the Replicant version, while Xbox 360 players got an older hero in the Gestalt version. Only the older hero was released in the West on both PS3 and Xbox 360, until a remaster was released in 2021, which finally brought the younger hero to North America.

The looks of the protagonist do not matter in the grand scheme of things, as both versions take forever to get going. There is a trippy modern intro, and then things skip ahead to a fantasy setting, followed by seemingly endless back-and-forth fetch quests. Until players get Grimoire Weiss and their other humanoid companions, the story and gameplay can feel like a drag, but once all the cogs are in motion, NieR becomes a transcendent experience.

3

Octopath Traveler 2

An Improved Sequel, But Still Isolating

Octopath Traveler 2 is undeniably better than the first game, as characters react more to each other, but the individual stories are ultimately still isolated tales. To backtrack, players can choose any of the eight characters to begin the campaign with, who are each at separate ends of the world.

Whoever they choose, players can recruit the other seven characters at any time, but only four of them can go into battle at once. Gathering them all can be a daunting and time-consuming task, plus there is no full-level sharing for those not in combat, which adds to the grind.

2

Visions Of Mana

Job Hunting

Visions of Mana is the best new game in the series in what feels like ages. Players are given a massive world to explore and a Job system. However, there is a tutorial with a completely different character than the protagonist, Val, and this part of the game is a guided experience.

Even when players start to control Val, they will be met with cutscene after cutscene, seemingly just from moving a few inches on the screen. Jobs don’t even unlock until a good four or five hours in either. Visions of Mana is a genuinely good game, but its story and insistence on reminding players of gameplay basics can quickly turn some RPG fans away.

1

The World Ends With You

Get Your Act Together, Neku

The World Ends With You has a protagonist that players are not going to gel with right away. Neku is standoffish, and even though he meets characters that want to help him in this game of death, he can’t be bothered to make friends until well into the campaign. His journey does feel complete, though, which makes it one of Square Enix’s best narratives.

The game progresses through multiple seven-day structures, and the gameplay won’t reach its sweet spot until the first seven-day stretch is complete, regardless of whether players are engaging with the DS original or theSwitch remaster.