Another for the sake of friendly exchange

It's easier to do this since it would be a lengthy comment.

FF7 was the reason that I bought a console after having a SNES and took a long break after having played the Super Metroid, Super Mario RPG, Zelda, Donkey Kong goodness.

FF7 was one of the reasons why I got into gaming the way I have, and I will say that despite the allure it had, despite playing through the game multiple times (my last time I played through I got 3 master magic materias from literally mastering every single green magic shit through all 5 levels three times over) I can say that I have clocked in over 400 hours easily on that game. Despite everything of that sort I can easily say that it is an overrated game that whose rating is fueled by nostalgia and the timing of it's release. Aside from being a definite above average and solid game it is definitely eclipsed by many other games that deserve a lot more attention. Atlus does churn out a hell of a lot of stereotypical anime/japanese games, at the same time it brings over things that have mechanics or twists that are wholly unique to the given game.

Reasons why Atlus is by far higher in my eyes than Square (not Enix):
Rule of Rose: despite the rough around the edges combat the story and atmosphere of this game is like Silent Hill but with a more human spin.
Odin Sphere: greatly hyped but shows that high-res sprites definitely have a place in the next gen.
Sky Gunner: Think Star Fox all range mode but extremely hard and you have to manage funds.
Trauma Center: I think this game series speaks for itself in terms of what it's done for innovation in game-play interaction.
Ogre Battle: FFTactics, one of my favorite games of all time I will admit ripped off horribly from this franchise.
Persona 2: Up there with one of my favorite RPGs with ridiculous depth in gameplay mechanics.
R-Type Command: Re-envisioned R-type as a strategy RPG that is highly addictive and has the amount of options of weapons, 100s of ships, etc. as the normal R-type game.
Touch Detective: If Tim Burton were to make a Myst-esque game then this would be it, the offbeat humor and interesting art angle make it a diamond in the rough of point and click adventure on the DS.
Ontamarama: a Rhythm game totally unique that incorporates pressing buttons on the DS, drawing circles around objects while avoiding others and tapping things while in rhythm. Not only is it ridiculously difficult/fun but blows my mind in terms of what it took to come up with it.
Etrian Odyssey: Bust out that pen and paper cause you'll be spending as much time with this oldschool dungeon crawler as you did with D&D sans the huddle of friends in the basement late at night.
SMT III: Nocturne: My favorite game of all time. Challenge gods, decide your philosophy, the melting of religious mythos into a post apocalyptic world. My god I wish this was made into a movie (take away the exp grinding and it'd be a helluva ride).
SMT: Digital Devil Saga: Made me realize that voice acting can actually be good in a game, that an RPG can be legitly hard and not based on level or exp grinding.

Square on the otherhand has put the Mana series to shit, last good one being Legend of Mana on the Playstation (love it, stayed up all night training the damned pets in the game). Final Fantasy series lost my interest once 10 hit. 12 looks like it has some solid aspects and the fact it's penned by the guy who did the story for Tactics gives me hope, not to mention I own the 4 disc soundtrack etc. but the MMO interface that resonates so much with watching my friend play FF XI for hours makes me sick. That is a fusion that I can't get past. Dirge was a shoddy attempt, I abhor the Kingdom Hearts series. I played the first one all the way through and was never able to buy into it, I respect it for what it did but that was just not for me. Square has squandered the street cred it used to have. They have stopped being experimental with new apps and stuck to milking the hell out of existing franchises, at least KH had the Disney face to sell it. They even announced on Kotaku a month or two ago that Squareenix was going to cut back on original apps *cough* World Ends With You (unfortunate since it sounded like an interesting venture). They have become a large corporation who sadly merged with a company who makes very solid games that have not yet fallen prey to the lack of effort that Square has exhibited.

Enix, yeah Dragonquest (Dragon Warrior) has been the same for god knows how long, but would you really complain if Square popped one FF7 quality game after the other out? Enix does Star Ocean, that series is SERIOUS business. Star Ocean 2nd Story is one of the best RPGs on Playstation, Valkyrie Profile as well. Tri-Ace even released Radiata stories which was a totally new app in the age of the PS2 which was amazing as hell and totally overshadowed since it didn't have Final Fantasy in the name. Enix even released Robot Alchemic Drive, that game is so ridiculously awesome I'm not sure how else to put it aside from it's a surprise it exists.

I wish Square would realize they are capable of putting out new games that are edgy and experimental or just not Final Fantasy remakes(Threads of Fate? Vagrant Story? Ehrgeiz?) and not feel the cautious need to maintain some ridiculous profit margin by churning out remakes upon remakes of proven amazing games. I am not complaining about their remakes, hell the FF Tactics one is excellent since it's portable ( I could do without the slowdown and broken dark knight class though). Chrono Trigger, why not? Every single Final Fantasy title up to the PS2 era would be cool and all, but what about those of us that want something a little different? Plenty of people are still waiting to cream themselves over a FF7 remake, if it comes I'd probably even buy it to re-live the goodness in a new presentation.

So yes, Atlus does churn out a lot of generic JRPGs (Atelier Iris, Ar Tonelico, Growlanser, Stella Deus, Baroque, Magna Carta, SMT: Devil Summoner) and they are good taken as they are and nothing more. Formulaic distractions that can be entertaining and not always the most epic of stories to blow your load over waxing nostalgic. Between those releases though (not to say those can't be special to a random given person) they bring over some very amazing titles that most other publishers wouldn't risk bringing to the US. This is why I give them mad respect. Enix takes their time in putting out their titles, occasional throwaways but in my eyes they have kept up the integrity of the main franchises (DQ, Star Ocean, among others). What pains me is Square has obviously dropped the ball trying to throw out continuations of franchises that would most likely sell and I feel they counted too much on the name factor and didn't put as much effort into them as they may have used to. I just don't appreciate the copious remakes without a considerable enough catalogue of newer original titles.

This is just my opinion, it isn't set in stone as I am very eager to see Square turn things around a bit. The only reason why I still see Square and Enix as still separate is because of this particular opinion. My love for Atlus is more likely than not due to my cheering for the underdog that publishes the weird titles for the US that most other companies would not bring over otherwise(although more than 50% are only weird because it's standard japanese game fodder). That's ok with me.

I'd always preferred Baldur's Gate II to Kotor, but both were definitely amazing. Black Isle is an absolute dream in terms of game quality.