Square or Rare?

If you guys haven\'t already guessed, I got the idea for this topic from XBOX-XBOX at the MsXbox forums. Here\'s a link:

http://forum.msxbox.com/showthread.php?threadid=18051

They have some pretty knowledgeable people over there (and some not) and their opinions seem to differ greatly from those over here.

I voted for Rare, because nearly every Rare-game has excellent gameplay. Square is creating some awesome games but it also produces crappy games like The Bouncer oder Type S.

C\'mon, this topic is worthy of more debate .

Again, take a look at this:

 http://forum.msxbox.com/showthread....?threadid=18051

Originally posted by gamer2000
C\'mon, this topic is worthy of more debate .

Again, take a look at this:

 http://forum.msxbox.com/showthread....?threadid=18051

Could you try the link again?  It didn\'t work for me.

well it depends on how you look at it.  If you like RPG\'s then your obviously going to pick square cause....thats what they do.  

But I still have to say rare is a better developing company than square for several reasons.

1.)  I dont know any bad rare games.  seriously, everything they make is a good game.  I cant name one sorry game from them.( I dont know if this will stay this way since some of they key players left them and started their own company)

2.) they have dared to hit various genres and done so VERY successfully.  platformers...banjo kazooie rocked.
FPS...golden eye, perfect dark...nuff said.
fighters...killer instinct...(this is STILL my favorite fighter...and if GC gets a new version then count me in for a GC purchase).   ca ca ca COMBO BREAKER!!!

If rare decides to make an RPG...I can only imagine that it will be successful because....every genre they creep into....they do it with a bag!

And get this....all those rare games are made by different teams of people.  I cant say the same for square.  All thier hits have been produced by Horonibu Sakaguchi....from the FF series to Vagrant Story....its HE and HE only that holds up square.

but no one can question the fact that square is the king of RPG\'s.  But Im not the biggest fan of RPG\'s....I HATE TURN BASED BATTLES.  and every RPG ive ever bought was for the "story" not the game play.

This is something to think about to.  How much longer can rare keep this up?  The people who work for them are REALLY old!!  these guys retirements are coming up soon and their young talent...(the guys behind golden eye and perfect dark)  have left them.  If rare is to remain a good developing house that have to go out there AND START RECRUITING young people now and pass the torch.

Here\'s the link, Troglodyte:

http://forum.msxbox.com/showthread.php?threadid=18051

Originally posted by Soul_Reaver
This is something to think about to.  How much longer can rare keep this up?  The people who work for them are REALLY old!!  these guys retirements are coming up soon and their young talent...(the guys behind golden eye and perfect dark)  have left them.  If rare is to remain a good developing house that have to go out there AND START RECRUITING young people now and pass the torch.

What key players?? The devs who made Timesplitters, which are the only people that have left Rare to my knowledge, had a very minute involvement in making Perfect Dark. The rest of the team are still alive and kicking. And you sound as if Rare released these games  decades ago... it\'s only been 6 years that we\'ve seen Goldeneye hit the shelves. These people are still young and will continue to do their work in the future.

I\'d say neither. Rare is losing their touch IMO. The only trule enjoyable experience I got from their games were from Goldeneye and BK. The rest... DK64 and JFG to name a few... what a waste of a good $100. I think PD never reached the quality of Goldeneye; maybe in eye-candy and sound, but gameplay was absolutely terrible.

The only Square games I\'ve played are Chrono Trigger and FF6. While CT is the greatest game of all time (no denying that!), FF6 hasn\'t impressed me so far. God, I don\'t know whose bright idea it was to put random battles every 5 seconds, but if I ever met the guy... BANG. If their main franchise is such a dissapointment, I don\'t know what to say about Square themesleves.

?????????

Am I the only one that didn\'t see any difference in gameplay between PD and GE???

What key players?? The devs who made Timesplitters, which are the only people that have left Rare to my knowledge, had a very minute involvement in making Perfect Dark. The rest of the team are still alive and kicking. And you sound as if Rare released these games decades ago... it\'s only been 6 years that we\'ve seen Goldeneye hit the shelves. These people are still young and will continue to do their work in the future.

minute involevement???LOL....thats funny cause their involvement was pretty major with that title.  And as weve seen from timesplitters.....theses guys are the real deal, top notch developers.  If you dont think that these guys were key players....hey???  I dont know what else there is to convince you.

And NO these people are not still young.  MOST of their good developers are old.  im not talking 70\'s are nothing but MOST of them are pretty damn close to retirement.....whether they take retirement are not is another story but like I said before If they not start recruiting young talent soon.....the future of this company is bleek.  And Its not like they are going all out of there way to get this talent.  They only recruit developers that come out of the highest grade colleges....what the problem with that you ask?  Well most game developers dont finish college cause they dont need too.  

If you did not finish college or did not graduate from an ivy league school then......dont give your resume to rare.....cause the only way you getting in there is if you got a demo thats on the level of MGS2.  

How do I know all this you ask?  I\'ll be coming out of college soon and its my field of profession....I thought about rare and I checked them out only to find some of the most "strict" hiring policies in the business.  There reason for it is good I assume....they only want the best....but I dont think they realize that some of the best dev.  are slipping through there hands just cause they dont meet they too hign standards.

They do a lot of recruiting out of cambridge though(their home turf)  so if you go to school there....you got a lead on the rest of the pack:D

Originally posted by Soul_Reaver


minute involevement???LOL....thats funny cause their
involvement was pretty major with that title.  And as
weve seen from timesplitters.....theses guys are the
real deal, top notch developers.  If you dont think
that these guys were key players....hey???  I dont
know what else there is to convince you.

[/B]

Free Radical Designs Ltd. was reported into existence on April 20, 1999, as shown in this link.
Perfect Dark was released on May 19, 2000, which means Free Radical Designs was formed more than a year before the actual shipping of the game. Plus the fact that time was needed to form the company, and you\'ve got a group of people who only took part in the inital, perhaps the middle phases of PD\'s three year development cycle. However, the article notes that these people spent a lot of time with Goldeneye, and some of them have 18 years of experience with Rare (Which is saying much, as Rare itself is about 24 years old). So you\'re right, a number of Free Radical Designs\' staff were key players in Rare. But also note that a good many people worked on Perfect Dark (close to 70 is my estimation), divided into two teams. As PD was Rare\'s flagship title, many other veterans surely must have had involvement in its development; the fact that a number of people decided to leave isn\'t a harbringer of downfall for Rare.

And NO these people are not still young.  MOST of
their good developers are old.  im not talking 70\'s
are nothing but MOST of them are pretty damn close to
retirement.....whether they take retirement are not is
another story but like I said before If they not start
recruiting young talent soon.....the future of this
company is bleek.  And Its not like they are going all
out of there way to get this talent.  They only
recruit developers that come out of the highest grade
colleges....what the problem with that you ask?  Well
most game developers dont finish college cause they
dont need too.  

If you did not finish college or did not graduate from
an ivy league school then......dont give your resume
to rare.....cause the only way you getting in there is
if you got a demo thats on the level of MGS2.  

How do I know all this you ask?  I\'ll be coming out of
college soon and its my field of profession....I
thought about rare and I checked them out only to find
some of the most "strict" hiring policies in the
business.  There reason for it is good I
assume....they only want the best....but I dont think
they realize that some of the best dev.  are slipping
through there hands just cause they dont meet they too
hign standards.

They do a lot of recruiting out of cambridge
though(their home turf)  so if you go to school
there....you got a lead on the rest of the pack:D

Rare has a staff reaching over 200, with their goal being 250. You can\'t honestly say that all these developers are gnarled, senile people aching for retirement. They must be happy with the talent they have, or they would have taken actions to draw in fresh recruits (Foe example, Miyamoto gave the reins to inexperienced developers for Majora\'s Mask).

BTW, how do you know that most devs are high-school drop-outs?? That\'s something I\'ve never heard of before... To be a good dev, I heard that you need expertise in computer language (C++, C, etc... I\'m not too familiar with that stuff). And to have expertise in computer language, you have to be an experienced mathmatician (covering calculus and trig), and I don\'t think you get that kind of education if you never attend college.

Originally posted by hyper

BTW, how do you know that most devs are high-school drop-outs?? That\'s something I\'ve never heard of before... To be a good dev, I heard that you need expertise in computer language (C++, C, etc... I\'m not too familiar with that stuff). And to have expertise in computer language, you have to be an experienced mathmatician (covering calculus and trig), and I don\'t think you get that kind of education if you never attend college. [/B]

Many are great at math and logic, but not-so-hot in language and reading/writing.  So self-taught people could do well.  But a college education is now being required by a lot of high-paying companies.  And with a better education, you have a better chance of climbing the corporate ladder.