Have you noticed how it feels like we're hearing about a new live service or mobile game biting the dust every week? Well, this time, it's Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia, and Square Enix is the culprit again. In the past two years, they've shut down Final Fantasy Record Keeper, Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier, Kingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road, and Echoes of Mana. But this one hits differently because Opera Omnia had a solid fanbase and a cool story with characters interacting across the Final Fantasy series.
It's got me thinking about what happens to these stories when the games kick the bucket, you know? Especially with Square Enix linking the mobile game Ever Crisis with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Preserving video games is getting more crucial as time goes on, with aging consoles, defunct online features, and disappearing digital marketplaces. Mobile games, with their heavy reliance on online stuff, seem to suffer the most. We end up with nothing but old footage and YouTube videos to remember them by.
And it's not just about any game – every gaming experience deserves to be kept for the sake of history. But the real worry kicks in when these titles are part of a bigger narrative. Take Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, for instance. It's a mobile game (soon hitting PC) trying to recreate the OG game's plot while throwing in some new story bits. What happens if it goes the way of the dodo too? That's where my concern creeps in.
You know, the standout feature in Ever Crisis is its "First Soldier" story, diving into the early days of SOLDIER candidates before the chaos of Final Fantasy 7. It's the first time we get a peek at a young Sephiroth, and even though the tale might not be a must-know for Rebirth, it adds a bunch of extra context to Shinra Company and Sephiroth’s roots. Plus, there's this fan theory buzzing around that Glenn, the main character in The First Soldier, might pop up in one of the Rebirth trailers. Ever Crisis seems to be weaving itself deeper into Rebirth's narrative.
Thing is, while we'll likely have Rebirth on discs and backups for years, what about Ever Crisis? Square Enix has a knack for shutting things down, and that raises the real question: what happens to these stories if the game bites the dust? Are we looking at stories lost forever with no way to play them?
Square Enix tried a band-aid fix with Kingdom Hearts Union χ. They kept an offline version, letting players still see the main story and Dark Road, a sub-game giving the lowdown on young Xehanort. The catch? You're not really playing the stories – it's more like a menu of cutscenes sandwiched between gameplay missions. It's cool that the narrative is still there, but it's a bummer we can't experience it in its original gaming form. Right now, it's less of a game and more of a movie.
It's not just a Square Enix problem; this mobile game shutdown thing seems to be growing across the board. I mean, check out the App Store and Google Play Store – every week, there's a swarm of new titles dropping. But here's the kicker: while new games keep coming, the shutdowns and takedowns are just as frequent. It's like these mobile storefronts are leaking content, and there's zero setup to make sure these games don't fade into oblivion. Console and AAA games have their preservation struggles, sure, but mobile games? It's like they're the forgotten kids.
Take Dissidia: Opera Omnia, for example – a neat little ride tapping into Final Fantasy nostalgia in cool ways. But soon, it could be wiped off the map. Square Enix and other devs need to figure out how to make sure these mobile experiences stick around, especially when they're tied into something bigger like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. It's like, give us a way to keep the memories alive.
