Square Enix: Customer Support Failures

The company behind the curtain

In case you do not know who Square Enix is, they make the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series of video games. They also publish games made by other companies like Everquest II, and Dragon Quest VIII. If you look at the titles of games they have had dealings with however, it quickly becomes obvious Final Fantasy is their bread and butter. This includes FFXI and FFXIV, the MMORPG titles.

First MMORPG

FFXI was Square’s first MMORPG title. As with any other first, there will be issues. I remember coming home from the store excited to finally have my hands on the game. Opening the box and installing the client from the disc was a simple procedure I had done many times in the past. But when it came to setting up a subscription I was ready to pull my hair out. Keep in mind I have been playing MMOs since Neverwinter Nights on AOL — making accounts and subscribing to games is something I am familiar with at this point. You had to pay for each character slot, and subscribe to each slot seperately. They also renamed everything to something unintelligible, almost seemingly made to confuse people.

Second attempt

FFXI went on to become quite a success despite the account support issues, and Square eventually announced the MMO followup FFXIV. The developers did not listen to any customer feedback during development. The game was so horrible that they gave out an entire year of free game time while they tried to fix it. Eventually the game closed completely and is now being rebuilt as FFXIV: A Realm Reborn from the ground up. This includes a new game engine, new jobs, and the removal of some of the old core gameplay mechanics. 

The remake

FFXIV: ARR goes on sale August 27, 2013. I decided it was time to see what my account standing was. I wanted to know if I would get anything for returning to the game when it launched, or if I would get beta access. After searching the FAQ I read ‘legacy’ players would receive guaranteed stage 3 and 4 beta access without even signing up for it. What they did not mention was what exactly a legacy player is. I had to search through the internet for about 20 minutes to find some random news site that said you only qualify for legacy status if you paid for the game for 3 months.

Ok, so I had to go check my account and see if I qualified. I hoped I could remember by login information. To keep this short, I did in fact remember my account login information but it depended on which Square Enix page I was trying to login to my account from whether it worked or not. One site would tell me my credentials were wrong, and another would tell me I am now logged in. After about an hour of trying everything I eventually ended up inside of my SE account and was able to update my information — I also found out I am not a legacy player.

Why SE fails

The problem with Square Enix is simple communication. They do not offer timely and accurate information. I feel I should not have to find out information from a news reporting site. I should be able to login to the FAQ on the official site and find what I am looking for. By the way, the official site tells you step 1 to install the game client is to run ffxivgame.exe file installed on your hard drive. Wait, what? When did this file get installed on my hard drive? Magic!

I do not know if this is a translation issue, or a simple lack of intelligent design on their part. Either way it is frustrating. I simply wanted to know what, if any, benefits I would receive for returning to the game. This ended up placing me on a two-hour quest that just frustrated me to no end. I still do not have the answers I was seeking. I think I might get two weeks of free game time and the free client? Or perhaps that is legacy players only, I simply do not know.

I do enjoy playing the games, but dealing with the customer service is the worst. Have you had similar experiences with SE or other companies?