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[First info] Final Fantasy III DS !!
- Thread starter Khalid-S
- Start date
Red Scarlet
Member
belgurdo said:
I already did when I mentioned SaGa 1-3.
Crazymoogle
Member
SaGa Frontier II had all the markings of a great game, but then just before shipping, Kawazu replaced the gameplay with a festering toad's foot. Whoops.
Kawazu was only a producer for Unlimited SaGa, SaGa Frontier II, and FF:CC, the three games that people seem to hate him the most for.
Romancing SaGa 2 and SaGa 2 are probably the best games other than Vagrant Story that Square's ever released. His other Super Famicom and gameboy games are quirky ranging from poor to fun. But he is still a creative guy who understands that RPGs aren't just about telling a teenybopper story. He tries to take the standard formula and come up with something different, and you have to give him credit for that.
But quite honestly, I think westerners just don't get him. I mean, SaGa Frontier sold over a million copies in Japan and is still one of the most popular RPGs in Square history. The games don't pull Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts numbers, but SaGa is still a very popular series in Japan.
Romancing SaGa 2 and SaGa 2 are probably the best games other than Vagrant Story that Square's ever released. His other Super Famicom and gameboy games are quirky ranging from poor to fun. But he is still a creative guy who understands that RPGs aren't just about telling a teenybopper story. He tries to take the standard formula and come up with something different, and you have to give him credit for that.
But quite honestly, I think westerners just don't get him. I mean, SaGa Frontier sold over a million copies in Japan and is still one of the most popular RPGs in Square history. The games don't pull Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts numbers, but SaGa is still a very popular series in Japan.
Suburban Cowboy
Member
just to clear things up...
By Final Fantasy 3 you mean the one on Super Nintendo(FF 6) right?
By Final Fantasy 3 you mean the one on Super Nintendo(FF 6) right?
Companion Cube
Member
I think it was 'work hasn't started and it isn't a priority', or something along those lines.
Red Scarlet
Member
Suburban Cowboy said:
No, and there really isn't much reason to still get the numbers confused by now. After 4-6 were released on the PS in North America, the SNES numbering was basically dropped.
jett said:
Kinda hard to fire him when he's the highest positioned person from the entire Square side of SquareEnix. He's the only Square person on the board of directors. Why? Because despite him making bizarre shit games that westerners don't get (myself included for the most part), these games sell tons in Japan so he gets to stay in the light of fame.
Red Scarlet
Member
Have you had time to look over my paper some more bebpo? I'm almost done.
So whatever happened to Square's old management team? Other than Sakaguchi that is.
I'm surprised Yoshinori Kitase, as much as I dislike his works, isn't on the board of directors given how much his FF games have sold. Well he's a producer now so I guess he's only one promotion away.
TheJollyCorner
Member
ruby_onix said:
ugh... since you added practically all of Matsuno's accolades, why did you just add FFX and FFX-2 for Kitase? Might as well add FFVI, CT, FFVII, and FFVIII into the mix as well. Give the man the credit he deserves.
Gonna take a wild guess and say you just added the one's he's simply listed as 'Producer' for?
I'd imagine that's the reason he only listed those two games, since Kitase only recently became a producer, while Matsuno was both producer and director of all the games he worked on (except for ogre battle, I don't even know why that's listed since he didn't make that for Square).
TheJollyCorner
Member
That clears it up. 
Shouta
Member
I don't like that many Square games but man, SaGa 2 and SaGa 3 have a ton of problems and I wouldn't even consider calling them the best games Square's produced (or anywhere near that). They're unorganized pieces of junk from an objective standpoint. The plot is incoherent, the characters are barely there, there's no real semblance of progression, the battle system is a pile of assorted techniques that have no logical connection, and a whole host of other things. I mean, I like SaGa 3 (I even almost beat it) but any sane RPG fan would call shenanigans on anything that Kawazu's touched.
LittleTokyo
Member
*shrugs*
My friends and I found FF:CC quite enjoyable. Different, yet just as fun, as a traditional hack n' slash.
My friends and I found FF:CC quite enjoyable. Different, yet just as fun, as a traditional hack n' slash.
Shouta said:
SaGa 3 wasn't even made by Kawazu, it was made by the Final Fantasy Mystic Quest team.
And SaGa 2 was really awesome for its time and the console it was on (gameboy). No real semblance of progression? You go through several different levels. Each level had its own unique quest that you had to figure out, and for its time, it was really innovative.
If you go back in time and look at all of the reviews for the FFL games, you'll notice that most of them are highly positive. I don't even really know what you are basing your criticism on. If you're going to knock Kawazu games, do it to his most recent titles which are admittedly crap (much like recent Final Fantasy titles).
It's only a GAF thing to knock Kawazu. His older games WERE fun. Have you even played Romancing SaGa 2?
I mean, his older games didn't deviate from the standard RPG formula as much as his newer games have, so that alone is reason not to knock the Final Fantasy Legend games. Most people weren't even aware of who Akitoshi Kawazu was until FF:CC was announced.
yeah sorry about that. I tend to call FFL "SaGa" so I guess it can be confusing when I use SaGa and Romancing SaGa in the same paragraph. 
But RS2 is REALLY awesome. RS3 is debateable I suppose. In either case, the Romancing SaGa games sold millions in Japan and still have fanbases even til today, so like has been already pointed out: westerners just don't get him.
But RS2 is REALLY awesome. RS3 is debateable I suppose. In either case, the Romancing SaGa games sold millions in Japan and still have fanbases even til today, so like has been already pointed out: westerners just don't get him.
Shouta
Member
I disliked RS2 and RS3 for the reasons I cited above. While they're not as bad as the Frontier games or Unlimited Saga, they're nowhere close to most of Square's other efforts in terms of the areas I mentioned. The concepts presented in the game are incredibly neat but just aren't assembled well.
On the other hand, the GB games are pretty awesome overall.
On the other hand, the GB games are pretty awesome overall.
Kobun Heat
Member
I just tend to assume the worst.john tv said:
Red Scarlet
Member
Ah, ok bebpo. John, check your PM's some century.
I liked the first three SaGa games. Hell, I've always said SaGa 2 did the 'multi world' concept infinitely better than Dragon Quest 7's attempt. After the first 3, nothing else that I know of that Kawazu is known for isn't for me/good.
I liked the first three SaGa games. Hell, I've always said SaGa 2 did the 'multi world' concept infinitely better than Dragon Quest 7's attempt. After the first 3, nothing else that I know of that Kawazu is known for isn't for me/good.
Aside from some rather severe difficulty balancing issues, FFI&II (Origins and GBA versions) both came out lots better than I expected. I imagine FFIII will turn out fine as well.
FFL1-3 on the GB were pretty damn amazing for their time... particularly FFL2, my favorite. Great music too. Whew.
FFL1-3 on the GB were pretty damn amazing for their time... particularly FFL2, my favorite. Great music too. Whew.
Yeah, basically Matsuno's history is small, so I tossed in the bulk of it.Pellham said:
Kitase's history is bigger, but he was working "under" Hironobu Sakaguchi for much of it. I figured FFX and X-2 clearly "belonged" to him.
But yeah, it does him more justice to point out that he also directed FF6, FF7, FF8, and (co-directed) Chrono Trigger.
If I'm neglecting anyone important, feel free to add them to the list.
Well, they did merge with Enix. Which means Square can do like Enix, and farm projects out to Armor Project, Tri-Ace, Chun Soft, Artepiazza, Level 5, and Game Arts now (as if they couldn't do that before).
I cannot believe that they would fire Matsuno just because he isn't meeting deadlines with FF12. It's not like FF12 is crucial to come out given that DQ8 was carrying the company last year and they have other games to tide them over until FF12 right now.
Matsuno is clearly one of the best game directors of all time, so firing him with be a mistake akin to firing Shigeru Miyamoto.
Matsuno is clearly one of the best game directors of all time, so firing him with be a mistake akin to firing Shigeru Miyamoto.
If he did quit, we would have known about it through the ogre fan site, www.minic.com/ogre I believe. Although I haven't really checked in a while.
I should probably add Koichi Ishii.
Director on Seiken Densetsu (Mana) 1-3, Legend of Mana, and one of the Producers of FFXI.
jett said:
No. Being a man who produces/directs games that sell millions, which Kawazu did, is a way to move up positions. Nowadays Kawazu's games don't really sell that well, but the only reason for that is because he's taken a liking for Nintendo and GC/GBA games don't sell that well in Japan. If anything he might suffer the same fate as Okamoto did (he was booted from Capcom because his support of the Gamecube cost Capcom millions), but it's highly unlikely right now unless games like FF3 and FFCC DS flat out fail.
Square's done plenty of "farming out" themselves pre-merger btw. HAL (Alcahest), Sting (Treasure Hunter G), G-Craft (Front Mission), Omiya Soft (Front Mission GH), Game Arts (Thexder), Lightweight (Bushido Blade 1-2), Chunsoft (Chocobo Dungeon), Dream Factory (Tobal 1-2, Ehrgeiz, The Bouncer), Escape (Driving Type-S), Yukes (Soukaigi) and there's probably others I'm forgetting.ruby_onix said:
01 Okamoto wasn't booted from Capcom.Pellham said:
02 Okamoto never promoted GC support over PS2 support. He always focused on PS2 first and foremost.
03 GameCube support hasn't cost Capcom "millions". In fact all Capcom's major GC releases have met targets (unlike their major PS2 & Xbox releases)
I often wonder where you guys get these wacky conspiracy theories from... What makes you think he got booted? Okamoto left Capcom because he wanted to do his own thing. He said on numerous occasions that he felt the industry was getting too small, so he decided to start his own company to help fight against that. No crazy Nintendo-related drama involved...Pellham said:
EDIT: Heh, jarrod beat me to it.
Having the perfect balance of difficulty was one of the things that made FF3 so amazing for me in the first place - let's hope this doesn't fuck that up.
The biggest problem I have with Kawazu's games is that it's really possible to screw up and render you capable of restarting. Like, when you run out of essential weapons, or you miss a weapon along the way and can't go back for it. And they just seem so... arbitrary. Like you'll be playing for 5 hours, and get maybe one technique, then 10 minutes later, you'll get another new one.
The biggest problem I have with Kawazu's games is that it's really possible to screw up and render you capable of restarting. Like, when you run out of essential weapons, or you miss a weapon along the way and can't go back for it. And they just seem so... arbitrary. Like you'll be playing for 5 hours, and get maybe one technique, then 10 minutes later, you'll get another new one.