Support NeoGAF

[tedtropy]

So I'm sitting on the crapper at work, getting in a little time with Golden Sun 2. I'd been meaning to play it for awhile and enjoyed the first one, but as I'm playing it I find myself thinking "this is a decent enough RPG, but I'd really love to see what Square could've done with this system". I mean, it seems like such an obvious thing - produce an FF title with graphics and gameplay similar to FFVI or Chrono Trigger, slap one of their major names on it, and rake in the cash. Yet all we get is Tactics. Hell, even a good port of FFVI or Chrono Trigger would've been nice and would've made for amazing portable titles so long as they added a save anywhere feature. It's not as though it takes a massive team or even a considerable amount of money to develop GBA games, especially compared to their console counterparts. I suppose alot of Square's moves lately elicit a general feeling of WTF-ness, but this seemed like such an obvious opportunity for them to make some money and please some fans. They did amazing things in pushing the SNES to its edge, so it's sad to think what we could've seen on the GBA. I guess they're too busy pumping out FF7 spin-offs...

 

[Madame M]

A better question is "Why hasn't Square produced a unique, fun experience in the last 5 years?"

 

[flarkminator]

I wish they would devote more power to Bringing FFXII out on time

 

[Kobun Heat]

Had Square been involved with GBA development from day one, we'd probably have seen some games similar to what you mention (look at their prolific output on Wonderswan). But since they came in late they spent a good deal of time playing catch-up.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

It's all Enix's fault! [/sarcasm]

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

I'm disappointed in their milking of old titles this gen. GBA had way more RPG potential, even rehashes would have done nicely.

 

[Unison]

I blame stupidity.

The fact that they make crap like Final Fantasy Snowboarding (!!!!!) yet have only made a few portastic GBA games (w/ the exception of KH:COM, which sold spectacularly!) shows that they clearly aren't exploiting their franchises as well as they could.

They could easily outsorce some of their franchises and make a bundle. It's ridiculous.

 

[Teddman]

Somehow I still feel Sony is still influencing them to hold back. Not really a conspiracy theory or anything, but it's odd how they released only ports, so-so sequels (Kingdom Hearts) or outsourced games (Sword of Mana) on GBA and are putting original content on PSP.

Of course there's FF III and FF: Crystal Chronicles coming up for DS...

 

[Kobun Heat]

Somehow I still feel Sony is still influencing them to hold back. Not really a conspiracy theory or anything, but it's odd how they released only ports or outsourced games (Sword of Mana) on GBA and are putting original content on PSP.

If you can look at SE's PSP lineup vs the DS lineup and say that Sony is getting anything other than the shit end of that particular stick...

 

[Unison]

If you can look at SE's PSP lineup vs the DS lineup and say that Sony is getting anything other than the shit end of that particular stick...

True, which makes the GBA predicament all the more inexplicable.

I think it's obvious from their PS2 output that Square this gen has been incredibly mismanaged & the transition to Square-Enix & the failure of that Final Fantasy movie have taken its toll on the company's productivity and willingness to be creative.

The quick and dirty GBA game route would seem to be an obvious one in a scenario like this, but it's just not happened for some reason.

 

[Shuzo]

where were my Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger on the GBA???

 

[BobbyRobby]

I wonder the same thing. There's no real huge, epic RPGs on handhelds. Stuff like Lufia, or FFTA all feel like small sidestories. I really wish they'd put some more effort into them.

 

[Zeo]

A better question is "Why hasn't Square produced a unique, fun experience in the last 5 years?"

You must not have played Kingdom Hearts.

 

[rod]

You must not have played Kingdom Hearts.

he obviously did, hence the comment

 

[Zeo]

he obviously did, hence the comment

Well that would make the comment wrong, if he played it.

 

[brocke]

Had Square been involved with GBA development from day one, we'd probably have seen some games similar to what you mention (look at their prolific output on Wonderswan). But since they came in late they spent a good deal of time playing catch-up.

Is the wonderswan still alive (edit: "and kicking")?

 

[Musashi Wins!]

A better question is "Why hasn't Square produced a unique, fun experience in the last 5 years?"

here, here. KoH is like the cherry on top of this comment. If the cherry were made out of poop.

 

[Shuzo]

here, here. KoH is like the cherry on top of this comment. If the cherry were made out of poop.

what the hell does that mean

 

[neptunes]

Aside from Brownie Brown they don't have any development teams geared toward handhhelds.

They would have to outsource development to another 3rd party developer, and honestly I don't think square see's a market or even the need spend resources to create an original (unique?) FF when they could just port/enhance their previous titles and make the same amount of money. In the end, I don't got a clue.

 

[Link316]

Somehow I still feel Sony is still influencing them to hold back. Not really a conspiracy theory or anything, but it's odd how they released only ports, so-so sequels (Kingdom Hearts) or outsourced games (Sword of Mana) on GBA and are putting original content on PSP.

if Square was holding back they had good reason to, they were pretty much strong armed into making FFCC and more importantly Nintendo had the publishing rights for their GC & GBA games

 

[stone128]

Aside from Brownie Brown they don't haven any development teams geared toward handhhelds.

They would have to outsource development to another 3rd party developer, and honestly I don't think square see's a market or even the need spend resources to create an original (unique?) FF when they could just port/enhance their previous titles and make the same amount of money. In the end, I don't got a clue.

If I'm not mistaken, Brownie brown is a Nintendo second party developer.

But yeah, Square hasn't played their cards right with the GBA.

 

[neptunes]

If I'm not mistaken, Brownie brown is a Nintendo second party developer.

But yeah, Square hasn't played their cards right with the GBA.

But they still have relations with square, don't they?

The point still stands, they don't have any teams geared specifically for handhelds.

hell, they didn't even create Chain of Memories themselves.

 

[Madame M]

Oh yeah, this thread needs more FFTA hate

 

[tedtropy]

Oh yeah, this thread needs more FFTA hate

I thought FFTA was a good title with very impressive production values for a portable game. I just couldn't get into it.

 

[Madame M]

They should have spent more time on the menus and less time making freaky furry characters.

I would have been happy with an all human cast...

 

[stone128]

But they still have relations with square, don't they?

The point still stands, they don't have any teams geared specifically for handhelds.

hell, they didn't even create Chain of Memories themselves.

Yup, I think they worked together on Sword of Mana.

Is it really as shitty as everyone says? What's wrong with it?

 

[acidviper]

A better question is "Why hasn't Square produced a unique, fun experience in the last 5 years?"

FFVI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG = millions and millions of dollars. WTF is the hold up.

The longer they wait, the more they lose considering how quickly emulation is picking up on other handhelds.

 

[Madame M]

FFVI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG = millions and millions of dollars. WTF is the hold up.

The longer they wait, the more they lose considering how quickly emulation is picking up on other handhelds.

I think this is wrong.

Look how many copies Super Mario Bros. NES series sold. Consider the 2873874 other ways it has been made available recently.

 

[Razoric]

FFVI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG = millions and millions of dollars. WTF is the hold up.

The longer they wait, the more they lose considering how quickly emulation is picking up on other handhelds.

seriously... I could kill for a legit handheld version of FF6 or CT. I can't believe they havent done it yet.

 

[Oblivion]

But they still have relations with square, don't they?

No, they're made up of people who used to work at Square, iirc.

 

[Unison]

seriously... I could kill for a legit handheld version of FF6 or CT. I can't believe they havent done it yet.

They haven't even gotten to a portable Final Fantasy 3 yet! 6 is a long way off!

 

[neptunes]

No, they're made up of people who used to work at Square, iirc.

But they're working on the next Mana game for the ds, which is square IP afterall.

No to mention that they've only worked on square properties since becoming a nintendo 2nd party dev.

 

[Cheerilee]

Here's a guess at what their internal teams were doing (I'm sure someone can improve upon it).

Brownie Brown is a Nintendo second-party made up of 16-bit era ex-Square people, and they were "on loan" to Square for Sword of Mana. No idea what they're doing now. (Edit: World of Mana DS seems logical)

Square did have one "handheld team", which worked on the Wonderswan games, and FF1&2 PSX, FF 1&2 GBA, and is probably working on FF3 DS.

Square picked up a second "handheld team" when they absorbed Quest, who had made Tactics Ogre on the GBA. They made FF Tactics Advance on the GBA under Yasumi Matsuno (an earlier Quest aqqusition). They probably got rolled into FFXII development.

Edit: I have no guess as to who worked on Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

 

[Unison]

Here's a guess at what their internal teams were doing (I'm sure someone can improve upon it).

Brownie Brown is a Nintendo second-party made up of 16-bit era ex-Square people, and they were "on loan" to Square for Sword of Mana. No idea what they're doing now.

Square did have one "handheld team", which worked on the Wonderswan games, and FF1&2 PSX, FF 1&2 GBA, and is probably working on FF3 DS.

Square picked up a second "handheld team" when they absorbed Quest, who had made Tactics Ogre on the GBA. They made FF Tactics Advance on the GBA under Yasumi Matsuno (an earlier Quest aqqusition). They probably got rolled into FFXII development.

One question... did Quest make Quest 64?

 

[djtiesto]

One question... did Quest make Quest 64?

No, that was Imagineer, I think. I wonder whatever happened to them...

 

[neptunes]

Brownie Brown is a Nintendo second-party made up of 16-bit era ex-Square people, and they were "on loan" to Square for Sword of Mana. No idea what they're doing now.

I think they're believe they're working on another mana game, world of mana was it?

Square did have one "handheld team", which worked on the Wonderswan games, and FF1&2 PSX, FF 1&2 GBA, and is probably working on FF3

Most likely, though I wonder who is working on Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the DS and if it's being developed in conjunction with the Rev version.

Square picked up a second "handheld team" when they absorbed Quest, who had made Tactics Ogre on the GBA. They made FF Tactics Advance on the GBA under Yasumi Matsuno (an earlier Quest aqqusition). They probably got rolled into FFXII development

I don't think they were specifically a handheld team to begin with, but I think they got involved with ff12. With rumors of matsuno making a DS game a while ago, I don't think it's development anymore, not after what happened to matsuno.

 

[Scott]

I suppose alot of Square's moves lately elicit a general feeling of WTF-ness

Hm, have any examples? Curious as to what you mean by this.

A better question is "Why hasn't Square produced a unique, fun experience in the last 5 years?"

Aw, you wanna-be elitists are so cute sometimes.

I wish they would devote more power to Bringing FFXII out on time

It is coming out on time: when it's done.

Is the wonderswan still alive (edit: "and kicking")?

Nope.

But they're working on the next Mana game for the ds, which is square IP afterall.

It'd be fitting, no doubt, but there hasn't been any word on whether or not Brownie Brown is involved with that project.

No to mention that they've only worked on square properties since becoming a nintendo 2nd party dev.

If you ignore their own IPs, sure.

Off the top of my head, I know they've made Magical Vacation (GBA) since the transition, and are currently working on Magical Vacation II (DS), and Gofuku (GC). I'm probably missing a few things, though, as I don't follow the company much.

Edit: I have no guess as to who worked on Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

It was developed by Jupiter, under the supervision of Tetsuya Nomura.

No, that was Imagineer, I think. I wonder whatever happened to them...

:lol It's a #ga in-joke.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Here's a guess at what their internal teams were doing (I'm sure someone can improve upon it).

Brownie Brown is a Nintendo second-party made up of 16-bit era ex-Square people, and they were "on loan" to Square for Sword of Mana. No idea what they're doing now. (Edit: World of Mana DS seems logical)

Square did have one "handheld team", which worked on the Wonderswan games, and FF1&2 PSX, FF 1&2 GBA, and is probably working on FF3 DS.

Square picked up a second "handheld team" when they absorbed Quest, who had made Tactics Ogre on the GBA. They made FF Tactics Advance on the GBA under Yasumi Matsuno (an earlier Quest aqqusition). They probably got rolled into FFXII development.

Edit: I have no guess as to who worked on Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

Actually, Quest was absorbed into Production Studio 5 after making TO:KoL. Like three Quest workers were on the FFTA development team.

 

[Madame M]

GaimeGuy is the Quest expert.

<GaimeGuy> Didn't Quest make Quest 64?

 

[Madame M]

Aw, you wanna-be elitists are so cute sometimes.

I don't want to be an elitist, but it's hard when so many people suck at liking games.

STOP BUYING MADDEN JESUS

 

[cvxfreak]

I'm still waiting for Final Fantasy IV on the GBA.

Or DS.

PSP emulation doesn't cut it.

 

[Solid]

I'm still waiting for Final Fantasy IV on the GBA.

Or DS.

PSP emulation doesn't cut it.

buy it for playstation then.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Or get a Wonderswan.

 

[neptunes]

so who's working on FFCCS? I would be funny if the Revolution version came out at the same time (or eveb before) the ds version is released.

 

[Madame M]

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-2s-77-b-15-wonderswan-70-1gd.html

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-6q-77-y-15-final+fantasy-70-30d-43-99.html

$70 for portable, legitimate Final Fantasy IV! It's even in LUNARIAN!

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Or get a Wonderswan.

Or a PSP to emulate the Wonderswan to play a game that was a port from the SNES which there is already a SNES that can be emulated near full speed anyway...YEAHHH!!!

Wait...what was I trying to say again?

 

[Zeo]

Hm, have any examples? Curious as to what you mean by this.Aw, you wanna-be elitists are so cute sometimes. It is coming out on time: when it's done.Nope.It'd be fitting, no doubt, but there hasn't been any word on whether or not Brownie Brown is involved with that project.If you ignore their own IPs, sure.

Off the top of my head, I know they've made Magical Vacation (GBA) since the transition, and are currently working on Magical Vacation II (DS), and Gofuku (GC). I'm probably missing a few things, though, as I don't follow the company much.It was developed by Jupiter, under the supervision of Tetsuya Nomura.:lol It's a #ga in-joke.

Thank you for a post of truth.

 

[jarrod]

If I'm not mistaken, Brownie brown is a Nintendo second party developer.

Nope, they're actually a 1st party developer.

Brownie Brown is a Nintendo second-party made up of 16-bit era ex-Square people, and they were "on loan" to Square for Sword of Mana. No idea what they're doing now. (Edit: World of Mana DS seems logical)

They're likely not working on the Seiken Densetsu games for DS or PS2 imo. Square Enix beefed up Division 8 so they wouldn't need to collaberate on such projects.

Square did have one "handheld team", which worked on the Wonderswan games, and FF1&2 PSX, FF 1&2 GBA, and is probably working on FF3 DS.

Square picked up a second "handheld team" when they absorbed Quest, who had made Tactics Ogre on the GBA. They made FF Tactics Advance on the GBA under Yasumi Matsuno (an earlier Quest aqqusition). They probably got rolled into FFXII development.

Actually, they had several teams focused on handheld R&D, though not exclusively. The teams still made PlayStation games too here and there and Kawazu oversaw most of Square's handheld R&D on WonderSwan iirc.

Tracing back Square's handheld games to the current divisions...

Division 1 (Yoshinori Kitase)
-Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
-Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA) co-developed with Jupiter

Division 2 (Akitoshi Kawazu)
-Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls (GBA)
-Final Fantasy III (DS)
-Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles series (DS)
-Makai Toushi SaGa (WSC)
-Romancing SaGa (WSC)

Division 4 (Yasumi Matsuno?)
-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)
-Wild Card (WSC)

Division 5 (Yuusuke Hirata)
-Chocobo Land (GBA)
-Final Fantasy (WSC) co-developed with TOSE Software
-Final Fantasy II (WSC) co-developed with TOSE Software
-Final Fantasy IV (WSC) co-developed with TOSE Software
-Hataraku Chocobo (WSC)

Division 6 (Toshirou Tsuchida)
-Blue Wing Blitz (WSC)
-Front Mission (WSC)

Division 7 (Takashi Tokita)
-Hanjuku Eiyuu (WSC)
-Hanjuku Eiyuu DS: Egg Monster Heroes (DS) co-developed with Neverland

Division 8 (Kouichi Ishii)
-Seiken Densetsu series (DS)
-Sword of Mana (GBA) co-developed with Brownie Brown

Edit: I have no guess as to who worked on Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

It was Jupiter corp. Makers of Pokemon Pinball RuSa and the Mario's Picross series.

No, that was Imagineer, I think. I wonder whatever happened to them...

Imagineer's still around. I think they make mostly Metabots games for Natsume these days and mobile stuff.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Is the wonderswan still alive (edit: "and kicking")?

No. *looks at FF1 box, then FF2 box, then FF4 box.*