Topic: Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest to go Multiplatform

[Bloodworth]

Square-Enix looks to reach more gamers.

According to Japanese news site, Mainichi Interactive, Sony's hold on both the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series is about to come to an end in the next generation.  Despite Sony's enormous lead in market share the past two generations (which both series are partly responsible for), Square-Enix president Yoichi Wada thinks that it's time to reach out to more consumers.    

Speaking on Wednesday, Wada said, "The market for next generation game consoles will be divided into 'high end' and 'low end' according to the wishes of users, so rather than one type of hardware surging ahead, the share will be divided between various game consoles."    

Square-Enix is already planning a version of Final Fantasy XI for Xbox 360, and will be watching the market closely to decide which platforms to release future games on.  

[Bloodworth]

That high end / low end quote is another indication that the PS3 may be prohibitively expensive for the mass market, while Nintendo, as usual, will be going for a low-cost machine.

[Bill Aurion]

It's really not surprising to see this...Games are getting so much more expensive to produce that there really isn't much incentive for exclusives...

[Famicom]

I remember reading about this elsewhere, and from my understanding it would mean more Square/Enix titles for all platforms, not necessarily FF13 or the latest DQ coming to every platform simultaneously. Each system would probably get it's own unique FF and DQ game. I'm thinking that Sony will continue to get the big name FF entry, while MS will get any and all future FF MMOs or online-centric titles and Nintendo will get more entries into the Crystal Chronicles universe.

[Bloodworth]

Well, that's how it's been reinterpreted by some, but that's just standard skepticism that may be true or may not.  For sure, cross-platform play between Xbox 360 and Playstation 2 users will be a first in FFXI.

[KDR_11k]

To me that sounds like they're saying "We want to support both the PSP and PS3!" [/advocatus diaboli]

[ShyGuy]

Well, the number being bandied about for developing a next gen game is $10 million plus. The publisher has to recoup his cost somewhere. I just can't imagine Sony or Microsoft being willing to shell out the compensation to keep a 3rd party title an exclusive as often as they did this time around.

[RABicle]

The thing is anyone who cares enough about Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest already owns a PS2. This won't increase their sales.

[Pale]

The MMO people at square have already gone on record in several places saying they plan on bringing FFXI plus their new MMO to every console they can.

In the case of FFXI, it requires a large storage system of some sort... and I mean large.  Currently the game takes up 8 gigs on my hard drive and it grows with every update.  They want FFXI to continue being a source of revenue.  There is only 1 reason it will be out on the X-Box and not the Rev, and that's because as of now, the Rev does not have a storage solution for it.  Basically this concept has been known the the MMO faction of their fans for about 2 months...  Their new thinking is that MMOs are their own console.

As a whole, I think Squeenix is finally starting to realize the clout (sp?) it has in the industry.  They can make more money releasing their games across as many platforms as possible and not worry about pissing off a given console maker because having any square game is better than none.

[Bill Aurion]

Well, except Sony, since they used to hold them exclusively...

[Pale]

I guess... it would make them sad.  But there is no way they would say something like "Either be exclusive to us or you don't get to release your games on our system."

[couchmonkey]

I do believe this will increase sales, just look at how nuts GameCube owners went for Tales of Symphonia.  There's still a fairly large population of gamers that don't buy more than one system, myself included.  I would definitely buy Dragon Quest VIII if it was available on the GameCube, and probably both of the FF X's as well.  I'm not interested in spending the price of a PS2 just to play those games, though.

Edit: The comments about high-end and low-end systems are definitely interesting.  It could be that Square Enix expects the pricing on next-gen systems to split up the market in a way that has never happened before...or perhaps the PS3 is going to be expensive enough that Square Enix is afraid it will fail.

[Bill Aurion]

"and probably both of the FF X's as well"

Shame on you!

[KDR_11k]

Well, the number being bandied about for developing a next gen game is $10 million plus.

I could swear that number was thrown around for last gen, too.

Bill: Yeah, FFX is bad. The main character is less annoying than Squall (but someone PLEASE give him a thesaurus, there are other words for "male parental unit" than "my old man"! I don't expect him to talk like Sam but at least one or two other words would have been nice.) but I'd really like some of those medications Yuna must be on. Or the level designer, for that matter. Whoever decided that a 2 kilometer path where you encounter enemies every 5 steps constitutes a level is a mindless jerk who will be the first against the wall when the Revolution comes. And whoever decided that putting a boss behind it that will kill your entire party in one attack and take a 5 minute cutscene at minimum (if you skip all the dialogue, that is) to fight will stand right next to our first candidate!

[stevey]

Does this mean we other game from Square-Enix like see a new mario rpg for the rev or just that we see mari rpg, ct and ff in the nintendo download.

[PaLaDiN]

You can usually shut down any pro-FFX arguments by mentioning "the laughing scene".

What a horrible game... still not sure why I forced myself to finish it.

[Pale]

Bad acting? yes...
Complete loser of a hero? yes...
Still an FF game with the mechanics that the fans love? yes...

Though not the best and easy to hate on, I've played much much worse.

[nickmitch]

That's odd I have a friend who just beat FFX and loved it.
He told me about it today.

[jasonditz]

I just haven't enjoyed a FF game since the first one... I miss being able to make your own party of characters.

[Pale]

Well in others  you get to kind of...  I mean, you generate a large party and then there are parts where you have to pick a subgroup of that large party.

You definately can concentrate on one character more than another.

[KDR_11k]

Yeah, the laughing scene was awful but I think it expresses quite nicely that Yuna is retarded. Maybe they should have given you the result of some examination confirming her trisomy 21 instead but I guess their doctors think "genes" are something edible.

Combat system isn't very good, bosses with tricks usually have them presented on a silver plate ("Ooh, a crane, it needs power!") and Khimari or what his name is is just freaking useless.

Heh, I guess I should consult GameFAQs or something so I could figure out the trick to beating Seymour before Zanarkand (There IS a trick, right? I'm not supposed to grind for 20 hoursa until I can that super attack, right?) but seriously, Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time is just a MUCH better game even though it has severe faults (though I'm stuck in an area where most monsters have a super attack that will wipe out my entire party, not fun) and could use a bit more mindfuck in the second half considering the big plot-turn.

Too bad Tales of Symphonia is over, that was a nice one.

But how should multiple endings for those games exist? You can't make any choices, is that like Castlevania: AoS, one is "Game Over", the other "You Win"?

[Pale]

Heh... Seymour wooped me too...  I finally beat him by getting everyone's limit breaks to max before battling him so that I could win quickly.  Wait till you get to the real end boss...

The old man is a major pain in the ass  

[Nephilim]

you says you need to like the main character, the people in Baiten Kratos were stale
I would love to see future final fantasys on nintendo, final fantasy games evolve every few games...I can see the future being better

[nickmitch]

Yeah, the voice acting in Baten Kaitos was TERRIBLE. Especially the voice of the side charcters (Kee and Xielah(sp?)'s mother come to mind. But almost every game has it's redeeming quality.

[KDR_11k]

I finally beat him by getting everyone's limit breaks to max

I guess you mean those of the summons because the standard characters' ecstasy attacks are mostly worthless (Khimari takes the cake once again...). Or at least nothing you can't do within three turns at worst. Might knock 10k off and leave 60k to go when you hit him with all the character ex attacks. The summons might knock 35k off but that still means 10-20 rounds of praying he doesn't use his super move.