You know all about how I tend towards the retro market and RPGs. You know how I procrastinate and how much I let having job influence my off-time. You know that I have access to the murky depths of Google Images and am not afraid to show what I find. You also know that I have some weird obsession with Sonic the Hedgehog and have a thing for Sally Acorn.
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| I swear this is the last Sally joke. |
"My Friend's Heart Memories
By Mary Sue Ellen (Grade 8)
My friends hearts are in my heart. And that's where I store my memories of our friendship. And even though darkness is all around me, the light that our memories share will shine from my heart into the memory of that darkness so that all of my friend's hearts can be one in memory and heart."
(Teacher's note: This is the third F you've gotten in a row. I think you seriously misunderstand the concept behind a 'Haiku'. See me after class.)
The story is kind of a cluster-bomb of random themes and words that somehow come up with a compelling, if not a little silly, story. Even with glaring plot holes how by Kingdom Hearts II, the Heartless had hearts and no body, while the Nobodies had bodies but no hearts. Seemed kind of weird to me. But then so does having a death scene with Goofy in it. I'd seen the guy survive falling off cliffs, waterfalls, and having anvils and safes dropped on his head. No way is a piece of rock doing him in.
I've played all the games, and even shelled out cash for the Final Mix+ for Kingdom Hearts II that I've still yet to play since I botched the modchip in my PS2 and now it's a fancy brick. I've beaten all but one of them. (I've explained before that card-based battle systems aren't my forte.)
So, of course, no one is more excited than me for some sort of Kingdom Hearts III related news.
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| Alright, maybe him... |
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| Ahem... |
No, the real reason why there's been such a lull in the story after KH II is because the creator, Tetsuya Nomura, said that while he had a bunch of ideas for Kingdom Hearts III, there'd be no work made on it until his work with Final Fantasy XIII Versus was finished. Which, when I first heard it, didn't sound so bad. Disappointing yeah, but not the end of the world.
Of course, that was like, 7 years ago and Square has gone scarily silent about Final Fantasy Versus. It's becoming the Half-Life 3 of the RPG world. Not only did FF XIII come out (the game Versus was supposed to come out against, hence the name) but the sequel to FF XIII came out as well. And Square has already announced production on Final Fantasy XV. (XIV was another MMO like XI was, and it turned out to be a bust). What's even more worrying is that the dev team for Versus explicitly stated that Versus would be for the PS3. Now, we're getting on towards the PS4 being announced, and things are looking bleak for Versus. It's either going to be recycled in development time to take advantage of the PS4, or it'll be released as a blockbuster hit (or flop) on a dying system. One that already came out stillborn and was just barely starting to gain a pulse.
Of course, that also means that the PS3 will come and go without a Kingdom Hearts title. And while that really sucks, it's even more disappointing that Square seems to think that Final Fantasy is its only franchise worth working with.
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| Name three things wrong with this picture. |
"In view of the rapidly changing environment of the game businesses, the Company has decided to implement major reforms and restructuring in its development policy, organizational structure, some business models, and others. The Company expects to incur loss of approximately ¥10 billion [approx. $100 million] from such restructuring efforts to be recognized as extraordinary loss about loss from restructuring in the settlement of the account for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2013"
The company is starting to realize that its, "Churn out a Final Fantasy game and re-release crap" business model is a poor one. This is extremely important, but kind of a no-brainer. Square has been sitting on so many cash-cows that they might be better off going into the dairy business.
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| Then their only competition would be Natsume. |
A Final Fantasy VII remake would sell like hot-cakes at a weight-watcher's convention. But of course, what I really want to get at is the Chrono Trigger series.
Despite the initial game being hailed as a cult-classic, warranting two re-releases (one for the PSX and one for the DS. I have all three versions.) and all of them doing well financially, Square refuses to do anything but sit on the franchise. Sure Chrono Cross was a disappointment. (To them) But that's not because they'd lost their "dream team" that produced Chrono Trigger. It was because they were trying to implement a wonky battle system while trying to claim its sequel status even though no sequel-like elements are found in the game until far late in the game. It'd be kind of like having Super Mario Bros. 2, only you don't play as Mario or any of the cast from the first game, and only near the end was there a convoluted and confusing series of dialogue heavy scenes connecting the two. I guess that's not really a perfect metaphor since Super Mario Bros. 2 has about as much to do with Super Mario Bros. as Super Mario Bros. has to do with Donkey Kong. But at least the protagonist is the same, allowing for easy sequel status.
Chrono Cross is a great game in its own right. The battle system takes some getting used to (Square went through a time where they could crap out a battle system and label it innovative.) but the story is extremely deep, even though you really have to work for it. Most of the surface elements you're going to pick up on the first time around seem almost like cameos. The Prometheus Circuit actually being Robo. Lucca's involvement in the whole shebang. (Only later retconned into the ending of Chrono Trigger.) And then getting accosted by the ghosts of Crono, Marle, and Lucca, though the committee is still out to debate on that one.
But Square has done jack-shit with the franchise. The only thing it has done is shoot down all fan-made efforts to expand on the series. It's understandable that Square would want to protect its intellectual property, but they come off as dicks by not doing anything with it themselves. I mean, hell, Square looks like the rich kid who invites kids over to play, but doesn't let them touch his toys. Selfishly holding on to the RC Car, saying, "I don't want to play it, but I don't want you to play with it either. It's mine."
And it's a real shame because even though Chrono Cross pretty much satisfactorily ended the story line, there's still more story to be told. There's something of a sub-plot in Cross about the Porre army conquering Guardia. The very place where Crono and Marle should be ruling. So, the question is: What's become of them? I doubt very much that an army could kill Crono and Marle considering that Crono stopped Lavos all by himself. Besides he's literally survived death. So, what happened to them? What happens when the Time Devourer is defeated and the time-lines are merged again? Does the whole archipelago disappear too?
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| Does Magus ever find his long, lost twin brother, Guile? |
There is very fertile ground for a series if I'd ever seen one. But the longer that Square sits on the property, the more the fanbase is going to expect from the next game. That's only going to make the shock of what they get even worse. Let's face it, if Duke Nukem Forever came out when it was originally scheduled, it would've been the game fans had been dying for. If Half-Life 3 came out when it was scheduled th- Wait... When was Half-Life 3 supposed to come out?
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| Uh... eh... What was I talking about again? Something about... Bomberman??? Does that sound right? |
Of course, this being Square they might just try and release another Final Fantasy Spin Off.
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| Heavens knows they love doing that. |
