Did the DQX announcement change your Kingdom Hearts 3 Predictions?

[LordTheNightKnight]

"1. PS3/360 has more market share than Wii and third party games are selling very well. Btw, you say PS3 above but I'm pretty sure that because of Last Remnant, FF13, etc going to 360 that if KH3 goes HD it wil be multiplatform. This isn't so much an argument for HD, more a counter argument to the fact that it would sell a lot more on the Wii."

Fair enough, although we'd have to see how the situation has changed when the development team gets freed up to make the third game.

"2. Developer of KH1 and KH2 is working on FF:13 Versus. It's the same game type and the team will already have experience on PS3 as well as the tools ready to go. Also, I find it very convienant that there is a DS and PSP version of KH coming out when the KH1/2 team is working on Versus. Biding time."

Wasn't it reported VS was more like a turn based game, not an action RPG? Someone should find a link for that. As for the side games, those are to provide more story, not biding time. They were planned a while ago, not just when it was clear Versus was going to take longer. It was the same with Chain of Memories. The team didn't know KH2 was going to be delayed, so CoM was not biding time either.

"3. It has always made sense to me that DQX would be on Wii and KH would be HD. Some seem to disagree with me about the reason, but to me I just felt like KH relied on graphics a little more than DQ. Cutscenes are a large part of that, and I've said that I don't think KH is as graphical intensive as FF, but I think it factors in. Square also seems willing to spread their franchises around this generation so why not mix it up. Perhaps the difference in production value is just my view of Enix versus Square, since one created DQ and the other created FF (and yes, I realize they merged). KH is based on the FF universe, so it would make sense to pair KH with FF13 more so than DQX. Perhaps one could argue FF:CC or My Life as a King, so maybe that point is moot, but I'd favor the pairing of the main game over spinoffs."

The thing is that the game has a stylized look. FF games went toward a more realistic one since X. Compare KH2 to FFXII. One pushed the system, the other did not. Even assuming the game relies more on graphics than DQ, you forget that DQ IX is on the DS, so KH can still top that by pushing the Wii, while DQ X can get away with using the Swords level of graphics.

"4. Along with the pairing of FF, KH is more of a western style game because of Disney and the action-RPG aspect of it. Western RPGs have been very successful on HD consoles so far. Mass Effect, Fable 2, Fallout 3, and Oblivion are the best examples I can think of. They are all million sellers."

I'll give WRPGs have done well on HD systems, but it's rules and play mechanics that make those games. Disney is a global appeal brand, not a western one.

Now sales greater in US, that would have been an argument, not claiming the game fits in a genre it doesn't. But that's moot because the Wii and its game sell in the US.

"Perhaps a big difference I have with a lot of people here is that I don't think the Wii is going to run away with gaming sales like the PS2 had already done by the time KH1 and KH 2 came out (reason #1)."

That just proves it's not a given the series would go to the Wii, not that it would do better on those. I do agree that multiplatform would be best, but we'd have to see the situation when the game actually is ready for development.

"Third parties are just far too successful on the HD consoles."

That I am calling. Certain game sell better on the HD systems, but in terms of JRPGs (which I note you tried to lie that KH is not) sell about the same on HD systems and the Wii. The top selling JPRGs on HD systems is only a few thousand ahead of the top JPRG on the Wii, and the latter is a side game.

In other words, we don't really know which system will sell KH better, so making a BS claim of "too successful", when lots of developers are struggling, is not only a lie, but a slap in the face to those developers.

The only "too successful" developers are the small ones, who focus on PC development. S-E is not one of those, and supports all systems. So even if that BS line was true, it does not apply to S-E, which has had more success on the non HD systems.