Onyxmeth said:
Chrono series has been effectively dead for ten years. This generation is no different than the last. As far as I know, Chrono Cross finished the storyline. Mana series is on the DS in the form of Children of Mana and Heroes of Mana. Brave Fencer Musashi just isn't here. It just never garnered much attention and the last one stunk like month old trash. Bushido Blade is another series that is 10 years dead. I'd love to see it myself, but I'm not holding my breath. Parasite Eve is getting a sequel on the PSP called The 3rd Birthday. It's not as if Square isn't at least attempting to branch out. They have created a few new IPs, most of which have not stuck. They've put out some games that aren't RPGs. This really is no different than any other publisher. Some series will die out and get left behind, and new series will attempt to take their place. A few series will last forever. If we want to relegate this to consoles, then yes Square is obviously not doing a whole lot. That is their choice though. Go look towards the PSP and DS and you will see a much hungrier Square willing to take chances; The World Ends With You, Sigma Harmonics, Blood of Bahamut, The Legend of Kage 2, Space Invaders Extreme, Dissidia(I know it's FF, but still...), Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, Egg Monster Hero, etc. |
As I said, many of their past series had done well or even did well recently (heck, the enhanced port of Chrono Trigger on DS sold over 800,000 units). But using the port of Chrono Trigger on DS as an example, SquareEnix has stated time and again, they aren't interested in making sequels to many of their past series. They even stated that they would consider making a new Chrono game if the DS port sold well and then considered 800,000 units sold to have been a 'dissapointment' (wtf?). Source: http://www.n4g.com/nintendods/News-341425.aspx
In short, it seems more like SE is just making the games they want to make, and not the games that the fans want or that would be best for the market at that time. It just seems more like all Square wants to do is make games that can sell over a million units at a time and with the most expensive graphics possible.
| Johann said: @Onyx: I guess SE, much like Jrpgs, has moved on to handhelds. Which is a little sad cuz it's a genre I like to play on a console. At home. With silence and calm arround me. Not on a bus stop with people talking and cars making noises. Stupid handheld fever taking over Japan. |
Handhelds were #1 in Japan ever since the creation of the Game Boy. Its not a recent thing. The only thing recent is companies putting their major franchises on the handhelds as a means of survival. And this comes from the PS3/XBOX360 going 'HD' when everyone wasn't ready to shell out 300-600 (or more) on a console yet. And of course, Japan totally boycotting the 360, yet most of the major JRPGs for consoles jumping over to 360 for the first 2-3 years.
In all reality, the third parties (and Sony) are the driving force making handhelds more and more popular in Japan. They dropped the ball, and just won't pick it up.
Six upcoming games you should look into:
