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SquareSoft to Develop for Nintendo Again
magicsquid writes: "GameSpot is carrying the news that Square has finally returned to Nintendo systems after a 5 year absence. This brings with it the knowledge that Final Fantasy XI will truly be playable on every console as well as PC to be uniquely massively multi-player." Planet Gamecube has a similar story.
Though some might say that Square is just turning out regurgitated crapola with the FF series (we won't mention Chrono Cross, PLEASE no...) it'll be a welcome change from PSO as the only MMORPG on a console.
Also, this does open up the ability for Square to bring in the old FF games... and.. mm, ChronoTrigger for GBA anyone? *drool*
Really, the argument between GCN and Xbox owners just got a little more one-sided with this announcement...
Squaresoft/Nintendo was one of the biggest juggernauts of my childhood, and I'm very happy to see them in the same bed again. The two work together perfectly, and it just seems to flow wonderfully.
Not to disparage FF VII-X, but there was always something missing, on a PlayStation...
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For those that don't know the backhistory, Square left Nintendo when the N64 went from a CD-based system to a cartridge-based. This was after Square had pledged their support, which was bad enough. Worse still, Square then went to other developers such as Enix(Dragon Warrior games), and convinced them to switch to the PSX as well.
The feud has finally ended, and it's a complete surprise. Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo, is not the type to give in. No one's saying he did, but this announcement at least shows the guy can put business sense ahead of personal feelings. That's a revelation most in the industry would have strongly denied before today.
I purchased a Gamecube for my girlfriend this past Valentine's Day. The console has been out since before Christmas, and so far, the title selection is to say the least, poor.
There's in the neighborhood of 10 titles for the GC, and while some of them are gems (Super Smash Bros.), over all, they are relatively lackluster. Sega has developed for them, but not even they can provide a must-have title.
Enter SquareSoft. Any platform they touch these days will probably experience Square's huge following buying power. I think a lot of Nintendo's decline is a result of losing SquareSoft's contributions.
So maybe this will give Nintendo a huge boost. Why is that important? Aside from the argument of "yea, we need more competition," Nintendo is truly an "honorable player" in this market. They may have relatively shitty licensing tactics (everyone does), but over all, Nintendo demands an extremely high level of quality for their software. The titles, regardless of fun factor, are always extremely well polished. You don't always get that on all the other platforms.
Maybe Square will be able to give us die-hard Nintendo fans something to be truly proud of our platform for.
Why bother.
The GameCube doesn't have online capability (at present). That sort of kills FFXI. I don't believe Nintendo has committed to providing a modem/NIC as of yet.
I stopped playing FF after they stopped making it for Nintendo consoles. I hated the PSO, I have a PS2 and GCN. I didn't play FFX for PS2. A friend got it and he said it's pretty much the same stuff. Nothing special. (Well, except for the graphics of course) Maybe now that they're developing for Nintendo again, they'll put a little more effort into the gameplay/storyline? I'd take FFIII on SNES over FFX on PS2 anyday! :)
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It's not likely that Final Fantasy XI will be on the gamecube - ever. The gamecube has no support for network play, and Final Fantasy XI is an online game.
It's more likely that Squaresoft will bring an old Final Fantasy to Nintendo, like Final Fantasy X. Or maybe a special Final Fantasy like Final Fantasy Disney. Anyone see Square's Disney RPG at last years E3?
Joseph Elwell.
If Chrono Trigger, FF2 and FF3 (oh sorry I meant FF4 and FF6) were to come out on the Gameboy advance, I would be forced to purchase one.
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They have promised a modem add-on and a NIC add-on.
They have also "promised" a CD-ROM drive for Super NES (which eventually became the PSone) and a Zip-like drive for N64 (the 64DD, which never hit U.S. shores). The general rule for U.S. Nintendo console accessories: If it plugs into the expansion port on the bottom of the system, it'll be delayed, delayed, delayed, until it's cancelled.
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Yeah...This is so true, especially considering that they nearly outsold Metal Gear Solid 2 with the release of FFX. Yup. They're *really* hurting.
Wasn't it Yamauchi himself who said not so long ago, that essentially, after Square left Nintendo for Sony, that Square would be allowed to develop for Nintendo platforms again, over his dead body?
I'm assuming that since Yamauchi is retiring in a few months, that perhaps this is his way of making peace (and leaving a legacy) before his departure.
Last I heard Nintendo is sitting on a big fat pile of cash courtesy of strong franchise characters and the Gameboy. Square is currently in the economic toilet because of the debacle that was the Final Fantasy movie. Not to mention that they've lost a lot of street credit on their last bunch of sorry-ass excuses for games, it's just taking the mainstream (and noisy fanboys) awhile to wake up to the fact.
Square has been floundering for some time now and can use all the help they can get. They're probably thanking their lucky stars that Nintendo is also in serious need of securing software partnerships and was willing to talk with them. This is a compromise on both thier parts. If anything, they'll sink or swim together for the near future.
-- kwashiorkor --
Leaps in Logic
should not be confused with
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I've been a dedicated Nintendo fan for a long time, after becoming hooked on their Square games - like Chrono Trigger and FF VI (III here in the US). When Square stopped developing for Nintendo, I was deeply saddened, and I've been waiting a long time for this moment.
But will this really be such a good thing? The N64 had almost no RPGs, and the Gamecube, while it seems to have some, doesn't have as many as it should. Even if Square starts developing for Nintendo, does this mean the GC will see more RPGs (the GBA, on the other hand, has plenty of good RPGs)? As well, maybe this is just my opinion, but the recent Square games have not been nearly as good as the older ones. Chrono Cross was far worse than Trigger, and the newer FFs seem to be more about graphics than storyline and good old fun, like the old ones. If Square does start making games for Nintendo, will they really be such good quality?
The Gamecube will have Phantasy Star 2.0 (Which is massive multiplayer online) in a month or so. On the bottom of the Gamecube are two expansion slots labeled 'MODEM' and 'BROADBAND'. The adaptors will be released when Phantasy Star 2.0 becomes available. Nintendo has no ONLINE SERVICE PLANS yet, which a lot of people think that they wont have any HARDWARE available, which simply IS NOT TRUE. *Please* people, stop with the FUD. This is just so sad. Gamecube has *always* had online game support in mind when it was released, and it will be the second system to truely have it without hacks next to the Dreamcast.
It's interesting to see how Final Fantasy got started on Nintendo systems and will ultimately make a return appearance on a Nintendo system in its death knell.
I honestly can't see how Final Fantasy can survive FF XI. While other RPGs focus on nifty game play mecahnics (Chrono series) or an immersive universe (Dragon Quest/Warrior, Phantasy Star), Final Fantasy games really have only one thing to rely on: story. The games are so story-driven that you might as well be playing on rails. People sure as hell didn't play VIII for the unending GF sequences. They didn't play VII for the stale JPG backgrounds. They sure as hell aren't still playing because they love the random battle engine left over from the 8-bit days. People play Final Fantasy for the characters, story, and in recent years the cut-scenes.
So what in God's name makes them think they can translate any of this into an on-line game in any meaningful way? If half a million people are on the same quest of epic proportions, it ain't exactly epic any more. They can't make the entire game world on rails so there goes the concept of cut scenes. They can't just use the universe the game series is set in because there is next to nothing in common between any two Final Fantasy games.
I think Final Fantasy XI will end up being known as Square's version of Episode I.
"Nintendo can say what they want, but after the fiasco that was the N64, and the pressure from Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo needs Square a lot more than they'll let on."
Um... hello? Did you pay any attention to the last half-decade at all?
If anything, the "N64 fiasco" you refer to has shown that Nintendo DOESN'T need Squaresoft. While it may not be very enjoyable or as profitable as it could be, Nintendo has shown that they are quite capable of surviving on nearly no third party support at all. This is something that not even Sega has been able to pull off. I seem to recall the N64 outselling the PlayStation in the US. And how much more money did Ocarina of Time make than FF VII again?
Nintendo doesn't need Square. Square doesn't need Nintendo. Both could make a killing with a new relationship (think "Final Fantasy on Game Boy Advance"), but there is no need anywhere between the two. About the only people that have a real need here is Sony. With third-party game developers being so platform agnostic, this current console battle will be won by first- and second-party games. Nintendo is the world's best game developer hands down. Microsoft has made a few notable successes in the field of games. Sony, on the other hand...
If anything, Sqaresoft was a prosthetic first-party development house for the PSX, trying to release games in non-RPG genres on top of their usual fare. Square pretended they could be another Nintendo, Sega, or even Capcom (with games like Chocobo Racing and Brave Fencer Musashi) instead of the one-trick pony they generally tend to be. What Sony will do without exclusive Square games is hard to see.
"They need third-party games; first-party games just aren't enough (as the N64 showed)."
No, that's what the Dreamcast showed. The N64 showed that that rule doesn't apply when you have Mario, Zelda and Pokemon.
"Square leads the majority of buyers"
Only in Japan. It's only in recent years that Square has become mainstream outside of Japan, and I think that FF games being available on the PC has much to do with that.
IMO, if there are going to be any nails driven into coffins in the near future it will be when Metroid Prime hits the shelf. Especially because nobody seems to realize this.
Err no. Most Playstation games rated from crap to mediochre. It was Nintendo that was constantly trying to innovate, while the PS was a breeding ground of cookiecutter games, ports, and uninspired drivel.
The PS did have it's share of awesome games, but my search for those games was lost after sifting through all the crap that came out for it. I used to work at a game retailer, I had access to these games to play whenever I wanted, and still I found it hard to find anything worthwhile. Yet, my N64 kept me quite happy.
The PS had many more games than N64, but the number of great games paled in comparison to the mountain of crap. At least companies making games for the N64 were willing to take risks. The first run of PS games were Doom wannabes.
"Derp de derp."