A Theory on Square-Enix's Odd Neglect of Chrono Trigger

[Corona!01]

One wonders in this day "what happened to Square-Enix? Why don't they care about us Chrono fans?" well, I have a theory. You may realize that SE have been closing down basically every fan project they can (I'd look out, Chrono Crisis [cringes] unless you're using the legal version of RPG Maker XP, you might be next on their list and a candidate for Enterbrain, too. Just sayin') such as the regretful death of Ressurrection, I think I may have a conspiring method to their madness. Some, including me, have probably been thinking "well, they're popping out so many Final Fantasys... Fantasies... WHATEVER! that their scenario writers must have gotten to the point where they just write plot elements on Post-It notes and pick 'em out of a hat (VII rocked, but things've been going downhill since 8, progressively faster lately.) so they must be too busy to make a new Chrono game" that may be a convenient cover as well as their whole plan. All I'm saying is that while they probably should be giving the Final Fantasy series a little rest, maybe just for a year or two, and wake up the Rip Van Winkle that is Chrono Trigger, they haven't, rather, they're kicking the remaining life out of a dying horse (no offense to FF fans, but it is getting a little bit tired after 20 some odd years and could use at least a short break) instead of saddling up a new one, and here's why: they are starving us. Think about it: take away something someone wants, wait a long time and see to it they don't get it by any alternate means, and after a long time, return it to the long-waiting masses. Time makes the heart grow fonder, people. They think by starving us, if the ever do bring out a new Chrono game, we old Chrono-starved fans will jump on it, and the longer they wait, the better the chance. Now go ahead, say I'm crazy, hell, even I think I am a little bit, but just think about it: do they just hate us, are they "accidentally" neglecting us, or is it a sting marketing strategy? Consider this: RPG fans who are cut off from what they want are usually the most loyal, check out Tales of Phantasia if you don't believe me, I was part of the whole "petition for it" ordeal. But seriously, consider it before bashing me by posting. Friends, Romans, Chronofans, this is my truth, this is my theory... at least for now

[Kyronea]

I've got two words that throw a wrench into everything: Kingdom Hearts.

The Kingdom Hearts series has dominated the scene since it appeared. Sales of Kingdom Hearts II over the past year exceeded the sales of all Final Fantasy products over this past year COMBINED. If anything is going to get Square's attention right now, it's Kingdom Hearts. Which doesn't bother me one bit, as I'm quite the Kingdom Hearts fan as well as a Chrono fan, but it still throws a wrench into matters.

And yet, it's still possible they might dust off the Chrono series, just to give themselves some variety. It all depends on whether or not they can make money off of it. Remember, Square-Enix isn't that dinky little company it once was back in the late 80's when they first released Final Fantasy. It 's a multi-billion dollar corporation, and as such focuses on money first, above all else.

[Jessica Ingmann]

Um...  It was also stated that Square would more than likely be physically unable ta assemble th' "Dream Project Team" back fer another go due ta everything that's been happenin'...  Akira Toriyama's workin' onna new game righ' now, fer example, called "Blue Dragon".(Or it migh' be Bird Studio...  I didn' check.)  Everyone else's off doin' their own projects as well...  So unfortunately, it does sort'a come down ta "They're all too busy".  >_o;

[Mystic Frog King]

Big deal. They contract Mistwalker to do a new Chrono game and assign Kato and Midsuda to the project.

[cupn00dles]

(VII rocked, but things've been going downhill since 8, progressively faster lately.)

So, you're basically saying XII is the worst FF to come since VII?

Let me ask this in the most possibly sensitive of ways: Are you completely out of your mind?

[ZeaLitY]

VIII needed a more charismatic villain and engrossing world.

[Kyronea]

Not to mention they could have at least TRIED to change the way the world looked on disc four. Instead all they did was place idiotic barriers around every single town. I thought Squall and the gang went into the future, not into bizzaro world. If I'm not mistaken, they didn't even have Ultimecia's castle hovering over Edea's house on the world map.

And as for XII, it was neat, but the story was poorly paced, poorly written, far too sparse for its massive size, ect ect. Also the music was not noteworthy at all. You'd think a first-time composer had done it, not one with as much experience as the composer had.

[ZeaLitY]

Just to balance things, FFVII was so rough that handling the disc could shave off skin. It needed some serious polish. Nonetheless, the world, plot, and characters were pretty cool, and Sephiroth remains one of the absolute hallmarks of villainy. If the "Arbiter of the Time Devourer" overarching plot line had been properly presented in Chrono Cross, Lavos / the Time Devourer could have gained a little charisma as well, and Lavos's sentience would have also been canonically presented in-game (it sort of is right now, just not overtly).

[Corona!01]

quote author=cupn00dles link=topic=3895.msg67508#msg67508 date=1171854664]

(VII rocked, but things've been going downhill since 8, progressively faster lately.)

So, you're basically saying XII is the worst FF to come since VII?

Let me ask this in the most possibly sensitive of ways: Are you completely out of your mind?
[/quote]

Alright, just to point out, they put too much stock in graphics and too little in story, and with all the re-releases, some of which just plain look like they had their artwork thrown together overnight (no offense to Mr. Amano if he's still in charge, but exactly how alike CAN you make the character art in FFV DS look? Even they look like they're bored with the whole Make and Remake ordeal), I have begun to realize if you take too much of a good thing, it starts to weaken a little, hasn't anyone realized the more recent FFs have been a little, y'know, lacking lately? Y'see, back in the era of VI and VII, they went for a little thing called "quality of plot over graphics" meaning that if you could see your character, the path, the menu and the NPCs, you were set and didn't make a big deal because you had a great story to work with (although some parts of VII, I am ashamed to admit due to practically worshipping every byte in its programming, could have been stronger, like the Knowlespole scene, for instance, but there is no such thing as perfect) as opposed to photorealism with some regurgitated storyline with certain elements switched around so nobody'll notice. Point and blank, some people would play a Pokemon game and say "this is the best thing I've every picked up!" if they slapped the
Final Fantasy title on it (Final Fantasy Mystery Dungeon'd be kinda weird; imagine being attacked by a wild Selphie), not that any of them are here, I pray. If you look beyond the title, some games just don't stack up to the rest of their respective series' (such as some would say of Chrono Cross which, ironically, is a giant case of this, but I will not bash it because I am a fan. It was a great game on its own, it just wasn't a Trigger sequel, it was more of a case of "slap a title on a put in a few plot elements that check back to the old game") point and blank, don't think of them as "the next game in the great series", just think of them as "the game" and you can easily realize these faults.

[Deicide]

Pffft.. FFVI was the pinicle, everyone knows that! *ducks rotten tomatoes*

On a more serious note though, I do think a lot of it is down to just how busy everyone is, and I'm not just refering to the Dream Team here either. The creator of Kingdom Hearts, a notable successful series, was recently asked what might be expected in KH3 and, while he's expressed definate interest in making such a game it was revealed that he's just going to be far too busy on the massive FFXIII project to get anything like that approved for a while. Consider how much money SquEnix made on KH, but they do not have the manpower to make a new one? To me, given the lower priority a new Chrono game appears to have, that makes the chances of a new addition quite low, at least until they get the XIII set and the VII Compilation over and done with anyway..

Having said that I do think theres a very good chance of a new Chrono game sometime AFTER those major projects are out of the way. Mana, another series Square had apparently abandoned for some years has been ressurected of late. This all too easily read as Enix scouring Squares previous works for financial potential, and, if that's the case then I'd say it's likely just a matter of time until some bright one figures out 'hey, if we put CT on GBA to stir up interest anew and/or make a new game we could make some serious mulla here!'.

Square aren't 'holding out' on Chrono fans to be cruel, or even for supply and demand purposes. They simply lack the time, the people or the financial interest required to make such a game at this moment in time.

:..2-2-7..:

[Magus068]

Morelikely CT series suffer the same fate as Xenogears when SE prioritize more on their Final Fantasy 7.  Maybe SE has no intention to make another CT since they neglect to make another prequel/sequel of CT too many times.

[Chrono'99]

Alright, just to point out, they put too much stock in graphics and too little in story, and with all the re-releases, some of which just plain look like they had their artwork thrown together overnight (no offense to Mr. Amano if he's still in charge, but exactly how alike CAN you make the character art in FFV DS look? Even they look like they're bored with the whole Make and Remake ordeal), I have begun to realize if you take too much of a good thing, it starts to weaken a little, hasn't anyone realized the more recent FFs have been a little, y'know, lacking lately?

The FFXII character designer was Akihiko Yoshida. I'm not sure what you meant by "FFV DS." Yoshida was the chara-designer for FFIII DS, and Tetsuya Nomura was the chara-designer for the new NPCs in FFV Advance (the necromancer Enuo, mainly).

[cupn00dles]

And as for XII, it was neat, but the story was poorly paced, poorly written, far too sparse for its massive size, ect ect. Also the music was not noteworthy at all. You'd think a first-time composer had done it, not one with as much experience as the composer had.

Holiest of shits!

XII story is by no means a poor one. As I already wrote in a thousand topics, it simply has a change of scope. Instead of putting you in the center of the universe, it puts you as a single piece of a larger puzzle, in which, as a single piece, you naturally can't simply "grasp" the whole, as it is with other FF's. It's not that it is poorly paced and too sparse, the thing is that you do NOT have the eyes of an omnipotent watcher, your party is NOT in the center of the whole plot and it is NOT just your old "Messiatic" group trying to rid the world of your world-threatening calamity.

I sincerely love this change of scope, simply because the "normal" FF way of storytelling has been simply becoming saturated with every new version of the series that has come out, like it was already pointed out in a previous post.

And the soundtrack is excellent. Not as great as Vagrant Story's, but still very remarkable. Once again, it has a completely different style from Uematsu's scores, but hell, great thing they change things once in a while.

It is truly sad when people go over an experience with a pre-idea of that it will be just like every other, and then it simply doesn't.

Meh, I don't even feel like saying anything else. I just keep writing the same things over and over. How lame of me.

[Mystic Frog King]

I agree with my wife, who posted above me.

[Glennleo]

I agree with my wife, who posted above me.