Cease & Desist Letter

[IAmSerge]

I guess, but... I don't know. If I worked on something for this many years, I would at least keep a personal copy for myself. I imagine at least one of them have done the same. Why destroy something they worked on for so long? Of course, for legal purposes I wouldn't expect anyone to admit it or let anyone else get a hold of their copy.

I just want to believe it still exists in some form. Just let me dream.

remember the sword of 1000 truths?

yeah, jk.

[KebreI]

Stuff...

Wouldn't that kind of exemption apply more to something like an emulator than to a much more hack-oriented program like Temporal Flux? I agree with you that these kinds of references are often only subjected to the narrowest logical justification by the part of the corporate legal team--many of them would be legitimately contestable, but we lose anyway by going to court in the first place (unless you're bankrolling the lawyers). The corporate C&D tactic relies on people like us getting scared and clamming up, and making more concessions than are being demanded of us. However, in this case, there's no profit to be had from picking that particular battle, and I don't see how we could separate TF from ROM hacking in general.

I completely agree that this isn't something to go to court over. But as they did send an letter, it is perfectly reasonable for Z to reply back with maybe some sort of counter offer. I personally haven't heard of anyone in this situation doing that before and unlike court this isn't costly. Either we're in the same boat or better.


The compendium could no longer participate in ROM hacking(tutorials, hosting, patches, ect.) but may still host TF. As alone the tool could also fit in the exception detailed at (17 U.S.C. § 1201 (f) which allows tools that can reverse engineer, circumvent the protection, or inspect the encryption.  Given that the user own a legit copy of CT. Which in this case, puts it in the same boat as emulators...on would think.

[odber]

This makes me very sad. I came to this website not only for this but for other things Chrono as well. Everyday I cheerfullly typed chronocompendium.com waiting news of Crimson Echoes. Why do they always let these kind of projects to proceed to this point to get everyone's hopes up only to shattered by the C&D letter? I hope they release the gamescript in some form.

[tushantin]

Aww man, Murphy's Law all over again... If something can go wrong, it will go wrong. I can't believe this. So many years have I been waiting for Crimson Echoes. Over a year have I been supporting *censored* and *censored AGAIN*, so much hard work we've been through and so many arguments and votes, so many memorable characters and storylines we've all made together... All thrown in to the darkness beyond time with ONE LEGAL hammer of SE!

But the dream of Zeal is not dead!

True, like everyone said, Crimson Echoes, before it's release, became an anticipated phenomenon among the fans out there in the dark, and it is quite an honor that SE has recognized the potential of our fan project. If only there was a way we could show the world what this project has under its possession without breaking the law.

But there are ways, aren't they? Many legal ways for fans to rejoice! Many fanprojects who recieved C&D have become fanfiction. But I have a different approach, since a wide reaching passion in a different way.

Look at Youtube, DeviantArt and Newgrounds. Would someone so glorious as SE cast a spell of C&D over those beautiful fanart? I think not. 1) That ain't legal. 2) They know this is a tribute to them. No, Square Enix has every right to protect their property, but a fanbase is a fanbase, and nothing else.  A well told tale deserves its popularity, whether or not it is regarded canon. Many Newgrounds and youtube videos show many parodies and serious attempts at making an animated series or Manga Doujins, or even remixes like OCRemix.

I still say, Crimson Echoes is alive, if not as a game then as something else. And I'm willing to help.

EDIT: The CENSORED things are censored... because it's mandatory. Sorry.

[Gemini]

I feel sorry for what happened to you guys. I really wanted to play Crimson Echoes, but I guess I won't be able anymore. I believe this teaches us to keep all the material secret until release, so that Square (the bitch) can't do anything to bring projects down with their stupid C&D letters. Their the copyright, their the idiocy.

[V_Translanka]

Just made this poem & felt like sharing.

We4plz?

We are the fans
We are the shade
For we carry the torch
For the art that they made

We will continue
We will press on
For the promise of tomorrow
For the break of new dawn

We are many
We are the mighty
For something grander
For a sequel on Wii?

CHRONO 4 ME PLEASE, SE~!!

[Aprocalypse]

Man, I can understand them doing this quite entirely.

But leaving it so ridiculously late to do a C&D is just being complete dicks.

(During a ~61 month creation time period, finally getting around to doing the C&D at month 60 is just mean. =/)

[Arutoa]

Is there any chance of the storyline of the hacks being released as fanfiction? Square-Enix can't C&D it in that form. I am unhappy, but I must admit, we should be glad that they didn't take the whole site down.

[alfadorredux]

What they did was legal. Possibly not moral, but legal.

As for why they waited until so late in the project's lifetime to C&D it...it's possible that they were hoping it would just dry up and blow away on its own, the way so many fan projects do. The approach of the release date would have made it clear to them that that wasn't going to happen.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Fuck.  I'm gone for a couple days (thank you PF Changs, for the incredible illness) and I find this.  I was hoping to find the opposite: the full release of Crimson Echoes.

*sigh* What happens now? Where do we go? I feel like the Fellowship is broken, and we're all going our separate games.

This is why I said that it shouldn't have been announced and just released.  All the marketing could've happened AFTER it was released.  At that point the damage was done and it was already out there circulating. Damnit.

[Unclever title]

Heh, just realized the parallels between Square Enix's several Cease and Desist letters and Lavos desstroying Zeal and/or the rest of the world (but mostly appropriate for Zeal). 

could you imagine lavos firing thousands of needles where each has a note attached that says "CEASE AND DESIST!"

I know it a bit of an unfair comparison but I find it pretty funny actually, someone should make an animation or something like that as part of a tribute to fan projects that were ended before they came to an end.

Hmm... now that I think of it "Kajar Laboratories" doesn't seem like quite the right name without the ROM hacking...  It really depends on what is still there but I'm somehow thinking "Enhasa, the Place of Dreams" might be more apt.  Anyway it's just a thought and nothing needs to spring from it.

[Mauron]

This is a disappointment. Editing Chrono Trigger has been one of my main hobbies for over a year.

[teaflower]

My god... this is perhaps the worst news I can wake up to.

From what I've seen of the game, it was amazing. Everything about it... awesome. Fare thee well, Crimson Echoes. Fare thee well, all our ROM hacking shit. Fare thee well, the work of millions. Thanks so much to Square for crushing our dreams.

But hey, look on the bright side. Maybe they'll see that we're such a thriving community that they would make a new game to appease us. Yeah! Maybe it'll be bigger, better, and more awesome!

... maybe we ninja'd their idea and that's why we got C&E'd.

[CyberSarkany]

This is sad, and I'm sorry for all who put that much work into it.

Maybe, as a goodbye to CE, reopen the CE page and add Articles to it, like what difficulties the programmers went through, the development of the game itself, statements on all the stuff, ranging from battles, to items, to characters etc.. While this could never be as much as CE, it at least might help healing the "wound" the c&d letter left by giving more detailed information to the fans. Maybe also give fans the possibility to ask questions to the development team(or at least those, who want to be open for questions) and other stuff. Maybe with the remaining screenshots we still have from the beta phase(showing them isn't illegal, is it?)

That way, we could at least keep it in memory for a longer time, before it fades into the realms of c&d'd/dead fan projects...It's dead, but this shouldn't prevent us from making it's funeral as beautiful as possible.

I would be happy to contribute.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Yeah, I think there should be a "shrine page" dedicated to Crimson Echoes.  Post an assload of screenies, post a plot summary, and the official "C&D Letter".  At least let the world know it existed.