First words from SQUARE.ENIX....

[London Geezer]

First bit of news from what i think will be the single best development house from for a long time.... but maybe it's just me...

Square-Enix's First Words
Kingdom Hearts 2, subcontracting, and pillars discussed.

April 01, 2003 - Square-Enix uttered its first words as a new company recently, and the folks over at Reuter's of Japan had their video cameras set to record. New company president Youchi Wada (previous president of Square) shared some thoughts with the news service on a variety of issues.
First off, and most directly related to an actual game, is talk of a Kingdom Hearts sequel. It's a no-brainer that Square-Enix wants to make the sequel happen, seeing how the original sold 850,000 units in Japan, 1.5 million units in America and 500,000 units in Europe, with an additional 300,000 units sold in Japan through the Final Mix rerelease version. In the interview, Wada expressed his company's intention for a sequel, stating "Although there are still some remaining negotiations with Disney on the matter, we will release a sequel to Kingdom Hearts and make it, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest into three pillars of the company."

Yes, kids, pillars. That's the key word in this interview. What Wada means is, the three series will serve as the company's main titles -- its backbone. This seems to suggest that Square-Enix is interested in more than just a single sequel to the Kingdom Hearts, but plans to develop an entire franchise around the name as well.

The interview continues with Wada's ideas on software development. Wada comments that Square-Enix won't say no to any given genre, but it will focus on original, story-driven RPGs. Also, subcontracted developers used by Enix for the development of its main RPG titles (such as Tri-Ace for Star Ocean 3 and Level Five for the upcoming Dragon Quest VIII) will continue to be used. Certainly news that will make many a Square and Enix fan happy.

The rest of the interview is filled with lots and lots of business jabber. Wada comments that the reason for developing the three above-mentioned titles with the intention of making them into the pillars of the company is to reduce the time between major releases, thereby achieving stability in business performance. Also adding to stability are increased profits, which will be driven in part through the use of a direct method of software sales, previously used by Enix. This will apparently help reduce the risk of unsold stock, something that tends to get in the way of big-time profits.

For more information on pillars and to order your own custom-made pillar, turn to Pillars Etc..

 

[archie4oz]

"Although there are still some remaining negotiations with Disney on the matter,

READ: we are still pulling teeth trying to deal with these guys...

 

[London Geezer]

"Although there are still some remaining negotiations with Disney on the matter,

READ: we are still pulling teeth trying to deal with these guys...

archie, just out of curiosity, do u still work at Square? if so, how's the whole thing going? if not, where r u working now?

i mean, u dont have to answer, im just curious

 

[archie4oz]

No...

 

[Ozymandis]

Kingdom Hearts sucked in its first outing. I hope they can clean it up enough to be worthy becoming a "pillar" franchise.

 

[archie4oz]

So did anybody actually notice the new site?

 

[London Geezer]

Kingdom Hearts sucked in its first outing. I hope they can clean it up enough to be worthy becoming a "pillar" franchise.

i thoroughly enjoyed the first Kingdom Hearts, and even with all its flaws, saying it SUCKED is a bit too much in my opinion. in case u have actualy played the game, of course it will not appeal to everyone due to the whole Disney thing, but i loved it, it was one of the best experiences i had in a long time... (i mean videogame-wise... )
to be honest i enjoyed it much more than ICO, MGS2 and all the big names out there and maybe also FFX at times....

 

[Ozymandis]

Kingdom Hearts sucked in its first outing. I hope they can clean it up enough to be worthy becoming a "pillar" franchise.

i thoroughly enjoyed the first Kingdom Hearts, and even with all its flaws, saying it SUCKED is a bit too much in my opinion. in case u have actualy played the game, of course it will not appeal to everyone due to the whole Disney thing, but i loved it, it was one of the best experiences i had in a long time... (i mean videogame-wise... )
to be honest i enjoyed it much more than ICO, MGS2 and all the big names out there and maybe also FFX at times....

Of course I own and have played the game. "Sucked" might be too strong. Let me say that I didn't enjoy it enough to finish it, although my brother and sister did seem to like it.

The gameplay and plot just weren't that good IMO

 

[jvd]

I dunno is square.enix is the best developer ever. I'd have to put nintendo , sega , id , and firxas (sid miers company) and um that people that made wing commander and ultima before they became crappy like 3 years ago. Oh westwood is def higher than square. One franchise does not make the greatest developer ever

 

[London Geezer]

Kingdom Hearts sucked in its first outing. I hope they can clean it up enough to be worthy becoming a "pillar" franchise.

i thoroughly enjoyed the first Kingdom Hearts, and even with all its flaws, saying it SUCKED is a bit too much in my opinion. in case u have actualy played the game, of course it will not appeal to everyone due to the whole Disney thing, but i loved it, it was one of the best experiences i had in a long time... (i mean videogame-wise... )
to be honest i enjoyed it much more than ICO, MGS2 and all the big names out there and maybe also FFX at times....

Of course I own and have played the game. "Sucked" might be too strong. Let me say that I didn't enjoy it enough to finish it, although my brother and sister did seem to like it.

The gameplay and plot just weren't that good IMO

WEIRD.... it must be the kiddy (arguable tho) atmosphere that didn't appeal to u... i hadnt had so much trepidation and interest since i played final fantasy 7 to be honest, but maybe thats just me....
the plot really got me glued and all the references to Disney characters got my interest going...

 

[Ozymandis]

WEIRD.... it must be the kiddy (arguable tho) atmosphere that didn't appeal to u... i hadnt had so much trepidation and interest since i played final fantasy 7 to be honest, but maybe thats just me....
the plot really got me glued and all the references to Disney characters got my interest going...

Nope, wasn't the atmosphere. Legend of Mana was much more kiddy, and I absolutely LOVED that game.

Like I said, I just thought the gameplay and story weren't that great. The Disney and Final Fantasy cameos were IMO the best part of the game.

I dunno is square.enix is the best developer ever. I'd have to put nintendo , sega , id , and firxas (sid miers company) and um that people that made wing commander and ultima before they became crappy like 3 years ago. Oh westwood is def higher than square. One franchise does not make the greatest developer ever

What franchise does Westwood make besides C&C? And Square definitely has more than one franchise (Chrono, Mana, Parasite Eve, Front Mission, SaGa, etc).

 

[London Geezer]

I dunno is square.enix is the best developer ever. I'd have to put nintendo , sega , id , and firxas (sid miers company) and um that people that made wing commander and ultima before they became crappy like 3 years ago. Oh westwood is def higher than square. One franchise does not make the greatest developer ever

i agree that Sega and Nintendo are up there.... but ID?????? what are u kidding me? the ID that make good engines for some fancy playable tech demos??? :?

 

[jvd]

I dunno is square.enix is the best developer ever. I'd have to put nintendo , sega , id , and firxas (sid miers company) and um that people that made wing commander and ultima before they became crappy like 3 years ago. Oh westwood is def higher than square. One franchise does not make the greatest developer ever

i agree that Sega and Nintendo are up there.... but ID?????? what are u kidding me? the ID that make good engines for some fancy playable tech demos??? :?

I loved quake 2... game was amazing. I also loved wolf and dooms Don't need a story to blow nazi's up or demons do you ?

 

[London Geezer]

I dunno is square.enix is the best developer ever. I'd have to put nintendo , sega , id , and firxas (sid miers company) and um that people that made wing commander and ultima before they became crappy like 3 years ago. Oh westwood is def higher than square. One franchise does not make the greatest developer ever

i agree that Sega and Nintendo are up there.... but ID?????? what are u kidding me? the ID that make good engines for some fancy playable tech demos??? :?

I loved quake 2... game was amazing. I also loved wolf and dooms Don't need a story to blow nazi's up or demons do you ?

well whats wrong with having a story while blowing them all up??? but seriously.... they might make good graph engines, but there is so much better out there it's pretty unbelievable...

also, about *good* engine.... someone could argue that an engine that requires the latest video cards, latest CPU and 390920 GB of RAM to run properly is not really *efficient*..............

just look what some people are doing with little old PS2 and tell me who's the best coder out there... :?

 

[Ozymandis]

Quake2 was amazing... for multiplayer. The single-player was mediocre even at that time.

 

[jvd]

I dunno is square.enix is the best developer ever. I'd have to put nintendo , sega , id , and firxas (sid miers company) and um that people that made wing commander and ultima before they became crappy like 3 years ago. Oh westwood is def higher than square. One franchise does not make the greatest developer ever

i agree that Sega and Nintendo are up there.... but ID?????? what are u kidding me? the ID that make good engines for some fancy playable tech demos??? :?

I loved quake 2... game was amazing. I also loved wolf and dooms Don't need a story to blow nazi's up or demons do you ?

well whats wrong with having a story while blowing them all up??? but seriously.... they might make good graph engines, but there is so much better out there it's pretty unbelievable...

also, about *good* engine.... someone could argue that an engine that requires the latest video cards, latest CPU and 390920 GB of RAM to run properly is not really *efficient*..............

just look what some people are doing with little old PS2 and tell me who's the best coder out there... :?

John carmack who is doing amazing things with a system that wasn't designed for games ?

Hey i need a game that is fun. Blowing stuff up many times over and over again is very fun .

Story is all well and good . But what if it was an amazing story but the game was no fun to play.

The first 6 final fantsys are awsome. 7-9 disapointed me . They put to much into the story and fmv than they did into the game play and fun factor. I can't say anything about 10 since i don't feel like blowing 50 bucks on another ff game .when it drops to 20 bucks or something i will pick it up.

 

[London Geezer]

I dunno is square.enix is the best developer ever. I'd have to put nintendo , sega , id , and firxas (sid miers company) and um that people that made wing commander and ultima before they became crappy like 3 years ago. Oh westwood is def higher than square. One franchise does not make the greatest developer ever

i agree that Sega and Nintendo are up there.... but ID?????? what are u kidding me? the ID that make good engines for some fancy playable tech demos??? :?

I loved quake 2... game was amazing. I also loved wolf and dooms Don't need a story to blow nazi's up or demons do you ?

well whats wrong with having a story while blowing them all up??? but seriously.... they might make good graph engines, but there is so much better out there it's pretty unbelievable...

also, about *good* engine.... someone could argue that an engine that requires the latest video cards, latest CPU and 390920 GB of RAM to run properly is not really *efficient*..............

just look what some people are doing with little old PS2 and tell me who's the best coder out there... :?

John carmack who is doing amazing things with a system that wasn't designed for games ?

Hey i need a game that is fun. Blowing stuff up many times over and over again is very fun .

Story is all well and good . But what if it was an amazing story but the game was no fun to play.

The first 6 final fantsys are awsome. 7-9 disapointed me . They put to much into the story and fmv than they did into the game play and fun factor. I can't say anything about 10 since i don't feel like blowing 50 bucks on another ff game .when it drops to 20 bucks or something i will pick it up.

u might want to think about that twice... FFX was a bigger (and better) version of FF7-9... loads of FMV's and cut-scenes and LINEARITY..... until u get the airship almost at the end of the game.. personally i loved it, i put something like 150 hours into the game...

 

[jvd]

see thats what i don't like. I want the story to unfold through the game. Not through a cut scene . Esp if the cut scene is more than a min or two. At the begining of the game its fine. At the end of the game its fine. But during the game it sucks .

If i want to watch a movie i will go to the movies . you know what i mean ?

 

[London Geezer]

see thats what i don't like. I want the story to unfold through the game. Not through a cut scene . Esp if the cut scene is more than a min or two. At the begining of the game its fine. At the end of the game its fine. But during the game it sucks .

If i want to watch a movie i will go to the movies . you know what i mean ?

yeah i guess... well i frikkin loved it, cut-scenes or not... the story was a bit overblown towards the end, but hey that's final fantasy for u...

 

[jvd]

see thats what i don't like. I want the story to unfold through the game. Not through a cut scene . Esp if the cut scene is more than a min or two. At the begining of the game its fine. At the end of the game its fine. But during the game it sucks .

If i want to watch a movie i will go to the movies . you know what i mean ?

yeah i guess... well i frikkin loved it, cut-scenes or not... the story was a bit overblown towards the end, but hey that's final fantasy for u...

Have you played the first 6?