During my perusal of the NeoGaf forums I was in no way surprised to
find a translation of the latest Famitsu magazine with details on the
current setbacks for Final Fantasy XIII’s game brethren. When it was
announced I knew it to be too much for Square Enix to handle, and now
the results of stressing to create three simultaneous FFXIII
properties is coming to a head.
According to the Famitsu article (as translated by NeoGaf forum
members) the majority of those working on Final Fantasy Versus XIII
have been pulled off to go work on the core title. It already takes
Square Enix forever to complete a main FF game that it’s ludicrous of
them to think they could pull this off. Why they’d ever have separate
teams not working on the main game is incomprehensible.
Maybe now we can be assured of seeing Final Fantasy XIII at some point
late in 2009. But what of Versus and Agito? I’m going to say if we do
get these titles, it’ll be long after FFXIII ships.
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53223
Square Enix Denies Final Fantasy Versus 13 Delay
by Aaron Linde Jun 19, 2008 1:19pm CST tags: Final Fantasy Versus
XIII, Final Fantasy XIII, Delay
Publisher Square Enix has dismissed reports that its action-RPG
offshoot Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3) is on hold, claiming that
development of the game is still on track.
"Reports that development for Final Fantasy Versus XIII is on hold are
false," the company said in a statement reported by Eurogamer. "The
truth of the situation is that when free, some staff from the Versus
team have been helping with the XIII team on development of Final
Fantasy XIII."
The statement directly contradicts yesterday's report from Japanese
gaming magazine Famitsu, in which Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) lead
designer Tetsuya Nomura said that the team behind Versus XIII were
pulled from the project to help complete FF13.
"Development for both titles is continuing as originally scheduled,"
added Square Enix.
Set in the same universe as Final Fantasy XIII, Versus XIII is an
action-RPG featuring completely different characters and story than
its main series counterpart. The games were announced at E3 2006
alongside a third title, Final Fantasy Agito XIII, in development for
mobile phones.
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Final-Fantasy-Versus-XIII-Development-Halted-10926.html
"Team pulled off"?
Ooer!
>have been pulled off to go work on the core title. It already takes
>Square Enix forever to complete a main FF game that it’s ludicrous of
Final Fantasy X (late 2001)
Final Fantasy X-2 (late 2003)
Final Fantasy XI (early 2004)
Final Fantasy XII (late 2006)
Even ignoring the host of remakes and spinoffs (not to mention the
_other_ franchises that they've spent manpower on), I'm not really
seeing the problem here. The average number of mainline FF games that
Square has made for each system is three, and they've beaten that
number here.
Rob
I think the term "falling on their head" is more apt, no?
> Maybe now we can be assured of seeing Final Fantasy XIII at some point
> late in 2009. But what of Versus and Agito? I?m going to say if we do
> get these titles, it?ll be long after FFXIII ships.
Remember when this was (jokingly, maybe) a Christmas 2007 title?
Now they're saying late 2009 (that's calendar year, right?)
Was FFXIII supposed to get a simultaneous release, or was that Versus? If
it's not a simultaneous release, then does that mean we Americans are
looking at a release date sometime in late 2010, with our European
neighbors following about 3 or 4 months later in Spring 2011?
Are you kidding me? That's about, what, 4 years into the PS3's lifecycle?
Could this be why hasn't been the expected flood of (J)RPG goodness on the
PS3 because everyone's waiting with baited breath to see what FFXIII can
do? Can it single handedly pull the PS3 back into the spotlight for both
RPG publishers and fans? Or will it join the ranks of games like the
Dreamcast's Grandia II and Skies Of Arcadia - good games but too little too
late.
--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.
It's always like this.