Enkidu
08.12.2003, 02:55
First off, the whole Xenogears project being screwed up may have had more to
do with their following project, "PROJECT KID" (more on this later), and their
need to work on it over anything else, considering they had both projects
going on at the same time.
Second, I think we need to dive into the history of this development team,
because there is a whole lot more to them than the Xeno games. The team's
first major project was an effort that not only included some of Square's best
(composers Nobuo Uematsu and newcomer Yasunori Mitsuda, as well as
Hironobu Sakaguchi), and two of Enix's best men, producer Yuji Horii and
character designer Akira Toriyama, both from the Dragon Quest series.
The result was probably the best Super Nintendo/Famicom game, and a game that
could outlast the best of them: Chrono Trigger. The team would be involved
in two other projects before Xenogears, one I do not remember the name of,
the other being the text-based Broadcast Satellaview SFC game, Radical
Dreamers.
Upon their completion of Xenogears, they became deeply involved in
"PROJECT KID". When the game gained enough shape and form for the full name
to be released to the company in late 1998, and the public 8 months later:
"PROJECT KID" = "CHRONO CROSS". It was released in 2000 to much praise, but
with lacking sales: It barely hit gold in North America and Japan. Many
people complained afterward that the game itself had quite a few gaping
problems, one of them being the Suikoden-size list of characters (there are
48 accessible characters in the game), and the lack of focus towards many
key characters because of it, as well as a lack of uniqueness and
multi-techs in the game. It was otherwise a great game, however.
Which brings us to how this development team became Monolith Software. Well
after the release of Chrono Cross, Sakaguchi-sama had said that a third Chrono
game was in development with the same team, and he had a major hand in it. At
the same time, they were also developing what seemed to be Xenosaga at the
time. It was even at this point that Chrono Break (the (un)official name of
the third game) had its name trademarked in Japan. Unfortunately, in late
2001, Square literally told the team that both projects were to be on hold,
for they were trying to focus more on its key pillar series, Final Fantasy,
and they were close to being in the red with the bomb of the Final Fantasy
movie. The team responded surprisingly by uniting and becoming Monolith Soft,
leaving Square to become an independent developer. Namco immediately signed
them on, and they continued work on Xenosaga, Though the status of Chrono
Break remains uncertain. Recently, Monolith Soft announced that after
Xenosaga Episode II and the game Baten Kaitos are completed (as well as a
slight remaking of Xenosaga Episode I), they will be available to any
company that wishes to have them join, possibly even their former employer,
now Square-Enix.
As far as where this information came from most of it came from news sources
like GameSpot, the Magic Box, and GameSpy.The knowledge that they were the same
team is implicative simply by comparing credits between XenoGears and either
Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross. The whole Chrono Cross announcement began as
a rumour that Square themselves spread back in 1999, that their next big game
was to start with "Ch-" and since there was just a recent release of a
Chocobo game at the time, all signs pointed to the long-awaited sequel. I
learned a lot about the team through the official announcement of Chrono Cross,
which was on a bunch of game sites that weeded through the entire announcement.
Around late 2000, Hironobu Sakaguchi himself (news source: GameSpot) said
that he has begun early development of the next Chrono game and that he was
shown several storyboard ideas, and the team behind Chrono Cross and XenoGears
would develop it once again. A small note in the news article mentioned that
this team was also working on another project related to XenoGears, this was
probably the first article that actually mentioned what would eventually be
Xenosaga. Sometime later in 2001, Square had registered the trademark of
Chrono Break for their use. Trademarking records tend to be public, though
the trademark offices in Japan and the United States don't exactly announce
it, and gaming companies tend to trademark a specfic name ahead of time so it
isn't used before they officially announce it (see: Sony's PS3 trademarking
in mid-2002, and their "Shock and Awe" trademarking in 2003). It was sometime
after this, however, that we would see the massive bomb that was
"Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within." It pretty much put Square in the red
once again. They didn't want to become another "bubble-bursted" company (this
was still the beginning of the post-bubble recession in Japan), so they saved
themselves from going bankrupt (like they almost did when they released Final
Fantasy back in 1986) by doing two things:
1. They closed Square Movie Studios.
2. They halted the development of any game that was considered excessive and
unprofitable in the immediate time table. In other words, any game that
was not related to the Final Fantasy franchise was to be put on hold or
cancelled. This is notable by the fact that before Square and Nintendo
finally kissed and made up in 2002, the only games that were in
development at Square in late 2001/early 2002 were Final Fantasy XI,
Final Fantasy I & II Remake, Final Fantasy XII, and Final Fantasy X-2.
This meant that Chrono Break and Xenosaga were halted for the time being.
Sakaguchi-sama was probably the one who gave them the news considering he was
the executive at the time. They soon left. In early 2002, we get the
official announcement of Xenosaga from Monolith Soft. But, when the
announcement officially came down, the team did a lot of interviews with the
big gaming magazines, and when asked for the reasons they left Square, they
stated the above, though it was a lot softer in tone, making it obvious that
their main man Sakaguchi-sama was the one who not only told them the bad
tidings, but put it as softly as possible. Thus, we still see a possibility
with Monolith Soft and Square-Enix jointly working on Chrono Break again.
Look through the August and September archives on The Magic Box
(http://www.the-magicbox.com). They're free and a lot of recent Monolith Soft
news has been on the table recently (including a notice that they'll be
available to any publisher once they complete the three games being worked on
right now).
sehr interessant wenn das stimmt, wovon man aber denke ich ausgehen darf.
ich habe mich schon lange gefragt, was dahinter steckte. also ist der film doch an mehr unschönen dingen schuld gewesen, als uns nach außen hin bekannt war. eigentlich logisch, da man ja nicht viel von dem mitbekommt, was innerhalb von square passiert.
ich kann mich noch genau erinnern. die meldung, dass das chrono team ideen für einen neuen teil sammelt, stand sogar in unseren news. die, dass sie sich den namen chrono break haben sichern lassen erst recht.
auch bekannt ist inzwischen, das derzeit kein neuer teil der chrono serie in arbeit ist. aber das hieße nicht, so das offizielle statement von square enix, dass es in zukunft keinen neuen teil geben könne.
wer weiß, vielleicht sehen wir das spiel ja noch in dieser konsolengeneration. mich stimmt es nur irgendwie traurig, dass die planungen dafür schon in vollem gange waren, bevor man es erstmal gestoppt hat.
den text muss ich allerdings ein wenig verbessern: das ehemalige chrono team ist nicht gleichzusetzen mit dem heutigen monolith soft. es mag einige mitarbeiter davon haben, aber viele davon sind nach wie vor bei square enix und arbeiten derzeit an FF11 (immernoch ... ständige updates und neues add on). square enix gibt jedoch klar FF11 die priorität und sieht diese tatsache gleichzeitig als eine art hindernis dafür, etwas neues zu machen. was heißt hindernis ... im moment wollen sie es ja nicht anders. aber wenn sie damit erstmal fertig sind, stehen die chancen für ein chrono break nicht schlecht.
ich wollte damit nur sagen, dass square enix durchaus in der lage wäre, ein richtiges chrono spiel zu machen, ohne dafür monolith zu engagieren. andererseits wäre das ziemlich passend zu square enix politik, da enix es früher ja auch nicht anders gemacht hat.
weiterhin interessant finde ich die vorstellung, dass ein neues spiel zu xenogears bereits bei square geplant gewesen sein soll. wie hätte xenosaga wohl ausgesehen, hätte sich an der firmenstruktur von anfang an nichts geändert? oder besser, wie hätte xenosaga ausgesehen, hätte es den FF film nie gegeben?
vielleicht gäbe es dann nun zwei weitere große squaregames am spielehimmel mit unzähligen fans.
immerhin haben wir xenosaga erleben dürfen, und - wer weiß? - dieser teil der geschichte ist vielleicht besser so (das spiel finde ich jedenfalls geil, sieht im moment ganz nach 5/5 story aus ^^), doch ich bin erst dann zufrieden, wenn ich das nächste chrono game zocke, am besten basierend auf den ideen, die bereits vor zwei jahren gesammelt wurden.
obwohl gewisse fragen bleiben hat der text mir doch ein wenig licht ins dunkel gebracht, oder was meint ihr?
do with their following project, "PROJECT KID" (more on this later), and their
need to work on it over anything else, considering they had both projects
going on at the same time.
Second, I think we need to dive into the history of this development team,
because there is a whole lot more to them than the Xeno games. The team's
first major project was an effort that not only included some of Square's best
(composers Nobuo Uematsu and newcomer Yasunori Mitsuda, as well as
Hironobu Sakaguchi), and two of Enix's best men, producer Yuji Horii and
character designer Akira Toriyama, both from the Dragon Quest series.
The result was probably the best Super Nintendo/Famicom game, and a game that
could outlast the best of them: Chrono Trigger. The team would be involved
in two other projects before Xenogears, one I do not remember the name of,
the other being the text-based Broadcast Satellaview SFC game, Radical
Dreamers.
Upon their completion of Xenogears, they became deeply involved in
"PROJECT KID". When the game gained enough shape and form for the full name
to be released to the company in late 1998, and the public 8 months later:
"PROJECT KID" = "CHRONO CROSS". It was released in 2000 to much praise, but
with lacking sales: It barely hit gold in North America and Japan. Many
people complained afterward that the game itself had quite a few gaping
problems, one of them being the Suikoden-size list of characters (there are
48 accessible characters in the game), and the lack of focus towards many
key characters because of it, as well as a lack of uniqueness and
multi-techs in the game. It was otherwise a great game, however.
Which brings us to how this development team became Monolith Software. Well
after the release of Chrono Cross, Sakaguchi-sama had said that a third Chrono
game was in development with the same team, and he had a major hand in it. At
the same time, they were also developing what seemed to be Xenosaga at the
time. It was even at this point that Chrono Break (the (un)official name of
the third game) had its name trademarked in Japan. Unfortunately, in late
2001, Square literally told the team that both projects were to be on hold,
for they were trying to focus more on its key pillar series, Final Fantasy,
and they were close to being in the red with the bomb of the Final Fantasy
movie. The team responded surprisingly by uniting and becoming Monolith Soft,
leaving Square to become an independent developer. Namco immediately signed
them on, and they continued work on Xenosaga, Though the status of Chrono
Break remains uncertain. Recently, Monolith Soft announced that after
Xenosaga Episode II and the game Baten Kaitos are completed (as well as a
slight remaking of Xenosaga Episode I), they will be available to any
company that wishes to have them join, possibly even their former employer,
now Square-Enix.
As far as where this information came from most of it came from news sources
like GameSpot, the Magic Box, and GameSpy.The knowledge that they were the same
team is implicative simply by comparing credits between XenoGears and either
Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross. The whole Chrono Cross announcement began as
a rumour that Square themselves spread back in 1999, that their next big game
was to start with "Ch-" and since there was just a recent release of a
Chocobo game at the time, all signs pointed to the long-awaited sequel. I
learned a lot about the team through the official announcement of Chrono Cross,
which was on a bunch of game sites that weeded through the entire announcement.
Around late 2000, Hironobu Sakaguchi himself (news source: GameSpot) said
that he has begun early development of the next Chrono game and that he was
shown several storyboard ideas, and the team behind Chrono Cross and XenoGears
would develop it once again. A small note in the news article mentioned that
this team was also working on another project related to XenoGears, this was
probably the first article that actually mentioned what would eventually be
Xenosaga. Sometime later in 2001, Square had registered the trademark of
Chrono Break for their use. Trademarking records tend to be public, though
the trademark offices in Japan and the United States don't exactly announce
it, and gaming companies tend to trademark a specfic name ahead of time so it
isn't used before they officially announce it (see: Sony's PS3 trademarking
in mid-2002, and their "Shock and Awe" trademarking in 2003). It was sometime
after this, however, that we would see the massive bomb that was
"Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within." It pretty much put Square in the red
once again. They didn't want to become another "bubble-bursted" company (this
was still the beginning of the post-bubble recession in Japan), so they saved
themselves from going bankrupt (like they almost did when they released Final
Fantasy back in 1986) by doing two things:
1. They closed Square Movie Studios.
2. They halted the development of any game that was considered excessive and
unprofitable in the immediate time table. In other words, any game that
was not related to the Final Fantasy franchise was to be put on hold or
cancelled. This is notable by the fact that before Square and Nintendo
finally kissed and made up in 2002, the only games that were in
development at Square in late 2001/early 2002 were Final Fantasy XI,
Final Fantasy I & II Remake, Final Fantasy XII, and Final Fantasy X-2.
This meant that Chrono Break and Xenosaga were halted for the time being.
Sakaguchi-sama was probably the one who gave them the news considering he was
the executive at the time. They soon left. In early 2002, we get the
official announcement of Xenosaga from Monolith Soft. But, when the
announcement officially came down, the team did a lot of interviews with the
big gaming magazines, and when asked for the reasons they left Square, they
stated the above, though it was a lot softer in tone, making it obvious that
their main man Sakaguchi-sama was the one who not only told them the bad
tidings, but put it as softly as possible. Thus, we still see a possibility
with Monolith Soft and Square-Enix jointly working on Chrono Break again.
Look through the August and September archives on The Magic Box
(http://www.the-magicbox.com). They're free and a lot of recent Monolith Soft
news has been on the table recently (including a notice that they'll be
available to any publisher once they complete the three games being worked on
right now).
sehr interessant wenn das stimmt, wovon man aber denke ich ausgehen darf.
ich habe mich schon lange gefragt, was dahinter steckte. also ist der film doch an mehr unschönen dingen schuld gewesen, als uns nach außen hin bekannt war. eigentlich logisch, da man ja nicht viel von dem mitbekommt, was innerhalb von square passiert.
ich kann mich noch genau erinnern. die meldung, dass das chrono team ideen für einen neuen teil sammelt, stand sogar in unseren news. die, dass sie sich den namen chrono break haben sichern lassen erst recht.
auch bekannt ist inzwischen, das derzeit kein neuer teil der chrono serie in arbeit ist. aber das hieße nicht, so das offizielle statement von square enix, dass es in zukunft keinen neuen teil geben könne.
wer weiß, vielleicht sehen wir das spiel ja noch in dieser konsolengeneration. mich stimmt es nur irgendwie traurig, dass die planungen dafür schon in vollem gange waren, bevor man es erstmal gestoppt hat.
den text muss ich allerdings ein wenig verbessern: das ehemalige chrono team ist nicht gleichzusetzen mit dem heutigen monolith soft. es mag einige mitarbeiter davon haben, aber viele davon sind nach wie vor bei square enix und arbeiten derzeit an FF11 (immernoch ... ständige updates und neues add on). square enix gibt jedoch klar FF11 die priorität und sieht diese tatsache gleichzeitig als eine art hindernis dafür, etwas neues zu machen. was heißt hindernis ... im moment wollen sie es ja nicht anders. aber wenn sie damit erstmal fertig sind, stehen die chancen für ein chrono break nicht schlecht.
ich wollte damit nur sagen, dass square enix durchaus in der lage wäre, ein richtiges chrono spiel zu machen, ohne dafür monolith zu engagieren. andererseits wäre das ziemlich passend zu square enix politik, da enix es früher ja auch nicht anders gemacht hat.
weiterhin interessant finde ich die vorstellung, dass ein neues spiel zu xenogears bereits bei square geplant gewesen sein soll. wie hätte xenosaga wohl ausgesehen, hätte sich an der firmenstruktur von anfang an nichts geändert? oder besser, wie hätte xenosaga ausgesehen, hätte es den FF film nie gegeben?
vielleicht gäbe es dann nun zwei weitere große squaregames am spielehimmel mit unzähligen fans.
immerhin haben wir xenosaga erleben dürfen, und - wer weiß? - dieser teil der geschichte ist vielleicht besser so (das spiel finde ich jedenfalls geil, sieht im moment ganz nach 5/5 story aus ^^), doch ich bin erst dann zufrieden, wenn ich das nächste chrono game zocke, am besten basierend auf den ideen, die bereits vor zwei jahren gesammelt wurden.
obwohl gewisse fragen bleiben hat der text mir doch ein wenig licht ins dunkel gebracht, oder was meint ihr?