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Quazar · Jun 28, 2008

Most likely old, but new to me.

http://www.mistwalkercorp.com/en/column_eng/column1_eng.html

We've completed several projects, and Mistwalker's first wave has passed. Even as we reflect on our many experiences, we embark on our next journey. There are many things to accomplish.

・New ideas
・Combining the scenario and game system
・Real time
・Ideas that are emotionally moving

We're doing research & development from a prototype that I haven't worked on since FF7. We're finished with that for now. There were a lot of trials and errors, and it took longer than expected, but it was an unexpectedly good challenge. I'm reminded again of how "it pays when things are working," so taking advantage of what a prototype offers, there were many trials and ideas that didn't seem to work out, but I think we made a new feeling and experience. From here on out is a phase in which we take steps towards our next product. The scenario is still just a rough plot. We brainstorm, rethink, and exchange ideas every day. Anyway, the whole team is moving towards those "new ideas." Our struggling efforts may reach us even higher than our first wave, and take us to the next level. So, that's what we hope for !

So for now, here's my first entry.

But this isn't Cry On right? As far as I know it's just Sakaguchi working on CO, and not MW, right?

Small update:

Sakaguchi said:
Right now, Im making a game and Im going through quite a bit of trial and error. My main objective will be to not be embarrassed in calling it the next gen RPG. While characters, maps and other essentials are developed in parallel, the game system is tweaked daily. Its been going on for a year. Feels like it never endsbut there should be a solution ahead. Im starting to see it a bit. Finally.

After tiring myself over these thoughts, I build Legos.....

Another update 1-7-09

Sakaguchi said:
Something New

New Project Finally Half Way Through

Ive finally reached half way up the mountain in regards to the latest project Im on. Of course, there is a lot of work left to do, but I feel its approaching something I wanted to achieve. Im betting a lot on this project.

Oh, and I have an announcement.....
the project, Cry On, is no longer in production. I had a lot of special feelings behind the story of the Rock Giant and the young girl, but I regret not being able to go with it.

That being said, Im starting a completely new, large scale project, different from this. I cant reveal the platform, release date or the content of the game itself, but Im putting my full strength into this project; including 120% of my emotions.

Something new is always a difficult proposition.
Challenging the idea, I find the energy from myself and sense the feeling of living. Sense of fulfillment; I sincerely feel the importance of it.

May 4th update:

Sakaguchi said:
Planning to basically put importance on having seamless control of the overall direction of the game, mixed with CG spectacle scenes. Controls will have a bit of a trick to it, while having a blend of RPG-type strategy and growth. Behaviors based on interaction with the situation around you...wait, I'm not supposed to say more than this (^^;

Sometime this year, it seems I'll be able to announce what this new project is. During that time, we will try and post model artwork, behind the scenes stories, as well as introductions to staff who worked on the development. With all the different elements and staff putting their "heart and soul" into it, it feels different from projects until now, but in a good way. Please look forward to it.

http://www.mistwalkercorp.com/en/column_eng/pg115.html

New pic

MassiveAttack · Jun 28, 2008

How bottomless are the money buckets?

WrikaWrek · Jun 28, 2008

I hope MS keeps investing on Mistwalker.

MassiveAttack · Jun 28, 2008

WrikaWrek said:
I hope MS keeps investing on Mistwalker.

In they enjoy losing tens of millions, then yes.

duckroll · Jun 28, 2008

MassiveAttack said:
How bottomless are the money buckets?

I think Sakaguchi owning a chunk of shares in AQ Interactive probably helps a bit. If Away, Blue Dragon Plus and Cry On all bomb, then I'm not sure even that will save Mistwalker. They've already burnt MS and Nintendo...

Quazar · Jun 28, 2008

MassiveAttack said:
How bottomless are the money buckets?

Who cares? Jealous/bitter much?

LO was good enough, and it'll be interesting to see MW go again. I'd rather see MW making games, don't know about you.

Mistwalker · Jun 28, 2008

WrikaWrek said:
I hope MS keeps investing on Mistwalker.

That makes two of us...

Kafel · Jun 28, 2008

MassiveAttack said:
In they enjoy losing tens of millions, then yes.

Who cares ? You ?

Please continue MS.

duckroll · Jun 28, 2008

Quazar said:
Who cares? Jealous/bitter much?

LO was good enough, and it'll be interesting to see MW go again. I'd rather see MW making games, don't know about you.

Well, I think realistically there is a limit to that in the end. As much as we like the fact that they're doing original IP RPGs on various systems, until the games start selling well, it will eventually begin to limit what they can do more and more.

WrikaWrek · Jun 28, 2008

MassiveAttack said:
In they enjoy losing tens of millions, then yes.

Uh...why should i give a rats ass?

I'm a gamer, not a financial adviser.

soldat7 · Jun 28, 2008

MassiveAttack said:
In they enjoy losing tens of millions, then yes.

If you picture Cloud saying this it's quite funny.

MassiveAttack · Jun 28, 2008

Quazar said:
Who cares? Jealous/bitter much?

LO was good enough, and it'll be interesting to see MW go again. I'd rather see MW making games, don't know about you.

Hardly. Apologies for the dose of reality. Carry on.

soldat7 said:
If you picture Cloud saying this it's quite funny.

:lol Indeed.

Pureauthor · Jun 28, 2008

WrikaWrek said:
Uh...why should i give a rats ass?

I'm a gamer, not a financial adviser.

Because it's the finances that decide whether or not games get made?

nib95 · Jun 28, 2008

I hope they have a massive budget on their new game. I'd love to see what they can do given a Final Fantasy style budget. Though admittedly I have no idea how much Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey cost to make.

MassiveAttack · Jun 28, 2008

Pureauthor said:
Because it's the finances that decide whether or not games get made?

And well, this is NeoGAF. Home to armchair financial advisors.

nib95 said:
I hope they have a massive budget on their new game. I'd love to see what they can do given a Final Fantasy style budget. Though admittedly I have no idea how much Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey cost to make.

They had massive budgets for BD and LO. And I do mean massive... attack.

Xyphie · Jun 28, 2008

>100k in Japan total. >200k debut month on NPD. Add Europe and LO probably did pretty well.

stotch · Jun 28, 2008

MassiveAttack said:
Hardly. Apologies for the dose of reality. Carry on.

:lol Indeed.

Aren't you supposed to read the op? Cry On is real time, the "update entry" lists real time as one of their new goals. Super-traditional Mystwalker are trying their best to get sales and you ignore it to run your standard shtick.

WrikaWrek · Jun 28, 2008

Pureauthor said:
Because it's the finances that decide whether or not games get made?

Sure, but what does that have to do with me hoping that despite everything, MS continues to support Mistwalker?

Geez, seriously. Zone of the Enders 2 bombed hard, and still i want to see Konami finance another sequel.

It's one of those things. I hope that MS believes enough in the success of their next games, because the games were good, and maybe it was the marketing that didn't succeed.

MassiveAttack said:
They had massive budgets for BD and LO. And I do mean massive... attack.

40 million MS gave Mistwalker. Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey ate from that pie, who knows what else might. The budgets weren't massive, at all.

Nif · Jun 28, 2008

MassiveAttack said:
And well, this is NeoGAF. Home to armchair financial advisors.

They had massive budgets for BD and LO. And I do mean massive... attack.

I'd love to see your data.

Quazar · Jun 28, 2008

duckroll said:
Well, I think realistically there is a limit to that in the end. As much as we like the fact that they're doing original IP RPGs on various systems, until the games start selling well, it will eventually begin to limit what they can do more and more.

I agree, but that wasn't exactly posted above.

Honestly, who knows what MS is looking at(long term/short term) but I'm glad they're taking those chances people asked for last gen now with the 360.

neight · Jun 28, 2008

WrikaWrek said:
It's one of those things. I hope that MS believes enough in the success of their next games, because the games were good, and maybe it was the marketing that didn't succeed.

They had good marketing.

Quazar · Jun 28, 2008

MassiveAttack said:
Hardly. Apologies for the dose of reality. Carry on.

What reality ? :lol :lol

FateBreaker · Jun 28, 2008

WrikaWrek said:
It's one of those things. I hope that MS believes enough in the success of their next games, because the games were good, and maybe it was the marketing that didn't succeed.

Oh come on, man. Microsoft marketed Lost Odyssey pretty damn well here. That has nothing to do with it.

Also, source for $40 million budget for both games? Not that I doubt you. I've heard it before, but I'd like to pinpoint where this information comes from.

duckroll · Jun 28, 2008

Quazar said:
I agree, but that wasn't exactly posted above.

Honestly, who knows what MS is looking at(long term/short term) but I'm glad they're taking those chances people asked for last gen now with the 360.

Oh, I love how MS took those chances too. With BD, LO and IU, I'm very sure that if not for MS' "moneyhats" the games probably won't exist. Game > no game. I'm just rather concerned at how long Mistwalker can keep going like this. Hopefully their upcoming games start selling well. LO did pretty well, all things considered, so with the right marketing push, if Cry On isn't a dud it should do pretty well. Action RPGs connect better with gamers these days anyway.

inertiatic · Jun 28, 2008

Guys, not jumping to conclusions or anything, but I think Mistwalker kidnapped MassiveAttack's mother.

CowboyAstronaut · Jun 28, 2008

I'm so happy to hear this. I want these guy to continue making games for as long as possible.

Their presence this generation has really made things a lot more interesting. Microsoft better continue tossing money their way and one other thing.

I hear the owner of AQ is Bill Gates level rich or at least pretty far up there? If that's the case I don't think Sakaguchi will stop finding ways to get that extra bit of money to make a big project.

WrikaWrek · Jun 28, 2008

FateBreaker said:
Oh come on, man. Microsoft marketed Lost Odyssey pretty damn well here. That has nothing to do with it.

Also, source for $40 million budget for both games? Not that I doubt you. I've heard it before, but I'd like to pinpoint where this information comes from.

I don't have a link folder where i keep things saved. It goes back to when MS announced the partnership with Mistwalker.

At least it's a number that was thrown around by people, i believe BlimBlim(i might be wrong) also talked about it here back then.

I'll take that number to some "massive, and i mean massive" post from somebody who clearly wouldn't even know which number to attach to his own claim.

And all things considered, Lost Odyssey couldn't have done much worse than say Uncharted/Ratchet and clank, and Uncharted is already getting a sequel.

Franchises have the ability to grow, Lost Odyssey was the 1st, i hope MS doesn't waste the opportunity.

Hellboy got a sequel, so things can happen.

Majmun · Jun 28, 2008

As long as they continue with the Lost Odyssey franchise otherwise I'll become very bitter.

CowboyAstronaut · Jun 28, 2008

It also sounds to me, from that blog post anyway, that Sakaguchi has another wave of big titles coming.

thebagofsand · Jun 28, 2008

I really hope Blue Dragon Plus sells well. I want more MW games, but I'm getting a bad feeling about the company's future.

Zonar · Jun 28, 2008

Mistwalker said:
That makes two of us...

make that 3

APZonerunner · Jun 28, 2008

I'm happy. As far as I'm concerned, Lost Odyssey was the Final Fantasy XII that would've beem made by the old Square (before Sakaguchi, Uematsu etc left and Nomura took the front role) and I loved it. It was old fashioned, but that was why I loved it.

Blue Dragon wasn't really my cup of tea, but it was still a wonderfully well produced game, if too easy. And it actually added some features that were relatively new to RPGs that I'd like to see again (defeating enemies outside of battles, wild monsters attacking each other/ganging up on you).. it was good.

Give 'em more money. Even if they didn't sell well in Japan, they sold relatively well worldwide (especially in the case of Lost Odyssey), and the more they release, the better they'll sell. They're damn good games. Do people like MassiveAttack want less good games released?

If we take his undoubted personal emotions out of the picture, if Lost Odyssey was on the PS3 as well as Xbox and had the same marketing budget, I reckon it would've been a massive seller. Massive. Then again, with a Nomura-FF loving avatar, that might be more upsetting than not.

I love Final Fantasy, I do - I bought a PS3 for FF13 (and GT/Time Crisis) - but damn, these guys have been making some really good games. I don't get the hate. Keep giving them money.

As for this concept they're working on, Sakaguchi's original FF7 concept was revolving around a detective agency in a near-future steampunk New York style city. This eventually evolved into the city becoming Midgar, and the detectives became AVALANCHE. But this idea is one we're aware of that fits into the time period.

Then again, they started FF7 over like four times thanks to the platform swaps (SNES/N64/PS1) so it could be something we've never seen before, like whatever the SNES version was.

Alex · Jun 28, 2008

I swear I remember reading in some interview that LO had passed 700k world wide. That seems pretty good to me, but I dont know much about sales numbers.

Paznos · Jun 28, 2008

I enjoyed Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey so can't wait to see what else they release.

Quazar · Jun 28, 2008

FateBreaker said:
Oh come on, man. Microsoft marketed Lost Odyssey pretty damn well here. That has nothing to do with it.

Also, source for $40 million budget for both games? Not that I doubt you. I've heard it before, but I'd like to pinpoint where this information comes from.

AFAIK their is no source. I've looked and never found anything.

duckroll said:
Oh, I love how MS took those chances too. With BD, LO and IU, I'm very sure that if not for MS' "moneyhats" the games probably won't exist. Game > no game. I'm just rather concerned at how long Mistwalker can keep going like this. Hopefully their upcoming games start selling well. LO did pretty well, all things considered, so with the right marketing push, if Cry On isn't a dud it should do pretty well. Action RPGs connect better with gamers these days anyway.

They sure do, just not sure CO myself will tbh. :lol

But do we really need to bring up MWs future in every "MW is working on a new project thread?"(Or similar threads) That seems like a topic for a future thread when we don't hear shit about MW in months/year(s). As long as the games are coming, could care less how much Sakaguchi is banking.

Alex said:
I swear I remember reading in some interview that LO had passed 700k world wide. That seems pretty good to me, but I dont know much about sales numbers.

I'd say that's a good estimate and definitely not the tragedy BD was.(sales)

FateBreaker · Jun 28, 2008

Alex said:
I swear I remember reading in some interview that LO had passed 700k world wide. That seems pretty good to me, but I dont know much about sales numbers.

I remember hearing it on Wikipedia. (That's not saying much, but that's where I saw it.)

tehbear · Jun 28, 2008

All hail MS money hats. You know you wish Sony had any money to hat on RPGs cause this genre is dying on consoles and you wouldn't be playing shit without the said money arriving inside of a hat to these devs. MS may lose money on these RPGs, but who else is really trying to jumpstart this shit at THIS POINT?

Alex · Jun 28, 2008

It's a slower start this gen, but I really don't think it's dying. There's a pretty fair chunk of JRPG's I want spread across 360 and PS3. Even a few on Wii.

The big difference is that there is no PS2 anymore. No all-in-one machine. I think the early generation stuff is pretty good this time around. I love LO. Enjoy BD and ES as well. And although it's an abnormal, I love Culdcept so Culdcept Saga is a great thing for me too.

Aug-Sept brings Vesperia/Disgaea/Mother fuckin' Infinite Undiscovery. Good times.

TheOddOne · Jun 28, 2008

I think microsoft helped jump-start Mistwalker didn't they?

gregor7777 · Jun 28, 2008

Very cool...LO turned me into a big fan of MW. I hope they can continue to make games for a long time.

Mamesj · Jun 28, 2008

LO being on UE3 probably helped save a lot of money.

Quazar · Jun 28, 2008

Alex said:
It's a slower start this gen, but I really don't think it's dying. There's a pretty fair chunk of JRPG's I want spread across 360 and PS3. Even a few on Wii.

The big difference is that there is no PS2 anymore. No all-in-one machine. I think the early generation stuff is pretty good this time around. I love LO. Enjoy BD and ES as well. And although it's an abnormal, I love Culdcept so Culdcept Saga is a great thing for me too.

Aug-Sept brings Vesperia/Disgaea/Mother fuckin' Infinite Undiscovery. Good times.

And maybe a late LR release. December maybe? Than next year we got FFXIII and SO4.(And most likely MW games) What's going on with WKC?

And that's excluding WRPGs.

Alex · Jun 28, 2008

Quazar said:
And maybe a late LR release. December maybe? Than next year we got FFXIII and SO4.(And most likely MW games) What's going on with WKC?

And that's excluding WRPGs.

Valkyria in November too. I don't think LR has a chance in hell of making 2008 though.

CowboyAstronaut · Jun 28, 2008

Man one of the things I want most out of E3 is to friggin see Star Ocean 4 in motion!

duckroll · Jun 28, 2008

Quazar said:
But do we really need to bring up MWs future in every "MW is working on a new project thread?"(Or similar threads) That seems like a topic for a future thread when we don't hear shit about MW in months/year(s). As long as the games are coming, could care less how much Sakaguchi is banking.

Actually, I already made that thread! We can just bump it again if we don't hear from them by next year! :lol

Quazar · Jun 28, 2008

CowboyAstronaut said:
Man one of the things I want most out of E3 is to friggin see Star Ocean 4 in motion!

Indeed. Wouldn't mind a teaser trailer from MW though.

And I guess I'm not the only one doubting LR in 08.

duckroll said:
Actually, I already made that thread! We can just bump it again if we don't hear from them by next year! :lol

Yea, I remember that thread. Was going to say just didn't feel like going back and retyping. :lol :lol

BTW where the hell is ethelred, what'd you do to him Duckroll?

duckroll · Jun 28, 2008

Quazar said:
BTW where the hell is ethelred, what'd you do to him Duckroll?

He left GAF.

Mr Killemgood · Jun 28, 2008

Too........Addicted to Lost Odyssey........Must buy every MW game out there in hopes it comes to 360...

And for the record, LO + BD, from what I've seen have shipped *roughly* 1.5m copies between the 2. I think that's good enough to keep Microsoft interested in moneyhatting them. After all, if MS pays them, then the studio isn't doing poorly.

CowboyAstronaut · Jun 28, 2008

Quazar said:
Indeed. Wouldn't mind a teaser trailer from MW though.

And I guess I'm not the only one doubting LR in 08.

Yea, I remember that thread. Was going to say just didn't feel like going back and retyping. :lol :lol

BTW where the hell is ethelred, what'd you do to him Duckroll?

I wouldn't mind that at all!

Beezy · Jun 28, 2008

duckroll said:
He left GAF.

seriously?

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