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Konami's fall from grace
- Thread starter IrishNinja
- Start date
sechsterangriff
Member
Their role in Castlevania was more in line with supervision than anything else.
I believe that's like asking Infinity Ward or Treyarch to do something in addition to Call of Duty. It's not so simple.
Also we don't know what other projects they might have been working on that never saw the light od day. For example, let's not forget that part of their team just wasted a lot of time with MGS: Rising.
I think that until now they didn't really have the resources (or didn't use them effeciently) to have a constant flow of both new and estabished IP games. Maybe with the completion of FOX Engine and the new LA studio things will change.
youngwerther
Banned
Free Iga
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
Their fall from grace can be largely contributed to their incredible dependency towards Kojima and everything he creates, Metal Gear especially.
The ironic thing is I am not even sure that is something the man even wants.
The ironic thing is I am not even sure that is something the man even wants.
sechsterangriff
Member
He probably has an office/desk in a basement somewhere...
Kojima is on the board of Konami as well as being a vice president of Konami Digital Entertainment, so why would he want to leave?
Uncle Rupee
Banned
Taking a much-deserved break.
Maybe if he takes a few years off, the next game he makes will have some new ideas.
I have a love-hate relationship with the guy. On the one hand, he wears a cowboy hat and has made some amazing games.
On the other, he shat the proverbial 3D bed and only recycles his past successes in 2D.
encephalon
Member
Before Hudson had given up, too.
Playing facebook games.
witchedwiz
Member
as a gamer I'm asking konami..
ok mgs is fancy but...
pes stopped being relevant....
silent hill, once great, hasn't had any WORTHY successor in age...
castlevania..
heck you had a SOLID franchise..
you even managed to diversify it and obtained a metroidvania branch (on portable) AND a gow-clone branch (lords of shadow)... and you managed to stall with both..... new 3ds iteration of metroidvania is NOT what fans expect from metroidvania... lords of shadow... you couldn't keep the momentum, and whilst platinum produced bayonetta--> vanquish --> anarchy reigns --> mg raising, konami left lords of shadow to its own device and will publish it someday during 2013...
suikoden....... suikoden 1 good, suikoden 2 GREAT, suikoden 3 different but good, suikoden IV meh, suikoden V good (for me at least), trierkais decent, web of the century not even published....if they publish a suikoden VI without boasting "omg it's gonna be an AAAAAAAA title" but simply developing it and making it decent PLENTY of fan would get it... plus, if those damn japs learn how to work with a product that should be aimed at a wider audience and develops with internazionalization in mind, it would REALLY be about time... but this, is just a random rant...
what once was a great company is now but the remains of it... :/
ok mgs is fancy but...
pes stopped being relevant....
silent hill, once great, hasn't had any WORTHY successor in age...
castlevania..
heck you had a SOLID franchise..
you even managed to diversify it and obtained a metroidvania branch (on portable) AND a gow-clone branch (lords of shadow)... and you managed to stall with both..... new 3ds iteration of metroidvania is NOT what fans expect from metroidvania... lords of shadow... you couldn't keep the momentum, and whilst platinum produced bayonetta--> vanquish --> anarchy reigns --> mg raising, konami left lords of shadow to its own device and will publish it someday during 2013...
suikoden....... suikoden 1 good, suikoden 2 GREAT, suikoden 3 different but good, suikoden IV meh, suikoden V good (for me at least), trierkais decent, web of the century not even published....if they publish a suikoden VI without boasting "omg it's gonna be an AAAAAAAA title" but simply developing it and making it decent PLENTY of fan would get it... plus, if those damn japs learn how to work with a product that should be aimed at a wider audience and develops with internazionalization in mind, it would REALLY be about time... but this, is just a random rant...
what once was a great company is now but the remains of it... :/
encephalon
Member
The Kiseki series is plenty "historical"/"political" these days. If it were localized, I feel like Suikoden fans wouldn't have too much trouble jumping over.
zerokoolpsx
Member
Still waiting for Kojima to do something else besides another MGS game.
Suikoden is dead. No word on ZOE. Castlevania is an ugly stepchild. DDR is still kicking.
No new IP's.
They could bring back Rumble Roses. >_>
When will they bring back Contra?
Suikoden is dead. No word on ZOE. Castlevania is an ugly stepchild. DDR is still kicking.
No new IP's.
They could bring back Rumble Roses. >_>
When will they bring back Contra?
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
The biggest crime of Konami is killing Suikoden.
I will hate them forever because of that.
I will hate them forever because of that.
I've operated under this assumption for the better part of a year now, that Konami is a gymnasium proprietor first and a games company last.
We scratch and claw in desperation for Square Enix to regain relevance in the industry, but Konami? Yeah, not fighting that battle, I'm completely done with them.
ULTROS!
People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Me and Dark Schala already accepted the fact that Suikoden is dead, plus Konami is shit now it won't make the series any better.
If you want a good Suikoden-like game, I'd recommend Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time.
runnin_blue
Banned
With the recent anouncement that Pro Evo 2014 will use Fox Engine, hopefully it's an indicator that Konami have at least sorted this out.
But yeah, a lot pf people give Nintendo grief because they churn out their staple brands but look at Konami! I seriously could not care a shit for MGS anymore (and I used to love it).
No they killed goemon that is an even bigger offence.
ding ding ding
runnin_blue
Banned
BishopLamont
Banned
They died when mid-tier died and chose to bet it all on MGS and PES.
A big, big shame, diversity is the key to surviving in the industry.
A big, big shame, diversity is the key to surviving in the industry.
Kojima has way too much way power, obviously if he had it his way (which he seemingly is) then everything is gonna be on MGS. Which is why there's been so many MGS games, even if they did take relatively long.
leesmapman
Member
Iga isn't that great to begin with. He was assistant director for SotN and made one good Castlevania himself (AoS). All the other games were OK or even bad (HoD on GBA comes to mind). And I tried a few hours of Nano Breaker, that was not a nice time for me.
I'll never accept that Suikoden is dead, never! you hear me Konami? Be afraid, be very afraid
I don't think Suikoden can be substituted by any game, surely not by TRPG.
BishopLamont
Banned
Whats the story with this? They just dropped it for no reason?Never forget.
IrishNinja
Member
i know not everyone on GAF is a fan, but he really should be allowed one more game to tie up his Dracula War timeline...
i mean LOS kinda shat all over it anyway, but still
zerokoolpsx
Member
It's on management. They put the wrong people in charge. Konami used to be a good place to work at a few years ago, but not now.
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
Huh, really.
I am under the impression that he actually wanted to let go MGS universe but Konami wouldn't let him considering their seeming inability to make anything decent not MGS related.
I have it actually sitting somewhere unplayed. Maybe I should fire up my PSP to play it one of these days.
I don't think he has a problem with more MGS, as much as he doesn't have faith in his staff to work on the games without him. Which may be justified in the case of what happened with Rising, but still.
BishopLamont
Banned
Kojima is basically admitting he's hopeless outside of MGS then if thats the case, so I kinda doubt thats really it. They want to make MGS into a series basically, with spin-offs like Reveangance being of high quality. Konami and Kojima probably thinks thats the best way moving forward, considering the addition of the FOX engine and all.
Hours Left
Member
I know, that's part of the reason I'm really into it.
I hope XSEED makes some progress soon. I'm dying waiting for more.
Y'know, I've spent some time thinking about whether it'd be possible to make a decent 3D Contra by giving it to Insomniac and telling them to use the Ratchet & Clank model.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
The only games I ever bought from them were IGAvanias. Order of Ecclessia was soooo good. Having the series turn into Lords of Dogtown with no replacement essentially means that the series is dead to me.
It's times like this, I want a Vita so I can fill that void in my life with Guacamelee.
It's times like this, I want a Vita so I can fill that void in my life with Guacamelee.
IrishNinja
Member
that's an interesting take on it, but honestly? id love to see smaller AA titles from them, again Rebirth type stuff was excellent for me.
Sales and overall focus.
Enthusia was damn ahead of its time (still has some things that are better than other games in genre even 10 years later) and Konami even wanted to produce their own wheel for purpose of playing Enthusia.
But game has it set of own issues (mostly design-wise) that kept it from embrace by mainstream public (and reviews) so it mostly did well among very enthusiast (pun intended) crowd.
One of the best driving games in 1999-2009 decade, but unfortunately a victim of its own ambition and stellar success of Gran Turismo 4.
Worth noticing is how actual physics/mechanics/tyre model was the greatest thing about Enthusia together with real-life tracks and vehicle modelling. Enthusia still have the best virtual Automatic Gearbox ever in video-games and one of the greatest models of Nurburgring Nordschelife.
Also, this video pretty much demonstrates the nuances of great physics/tyre modelling.
Once Konami disassembled the EPR team, many of them moved to Polyphony Digital. Most important guy was Enthusia's Head of the Physics - Yutaka Ito - who joined PD during the Prologue development as main associate to Akihiko Tan (Tan is the mastermind of GT-series physics from the first game).
Star Falcon
Member
Yeah it's tragic. I still follow Metal Gear and Castlevania, but what happened to the rest of their franchises?
I can kinda see why Goemon might not be embraced by the audiences of today, but still - those were some of the most fun & amusing games i played whilst growing up.
I can kinda see why Goemon might not be embraced by the audiences of today, but still - those were some of the most fun & amusing games i played whilst growing up.
I'm new be nice
Member
Jim Sterling ripped into them pretty hard last year too. The company is fucked.
BishopLamont
Banned
Wow seems like this is the kinda game Konami/Kojima could nurture, big loss from them.
megashock5
Member
Agreed. Man, these guys were fantastic in the 8 and 16-bit eras.
Stiflers Mom
Banned
Yeah it's tragic. I still follow Metal Gear and Castlevania, but what happened to the rest of their franchises?
I can kinda see why Goemon might not be embraced by the audiences of today, but still - those were some of the most fun & amusing games i played whilst growing up.
I have been waiting since 1985 for a proper Yie-Ar-Kung-Fu sequel.
Believe!
Petrae
Member
Not to pile on, but it really is a shame to see Konami as little more than "The Metal Gear Company" after so many great years in the 8-bit and 16-bit generations, plus a fairly strong PlayStation lineup.
Sad to see Contra pretty much dead.
Lords of Shadow killed Castlevania for me.
They took only one stab at a shmup last gen.
DDR got run into the ground.
They've ignored opportunities with coin-op IPs
So Metal Gear is really all Konami's got, and I'm not really on board with a fifth game in the series after Mr. Kojima keeps insisting that he's done with it.
At least I can relive Konami's glory days on older consoles, but I'll always wonder what happened to one of the most prominent publishers in console video game history.
Sad to see Contra pretty much dead.
Lords of Shadow killed Castlevania for me.
They took only one stab at a shmup last gen.
DDR got run into the ground.
They've ignored opportunities with coin-op IPs
So Metal Gear is really all Konami's got, and I'm not really on board with a fifth game in the series after Mr. Kojima keeps insisting that he's done with it.
At least I can relive Konami's glory days on older consoles, but I'll always wonder what happened to one of the most prominent publishers in console video game history.
cj_iwakura
Member
Well, uh, they still make Beatmania games!
arcade only
IrishNinja
Member
Gradius Rebirth, or did i miss one?
Their music games are doing fine. Better than fine. There is always a line for Jubeat and Reflec Beat in the arcades i go to.
RPGCrazied
Member
They lost me when they totally forgot Suikoden.
It's a shame to see what happened to these guys. I was always a fan of theirs, but in recent years who know what happened. It's like they stopped caring about actually making games. Their franchises are down to either Castlevania, Metal Gear, or Silent Hill. What happened to their creativity? Somehow I doubt it's gonna get better.
DragonSworne
Banned
Konami's biggest problem is they let the completely useless Kojima take over so many resources and finances. He is sucking the company dry making lame projects.
Much like Miyamoto of Nintendo, Kojima is the kind of person that is poison to management leadership, freedom, and creativity.
Much like Miyamoto of Nintendo, Kojima is the kind of person that is poison to management leadership, freedom, and creativity.