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Post by toei on Feb 16, 2021 22:58:46 GMT -5
And if they don't want to make an official sequel, make it a spiritual one and call it Vagabond Tale or something.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 17, 2021 10:29:05 GMT -5
At this rate, a lot of older Japanese designers seem to get sidelined. I wonder if they often just end up taking a board type role when their seniority stacks up over the years? More pay and security... but say goodbye to your creative freedom. It seemed like Kojima was one of the rare ones that could work on AAA projects while taking his precious time a lot, 30 some years at Konami. So that makes him awesome in a way to me.
But I guess it's similar in the Western sphere. A lot of classic designers like your Tom Hall's or whatever, seem like they kind of fall back on smaller studios later in life so they can have fun actually designing and working on the creative process. Same with some Japanese designers thesedays, Iga, the Suikoden creator, etc...
Just baffles me to see people like Matsuno disappear for years and years when we're being robbed of some great games people like him could still be cooking up. It was so depressing when I looked at Mystwalker's official website a few years ago and it looked like it just turned into Hironobu Sakaguchi's flower blog. Pains me to see people like him resorted to phone game development in the modern eras.
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Post by Ex on Feb 17, 2021 10:54:22 GMT -5
At this rate, a lot of older Japanese designers seem to get sidelined. I wonder if they often just end up taking a board type role when their seniority stacks up over the years? I've read before that in Japanese business culture, it's tradition that younger talent eventually moves into management, regardless of how good they were at what they were originally hired to do. It's just "expected" as normal career advancement. I don't agree with the concept, but I'm not Japanese either. I think the experience of directing FF12 really, really burned Matsuno out hard. He's such a perfectionist that a huge project like that was all consuming. I'm not sure if he really retired from FF12 due to health reasons (exhaustion) or if upper management removed him, because he was taking too long to finish the project due to his perfectionism. Either way, after FF12, Matsuno has never been the same. Although, I did enjoy Crimson Shroud a fair bit, I think Matsuno still has the skills when he's given the chance to do something. Mistwalker started strong bolstered by Microsoft money, with AAA efforts like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Unfortunately those new IPs didn't catch on, along with other projects like ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat and The Last Story. I don't think the failure of those new IPs to become popular was due to lack of quality, so much as it demonstrates just how hard it is to create a popular new IP that spawns sequels. Sakaguchi has always been a very ambitious creator, and I respect him quite a bit. But the world of video games has changed dramatically since his glory days, and just because you can get a studio together and make a quality video game, doesn't mean a fickle demographic spoiled for choice and beholden to legacy IPs is gonna care.
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Post by toei on Feb 17, 2021 12:57:12 GMT -5
Yes, lots of devs move into management over time. I have no idea what the pay structure of Japanese games companies is like, but that's another thing to consider. Even if you want to keep making games, maybe you get old enough that you can't deal with being broke anymore. It's very common for developers to leave a big company and start their own in Japan, too, probably even more so than in the West. It seems like the two options once you've been in the industry for long; become a manager or start your company.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 17, 2021 14:00:42 GMT -5
Mistwalker started strong bolstered by Microsoft money, with AAA efforts like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Unfortunately those new IPs didn't catch on, along with other projects like ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat and The Last Story. I don't think the failure of those new IPs to become popular was due to lack of quality, so much as it demonstrates just how hard it is to create a popular new IP that spawns sequels. Sakaguchi has always been a very ambitious creator, and I respect him quite a bit. But the world of video games has changed dramatically since his glory days, and just because you can get a studio together and make a quality video game, doesn't mean a fickle demographic spoiled for choice and beholden to legacy IPs is gonna care. Kind of extra depressing to think about, since I believe if a lot of those games came out today, they would have gotten a lot more attention now. JRPG's and Japanese games are pretty hot again and doing well. But mid 2000's was the AAA bro shooter era, "nobody wanted turn based JRPG's" according to all the annoying journalists, and 99% of Japan didn't give a crap about the Xbox so getting Japanese exclusives on that platform was suicide. A lot of... wrong place at the wrong time. BAD luck!
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Post by Sarge on Feb 17, 2021 14:20:36 GMT -5
Game design is really hard work. Staying down in the trenches like that has to take a toll, no matter how much you love what you do. As Ex points out, if Matsuno is quite the perfectionist, that eventually manifests in personal health and well-being. I actually do think it's good that some of the creative minds move up to a much more supervisory role, providing guidance here and there, and letting the young guns learn and strut their stuff. Basically, I suspect the industry works best when you've got a nice mix of experienced old hands and young, passionate youth.
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Post by Ex on Feb 17, 2021 14:35:09 GMT -5
Japan didn't give a crap about the Xbox so getting Japanese exclusives on that platform was suicide. It's true, unfortunately the deep pockets that Mistwalker pulled capital from, didn't have a strong foothold as a platform in Japan. Thus Mistwalker's most expensive AAA releases were ignored by Japan, and as you pointed out, at that time grey & brown dudebro cover shooters were all the rage in the west. Right games, wrong places, wrong time. If Microsoft didn't own the IPs to Mistwalker's biggest games, they'd be prime Switch port ideas. Game design is really hard work. Video game development is hard work. I say that not just as someone who's watched it from the sidelines over the years, but also as someone who's made some small (crappy) video games myself. Frankly, video game development is a young man's job. Being a married man, with kids, and a lot of responsibilities, doesn't cohabitate well with long grindy hours of game development seven days a week. Plus the older you get, the less energy you have, that's just biology man. I do think it behooves older designers to act as influential producers though. I mean really keeping an eye on, and having a say in, the games their understaff are developing. Guiding the ship so to speak.
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