S-E CEO told that fans want Mana/SD5!

[bastian]

http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=158419

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, Square Enix producer/artist Tetsuya Nomura, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada and Metal Gear art director Yoji Shinkawa all decided to have dinner together. They shared with each other Tweets that fans sent in. One fan said: "Tell Wada I'm waiting for Seiken Densetsu/Secret of Mana 5."

Thank goodness SOMEONE is telling the CEO of SE that fans want more Mana!

[Kassidy]

- Kojima asked Square-Enix to remake Final Fantasy VII, as requested by a fan on his Twitter
- Kojima also passed on the following tweets from his fans
"Hurry up and release Kingdom Hearts 3D"
"I know it's tough for Square Enix, but you can do it!"
"Tell Wada I'm waiting for Seiken Densetsu/Secret of Mana 5."

So let's see...

Kingdom Hearts on a new 3D platform...
Final Fantasy remake that's been drooled over for years...
Seiken Densetsu, the currently rather unpopular franchise...

Can you guess how he'll prioritise those?

But yes, good to know that these tidbits are making it to the top.

[Duran]

Seeing as how's its S-E we're talking about, they're going to go with the FF7 remake first, since that franchise is pretty much their cash cow and FF7 sold so much in unnecessary spin-offs and movies.

Kingdom Hearts will b second since that's going the way of Final Fantasy.

Seiken Densetsu...we'll see a new one...if we're lucky.

[Dr. Sheexy]

Seiken Densetsu...we'll see a new one...if we're lucky.

Or if we're unlucky and it follows in the footsteps of the last couple games.

[bastian]

Sheexy makes a scary point. However... I think that if we do get a new Mana in the future, it might not suffer from the failure of the World of Mana because, well, I think S-E learned from that mistake. And also, I really think--as much as I respect the guy in general--that Ihii was the cause of all the weirdness in the World of Mana stuff. From the interviews I read, it seemed he was MUCH more interested in trying to create brand new gameplay elements than actually create Mana games. And I wasn't surprised that his first post-SquareEnix project at his own studio was a game that tried too hard to reinvent the wheel as far as action RPGs go (Line Attack Heroes).

Long rant short: I hate to say it, but I think Ishii not being involved might be just what Mana needs to return to its roots.

But anyway, I'm just glad that SOMEONE told the CEO of SE that we want more Mana. I'm surprised it got mentioned at all!

[Duran]

Seiken Densetsu...we'll see a new one...if we're lucky.

Or if we're unlucky and it follows in the footsteps of the last couple games.

Again...we'll see a new GAME...if we're lucky.

We'll see a GOOD game...probably never.

[gamekrazzy]

Well... It is a garantee that if we see a new game, it will never top the classics. I am honestly hoping that they would try and keep things simple, and to be honest if they went back to the routes fully, allowed the story progression fully on the player, and kept the game very similar to SD2, I believe that it would be a good game. All the franchise would need is a good review and thus they would have a domino affect, except in a good way.

[bastian]

I'm with gamekrazzy: I think that if they simply returned to the basics (SD2/SD3) then we could get a great Mana game again. And with Ishii and his "revolutionary" gameplay obsessions gone, we might get one. Some day.

[ReasonsUnknown]

None of the Mana games played that same; some had a little similarity, mostly with the ring menu system, but they were all played differently for the most part. Most of us would like a game that plays similarly to SoM or SD3, or if you're like me maybe even one like LoM or SD1, but that's never happened before. The first four (arguably 3, but forget you I like LoM) were just different and good.

But that was all because of Ishii didn't want to do anything the same way twice, which is almost the exact opposite of what Square does. They find something that works and rolls with it (FFXI - XIV aside). If we are ever to get a new Mana game it will most likely, now that Ishii is gone, be in the form of what Square believes are the most popular ones, SoM and SD3 presumably.

One might argue that Square will try some experimentation like the recent FF, but the two franchises are not the same. Another bad SD game will not be considered good for different reasons, it'll just be bad with a minority of or maybe no people liking them.

EDIT: I reread what I wrote and agree so I'll just leave this here, but I realize I never touched on what my point was. But I don't remember what the point was... hahaha... ahh.

[bastian]

When I think "Mana" I think of Secret of. And then SD3. Heck, even Sword is very close in gameplay and style to those two. Legend feels like it is its own thing entirely. Children is like a dumbed down SoM/SD3/Sword but with a silly (and irksome) physics gimmick. Dawn is the weird balck sheep 3D action game. And let's not even talk about Heroes.

The thing is, I think Mana piqued at SD3. After that point, Ishii seemed obsessed with the idea of reinventing the wheel, when really all most people wanted was more SoM/SD3. Yeah, lots of people liked his "lots of little fairytales" gimmick that was Legend of Mana, but I didn't, so much. Each of his gimmicks from Legend on seemed to me to be transparent and obvious for what they were: gimmicks. They didn't better or improve upon SoM/SD3 at all.

I feel like after the World of Mana gimmick explosion, SE might be ready to return to Mana's roots.

[ReasonsUnknown]

The kind of Mana people have been wanting the most are the free-roaming action RPGs. The reason SoM, SD3, and even SwoM feel so closely knit is the fact that you run around a world map and fight in real time, which in my opinion is the best. The systems themselves are very different, SoM you level up your weapons and magic for each character, SD3 had the in depth class system, and SwoM combined the weapon/magic leveling of SoM and the equipment forging of LoM. So Mana is essentially a great story, while you run around and bash local forest and fauna in the face, with a varying system depending on which one you're playing.

I had fun with Children's combat, but the dungeon crawling was no replacement for a world to explore, the chapter system in Dawn made me feel too confined, and even though SRPGs are one of my favorite genres... Heroes just wasn't a good SRPG... dat pathfinding.

I understand why you feel LoM is too disconnected and gimmicky, and that's fine. But I also believe that something is gimmicky only to those who don't enjoy the feature and would prefer something else. For example, I don't like the motion controlled gaming of the Wii, Move, or Kinect and I find them gimmicky, but a lot of people love them for the exact reasons I find them gimmicky. For me, since I had fun with these gimmicks they were more fun features.

But I just got really off topic. Back on topic, I was thinking about Kassidy's prioritization list and it looks like it pretty much hit the nail on the head. But I feeling that if SE were going to ever make a VII remake, they would've done it by now. It's not like this is the first time SE has heard this plea, VII fans are pretty loud. And it's not like they never will, but at the same time they aren't going to go "OH, one of our CEOs heard that our fans want a VII remake, we have to get on that right now!!" Because they know they want it and have been asking for it since the PS3 dropped years ago. Same with KH3D they know people are going to want that whether or not the fans ask them, but it's important that SE is reminded of SoM/SD every once in a while, especially now that the disappointment factor of Ishii is gone.

tl;dr - explained how SoM/SD3/SwoM seem the same when they're different, and then got back on topic.

[nick912012]

1) I haven't been to this website in awhile.

2) I come back and see this. Now I'm kinda hyping E3. Hopefully Square has something for it. Probably not, but I can dream!

[Kassidy]

Square's E3 line-up:

• TOMB RAIDER®, from Redwood City-based studio Crystal Dynamics®, ratchets up the intensity and takes gamers into the world of Lara Croft as they have never seen before.
• A new tale continues the story of FINAL FANTASY® XIII. With new characters come new destinies in FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, which will be playable for the first time at E3.
• Gaming in 2011 gets augmented with DEUS EX®: HUMAN REVOLUTION™ from Eidos- Montréal, marking the series’ triumphant return.
• Agent 47™ takes on his most dangerous contract to date in HITMAN® ABSOLUTION™ from IO Interactive A/S.
• The island of Banoi may seem like paradise — until players realize they are among a handful of survivors of a zombie outbreak in DEAD ISLAND™ from Deep Silver.
• Obsidian Entertainment’s DUNGEON SIEGE® III offers intuitive action gameplay, a robust RPG system with an extensive selection of abilities, an endless variety of loot and an engaging storyline.
• WAKFU® is a fantasy MMO adventure with a tactical combat system and a unique anime style from Ankama Studio.
• HEROES OF RUIN™ is a brand new adventure for the Nintendo 3DS™ featuring a lineup of unlikely heroes and deep social functionality.

[Kimiko]

I've played Dofus for months and Wakfu for a few days, and they're nice MMOs. I hope the collaboration with Squeenix works out well for Ankama.

[Duran]

Square's E3 line-up:

• TOMB RAIDER®, from Redwood City-based studio Crystal Dynamics®, ratchets up the intensity and takes gamers into the world of Lara Croft as they have never seen before.
• A new tale continues the story of FINAL FANTASY® XIII. With new characters come new destinies in FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, which will be playable for the first time at E3.
• Gaming in 2011 gets augmented with DEUS EX®: HUMAN REVOLUTION™ from Eidos- Montréal, marking the series’ triumphant return.
• Agent 47™ takes on his most dangerous contract to date in HITMAN® ABSOLUTION™ from IO Interactive A/S.
• The island of Banoi may seem like paradise — until players realize they are among a handful of survivors of a zombie outbreak in DEAD ISLAND™ from Deep Silver.
• Obsidian Entertainment’s DUNGEON SIEGE® III offers intuitive action gameplay, a robust RPG system with an extensive selection of abilities, an endless variety of loot and an engaging storyline.
• WAKFU® is a fantasy MMO adventure with a tactical combat system and a unique anime style from Ankama Studio.
• HEROES OF RUIN™ is a brand new adventure for the Nintendo 3DS™ featuring a lineup of unlikely heroes and deep social functionality.

I was actually shocked that Squeenix wasn't hyping up FFXIII-2 as much as the others.