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Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / 2005- The year of C&Ds and deluded fans

« on: August 09, 2005, 03:49:30 am »

Firstly, I must commend ZeaLitY for the excellent editorial How NOT to get SE to make a CT sequel. After 2 (or 3) major projects getting shut down this year by SE's lawyer's C&D letters, I think it's time to clear out the issue about CT sequels, CC sequels, CB or any other Chrono title.
I have nowhere near the expertise on the Chrono series as the other players on this forum, but I share in an equal love of both titles. It saddens me however to see extremists popping up who are totally deluded and think SE's an evil corporate giant only willing to make Final Fantasies with progressively shorter skirts. Well, drawing on the interview with Masato Kato from the Procyon studios, I hope I can take the issue a little deeper. A note: I know the link was already posted, but here it is again http://www.cocoebiz.com/mitsuda/english/friends/kato.html

Why doesn't SE make another Chrono title? Both Masato Kato and Mitsuda left SE, and as Mr. Kato said:

For the company, there was probably a strong opposition against hiring a person who had just quit his job to become a freelance, but from our point of view, it didn't matter if he was a freelance or if he was an employee; we chose him because we needed that one and only "Chrono Sound".

Okay so there's the word 'probably' there, but Mr Kato obviously has strong feelings that he upset a few people at SE during the project of Chrono Cross. Throughout the interview (in 1999) he gives hints of his dissatisfaction of Square:

My feelings about SQUARE right now are ... Let's not go there right now... Well, there's no real deep meaning behind that, but...

I won't comment on this bit.. but about 2 or 3 years later, he left Square.

Now Mr Kato himself admitted that he wasn't the 'father' of CT, that he was just one of the story writers. But he contributed the 12000 BC age to the game. Imagine CT without Zeal. Isn't Zeal what makes Chrono Trigger? Well, even if you have other views, Zeal definitely makes CC.
Mr Kato doesn't show the amount of passion that some fans do. Take the quote about Chrono Cross:

OK. Since I may never have the chance to say this kind of thing anywhere else... I'll go ahead and say it. After the announcement of "Cross" this time, I heard a lot of voices out there that were saying things like, "Man, this isn't CHRONO". To tell you the truth, I was gravely disappointed. Yes, the platform changed; and yes, there were many parts that changed dramatically from the previous work. But in my view, the whole point in making Chrono Cross was to make a new Chrono with the best available skills and technologies of today. I never had any intentions of just taking the system from Trigger and moving it onto the PlayStation console. That's why I believe that Cross is Cross, and NOT Trigger 2. The thing that I can't understand is how could people possibly declare that this isn't Chrono? And for these people, I can't help but wonder what it was that Chrono meant to them...? Is it possible that none of the messages that I tried to send out to these people never really got through to them?

So even if we get a sequel, take this quote:

"there's no use in making something similar to before" so if possible, I'd like to work with him and take on something new and even wierder again. Of course we'll still keep whatever we feel needs to be kept unchanged, so no worries there.

Perhaps we won't get a Chrono sequel, if we get anything at all. What is Chrono? At the risk of being flamed, banished and burned at the stake, I believe what Mr. Kato himself believes (he stated this in a cNet interview): something innovative and new, utilising the technology of the day. Chrono Trigger was new, but people wanted the "same old" in Chrono Cross. What we all got was something entirely new- and that's what makes the Chrono series what it is. Love it or hate it, you'll end up loving it

So how does this tie in? Don't be deluded that online petitions and such attempts to get Square to make a sequel are going to get us what we all want.

First, there's the relationship between Yasonuri Mitsuda, Masato Kato and Square- these are pretty much essential ingredients for a Chrono game (well, many would say that the square part is debatable)
Then, there's the risk of SE being money-hungry corporate sleazebags and making a sequel... a rushed one that disgraces the series.
There's also the fact of the controversy of a new Chrono title: give fans another Chrono and they'll hate you for changing the characters, plot, storyline, etc.
Finally, Square owns the trademarks to the Chronos. Unless Masato Kato is asked to do another sequel or Square decides to risk another Chrono all on its own (will it be the same?), the future of an OFFICIAL Chrono game is bleak.

Perhaps we need to stop acting as if Chrono is some holier-than-thou game because that's not the approach the games were born out of. Remember the magic when you played it the first time, and look at the Chrono community now!

Well, the reason I posted was to get some other opinions. From the above, it's not too hard to derive that the situation is pretty complex, if not tense. There's too much of this 'SQUARE ENIX BETTER MAKE A SEQUEL OR I'M GONNA SUE THEM.... when I turn 18 that is...'. What are your thoughts- when do you think we'll see the next official Chrono game? Will we ever see one? Does anyone have any updates?

Cheers for reading,