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Messages - quintin3265

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Site Updates / Re: Videos Part 2 & 3 & Other Comment
« on: June 01, 2009, 06:33:38 pm »
So Robo sleeps on the floor instead...

That happens in CT too, depending on what Inns you choose to sleep in (Current theory: Robo knows his own weight and can scan beds for stability! :lol:)...

To do my little part, I sold Star Ocean: The Last Hope, thus depriving Square of revenue from a prospective buyer of a new copy, have posted about this incident in many other forums, have made reference to it at Amazon, Pricegrabber, and elsewhere, and won't be buying games from them in the future.

That doesn't deprive them of revenue, because the middle-man (i.e. game stores) buys them first, so those are the only people you're really depriving of any moneys. All that does is mess with their records on what games are popular and thus the only real impact would probably be of making them less likely to further w/e series you're doing that for...Though now-a-days I'm sure they have ways of tracking returns and re-sales...I also don't see what not buying games from them would do...Especially since I have my doubts as to whether or not SE Japan even has a clue this happened (I've said before that it stinks more of over-reactionary American legal politics)...certainly SE's development teams didn't know or have a hand in this...why punish them for something the American legal team did?

To all with similar notions, I say this: Take your frustrations out by making a fan-creation of your own of some kind! It doesn't have to be a fancy hack or game mod, but a fanfic or fanart! Get some of that Springtime of Youth ZeaLitY's always preaching!

Well, but it all moves up the chain.  I sold it on eBay, so that means that there was one fewer person who bought the game from a retail outlet, which means that the retail outlet will either buy less product because they are overstocked, or will lower their orders by one unit for future Square games.

I agree that it's a good idea to create things of your own when frustrated - I created an entire video game music site.  But I'm saying that you shouldn't create anything that has to do with Square.  There are plenty of other ideas out there, so create something that's original or from a different company's series.

Also, I'm not sure that it's relevant which branches of Square knew about the letter.  If the Japanese branch didn't know and disapproved of the letter after it was sent, then it's their fault for not keeping their employees in line.

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Site Updates / Re: Videos Part 2 & 3 & Other Comment
« on: June 01, 2009, 01:17:13 pm »
I have to give you guys credit for how well you seem to be taking everything that's happening.  I might not have reacted so well in the same situation.

I'm wondering, though, why you're even bothering at all to have anything to do with Square Enix.  The videos that you're posting and the news that's being put out is only exposing more people to the Chrono Trigger universe.  People might watch those videos and say "Hey, if this game is so good, then maybe the original was even better!" and go buy the game.  You're effectively providing free advertising for them.

In fact, if I were running a site like this, I might take the entire site offline and encourage as many webmasters who have anything to do with Square Enix as possible to do the same.  All the FAQs, art, and so on is encouraging people to play Square's games and providing them free publicity.  And even if they use emulators to play the original SNES games or borrow a friend's copy, you are still promoting brand recognition for when Final Fantasy 13 comes around.  To do my little part, I sold Star Ocean: The Last Hope, thus depriving Square of revenue from a prospective buyer of a new copy, have posted about this incident in many other forums, have made reference to it at Amazon, Pricegrabber, and elsewhere, and won't be buying games from them in the future.

Sure, things are past the point where you can expect Square Enix to change their mind.  But you should be mad as hell that Square did what they did, and should be taking every possible step to make a statement that such treatment of their customers is not acceptable and that it will impact their future revenue stream.  Don't just get mad - get even.

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Someone above criticized me for saying that I'm some sort of "Internet zombie" who just comes to forums and attacks others.  What I was trying to do is to get people to look at the money.  Hopefully people won't take the wrong impression off what I'm about to say and will look solely at the numbers, which is the point of this post.

A software engineer I know makes $68,000/yr, far more than anyone should reasonably make, and I'll assume that's the going rate for a software engineer.  He is incredibly, incredibly lucky in that money doesn't mean all that much to him, and he doesn't want to waste it on things he don't need.  He saves 50% of income.  Nobody should need that kind of money "just to survive."

Someone who is able to create a game like this is obviously far more talented than he is, so the developers here could work for an even higher salary.  They put four years into the game.  But if you do the math, four years of work is worth more than $150,000 just in excess income alone, even if the fine were guaranteed to be set at that maximum amount.  So when I say that they should consider taking a risk (but not daring Square to sue outright, which is a sure way to lose), you need to look at their financial situation, not your situation or the situation of someone who is less fortunate.  If I had that kind of talent, a lawsuit like that isn't even going to cause bankruptcy, assuming that the money hasn't been wasted on luxury cars or enormous houses.  They could still live comfortably even if the worst happened.

To most people here, the money is a big deal.  But to people whose skills are so valuable, money doesn't mean as much to them.  What would you rather do - buy a Jaguar, or take a chance and release something that you love and spent 8,000 hours working on?

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Site Updates / Re: Archive of VGMixes
« on: May 20, 2009, 06:03:37 pm »
While this might sound like spam, I have created a replacement for VGMix at http://www.remixsite.org/ if anyone is interested in contributing.  My goal is to keep the site simple and rock solid.  Even if it doesn't have all the RPG features that were planned for VGMix, it will definitely allow people to share songs with each other.

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Hi,

I heard about this situation through the game music community and had to register to say that I completely support the project.  I will not be buying a game from Square Enix again.  Their behavior with this issue was appalling, and their games are so buggy that they are unplayable.  I sold my copy of Star Ocean: The Last Hope because the game is unplayable.  There is a showstopping bug that crashed every time I beat a boss necessary to progress the story.  What kind of incompetent people does this company hire that they can't resolve a fully reproducible bug and that they would shut down a fan project that would provide lots of free exposure for their own upcoming Chrono Trigger releases?

First, I read through this thread and I noticed a few inconsistencies with what's being said here.  As far as I can tell, the game code has been "destroyed."  Even if it wasn't really destroyed and actually is archived somewhere, any "negotiation" with Square would be an admission of guilt, because the game's code no longer officially exists.  There is no way that this project will ever see the light of day again even if both sides want it to go on, because someone would have to admit guilt.

On the other hand, while I won't be buying Square games anymore, I disagree that the author is "risking his life" over the project.  First, this is likely a civil and not a criminal matter, so only money is at stake, not anybody's life or even jail time.  Second, if the code still "existed," taking the case to court, no matter the outcome, would have risen the profile of the project so high that either outcome would be very negative to Square, just like Microsoft backed down after refusing a refund for an academic copy of Windows.  I'm sorry to say that I do think this is an act of cowardice, even though everyone says it isn't.  Whoever wrote the first line of code should have decided to either follow the project through to the end, or to not start at all.

Finally, why didn't anyone think of offering to sell the game to Square when the letter was received?  They might have been willing to pay a hefty sum for all that work.  Everyone would have won - the company gets a great game to put out on the virtual consoles, the contributors make money, and the game gets lots of players.

-Steve
http://www.remixsite.org/

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