i hear you Recrm, i am pretty much in perfect agreement. I already made a long rant elsewhere regarding most of the same topics, and I guess I got it out of my system before joining here soon after (I too have been a long time lurker, and a fan of the game since the original came out in 95).
Something's gotta give here with these companies, there's a real stalemate at the moment because it's not like new companies with real vision can claw their way into the market either - it's very very difficult. The ones with vision are tending to stick with fan projects, which is why it's especially a shame to have companies see these projects as a threat and not simply echoes of the good old days before advanced graphics, when the elements that got us hooked were a priority simply because there wasn't anything else at the time to distract the audience with - your game had to have considerable content beyond graphics or it simply wouldn't sell.
The times have changed, and sadly who knows what has to give before we see some revitalisation in the industry once again.
It has always been an ambition of mine to create something that impacts other people just as the idea of Chrono has impacted me. This is the same ambition that rests in every creator of every medium in the history of humanity. With this in mind I have begun creating my own creation.
yeah, me too. what's happened here has in a way made me even more determined to do what i can to show that if game developers aren't going to fill in the void veteran rpg gamers have had growing inside of them for years, we simply have to try and do it ourselves. and nothing should ever get in the way of that, because we wouldn't need to if things were like they were in the 90s again (don't get me wrong, i'd love to have games that combined 90s-quality gameplay with 2000s quality graphics, anyday).
i'm mainly someone who has a large interest in writing game music and if necessary, will work on a story, etc. to give it a context to try and "get my feet wet" a bit before building up a legitimate portfolio to approach developers with. i have a good amount of experiencing coding and would enjoy gaining some extra experience through such efforts, but mainly i am more inspired by mitsuda's music than even uematsu's, and i really want to take it to the next level beyond simply remixing. i don't want years of piano lessons, and even a degree in composition, to go to waste in this regard. i'll keep writing classical music for sure, but without working for a game company yet, to have a valid outlet for game-oriented compositions would be a dream come true for me.
and i guess that's what i mean... for many of us, we are interested in development, whether it be for hobby or more serious ambitions, and what better way to explore that interest than in some fan projects - it's just not reasonable to expect people to create their own world, characters, everything from scratch - no one will be able to relate to any of it so it's just too much to expect of someone who's not on salary or part of a large team. fan projects are simply the natural evolution of the desire to celebrate the awesomeness of a given world and its characters in the most fulfilling possible way... and i don't think there can be any real stopping it.
Chrono is about hope in a completely hopeless world. It is about a few small meaningless people deciding that the future can be better, and successfully beating an impossible foe. It is about a story that is not limited to time or reality. It breaks the barrier of the impossible and places it on the realm of the possible.
and this is the third major aspect of the situation. this is what sets the Chrono series apart from the rest for many of us. there are so many parallels between the Chrono world and the real world we can draw, that we can't really with other games. our real world really is on the brink of two very different outcomes. either we can get a grip on all the serious issues in todays world with the help of technology, successful globalization, avoiding disastrous war, natural disasters, man-made disasters, etc, or we can't. what we are each doing and how we are carrying ourselves really does make a difference in the outcome of things, no matter how insignificant we might think we are. it's an intricate web of butterfly effects between each and every one of us that determines what path the world takes.
one person writing words that inspires another can create a chain effect. so can one person writing words that makes another feel like things are hopeless.
there is so much more room in the chrono world for growth, more stories, developments, tangents, and fresh perspectives. if the original developers have recently more or less confirmed they will be abandoning it forever, it's inevitable that those who are convinced the chrono storyline cannot possibly be over already will time and time again attempt to fill in that void. those with the right talents, especially if they manage to find each other and team up, can continue to do amazing things with these characters, in these worlds.
and they will hopefully learn from the situations in the past, and take the appropriate measures to ensure the fan community protects its own interests, even if that means for some portions of it to go more or less completely underground.
the time will come when these portions can resurface once again, so that we may come together to celebrate the awesomeness of the Chrono world, and its uncanny parallels with these unusual times we live in ourselves, once more.
lunar7
