NEW SUIKODEN ANNOUNCED BY KONAMI!!! (9-17-2011)

[Darkillumina]

If my argument that pirating leads to lost sales is weak so is the belief that pirating can lead to sales. People who pirate are more than likely never going to purchase the game at all. So at most the result is negligible. I never once stated that pirating will be the main reason this game will fail. However, when combined with an aging/dying system, lack of enthusiasm among owners of said system and the decline in interest in JRPGS you have a recipe for disaster.

That is all I am going to say on the pirating topic. We could spend 100 pages going back and forth on the issue of pirating but that has been done many times before. For me it is merely a factor that plays into the overall picture that was illustrated by many of the other posters. I actually support the pirates and their arguments for the most part but it can and will be a mitigating factor in the success or failure of this game in NA.

Now,

Suikoden V was released almost 6 years ago. A lot has changed since then. We have digital distribution platforms, console parity, and the decline of JRPGS. Suikoden V was an experiment that lacked the innovations we have today to push it. It was released at a crowded time in the ps2's life cycle and was easily overlooked. A digital push using innovative HD sprites and technology, and a low price point could go a long way in reviving interest in the franchise. Back in 05/06 Suikoden V was seen as using an antiquitated graphical style. Today it would be described as having a unique/throwback-like style. Times change.

Clunky sprites? Are you insane? Have you seen what HD sprites look like? Go download Street Fighter 2 HD remix. Clean HD sprites could potentially look like that.
Yes it would be preferable to have the game be in high quality 3D, but Konami would do so at a huge loss, as the sales would not justify the cost spent as the current marker conditions will attest. Again they are in it for the profit, not for our benefit. Clean HD sprites >>>>> clunky ps2 era graphics on the PsP.

Cutting edge graphics also cut into story as well even if the departments are not related. Go play FFXIII then go play any FF under X. Which ones had the better story? Many have argued that FFXIII wasted too much time on graphical quality at the expense of everything else.

Again. Suikoden V was released 5-6 years ago. A whole console generation has passed. Suikoden V is not an example to bring up when talking about the future direction of the series. A digital release would look nothing like Suikoden V.

Edit: Daoster posted right before me. I agree. If it is JP only it will sell decently enough as the PSP is still doing somewhat well in Japan. Only problem I foresee here is if they release it after Vita is released.

Edit 2: Not bad-mouthing Suikoden V. It was a great game.

[EstrangedIX]

Besides costing less, people buy games for iOS & Android because they already carry those devices everywhere anyway. Wouldn't it be great if people had the option to kill time playing a Suikoden title on their phones when they get tired of Angry Birds?

[Atma]

I hate all phone games, I'd rather keep my phone in one pocket and a PSP in the other.

[Xelinis]

I hate all phone games, I'd rather keep my phone in one pocket and a PSP in the other.

You clearly haven't played Chaos Rings.

[Rachael]

Viki will hate you for that

Oh. Well...It's okay if Viki does it.

[Rooks]

Well, I am old enough to remember the Virtual Boy game system made by Nintendo. When 3DS came out, I just thought: "wait, wait, I think I remember this one. . ." Sales have likely picked up for 3DS, but in all honesty I doubt the system will recover fully. You would think this opens the door for Sony, but perhaps the Vita will suffer the same fate. As far as phones, if I am not mistaken, Suikoden is available on the iPhone in Japan. I doubt that phone games can, as yet, offer the depth gamers are looking for. I do remember the Nokia Ngage, the first attempt at a cross phone and gaming platform. It did about as well as the Virtual Boy. Now the technology has come much further, but for people who appreciate complex games like us, real competition is still years away.

While I could talk all day about the economy, and how this could effect gaming, I will just say that we are in a precarious position -far more so than politicians are willing to admit- and if we do not turn things around soon we could see real damage done to the market for games. In my opinion, the situation is so dire that it might even cause systems and game series to fail irrespective of their merits. A few people have mentioned PS4 as though it were an inevitability, but in this climate, Mircosoft and Sony would have to be crazy to release new systems unless they can get them out within the next calendar year. I could be wrong, but that is my opinion.

[Piisuke]

The main issue I have with games on phones is the controls. None really work for me. I am not a fan of touch screen controls, cause I am used to pressing buttons. I played a few games from the Android market, but it is just not my thing.

As for the 3DS; I have mentioned the same about the Wii when that was first released and how it was all a hype. I'll say the same about the 3DS and 3D gaming/TV in general. Several people I spoke to that had bought a 3DS now switch off the 3D.

As for the PSP, the only logical choice would be, so far, that this game is Japan only. The PSP is not a viable platform in the Western and European markets. If they release it on the PSN, then it is a possibility, however, I think it should be made available to the PS3 as well then.

[0nimaru]

Just curious...but, who're these guys?

[Raww Le Klueze]

Guy on the right looks like Osamu Komuta, to the left of him Shingo Mukaitoge, and the fashion disaster looks like Yuki Amano.

The other seem like conférenciers. Note that these are all key people of Frontier Gate.

[Feldoon]

If my argument that pirating leads to lost sales is weak so is the belief that pirating can lead to sales. People who pirate are more than likely never going to purchase the game at all. So at most the result is negligible. I never once stated that pirating will be the main reason this game will fail. However, when combined with an aging/dying system, lack of enthusiasm among owners of said system and the decline in interest in JRPGS you have a recipe for disaster.

Oh I do not disagree that piracy is a negative and that "pirating = sales" is anything other than a weak argument. I was just stating my extreme displeasure of the argument that piracy is directly responsible for lack of sales.

Suikoden V was released almost 6 years ago. A lot has changed since then. We have digital distribution platforms, console parity, and the decline of JRPGS. Suikoden V was an experiment that lacked the innovations we have today to push it. It was released at a crowded time in the ps2's life cycle and was easily overlooked. A digital push using innovative HD sprites and technology, and a low price point could go a long way in reviving interest in the franchise. Back in 05/06 Suikoden V was seen as using an antiquitated graphical style. Today it would be described as having a unique/throwback-like style. Times change.

The phrase you're looking for is "aesthetic style". When developing a commercial game, a fair amount of effort should be put into the art design, definitely. A thoroughly designed aesthetic style is more likely to produce a more pleasing visual result at a lower quality (less triangles, lower resolution UV mapping) than a realistic aesthetic.

Clunky sprites? Are you insane? Have you seen what HD sprites look like? Go download Street Fighter 2 HD remix. Clean HD sprites could potentially look like that.
Yes it would be preferable to have the game be in high quality 3D, but Konami would do so at a huge loss, as the sales would not justify the cost spent as the current marker conditions will attest. Again they are in it for the profit, not for our benefit. Clean HD sprites >>>>> clunky ps2 era graphics on the PsP.

The sprites in the first two, whilst impressive for the limitations of the technology used at the time, are definitely "clunky" relative to the present. 480 vertical lines? So 1990s.

Nonetheless I would really be interested in your figures that show high resolution sprite artwork would be cheaper to produce than the equivalent low resolution 3D artwork, given aesthetic design would need to be thoroughly developed regardless.

Cutting edge graphics also cut into story as well even if the departments are not related. Go play FFXIII then go play any FF under X. Which ones had the better story? Many have argued that FFXIII wasted too much time on graphical quality at the expense of everything else.

What you're doing here is confusing a correlation with a causation. Whilst I've no doubt on smaller, more indie outfits, the writing team and art team would have crossover (probably with the programming and sound team too), they are entirely independent skill specialisations. I highly doubt that a large corporate entity like Konami would let their artists go about performing the writing tasks just because they're not producing lots of assets. More likely is that those artists would be thrown on to another project and the writing would get done by the specialised writing team regardless.

For what it's worth, Final Fantasy X was the only Final Fantasy with an interesting enough gameplay kit and story to keep my attention to the end. Mostly because I wanted to learn more about the central character who apparently existed in some sort of Never-never Land. But this is entirely unrelated to the main point at hand: Art departments and Writing departments in large, corporate game development entities are unlikely to see major crossover in staff. Thus the deprecation of one department will not directly lead to the quality increase of another.

Suikoden V is not an example to bring up when talking about the future direction of the series. A digital release would look nothing like Suikoden V.

Why? What evidence or reasons do you have to legitimately lead anybody else to this conclusion? Suikoden V was fairly well received critically, IV's abysmal performance and other mitigating factors resulted in its economic disappointment. The in-game camera even emulated the first two Suikoden's "camera". A game like Suikoden V is, unless you can present evidence to the contrary as asked above, quite probably just as likely to the be "future direction" as a game with "innovative HD sprites", as you claim.

[primierra]

A new story about a hundred worlds, a hundred years later......
spin off just like tierkreis?


Iam a little dissapointed......

[Exophase]

To those talking about a digitally distributed, perhaps 2D Suikoden installment meaningfully connected to the original games: I agree it sounds like a great idea, but it has to be handled with care.

A lot of people may not know this, or at least I didn't until I stumbled on the game in the store, but Konami actually contracted a third party to develop a new release in the Vandal Hearts series, for XBLA and PSN. Most of you probably know that Vandal Hearts was a Konami SRPG that was released shortly after Suikoden on the PS1, and got a sequel on the system as well. From what I understand this game is supposed to be a prequel, so it takes place in the same world; how connected it is to either of the PS1 games I don't know. Needless to say, the game didn't get very good reviews nor ratings on XBLA and with as much as I've heard about it (close to zero) I can't believe it sold awfully well. This doesn't mean that a new Suikoden can't, as I'm sure various mistakes were made with this game (like the weird art) and Vandal Hearts was probably never very well known to begin with, but the whole experience may have turned Konami off from doing it again.

What would be great is if Konami would first release Suikoden 3 for other platforms, digitally. This was the best selling Suikoden, and would be the best way to get people interested in the original setting again - it arguably advances the overall plot and world more than the others so could renew interest, and it'd be an opportunity for the European crowd to actually play it. It'd need more work than 1 or 2 though, since you wouldn't be able to just emulate it. If you re-encoded the videos it probably wouldn't take too much space, not nearly so much as a DVD's worth.

They could then follow this up with more proper re-releases of 1 and 2 on platforms where it'll actually sell (ie, XBLA/PSN/Wiiware, but also iOS, not limited to a place like PSP), and possibly with enhancements. These endeavors are low cost/low risk enough that I think they'd make a decent profit, and it'd raise awareness to the point where a new game in the original series would definitely sell much more than something in a new universe like Tierkreis; mind you, I think there's already ample evidence that one would anyway, but I digress. What I don't really get is why anyone thinks that an original series game would sell less, or why it'd somehow not be "worth it"; doing a game based on the original material is probably less work than establishing a new world, not more.

But of course, the series has been mismanaged from the start, so I fully expect Konami to always do the wrong thing with it :/

[Geil Rugner]

Besides costing less, people buy games for iOS & Android because they already carry those devices everywhere anyway. Wouldn't it be great if people had the option to kill time playing a Suikoden title on their phones when they get tired of Angry Birds?

Suikoden 1 is available as a mobilephone game in Japan, seems like it works on SHARP mobile phones (models: 823P、824P、912SH、920P、920SH、921P、921SH、921T、922SH、923SH)

here is the official site of the mobile port --> http://www.konami.jp/mobile/appli/genso ... ef=genso_i

[EstrangedIX]

I think some may have misinterpreted what I was suggesting. When I said that people should be able to play Suikoden titles on their phones, I wasn't thinking in terms of a major release like SVI. I was thinking spinoffs (main series only, please) and minigames. Since SI was already released for phones in Japan, I don't see why it would be so risky on iOS & Android for them to put something out there to get exposure for the series. Personally, I'd drop a coupla bucks to play chinchirorin or ritapon on the go, and a little more for a Tactics or Gaiden type game. However, an Android port of SI would make my day. Thanks for that link, and welcome btw.

[KC_MCDOHL]

Okay, the official Frontier Gate Twitter page just ''followed'' my twitter page. Is that normal?