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What classic JRPGs are stranded on old consoles? (e.g. FFTactics, Valkyrie Profile, Tactics Ogre LUCL, etc.)
- Thread starter Samiya
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I'm not even sure who owns the rights to Shadow Hearts these days, and whoever does probably doesn't know they do.
Edit: And somehow the answer is even worse.
Edit: And somehow the answer is even worse.
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Feels like most of them are.
Universal Entertainment Corp. Formerly Aruze. They're the same company that always held the rights to Shadow Hearts, since they were the publisher. From The New World was their last console title. Fun facts, the company runs the biggest casino in the Philippines (and one of the biggest in Asia), the Okada Manila, and the CEO was indicted by the board 2-3 years ago on corruption charges (no clue what happened since, though).
Universal Entertainment Corp. Formerly Aruze. They're the same company that always held the rights to Shadow Hearts, since they were the publisher. From The New World was their last console title. Fun facts, the company runs the biggest casino in the Philippines (and one of the biggest in Asia), the Okada Manila, and the CEO was indicted by the board 2-3 years ago on corruption charges (no clue what happened since, though).
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Maybe if they port the original Devil Summoner again it'll be translated this time. It's probably the biggest SMT game we haven't gotten (actually has SMT 2 been translated? I know the first one is on phones at least) and it seems like a reasonable hope given that they even translated Soul Hackers.
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Is this a consistent effort to excavate a lot of old games or is it just someone within the company making a business case based on the success of Trials of Mana from last year?
The problem is when it's just one single game that gets resurrected, while others are left out in the cold. It's cool that we're getting Legends of Mana, but I'm afraid it's just a one-time affair.
For example Star Ocean First Departure R came out in 2019 and nothing new since then with regards to a Second Departure R of Star Ocean 2. Or Valkyrie Profile with the decent mobile port in 2018, but nothing since then regarding consoles or PC. Despite Square Enix doing a ton of straight mobile ports to PC and consoles. So I'm left thinking that it's just this random case.
I remember the battle system being at least fun. Don't remember much about the story and I always ignore dating shit in games so I can't say much about that but I remember liking the game overall. I wouldn't mind playing it again on a modern console.
Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins are stuck on the GameCube (Origins didn't even make it to Europe) which is a SHAME because these games are REALLY GOOD (Eternal Wings has aged a lot but damn Origins is still incredibly fun)
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This makes it seem like it's a recurring phenomenon for games on Nintendo consoles to not getting support, re-releases or ports to other platforms. Is that true? Maybe a case of exclusivity deals and Nintendo sucking with preservation efforts and backwards compatibility (e.g. abandoning Virtual Console)?
To be fair I think it's less exclusivity deals and more just portables in general. PSP/Vita were also a bit easier to port elsewhere in comparison to the hardware setup of DS/3DS by their dual-screen nature that doesn't exactly make quick ports easy.
The Golden Sun games at least made it to Wii U, but yeah it's frustrating that Nintendo isn't better at this
All of the major ones have been mostly mentioned. AFAIK, There's a few big titles on the Saturn that have been stuck. Lunar Silver Story Complete, Shining Force 3, Panzer Dragoon Saga.
I actually learned earlier today that Valkyrie Profile and Lunar Silver Star Story are both available on iOS. I don't know if the ports are any good, but they exist. I'd be thrilled to see those games come to PC and other platforms as well.
Skies of Arcadia and any PS2 game by Altus, Gust or NIS would also be instant purchases for me.
And while hardly a classic, I'd like to see Star Ocean 5 make its way to PC, too.
Skies of Arcadia and any PS2 game by Altus, Gust or NIS would also be instant purchases for me.
And while hardly a classic, I'd like to see Star Ocean 5 make its way to PC, too.
I think it would be a lot easier to cite the ones that aren't. Atleast 95% of them can't be played in any modern platform.
Like, FF stuff, some Square games mostly on Mana and SaGa series, Grandia 1/2, some Tales of games, some Trails, Phantasy Star IV on Steam?
Like, FF stuff, some Square games mostly on Mana and SaGa series, Grandia 1/2, some Tales of games, some Trails, Phantasy Star IV on Steam?
All three games have their merits. However, nothing is likely to happen to either of them.
Sacnoth, the OG developers of the series (+ Koudelka, another underrated game) is gone, some staff moved over to Feelplus (who were later merged into AQ Interactive and then into Marvellous, I think?). The IP owner/publisher was Aruze, but they left the game publishing/development business completely and are now called Universal Entertainment, focusing on pachinko, slot machines and resorts.
Sacnoth - Wikipedia
Universal Entertainment - Wikipedia
It's all a darned shame, coz both Koudelka and the Shadow Hearts series were kinda fairly good games. D:
Golden Sun, I think. I'm pretty sure that there is no way to play the Golden Sun series on anything currently, except GBA and DS.
I thiiiiink Golden Sun was available on Wii U in the e-shop, I hope it hits the Switch shop someday.
I thiiiiink Golden Sun was available on Wii U in the e-shop, I hope it hits the Switch shop someday.
Tales of Phantasia has never gotten a good port outside of Narikiri Dungeon X which included both Phantasia with updated music and fully voiced, and a full remake of Narikiri Dungeon which was originally a Game Boy Color title. Those ports are trapped on the PSP and Japan only. The original Game Boy Color title I mentioned has also never been re-released outside of that remake on the PSP and there are no fan translations as far as I'm aware cause the only one that was working on that decided out of the blue to quit fan translating Tales games.
There's also a number of Tales games that have never been re-released or have come to the west, such as Tales of Rebirth forever trapped on the PS2 and Japan only. Tales of Innocence is trapped on the DS in Japan, and Tales of Hearts DS (the good version of the game) is trapped on DS and Japan only as well.
There's also a number of Tales games that have never been re-released or have come to the west, such as Tales of Rebirth forever trapped on the PS2 and Japan only. Tales of Innocence is trapped on the DS in Japan, and Tales of Hearts DS (the good version of the game) is trapped on DS and Japan only as well.
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True, the 'exotic' and innovative nature of Nintendo's hardware makes it more difficult to support long-term via backwards compatibility.
All three games have their merits. However, nothing is likely to happen to either of them.
Sacnoth, the OG developers of the series (+ Koudelka, another underrated game) is gone, some staff moved over to Feelplus (who were later merged into AQ Interactive and then into Marvellous, I think?). The IP owner/publisher was Aruze, but they left the game publishing/development business completely and are now called Universal Entertainment, focusing on pachinko, slot machines and resorts.
Sacnoth - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Universal Entertainment - Wikipedia
It's all a darned shame, coz both Koudelka and the Shadow Hearts series were kinda fairly good games. D:
This is really sad to read. I guess there's no way they'll ever sell of the Shadow Hearts IP?
Okage: Shadow King is available on the PS4 as one of the few PS2 Classics on the system. It's one of the few PS4 games that's buggy on the PS5 though so hopefully they fix that at some point. The Arc the Lad trilogy is available on Vita/PS3.
There's probably not much point selling the IP, since no one is going pay huge amounts of money for it anyway and in the long run it's likely more profitable to be able utilize the branding in their other businesses, I would guess. Oddly enough though, a company called Console Classics was supposed to release a slew of old PSX games on Steam some years ago (they were basically just images running on PCSXR), with one of them being Koudelka. They did put out a few games, but seemingly went out of business before Koudelka was released. Maybe that's a sign the IP holder for Koudelka and Shadow Hearts is at least willing license them if someone was interested in doing the legwork to get them rereleased. Or maybe they aren't, and that's the reason why Console Classics failed in the first place, who knows.
Koudelka and SH1 are some of my favorite games of all time, and it's such a shame they aren't more readily available for more people to experience. It's also really sad there haven't really been horror influenced JRPG's like those since then. Even Shadow Hearts started moving away from it after the first game.
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Seriously, why cant I play FFT on my switch? Have it on vita with slowdown. Suppose I could get the mobile port...
Skies of Arcadia. Even though it got a port which I have, it's a GameCube port which is fairly antiquated these days.
BLUE ROGUES, ATTACK! (get a load of these! bark bark bark!)
BLUE ROGUES, ATTACK! (get a load of these! bark bark bark!)
Funnily enough, it got a PC release back then.
"In 2001, the company was acquired by Aruze, going on to develop the first game in the Shadow Hearts series. After the release of Shadow Hearts, the company's name was changed to Nautilus and developed two more Shadow Hearts games. In 2007, the company was renamed Aruze Global Trading during restructuring at the company and ceased game development. The company ceased to exist in 2009 after being absorbed into Aruze. Multiple Sacnoth staff became part of Feelplus."
Sacnoth - Wikipedia
Covenant is SH2 btw!
There is a (small) DS selection on Wii U at least!
GBA games like Golden Sun 1&2 are also available there.
Indeed.
I've started a replay of the first one not too long ago. After 10 hours or so, I consider it to be as good as when it was released!
I've never played the second one so I'm looking forward to that as well.
It's trapped on PS2 and PSP! :P
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I could just say Sega Saturn
Albert Odyssey
Shining Force III 1,2,3
Dragon Force
Shining in the Holy Ark
Magic Knight Rayearth
Dark Savoir
Me too. My Vita is pretty much my Front Mission 3 machine these days. Still my favourite SRPG ever, and probably the first one I played too. Just blew my mind when I realised there were two almost entirely different campaigns based on one innocuous choice at the start.
Playing Bravely Default II made me think about how, even if the 3DS game was ported, it would lack stuff based around the 3DS hardware like the SpotPass features (maybe could be replicated via online friends list) and the use of the camera. Similar to how TWEWY when ported lost some of what made it such a unique experience on DS.
The ones the I always wanted to try out were Skies of Arcadia, 1000 Year Door, and the Xenosagas
I have to admit, I don't think I'd be interested in playing the original BD again, having just finished BD2 it's a stronger game in every way. The preservation issue is interesting though- there's a ton of 3DS games with spotpass features that won't be reproduced.
Exactly! I picked the game up because I was thinking "Cool, an rpg with mechs, sounds like fun" And then when I actually played it and the characters and world was so well made and the designs are fantastic... Still one of my favorite uses of mech in a world setting
I liked a lot of the minor world building in a sort of near-future real world setting- stuff like the transporter trucks for carrying a squad of mechs around, or the way special forces mechs tended to look sleeker and more dangerous than 'standard' military and police ones. The huge number of different factions made it a really interesting romp through a changed-up set of geopolitical power blocks too. I remember it so much more clearly than some of the dozens of fantasy SRPGs I've played, not because they are bad, but because they recycle a lot of similar themes.
Most of the Saturn ones:
Shining Force 3 Scenario 1
Shining Force 3 Scenario 2
Shining Force 3 Scenario 3
Shining the Holy Ark
Shining Wisdom
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Dragon Force
Dragon Force 2
Story of Thor 2
Mystaria Realms of Lore
Mystaria 2
Valhollian
etc
Most of the SNES ones:
Rudra no Hihou
Treasure Hunter G
Bahamut Lagoon
Live a Live
Soul Blazer
Illusion of Gaia
Terranigma
Secret of Evermore
Emerald Dragon
Energy Breaker
FEDA: The Emblem of Justice
Front Mission
Gunman's Proof
Lennus II
Marvelous
Tengai Makyou Zero
Dark Half
Dark Law
Lufia
Lufia 2
etc
All the Tengai Makyou games
Shining Force 3 Scenario 1
Shining Force 3 Scenario 2
Shining Force 3 Scenario 3
Shining the Holy Ark
Shining Wisdom
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Dragon Force
Dragon Force 2
Story of Thor 2
Mystaria Realms of Lore
Mystaria 2
Valhollian
etc
Most of the SNES ones:
Rudra no Hihou
Treasure Hunter G
Bahamut Lagoon
Live a Live
Soul Blazer
Illusion of Gaia
Terranigma
Secret of Evermore
Emerald Dragon
Energy Breaker
FEDA: The Emblem of Justice
Front Mission
Gunman's Proof
Lennus II
Marvelous
Tengai Makyou Zero
Dark Half
Dark Law
Lufia
Lufia 2
etc
All the Tengai Makyou games
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By the way, what's keeping the Lunar games away from a modern re-release? The PSP remake Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete was good and I still haven't played Lunar 2.
Who holds the rights to the Lunar series and why have we only seen the PSP remake (which we can no longer buy thanks to Sony)
Who holds the rights to the Lunar series and why have we only seen the PSP remake (which we can no longer buy thanks to Sony)
You're right! My first playthrough of Baten Kaitos 1 was straight after my first playthrough of Chrono Cross, so I was blown away. Then I played the second game and I liked almost everything better than in the first one, so retrospectively I would think the 1st game had aged baaaadly. Booted it again a couple of months ago and loved it. It has aged, but it's still a gem (BKO is a timeless masterpiece though, if you liked the first one, you'll love it)
i wonder if square will do something with xenogears, since even legend of mana is getting a remaster
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they did release those figures and soundtrack, so it's not entirely forgotten
Who at Square Enix is doing the remasters these days? After they merged all the 11 Business Divisions into 4 Creative Units, I suppose there's less room for smaller projects?
Some decade old+ stuff I'd like on my Switch:
And some 16bit stuff I'd like to see collected:
- 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
- Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (PS2)
- Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP)
- Panzer Dragoon Saga (SS)
- Paper Mario (N64)
- Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (GC)
- SaGa Frontier 2 (PS1)
- Skies of Arcadia: Legends (DC)
- Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - Wheel of Fate (PSP)
- The Last Story (Wii)
- Vagrant Story (PS1)
- Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (PSP)
- Ys I + II Chronicles (PC)
- Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC)
And some 16bit stuff I'd like to see collected:
- Collection of Gaia (SNES)
- Lunar HD Collection (MCD, PS1)
- Mother 1+2+3 (NES, SNES, GBA)
- Shin Megami Tensei Collection (SNES, GBA)
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Which Enix games are owned by different parties or have major legal issues?
All of them. Door Door, Dragon Quest, Portopia, Actraiser, Gaia, 7th Saga, Wonder Project J, Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Bust-A-Groove, Mischief Makers, etc. They all have split rights with designers, writers, musicians, developers and other creators. It's just the way they were structured.
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Valkyrie Profile is fine though? They managed to release the PSP version (ported with the help of TOSE) and the mobile version in 2018 (ported by Business Division 9 and the help of Fine) without any complications. And Star Ocean likewise has seen ports and remasters of 1, 2, 3, and 4.