Square announces another sequel. This time, it's for FFIV.

[Crazyswordsman]

This game is entitled "Final Fantasy IV The After: Return to the Moon." It's gonna take place some time after FFIV, when Theodore Harvey, a descendant of Cecil's, goes to The Moon. It's gonna be available for cell phones. -CSM

[Wyborn]

Well, FFIV was the most popular SNES-era Final Fantasy in Japan, so I'm not surprised.

Don't particularly care, though. Not like we'll see it stateside.

[Crazyswordsman]

They need to release some DS games if they want to make sequels. But Japanese cellphones are like way way cooler than American ones. -CSM

[Wyborn]

[video]V5sMVewA0E8[/video]

It occurs to me that cellphones in Japan and Europe are hellaciously bad-ass compared to what we have here in the States.

So the sequel may actually be full-fledged instead of a throwaway. Now I'm pissed. I want to play that.

[Sim Kid]

^That's because in the United States, our cell phones have one purpose:


Text Messenging

[Ace Mercury]

What about the N-Gage? Huh? That taco had games.

[Perrin Aybara]

What's with Square's obsession with making games for cell phones?

Why not just go the extra yard and make a *real* game on the DS?

Anyway, yeah, cell phone games just don't count.-jay

[ZeldaGirl]

I'm with jay on this one.

[Wyborn]

I refer both of you to the video I posted above.

Chances are this cellphone game is going to be bad-ass, and probably beyond the technical capabilities of the DS.

Which is infruriating.

[ZeldaGirl]

^Seeing as I will likely never own a cell phone like that, I think that video games should at least be available for actually gaming consoles and not just phones.

[X-3]

Phones should be used for talking, not gaming, in my opinion.

Meh.

[Crazyswordsman]

You know, I just wish sometimes they only made games for PCs.

If they want to make an FFIV sequel, they should do something for the DS that somehow relates to Kain. -CSM

[Wyborn]

^Seeing as I will likely never own a cell phone like that, I think that video games should at least be available for actually gaming consoles and not just phones.

For a lot of Japanese consumers the two are not separate.

Terrifying.

[Crazyswordsman]

The unfortunate reality is Square does EVERYTHING it does with Japanese gamers in mind, not us. -CSM

[Wyborn]

Like not releasing the International Version of FFXII over here.

Jerks.

[Crazyswordsman]

I mean it's international. Shouldn't they release it in every country? -CSM

[Wyborn]

The thing there is that the International Edition is...lemme explain.

Square always releases games in Japan first. When they do this, there are still minor bugs and tweaks to be made to the gameplay, which are in the NA and EU versions but not the Japanese versions.

International versions of games are actually incorporating all the improvements made in the Western versions, and then adding on a crap-ton more. Like the FFXII International Zodiac version? Specific areas of the licens eboard devoted to different jobs, crap like that, lets you seriously trick out your characters.

Used to be that these even came with full English and Japanese language tracks!

But Americans lovedd the idea and imported the bejesus out of these versions, I think FFX International in particular. So what does Square do?

They go "Harrumph! We will be having none of this American hroody doody" and take out the English tracks so importers can't play without knowing Japanese.

That's why people can't play FFXII International, and that's what pisses me off the most about Square. Let me give you my money, you xenophobic pricks!

[Jesus]

It's not surprising a japanese gaming company will release a cell phone game for <gasp> japanese cell phones. Can you imagine how much of a pain in the ass it would be to localize japanese cell phone games for the United States? Let's not forget the different cell phone companies and the fact that a good majority of american cell phone users don't play cell phone games that often. It just wouldn't be very profitable for things like that to exist in the US.

[Crazyswordsman]

^^THAT is another reason Square sucks. *Glares at the "Reasons Square sucks" list*

Reasons Square Sucks

1. Canceled Chrono Break
2. Final Fantasy X-2
3. All those FFVII spinoffs
4. Final Fantasy XI
5. Giving FFVII: AC and KH2 more hype than FFXII
6. Port after port after port...
7. Tidus
8. 90% of the Chrono Cross characters
9. Cloud's hair
10. Aeris
11. Releasing games on cellphones
12. A lot of crap I missed
13. Not making "international" releases actually international and taking away potential profits

-CSM

[Galefore]

Really, it doesn't matter. As much as I like FFIV, there is no need for me to play a sequel. I'm still waiting for people to realize the iPhone is indeed not the **** and watch the Japanese laugh as they continue to call people with telepathy while the built-in hairdresser fixes a brand new hairstyle for their everyday life-cycle-thing.