PDA

View Full Version : New Wii RPG by Matsuno and Monolith?



LunarWeaver
09-09-2007, 07:28 PM
At another forum I like to dip my platypus feet into, I came across this:


In the latest issue of NGamer (A UK Nintendo Magazine) they have a feature titled: "Nintendo makes it's OWN Fantasy?".

The article reads:

"Yasumi Matsuno is a legendary developer in Japan. His games Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII have both got 40/40 scores from Famitsu. He has left Square Enix but after leaving nobody knew where he was.

He was later seen on a Wii promotion video at a Pre-Release Press event in Japan.

Well we have just heard from a trusted source where he is right now and what he's been up to since leaving Square Enix. First of all know that he is DEFINITELY working on Wii but he is much closer to Nintendo then you think.

You see since Satoru Iwata became President he has wanted Nintendo to excel more in the RPG field. He has pushed a lot of money into Fire Emblem since becoming President but he also always wanted to create a new First Party RPG owned by Nintendo that is as popular as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy are in Japan.

Both Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto know Matsuno is the Director of two 40/40 scoring RPGs. Once word he left Square Enix reached Nintendo, Satoru Iwata contacted him and asked him to join Nintendo. He accepted and was allocated to Nintendo EAD Tokyo as it was closest to his current location.

At EAD Tokyo Matsuno got to play Super Mario Galaxy a lot and also got in-depth knowledge of the Wii hardware and controls from the developers there. Iwata wanted him to start planning on a new First Party RPG for Wii and allocated him a group of 4 developers to work with and get his vision presentable in some form. This process took around 8 months.

So Matsuno was at EAD Tokyo for 8 months. He joined around April 2006 and it was near the end of his stay there that his face was shown on the Wii promotion video at a Pre-Release Press event in Japan.

Here is what he said on the video:

"The Wii controller makes total sense when you think about FPS-like games, but my question was, will the controls fit other existing games? However, when I first tried Mario Galaxy, I realized that the controller fit the game almost scarily well. It allows you to intuitively feel the game and its atmosphere."
'Graphics (these days) have evolved, and there are many games claiming that this generates a more realistic atmosphere. However, there are very few games that have a control interface that lives up to this atmosphere. With the Wii controller you can actually feel like you're touching or living in this atmosphere."

Notice how he has played Super Mario Galaxy and has magically got the Nintendo mentality of Gameplay over Graphics even though Vagrant Story and FFXII pushed their respective consoles to the limits? Someone has been employed.

Matsuno showed his RPG for Wii and naturally it was impressive. Iwata wanted it to be fully realised in a game but they had no team to make it. Therefore Iwata started to look outside Nintendo for help.

They needed a development team that had experience with RPGs, and could produce graphics on par with the best in the genre such as Square Enix. Iwata then recalled Monolith working on Wii and that most of the Xenogears and Chrono Cross team were at that studio.

This is where Matsuno would make their First Party RPG. Matsuno returned to EAD Tokyo continuing the planning of the RPG while preparing for a development team to come available.

Iwata then eventually bought Monolith from Namco Bandai and Matsuno has already settled in the studio and has his own development team currently in the early stages of making our First Party Final Fantasy killer.

He has united with people that have made classics like Chrono Cross and Xenogears. Monolith is focusing on Disaster: Day of Crisis, a Survival game on Wii, but once complete Matsuno's RPG will take over completely and hopefully become a big RPG series in Japan.

Monolith to Nintendo now are what Square were to Nintendo back in the SNES era.

All he said was "found from RPGfan.com". But I went there and scanned their headlines but didn't see anything like this. Then I googled it and found it was in a lot of "rumors" sections at other sites.

So..is this confirmed or a rumor :( I mean, it seems real enough n' such, especially with Nintendo gobbling up Monolith for their own recently. I like Matsuno, and Monolith worked on Xenosaga which I'm a spazz over. I will be quite happy if this comes to life.

Vermachtnis
09-09-2007, 07:35 PM
WII=Fun and Monolith=Epic Story and Matsuno=Fame. There is nothing about that combonation I don't like :D

The article seems legit too. I'm exc!ted for it, if it is true.

Ouch!
09-09-2007, 07:35 PM
The way its written makes me doubt it's complete validity. It lacks a certain amount of professionalism in the reporting, and the lack of factual evidence supporting the claims is rather disconcerting. I'd be very, very excited if this turns out to be true, though.

Renmiri
09-09-2007, 08:10 PM
EEK!!! Another Yazmat with even more HP ?!?!?

You guys know Yazmat was named for Matsuno, don't you ?

Behold the Void
09-09-2007, 08:14 PM
It's a very speculative article, but I can't argue with its points and I will totally buy that game if it DOES happen.

Black Mage
09-09-2007, 11:12 PM
EEK!!! Another Yazmat with even more HP ?!?!?

You guys know Yazmat was named for Matsuno, don't you ?

That's not exactly a secret, nor really what Matsuno is or should be known for. ;)

The fact that Matsuno is working on another game is the best news I've heard in the longest of time. No doubt in my mind it will be nothing short of great.

Dragonsoul
09-10-2007, 08:00 AM
Matsuno and Monolith, I'll have a heart attack, a good one!

Time for me to get excited, like I did about Mistwaliker!@ :

Karellen
09-10-2007, 08:03 AM
This is either going to be fantastic or really, really bad.

KentaRawr!
09-10-2007, 10:46 AM
Well, that would be pretty awesome if that happens. I wonder how he'd incorporate the Wii Remote into the game, since he seems to have some sort of interest in it and how it can be used.

Proxy
09-10-2007, 03:57 PM
I just came...Everywhere.
The team from Xenogears and Chrono Cross?
It's everywhere.

Dragonsoul
09-10-2007, 08:58 PM
Hahaha!!! :)

Anyways, this team(roughly) developed these games(here are their main ones)...

Xenogears
Chrono Cross
Xenosaga 1
Xenosaga 2
Xenosaga 3

They are working on a Survival game Disaster: Day of Crisis, and then will work on the new rpg from Matsuno.

I have two questions, please answer them...

1. After Chrono Cross came out, part of the team left and made Monolith Software, and part of the team stayed with Square Enix. What have those people worked on for Square Enix after that, FF XI right and what else?

2. What did this team work on before Xenogears, did they work on Radical Dreamers and Chrono Trigger?

EDIT:
Here are the main games Yasumi Matsuno has worked on, chronologically:
Ogre Battle
Tactics Ogre
Final Fantasy Tactics
Vagrant Story
Supervisor for Square's PlayOnline project prior to it's first beta release
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy XII
..now he's working on this new Nintendo Wii rpg with Monolith Soft!

LunarWeaver
09-10-2007, 10:15 PM
The director of Chrono Cross and Monolith Soft also made Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins. Those poor games never get lovin'. :sad:

I will be very glad if this comes to fruition. Matsuno gets better with each title he makes. He's learning how to make games have depth but also more accessible. I feel like he has a masterpiece left in him. Some would argue that was Vagrant Story or XII, but for me they really weren't >_> But close to hitting the mark.

The only thing Matsuno isn't good in is characters. There are usually villains and NPCs (which become guests sometimes) that are much more interesting than those I control. If he's working on a new project, I hope he learns how to marry character with politics. Perhaps Monolith influence will accomplish that somehow.