In what form do you think we'll get FFXII HD Remaster?

[APZonerunner]

Their logging/archival stuff is incredibly poor, it appears. It's different for a lot of games. For FFX, they'd lost non-compressed source files for art, but the game's source code and the original compressed files were all still available, so that was something. Same for KH. For a game like FF7, pretty much everything is lost - those beautiful CG backgrounds can't be re-rendered at a higher resolution, as Square has lost all the files.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

Come to think of it, it makes more sense to release it on PS4 due to it having the ability of Remote Play. Therefore, if they release it on PS4, we'll automatically be getting a Vita version by default.

 

[Nikolasvanitas]

PS4/Xboxone version and remote play with vita for the grinding

 

[1Truth2Lies]

Another point to consider is that a FFXII HD Remaster for PS4/Xbox One may come with a playable demo of FFXVI, as both games would have been made by the same team (Ito's team), much like how Type-0 HD and FFXV are made by the same team (Tabata's team).

Maybe FFXVI will be an Ivalice Alliance game? That would be really unprecedented for the series - two mainline FF games taking place in the same world.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

That has sorta been done before considering that Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII are taken place in the universe at different times. But actually, it has never been done before.
Who knows.

Also, FFXIII and FFXV take place in the same Universe, too. It would still be unprecedented to have both FFXII and FFXVI take place in the exact same world, though.

 

[APZonerunner]

I feel Ivalice is probably dead and buried, really. Finished with Matsuno being gone and the other Ivalice Alliance games not doing very well.

 

[yeah_93]

Wasn't Ivalice dead as soon as Fortress was canned? I'm not really sure.

 

[APZonerunner]

Yeah, that too - it doesn't stand as a positive that game got killed. Always felt that was a great shame. Would've rather it'd released as an experiment then not been great - I think seeing that experiment would've been great.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

I feel Ivalice is probably dead and buried, really. Finished with Matsuno being gone and the other Ivalice Alliance games not doing very well.

I don't think so.

The entire Ivalice Alliance series was created by Akitoshi Kawazu after Matsuno had already left the company, so they still had plans to support that world even with Matsuno gone. Also, you have to remember that the Fortress project was given to GRIN in late 2008, which is long after all the Ivalice Alliance games were released, meaning the poor sales of those games didn't hamper Square Enix's support of that world. You'd think that the poor sales of FFXII RW, FFT TWoTL, FFTA2, and FFXII IZJS would make them not even think to make Fortress at all, yet alone outsource it to a Western developer.

It's also important to note that Square Enix pulled the plug on Fortress only after 6 months due to quality control issues. By the sounds of it, they didn't want a poor game released under the Ivalice Alliance brand. Therefore, I'd argue that the IP is still important to them as they wanted to protect its quality. I think the Ivalice Alliance series is just dormant at the moment, just waiting for the next wave of games to be released. The same can be said about the Compilation of FFVII. After the release of FFVII ACC in 2009, it went dormant, but now with the upcoming release of FFVII G-Bike, Kitase has said that more FFVII games may follow.

 

[BladeRunner]

That has sorta been done before considering that Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII are taken place in the universe at different times.

No, they don't. It's just some crazy fan theory which was never confirmed.

Also, FFXIII and FFXV take place in the same Universe, too.

No, they don't. They just share the same mythology.
Where are you people taking these from?

And on the topic of FFXII remake, I don't see other possibility than PS4/Xbone. PS3 is already a last gen system and KH 2.5 is probably the last act of love it'll get from SE. And Vita... well vita is also kinda dead.

 

[APZonerunner]

I don't think so.

The entire Ivalice Alliance series was created by Akitoshi Kawazu after Matsuno had already left the company, so they still had plans to support that world even with Matsuno gone. Also, you have to remember that the Fortress project was given to GRIN in late 2008, which is long after all the Ivalice Alliance games were released, meaning the poor sales of those games didn't hamper Square Enix's support of that world. You'd think that the poor sales of FFXII RW, FFT TWoTL, FFTA2, and FFXII IZJS would make them not even think to make Fortress at all, yet alone outsource it to a Western developer.

It's also important to note that Square Enix pulled the plug on Fortress only after 6 months due to quality control issues. By the sounds of it, they didn't want a poor game released under the Ivalice Alliance brand. Therefore, I'd argue that the IP is still important to them as they wanted to protect its quality. I think the Ivalice Alliance series is just dormant at the moment, just waiting for the next wave of games to be released. The same can be said about the Compilation of FFVII. After the release of FFVII ACC in 2009, it went dormant, but now with the upcoming release of FFVII G-Bike, Kitase has said that more FFVII games may follow.

All I'll say to this is
1) FF7 is a very different beast, and the compilation was hugely successful.
2) Kawazu has seemingly been sidelined after the continued failure of Crystal Chronicles as a series anyway
3) What of the Ivalice Alliance there was didn't do brilliantly, and I wouldn't be surprised if that contributed to not just removing Fortress from GRIN, but killing the project entirely.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

All I'll say to this is
1) FF7 is a very different beast, and the compilation was hugely successful.
2) Kawazu has seemingly been sidelined after the continued failure of Crystal Chronicles as a series anyway
3) What of the Ivalice Alliance there was didn't do brilliantly, and I wouldn't be surprised if that contributed to not just removing Fortress from GRIN, but killing the project entirely.

1) I agree that FFVII is way more popular than any Ivalice game, but the Compilation of FFVII wasn't that much more successful than Ivalice Alliance. In terms of sales, I'd say the biggest seller was Crisis Core: FFVII, yet that didn't sell that much more than FFT TWotL. Then you have the big-budget DoC: FFVII which sold less worldwide than FFXII RW. It's also worth noting that on average, the Ivalice Alliance games have a higher Metascore than the Compilation of FFVII games do.

2) The fate of Akitoshi Kawazu is strange. However, I personally don't think he's been sidelined. I think that he's currently executive producer of whatever game Ito is working on, especially if it's an Ivalice Alliance game. Therefore, until that game is revealed, we won't see much of Kawazu. In the meantime he's had other projects going like the two SaGa remakes for DS and Emperors SaGa fro smartphones. He's also already said that a new SaGa game will be announced by the end of this year, which is SaGa's 25th anniversary.

3) It's true that the Ivalice Alliance games didn't sell well, even FFXII IZJS barely sold over 100K in Japan. However, Square Enix gave GRIN Fortress in Q4 2008, which is long after all the Ivalice Alliance games were released worldwide. Therefore, the poor sales of the games globally didn't prevent them from wanting to make Fortress in the first place. That being said, I feel they canned the project due to not wanting a AAA Final Fantasy game to be outsourced, which means there's still a high chance of a new AAA Ivalice Alliance game being developed internally.

 

[APZonerunner]

1) I agree that FFVII is way more popular than any Ivalice game, but the Compilation of FFVII wasn't that much more successful than Ivalice Alliance. In terms of sales, I'd say the biggest seller was Crisis Core: FFVII, yet that didn't sell that much more than FFT TWotL. Then you have the big-budget DoC: FFVII which sold less worldwide than FFXII RW. It's also worth noting that on average, the Ivalice Alliance games have a higher Metascore than the Compilation of FFVII games do.

2) The fate of Akitoshi Kawazu is strange. However, I personally don't think he's been sidelined. I think that he's currently executive producer of whatever game Ito is working on, especially if it's an Ivalice Alliance game. Therefore, until that game is revealed, we won't see much of Kawazu. In the meantime he's had other projects going like the two SaGa remakes for DS and Emperors SaGa fro smartphones. He's also already said that a new SaGa game will be announced by the end of this year, which is SaGa's 25th anniversary.

3) It's true that the Ivalice Alliance games didn't sell well, even FFXII IZJS barely sold over 100K in Japan. However, Square Enix gave GRIN Fortress in Q4 2008, which is long after all the Ivalice Alliance games were released worldwide. Therefore, the poor sales of the games globally didn't prevent them from wanting to make Fortress in the first place. That being said, I feel they canned the project due to not wanting a AAA Final Fantasy game to be outsourced, which means there's still a high chance of a new AAA Ivalice Alliance game being developed internally.

To point 3, have you considered that GRIN was given access to FF12 in part because it was considered a less valuable piece of FF thanks to the performance of the Ivalice Alliance games? It made it a lower-risk move.

 

[Hannibal_Khan]

However, I personally don't think he's been sidelined. I think that he's currently executive producer of whatever game Ito is working on, especially if it's an Ivalice Alliance game.

So you think XVI will be set in the Ivalice world? Presuming Ito is doing XVI, of course.

I guess that makes sense and all but i would like him to do XVI similar to IX. Or just create a new mythology.

 

[Maron]

Let us make this dream of a remaster cling to life, together!

Only 9 signatures needed on the official remaster petition as of this posting.

If we were given the option to release it for one system, and solely that single console, it would have to be the PS4.

First and foremost, Yasumi Matsuno would be contracted to supervise the HD Remaster because he is awesome, and could add some things that fit into his image of Ivalice.

Also, please give the guy a break, he isn't where a person of his talent should be at his age.

I would be expecting the International Zodiac Job System version from the 2nd release in Japan, also the original like Nintendo did to Ocarina of Time + Masterquest and the full frame of 1080p running at 60fps, more monster bosses and difficulty level, combined with Japanese/dual-audio, and multilingual options for text, I speak many languages and love to see the outcome of the translations.

I shouldn't have to buy the EU version every time I want a game in French, Italian, or German. No excuse with the bluray size of memory on the disk.

If all goes well, and we get a release for both the PS4 and Vita, I will buy both versions. That's how invested I am in this installment of the series.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

To point 3, have you considered that GRIN was given access to FF12 in part because it was considered a less valuable piece of FF thanks to the performance of the Ivalice Alliance games? It made it a lower-risk move.

That's an interesting take on the matter. However, what makes me think they were still supporting Ivalice Alliance is that they would have announced and released a AAA sequel to FFXII for HD consoles even while they had already announced Fabula Nova Crystallis. I feel they still wanted to support that FF world. If not, they would have let GRIN develop a FF game using original assets and characters.

Also, the cost of the game was supposed to be $16.5 million paid in instalments, for which Square Enix never paid a penny. That's way too high a development fee for a game that Square Enix didn't see as that valuable. I just don't think they'd throw that much money at a project they believed was low risk. That fact Square Enix even pulled out of the deal when they believed it was lacking in quality and also saw the mixed to negative Metacritic scores of GRIN's other HD games (Wanted: Weapons of Fate, Terminator Salvation, and Bionic Commando) also supports this being the main reason they canned it.

I think they still want to make another Ivalice Alliance game, but they will just make it internally. If FFXVI is not an Ivalice Alliance game, I don't know what will be. Ito also seems to be invested in that world now, and considering he doesn't like to spend time world building, I doubt he will be bothered to make an entirely new world and mythos from scratch. We'll have to wait and see, I guess. He's been MIA for so long, maybe he actually has created an totally new world and mythos for his next mainline entry.

So you think XVI will be set in the Ivalice world? Presuming Ito is doing XVI, of course.

I guess that makes sense and all but i would like him to do XVI similar to IX. Or just create a new mythology.

Yeah, I'm thinking it will be an Ivalice Alliance game. I was once adamant they'd never use the Ivalice Alliance sub-series in another mainline FF, but then that changed when VersusXIII got renamed FFXV and we're now getting two mainline FF games in the Fabula Nova Crystallis sub-series. I think that both FFXII and FFXVI will be Ivalice Alliance games, just like how FFXIII and FFXV are Fabula Nova Crystallis games.

 

[BladeRunner]

It was confirmed in the Final Fantasy X-2 Ultimania.

I still can't believe it. It's probably true since ultimanias are supposed to be cannon but still... it just sounds incredibly stupid. Like from a bad fanfiction.
This VII&X connection feels so forced and obscure that I'm just gonna treat it as some irrelevant trivia.

And I wouldn't like FFXVI to happen in the same world as FFXII. I'm all for a new Ivalice game, just not a main line FF.

 

[APZonerunner]

That's an interesting take on the matter. However, what makes me think they were still supporting Ivalice Alliance is that they would have announced and released a AAA sequel to FFXII for HD consoles even while they had already announced Fabula Nova Crystallis. I feel they still wanted to support that FF world. If not, they would have let GRIN develop a FF game using original assets and characters.

Also, the cost of the game was supposed to be $16.5 million paid in instalments, for which Square Enix never paid a penny. That's way too high a development fee for a game that Square Enix didn't see as that valuable. I just don't think they'd throw that much money at a project they believed was low risk. That fact Square Enix even pulled out of the deal when they believed it was lacking in quality and also saw the mixed to negative Metacritic scores of GRIN's other HD games (Wanted: Weapons of Fate, Terminator Salvation, and Bionic Commando) also supports this being the main reason they canned it.

I think they still want to make another Ivalice Alliance game, but they will just make it internally. If FFXVI is not an Ivalice Alliance game, I don't know what will be. Ito also seems to be invested in that world now, and considering he doesn't like to spend time world building, I doubt he will be bothered to make an entirely new world and mythos from scratch. We'll have to wait and see, I guess. He's been MIA for so long, maybe he actually has created an totally new world and mythos for his next mainline entry.

Considering FF13 cost 60 million and was originally budgeted for around 50 million, no, 16 million isn't really a big bet at all. Tomb Raider cost 60 million or thereabouts, too. And that's not inflation adjusted! Even a lesser Square Enix game such as Hitman or Sleeping Dogs cost at a minimum 7-8 million dollars more than Fortress. Fortress was a cheap bet, a game designed to be cancelled because they were never sure they would let it go further in development.

Further: It's a quarter of FF12's budget. A quarter! FF13-2, which reused tons of assets and systems, had a budget not far from it, too. I think the existence of Fortress doesn't really mean anything, to be honest.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

At this point, I'm thinking FFXII HD Remaster will be either announced or released in 2016. That it the year where something big will happen, as it's FFXII's 10th anniversary. If the remaster is announced in 2015, it will release in 2016. If it's announced in 2016, it will release that same year.

I just hope by 2016 that FFXV is released and we've already been treated to a FFXVI teaser trailer for the 2017 announcement, FF 30th anniversary.

 

[Hannibal_Khan]

At this point, I'm thinking FFXII HD Remaster will be either announced or released in 2016. That it the year where something big will happen, as it's FFXII's 10th anniversary. If the remaster is announced in 2015, it will release in 2016. If it's announced in 2016, it will release that same year.

I just hope by 2016 that FFXV is released and we've already been treated to a FFXVI teaser trailer for the 2017 announcement, FF 30th anniversary.

What if the "surprise" at the end of the XV demo was the XII HD announcement?! That would be cool as fuck, but probably highly unlikely.

Also in regards to XVI, tabata recently said this in an interview:

He goes on to say that while there aren’t many opportunities in Japan to work on AAA games that can challenge what’s seen globally, those who apply for this team will be able to work on the new chapter of Final Fantasy, or maybe even a new IP that could become a new pillar of Square Enix.

They must be talkin about XVI, right?