Blue Dragon And Lost Odyssey Creator Says He's Not Interested In Remaking His Past Games

Unfortunately, the studio makes great games that don't really sell.
That's why they got pushed into the mobile market instead of staying in the console space.
That way they can continue to make projects but with smaller budgets and smaller staff numbers. That and the Japanese games market is heavily based on portables games these days as well.

It would be great if these games get remastered with higher quality assets + higher framerate but at least they still can be played on latest Xbox consoles thanks to the beauty of Backwards Compatibility. Ironically, the only modern consoles that can play Mistwalker's other JRPG, The Last Story, are Xbox too.

@blinx01 Blue Dragon was more mixed but I remember Lost Odyssey and especially The Last Story doing pretty well both critically and commercially, especially the former for being an Xbox-exclusive JRPG

That's a shame for someone people like me who hasn't played these games before. I would love for these to get a remaster or fresh coat of paint to look good on current gen systems.

@endlessleep Last Story was a Wii exclusive though?

Only Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey came to Xbox

@blinx01 I don't know if it had a fair shake. Their games were mismatched for the market at the time. Early X360 was the infamous "dudebro" era of Xbox, and the audience XB had carved in the gaming market at the time was basically all shooters, all the time, while all the RPG fans were on PS or PC. If his games had been on PS3 instead of 360, they would have done much better almost guaranteed. Last Story on Wii automatically did much better. That was also the era before FF had any presence on XB, so the appeal to "from the creator of FF1-FFXII" meant little on the platform. Now of course the whole FF collection is well highlighted on XB.

Things are a little different now. But he's stuck on Apple Arcade, which I can't see doing that well either. Japan's all mobile, but not so much Apple specifically, and I'm not sure how much of the mobile market outside Japan is looking for deep, expensive RPGs.

With Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey playable on modern consoles I'm ok with that. Them being traditional style JRPG's they don't really need super high quality assets or a super high frame rate.

I would love to see them resurrect Cry On. It may not be "brand new" but it's still a shame it got cancelled and id love to see what it was supposed to be.

@Bmartin001 You could just buy them and play them. They work on Xbox One and Series consoles.

Blue Dragon used to have bad screen tearing and slowdown on Xbox 360. Completely eliminated on modern consoles. Looks and plays great.

Bottom line: Resolution aside, these games don't need a remaster and are available to buy.

I do wish The Last Story would get a Switch port, though.

@NEStalgia the issue lies more with it being on Apple Arcade not so much mobile. (Genshin Impact broke a lot of that for a lot of people.) However, globally no one is going to swap phones for a video game. Especially, in the UK where Apple is particularly hated. It’s kind of repeat of Blue Dragon 1 all over again, if I’m honest.

He really needs to port the game to Switch as soon as the contract with Apple is done :/

@TheFrenchiestFry yes, but you can emulate it on Xbox One/Series using Retroarch. Playable on Series consoles only it seems due to being more powerful machines.

I never played Blue Dragon but Lost Odyssey was one of my most memorable experiences on the 360.

@mousieone Genshin Impact is F2P - in line with normal mobile standard. Apple Arcade is kind of "Ghetto Game Pass". It's half the price, and "just mobile games" on the inside. If the game ever went full mobile outside Apple Arcade, it would be not free. The track record of not free mobile games....isn't great.

Though I still don't get the uproar over Genshin Impact. A Chinese F2P game that literally clones the BoTW art direction just doesn't quite sell itself to me, not matter how it reviews.

@NEStalgia You’re kind of assuming a lot with the statement though. One that being on a mobile device that isn’t Apple Arcade and the other being they would charge full price if it did go to other mobile platforms.

There is a market for RPGs on IOS/Android. The fact that Koei Tecmo just announced one. Or that Square is now putting FF 8 Remastered on mobile. Someone is buying something there, maybe not at 60.00 price tags but it’s there. I could go into the visual novels and Otome games that find their way there to but anyway. FF XV pocket sold there. Why remake a console game specially for mobile platforms if there isn’t an “audience”?

I get what you mean about Genshin, but the numbers speak for themselves. I hate the idea of Gatcha mechanics achem surprise mechanics in a full RPG but here we are :/

I don't see this as a problem. Both games are backwards compatible and could be further enhanced using ML and the FPS Boost feature. I agree with Sakaguchi-san in that resources would be better allocated in creating something new. He sounds tired, though. 😪

@SegataSanshiro well I don’t think Genshin on it’s own is a bad thing. I think the trailer didn’t do it justice and people saw BoTW where most of the game isn’t like that for what I understand. Inspired sure but not a 1 to 1.

It’s just the idea of playing loot boxes with party members that makes it bad for me.

@mousieone The numbers may speak for themselves on Genshin. But what would the numbers say if it were $60...(or $70!) instead of "free"? F2P destroys metrics like that because once a game has enough hype and is free tons of people try it. Doesn't mean they'd drop $60, or $40, or even $10 on it though (albeit they will through "surprise mechanics" because people have no brains.) Remember Mario Run crashing and burning at $10. Mobile's weird. People will just flat out refuse to buy games for $10, but will gladly pay $100 for "surprise mechanics." That's why mobile is the bulk of the "games industry revenue" but doesn't translate to console. IIRC S-E has had pretty dire results in their "full price" (meaning $15 or below) mobile games as well.

Where Genshin on mobile is concerned, there's also the issue of installing Chinese software on a device where every detail of data can be mined. Even after you uninstall it. And it's known to install a kernel-level anti-cheat. That also does...who knows what else? Not that Facebook doesn't do the same...which is why I would certainly never let their software touch a mobile either. Google....them too, but you have no choice, they provide the OS and storefront....

Japan certainly has an affinity for playing bigger games that were formerly on handhelds on mobile, to a point, but the monitization model is just so completely different. I really dislike when the industry tries to group it as one big gaming market. Wholly different consumers with different expectations, a different monetization model, it's very much its own thing, even if it's "bigger" financially. Obviously, Genshin was successful on console, too, so that's a bit of an outlier compared to Mistwalker's game, or Squares RPGs. (I still can't figure out who wants to drain their mission critcial phone battery and battery lifespan on an expensive phone on games....but people do it. Imagine missing a call or email or not being able to check an important website because you were playing FF8? Imagine actually playing FF8? )

@NEStalgia I will respond to you in a bit but you sent two text walls, and my brain needs caffeine to catch up O.O

@themightyant "Though I do need to escape/cry for help/I feel like a Destiny player bemoaning Destiny yet self-flagellatingly logging in dutifully every day."

Isn't that what we have ACNH for?

I don't know, that analysis still isn't exactly inspiring when everything good about it dips low due to the predatory gatcha. And the assertion that anything of that budget and scope, where bigger budget and scope is the destination of the entire industry, could only be successful via predatory casino practices. It basically is an early warning the the entire industry isn't sustainable without abusing customers with extortionate practices. We went from arcades to consoles back to arcades and now into casinos without payouts?

@themightyant Well I think you missed my point to @NEStalgia that’s it’s not typical mobile game but has proven audiences are hungry for that sort of thing of mobile devices. I didn’t mention PC/PS4 because I was trying to point that out to Nes. In the past, they tried putting console games on mobile before and it failed but that audience wasn’t there yet. There are other factors that contributes to that but honestly the mobile players weren’t ready yet. I believe they are now. I think using past attempts are kind of flawed since you can buy full mobile experiences on you phone. FFT tactics plays better than the PSP version of I’m honest. Anyway Genshin is a great example to use because again it’s more inline with a console game.

(Incoming text wall)

@NEStalgia Look everyone keeps bringing up past attempts like Mario Run but most of those were half hearted attempts to catch an emerging market. Now people assume mobile players don’t like real games but show me where the Visuals Novel genre crashed and burned on mobile? Simulation? JRPGs? Oh these genres do fine on mobile. Heck everyone forgets Fortnite is mobile. And honestly a turn based JRPG is not a responsive platformer. Which most of the past attempts were . I get it back then Platformers were the peak of gaming, but these days platformers aren’t really system sellers. It’s not Mario Odyssey people talk about when you bring up the Switch but BotW. People game vastly differently. As long as the game can be doled out in some way, it works just fine on mobile. For that matter you can buy huge amounts of past JRPGs on mobile. It’s funny when people scream about PS1 classics and I wonder if they’ve browsed their phones lately. Anyway I doubt these companies would make this kind of an effort if it wasn’t paying off somewhere someone is buying RPGs on their phone.

As for missing a call, you do realize that can be applied to console and PC as well? Just because a game is on your Switch doesn’t mean you can’t miss a phone call because your were in the bathroom.

As for battery life, people plug their phones into car batteries all the time. That is by far more damaging than a game.

@mousieone My point was the pricing model. Not so much the size of the experience, otherwise XCloud wouldn't be a thing, which is, literally, XBox games played on your phone (albeit with a real controller.) Not many people are going to pay $60 for Starfield on a phone. Not many people are going to pay $15 for Starfield on a phone. People will pay $10/mo for Starfield on a phone. People would easily pay free + $400 mtx for Starfield on a phone because IDK.

However on the other topic, I still don't "get" mobile gaming, including XCloud, and even XSX remote play. The concept is great. My phone's screen is bigger than Vita was anyway. But the battery. I mean just doing my basic web/email/etc tasks brings me down to 80% battery by late morning. And at $1k+ for modern good phones you don't want to be putting excessive wear on the battery that wears pretty fast itself. In that context I really don't understand why/how people can be gaming on their phones, including XCloud at all. It doesn't seem practical unless you buy a second phone to use just for gaming. And a $1k handheld that doesn't even have buttons isn't very appealing. Even a $500-700 budget phone isn't that appealing for that dedicated use as a handheld. Might as well get a GPDWin2 or something for not much more.

Japan of course is all-in on mobile. Even Switch won't fit on those densely packed train rides

@NEStalgia and I said if you could dole something out people will pay. Like a pay by chapter model? Which is how some games do it. It works actually. Plus because of Apple Arcade; I’m not sure the game needs to be sold at full price after it’s off the service. 20? Maybe.

And I think you missed the part where plugging your phone into you car actually damaged the battery more than a game would. Cars don’t always provide consistent power and kills your phone battery bad. More so in the past. People still did it. Most of them. Unless you mean in the short term.

Side note:

If all that is eating 80% of your battery; you need to adjust your settings, screen brightness, and check to see what active apps you hav.

if your speaking in short term; the phone dying while in play. The issue is there is you one you most likely don’t commute to work. Again that’s fine but I see it as a non issue. Play on the commute to work, charge at work, play on the commute home. And also, I play my expensive phone on my lunch break. Then change when I get back to my desk. I can point to thousands of candy crush users as well who play all the time. How is that different? Power consumption is power consumption

@mousieone Well Apple Arcade is basically Game Pass, just worse, so yeah the model for this particular game on Arcade is fine. And $20 is way too much for mobile games - or have I missed a price spike in the past few years?

I wasn't aware of car chargers being bad for phones. That's an interesting bit that upends how most people use them I assume. I assumed since a car's electrical system is a big old DC inverter feeding a battery, it would be pretty clean power. Then again I'm still from the "cigarette lighter power" camp. And I don't think I've ever charged a phone in a car. Maybe once for GPS use.

Although that kind of reinforces my view on "why would you ever waste battery on a game?" It's eating my battery TO 80%, not 80% of it. But that's still by mid to late morning. And writing text walls on PXB eats another 20% by late evening.

The thought of charging a phone mid-day just makes me cringe for battery life....so many cycles...! I miss when Samsungs had replaceable batteries. Although the ones I have and still use as little IoT appliances tend to make their battery packs swell annually......

And no, Candy Crush isn't an exception at all, it's not about console games vs Candy Crush games. I just don't get wasting battery (and charge cycles!) on games at all when other alternatives (Switch, GPDWin, or a dedicated gaming phone for whatever reason) exist. I messed a little with FE: Heroes, SMR when they were new, and some XB remote play because Switch Haz no Gaemz the past year (and because PS remote play still refuses to use any controller that's not a Dual Shcok on Android which rules out any mounting controller.) But I didn't like watching that battery drain. Just got new phone recently that I expect to last 3+ years as always, so I think my remote play will take a back seat for a few years as well.

@themightyant I really couldn't understand the hype around Genshin at first. Looked like a B-grade mobile game at best. And F2P is an instant "this is garbage" indicator usually. It make me appreciate Game Pass and a subscription model even more to see the alternative tends to be unfettered continuous payment into one game designed to milk continuous payment. Heck it almost makes me appreciate Naughty Dog. Almost. Gaming's best asset was that it was affordable and high value. We seem to be going into one of those eras again that it's about to become expensive and wasteful. Go figure the game that disrupts everything and reorients it across a massive wealth divide would come from China. Gee, I would not have seen that coming. The world economy wasn't enough....now they want to do it to gaming just for an extra kick in the face. (There's no such thing as Chinese business that's not part of the party objectives. It doesn't exist. That illusion ended when Jack "I'm just a businessman and I leave politics out of business" Ma was accidentally outed by a party rag as a high ranking inner party member. Business is the party, the party is business there. Combined with Tencent's (the party's not even covert digital spy arm behind the "social credit" system along with Alibaba, bordering on government agency more than corporation) activity in the console/PC sector, Genshin leaves a REALLY bad taste.)

@Ryu_Niiyama You're going to be so mad at me again.....but I had to tag you into @themightyant 's post because he brings up an incredibly important point here about where things have been going and will be going. Again, it stands aside from the age thing, that's what mass market looks like. Whales, addicts, but who cares there's 8 billion people, and in 10 years, 16 billion people, in 20 years 32 billion people, (in 30 years a depopulated smoldering radioactive rock orbiting Mercury), and they can all be leeched dry...why make a game for niches who always demand things and are never happy when you can make a generic theme that appeals to everyone with simplified gameplay that nobody can't understand, and paywalls to make them feel skilled, and get at least 1 billion of those to pay $20?

It comes back to the crux, it's not about age. It's about mass market, and turning what was once a niche industry for a niche market into a massive chunk of global GDP, by replacing that niche with "everyone else." And worse than mass market, it's mostly the good old casino and carnival tactics of not offering products people want, but simply using psychology to use people's brains as weapons against them. It's like books becoming a control mechanism and extortion scheme. And all the pages are blank.

@themightyant ah okay no worries I see now. Gotcha lol

@NEStalgia Two NES novel posts before caffeine is your limit. I still haven’t answered you elsewhere because of this.

Yes 20 dollar pricing is a thing these days your behind look up FF IX in your ap stores. Mobile stores don’t really do sales like game stores so you can be 20 and make as much as you eventually would on a console. Less middle men invoked and your controlling your monetization.

Anyway do a search for “is car charging bad for cellphones?” And prepare to have your mind blow.

Also, the more charging at a wall outlet really isn’t as bad as you are making to be. I could get into the technical details but the biggest thing is that most phones, especially IPhones reach , their end of life before the battery end. I suppose it could be an issue but the stuff cellphones go through is far more damaging before the battery. Either way I don’t think game use is going to kill the battery quicker than the three year mark you are given it. I get it for you personally, buy the average consumer also chargers their phones nightly so and again said car issue. They listen to music all day through AirPods, watch movies, play Pokémon go, use gps etc etc

Most people are rough on their phones, so the battery is kind of non issue.

@mousieone LOL!

Huh, yeah, I'm behind on my app store pricing. I generally ignore mobile entirely at this point unless I need something, and if I so wanted to use it for gaming, I already have remote play and xcloud so there's a lack of reasons to do much else with it. Surprising games at that price started being viable.

Well I wouldn't touch an iPhone, so there's that.... I used to buy iPod Touches before I bought proper phones (I was a Palm fan, I liked the iPaqs...Android didn't hit its stride until after the iPod Touches were around a while.) I do charge nightly, but MOST of the time, it's just the one nightly charge, not multiple during the day. With gaming, it would have to be. I have no idea how these people get all that time on their phones though. I generally stick with the Note line at this point (though with the escalating prices and the fact that 2021 may be the last one, maybe the next one won't be a Note) but they certainly aren't light on the battery use..... even without gaming.

@NEStalgia well Indont think you commute to work via bus or train. It’s a lot of nothing to do time. Even carpool? Anyway lots of time. I personally game on my lunch break; it’s calming.

Granted, thos is adults we are talking about. College students have lots more free time and high schoolers. If Switch was a thing when I was on high school; I could have hide better.

I did figure out how to prop my tv up between the wall and the bed, so my parents couldn’t figure out it was on. That tv was only a 6 inch black and while and not good for gaming on, sadly :/

Anyway, there is also also the fact that TVs can be in use in a multiple person households. Or people simple don’t own TVs.

@mousieone ahh, the sweet dream of trains and buses and anything other than roads that were built 50 years ago for a semi rural suburban town now being hastily cobbled into 6 lane superhighways (barely wider than they were with 2) absolutely everywhere, with luxury high rises going up in every available lot and half of manhattan relocating into it leading to new traffic lights every 10 seconds with 10 minute waits amidst endless gridlock, "aggressive" feral drivers, a cost of living that went from small suburban town to Long Island Lite in 10 years (and income that doesn't increase to match it, those people live here and then commute elsewhere to power jobs) and the brilliant idea of relocating all shopping other than grocery, convenience, and services to one central district half an hour away on a good traffic day/time so everyone is always heading the same way at the same time.

I truly dream of trains and buses. You've missed the years of that topic on the nl chit chat thread.... Just hope thanos doesn't see this.... For the record, I'm not the one that said "trains", T.

I still don't get the thing that high school and college kids have time. Aren't they cramming endless studying for ever heavier workload classes and enrolled in a half dozen after school activities and clubs so they're constantly running from thing to thing? That's all I ever see or hear. Or is that a -=NEW=- Long Island Lite thing?

Remember those little tvs that were portables that had the mirror you'd flip up as a screen? The original clam shell portable...I forgot all about those. I think I still have one somewhere. Its useless now with only an NTSC tuner, of course...

Yeah that last part makes sense, but for the price and wear to it. If switch didn't exist I could see it more. I want to love icloud, too, I have a Razer raiju mobile waiting for a use. Speaking of wasted batteries. But I think I need a "cheap phone to dedicate to xcloud" thread. The fancy expensive Note isn't going to burn it's battery playing games, that's for sure! Nice controller though. To bad about my xcloud strife.

@endlessleep you mean that Last Story can be played on Xbox through emulation right? Officially it is just a Wii game.