Interesting Conversation I had about Final Fantasy IV PC Port (Or VideoGame Ports in general)
I always thought you can't have more than one version of the game for each platform... The Version of Finaly Fantasy IV that was ported to PC was the 3D version, which could be considered amazing. But they could've ported the equally popular (and longer) PSP version.
Earlier today I talked with someone about Final Fantasy IV PC port, and it occurred to me it's something worth sharing on steemit.
There are many different versions of Final Fantasy IV even if you counted the official ones alone:
- (1-2). The SNES version (called FFII sometimes) which was ported to Playstation1
- (3-4) GBA/Wonderswan versions with few differences between themselves and SNES.
- (5) Mobile version which is similar to GBA but with some updates from the sequel.
- (6) Nintendo DS version which was FULLY 3D and changed a lot of gameplay features.
- (7) The Complete Collection version for PSP (includes the sequel) with "better" 2D graphic.
- (8) The iOS/Android/Steam version, which was a port of the NDS version with minor changes.
As stated above, The PC Steam version is the same as the Android version, which contains better 3D graphic than the NDS version BUT the menus aren't the best looking ones, in my opinion they look clearly made for touch screens, a flaw/feature shared between most of classic Final Fantasy PC ports.
(Battle System: Steam Version)
Are we ever going to get the PSP version on Steam?
I told him probably not, it's too risky... Because there are many reasons that might make publishing the game unprofitable.
Depends on how the game was developed for PSP... Most of the recent games are developed by Engines that can be managed to work on all the platforms. But that wasn't always true for the PSP era... [b]If it was developed in a certain way then they'd have to re-develop it from scratch for PC as if it's entirely different game.[/b]
They can't just emulate it, this will just give them a reputation for another bad port... Sometimes the money [b]they'd get will justify having this reputuation but not for a game that already has a PC version[/b]. They'll just get a reputation for having two bad ports (depend on how you see it) of the same game on the same platform.
Maybe the game (or a big part of it) was developed by a third-party or a branch that doesn't work for Square Enix anymore, and maybe they can't use the assets again for copyrights reasons. and that's might what made them choose the NDS version over PSP in the first place.
There's also the marketing cost, any game made by a huge company needs a very big amount of marketing, if they didn't announce it and advertise it do you think people will know about it?
You can't get accurate statics on how this game will sell, many people who bought the version they have now.. will want to buy the PSP version too (because it's good and different and gives a reason to replay)... But many will be satsified with what they have now.... What's the majority? is there a statistics for it? The anount of people they expect to buy the game will affect its price and the marketing budget... if they don't have an accurate expectation for these it makes developing the post very risky.
All the money spent on the previous points, can be spent more profitably on something new like FFXV DLC or a "New" Game.
I'm just saying these as possible reasons why they don't do it, and I'm not really a game developer (just a hobbyist) so I can't know, maybe they have another reason or maybe they're just lazy.
His reply to this made me think:
There is no risk in re-releasing games that are ROM dumps in open-source freeware emulators (which exist for all the systems FFIV has been released on).
Many hugely successful GOG games are just the games as they were dumped into a DOSbox setup they've customized for that game....
I don't know why but I don't want this to happen... it would feel like Square Enix just want money and don't care about the costumer at all... I don't know if they can use an Open Source Emulator (aren't the free licnces of those prevent profiting off them?)... Well, they can make their own emulator but won't that cost the same as actually porting the game?
(PSP version 2D Graphics)
There will actually be a merit in publishing the PSP version on PC as it contains "Final Fantasy IV: Interlude" which is a short game set between FFIV and "The After Years" sequel... It's only available in the PSP version. But I still don't see what can SquareEnix gain from all of this.
I think that Squaresoft died a long time ago, and was replaced with a Corporate monster that has an insatiable appetite for monies.
This company used to make my favorite games, but at some point in the mid 2000's (by my estimate. It seems to have happened right around the time they absorbed Enix.), they shifted focus from quality games to "pump out as many as possible and soak up the cash."
Personally, I blame their decline on them buying their only meaningful competition. Without Enix to push back, they've just let themselves slack off, and now we have Deus Ex divided into 6 parts, we have Final Fantasy Remasters when FFXV needs a lot of work, and we have a company that just doesn't care about their customers as much as they care about the contents of their customer's wallets.
Well, I still think squareenix is still one of the most companies that care about their costumers (which doesn't mean a lot since most companies care less than them)... While I don't like the direction they gone with Final Fantasy with focusing on graphics than the world... They're still amazing in their own rights. Even the gameplay is a bit different with each game...
And anyway, I can't tell them work on FFXV more, it does have its own team and I'm sure if it's financially profitable, they're working on it now... and solving the bugs/upgrading a game this big needs a lot of time and money.
Even if they use their spare teams on making ports/remasters/remakes/spin-offs... That won't mean the the main games would be made faster if they didn't. Making one game for this generation, costs a lot more than making two games for the generation before it.
And the worst thing is: Those remasters are demanded by fans!!
I mean what would you like more? a new game, or a new port/version of a game you didn't play because you don't have its platform.
I do agree to some extent, that Square seems to care more about their customers than most game studios.
Personally, I blame most of the bad decisions directly on the executives who control the purse strings. The game makers themselves put a lot of love and hard work into their games, and I highly doubt that the devs were the ones who wanted Hitman chopped into episodes and sold piecemeal.
But it becomes a question like YouTube: If it's unprofitable to continue doing, and you're just going to anger the people that make what you do possible, why bother?
I'm pretty biased, though. I gave up on AAA games years ago. I still play a FEW,but I only buy them second hand.
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