Siliconera: Nanashi No Game Was Considered For NA, Focus Groups Killed It

[Raze]

From the creator of FF:The 4 heroes of light

We're probably better off then.

[MindCandy]

It's like the start of a bad joke. How many morons does it take to get Squeenix to not import a pretty interesting looking title.

[hell_snake]

What game now?

[ZeronHitaro]

Umm...someone's going to have to explain exactly why this is such a big "loss". :-/ From what I can tell of the screen shots it's just a poor man's Super Meat Bot clone with a crap ton of insta-death axes shoved into every corner of various stages. Not to mention the graphics are horrid. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with 2D or sprites; heck my some of my favorite games are all PS2 era NISA titles. However at least those sprites had enough character and range of emotion to at least allow me to develop some empathy and attachment with the characters. These sprites are dull, bland, and just flat out cardboardish; kinda like 80's actors in a horror movie.

Points of reference:
http://www.siliconera.com/postgallery/?p_gal=44272|1
http://www.siliconera.com/postgallery/?p_gal=44272|2
http://www.siliconera.com/postgallery/?p_gal=44272|4

[Yoda]

Umm...someone's going to have to explain exactly why this is such a big "loss". :-/ From what I can tell of the screen shots it's just a poor man's Super Meat Bot clone with a crap ton of insta-death axes shoved into every corner of various stages. Not to mention the graphics are horrid. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with 2D or sprites; heck my some of my favorite games are all PS2 era NISA titles. However at least those sprites had enough character and range of emotion to at least allow me to develop some empathy and attachment with the characters. These sprites are dull, bland, and just flat out cardboardish; kinda like 80's actors in a horror movie.

Points of reference:
http://www.siliconera.com/postgallery/?p_gal=44272|1
http://www.siliconera.com/postgallery/?p_gal=44272|2
http://www.siliconera.com/postgallery/?p_gal=44272|4

Those seem to be screens from the platformer sequel to the game mentioned in the OP

[Yggdrasil]

What game now?

The Ring: The Game.

[Eusis]

Umm...someone's going to have to explain exactly why this is such a big "loss". :-/ From what I can tell of the screen shots it's just a poor man's Super Meat Bot clone with a crap ton of insta-death axes shoved into every corner of various stages. Not to mention the graphics are horrid. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with 2D or sprites; heck my some of my favorite games are all PS2 era NISA titles. However at least those sprites had enough character and range of emotion to at least allow me to develop some empathy and attachment with the characters. These sprites are dull, bland, and just flat out cardboardish; kinda like 80's actors in a horror movie.

You are completely wrong.

Of course, that brings up other reasons we may not have missed out on too much, but it sounds like it was good and interesting enough to make up for the flaws.

[ZeronHitaro]

Ahhh, gotcha. I hate misleading links in articles. XP

[Sorrows Saturn]

From the creator of FF:The 4 heroes of light

We're probably better off then.

Just because one of his games was mediocre doesn't mean they all are...

[Commander Jubby Shepard]

From the creator of FF:The 4 heroes of light

We're probably better off then.

Just because one of his games was mediocre doesn't mean they all are...

...

I really enjoy The 4 Heroes of Light...

On to the topic though, I'm kind of sad we're missing this game, but in all honesty I probably wouldn't buy it because A) I suck at recovering from scariness and B) I have another friend I borrow all my visual novels from.

[Eusis]

I still need to play through 4 Heroes of Light, but it is very appealing to me and I've seen a strong reception from quite a few people so I can't just use that game as a reason to dismiss him and his works.

[Raze]

 I'll be fair, first half of four heroes of light I loved it. Then it just turned into pure crap. You finally get the four heroes together and it feels like the game really wasn't balanced around having 4 person parties. It gets easy and strategic use of the battle system becomes punished. Use weak 1 ap attacks. You'll pretty much always go first and you'll kill the enemy before they can attack.

[Desert Walker]

While I'm frustrated by the loss, and the reason behind the focus group's dislike of the game in particular, I do think that malek86 made a valid point over at the Siliconera thread:

Well, if japanese companies made questions to Siliconera, it probably wouldn't help their bottom line that much.

Atlus: ok guys, which of our games do you think we should localize?
Us: ALL OF THEM!

Not exactly the best way to make money.

[McMarbles]

Story here. Basically boils down to not being able to shoot things.

For fuck's sake I'm tired of this need for games to NECESSITATE killing something or they're not worth bothering with. It was one of the more intriguing games SE put out too.

This is why focus groups are the worst thing ever.

[John]

Story here. Basically boils down to not being able to shoot things.

For fuck's sake I'm tired of this need for games to NECESSITATE killing something or they're not worth bothering with. It was one of the more intriguing games SE put out too.

This is why focus groups are the worst thing ever.

Focus Groups tend to be pretty effective at determining what will make dollars.  Is this a cool, niche concept?  Yeah.  Would it be a good RoI?  Probably not.