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Let's be clear, here: CT Resurrection was only ever intended to be a demo. It was quite clearly stated that they weren't remaking the full game, or anything close to it. It's not like Square Enix was ever going to lose money over it.

Of course they're within their legal rights to close it down, but since the project wasn't realistically going to do them any financial damage whatsoever, it's a complete overreaction, IMO. The damage to their PR with fans from this will be worse than any money they might have lost to a short demo which just advertises one of their games.

Quote (Tiddles @ 15th September 2004 15:22)

The damage to their PR with fans from this will be worse than any money they might have lost to a short demo which just advertises one of their games.

I can't say that I've heard any people say that they're going to stop buying Square Enix products, and if there are some, probably half will buckle given time. It's a loss that a corporation can easily handle, but I think it's not just the money that they cared about.

One question. Did they ask Square Enix permission to use their copyrighted material? If not, well I can hardly blame SE. If a great many webmasters, don't like like people to use their site graphics without permission and put a stop to unauthorized uses of said images, I can certainly understand why some people might not want others to make a game demo featuring many key items of their work.

Again, a sad loss. Such is the world of the stockmarket and the corporation.

I doubt that any of the artists, designers or programmers who might be aggrieved by the use of their material would have had anything to do with the cease and desist order.

Yes, I take your point, both in a legal and moral sense, but it's not like full credit wasn't given where it was due; it's not like anyone would have played it without knowing of the original CT, and where they could obtain it; it's not like there was any direct reuse from CT either, other than the logo: merely derivative works, not used for profit. (Compare this to 8-Bit Theater, which Square Enix apparently knows about, and uses many of their original sprites verbatim: it's not especially consistent).

The character designs themselves are likely copyrighted. Technically it's probably illegal to even do fan art of the characters, but nobody has time to be that picky about such little things, and so they let it slide. Thank God they do!

Another point to consider is that letting one group get away with releasing a game of this level of exposure, is that it invites others to create other fan projects without asking permission. Individuals and companies alike have enough troubles protecting their intellectual work these days, in a world where people simply toss aside the law if it's inconvenient or if they don't agree with it.

It makes sense to put a stop to the project, you can't just let people use your work without asking. However... Not hiring those people or creating a new and perhaps simular Chrono game does not, debatably.

As to 8-bit Theater, that is somewhat puzzling, but I think that they know for a fact that there would be a much larger outcry against that being banned than this Chrono project. 8-bit Theater isn't being published on a gaming platform that they release their games for either.

I would have loved to see the game go through, but they should have known better than to do it without asking. I fail to see how they could not realize that their project was a prime target due to the level of quality. Perhaps it's the quality which frighened Square Enix, and they are merely warding off a future where people buy less of their games and download scores of free high quality games?

Now wait a second. I'm as anti-establishment, "damn the man" as the next guy, but there is more to consider here. When Square creates the game they pay lots of money to develop it...programmers, graphic artists, etc, all get paid to develop plot, design battle systems, and create a general feel for the game. Now if someone comes along and repackages these people's and the company that employed them's ideas "for the love of the game" it's very unfair to the people who created the hit in the first place. I'd love to see a 3-d remake of Chrono Trigger, but the right to make that game belongs in the hands of the people who made it the first time, for better or worse.

Addressing another point....
As for the fact that it's a demo, it's still in Square-Enix's hands to make something like that as well. If they put a stop to it, it's because it clearly got popular enough for them to become aware of it. This means that there is a demo out there with characters that SE holds the license to being created by someone other than SE. And an unknowledged observer would not be able to distinguish the author from SE themselves. In other words, SE can't control the content of the demo and don't have any control over what the authors do. While clearly what we saw was acceptable, It's risky for SE to allow an outside author access to "their" characters. The authors are after all representing Square in a way.

This post has been edited by The Ancient on 16th September 2004 16:54

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"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

it would have been awsome if squenix hadnt stopped them i would have so bought that game
i love CT
why didnt they buy rights from squenix first?

squenix should have definately hired them to finish the job

the game would make a lot of money

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

Anyone heard of this?

http://www.opcoder.com/projects/chrono/

I spent some time downloading the trailer, looked at the screenshots... damn you Square for halting this project.


Did a search and didn't find any results, hope this hasn't been posted in the past...
Edit: Guess I was wrong... sorry mods

Moderator Edit

Merged for great justice. -R51

This post has been edited by Racthoh on 5th April 2005 20:25

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This is my world: (Got my second chapter up, 3rd Chapter about 80% complete)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/daniel876/homepage.html

So these guys went ahead and said they were going to take CT and revamp it without permission from the copyright holder, and didn't expect Squenix to get huffy about it?

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Hmm... that is true.

My only hope is that they're still making it in secret and one day they'll convince Squareenix to allow its sale. Not like they've been making any games that looked as good as this anyway

One can always hope there is a company out there that cares about its fans more than the market/legal stuff. But not like that will ever happen.

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This is my world: (Got my second chapter up, 3rd Chapter about 80% complete)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/daniel876/homepage.html

yes i have been following this for awhile. when square closed it i was kinda pissed, but at the same time i was expecting it since they were using chrono trigger without permission. never saw the trailer but the screenshots look freakin sweet. id be tight if the game were actually completed, but alas it probably wont ever happen. nevertheless, i praise the ppl who attepted it.

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"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

I remember there being a topic about this a while back. I only bring that up 'cause that's where I heard about it.

Anyways, apparently they were putting all this work into making only a short playable demo, not a complete 3D remake, so it's no drastic loss.

On the other hand, the day current video game companies care about their fans/customers will be the day a cool breeze blows through Hell.

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Ooh, as a fan-made remake this looks gnawsome.

Alas, alas... that's the way of the copyright world, though. You just have to let the Man have his way. ::returns to playing her FFVI fan-translation*::

*Just kidding! Ha ha ha. I would never own such a thing, of course.

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

I was a little disappointed when the canceled it (there was a topic that mentioned this a few months ago, methinks), but they were planning on distributing the bugger, so you can't blame square for what they did. I was impressed with the new visuals, but I still think I preferred the older ones for their more classic quality.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Sometimes it's best if you just leave the game-making to the professionals. Think about it... If you made one of the most amazing games of all time and in a decade or so someone tried to screw you over and remake it? You wouldn't get any money, would you?

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Yunalesca: "Hope is...comforting. It allows us to accept fate, however tragic it might be. "

Yunalesca: "Poor creature. You would throw away hope. Well... I will free you before you can drown in your sorrow. It is better for you to die in hope than to live in despair. Let me be your liberator. "

Quote (Blizzard_Wizard8 @ 5th April 2005 19:25)

Sometimes it's best if you just leave the game-making to the professionals. Think about it... If you made one of the most amazing games of all time and in a decade or so someone tried to screw you over and remake it? You wouldn't get any money, would you?

Ars gratia artis, dear Blizzard!

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

I see long ago the Chrono Resurecction preview,I though It was a bad joke, because the staff team was not the original, personally I don`t like at all, graphics part sucks...It doesn`t seem like a serious game.

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"Its no cheating if you don't get caught"

It all seems great but still the Chronicles version is great with the cartoon versions. In a way I would like to see some of the older FF games (like FFIV, FFV, FFVI) like that and see how the characters would look in a cartoonish way.

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War is for the participants a test of character; it makes bad men worse and good men better. - Joshua Chamberlain

U sir R a n00b >:-( - Cactuar

L. Cully, um, what does that you said mean? It's sort-of topic, but whatever...

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Yunalesca: "Hope is...comforting. It allows us to accept fate, however tragic it might be. "

Yunalesca: "Poor creature. You would throw away hope. Well... I will free you before you can drown in your sorrow. It is better for you to die in hope than to live in despair. Let me be your liberator. "

Quote (Blizzard_Wizard8 @ 6th April 2005 21:05)

L. Cully, um, what does that you said mean? It's sort-of topic, but whatever...

Sorry, I was just trying to sound like a wise old sage or something. "Art for art's sake." (MGM Studio's motto, by the by)

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

I personally was quite impressed with both graphics and music samples that they had on their site (Matthew Valente's remix of Mitsuda's 'Secret Boss Battle' (a dummied track in the original soundtrack) remains one of my perennial favorites). If they could actually preserve the spirit of the game while using such beautiful graphics, I would extraordinarily impressed.

It's sad to see that Square had to shut them down (I've been tempted to throw the name 'ShinRa' at Square over this issue), but that might actually mean that Square is itself planning a 3D remake of CT. I only hope that Square actually hires the people who worked on this project to help them out on the real thing...

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 7th April 2005 03:25)

It's sad to see that Square had to shut them down (I've been tempted to throw the name 'ShinRa' at Square over this issue), but that might actually mean that Square is itself planning a 3D remake of CT. I only hope that Square actually hires the people who worked on this project to help them out on the real thing...

Wow, would that be the awesomest remake ever? I think so anyways.

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

So strange that I noticed this topic after bringing it up in the FF7 forums.

Anyway, I doubt it was over fear of competition over a remake of thier own, someone would have caught wind of the project by now. I'm going to chalk it up to a lawyer relishing the opportunity to squash someone like a bug. I suppose it could have been worse: Squeenix had more options than just a cease and desist order.

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M777: lightweight 155mm howitzer
3/11 rules over all artillery!

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 7th April 2005 03:25)

It's sad to see that Square had to shut them down (I've been tempted to throw the name 'ShinRa' at Square over this issue), but that might actually mean that Square is itself planning a 3D remake of CT. I only hope that Square actually hires the people who worked on this project to help them out on the real thing...

Well, this project has been stopped many months ago, and there's not so much as a rumor floating about concerning a CT remake...

I would doubt that Square would even consider hiring them for trying to steal their copyright material (characters, storyline, so forth) and distribute it freely. Developpers are a dime a dozen, and Square would have nothing to benefit from airlifting a few guys from their parents' basement to Japan to work on a game when their developpement team is already packed with people who can get the job done.

I'd say it's just the company protecting its material. Letting one person distribute what's legally Square's freely means others would be allowed to do it. And if brought to court, they would have a solid precendent for this: "Well, you guys let the CT project go through, so why can't I remake FFX? They're both still under copyright laws, even if they have a 10 year age difference, and you guys allowed CT to go through." Though FFX is a bigger cash-cow than CT right now, legally, it makes very little difference.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

If I was Square, I'd cut a licensing deal with them.

Let them do it for "the love of the game" while I rake in the money. It'd be cheaper than hiring someone to do it and it'd get me better PR.

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SuperHeroChat

Quote

Also, I dont think that they're going to remake ANY classics. They're just going to continue giving us the *@# thats called the "modern rpg".

weren't they remaking FFVII for the psp or something?

This post has been edited by DivineKnight on 2nd May 2005 15:47

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Peace sells... but Whos buyin? -Megadeth


You wont be saying that when you get a
lead pipe across the head -James (Darkness Illusions II)

Does that remind anyone else of Winnie the Pooh's house in Kingdom Hearts?

Hehe

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“This is sickening... You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet!” – Kefka