Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
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AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
Referring primarily to two that came out around this time (2006-07, and a little into '08) in OTL, namely Death Note and Code Geass, both of which are still up in the air as of now whether they will exist in this timeline. But yeah, I'll wait patiently for the 2007 update that either confirms plot changes or the complete butterflying away of neither, one, or both.
Summer 2006 (Part 6) - Apple Makes Music And Money
Mixolydia
Mixolydia is an action/adventure game for the iPod Play. The game plays like a typical 3-D adventure game of its era, with a protagonist who can run, jump, fight, climb, utilize items and weaponry, and explore a large, open world. The protagonist is a teenaged boy named Mix who wakes up one day to discover that the world has long all its music: instruments no longer play, and singers have gone silent. However, Mix soon discovers that the music hasn't disappeared, it's merely trapped within a series of strange constructs that only he can see. That's where the game's true defining factor comes in: Mixolydia's world is built around a fairly small, simplistic shell that's ultimately populated by both the music on the player's iPod Play and the sounds of the world around the player, piped in through the device's microphone. Every sound that enters the microphone becomes an object in the player's world, with louder and more defined sounds and songs creating much larger objects and even entire stages. When Mix interacts with an object in the world, it plays the sound that created it, allowing for a cacophony of sounds to be played as the world is explored. Enemies can also be created by sounds, with softer tones creating slower and more intelligent enemies, and harder tones creating faster and more brutal enemies. In addition, the game has several hundred different song signatures stored into it, with a list that updates daily as Apple negotiates with more companies, which means that certain songs can trigger unique moments in the game, functioning as "DLC" in a way, though hearing these songs in the world will have the same effect as having a song stored on the device, so one doesn't have to buy a song to use it in the game, they can get the same content by simply being in the same room as a clear enough version of the song. With hundreds of thousands of sounds able to be recognized by the game in some form, the game becomes a different experience every time it's played, with levels and environments changing on the fly as players experience different sounds. The player can tell the game not to listen to anything, and, if no songs are stored in the iPod, this will allow the "default" levels to be played, but the player gets a much more robust experience when the sounds around them are used to create the game's world. There's a very memorable commercial of someone sitting at a park, listening to the sounds of the city and the people and the animals, each of which creates an object in the world, transforming the world of the game as it's played. Unlike Songhopper, which creates a level at a single initial moment, Mixolydia's world transforms in real time. It's an incredible and unique effect, and something that doesn't seem like it'd be possible on a handheld with around the same power as the OTL Nintendo 3DS, but the game's creators are able to pull it off with a number of unique tricks that require much less processing power than one would think that they do. The graphics themselves are done in a fairly low-tech style that looks a bit like a cartoon, allowing for a level of detail that's about average for an iPod Play game but that stands the test of time. There's no voice acting in the game, just on-screen text, and much of the soundtrack consists of songs or sounds from the iPod Play's internals or from the outside world, with only a small soundtrack of original music to serve as a way to tie everything together. Most of the game's processing power is devoted to animation, the depiction of the process of the world building itself as Mix explores it, with colors flashing and objects morphing as sounds play. The game also attempts to stimulate a sense of synesthesia in the player, combining the visual with the auditory until they blend almost completely with one another, in a sort of Rez or Child of Eden type of way, only as a platformer rather than a rhythm shooter. The game's plotline, which involves Mix attempting to restore music to his world by traversing the strange landscapes created by the trapped music, is fairly bare bones, but does involve a lot of interactions between Mix and his girlfriend Lydia. Lydia, who has devoted her entire life to singing, has been rendered completely silent by the mysterious phenomenon, and Mix has personal stakes in freeing the music so that he can restore his girlfriend's voice. As he explores, Lydia becomes a frequent companion, and indeed, if certain songs are triggered in the game, Lydia will actually sing parts of them during certain scenes (mostly love songs, but a few contemporary pop songs as well). Depending on the songs and sounds that the player incorporates into their game, the main storyline can last from around 90 minutes to nearly ten hours, with variance in difficulty depending on incorporated sounds as well. While the game has robust checks to ensure that nothing created by the game is impossible, there are some very difficult sequences that can be foisted onto the player if conditions are met (for example, having "Down With The Sickness" by Disturbed either on the player's iPod Play or hearing it out in the world will trigger a unique boss fight that's considered the most difficult in the game).
Mixolydia is released on August 22, 2006, exclusively for the iPod Play. While the game isn't hugely hyped by Apple beforehand, Apple does run a very intelligent and well thought out advertising campaign for the game that attracts the attention of a lot of players. In addition, reviews tend to be highly positive, most notably a 10/10 review by IGN that calls the game "a technical achievement without parallel in the industry". While most reviews aren't quite that glowing (indeed, the game ends up around 88% on Gamerankings), they're still very very good, and those, along with word of mouth, make Mixolydia a bonafide killer app for the iPod Play, becoming one of its best selling games of 2006. The game does VERY well in Japan (and scores a 40/40 in Famitsu, making it the only game of 2006 to achieve that honor, and the second consecutive 40/40 score to go to an iPod Play title, after Phantasy Star VII in late 2005), where the crowded cities that most players live in make the game even more fun and dynamic. However, it sells even more units in North America. The release of Mixolydia, along with the Gen 1 iPod Play's $100 price drop, are the two biggest factors driving iPod Play sales in the latter half of the year, and help it to maintain a steady lead over the Game Boy Supernova in overall market share.
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"Some news now out of the tech world, Apple is reporting that the iTunes Store has become the largest seller of music in the United States, a distinction previously held by retail giant Walmart. Apple's iTunes Store, which has been in continuous operation since 2003, sells both songs and albums in a digital format for use on various devices, including Apple devices such as the iPod and Macintosh computers, Windows devices, and digital music players. The popularity of Apple's iTunes store can be attributed to the success of the iPod digital music player, which, if the iPod Play video game console is included, has sold nearly 100 million units worldwide since its debut in 2001. Apple's digital music store has not only sold billions of dollars worth of music, it's expanded to sell both movies and video games, and Apple hopes to take in even more money next year with the launch of the iTwin game console, which will use the iTunes Store as its digital storefront. Digital music has taken over a large share of total music sales in recent years, causing physical album sales to decline. While CDs still sell to the tune of hundreds of millions per year, physical album sales have begun to decline for the first time since the birth of the modern record industry, and as digital music devices find their way into more homes, that trend is set to continue, and, according to industry analysts, could be accelerated by an increasingly troubled economy. Apple's success has prompted several other companies, including Microsoft and Sony, to look into the idea of launching their own digital music stores, with Microsoft set to launch such a store in November to accompany the dual launch of their new Zune media player and their next generation game console, the Xbox 2. Walmart also hopes to launch a digital music service sometime in 2007 as an add-on purchase with certain brands of home audio equipment or CD purchases, and Blockbuster Video is also considering launching its own music service alongside its successful movie streaming program, which expanded in 2005 as part of their physical film rental subscription service. Industry analysts believe that while some of these new music services will be financially successful, they'll have a difficult time catching up to Apple's head start."
-Brittany Saldita, from a report during the KABC-TV evening news broadcast on September 18, 2006
Mixolydia is an action/adventure game for the iPod Play. The game plays like a typical 3-D adventure game of its era, with a protagonist who can run, jump, fight, climb, utilize items and weaponry, and explore a large, open world. The protagonist is a teenaged boy named Mix who wakes up one day to discover that the world has long all its music: instruments no longer play, and singers have gone silent. However, Mix soon discovers that the music hasn't disappeared, it's merely trapped within a series of strange constructs that only he can see. That's where the game's true defining factor comes in: Mixolydia's world is built around a fairly small, simplistic shell that's ultimately populated by both the music on the player's iPod Play and the sounds of the world around the player, piped in through the device's microphone. Every sound that enters the microphone becomes an object in the player's world, with louder and more defined sounds and songs creating much larger objects and even entire stages. When Mix interacts with an object in the world, it plays the sound that created it, allowing for a cacophony of sounds to be played as the world is explored. Enemies can also be created by sounds, with softer tones creating slower and more intelligent enemies, and harder tones creating faster and more brutal enemies. In addition, the game has several hundred different song signatures stored into it, with a list that updates daily as Apple negotiates with more companies, which means that certain songs can trigger unique moments in the game, functioning as "DLC" in a way, though hearing these songs in the world will have the same effect as having a song stored on the device, so one doesn't have to buy a song to use it in the game, they can get the same content by simply being in the same room as a clear enough version of the song. With hundreds of thousands of sounds able to be recognized by the game in some form, the game becomes a different experience every time it's played, with levels and environments changing on the fly as players experience different sounds. The player can tell the game not to listen to anything, and, if no songs are stored in the iPod, this will allow the "default" levels to be played, but the player gets a much more robust experience when the sounds around them are used to create the game's world. There's a very memorable commercial of someone sitting at a park, listening to the sounds of the city and the people and the animals, each of which creates an object in the world, transforming the world of the game as it's played. Unlike Songhopper, which creates a level at a single initial moment, Mixolydia's world transforms in real time. It's an incredible and unique effect, and something that doesn't seem like it'd be possible on a handheld with around the same power as the OTL Nintendo 3DS, but the game's creators are able to pull it off with a number of unique tricks that require much less processing power than one would think that they do. The graphics themselves are done in a fairly low-tech style that looks a bit like a cartoon, allowing for a level of detail that's about average for an iPod Play game but that stands the test of time. There's no voice acting in the game, just on-screen text, and much of the soundtrack consists of songs or sounds from the iPod Play's internals or from the outside world, with only a small soundtrack of original music to serve as a way to tie everything together. Most of the game's processing power is devoted to animation, the depiction of the process of the world building itself as Mix explores it, with colors flashing and objects morphing as sounds play. The game also attempts to stimulate a sense of synesthesia in the player, combining the visual with the auditory until they blend almost completely with one another, in a sort of Rez or Child of Eden type of way, only as a platformer rather than a rhythm shooter. The game's plotline, which involves Mix attempting to restore music to his world by traversing the strange landscapes created by the trapped music, is fairly bare bones, but does involve a lot of interactions between Mix and his girlfriend Lydia. Lydia, who has devoted her entire life to singing, has been rendered completely silent by the mysterious phenomenon, and Mix has personal stakes in freeing the music so that he can restore his girlfriend's voice. As he explores, Lydia becomes a frequent companion, and indeed, if certain songs are triggered in the game, Lydia will actually sing parts of them during certain scenes (mostly love songs, but a few contemporary pop songs as well). Depending on the songs and sounds that the player incorporates into their game, the main storyline can last from around 90 minutes to nearly ten hours, with variance in difficulty depending on incorporated sounds as well. While the game has robust checks to ensure that nothing created by the game is impossible, there are some very difficult sequences that can be foisted onto the player if conditions are met (for example, having "Down With The Sickness" by Disturbed either on the player's iPod Play or hearing it out in the world will trigger a unique boss fight that's considered the most difficult in the game).
Mixolydia is released on August 22, 2006, exclusively for the iPod Play. While the game isn't hugely hyped by Apple beforehand, Apple does run a very intelligent and well thought out advertising campaign for the game that attracts the attention of a lot of players. In addition, reviews tend to be highly positive, most notably a 10/10 review by IGN that calls the game "a technical achievement without parallel in the industry". While most reviews aren't quite that glowing (indeed, the game ends up around 88% on Gamerankings), they're still very very good, and those, along with word of mouth, make Mixolydia a bonafide killer app for the iPod Play, becoming one of its best selling games of 2006. The game does VERY well in Japan (and scores a 40/40 in Famitsu, making it the only game of 2006 to achieve that honor, and the second consecutive 40/40 score to go to an iPod Play title, after Phantasy Star VII in late 2005), where the crowded cities that most players live in make the game even more fun and dynamic. However, it sells even more units in North America. The release of Mixolydia, along with the Gen 1 iPod Play's $100 price drop, are the two biggest factors driving iPod Play sales in the latter half of the year, and help it to maintain a steady lead over the Game Boy Supernova in overall market share.
-
"Some news now out of the tech world, Apple is reporting that the iTunes Store has become the largest seller of music in the United States, a distinction previously held by retail giant Walmart. Apple's iTunes Store, which has been in continuous operation since 2003, sells both songs and albums in a digital format for use on various devices, including Apple devices such as the iPod and Macintosh computers, Windows devices, and digital music players. The popularity of Apple's iTunes store can be attributed to the success of the iPod digital music player, which, if the iPod Play video game console is included, has sold nearly 100 million units worldwide since its debut in 2001. Apple's digital music store has not only sold billions of dollars worth of music, it's expanded to sell both movies and video games, and Apple hopes to take in even more money next year with the launch of the iTwin game console, which will use the iTunes Store as its digital storefront. Digital music has taken over a large share of total music sales in recent years, causing physical album sales to decline. While CDs still sell to the tune of hundreds of millions per year, physical album sales have begun to decline for the first time since the birth of the modern record industry, and as digital music devices find their way into more homes, that trend is set to continue, and, according to industry analysts, could be accelerated by an increasingly troubled economy. Apple's success has prompted several other companies, including Microsoft and Sony, to look into the idea of launching their own digital music stores, with Microsoft set to launch such a store in November to accompany the dual launch of their new Zune media player and their next generation game console, the Xbox 2. Walmart also hopes to launch a digital music service sometime in 2007 as an add-on purchase with certain brands of home audio equipment or CD purchases, and Blockbuster Video is also considering launching its own music service alongside its successful movie streaming program, which expanded in 2005 as part of their physical film rental subscription service. Industry analysts believe that while some of these new music services will be financially successful, they'll have a difficult time catching up to Apple's head start."
-Brittany Saldita, from a report during the KABC-TV evening news broadcast on September 18, 2006
Yeah here's hoping we get Death Note and as I stated Maximum the Hormone's What's Up People is still the opening theme.
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
Even if it isn't we're still bound to get some memetic anime openings ITTL as well, and I am certain fifteen years of butterflies would affect the song either out of existence or create different lyrics for a good two-third of it. But yeah, that'd still be pretty awesome nonetheless.
And regarding this update, wow Apple is doing extremely well as of late, taking the Steam out of Microsoft (but not at all, really, I couldn't come up with a better pun) and playing a good competitor to Nintendo. Sony and Microsoft having music stores would be cool as well.
I just had a thought...what if the long teased, much anticipated Samsung console...is an early version of the Gear VR?
If its developers are still into creating games ITTL, I think I even know of a potential killer app for it; two words:
If its developers are still into creating games ITTL, I think I even know of a potential killer app for it; two words:
SUPER
HOT
SUPER
HOT
SUPER
HOT
HOT
SUPER
HOT
SUPER
HOT
Dunno about those two series...one might exist in recgonizible form and other fully butterfly away, depend the one was more butterfly sensible(wink) the rest things will come, there like 100 new anime and manga in japan per year and few become notice or the mainstream phenomenon like those two...
Summer 2006 (Part 7) - Street Fighter IV
Street Fighter IV
Street Fighter IV is the fourth main series game in the Street Fighter series and the follow-up to Street Fighter Omega, which itself was a follow-up to Street Fighter III and Street Fighter Alpha. Unlike OTL's Street Fighter IV, TTL's game takes place after Street Fighter III and Street Fighter Omega, and thus introduces eight new characters, along with 12 returning characters from previous series games, for a total of 20 playable characters in all. Street Fighter IV went into development immediately after the console release of Omega, following its successful critical and commercial debut. Unlike OTL, there was never a long layoff for the series, so rather than being a complete overhaul like OTL's game was, TTL's Street Fighter IV is a natural progression from the Street Fighter III games, with only a small progression in terms of graphics compared to the massive graphics upgrade that OTL's game got. The game uses cel shading and looks somewhat better than OTL's arcade version of Street Fighter III, but isn't quite as smooth and polished as OTL's Street Fighter IV. The plot is also entirely different: while M. Bison plays a major role, the main villain is a shadowy businessman named Marcel, who has brokered a series of deals with corporations and governments around the world. He's the man bankrolling M. Bison's Shadaloo, which has run dry of funds due to repeated failures at conquering the world thanks to heroes such as Ryu and Guile. While on the surface Marcel appears to be just an ordinary businessman, in reality he's the reincarnation of an ancient fighting demon named Tao-Tei, who has sought to conquer the world for thousands of years and who reappears throughout the centuries, occupying the body of the most powerful person he can embody. In ancient times, Tao-Tei took the forms of warlords, in medieval times, he took the form of kings, but in today's modern era, driven by money and big business, he takes the form of the billionaire Marcel, who is even deadlier in combat than he is in the boardroom. Street Fighter IV, like IOTL's game, adapts many of the same control systems as its predecessors, utilizing Street Fighter II's six button control scheme while also utilizing the throw controls from Street Fighter III, and introducing Ultra Combos to the series as a separate attack from Super Combos.
Returning characters to Street Fighter IV include:
Ryu
Ken
Chun Li
Guile
Blanka
Dhalsim
Zangief
E. Honda
M. Bison
Cammy
Akuma
Ibuki
New characters include C. Viper, Rufus, and Gouken (from OTL's game), along with Marcel, Voltaire (a scholarly fighter who looks much more frail than he actually is), Rikki (a hyper, perky pink-haired girl who loves ice cream but has super fast fighting moves), Bongo (a fighting sentient monkey), and Alexis (a femme fatale who appears frequently at Marcel's side but has an agenda of her own).
The overhaul to the character roster meant that 25 of the 37 characters appearing in Street Fighter Omega do not appear in this game, including many fan favorites like Sagat and Sakura. However, it's assumed by most fans that Capcom will produce subsequent editions of the game where some, if not most of these old characters do return. The smaller roster was intended to both maximize available space and to optimize and balance the metagame. Street Fighter IV includes voiced lines and cutscenes for all 20 characters, with a fairly large cast of popular voice actors.
The game is released to arcades in the fall of 2005, and is given a console release exclusively for the Nintendo Wave on July 25, 2006. The game isn't quite the critical success that OTL's Street Fighter IV was, as it's considered a fairly marginal improvement over previous games, and not the revolutionary fighting game that OTL's title was. Still, it proves to be one of the most popular 2-D fighters of the year, and sells quite well upon its release in both North America and Japan. Like OTL's game and like nearly every Street Fighter before it, Street Fighter IV would get numerous updated releases and ports for a variety of consoles, including the upcoming seventh generation consoles, which would add better graphics and more fighters to the mix. Though Capcom would begin to gravitate increasingly toward Apple in the coming years, the Street Fighter series would remain multiplatform for the foreseeable future, with Nintendo getting a slightly favorable treatment on console versions of the game.
Street Fighter IV is the fourth main series game in the Street Fighter series and the follow-up to Street Fighter Omega, which itself was a follow-up to Street Fighter III and Street Fighter Alpha. Unlike OTL's Street Fighter IV, TTL's game takes place after Street Fighter III and Street Fighter Omega, and thus introduces eight new characters, along with 12 returning characters from previous series games, for a total of 20 playable characters in all. Street Fighter IV went into development immediately after the console release of Omega, following its successful critical and commercial debut. Unlike OTL, there was never a long layoff for the series, so rather than being a complete overhaul like OTL's game was, TTL's Street Fighter IV is a natural progression from the Street Fighter III games, with only a small progression in terms of graphics compared to the massive graphics upgrade that OTL's game got. The game uses cel shading and looks somewhat better than OTL's arcade version of Street Fighter III, but isn't quite as smooth and polished as OTL's Street Fighter IV. The plot is also entirely different: while M. Bison plays a major role, the main villain is a shadowy businessman named Marcel, who has brokered a series of deals with corporations and governments around the world. He's the man bankrolling M. Bison's Shadaloo, which has run dry of funds due to repeated failures at conquering the world thanks to heroes such as Ryu and Guile. While on the surface Marcel appears to be just an ordinary businessman, in reality he's the reincarnation of an ancient fighting demon named Tao-Tei, who has sought to conquer the world for thousands of years and who reappears throughout the centuries, occupying the body of the most powerful person he can embody. In ancient times, Tao-Tei took the forms of warlords, in medieval times, he took the form of kings, but in today's modern era, driven by money and big business, he takes the form of the billionaire Marcel, who is even deadlier in combat than he is in the boardroom. Street Fighter IV, like IOTL's game, adapts many of the same control systems as its predecessors, utilizing Street Fighter II's six button control scheme while also utilizing the throw controls from Street Fighter III, and introducing Ultra Combos to the series as a separate attack from Super Combos.
Returning characters to Street Fighter IV include:
Ryu
Ken
Chun Li
Guile
Blanka
Dhalsim
Zangief
E. Honda
M. Bison
Cammy
Akuma
Ibuki
New characters include C. Viper, Rufus, and Gouken (from OTL's game), along with Marcel, Voltaire (a scholarly fighter who looks much more frail than he actually is), Rikki (a hyper, perky pink-haired girl who loves ice cream but has super fast fighting moves), Bongo (a fighting sentient monkey), and Alexis (a femme fatale who appears frequently at Marcel's side but has an agenda of her own).
The overhaul to the character roster meant that 25 of the 37 characters appearing in Street Fighter Omega do not appear in this game, including many fan favorites like Sagat and Sakura. However, it's assumed by most fans that Capcom will produce subsequent editions of the game where some, if not most of these old characters do return. The smaller roster was intended to both maximize available space and to optimize and balance the metagame. Street Fighter IV includes voiced lines and cutscenes for all 20 characters, with a fairly large cast of popular voice actors.
The game is released to arcades in the fall of 2005, and is given a console release exclusively for the Nintendo Wave on July 25, 2006. The game isn't quite the critical success that OTL's Street Fighter IV was, as it's considered a fairly marginal improvement over previous games, and not the revolutionary fighting game that OTL's title was. Still, it proves to be one of the most popular 2-D fighters of the year, and sells quite well upon its release in both North America and Japan. Like OTL's game and like nearly every Street Fighter before it, Street Fighter IV would get numerous updated releases and ports for a variety of consoles, including the upcoming seventh generation consoles, which would add better graphics and more fighters to the mix. Though Capcom would begin to gravitate increasingly toward Apple in the coming years, the Street Fighter series would remain multiplatform for the foreseeable future, with Nintendo getting a slightly favorable treatment on console versions of the game.
So its hammer man done right, eith a slight dash of class of 3000?
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
@Nivek Can't say for sure but that sounds about right from what I read.
Edit: Forgot to quote it, I mentioned instead. Ah well.
Edit: Forgot to quote it, I mentioned instead. Ah well.
Last edited:
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
I JUST realized it was eldandythedoubter and not you. My bad. It's what I get for neglecting to add quotes.
Summer 2006 (Part 8) - The Birth Of A JRPG Giant?
Shima: The Endless Traveler
Shima: The Endless Traveler is an action RPG developed by Game Arts. Its protagonist is a monk named Shima who is raised in a secluded temple but desires to see the world, and ultimately forsakes his life of pious asceticism in order to explore. The game is distinguished by its massive overworld, which is packed with towns and dungeons, many of which are mandatory visits for the heroes. Whether in the overworld or in a dungeon, monsters can be encountered, these aren't random encounters but appear on the world map and can be avoided. There are a total of 10 playable characters in the game, eight of which are mandatory and two of which are hidden (but important to the plot and fairly easy to acquire, similar to Yuffie and Vincent in Final Fantasy VII). The party consists of five characters at a time, though in battle, only one can be controlled (players can switch back and forth between the character they wish to control). The game's battle system is real-time action, very similar to the Tales series but a bit more complex, as players can chain combos and target more than one enemy with a single attack. In addition, a character can launch a combination attack with another character: whenever a combo-able attack is triggered, it causes a button prompt to appear. Holding down the combo button and pressing the prompt will then cause the combo attack to begin, these combos can involve up to five characters, and there's a damage multiplier for combos as well. There's no traditional "magic points" in the game either, instead characters start with a fixed amount on their special meter, which charges during a fight, allowing them to unleash special attacks. Magic itself isn't even seen until about a third of the way through the game, with very few characters utilizing it. Leveling up is also unique, as characters don't level up traditionally, but instead, their stat points and techniques level up. This can even occur in mid-battle, and players can choose whether to level up during the fight in real time, pause the fight to level up, or wait until after the fight to allocate their stat increases. Some stats build via combat experience (which is awarded after a fight as normal and goes toward an overall "combat power" meter), while others build via taking hits or using skills repeatedly. There are more than a dozen factors that can gain experience and "level up" for each character, and players are able to customize each character's points to their liking to a certain extent (about half of a character's level up factors are fixed, the other half are allocated by the player). Most tough enemy encounters will see at least one factor on at least one character get an increase, and many boss fights are cacophonies of stat increases which will leave a party a decent amount stronger than when it began. Dungeons are fairly standard RPG fare, with little in the way of action and few puzzles to solve, very similar to dungeons in the Lunar series. As stated before, the overworld map is the biggest distinguishing factor of the game, with a complexity rivaling RPGs such as Dragon Quest VII or Lufia II. However, whereas those games had many fetch quests and singleton quests for padding, a much greater degree of the events in Shima tie into the main story or advance a character's arc. There is a good deal of side questing and optional content (it wouldn't be a game about exploring if there wasn't), but the game has a way of tying the story into everything, with the main drawback being a slight chance for players to get lost. Shima is easily the biggest and most polished game that Game Arts has ever produced. The company took a lot of its profits from Lunar 3: Green Destiny and put them directly into the production of this game, putting all their chips on the table and letting it ride, so to speak. The result: an RPG that looks almost as good as anything that Squaresoft has produced in recent memory, and better than just about anything Enix has ever done save for Full Metal Alchemist. It's a gorgeous game, with a massive world, a bevy of excellent music, and full voice acted cutscenes (all in anime form, similar to Full Metal Alchemist and the Lunar series). The game is voiced by a full cast of Los Angeles-based actors, with some big names in the crew.
The ten playable characters are:
Shima: A bald monk and martial arts expert, Shima can be compared to Caine from the classic Kung Fu series. He roams the world seeking to find adventure and discover new places, but is fairly stoic and aloof until new friends come into his life. As Shima goes through the world, he'll visit various martial arts masters to build upon his skills. He's voiced by Phil Lamarr.
Hinata: Hinata is a haughty noblewoman forced from her life of luxury. She's very fierce and proud, comparable to Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke. She carries an umbrella, but her weapon is a flintlock pistol, which she wields with unusual skill. She's voiced by Megan Hollingshead, her first video game role since relocating to Los Angeles.
Fabre: Fabre is a loud-mouthed, boisterous gambler and thief with similarities to Kyle and Ronfar from the Lunar series. He can get Shima and Hinata into places they wouldn't normally be able to get into, and he's very skilled with a knife. He's voiced by Troy Baker.
Littel: Littel is a young boy who runs away from his parents in search of adventure. He's convinced by the heroes to go back to them (they really are loving parents, Littel just ran away because he was bored), but upon returning to his hometown, he finds it wiped out and his parents dead, forcing him to join up with the heroes in order to get revenge. Even with his tragic backstory, he's usually fairly happy and excitable, and he eventually adopts a pet creature that perches on his shoulder. He's voiced by Katie Leigh.
Mischief: Mischief is a witch and a trickster who starts out as a villain but eventually becomes a loyal companion. She's the first magic user that joins the heroes' party, though her magic makes her a target where she's from. She can be compared to Magilou from Tales Of Berseria, but is a bit less unscrupulous than her. She's voiced by Cristina Pucelli, and may definitely remind someone from OTL of Luan from The Loud House (who Pucelli also voices).
Urskine: Urskine is a giant anthropomorphic bear. Like Mischief, he starts out as a villain (he attacks the party), but he really just wants the honey that they're carrying and turns out to be a big softy (though he can still beat the crap out of bad guys). He's voiced by Roger Craig Smith.
Omen: Omen is a silent ninja character who wields a samurai sword. He starts out as a hired assassin, but after dueling Shima he is convinced to join the group. He has a very tragic past, and serves as the team's resident badass. He doesn't have a voice actor, as he doesn't speak.
Sigmund: A knight who serves the Ironclad Army, Sigmund starts as an enemy, but ultimately sees the nobility of the heroes' cause and is persuaded to join them. His love Princess Andrea plays a major role in his storyline, which is ultimately one that starts in tragedy but ends in triumph. He utilizes both a broadsword and powerful white magic in battle, taking on a role similar to a paladin. Sigmund is voiced by Simon Templeman.
Nox: Nox is the first of the game's optional characters, a whip-wielding adventurer woman who speaks quite harshly and who has a bit of a rivalry with Hinata. Nox can be recruited to the team by completing a side quest dungeon that's quite difficult when first accessed but later becomes a trivial matter. If Nox is recruited, she has some extra dialogue with characters during certain scenes (mostly Hinata), along with her own side quest and half of another side quest. She's voiced by Moira Quirk.
Fedora: Fedora is a half-bird, half-man warrior who speaks with a Spanish accent and can be recruited by visiting a series of islands about halfway through the game. He's the second optional character and the third playable character who can utilize magic, wielding a mix of offensive and defensive magic and some unique elemental spells (he also has a bow and arrow). He's voiced by Eric Bauza.
The main story begins by telling Shima's story and why he chose to leave his temple. After a fair bit of exploring, he encounters Hinata, and the two are brought together by a confrontation with a minor villain in the game's first decent sized town, which leads to the game's first dungeon and boss battle. Shima and Hinata then continue their journey, somewhat reluctantly traveling together. It's a decent while (about two more dungeons) until they meet Fabre, and from there the story begins in earnest, with Fabre running afoul of a powerful noble who has hired mercenaries to kill him and anyone who helps him. Hinata knows the noble, who happens to be her father who she despises. We also begin to hear stories of a mysterious and shadowy figure named Daigo, the only other monk to ever leave the temple that Shima originated from. Shima tells the others that no one ever heard from Daigo after he left, and that signs of him resurfacing are rumors at best and not to be taken seriously. We also meet the first truly villainous force in the game, known as the Ragna Syndicate, a group of powerful evil warriors based out of a fortress who pillage towns and destroy anyone who crosses them. The Ragna Syndicate are the ones responsible for burning Littel's village, and Shima and the group make it their goal to defeat them. The storming of the fort where the Ragna Syndicate are headquartered is the first truly major "quest" in the game, and their leader, Kaiten, the first truly major boss of the game, though defeating Kaiten is not the end of him. Ultimately, defeating the Ragna Syndicate opens up a power vacuum in the region that the Empire of Feon and their Ironclad Army take notice of, and they ultimately become the next truly major antagonistic force in the game, as Shima and friends will be dealing with them all the way up until about 80 percent of the way through the game. After little mini-adventures involving Mischief and Urskine which ultimately tie into the main quest (the Ironclad Army is heavily involved in the persecution of witches and magic users, while Urskine's forest is also being pillaged by them), Shima and crew reach the empire proper, and learn that it is warring with two other nations at once, both of which will be visited over the next part of the story (Omen is recruited during the visit to one of those nations). It turns out that the three nations are in search of an object called the Skyestar, an object that allowed humanity to live in paradise amongst the clouds. The shattering of the Skyestar into four pieces caused the ancient floating nation to crash to the planet's surface, creating a massive crater (in which one of Feon's two rival nations now lives) and spreading the Skyestar's pieces to the four corners of the world. The rulers of Feon believe themselves to be the inheritors of the ancient culture, while the crater nation, known as Hedron, believes itself to be the rightful inheritor. The nation of Vex claims no ties to the ancient culture, but is simply warring with Feon for power and freedom (though Vex claims to be a democracy and a free nation, as Shima and his friends soon find out, it's deeply corrupt and arguably worse than Feon). Kaiten resurfaces as a mercenary hired by Hedron who begins murdering various Feonese nobles, and must be hunted down by the party. After Kaiten kidnaps Princess Andrea, Sigmund joins the party to save her, and though she is rescued, she is blinded in the climactic battle, leading to Andrea's older brother taking full control of Feon in search of revenge, launching an all-out assault on both Vex and Hedron. Meanwhile, we learn more about the shadowy Daigo, and of a warrior who fights with similar skills as Shima. Eventually, Shima and his friends decide to launch an all-out assault on Feon, but on the eve of their victory, Shima is attacked from the sky by Daigo, who easily defeats him. Daigo claims to be working with the prince of Feon, and Shima and his companions are imprisoned briefly, though they eventually escape and begin hunting for the Skyestar. Despite their efforts and despite collecting three of the pieces, Daigo eventually gets them all, and sends the capital city of Feon skyward, ultimately betraying the prince and killing him (he also tries to kill Andrea, but Sigmund takes the blow, nearly killing him and putting him out of commission for a dungeon or two). Daigo's ultimate goal is revealed, as is the reason he left the temple: he seeks to create a planet of fighters, so that he may test his strength against the best by creating a world where people must fight to survive. In order to this, he plans to create a great fighting dojo on his floating continent, where he will recruit an army to kill everyone on the surface, and the only ones who survive will be the only ones strong enough to fight his army. When Shima questions him, Daigo tells Shima that the two of them are similar, they both left the temple because they sought their own destiny, and that no one has the right to interfere with the destiny of others. Daigo then sends his lieutenants to force Shima and his friends to gain strength by taking away the thing each of them loves most, forcing the party to go on a series of quests to save those things as Daigo sets about unleashing his army on the world. Eventually, the final battle takes place upon Daigo's floating island, and after Shima defeats him in single combat, Daigo absorbs the Skyestar's powers and battles the party with his ultimate form. After Daigo is defeated, the island threatens to crash onto the world again, but Shima is able to call upon his fellow monks from his old temple, who concentrate their powers and enable the island to float safely to the ground. The world is saved, and everyone gets their happy ending, with Shima and Hinata embarking on a new quest of exploration together as presumably a couple.
Shima: The Endless Traveler is released exclusively for the Nintendo Wave. It's released in Japan in early 2006 and in North America on July 11, 2006. The game is highly praised by reviewers, who proclaim it a strong contender for the year's best RPG. While the game's length is criticized by some who say that even without a lot of filler, the game does drag on somewhat, it's ultimately considered by most to be an epic quest packed with fun and adventure, with a revolutionary combat and level up system and amazing music and graphics. It sells extremely well in Japan and is mostly a financial success in North America, where it would ultimately end up selling about 250,000 copies overall. It sells better than any previous Game Arts title, including the highly lucrative and well known Lunar series, and would ultimately elevate the company to the position of one of the top game companies in Japan. Shortly thereafter, Game Arts would purchase Taito, which was purchased by Square Enix around this time IOTL.
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Game Arts Seeking To Acquire Flagging Telenet Japan
Exactly one decade ago, Telenet Japan was a rapidly rising star in the gaming world. Having just released Tale Phantasia in North America to Game of the Year level accolades, the company had launched itself into stardom, and the Tale series was arguably third to only Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in the minds of most RPG fans. Eventually, the company would be acquired by Nintendo, becoming one of their most valuable second parties as they continued to publish games. However, a series of notable failures, including a failed Valis revival series, along with declining sales and critical reception for their flagship Tale series, would lead to a reversal of fortunes for the company, and Nintendo would ultimately decide to spin Telenet Japan back off into an independent game company in late 2004. Since then, Telenet Japan has been working on Tale Vengeance, which is expected to be released in Japan by the end of the year, but the company's other projects have been delayed or canceled, and it's rumored that the company has gone into debt to finish up their latest Tale game. Meanwhile, Game Arts, bolstered by a series of successful RPGs and action games and a successful worldwide launch for Shima: The Endless Traveler, has become arguably the third biggest RPG maker in Japan, surging ahead of companies like Atlus, which produces the popular Shin Megami Tensei series. Game Arts recently acquired Taito, and has inquired into purchasing Telenet Japan, which would give them the rights to the Tale series, along with other properties such as Valis. The deal would give the company control over numerous hit RPG franchises, which also includes Taito's Lufia series, and would transform Game Arts into an even bigger RPG powerhouse. Game Arts' success comes at a time when Enix, Japan's second largest RPG maker, has seen profits stall out, despite recent hits such as Full Metal Alchemist and Dragon Quest VIII. The company is said to be losing ground to Squaresoft, and with Game Arts slowly coming up in their rearview, it could begin to put some pressure on the venerable RPG giant. No word has been issued from either Game Arts or Telenet Japan about a possible deal, but it appears to be inevitable as Telenet Japan slides toward bankruptcy.
-from a September 8, 2006 article on RPGamer.net
Shima: The Endless Traveler is an action RPG developed by Game Arts. Its protagonist is a monk named Shima who is raised in a secluded temple but desires to see the world, and ultimately forsakes his life of pious asceticism in order to explore. The game is distinguished by its massive overworld, which is packed with towns and dungeons, many of which are mandatory visits for the heroes. Whether in the overworld or in a dungeon, monsters can be encountered, these aren't random encounters but appear on the world map and can be avoided. There are a total of 10 playable characters in the game, eight of which are mandatory and two of which are hidden (but important to the plot and fairly easy to acquire, similar to Yuffie and Vincent in Final Fantasy VII). The party consists of five characters at a time, though in battle, only one can be controlled (players can switch back and forth between the character they wish to control). The game's battle system is real-time action, very similar to the Tales series but a bit more complex, as players can chain combos and target more than one enemy with a single attack. In addition, a character can launch a combination attack with another character: whenever a combo-able attack is triggered, it causes a button prompt to appear. Holding down the combo button and pressing the prompt will then cause the combo attack to begin, these combos can involve up to five characters, and there's a damage multiplier for combos as well. There's no traditional "magic points" in the game either, instead characters start with a fixed amount on their special meter, which charges during a fight, allowing them to unleash special attacks. Magic itself isn't even seen until about a third of the way through the game, with very few characters utilizing it. Leveling up is also unique, as characters don't level up traditionally, but instead, their stat points and techniques level up. This can even occur in mid-battle, and players can choose whether to level up during the fight in real time, pause the fight to level up, or wait until after the fight to allocate their stat increases. Some stats build via combat experience (which is awarded after a fight as normal and goes toward an overall "combat power" meter), while others build via taking hits or using skills repeatedly. There are more than a dozen factors that can gain experience and "level up" for each character, and players are able to customize each character's points to their liking to a certain extent (about half of a character's level up factors are fixed, the other half are allocated by the player). Most tough enemy encounters will see at least one factor on at least one character get an increase, and many boss fights are cacophonies of stat increases which will leave a party a decent amount stronger than when it began. Dungeons are fairly standard RPG fare, with little in the way of action and few puzzles to solve, very similar to dungeons in the Lunar series. As stated before, the overworld map is the biggest distinguishing factor of the game, with a complexity rivaling RPGs such as Dragon Quest VII or Lufia II. However, whereas those games had many fetch quests and singleton quests for padding, a much greater degree of the events in Shima tie into the main story or advance a character's arc. There is a good deal of side questing and optional content (it wouldn't be a game about exploring if there wasn't), but the game has a way of tying the story into everything, with the main drawback being a slight chance for players to get lost. Shima is easily the biggest and most polished game that Game Arts has ever produced. The company took a lot of its profits from Lunar 3: Green Destiny and put them directly into the production of this game, putting all their chips on the table and letting it ride, so to speak. The result: an RPG that looks almost as good as anything that Squaresoft has produced in recent memory, and better than just about anything Enix has ever done save for Full Metal Alchemist. It's a gorgeous game, with a massive world, a bevy of excellent music, and full voice acted cutscenes (all in anime form, similar to Full Metal Alchemist and the Lunar series). The game is voiced by a full cast of Los Angeles-based actors, with some big names in the crew.
The ten playable characters are:
Shima: A bald monk and martial arts expert, Shima can be compared to Caine from the classic Kung Fu series. He roams the world seeking to find adventure and discover new places, but is fairly stoic and aloof until new friends come into his life. As Shima goes through the world, he'll visit various martial arts masters to build upon his skills. He's voiced by Phil Lamarr.
Hinata: Hinata is a haughty noblewoman forced from her life of luxury. She's very fierce and proud, comparable to Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke. She carries an umbrella, but her weapon is a flintlock pistol, which she wields with unusual skill. She's voiced by Megan Hollingshead, her first video game role since relocating to Los Angeles.
Fabre: Fabre is a loud-mouthed, boisterous gambler and thief with similarities to Kyle and Ronfar from the Lunar series. He can get Shima and Hinata into places they wouldn't normally be able to get into, and he's very skilled with a knife. He's voiced by Troy Baker.
Littel: Littel is a young boy who runs away from his parents in search of adventure. He's convinced by the heroes to go back to them (they really are loving parents, Littel just ran away because he was bored), but upon returning to his hometown, he finds it wiped out and his parents dead, forcing him to join up with the heroes in order to get revenge. Even with his tragic backstory, he's usually fairly happy and excitable, and he eventually adopts a pet creature that perches on his shoulder. He's voiced by Katie Leigh.
Mischief: Mischief is a witch and a trickster who starts out as a villain but eventually becomes a loyal companion. She's the first magic user that joins the heroes' party, though her magic makes her a target where she's from. She can be compared to Magilou from Tales Of Berseria, but is a bit less unscrupulous than her. She's voiced by Cristina Pucelli, and may definitely remind someone from OTL of Luan from The Loud House (who Pucelli also voices).
Urskine: Urskine is a giant anthropomorphic bear. Like Mischief, he starts out as a villain (he attacks the party), but he really just wants the honey that they're carrying and turns out to be a big softy (though he can still beat the crap out of bad guys). He's voiced by Roger Craig Smith.
Omen: Omen is a silent ninja character who wields a samurai sword. He starts out as a hired assassin, but after dueling Shima he is convinced to join the group. He has a very tragic past, and serves as the team's resident badass. He doesn't have a voice actor, as he doesn't speak.
Sigmund: A knight who serves the Ironclad Army, Sigmund starts as an enemy, but ultimately sees the nobility of the heroes' cause and is persuaded to join them. His love Princess Andrea plays a major role in his storyline, which is ultimately one that starts in tragedy but ends in triumph. He utilizes both a broadsword and powerful white magic in battle, taking on a role similar to a paladin. Sigmund is voiced by Simon Templeman.
Nox: Nox is the first of the game's optional characters, a whip-wielding adventurer woman who speaks quite harshly and who has a bit of a rivalry with Hinata. Nox can be recruited to the team by completing a side quest dungeon that's quite difficult when first accessed but later becomes a trivial matter. If Nox is recruited, she has some extra dialogue with characters during certain scenes (mostly Hinata), along with her own side quest and half of another side quest. She's voiced by Moira Quirk.
Fedora: Fedora is a half-bird, half-man warrior who speaks with a Spanish accent and can be recruited by visiting a series of islands about halfway through the game. He's the second optional character and the third playable character who can utilize magic, wielding a mix of offensive and defensive magic and some unique elemental spells (he also has a bow and arrow). He's voiced by Eric Bauza.
The main story begins by telling Shima's story and why he chose to leave his temple. After a fair bit of exploring, he encounters Hinata, and the two are brought together by a confrontation with a minor villain in the game's first decent sized town, which leads to the game's first dungeon and boss battle. Shima and Hinata then continue their journey, somewhat reluctantly traveling together. It's a decent while (about two more dungeons) until they meet Fabre, and from there the story begins in earnest, with Fabre running afoul of a powerful noble who has hired mercenaries to kill him and anyone who helps him. Hinata knows the noble, who happens to be her father who she despises. We also begin to hear stories of a mysterious and shadowy figure named Daigo, the only other monk to ever leave the temple that Shima originated from. Shima tells the others that no one ever heard from Daigo after he left, and that signs of him resurfacing are rumors at best and not to be taken seriously. We also meet the first truly villainous force in the game, known as the Ragna Syndicate, a group of powerful evil warriors based out of a fortress who pillage towns and destroy anyone who crosses them. The Ragna Syndicate are the ones responsible for burning Littel's village, and Shima and the group make it their goal to defeat them. The storming of the fort where the Ragna Syndicate are headquartered is the first truly major "quest" in the game, and their leader, Kaiten, the first truly major boss of the game, though defeating Kaiten is not the end of him. Ultimately, defeating the Ragna Syndicate opens up a power vacuum in the region that the Empire of Feon and their Ironclad Army take notice of, and they ultimately become the next truly major antagonistic force in the game, as Shima and friends will be dealing with them all the way up until about 80 percent of the way through the game. After little mini-adventures involving Mischief and Urskine which ultimately tie into the main quest (the Ironclad Army is heavily involved in the persecution of witches and magic users, while Urskine's forest is also being pillaged by them), Shima and crew reach the empire proper, and learn that it is warring with two other nations at once, both of which will be visited over the next part of the story (Omen is recruited during the visit to one of those nations). It turns out that the three nations are in search of an object called the Skyestar, an object that allowed humanity to live in paradise amongst the clouds. The shattering of the Skyestar into four pieces caused the ancient floating nation to crash to the planet's surface, creating a massive crater (in which one of Feon's two rival nations now lives) and spreading the Skyestar's pieces to the four corners of the world. The rulers of Feon believe themselves to be the inheritors of the ancient culture, while the crater nation, known as Hedron, believes itself to be the rightful inheritor. The nation of Vex claims no ties to the ancient culture, but is simply warring with Feon for power and freedom (though Vex claims to be a democracy and a free nation, as Shima and his friends soon find out, it's deeply corrupt and arguably worse than Feon). Kaiten resurfaces as a mercenary hired by Hedron who begins murdering various Feonese nobles, and must be hunted down by the party. After Kaiten kidnaps Princess Andrea, Sigmund joins the party to save her, and though she is rescued, she is blinded in the climactic battle, leading to Andrea's older brother taking full control of Feon in search of revenge, launching an all-out assault on both Vex and Hedron. Meanwhile, we learn more about the shadowy Daigo, and of a warrior who fights with similar skills as Shima. Eventually, Shima and his friends decide to launch an all-out assault on Feon, but on the eve of their victory, Shima is attacked from the sky by Daigo, who easily defeats him. Daigo claims to be working with the prince of Feon, and Shima and his companions are imprisoned briefly, though they eventually escape and begin hunting for the Skyestar. Despite their efforts and despite collecting three of the pieces, Daigo eventually gets them all, and sends the capital city of Feon skyward, ultimately betraying the prince and killing him (he also tries to kill Andrea, but Sigmund takes the blow, nearly killing him and putting him out of commission for a dungeon or two). Daigo's ultimate goal is revealed, as is the reason he left the temple: he seeks to create a planet of fighters, so that he may test his strength against the best by creating a world where people must fight to survive. In order to this, he plans to create a great fighting dojo on his floating continent, where he will recruit an army to kill everyone on the surface, and the only ones who survive will be the only ones strong enough to fight his army. When Shima questions him, Daigo tells Shima that the two of them are similar, they both left the temple because they sought their own destiny, and that no one has the right to interfere with the destiny of others. Daigo then sends his lieutenants to force Shima and his friends to gain strength by taking away the thing each of them loves most, forcing the party to go on a series of quests to save those things as Daigo sets about unleashing his army on the world. Eventually, the final battle takes place upon Daigo's floating island, and after Shima defeats him in single combat, Daigo absorbs the Skyestar's powers and battles the party with his ultimate form. After Daigo is defeated, the island threatens to crash onto the world again, but Shima is able to call upon his fellow monks from his old temple, who concentrate their powers and enable the island to float safely to the ground. The world is saved, and everyone gets their happy ending, with Shima and Hinata embarking on a new quest of exploration together as presumably a couple.
Shima: The Endless Traveler is released exclusively for the Nintendo Wave. It's released in Japan in early 2006 and in North America on July 11, 2006. The game is highly praised by reviewers, who proclaim it a strong contender for the year's best RPG. While the game's length is criticized by some who say that even without a lot of filler, the game does drag on somewhat, it's ultimately considered by most to be an epic quest packed with fun and adventure, with a revolutionary combat and level up system and amazing music and graphics. It sells extremely well in Japan and is mostly a financial success in North America, where it would ultimately end up selling about 250,000 copies overall. It sells better than any previous Game Arts title, including the highly lucrative and well known Lunar series, and would ultimately elevate the company to the position of one of the top game companies in Japan. Shortly thereafter, Game Arts would purchase Taito, which was purchased by Square Enix around this time IOTL.
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Game Arts Seeking To Acquire Flagging Telenet Japan
Exactly one decade ago, Telenet Japan was a rapidly rising star in the gaming world. Having just released Tale Phantasia in North America to Game of the Year level accolades, the company had launched itself into stardom, and the Tale series was arguably third to only Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in the minds of most RPG fans. Eventually, the company would be acquired by Nintendo, becoming one of their most valuable second parties as they continued to publish games. However, a series of notable failures, including a failed Valis revival series, along with declining sales and critical reception for their flagship Tale series, would lead to a reversal of fortunes for the company, and Nintendo would ultimately decide to spin Telenet Japan back off into an independent game company in late 2004. Since then, Telenet Japan has been working on Tale Vengeance, which is expected to be released in Japan by the end of the year, but the company's other projects have been delayed or canceled, and it's rumored that the company has gone into debt to finish up their latest Tale game. Meanwhile, Game Arts, bolstered by a series of successful RPGs and action games and a successful worldwide launch for Shima: The Endless Traveler, has become arguably the third biggest RPG maker in Japan, surging ahead of companies like Atlus, which produces the popular Shin Megami Tensei series. Game Arts recently acquired Taito, and has inquired into purchasing Telenet Japan, which would give them the rights to the Tale series, along with other properties such as Valis. The deal would give the company control over numerous hit RPG franchises, which also includes Taito's Lufia series, and would transform Game Arts into an even bigger RPG powerhouse. Game Arts' success comes at a time when Enix, Japan's second largest RPG maker, has seen profits stall out, despite recent hits such as Full Metal Alchemist and Dragon Quest VIII. The company is said to be losing ground to Squaresoft, and with Game Arts slowly coming up in their rearview, it could begin to put some pressure on the venerable RPG giant. No word has been issued from either Game Arts or Telenet Japan about a possible deal, but it appears to be inevitable as Telenet Japan slides toward bankruptcy.
-from a September 8, 2006 article on RPGamer.net
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