Jetlogs.org » Front Mission: More Frustration With Square Enix

19Mar

Front Mission: More Frustration With Square Enix

Posted by Ven @ 8:30 am
Category: Video Games

I did the follow-up on Star Ocean, and decided to check out the Front Mission series as well. I can say that I’m also extremely disappointed as to how Square Enix has handled and developed the Front Mission series in North America – in my opinion worse so than Star Ocean.

Front Mission 3 and 4 went fine overseas. The sales were no FF calibur in number but they had a firm fanbase. Front Mission is really the only mecha series that Square has to offer, and believe me the mecha fanbase is firm in North America. Front Mission 5 would have been huge here. The game was groundbreaking in similar fashion to FF12, but they neglected to release that as well. The trailers looked great and had fans drooling. Makes a guy wonder why Square Enix even shows up at E3′s when they delay and end up cancelling so many North American releases that they show off.

Now they do rerelease for us a remake of the original Front Mission for NDS (which no one even asked for since anyone who cares about the original Front Mission has already played the rom to death, myself included)

So released in North America we’ve now got:

Front Mission 3 (PlayStation, February 29, 2000)
Front Mission 4 (PlayStation 2, June 15, 2004)
Front Mission remake (Nintendo DS, October 23, 2007)

Out of the five Front Mission games, Front Mission 2 and 5 — in my opinion the two best games storywise in the series that follow the same characters — still remain Japan-only releases.

Front Mission for Nintendo DS

I never actually even heard of this remake until I got bored and starting doing some searches on the Front Mission series out of boredom and curiosity. Earlier today when I asked several people about the game, none of my gamer friends even follow this series anymore, and when I ask if they’ve played the DS remake they just say: ”don’t know don’t care.”

I’m sure the game is great with more features than the original Front Mission. Remakes are fine and seem to be all the rage now, but why couldn’t they just release Front Mission 5 within a year or so of the Japanese release like everyone had been begging for (a bit late now that the game is 3 years old), and release a compilation consisting of Front Mission 1 and 2 similar to FF Anthology and FF Chronicles? All Square seems to care about for North American releases is pushing Final Fantasy and nothing else. They are just butchering all of the other potentially great series outside of Japan — Star Ocean and Front Mission in particular.

It’s just brutal.

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4 Comments

4 Comments »

4 Comments to “Front Mission: More Frustration With Square Enix”

Jetlogs

March 19, 2008 @ 10:19 am

Yeah, S-E has been on the downturn. Their main focus in on the Japanese market. Western markets are less of a priority to them

Guncannon

March 19, 2008 @ 11:14 am

OBJECTION! They do release DQ series as well. /heh

LegaiaRules

March 20, 2008 @ 12:44 pm

Ah, a nice find indeed. Google’n always comes up with something worth reading.

Anyways, SE definitely butchered Front Mission’s potential overseas. Had they started with the original and worked their way up, the other installments would have seen releases. It would’ve solved the issue of how to market the series to maximize profits instead of taking losses. It’s pathetic how a company with one of the best marketing teams couldn’t capitalize on the series. Front Mission 4 being the most obvious example with a dismal units sold/units shipped ratio. That one could have fared better with less advertising and such to minimize losses.

On the issue with Front Mission 2 and 5, they don’t even use the same characters or have the same narratives. Sure, both make references but it’s not the same as a direct sequel. The installment that does this is Front Mission 4, mainly since that was the purpose of the U.S.N. scenario in the PS1 remake Front Mission First. The O.C.U. scenario from Front Mission First also ties into Front Mission 4, but to a lesser degree. Another piece of support would be the two cameos from Front Mission First: Frederick Lancaster(O.C.U.) and Maria Paredes(U.S.N.).

Front Mission 2 was an original narrative outside of the referencing, though it did foreshadow events in Front Missions 3, 4, and 5. Front Mission 5 was designed to close the timeline that started with Front Mission First. It resolved every plot element from Front Mission First to 4 that was left untouched so it was pretty much a gift to all who kept up with the series since 1995. A shame SE didn’t introduce the series overseas properly.

Ven

March 20, 2008 @ 6:31 pm

Author Comment

Thanks man. Your Front Mission 5 project looks great! Best of luck with that, can’t wait to play it!

I don’t understand Japanese in the least bit so it was hard for me to keep up with or even follow this series. I was a pretty avid FM fan a few years back, even though I don’t have much knowledge of the series at all