Topic: Do you care if [X game in development hell] gets released?

This is admittedly a reactionary thing. After another article on pretty much nothing about Final Fantasy VII Remake, I saw and felt the usual reaction. The game making weird progress, Square not showing much of it, the usual snarky cynicism I've been tired of for quite a while, and a reminder of how everyone has basically abandoned it after begging for it for so long. On that last point my mind started to wander to a question I'm surprised I haven't asked-

"Is anyone going to play this when it comes out?"

This is honestly a dumb thought to have with a Final Fantasy game, but you can apply it to other titles, like Kingdom Hearts III and Beyond Good and Evil 2. I know a lot of people doubted the 2018 year for KH3, and they were barely right, but what stuck out to me on here was how many people said they haven't played the series. Likewise, the original Beyond Good and Evil was a cult classic, and not many have played that.

Basically, would you care if these games finally released if you're not a fan of them? I'm curious because everybody seems to love poking fun at a game's development, even if it's one they may not play.

This isn't meant to be an angry call out or hit piece or whatever. This has been somewhere in my head for a while. I guess I needed another article on a game long in the works to bring it out.

Sure. More games is always good. To me isn't doesn't really matter how long a game is in development. If it's something that appeals to me, I'll play it.

Doesn't mean I don't like to poke fun at them though

I do worry I'll die before I get to play some of the games I'm looking forward to, but that's just me being paranoid haha.

Realistically I don't mind the wait.

As for FF7, as I mentioned on that topic, if it comes out in 2021 that's a 6 year development cycle which doesn't seem so bad for such a big project. People are used to annual releases of some games like COD, but they are being worked on for 2-3 years each by various teams and recycle a lot of elements.

Problem with FF7 is they announced it too early for some impatient people.

honestly it depends on how much of a fan of the franchise i am, if it's a Final Fantasy game then damn right i care but if it's games like Duke Nukem Forever then no i don't

Depends on the game and what happens throughout its development cycle. I can't say that every game that takes forever ends up being worth the wait and sometimes my enthusiasm does waver. The issues can arise though when a game is announced for a certain generation and then released on the next - maybe even the one after that and its still 'clearly' been built with the older generation in mind. Its not just the visuals - which can be given a fresh coat of paint so to speak but its the game-play, the structure of levels etc that can make a game 'feel' dated even if it looks modern. You could also have dialogue that feels 'old' too - Duke Nukem Forever is a good example of that.

What may seem 'great' 4/5yrs ago, comparable with what other games were offering then can seem old when they finally do release because games have pushed on from that, set the bar much higher. Things advance so it can depend on whether they evolve with the times, how ambitious they were. I know some games that wont matter so much but others it can. Take things like side quests being little more than go here and fetch something or go there and kill something - no real story to it, doesn't tie in to the main game and only 'filler', that may have been more acceptable when the game was announced but by the time it releases, its no longer acceptable.

As I said, its not always the case. Some games may well of been far too ambitious for the time and hardware - they needed that time to wait for the technology to catch up. You can put the Last Guardian in that category with the AI and the feathers of Trico - although that does show its 'origins' of being developed on PS3 too.

Personally though, I would prefer NOT to hear about games in development until they are within a year of releasing. If they do get a 'small delay, so be it - I would rather a game was delayed to polish than rush out a buggy game to meet that release date. I don't really want games announced that are 2 or more years away. There is always the risk that they get cancelled or just disappear which I think is far less likely if they are a year away from releasing - that far along. We can all think of games that have been cancelled or disappear - Scalebound, Star Wars 1313, Agent, WiLD etc spring to mind. A year is still a LONG time in gaming as it moves so fast - you also wouldn't get so many games appearing year after year at E3, Gamescom etc either and every year would have a lot more 'new' surprises. You wouldn't lose interest or be disappointed when games don't show or get cancelled because you didn't know they existed in the first place. 2yrs after stating that Respawn were working on a Star Wars game, all we got was a name - that's disappointing but if they announced it, showed a trailer and then said it was releasing this year, big excitement. Gamescom could show some game-play and the hype builds. Had we not heard about Viscerals Star Wars game, it wouldn't have been so disappointing when it was cancelled although I still expect EA would have got flak (rightly so) for their reasoning and the closure of that studio - regardless of whether it was Star Wars or not - but it would have been less disappointing about losing a game we never knew existed.

This only becomes an issue because of the fact that devs/publishers announce games far too early and would be completely redundant a discussion if they didn't announce games until they are in the final year before release is due...

They announced the FF7 remake way too early, I think. But if they do a great job on it then yes, I will definitely play it.

Depends on the game.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is the only game I NEED to play. I've waited too long. It's pretty much the last remnant on of my childhood .

As for games being announced early...
It doesn't really matter to me. I think there's too much secrecy in games anyways.

You remember when you were in Elementary School (or Primary School for you folks from Mother England and the Old World) and you had a crush on the girl in your class and you’d poke fun at her, pull her pigtails, call her names, and stick your tongue out at her? It was your way of showing your admiration for something that you couldn’t have and was unobtainable at the time. And although it is clearly a paradoxical response to someone you hold in high regard and desire to have, it is universally a young boys reaction to being trapped in a position of romantic privation ...
Well ... I apparently never grew up because I only poke fun about the games I actually am interested in. FFVII, Beyond G&E 2, Cyberpunk 2077 — these games will likely stay in this long development cycle and may end up next gen and I will probably continue to sarcastically throw critical ironies at the developers, but it is only out of love and desire. Like the pigtailed girl on the playground, when they become available, I’ll fall over myself to have them. My teasings are therefore a sign of adoration and respect, believe it or not. If I didn’t care, I would ignore them. Like Kingdom Hearts 3.

For me, long development cycles and lots of showings kills hype. Games are an iterative process and lots change. I get that games take so long to make, and sometimes don't pan out so long dev cycles aren't a worry. It's showing early gameplay and extensive trailers when you haven't nailed down a large portion of the game is risky.

If you take Cyberpunk, that was announced and then went radio silent for years. That's fine, they aren't constantly reminding me that its coming. But if you compare that to something like Death Stranding, that is probably still years away and yet I am already sick of hearing about it.

@Kidfried Nah, I’m too dorky to ever have had the social maturity to follow up on a crush. All my teasing just ended up creating animosity. But yes, fortunately game developers don’t take our jibes personally and the game does everntually end up in my possession. Although, perhaps they do take the criticism personally. I actually respect how CD Projekt Red said Cyberpunk 2077’s release date is : “when it’s ready.” It’s like a subtle sarcastic barb sent back to the gamers as if to say, “don’t bother us incessantly whining for a release date. We’re working hard and will not release a game that is not finished to the highest quality.” They are like the schoolgirl that just throws it right back at you - when you stick your tongue out at her in class, she just shoots a spitball back at you. 😂
Square-Enix is more like the girl that shys away and averts her eyes and looks at the ground, every now and then peeking up at you to give you a sly grin.
Ubisoft is like the girl that just grabs every little boy that even looks her direction and gives them a kiss at recess. Sometimes its sloppy and forced on you and it often comes too easy.

@Kidfried Ha, ha! Yes, I do too. They just tend to release so quickly but they do often hit the mark. Just every once and a while we get an Assassins Creed Unity that has to be patched up because it was probably rushed.

Considering it was one of the games I looked forward to when I bought the Xbox One, and that I really enjoyed the original, I'd like to see Crackdown 3 release on the console sometime in the next year.

Yeah, I don't like it when games are announced too early too!

When it comes to waiting, the longest I've waited with the current crop of uncoming releases is with a little indie game called Rusty Pup by Chris Seavor (the guy behind Rare's Conker's Bad Fur Day). It's been in the works for five years so far...does that count as development hell? Seems like a small / short game, so I would think that's quite a long time.

Like Death Stranding, it's a game I'm following closely but I'm not sure how much I'll like the finished product, since it's seemingly a departure from the creator's previous works.

@Gamer83 If it sticks to release date it currently has, you can buy Crackdown 3 on the 22nd Feb - along with Anthem, Metro Exodus and/or Days Gone... Out of those 4 though, Crackdown 3 is at the bottom of my 'wanted' list. 1 was fun, 2 was poor and 3 looks like it was better suited to the 360 era... Whether its better than 1 or not, time will tell.

Usually games in development hell don't turn out good when (if) they get released.
I can't think of a game like this that I'm interested in, except Skyblivion which is not really a game but only a mod.
In this case, I can say that sure, I will absolutely play it when (if) it gets released because it is my second biggest gaming-related dream (the absolutely first, biggest one is an official remake of Oblivion available both on PC and every console too)
Other than that, I did not like Beyond good and evil so I'm not even going to try Beyond good and evil 2. I enjoy Kingdom hearts 2, I don't think it is a good game but I enjoy it as a guilty pleasure, all the Disney stuff look so good, all the different graphic styles, and it is good mindless fun, I have it on PS2 and I bought it again on PS4 (in the collection) but I will not buy KH3. I have the feeling that the more KH games gets released, the more they focus around all the Square stuff at the expense of Disney, and this is just plain crap in my opinion. Everything else than Disney fanservice in Kingdom hearts is just an amount of stupid nonsense that gives me headaches, so I have no desire at all to try it. Everytime I see new things about this series it look worse and worse.
Final fantasy 7 is the only good thing Square ever did in my opinion. There was a time when I really wanted a FF7 remake. After all this time I'm not that much attached to that game anymore, so I don't care that much, but I could be tempted when the time will come. It has been an incredible adventure when I played it on PS1. It was so compelling, fun and fast paced, and I had never tried any game of this genre back then so it also felt so unique... but now I don't feel so much interested anymore. I think it could be a very good game anyway. Honestly I hope so, usually I don't like jrpgs (I only like FF7 and Paper Mario 1) so this game is really unique for me and I think it deserves to be appreciated again by people.

@DerMeister great topic mate!

@Th3solution Hahaha amazing commenting as usual.

@Gamer83 Crackdown 1 and 2 are classics. Too short? Yes but well worth playing through.

I think a very important point which has been missed is that we are all getting older. Final Fantasy 7 will not have the same impact as it had on me and kids of a similar mindset 20 years ago. I was what 17 or so when I first played ff7 - Im now 20 years older and simply do not have the time to wait anymore. Neither do Squeenix. In 3 years time most of the people who hold ff7 in high regard will be middle aged. Thats crazy really and as you get older playing the latest games takes a backseat to having time to game.

@themcnoisy Not quite true as I'm 40 and am still looking forward to FF7 Remake. It will be ready when it is ready, I don't get the rush for a game to be released.

However I do get sick of games being revealed so early in development. By the time the game comes out you know almost everything and you lose some of that magic of discovering stuff for yourself. Which is why I don't watch/read many previews and trailers any more.

@JohnnyShoulder The difference here is like me your a big gamer. Its more of a priority to you than a general fan of the series 20 years ago. Lets just say ff7 remake releases in 2020. Thats 23 years since the original release and I think will undoubtedly hurt sales towards middle aged fans with more pressing priorities. Most people in their 40s are paying mortgages, have families etc so its harder to get the time to game. Not to mention the nostalgia wears off, I have always called for Streets of Rage 4, over the last few years Im not actually that bothered anymore as its been almost 25 years since the last one.

Im coming at that from a different angle really and I totally agree that less is more when it comes to previews and information. What I am saying is they should have announced this project earlier and had the ff7 remake out now. Imo they have left it a touch too late.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I guess sometimes I forget that people do care about some of these games. I've seen a lot of negativity around them and it made me wonder. I also forget that it could just be a very vocal minority. Some very good points were raised here too. I never would have thought of games becoming dated in development without this thread.

Its also not about games becoming 'dated' through extended development cycles but also games that may change throughout the development through need because they were 'too ambitious' or through keeping up to the expectation we have of modern games.

A good example of games that 'changed' - albeit slightly - in recent times is the Division. Initially it looked more impressive, the map system in particular and they also had the 'tablet' player - someone that could play on their tablet with you as a 'spotter' drone for example, feeding you information etc. Obviously these things ended up not making it to final release.

When Devs make their 'little' snapshot so early in development, the visuals can look much better because the world isn't so large and developed meaning they can allocate more resources to the visuals. That Division Map for example may be 'too expensive' on resources to work in a lot of areas. Those 'buildings' could just be a facade - a single layer with absolutely nothing behind so when they turn that into an actual building with rooms and objects that you can enter and interact with, that takes up a lot of the resources that the visuals were utilising. Certain things may work in the Studio but then when you try to get them working with full game, and different hardware, things don't go to plan.

Point is that the game you get 'promised' 3 or 4yrs ago ends up being quite different by the time it gets released. We all know how quite a few games were 'criticised' for visual downgrades - even God of War from the initial reveal to the final release. Spider-Man too has changed from some of the earlier footage - even if the costume design itself has remained similar - I refer to the 'texture' and individual little cells in the original reveal to the more 'shiny' version we have seen lately. As an example, there is this video...

I don't think it matters too much but I do prefer the earlier versions as it seems more 'natural/realistic' and more reminiscent of the fabrics we see in 'superhero' movies/TV shows than the slightly more 'cartoony' and shinier version we see now. This is a 'very minor thing in this case and perhaps more 'fitting' with the tone of the game. The older style does seem more realistic and more 'gritty' than the newer style which gives it more of a cartoony and 'fun' vibe so perhaps not a 'downgrade' but more of an aesthetic choice to fit the vibe better. We have seen more obvious 'downgrades' - like Watchdogs for example but maybe they expected more from the hardware specs that we eventually ended up with.

Of course no-one could criticise any 'possible' visual downgrade or style change, can't criticise if devs remove features, change direction etc between reveal and release if you never saw it in the early stages. Every year we get a LOT of new games - too many for me to buy all of them and generally more games I want than I can buy. Often I have to make a decision of which game to buy 'now' and which I may have to leave for those month's when maybe the games released aren't that appealing to me. Point is, there is no reason to reveal games 2 or more years away. There is enough games coming out in the 'year' ahead to deliver a FULL briefing event without needing to show off games that are years away. Kickstarter is obviously different as they need to generate interest to invest in that game from the public but all others needn't be revealed until they are so far along, so close to release that, unless the reveal is a 'major' disaster, that the reveal is the game you will be getting.

If Square Enix cancelled FF7, no one would be upset if you didn't know it was in development. If they do change their mind on something, like the episodic nature, the combat, the visual style etc people wouldn't complain because they wouldn't have known it even existed. Lets be honest, if they just remastered FF7 and released it, people wouldn't be disappointed that they aren't now getting the remake if that remake wasn't revealed. They wouldn't be upset that its now more than 3yrs since reveal and still seemingly years away. It would have far more impact if it was revealed and releasing within 6-12months - that's plenty of time to build hype, reveal little bits without spoiling anything etc and to keep that hype without overkill, without people getting 'bored' or fed-up with waiting, without moving on to something more tangible because that's releasing much sooner etc. Not going to be disappointed because the final release didn't live up to the 'promises' of the reveal and you actually get the game you expected as a result because its so close to release that 90%+ of it is finalised - maybe just the final polishes and ironing out the kinks/bugs.