Yeah, FM Evolved should be good. The only question is how to convince people to give it a try since the general consensus is very negative at the moment. Genre change (which is really moot since FM already did TPS in Online/has done RTS & side-scroller too) or Double Helix developing it, there’s a lot of pre-game bashers out there.

Thanks for dropping by!

Yeah, the Ultimate Hits version of FM5 was in mind, and still is. The argument going with the original version first is that it was released in much bigger shipments than the UH version. I knew a lot of people who had copies since 2005 from forums and e-mails. Even then, almost every online retailer still stocking the original FM5 sold out quickly when people found out. Re-stocks sold out quickly too as our team observed. I’d imagine the same effect will be seen once we figure out how the data conversion works.

FM2′s data conversion was solved right as we started work, but our team was much better prepared for it. Rest assured, it’ll be out in due time. So far, I’m impressed at the 110,000+ people who downloaded our patches for the original version…a number WAY beyond my own expectations! Lastly, on the localization issue, it’s unfortunately a lost cause. FM5 was certainly considered for localization, but it never really got past planning.

A lot of people blame FM4′s poor sales on it, but it’s actually more of an issue of Square/Square Enix USA failing to handle the series overseas. FM isn’t as standalone as many think, and what almost no one outside of Japan (except for a few like me) knows is that it’s actually a serial drama in disguise. The video games are cause-and-effect played out times infinity (events from one affect events from another), with plenty of subtle plot linkages and recurring characters.

These are complemented by a whole line of manga and graphic novels (both game-related and new stories) that make its serial drama nature even more pronounced. Their stories explore a lot of things the games don’t, namely character backstory, motives, and development. Basically, FM from the storytelling view requires both the video games and manga & graphic novels for anyone to fully grasp. Square USA didn’t get the memo, skipping the original FM1 for the SNES and waiting until FM3. That and not even bothering to make note of its nature as a serialized story!

So before Square Enix could consider FM5, they’d have to release FM2 and the other plot-relevant stuff first. It wouldn’t be a problem if they did FM right in the first place, but sadly that’s not the reality. It’s a real shame too that FM is relegated to unknown status here, whereas it’s highly revered as one of SE’s best (especially in storytelling) in Japan.

Alas, there is still FM Evolved even though it’s just a reboot of the series. That’s something to look forward to, at least. Well, I should probably stop here. I think I wrote more than I should! You can find out more about FM at our website, frontmission.info, so feel free to check it out. We’re not going to be doing just game translations alone…like I said, there’s WAY more to FM than just that!

Hope you enjoyed this long, but detailed post!

LegaiaRules