Murayama Considering a Certain Offer

[Hirathien]

Maybe he just speaks of Harmony as Harmony.

[Rooks]

I too, would love to see another Murayama Suikoden, but it looks like that will not happen again, at least any time soon. And I was hopeful when I saw the News Post about it.

What I can say is this: Konami is certainly a bewildering company: They have been one of the largest video game makers since the 8-bit era, but all large companies, -even Konami- have their flaws. Back in the late 16-bit/ Sega CD/ Early PSX era, Konami nearly ran itself into the ground making horrible "tie-in" games for movies, and producing them at such a blistering pace that they lost nearly all of their money for original projects. But they were saved by the remarkable talent of a few of their employees: Of course Murayama and Hideo Kojima, also whomever was responsible for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Konami keeps going back and forth between recognizing real talent and giving it a place to grow, then cropping that talent short and focusing on "Marketable" and "Popular" games, which are actually anything but.

There has been talk of Murayama's "Ten Year Plan" here. Honestly, I don't think his departure from Konami had so much to do with a plan than with frustration at the management's ever-changing policy and their inflexibility.

For example: After the success of Metal Gear Solid 2, Konami decided to politely repay Hideo Kojima by announcing that there would be a new Metal Gear Title released every 18 months. (This is from an article I read at the time in PSM magazine, from the Summer of '02, sorry but I could not find a link to source it.) This brought us the Metal Gear Solid Substance series (essentially re-releases) and Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes, which was MGS1 plugged into the MGS2 engine and released for GameCube. After the release of Metal Gear Solid 3, Kojima created his own production company, this gave him more control and a basis to negotiate with Konami. Though he is still contractually obligated to Konami, at least this has stopped them from running the MGS series into the ground.

On the other hand, Konami has been responsible for releasing some of the best games ever made, and they deserve to be recognized for that.

Keep in mind that the future of the RPG is itself in question. Most have gone to MMO-style battle systems, and console RPGs are not selling as well as they used to. Some have been hits, like Dragon Age, but to me that game was an attempt to combine suikoden-esque plotlines with Balder's Gate real time action. Final Fantasy XIII was awash with mixed reviews as well, and most believe it failed to deliver.

Konami is in a unique position to revitalize the RPG with a new Suikoden title, and I think that they intend to do this. The problem is how they might go about doing this; if they focus on "Market Trends" and what they think will "sell," then we might be looking at a game that would disappoint us long-time fans. However, if in fact Murayama did receive an offer from Konami, then this might show that they are trying to create a true successor to the series, and a willing to go to some lengths -even compromising marketability- to achieve that.

Even though Murayama probably won't be involved, new Suikoden titles are a strong possibility. And that is enough to give me hope for the future of the series.

[Tsuppiyo]

Thank you so much for clearing it all up, Rooks. It's always nice to have a company's plans demystified. Hopefully Konami will plan something good!
cause IMHO, Tierkreis disappointed...big time. To get a Tierkreis II would be unbearable. On the other hand, SVI would be a godsend--but what if it was like IV?
It seems to me that IV was a prequel because K. didn't dare for anyone but Murayama to determine what was going to happen after SIII's events. They're keeping M's place in good maintenance until he can return to the throne again, so to speak.
so it's so disappointing to hear that M might have decided not to work with K. on an upcoming Suikoden. man I think Konami needs to literally up their game and risk not being perfectly "marketable," as Rooks said.... Give us just one more Suikoden that can more than hold a candle to the first two, and I don't care if they don't ever make another!

I'm getting desperate... can you tell?

[catfriedrice]

You guys don't know me from adam, and I know this makes my story possibly unbelievable. I'll let you be the judge.

I work for Target. Today, a Sony Rep was in the store showing off the new "Move" controller and what games would be featured with it. I asked her if she knew whether Suikoden 6 was to be released on the PS3. She told me it was and that it is on her list of upcoming titles; However, there was no release date shown.

I suggest if you know your local Sony/Playstation representative, ask them.

[Raww Le Klueze]

Right. Providing bare minimum information that has 33% chance of being true with no verifiable source is quite frankly pointless information.

[KC_MCDOHL]

(Hopes to see Raww Le Klueze withdraw in silence when Suikoden VI is announced at TGS 2010 )


.....

(Hopes not to see KC_MCDOHL withdraw in silence when Suikoden VI turns out to be a gut wrenchingly bad installment...)

[Raww Le Klueze]

(Hopes to see Raww Le Klueze withdraw in silence when Suikoden VI is announced at TGS 2010 )

Yeah cause a completely unrelated event like that would just be that devestating to me. Especially one that I've been saying is the most likely to happen. Good thinking there.

[Xelinis]

You guys don't know me from adam, and I know this makes my story possibly unbelievable. I'll let you be the judge.

I work for Target. Today, a Sony Rep was in the store showing off the new "Move" controller and what games would be featured with it. I asked her if she knew whether Suikoden 6 was to be released on the PS3. She told me it was and that it is on her list of upcoming titles; However, there was no release date shown.

I suggest if you know your local Sony/Playstation representative, ask them.

Can you give us a detailed breakdown of how you asked her and how she looked it up the information? I'm sure you didn't mean any offense but usually reps will just say stuff like to get people off their backs.

[KC_MCDOHL]

Raww, you need to be less political and more ....human? Chill out man

[Palmguy]

It's true however that he's been saying for I-dunno-how-long that Suiko6 would never appear at E3 and that the only thing like that with a remotely chance of getting suikoden news would be the Tokyo Game Show...

[Vextor]

New Suikoden titles have never been announced at E3 or the TGS, so it is unlikely it will ever be announced at those events.

In the past, new titles have been announced a few months prior to TGS, or at completely unrelated times. Konami seems to reserve these large events for titles that they see as more important, such as MGS.

[Xelinis]

New Suikoden titles have never been announced at E3 or the TGS, so it is unlikely it will ever be announced at those events.

In the past, new titles have been announced a few months prior to TGS, or at completely unrelated times. Konami seems to reserve these large events for titles that they see as more important, such as MGS.

Konami would always reveal tidbits about the next game in Famitsu in August, and then do a full-scale reveal at TGS.

[Rooks]

Well, I have several questions about this, foremost of which is: How would a Sony rep know about the release of a potential PS3 game before it is even officially announced?

I am not doubting catfriedrice's story, what I'm doubting is whether that rep even knew what they where talking about. You say you work at Target? I assume that you live and work in North America and this rep was from Sony Playstation American division. How would she know if Konami -a Japanese publisher- was planning to release a game that they have not officially announced in Japan. While I assume Sony gets plenty of advance warning before any company plans to release a title, why was this announced to the American division of Sony? Sure, Sony would know long before the public announcement, but they are not likely to brief their regional reps -who are tasked with debuting the move controller- on games likely to be publicly announced soon.

So, my guess is that rep didn't know what you were talking about when you said "Suikoden," then proceeded to just make something up so she didn't seem to be ignorant of the subject. Sorry, but this just doesn't add up for me, I need more information.

[son_michael]

If Murayama can bring back the true story of Suikoden and explain all the mysterious and bring back the constant characters(pesmerga,yuber,vicky,jeanne) then this could be the greatest news ever.

I can only hope somebody talks him into it

[Hirathien]

I wouldn't call Pesmerga constant, he's only been in two Games, Yuber has been in three though.