Happy New Year from Kei Shigema

[Shiva Indis]

I translated this real quick from Shigema's blog. Source here: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/SHIGEMA/20100104

Happy new year! May this year be a good one for you all!

So, it's 2010... 2010!? I have a feeling I say something like this every year, but shouldn't 2010 be a future world where we go off to Jupiter chasing the monolith? It doesn't really seem that way. Strange...

Last year the game industury lacked energy due to the effects of the recession. Naturally, our scenario studio suffered some dashed hopes too.

Yet, for me personally, getting the chance to have you all enjoy Lunar again made it a truly joyous year. I hope that I can continue with 2, or 0, or 3!

On the other hand, mobile games and games aimed at girls sold very well, so we were were up to our necks in work.

How will the situation change in the coming year? I want to think carefully about the position the company is in, what we want to do, and how we should proceed, and act so as not to get burned.

Well then, I plan to work hard and enjoy it this year. I look forward to your continued support!

P.S.
Apologies for neglecting this blog for so long. I've reached a point where I rarely post on Mixi either. Right now, Twitter best suits my sense of time. When I feel lonesome while I'm working I dash off a few words, like I'm talking to myself. (ha, ha)

[Aquaignis]

I like this...I like this a lot...

[Silver Phoenix]

Please don't get your hopes up. It's nice to think that 0 or MORESO 3 have the chance of coming to life, but it's best to stay grounded and just hope for the series to continue. Yeah, an EB remake AGAIN wouldn't be bad but the series needs to find itself in the future of gaming and stop going in circles.

[fates]

I like that it seems to show some interest in revisiting Lunar 2? I missed that one completely and see nothing but super high praise for it.

But, given Lunar SSH not selling so well, doubt it will happen...

Though I'd think Lunar 2 would have to be revisited first before moving on to 3.

Pardon my super noobness, but what's 0? Magic School?

[Silver Phoenix]

I think by 0 he's referring to an entirely original game set before anything else. If he were to go that route I think having a game set on the Blue Star followed by the original Zophar attack which brought Althena and everyone to Lunar could be interesting. I'd much rather a game taking place after Eternal Blue, and the awakening of the Blue Star.

[ilovemyguitar]

He could also be referring to Genesis/Dragon Song. Unlikely, given its pariah-like status, but not impossible.

[Silver Phoenix]

He would have said Genesis, not 0. I don't see how he would want to go back and try to release "that" game again.

[Shiva Indis]

I don't think Shigema acknowledges Lunar DS. He wrote a few months ago that the last Lunar game he worked on before Harmony was the PS version of the Lunar 2 remake. On the other hand, he said that working on Harmony has gotten him interested in making a Four Heroes prequel.

[Kizyr]

I don't think Shigema acknowledges Lunar DS.

There you have it. Proof that Lunar: DS never happened. KF

[fates]

I don't think Shigema acknowledges Lunar DS. He wrote a few months ago that the last Lunar game he worked on before Harmony was the PS version of the Lunar 2 remake. On the other hand, he said that working on Harmony has gotten him interested in making a Four Heroes prequel.

That'd be weird, because any prequel would theoretically have to end with the battle in the prologue of Lunar SSH...

[Quark]

I don't think Shigema acknowledges Lunar DS. He wrote a few months ago that the last Lunar game he worked on before Harmony was the PS version of the Lunar 2 remake. On the other hand, he said that working on Harmony has gotten him interested in making a Four Heroes prequel.

That'd be weird, because any prequel would theoretically have to end with the battle in the prologue of Lunar SSH...

Good point fates. That would certainly have the potential of killing some of the suspense. I don't know. Maybe if a prequel was ever made, the game could have an epilogue after the final battle showing how the four heroes settled into their new lives after the battle was over. Just a thought. What does everyone else think?

[Silver Phoenix]

I think I'd prefer a major step forward instead of two steps back after all of these years. If there is a prequel it cannot be considered Lunar 3, and it just delays the future of Lunar even further.

[Quark]

I think I'd prefer a major step forward instead of two steps back after all of these years. If there is a prequel it cannot be considered Lunar 3, and it just delays the future of Lunar even further.

I agree 100 percent. Many years ago I would have asked for both, but now I know not to get my hopes up when it comes to the progression of the series.

[Monde Luna]

I would personally rather have a 3 instead of a prequel. I feel like we already know enough about the four heros at this point. However if my dreams came true and we got showered w/ Lunar's I would be up for a prequel in a heartbeat.

[Silver Phoenix]

If I spoke and knew Japanese I would blow up GameArts mailbox with some demands. I'm sick of their complacency and they need to pull their heads out of their asses.

[Shin Otaku III]

I don't think Shigema acknowledges Lunar DS.

There you have it. Proof that Lunar: DS never happened. KF

Lunar DS is like Yoko Ono, it's something we choose to not acknowledge. (:

Yet, for me personally, getting the chance to have you all enjoy Lunar again made it a truly joyous year. I hope that I can continue with 2, or 0, or 3!

Sweet Jesus :O

[Temzin]

If I spoke and knew Japanese I would blow up GameArts mailbox with some demands. I'm sick of their complacency and they need to pull their heads out of their asses.

But then again, "they" are barely even around any more, when you stop to think of it, and that could be said of the whole Lunar development team. Miyaji no longer runs Game Arts, Kubooka clearly has had minimal involvement in the series since SSS (witness the sloppy animation direction in EB remake compared to his close collaboration in SSS, to say nothing of the fact that Lunar Genesis and HOSS both feature art that doesn't appear to have been drawn by him personally), many Game Arts staff members are long since gone, and Studio Alex is no more. Now, you could still imagine a new set of games that would be good, even with a new staff (see also: FF XII, XIII), but outside of occasional contracting with Shigema and Iwadare, there's very little of the "Lunar" Game Arts around anymore.

[Silver Phoenix]

Well then frankly we're screwed. As for SquareEnix - I also don't think referencing FF12 and 13 is exactly a compliment for quality using new teams, as the games have lost focus in the essence of traditional staples.