It wasn’t exactly the reunification of the Dream Team, but fans were excited when Square Enix put most of the former C-level studio, Cavia, back to work under Access Games to make another Drakengard game. The series saw an untimely end after mediocre reviews and poor sales all but killed it, and the spin-off game, Nier, proved just as unpopular.
Still, the series has its small fanbase, and Square Enix, either through miraculous generosity or pandering towards the hardcore JRPG crowd so it has an excuse to point to, saw it fit to put resources into resurrecting the champ for these fans.
Drakengard 3 was released in Japan at the end of 2013, and much like Japanese tradition says to do, Square Enix tossed out the unnecessary Cavia team at the turn of the year, including director Yoko Taro, who gave an interview with 4Gamer, translated by Siliconera.
“I’d like to say thank you very much for the year 2013 to everyone,” Taro says gracefully before making his comments depressing.
“Living can be pretty tough. By the time this comment is published, I believe that Drakengard 3 will have been safely released.”
Wait Taro! No comments! We still don’t have the localization yet, so it hasn’t been safely released everywhere!
“Next year, I’ll be going back to unemployment, so I don’t have anything as far as a next title goes, but as I sit here and mope, I hope everyone has a great and fun 2014. That is all.”
You have to feel sorry for the guy. Drakengard 3 was his chance for a big comeback, doing something he loved with the material he wanted to do it with. He pulled it off, and fairly well if Famitsu’s reviews are to be believed, and yet he still wound up without a job once the game was finished.
Last week, Taro hit Twitter with a comment saying the wanted Drakengard 4 to end up on the PlayStation 4, but it wouldn’t happen because there was no money.
@DragonKiddo1 Thank you for your message. I hope to make the game for PS4 but I can't have enough money for development. 🙁
— yokotaro (@yokotaro) January 2, 2014
Hang in there, buddy. You worked with Access Games and got a decent little game out of it. If the company that made Deadly Premonition is still allowed to make video games, you’re destined to find work sooner than later.
Square Enix JRPG fans, and I don’t mean the ones who exclusively play their shiny new Western IPs, you owe it to yourself to at least check out Drakengard 3 after it releases later this year exclusively through the PlayStation Network on PlayStation 3. The “Yoko Taros” of the world have a vision kept in line with keeping us from totally falling into the AAA melting pot, and they should be kept at the director’s chair, not in the unemployment line.
Play Drakengard 3 and tell Square Enix we want more quirky games, more gambles, more RPGs, and a little bit less on the abandonment of its old niche.
