Imitation is the Sincerest Form

[Sean Sands]

Imitation is the Sincerest Form

The guys who made Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes should've seen Square Enix's cease and desist letter coming a mile away.

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[Pipotchi]

I say just release it anyways, no money is changing hands. They should have just hidden their identities and released it when it was finished

 

[Andy_Panthro]

People make these things at their own risk, hoping not to be noticed by the publishers who own the IP. Unfortunately, if a project gains a certain level of notice, then they get shut down.

They do these things for the love of the project, they don't care about the consequences when they start.

 

[Irridium]

Wait wait wait, they were working on it for 4 years and no one even bothered asking square if it was ok?

They didn't think that they would get told to stop, even though they took assests from the games without asking?!

Thats like taking my car without even asking, and painting over it with differant designs.
Sure, tehn end product may be cool, and no one gets hurt, but you still steal my damn car and paint it without my permission.



Are people really this stupid?

 

[razer17]

im fairly sure that squenix isn't planning on releasing another 16bit chrono trigger, so surely this will in no way affect them by taking away sales from them?
if anything people might play this and then get excited for a proper sequel.

 

[Nimbus]

This is the most subjective article I have ever seen on the escapist, and also the one I disagree with the most.

 

[neuromasser]

I want more Chrono Trigger

 

[Aramax]

There was no intent to make money out of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes so squares Enix are really crapping over fans like they don't care that we like their work so much. They just want our money.

It's not like they were about to lose their goose that lays golden eggs. They're not making capitalism or other monetary based economical systems win any points with such d**kish actions.

 

[Cousin_IT]

the only sympathy I have for the creators is that SE waited this long to shut them down. But, given how often fan projects like this fail to reach completion, I wouldnt be surprised if SE had assumed the same of this, then suddenly been panicked into protecting their IP when they saw it was about to be released.

Like you say, letting this project come to completion would set a potentially dangerous precedent. Had it been allowed to reach release, whats to stop future projects involving SE's or other devs/publishers IP being used in the same way? & whats to stop those using it from smelling cash & charging money for their, for all intents & purposes, stolen work? Better to hit it on the head while the oppertunity still existed, & be thankful these were fans who were dedicated to their project, but also respectful enough to comply with SE's demand.

 

[Royas]

If it turns out that SE was aware of this project from the beginning, and didn't send the cease and desist order right away, then they really are the jerks here. Just be cause you have the right to do something, doesn't make it right to do. If they only just became aware of it (say, in the last 6 months to a year), then I'm fine with what they did. But deliberately waiting until near the end of production? That's a cheap move calculated to not just protect their property, but hurt the people (all fans) working on the project. If I were actually a purchaser of any Squenix games (I'm not, I hate JRPG's), I'd have to reconsider any purchases from them in the near future.

 

[yeah_so_no]

I first read about this and had a similar thought: how could they not have realized they were going to get shut down? I'm only surprised it took as long as it did, but that might very well have been because Square Enix didn't find out until recently (but I have no idea). And it especially wasn't going to fly now, with Square Enix having re-released Chrono Trigger for the DS, and there's all the marketing going on. They are not going to let an unauthorized sequel out; no company would.

 

[Flying-Emu]

This is the most subjective article I have ever seen on the escapist, and also the one I disagree with the most.

Most subjective, yes.

I agree with it totally. Why should this company be forced to share their IP with the modding community against their wishes? It's their product; they may do what they wish with it.

Admittedly, it was a dick move on Square's part. However, it's completely within their reign of power, and I would probably have done the same were I in their position.

 

[KDR_11k]

So change a few names. Its now Kronus Trigger change all the char names slightly and change all the sprites. For example a new hair colour... Then release it and don't even give square any credit.

It's a ROM HACK, they didn't just take the characters and some of the graphics, they took the entire program and worked from that. Even if it wasn't a derivative is a derivative, changing the names and the sprites won't help if the result is still based on the ripped work.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

This is the most subjective article I have ever seen on the escapist, and also the one I disagree with the most.

Most subjective, yes.

I agree with it totally. Why should this company be forced to share their IP with the modding community against their wishes? It's their product; they may do what they wish with it.

Admittedly, it was a dick move on Square's part. However, it's completely within their reign of power, and I would probably have done the same were I in their position.

I agree with the Emu. It's their property, and they have complete authority over it.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

This is the most subjective article I have ever seen on the escapist, and also the one I disagree with the most.

How long have you been reading? It's not only an editorial-driven publication, but this is a column and columns are ALWAYS editorial in nature.

Also, I like this article, particularly that last bit. As much as I agree with everything said, it somehow never crossed my mind that four years is an insanely long time to concentrate solely on making a hacked ROM.

 

[sonidraw]

If this was some form of machinima, I think it might be a different story (Then again, it is Square-Enix, so maybe not). The fan-company was working on this game for 4 years though, and if they failed to get Square-Enix's permission to use their property to make another game (why a game, anyways?) then they shouldn't make it or release it. If they do release it, I'm looking forward to Square-Enix taking some hard legal action.

 

[Grampy_bone]

This article is wrong, wrong, wrong. The idea that IP is somehow sacred and must be protected by the owner at all costs is not only false, it is quite recent development in the realm of copyrights. Things were not always perceived this way. Every major creative industry today (movies, music, and software) was built on the backs of piracy. Furthermore, when a company tries to encourage this kind of behavior by giving the fans the tools to tailor the product to their own tastes (Elder Scrolls, Neverwinter Nights) everybody wins.

 

[Mstrswrd]

I understand the legality, and lack-there-of, but my only problem is that it was probably going to be really good. In this case, couldn't Square, oh, I don't know, give them, instead of a "cease and desist," a, "Come into talks with us?" kinda thing? What I mean is, they could look at the game, and, if it really is quite as awesome as it sounds like it was going to be, basically say "Alright. You guys walked a fine line, but we really like the game. Finish it up, send it to us, we'll add the polish, and then we'll release it on the DS, XBLA, and PSN."

Seriously, that could have made everyone happy. We would have gotten the game, the people who made it would have gotton it released, and Square would have made money, at little to no cost to themselves. And the people who made it would have to accept whatever bare-bones paycheck they might get from Square as a thank you. Then, they should be hired, assuming they don't have jobs in the industry already.