RPG

Playstation, Sony

Chrono Cross [PSX – Beta]

monokoma
04-06-2010
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Chrono Cross is a RPG developed and published in 1999 by Squaresoft for the original PlayStation. As we can read on Wikipedia, Square began planning Chrono Cross immediately after the release of Xenogears in 1998. Chrono Trigger’s scenario director Masato Kato had brainstormed ideas for a sequel as early as 1996, following the release of Radical Dreamers.

Developers brainstormed traits and archetypes during the character-creation process, originally planning 64 characters with unique endings that could vary in three different ways per character. As production continued, the length of Cross increased, leading the event team to reduce the number of characters to 45 and scrap most of the alternate endings.

More info about the Chrono Cross beta can be found in the Chrono Compendium:

Before the official release of Chrono Cross, Square Enix marketed a PlayStation release of Chrono Trigger and attached a demo of the game to it and Legend of Mana.[…] This demo has allowed a short look into the late stages of the development of Chrono Cross, offering a few prizes such as a scrapped facial portrait of Kid and missing playable characters.

Serge’s Swallow is tinted green and looks like the Mastermune.

Once the Fort Dragonia sequence is concluded, Serge wakes up in Arni and is instructed to find Leena as usual. Una has no portrait, hampering the suggestion that she was once planned to be a playable character.

The most glaring difference is the presence of a seemingly new character in Pierre’s slot. Since Pierre’s dialogue icon was already in its final state, it’s probable that this was an earlier design for Pierre.

There’s a different Viper Manor Study window.

There’s a different Lucca drawing.

Yasuyuki Honne is the artist of the Chrono series, and made some background art that was never used in the final game.

There’s also an incomplete debug room in the beta demo and some unused characters can be seen in the Chrono Cross artbook.

Also, GlitterBerri translated the Chrono Cross Ultimania interview in which we can read about some ideas that were never used in the final game. You can read the full interview at BerriBlue or in the Chrono Compendium.

Thanks to ace.dark and Megalol for the contributions!

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Microsoft, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Resonance of Fate (End of Eternity) [PS3 X360 – Beta]

yota
21-05-2010
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Resonance of Fate (End of Eternity in Japan) is a j-rpg developed by Tri-ace and published by Sega in 2010. The game was released on January 2010 in Japan and on March 2010 in North America and Europe.Directing was handled by Takayuki Suguro, who has previously worked on tri-Ace game Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria . Below we can see some screens from a beta version of the game:  

Microsoft, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Final Fantasy 13 (XIII) [PS3 X360 – Beta]

monokoma
30-04-2010
8 Comments

Final Fantasy XIII is an RPG developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2009 / 2010. First appearing at E3 2006, FF13 runs on the Crystal Tools engine, a seventh generation multiplatform game engine built by Square Enix for its games.

Final Fantasy 13 was originally in development for the PlayStation 2 but it was later moved to the PlayStation 3, as we can read in an article at  IGN:

Toriyama, director of FFXIII, commented a bit on the differences between the PS2 and PS3 versions of the game. FFXIII was originally in development for the PS2, but underwent a platform change following May 2005.

There is apparently very little shared between the two versions. The graphical elements that were prepared for the PS2 couldn’t be used, explained Toriyama. “The areas that we kept are the Fabula Nova Crystallis world, the pieces of the mythology related to FFXIII, and the character details. On the other hand, the battle and gameplay systems were restarted from scratch when production moved to the PS3.”

The development staff also underwent some changes. “During development for the PS2, the staff was centered on the Final Fantasy X-2 team. However, in an effort to work with the new PS3 hardware, many new staff members are now taking part.”

As reported by Siliconera and Kotaku, according to art director Isamu Kamikokuryou, many additional areas that were functioning in an unreleased build, from Team Nora’s secret base, to Lightning’s home and even a zoo, were cut from the game owing to concerns about the game’s length and volume. Kamikokuryou additionally remarked that the volume of content cut was, in itself, enough to make another game. [Info from Wikipedia]

Zero7 noticed some beta differences in the early screens released (preserved in the gallery below):

  • Mock up HUD, completely changed in the final
  • Fang at one hour in? You cannot meet her so soon in the final
  • Snow had a slightly different coat
  • The black-haired girl has a different outfit

If you can notice more differences in the early screens and videos, please let us know!

Thanks to Robert Seddon, Zero7 and Anonymous for the contributions!

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Playstation, Sony

Sorcery [PSX – Cancelled]

monokoma
19-04-2010
1 Comment

Sorcery is a cancelled fighting game that was in development for the original Playstation in 1997 / 1998 by Sony Interactive Studios America, later renamed to 989 Studios (Sony’s San Diego team). Players would have been able to choose between many fantasy characters that used fighting moves and spells to battle their opponents.

The first concept of Sorcery was much different from the playable prototype, as originally 989 Studios wanted to develop an ambitious multiplayer RPG, with a big overworld, quests and huge cast of characters. Because of the limitations of the PSX hardware and for economic reasons, Sony ordered the team to scale down the project to an arena fighting game (which was seen as more profitable / less risky).

As their own project was killed and because 989 Studios had no experience with fighting games, Sorcery went through various development issues that lead to its final cancellation after 2 years of work.

More info and screens can be found at The Playstation Museum!

The original concept would have worked great in today’s on-line environment. The scope, which started out as a split screen, was to run around a large world, setting magical traps, using magic to detect and find your opponent, then finally tracking him down and combating him, kept getting whittled down further and further until it devolved into a magical arena fighting game, where opponents would stand across from each other in very small (fits on a single screen) arenas and dispatch each other with spells and counter spells.

Thanks to Stone and baphomet for the contributions! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Leaked, Nintendo, SNES + Super Famicom

Spellcraft [SNES – Unreleased]

monokoma
18-04-2010
1 Comment

Spellcraft is an unreleased Super Nintendo conversion of the original Spellcraft RPG / Strategy Game that was released for the PC in 1992. This port was in development by Ybarra Productions / Ascii and as we can read on Wikipedia, it is very different than the PC version as it focuses on adventuring instead of strategy. A playable, almost complete ROM of Spellcraft SNES was somehow leaked online and it should be easily findable through Google. The game was probably cancelled for quality issues.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution! (Scan from Super Power issue #7 and #12)

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