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Grin: Square Enix is to blame for studio's closure

Posted May 29, 2011 at 4:34PM EST by Karl B.

Listed in: Games Tags: Final Fantasy, fortress, GRIN, Square Enix

fortress

Before Grin permanently turned the sign on its office doors to "Closed", it was working on a Final Fantasy spinoff codenamed Fortress for Square Enix. Things didn't exacty work out between the two companies and the Swedish studio ended up facing financial difficulties which eventually led to its demise.

As Grin founders Ulf and Bo Andersson tell it, Grin's problems can be traced straight back to Square Enix. In an interview with Swedish site Aftonbladet, Bo Andersson claimed that Square Enix made ridiculous demands like asking the developers to send the game's code and music files via fax.

"It is as silly as it sounds," he said. "It is an impossible requirement, you can not send ASCII or binary codes on the fax. It is backward. Really retarded. It was almost a criminal activity."

The Grin founders also said that Square Enix reneged on a US$ 20 million contract for the game that Grin was working on. The Anderssons alleged that the JRPG giant told them they weren't sending updates to the correct department and that the Nordic style Grin employed for the game -- which was specifically requested by Square Enix and was one of the main reasons Grin was tapped in the first place -- "does not look like Final Fantasy."

"Then we realized that whatever we do … they have decided," Bo Andersson said. "We wanted to come in and revolutionize Final Fantasy, which is exactly what they need. The latest version sucks of course."

Word on Fortress only came out due to Grin's closure. There have been rumors that Square Enix continued development on Fortress, but the company never outright confirmed nor denied it. Early last year a supposed tech demo for the game was uploaded to YouTube.

Via [VG247]

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When FF7 came out for the PS2 I was on it like a bee to pollen. Could not get enough of it. Now I see that SQR wanted files FAXed to them this will explain why FF 13 is a pile of dung. Played it once for a couple of hours then ejected the disc and filed it under crap not worth playing. I really wait a long time before buying SQR software.

+2 # FF7?? — Lando 2011-05-29 18:56

Dude FF7 was on the original PS, not ps2 FFX and X2 was on the ps2!

# FF7?? — kon_e3 2011-05-29 20:01

+1 # umm — xavis75211 2011-05-29 20:57

there was dirge of cerberus. its an ff7. pretty good too, but not much replay value.

# RE: umm — But Fukir 2011-05-31 01:29

I also liked DOC.

You're almost the only other person I've seen agree with me about that one.

# Thankx — TLC_Nyk 2011-05-29 22:21

Quoting Lando:

Dude FF7 was on the original PS, not ps2 FFX and X2 was on the ps2!

Sorry about the typo and thanks for the game history

# RE: Thankx — UltimaXIX 2011-05-30 00:52

XIII wasn't that bad. It was an okay game, and I loved the combat. I reckon it's just time we stopped expecting good stories from the FF and MGS series. They've apparently exhausted their literary creativity.

# RE: RE: Thankx — howzthat 2011-05-30 01:49

you lump mgs in with ff?

Go home.

# RE: RE: RE: Thankx — But Fukir 2011-05-31 01:37

They are both shells of their former and simultaneous highpoint glories.

MGS has retained its fanboys and popularity better today, but its not really a much better series today then the overproduced tripe FF has become IMO.

# yes it was! — nehebkau 2011-05-30 03:02

Oh, but it was that bad! I can understand why you liked the combat, but the combat was also my biggest problem with the whole game.

Tell me, WHY can't the character you control be revived????? WHY?! That fucking brakes the game for me! It's fucking stupid, since you can't directly control your allies and just have to hope they heal you in time... total BS!

And the level design... holy crap. How could they play this and say "yeah, this is exactly what we wanted! awesome!" ?!?!
It's BORING. Walk, fight, cutscene, walk, fight, cutscene, etc. And no way to go off exploring. And then when you can go explore, it's all just monster hunting missions... no cities, minigames, characters to talk with... it's just so BORING.

I'm never buying a FF game for the full-price ever again. I'll get them when they're around 10$. That all SE deserves after almost killing this franchise.

# RE: Thankx — aseterfline 2011-05-30 00:53

you're suuuuuuch a tool. Just admit that you're an idiot. You're first post was also a basic example of proper "...wut?" usage.

Anyways, this sounds like a case of poor translation to be honest and you know what - I wouldn't be surprised if that was all it was.

Also, Grin? Who gives a fuck what they think or say? Bionic Commando and Wanted? Credibility is where...?

# thats not history — Rayn 2011-05-30 08:34

thats common knowledge man. ff 7 8 9 ps1 ff x xi(online) and x-2 and XII ps2 then ff XIII ps3 xbox 360.

# RE: FF7?? — howzthat 2011-05-30 01:48

Lando????

I'm not the only one...????

?????

# sound like square is an @$$ — crestfallen 2011-05-29 19:38

If square reneged on a 20 mill contract why hasn't grin sued over this dirty move? pppfpfpff fax game code and music files wtf are the square employees retards/

+2 # RE: Grin: Square Enix is to blame for studio's closure — jjcobra 2011-05-29 20:39

Grin seems to want to blame Square-Enix for everything, but fails to remember that in 2009 they released 3 of the biggest failures of the year (nay, the decade).

Bionic Commando took over 2 years to break 500,000 sales worldwide.
Terminator Salvation and Wanted are both in the same boat of mediocrity, and have (oddly enough) almost identical sales numbers.

Maybe they should stop looking for excuses and make a game that wasn't awful?

# send files via fax — xavis75211 2011-05-29 21:00

i want what those "professional programmers" are smoking.

+1 # RE: Grin: Square Enix is to blame for studio's closure — RzmmDX 2011-05-29 21:49

I am pretty sure they have a really bad translator. Though it isn't exactly impossible to fax code and music files... it still basically 0s and 1s. All you need to do is lol convert the god damn signals. It would be pretty bad ass as it would be like a dial up network.

So... SE gave GRIN a test and they failed it.

# hmm — xavis75211 2011-05-29 22:55

possible, but do people really think of that when they hear "fax"?

# RE: Grin: Square Enix is to blame for studio's closure — bobobobo 2011-05-29 23:01

yeah you gotta do what the boss says or they fire you *GRINS* lol

# RE: Grin: Square Enix is to blame for studio's closure — But Fukir 2011-05-31 01:42

Did square also make you make terminator salvation?

Dont say anything else grin, just walk away.

# Shit... — jrViNGaDoR 2011-05-31 20:43

The visuals are fantastic! Hope they do preserve this vast world, but i dont like the battle system. I mean, i like THIS battle system, but its not Final Fantasy. Im a fan, so i do like the traditional turn-based style... ive hated when they come changing everything since the 10. Up till the 9, the battle system was simply great, its a RPG after all... after that, they beggin a modernizing frenxi that simply doesnt have any appear to the loyal fans. I just hope they put the TRADITIONAL battle system back to the franchise, otherwise, they will fail again.

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