Feb 13, 2005 at 7:20 PM
This was taken from Gamefaqs.
"Well, Koudelka was the first game the team made up of X-Square employees ever made. Kikuta (of Seiken Densetsu 2 & 3, and Soukaigi soundtrack fame), helped to direct, and compose for this game. Shortly after it's release the team had a large fight over the direction they wanted to take the sequel. Kikuta left, a long with a few other key members, and Sacnoth went on to develop Shadow Hearts for the PSX. Shortly after development began, the PS2 dev kits became available, but purchasing them as a small team was rather impossible. Aruze moved in and absorbed Sacnoth's team, and the game was moved to PS2 development. Aruze was eventually purchased by a much larger corporation during SH: Covenant's development life, and a lot more money was given to the production, so the remaining Squaresoft members were more accurately able to reach their goals.
Koudelka is distinctly different in style from it's sequels due to the directing; Kikuta wanted a dark, gothic horror with an odd pacing and a cinematic style. They also went down a more Seiken Densetsu/SaGa path in the way the game worked instead of the traditional FF gameplay style. When Kikuta left, the team went to using a more FF system for SH, and it's sequel. They lost over time the horror aspect, and went for a more mass appealing story."
I wonder how much of this is true...and how much of it is from the rumor mill grind...
"Well, Koudelka was the first game the team made up of X-Square employees ever made. Kikuta (of Seiken Densetsu 2 & 3, and Soukaigi soundtrack fame), helped to direct, and compose for this game. Shortly after it's release the team had a large fight over the direction they wanted to take the sequel. Kikuta left, a long with a few other key members, and Sacnoth went on to develop Shadow Hearts for the PSX. Shortly after development began, the PS2 dev kits became available, but purchasing them as a small team was rather impossible. Aruze moved in and absorbed Sacnoth's team, and the game was moved to PS2 development. Aruze was eventually purchased by a much larger corporation during SH: Covenant's development life, and a lot more money was given to the production, so the remaining Squaresoft members were more accurately able to reach their goals.
Koudelka is distinctly different in style from it's sequels due to the directing; Kikuta wanted a dark, gothic horror with an odd pacing and a cinematic style. They also went down a more Seiken Densetsu/SaGa path in the way the game worked instead of the traditional FF gameplay style. When Kikuta left, the team went to using a more FF system for SH, and it's sequel. They lost over time the horror aspect, and went for a more mass appealing story."
I wonder how much of this is true...and how much of it is from the rumor mill grind...
, born 1962 in Aichi prefecture, Japan, is one of the more known composers of video game music. Perhaps not for prolificness, but rather the quality of his work. His major works are the second and third installments in the Seiken Densetsu series, Koudelka, and Soukaigi.