Man Hypershell after reading that post and thinking about for about 30 mins or more I'm practically in tears now. I mean it just really hit me like a truck for some reason and it made me realize that I still don't don't know where to stand on Capcom's many issues in general.
Capcom has indeed wronged the fans to the point where most of us are fully disillusioned that Megaman is down for the count and is never getting up again like those help I can't get up commercials. Most of Capcom is there in that room with Megaman face planted on the floor but none of them want to help poor Rock simply because he is old, frail, and they don't really see any benefit to actually help him and nurse him back to health. Inafune and a few others have helped him get back up and have been trying to cure Megaman but now that Inafune is gone Megaman's has deteriorated and his mind is not rational anymore. At the same time Megaman is still being taken advantage of because of his inheritence from Dr. Light and Capcom steals that from him since Megaman is still a child at heart and still very naive and generous to a fault. In other words they'll keep Megaman alive because they get money from him but at the same time they won't try to nurse him back to health or transfer him to another hospital because if they do they think that he won't give them any money.
When I look at the situation at Capcom I don't feel any rage or betrayal because they cancelled Megaman Legends 3, because as I said before Megaman Legends is probably my least favorite,of the series. I feel sad because they lost hope that Megaman can recover or be fixed. I get that Inafune was the only one who really wanted Legends and once he was gone there was no passion or vigor to finish it despite the fact that the proto type was finished and a good majority of fans were really excited by this and showed that excitement, and Capcom of Europe was clearly more ignorant than Capcom of Japan with that infamous statement, but that's beside the point. It was really obvious that the majority of Capcom didn't care about the project because the fans in the dev room were doing most of the work, most of the content that went into the game. True it's not that unusual for fans to have designs submitted to Capcom and then those drawings become the inspiration for bosses such as the classic games like Megaman 8 and 10 or the Battle Network games since 3, but never has it come to the scale of the concepts in the Dev room. I mean the fans voted on what the heroine in the game was going to look like and Megaman Trigger's new look along with the usual boss designs that Capcom asks for. I can understand that the excitement of Legends 3 being made didn't really raise a lot of people suspicions about this but looking at it now it's painfully obvious.
However something is bothering me right now, why did Inafune choose that point, in the middle of the development of Megaman Legends 3, to leave Capcom? While it is true that Inafune before he left didn't do much in terms of developing the Megaman games anymore rather he provided ideas and guidance for the people who we making the games. I remember Zan or Hypershell mentioning that while Inafune wanted the X series to end at 5 he didn't have anything to do with the writing of the game and left it to the story director people. Meanwhile when he turned his back Capcom decisided to make Megaman X6 because the X series was still making a lot of money so the series continued against Inafune's wishes, though honestly I don't like X5's climax and multiple endings with what would have lead into the Zero series, but let's not get too off topic now. My point is that Capcom and Inafune have had opposite views in terms of many things, Inafune was willing to try risky things while Capcom was not.
If it weren't for Inafune we wouldn't have games like Dead Rising and a few others that escape me so why didn't he stay to see Legends 3 givin light? It also occures to me that Inafune has big balls of refined steel, diamonds, pearls, platinum, lead, and oricalcum thrown in for good measure, he had to to admit publiclly multiple times that he hates the way that the Japanese gaming industry works in terms of making games. So I'm thinking what if all the events leading up to the announcement of Megaman Legends 3 the cancelation and the point where we are now were orcastrated by Inafune himself since he knew that his own workplace was guilty of the disappointments he had in Japanese gaming companies? Inafune connects with the fans but at the same time he knew the fans didn't really understand his views of why he doesn't like the way games are made today.
Inafune said he left the company to get a new start and it was obvious that he was disgusted by Capcoms methods and Capcom was embarrassed that Inafune humiliated them. So Inafune was probably sure that once he left that Megaman Legends 3 would be canceled and the fans would cry bloody murder at Capcom for doing so. But obviously that didn't work because one while the fans are very vocal they can't really change how Capcom operates, 2 Capcom has been around since the old Atari and Commadore 64 days some of the people at Capcom's hierarchy must be older than Inafune and using my own mother as an example old people are as stubborn as a mule and the Donkey parental figure before them and 3 Capcom is a business as long they are making profits in all field's a few out spoken Megaman fan boys are the least of their concern. Although most of this is mass speculation on my part I can help but feel that this possibly may have been Inafune's ulterior motive, it's out there but then again Inafune has shown in the past that he is indeed out there.
The article on Ono's hospitalization also made me curious of why Capcom allowed Ono to make Street Fighter 4, granted Inafune allowed it and this was before Inafune left, everyone was so reluctant of him making the game since is was using so many of Capcom's resources and no one was willing to help hi, it's very similar to Megaman Legend's 3 developement. It could be a simple fact that people always love Street Fighter but I bet that the execs at Capcom were hoping that Street Fighter 4 would ride the gravey train that Super Smash Brothers Brawl made, and they were right. Not only that but since Street Fighter 4 was a rousing success and so now Capcom realized that fighting games selled like hotcakes, which lead to the localization of Tastsunoko vs Capcom, the surprised development of Marvel vs Capcom 3, the recent Street Fighter X Tekken, and the infamous DLC enhancements. Now if Ono did the same thing as Inafune and left while the was in developement then obviously the same thing that happened to MML 3 could have happened to SF4 and the fans would have raged then too. But obviously Ono wouldn't want that since he loves Street Fighter too much and knew that such a decision would amound to nothing. Or maybe that's just my dislike of over rated Fighting games talking, I like MvC 3 and Blazblue but you have to admit the fighting game craze has spread far, especially for Capcom.
Now I'm not saying that Capcom is so wretched since they cancelled MML 3 and that Inafune was right, Capcom is a business but it's also a business that has to support it's workers in a horrible economy as well. In a way while done with the most horrible timing possible along with Capcom's cowardice the decision to cancel MML 3 did make sense, in a bad economy it's very hard for some something with high risk would end well. True it had a lot support but at the same time I think Inafune's decision to develope Legend's 3 was a bit too soon and too late at the same time, the 3DS today still has mixed results due to a lacking game library and the era or the Wii is near it's end with the Wii U still in infancy. I mean MML 3 could of had a dark horse success, it's not unusual, but if you think about it makes sense. MML is definitely the most obscure of the Megaman series, heck I didn't even know it was called Megaman Legends or had a sequel until I came to this forum 5 years ago! I only knew it as Megaman 64 a game with interesting characters and premise but very slippery controls. In fact back then the game was still pretty rare, my brother rented it but I didn't remember seeing it in stores that much. So it's no wonder Capcom had such low faith in Legends, it just didn't sell well and not a lot of people knew about it.
Capcom's policy on not trying new things also has taken a toll on Megaman too, you have to admit the gameplay is getting stale for a 2d platformer and Megaman is no Mario. Speaking of Mario I'm curious about Nintendo, it works very much like Capcom, they rarely try new things with their franchises and yet except for Star Fox, Metroid Other M and the other obscure series their formula works, why is that? Is it because they cater to newer generations while Capcom caters to a niche group of older fans? That's the only thing that makes sense.
Namco is another thing that makes me curious before many of the Tales games don't make it out of the states yet now some do fall through the cracks now, but will that effect other indie series like God Eater? God Eater is Namco's version of Monster Hunter, only it is actually playable as a single player campaign and has a story, unfortunately I don't know how the series is doing in America since it was unfortunately released at the same time as Dissida Duodecim or 2012 or 012 or whatever it's called. I know there is a sequel in the works but will that make it to American shores? How much do modern gaming companies care about their fans and games and what for, is it for fun or profit? I hate to think it's not for fun but most do it for profit now or at least 50/50 which fine, that's how a business works and no one not even me would have it any other way.
I know this was very long and most likely you guys aren't going to read it especially at the end and with my wild mass guessing but I'm wrapping up here. What I'm saying is don't hate Capcom just because they cancelled something you guys wanted so blindly, think about the reasons and the thought processes of each person involved and if MML 3 was released would it have made everyone's expectations when Capcom was init half way. At the same time is hating Capcom and boycotting it worth it in the long run if they don't see support and many get laid offed in the current ecomnomy? Me I don't know what Capcom is going to do and I'm really worried about them for the workers and the gamers sake. However in all this sea of doubt and uncertainty I still think that the Blue Bombmer will rise from the depths of hell one way or another, he will be healthy again. I don't know how, and I may have my nostalgia goggles on too tight but I sure as hell ain't giving up on the Blue Bomber anytime soon, BEACAUSE I LIKE HIM BECAUSE HE'S BLUE DAMMIT! If Sega can dig them selves out the ditch they dug them selves into and Duke Nukem Forever was released in a blue moon moment, even if the game was bloody horrible, then I'm sure as heck that Megaman and Capcom along with him will they're way since this is the series where death is a load of bull until the series is done and that destiny can screw themselves then anything is possible in my eyes! FIGHTING ON MEGAMAN FOR GREAT JUSTICE, EVER LASTING PEACE AND WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE DUDE!
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