Squaresoft Updates

Squaresoft has announced that Chrono Cross, Legend of Mana, and Threads of Fate (formerly known as Dewprism) will not be released in Europe. Although no reason has been given for the omission of Legend of Mana, and Threads of Fate, Square Europe revealed that

“…Chrono Cross will not be coming to Europe. Chrono Cross has a particularly complicated text system which does not suit the syntax and morphology of German and the romance languages, and so has only been translated into English. We felt that such a big title should not appear as an English-only version in Europe as this would deprive the majority of gamers of the complexities and beauty of the plot. […] We receive many comments from people who say that they would not mind playing our games in English, but as a dedicated European office we aim to be inclusive rather than exclusive.”

European fans, though, will not be totally excluded from Square’s newest titles. Final Fantasy 9 will be translated into five languages for its upcoming release: English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

Japanese singer Emiko Shiratori, perhaps best known for her popular “Ballad of a Rainbow and Snow,” played at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics and “Flowers for You,” heard during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, will perform at least two new songs for final Fantasy 9, following in the footsteps of Faye Wong, who performed Final Fantasy 8’s “Eye’s on Me.” Anime fans may recognize Emiko Shiratori’s voice from her themes for the family-oriented shows Doraemon and Moomin Land. Shiratori will perform final Fantasy 9’s main theme, “Melodies of Life,” in both Japanese and English. There’s been no word yet on which rendition will appear in the game. It may even be possible that the Western and Japanese versions of the game will each receive a respective, appropriate rendition of the theme. A second song, “Galway Sky,” will also be performed in an as-of-yet unknown language.

Source: Gaming Intelligence Agency