Support NeoGAF

[ksamedi]

The DS success in Japan is miles and miles beyond what any system has ever done anywhere ever. Adjusting for the difference in market size, it would be like selling well over 1 million per month for years at the time in the US. (And over 4 million in December.)

Well, if the Brain Training games or other market expanding titles were more succesfull in the US, I think the DS would have done those numbers. Its really selling bad in the US if you compare it to other regeons, even Europe does better numbers.

 

[Parl]

Well, if the Brain Training games or other market expanding titles were more succesfull in the US, I think the DS would have done those numbers. Its really selling bad in the US if you compare it to other regeons, even Europe does better numbers.

Europe numbers are MUCH better than Japan numbers in recent times.

The DS effect worked fastest in Japan, then Europe.. In the Americas, they were on the verge of a market change, then Wii came along.

 

[ethelred]

Europe numbers are MUCH better than Japan numbers in recent times.

The DS effect worked fastest in Japan, then Europe.. In the Americas, they were on the verge of a market change, then Wii came along.

The US market only has enough oxygen for one fad at a time.

 

[jarrod]

FFX-2 isn't a spinoff, man.

... what

FFX-2 is a direct sequel.

Using that logic, Crisis Core isn't a spinoff either... it's a direct prequel. The only difference would be in that they didn't title it FFVII-0 or somesuch and the game design shifts a bit more (though FFX-2 shifted as well to a degree).

Same goes for the rest of the FFVII compilation and Revenant Wings as well, though those game designs shifted even moreso (either DOC or RW the most actually, unless we count AC moving out of a game design entirely)... these games all have direct ties to mainline franchise games in the series, it's not like a Crystal Chronicles or Chocobo Dungeon really.

And Kingdom Hearts and the Mana series are spinoffs? By that awesome logic, what game is Super Smash Brothers a spinoff of?

Kingdom hearts is not an FF spin-off...it is it's own franchise.

Well, KH is probably the loosest in terms of FF connection... it is somewhat like SSB in that sense, it's something of an IP collection/singularity between Square and Disney. Still, I doubt anyone would discount the Nintendo brand connection when looking at Smash Bros' huge success, I don't think we can do the same for Kingdom Hearts either.

Seiken Densetsu though, that's a direct FF spinoff series, as much as Tactics or Crystal Chronicles. The only difference is that they dropped the "Final Fantasy Gaiden" titling after the first game. It's become it's own series though, it's more comparable to the Wario Land games if we had to make a Nintendo parallel.

 

[ethelred]

Jarrod, not only are you completely wrong, but it's really pretty rude to attempt to revive a (thankfully) aborted conversation without even bothering to read through the thread to see what's already been covered.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Seiken Densetsu though, that's a direct FF spinoff series, as much as Tactics or Crystal Chronicles. The only difference is that they dropped the "Final Fantasy Gaiden" titling after the first game. It's become it's own series though, it's more comparable to the Wario Land games if we had to make a Nintendo parallel.

I don't think it's useful to continue blathering on about what is and isn't a sequel, but I think your logic here doesn't really hold up and it probably won't derail the thread to mention this, so...

Seiken Densetsu/Final Fantasy Adventure started development in 1987. After Final Fantasy, around the same time as Final Fantasy II. I don't think it's even meaningful to think about "Final Fantasy" as a series at that point (I'm not really so sure the idea of ANY video game series existed at that point, even if there were sequels being released to games)

Wario Land is a bad example because it did what Seiken Densetsu did long after Mario became an established franchise. If Wario Land was the second Mario game ever made, things would be more comparable.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Wario Land is sort of a spinoff of a spinoff of a spinoff of a spinoff of Donkey Kong.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

This is by far the worst Media Create thread I've ever heard of

 

[Smiles and Cries]

This is by far the worst Media Create thread I've ever heard of

I use to enjoy them very much... vinnk's village too

 

[Pureauthor]

This is by far the worst Media Create thread I've ever heard of

But you have heard of it.

 

[Evlar]

None of us know what SE's expectations were or what their investment was, and we shouldn't pretend that we do.

 

[Phife Dawg]

all versions are still tba 2008.

Thanks, I thought they announced a release date already.

 

[Frillen]

Well, if the Brain Training games or other market expanding titles were more succesfull in the US, I think the DS would have done those numbers. Its really selling bad in the US if you compare it to other regeons, even Europe does better numbers.

What? Didn't the DS sell nearly 500k in September in the US? That's nearly 100k per week which again is better then how the DS performs in Japan at the moment.

 

[Parl]

What? Didn't the DS sell nearly 500k in September in the US? That's nearly 100k per week which again is better then how the DS performs in Japan at the moment.

But not comparative to market size. DS in Europe seems to sell between 150k and 200k in a week.

 

[Yoshi]

Wario Land is sort of a spinoff of a spinoff of a spinoff of a spinoff of Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong -> Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Land -> Wario Land or of which Spin-Offs are you thinking here ^^?

 

[Version 3.0]

But you have heard of it.

I don't actually laugh out loud from forum posts, but you got me. :lol

 

[Kenka]

But not comparative to market size. DS in Europe seems to sell between 150k and 200k in a week.

Aren't you inflating the numbers a bit much ? 150k-200k a week is a very very high score. It corresponds to the very peak of DS japanese sales at its full splendor. And DS software sales are not as meteoric as in Japan.

 

[donny2112]

I wish I'd remembered about DQS about five pages ago. It follows along some of the same principles as FF7CC: spinoff + particularly strong effort + particularly strong marketing + good game = lots of success.

I don't consider Dragon Quest Swords that much of a success. It sold less than what we were told the standalone game it was based off of sold.


From Japan-Gamecharts:

PS2 Final Fantasy X                                        2,325,215
PS2 Final Fantasy XII                                      2,322,329
PS2 Final Fantasy X-2                                      1,960,937
NDS Final Fantasy III                                      1,003,829
PSP Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII                           705,311
PS2 Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII                     513,157
NDS Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings                        500,543
GBA Final Fantasy Tactics Advance                            441,926
PS2 Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special   380,482
NDS Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fate           363,030
GCN Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles                        355,470
PSP Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions              298,799
PS2 Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission          288,745
GBA Final Fantasy VI Advance                                 280,110
GBA Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls                      277,590
PS2 Final Fantasy X International                            240,940
NDS Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales                      139,944
PSP Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition                        124,025
PSP Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable  110,823
PSP Final Fantasy II                                          61,507

From Famitsu end of year charts:

PSX Final Fantasy VIII                     3,501,807 (end of 1999)
PSX Final Fantasy VII                      3,277,290 (end of 1997)
PSX Final Fantasy IX                       2,846,254 (end of 2001)
PS2 Final Fantasy X                        2,434,015 (end of 2001)
PSX Final Fantasy Tactics                  1,237,328 (end of 1997)
PSX Final Fantasy Collection                 412,366 (end of 1999)
GBA Final Fantasy V Advance                  243,443 (end of 2006)
GBA Final Fantasy IV Advance                 219,391 (end of 2005)
PS2 Final Fantasy X (Mega Hits)              159,640 (end of 2003)
PSX Final Fantasy VII International (Books)  158,458 (end of 2006)
WSC Final Fantasy II                         148,142 (end of 2001)
PS2 Final Fantasy XI: Vision of Ziraat       132,055 (end of 2003)
PS2 Final Fantasy X (Ultimate Hits)          131,027 (end of 2005)
PS2 Final Fantasy XI: Treasures              103,501 (end of 2006)
PS2 Final Fantasy X-2 (Ultimate Hits)         44,887 (end of 2005)
PS2 Final Fantasy X/X-2 (Ultimate Hits)       25,784 (end of 2005)
PSX Final Fantasy VII International (Ultim)   18,302 (end of 2006)

From The Magicbox (likely shipped #s):

SNS Final Fantasy VI           2,550,000
SNS Final Fantasy V            2,450,000
SNS Final Fantasy IV           1,440,000
NES Final Fantasy III          1,400,000

Everyone:
Please choose the games from this list for comparison that best fit your agenda opinion.

Spoiler

This is by far the worst Media Create thread I've ever heard of

It's been nice to actually have near-continuous conversation over the weekend. No outrageous claims, just conflicting opinions. Debate is often a good way to see beneath the surface of an issue

Spoiler

and the people debating the issue

.

 

[jarrod]

I don't think it's useful to continue blathering on about what is and isn't a sequel, but I think your logic here doesn't really hold up and it probably won't derail the thread to mention this, so...

Oh ye of little faith. :lol

Seiken Densetsu/Final Fantasy Adventure started development in 1987. After Final Fantasy, around the same time as Final Fantasy II. I don't think it's even meaningful to think about "Final Fantasy" as a series at that point (I'm not really so sure the idea of ANY video game series existed at that point, even if there were sequels being released to games)

It may have started R&D in 1987 (in name), but that was as traditional JRPG for the FDS. The Seiken Densetsu we got is an almost entirely different project, with an entirely different conception and R&D cycle from a largely different team and didn't hit market until after 4 other Final Fantasy releases, about a month before FF4.

The idea that FF wasn't a solidified series at the time of Seiken Densetsu's release or core R&D cycle is purely false. There's really 2 Seiken Densetsu 1's, and the latter (which started development in late 1989) is the one we're dealing with here.

Wario Land is a bad example because it did what Seiken Densetsu did long after Mario became an established franchise. If Wario Land was the second Mario game ever made, things would be more comparable.

The timelines don't match exactly, but it's still comparable (ie: a spinoff series that loses it's spinoff titling and becomes it's own series). Yoshi's Island would be another similar Nintendo example.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Donkey Kong -> Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Land -> Wario Land or of which Spin-Offs are you thinking here ^^?

Exactly the path I was thinking.

For a while I've wanted to make some visual showing how from Donkey Kong things have branched out to so many concurrently running platform series.

 

[DDayton]

Wario Land is sort of a spinoff of a spinoff of a spinoff of a spinoff of Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong -> Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Land -> Wario Land or of which Spin-Offs are you thinking here ^^?

Exactly the path I was thinking.
For a while I've wanted to make some visual showing how from Donkey Kong things have branched out to so many concurrently running platform series.

While that's a good progression, it's not really a list of "spin offs", precisely. I'd say it's more like...

Donkey Kong -> Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Bros. -> Super Mario Land -> Wario Land
Game -> Spin Off/Sequel -> Sequel -> Spin Off -> Spin Off

SMB is a sequel to Mario Bros., and it COULD be argued that Mario Bros. is a sequel to DK/DK Jr. as opposed to being a spinoff, although I'm not sure that's fully honest.

 

[Parl]

Aren't you inflating the numbers a bit much ? 150k-200k a week is a very very high score. It corresponds to the very peak of DS japanese sales at its full splendor. And DS software sales are not as meteoric as in Japan.

I've got shipment numbers.

Japan. DS ahead by a long shot now, but was behind for more than its first year.

North America. DS is still behind GBA. This region didn't stop buying GBAs as quickly as the others.

Europe/Other. Much like Japan, DS is well ahead now, but for more than the first year it was slightly behind.

Worldwide. Thanks to NA's slow uptake DS was behind GBA for the first two years, but it's now ahead and should widen the gap even further with these upcoming holidays.

DS in Europe last X-mas and this year is on par with Japan in its high times.

 

[charlequin]

I don't consider Dragon Quest Swords that much of a success. It sold less than what we were told the standalone game it was based off of sold.

As long as we're justifying game sales based on the installed base they're selling to, Kenshin Dragon Quest sold to a potential "installed base" equal to the number of Japanese homes with TVs. :lol

It's been nice to actually have near-continuous conversation over the weekend. No outrageous claims, just conflicting opinions. Debate is often a good way to see beneath the surface of an issue

Spoiler

and the people debating the issue

.

As is often the case with extrapolating conclusions about consoles from a single game's performance, I wonder what kind of horribly wrong conclusions people are drawing about some posters in this thread based on extrapolations from a single position in this debate.

 

[Moor-Angol]

So any information about SMG first shipment numbers yet ?

 

[Culex]

So any information about SMG first shipment numbers yet ?

Last I saw was 500k store preorders, but that was a month ago.

 

[kottila]

Last I saw was 500k store preorders, but that was a month ago.

700k no?

 

[Frillen]

700k no?

It was 700k yes.

 

[Datschge]

(...) Of course, it would've been a very different situation -- the game would've costs a lot more money and it would've involved a much, much, much larger development team than the mobile phone group under Hajime Tabata. Remember, even with FFX-2 heavily reusing assets from FFX, the game still needed pretty much the entire full scale FFX team to develop it. (...)

Not entering the previous discussion...

ethelred, you mentioned several time CC would a success considering the (implied small) mobile phone group is behind that game. I don't know whether you checked up its staff list but when I did I was baffled as to why you'd bring up that reasoning. I stopped counting at 180+ internal development and arts staffs, when it started to list outside contract staffs. While that may not be up to the usual console main series FF staff size (which seem to go past 300+ or something) it's still easily around double the usual outsourced spinoff and comparable to internal big budget non-FF staff sizes (for a good specific comparison Dirge of Cerberus had around 150 internal development and arts staffs).

Spoiler

I miss the days of regular small staff sizes.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Hey guys. I made a prediction like this a few weeks ago, but I decided to make it a bit more concrete so there's actually a way to measure its success or failure. Before I said that I think the release of Super Mario Galaxy will mark the point when total Wii software starts outselling total PS2 software for the week more often than not. For comparison, if we assume the times where two weeks of data were put together represent the outcomes of both individual weeks, in the 45 weeks Famitsu has since Wii's release, the tally is Wii 12, PS2 33.

Now I put it: From the week beginning 2007-10-29 through the week beginning 2008-10-20, I believe Wii will have a greater percentage than PS2 in Famitsu's software pie in at least 27 of those weeks.

 

[apujanata]

Not entering the previous discussion...

ethelred, you mentioned several time CC would a success considering the (implied small) mobile phone group is behind that game. I don't know whether you checked up its staff list but when I did I was baffled as to why you'd bring up that reasoning. I stopped counting at 180+ internal development and arts staffs, when it started to list outside contract staffs. While that may not be up to the usual console main series FF staff size (which seem to go past 300+ or something) it's still easily around double the usual outsourced spinoff and comparable to internal big budget non-FF staff sizes (for a good specific comparison Dirge of Cerberus had around 150 internal development and arts staffs).

Spoiler

I miss the days of regular small staff sizes.

Your post reminded me that ethelred has not answered my question (which basically ask the same question as you, but without the # of staffs).
Wow at the fact that 180+ is considered small. How many staff is involved in Zelda:TP ? I always left my console during those credit rolls .

For comparison, if we assume the times where two weeks of data were put together represent the outcomes of both individual weeks, in the 45 weeks Famitsu has since Wii's release, the tally is Wii 12, PS2 33.

Interesting find there, Joshua. Wii's LTD managed to get > PS2's LTD (so far), even though on weekly basis, they are losing 12 to 33. Is the 33 for PS2 mostly the last three months period ?

 

[Link]

Just out of curiosity, what was the DS's installed base when NSMB was released?

 

[Datschge]

How many staff is involved in Zelda:TP ?

I counted around 120. And that the most Nintendo had on a single game up to that point (wouldn't be surprised if SSBB beats it though). There's a reason why Nintendo makes by far the most money per employee in this industry

Spoiler

and the employees are also interesting to follow as the fluctuation of staff is very low, Nintendo is more like VG research laboratory than a usual hire & fire/project contract game developer

.

 

[apujanata]

I counted around 120. And that the most Nintendo had on a single game up to that point (wouldn't be surprised if SSBB beats it though). There's a reason why Nintendo makes by far the most money per employee in this industry

Spoiler

and the employees are also interesting to follow as the fluctuation of staff is very low, Nintendo is more like VG research laboratory than a usual hire & fire/project contract game developer

.

Yeah, I remember that the figure is very, very scary. It looks like none of the Nintendo employee ever sleep, which is the only explanation why their productivity per employee is so high.

IIRC, the 1 Trillion Yen Revenue is produced by only 3,000 employee. I think it is even higher than Microsoft (I'm not sure)

Just out of curiosity, what was the DS's installed base when NSMB was released?

When NSMB is released on May 2006, DS LTD is 8,43 Million (5,255801 for 2004 & 2005 + 3,178,042 for 2006, up to May 28, 2006)

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Interesting find there, Joshua. Wii's LTD managed to get > PS2's LTD (so far), even though on weekly basis, they are losing 12 to 33. Is the 33 for PS2 mostly the last three months period ?

From the way you've written this, perhaps you understood me wrong. I'm not comparing Wii software's first year to PS2 software's first year, but things as they are in the present. Even with Wii dominating home hardware this year, PS2's large userbase has still been active enough to keep its software sales ahead. However, with Wii's base about to get another jump ahead, and more notable third party releases in the next year than the past year, I think we're about to the tipping point.

It would be interesting to look at past generational transitions to see which have been quicker or more drawn out, but there's not enough of this type of data going far back.

Just out of curiosity, what was the DS's installed base when NSMB was released?

It depends a bit on whether you cotton to Famitsu or Media Create, and whether you look at sales just before it came out or including the hundreds of thousands it sold that week, but around 8-8.5 million.

I counted around 120.

Really? Perhaps there were some only listed in the manual or something? As a fellow credits whore I decided to go for a fuller answer: I just took MobyGames' credits for it, manipulated things a bit to get rid of duplicates, and I come to 178 without counting any localization people. If we further ignore some things like the Special Thanks or those responsible for packaging, that might cut things down to 140-ish.

EDIT: I see my original 178 count includes a few entities like "Programming Support Group" and "Super Mario Club", which depending on how you look at it would either decrease the number slightly, or increase it even more.

 

[Oblivion]

I counted around 120. And that the most Nintendo had on a single game up to that point (wouldn't be surprised if SSBB beats it though). There's a reason why Nintendo makes by far the most money per employee in this industry

Spoiler

and the employees are also interesting to follow as the fluctuation of staff is very low, Nintendo is more like VG research laboratory than a usual hire & fire/project contract game developer

.

OoT had up to 200 people. (though that included some outside companies Nintendo hired to do some mocap scenes or something).

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

OoT had up to 200 people. (though that included some outside companies Nintendo hired to do some mocap scenes or something).

Using the same method as I did for TP, I count 70 in OOT credits. Of course it's possible part of the difference is more comprehensive credit listings with time.

 

[apujanata]

Using the same method as I did for TP, I count 70 in OOT credits. Of course it's possible part of the difference is more comprehensive credit listings with time.

Maybe Cartridge space limitation (for OOT) prohibited that (complete 200 names) ?
Didn't know there was quite a few "development staff counting during credits fanboys" out there .

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Maybe Cartridge space limitation (for OOT) prohibited that (complete 200 names) ?

Text is tiny. If a few dozen names made the difference, their 32 megabytes must've been bursting at the seams. It's possible some people just weren't deemed important enough to mention, though. Not unlike movie credits from decades back which might have had two screens worth of names at the end.

Didn't know there was quite a few "development staff counting during credits fanboys" out there .

We're a subset of a subset, to be sure. For me it started with Super Mario World. Being one of the first games I'd beaten to have a credits sequence, I thought it was worth paying some attention to people I wanted to idolize. The transcribing came later.

 

[AdventureRacing]

Halo Wars: 21

I'm surprised anyone has preodered this already. Is it even confirmed for 2008?

SSBB: 116

Very impressive from SSBB, will be interested to see how high it gets.

Uncharted:3

Disappointing. I hope there is a decent advertising push for this. I would like to see it sell well.

 

[AnimeTheme]

There's also FFX-2, which makes for a better direct comparison to Crisis Core (both being direct chapter FF spinoffs).

If we stretch out further into FF-spinoffs, Seiken Densetsu 2-3 and Kingdom Hearts 1-2 also sold better.

These comparisons are completely retarded, especially when you put Seiken Densetsu and Kingdom Hearts there as "FF-spinoffs".

 

[Phife Dawg]

Disappointing. I hope there is a decent advertising push for this. I would like to see it sell well.

I think it'll do best in Europe.

 

[Datschge]

I see my original 178 count includes a few entities like "Programming Support Group" and "Super Mario Club", which depending on how you look at it would either decrease the number slightly, or increase it even more.

I linked the youtube video I used for counting before, it may well be cut short. (And as I wrote before I stopped counting in the CC staff when the contracted third party staff was starting to appear, they should have been included. Put I was trying to point out CC's apparent internal importance by hogging 180+ internal staffs.) Anyway I keep writing "development and arts staff", so what I ignore is what I consider staffs outside that description: voice actors, motion actors (not motion recording as that falls together with motion/animation design), qa staff, pr staff, system infrastructure and management staff, thanks notes, packaging and manual staff, any dumb jpop management staff. Most of those are actually often omitted, Square-Enix one one of the few (Japanese) companies usually including them all (Mobygames sucks for not ignoring all the non-core staff for their "other games" and "collaborations" features which are completely useless due to that).

 

[jarrod]

These comparisons are completely retarded, especially when you put Seiken Densetsu and Kingdom Hearts there as "FF-spinoffs".

You mean "Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden" isn't a "FF spinoff"?

 

[BishopLamont]

You mean "Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden" isn't a "FF spinoff"?

Sure the first game can be considered a spin off, that's open to debate, but it sounds more like Squaresoft just slapped Final Fantasy on it just to give it a popularity boost. The series itself is not a spin off, I don't think anyone thought it was when they played Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3. Kingdom Hearts is definitely not a spin off though.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

(Mobygames sucks for not ignoring all the non-core staff for their "other games" and "collaborations" features which are completely useless due to that).

One of my most-wished-for features is to provide a better comparison between two games' credits, so you could more easily see if the similarity they share is with the director, producer, and composer... or three QA guys.

 

[jarrod]

Sure the first game can be considered a spin off, that's open to debate, but it sounds more like Squaresoft just slapped Final Fantasy on it just to give it a popularity boost. The series itself is not a spin off, I don't think anyone thought it was when they played Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3. Kingdom Hearts is definitely not a spin off though.

With "Final Fantasy" in the title, I'm not sure how it's open to debate really. Square was pretty clear.

As far as the game itself iirc, the core conception was basically trying to mix a Zelda style ARPG more firmly with a more traditional style RPG progression, reusing the base background plot (ie: Mana Tree in peril) of the scrapped FDS game though it started R&D with a slightly different plot and title (Gemma Knights). I agree it's possible the FF subtitle might've been an even later addition, but we don't know that for sure.

 

[Oblivion]

Using the same method as I did for TP, I count 70 in OOT credits. Of course it's possible part of the difference is more comprehensive credit listings with time.

It was in an Edge interview (and some other special features) with Miyamoto that mentioned there were around 200 people involved. I'm not saying your method is wrong or anything, just wanting to clarify.

We're a subset of a subset, to be sure. For me it started with Super Mario World. Being one of the first games I'd beaten to have a credits sequence, I thought it was worth paying some attention to people I wanted to idolize. The transcribing came later.

*high five*

Super Mario World was like the first game I ever beaten multiple times where I couldn't help but check out the credits each time.

 

[Stumpokapow]

One of my most-wished-for features is to provide a better comparison between two games' credits, so you could more easily see if the similarity they share is with the director, producer, and composer... or three QA guys.

And the thing is that this a pretty programatically simple thing to do. If the credits are stored by individual authors (which AFAIK they are), it's just inner joining a table to itself...

 

[Jokeropia]

With "Final Fantasy" in the title, I'm not sure how it's open to debate really. Square was pretty clear.

As far as the game itself iirc, the core conception was basically trying to mix a Zelda style ARPG more firmly with a more traditional style RPG progression, reusing the base background plot (ie: Mana Tree in peril) of the scrapped FDS game though it started R&D with a slightly different plot and title (Gemma Knights). I agree it's possible the FF subtitle might've been an even later addition, but we don't know that for sure.

There are moogles in the game, are there not?

 

[jarrod]

There are moogles in the game, are there not?

Yeah. Other minor things too (the FF font/menu style was reused according to wiki, generally FF reminiscent artsyle was consciously done, etc)... I do doubt the FF brand was just slapped on last second.