Call it Genei Ibun Roku, Illusory Revelations or Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem – the point is that the game’s blog has recently been updated with new comments from the game’s directors Mitsuru Hirata and Eiji Ishida along with a few new trailers for the upcoming Wii U RPG. The pair answered some common questions they’ve received on the game, shedding some light on the game’s development. Once again I’ve translated some of their comments and will be gradually adding more over time.

Advertisements

On Yuichi Nakamura voicing a character in the game

Just the other day we finally announced that he is playing the role of Barry Goodman in #FE. We revealed him and Mamori Minamoto (played by Kaori Fukuhara) as new members of the Fortuna Entertainment talent agency. We wrote up introductions to these characters on the offical site, so please check them out!

About the Promotional Videos

Hirata: The first trailer used Kiria’s “Reincarnation” for music, the second used TIKi’s “Beastie Game” and for the third we used “Feel”, which is Tsubasa’s debut song in the game. All three characters are idols, but they each present a different musical taste; Tsubasa’s bouncy youthful energy really comes out in “Feel”, which is a very energetic pop tune.

Ishida: Starting with today’s video on Itsuki we’ll be releasing a series of trailers focusing on the game’s heroes roughly every week so look forward to that. Each of the characters have different goals, concerns and conflicts so we’ve tried to summarise this and their relationship to their Mirage in these movies. You can pick out a favourite cast member before the game comes out and enjoy it more!

Does the game use a turn-based battle system?

Hirata: Yeah, that’s right. It seems some people thought this was more of a strategy game, but it’s definitely an RPG. You’ll experience event scenes in the city, solve puzzles in dungeons and select commands to fight enemies in encounters… and of course there are boss fights! We used a relatively orthodox RPG system for the base, but naturally Genei Ibun Roku #FE is totally unique! We’ll have more details on this in the future.

Ishida: We’ll keep on publishing details in magazines and on the official site, so please wait a little longer. In some Atlus RPGs there’s a system where striking enemy weaknesses will cause your teammates to shout something like “Aha! Is this our chance?” and follow up with their attacks – this system is alive and well in #FE! There are ruthless combo attacks and each person uses their performance skills to gang up on enemies and really put on a show in fights!

Is Genei Ibun Roku #FE made by the same team as Devil Survivor?

Hirata: Genei Ibun Roku #FE is supported by Nintendo, but development is being completely handled by Atlus. In Atlus there isn’t really a specific team that works on the same title like a specific “Devil Survivor” team or a “Strange Journey” team. That said, #FE’s producer, Shinjiro Takada, was the director of the Devil Survivor series and a large number of staff from those games are also working on the project.

Ishida directed Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey while I directed Atlus’ Radiant Historia and other staff members worked on a number of different games. Because #FE is in HD and the development scale grew larger, we’ve turned into quite a large family.

Ishida: Since this title’s style is quite different, I remember that unbearable anxiety over whether the game’s rhythmic pop styling would work out. That’s not really my style so I didn’t think there was much I could do to help!

During development, we had to cooperate with the external video production company. Here’s some of the things that were written at the time: “Treat the camera like Tsubasa’s boyfriend and highlight the wicked way she gazes up at the camera. Make it a secret smile shot straight into the camera~ Here’s the explosive effect of a -kaja skill!” Pretty spirited, huh? Is this really the same person who said “make the ‘Macca Beam’ steal all their cash!” in Strange Journey? It seems I opened a new chakra through working on this project.

On the collaboration costumes…

Hirata: This project was a collaboration between the Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei series and the question of “how can the images of both series benefit” originally arose in a chat between Nintendo and the development team. We thought about what to do and when it came down to it there were a number of proposals.

The costumes in the world of showbusiness meant outfits from famous movies and dramas, while Nintendo’s collaboration meant outfits like a moustachioed plumber or a peachy princess. Finally we settled on choosing to draw from Atlus games for the costumes and in keeping in mind the collaboration we picked outfits from games that were on Nintendo consoles.

We had staff from each of the games featured supervising the modelling while we worked on the costumes – what do you think of them? Since the hero from Devil Survivor 2 is also from modern-day Tokyo, his jacket with its bunny ears is a natural fit for the setting. Shin Megami Tensei IV’s Walter also works well as a costume for Toma; since they’re both hot-blooded guys it’s a nice match. The outfits for the Princess from Etrian Odyssey and Rei from Persona Q were surprising. We touched up the original outfits because the completed forms were hard to imagine and somehow it ended up as good mismatch for Tsubasa and Kiria.

This is just the first part and both directors will answer more questions and reveal more on the upcoming game in subsequent blogs.

Source