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KickStarter Project Phoenix - Indie jRPG with Nobuo Uematsu

Ninjerk

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Joined
Jul 10, 2013
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14,323
Here was I, joking about stealing credits for AoD because I did the trailer, and the motherfucking owner of this kickstarter lists Diablo III among his works, after simply playing violin on the game...

Oh well, he managed to get this group together and even Uematsu onboard, and overcome japanese near-sighted business sense to launch a kickstarter and free weaboos of their money, so he already seems more competent than anyone that actually worked on Diablo III.

Maybe Kickstarter hasn't hit the Japanese hard yet. "So you mean if you randoms raise more than a million and a half dollars I write a few songs? LOL, sure, kid, I'll suck your dick, too. Where do I sign?"
 

felipepepe

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So I think it's unfair to immediately say someone from a non-design background isn't qualified for design.
No one is saying that, the issue was the way they display their credits, that is quite misleading, and it's clearly intentionally done that way.... quite bad way to start a pledge.

Personally, I believe that having people with various experiences working on games and other medias is extremely welcome. IMHO, there are games like KoTC that require serious neckbeards to create, but if only neckbeard hardcore gamers made games, you'd end with something similar to how anime is ATM; a bunch of otakus making otaku animes for other otakus, that have nothing but tired tropes and old cliches, incapable of adding anything really unique to it.

The Pokémon guy created his game based on his memories of hunting bugs as a kid, in rural Japan; a city otaku who's entire life was watching anime and going to school will have a really hard time making anything besides circle-jerking anime tropes and school-life stuff...
 

Branm

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If this gets more money then Satellite Reign I'll be one unhappy camper. They got nothing and promise a popamole real time battle system that will surely suck considering all their port plans.
 

felipepepe

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If this gets more money then Satellite Reign I'll be one unhappy camper. They got nothing and promise a popamole real time battle system that will surely suck considering all their port plans.
Then prepare your butt for the hurt, they already have almost 250k, and it hasn't been 24hs since launch...
 

Branm

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" iOS and Android will have a different version to the PC counterparts due to limitations"

I asked if they an elaborate..and got this:

"I'm sorry but I cannot elaborate that further, but in other words, PC versions will NOT suffer due to ANY other versions of the game =D"

Tells me shit all and def doesnt put me any more at ease with all their port plans.

Do they think I'm stupid? NO way that they will for instance develop multiple fully functioning UI's tailored to their specific platform.
 

felipepepe

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Take my word, their battle system will be something just like Digimon World:

Digimon%20World%20NTSC%20(U)%20c.jpg


Charactes does all the fighting & movement by themselves, you just give some commands like ATTACK / HEAL/ DEFEND by clicking on huge icons. I can't imagine any other way for you to control 4 party members in a real time RPG on a fucking iPhone screen.

And then every reviewer will praise their "new" combat system as something unique and groundbreaking... all while being old-school classic jRPG, obviously.
 

kaizoku

Arcane
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
4,129
Here was I, joking about stealing credits for AoD because I did the trailer, and the motherfucking owner of this kickstarter lists Diablo III among his works, after simply playing violin on the game...

Oh well, he managed to get this group together and even Uematsu onboard, and overcome japanese near-sighted business sense to launch a kickstarter and free weaboos of their money, so he already seems more competent than anyone that actually worked on Diablo III.


So it seems Bards do have some use after all :troll:
 

kaizoku

Arcane
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
4,129
Take my word, their battle system will be something just like Digimon World:

Digimon%20World%20NTSC%20(U)%20c.jpg


Charactes does all the fighting & movement by themselves, you just give some commands like ATTACK / HEAL/ DEFEND by clicking on huge icons. I can't imagine any other way for you to control 4 party members in a real time RPG on a fucking iPhone screen.

And then every reviewer will praise their "new" combat system as something unique and groundbreaking... all while being old-school classic jRPG, obviously.

Don't know about Digimon.

But the fact it's RT, just fucks things up.

If they had kept it TB and came up with a pokemon style of gameplay it would be something worth of playing (on the phone to burn some time).
 

Elthosian

Arcane
Joined
Mar 14, 2012
Messages
1,138
Meh, I don't mind it being real-time, of course something akin to Tactics Ogre would have been amazing, but it they had went turn-based it would probably have been static-style a la Final Fantasy, which I don't really like unless it is in games made by Atlus.
 

Branm

Learned
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As an additional treat, we've discussed your concerns over DRM, and have decided on the following two modes of play:
Online Play - internet connection required

Players will use their login ID and password for their account to log in. However, you will have access to the following online services:

1) Claiming Kickstarter Reward Items

2) Online profiles (more to be explained in coming weeks)

3) Gain Achievements

4) Accessing your saved games from any operating system on any machine

5) Access to Updates and Bug fixes

6) Multiplayer - if the upcoming stretch goal is reached

Offline Play - no internet connection required

After entering the activation key, the game will be able to play in Offline Playwithout requiring an internet connection or you to login.

You may install the game onto multiple computers. The save data will be stored locally and is transferable between different computers. Only the single player feature will be available of the game.

* Offline Play saves will not be able to access Online content .

** Online Play will not be affected by internet shortages during single player play, as it will continue to sync until successful - we are currently working out the details to prevent abuse if this happens.

So the good news is that you can choose between Online and Offline styles of gameplay, and between these different styles for each save that you create. We hope we have answered our backer's calls for a DRM free version of the game!

Haha their views on DRM are about as vague as the rest of the pitch.
 

Haba

Harbinger of Decline
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Codex 2012 MCA Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2
The world is changing...

The orcish clans, mankind's ancient enemy, have begun migrating from the mountains and their raids upon human settlements become more brazen and audacious by the day. If this wasn't enough, the denizens of the southern coastal regions hear rumor of the free men who, once vanquished, have emerged, more organized than before, all with the goal of toppling the Empire. Amidst the stirrings of war, the elves watch a fateful star and recognize it as a portent that will decide the fate of all those who live in Azuregard.

It is within these tumultumous times that the troubled paladin Marcus Stern encounters Ruffles, an angel stricken with amnesia. Together with the elven princess Sylrianah, reserved but curious to see the world beyond the forest, and Zarum the Lost, a battlemage with his own internal conflicts, they form an unlikely bond. These four heroes must discover their place in a world brought to war by misunderstanding and ignorance, and perhaps ultimately even save it from itself.

For the whole "published author" selling point, their high fantasy plot sounds completely generic and uninspired.

She is a published author of shit.
 

drae

Augur
Joined
Aug 9, 2013
Messages
179
Interview with lead director/musician Yura:

RPG Site: Yes. You had already met your goal within 9 hours. I'm sure this has been pretty overwhelming for you. I had a few questions I wanted to ask. From the video, you clearly are not that happy with the way the state of the JRPG has been lately, saying that they have lost the essence of what a JRPG is about. What is your opinion on the direction that the Final Fantasy series has been going?

Yura: Oh, right. [laughs] You do know I am good friends with Mr. Sakaguchi? (Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy).

Final Fantasy is a great series. I have been a big fan of that series since I was very young. But it's just not the way that I wished it would have taken off. For me, my favorite Final Fantasy was Final Fantasy IX. This all comes down to what JRPG means to me. I have had a bit of a confidence problem two to three weeks back and I asked Sakaguchi-san if he was happy to see me. He's like, "What do you need to see me for?" and I said I wanted to study a bit with you. He said alright and he invited me to his place and we had a talk about what is JRPG.
He told me JRPG is about character. It was the exact same answer that the composer and the game designer Mr. Hiroki Kikuta who did Secret of Mana, and is also a good friend of mine, and who I also asked what JRPG was about. So character is good, but I realized they were the people that were there right at the beginning of Squaresoft and I have to really get the 2013 answer of what JRPG is about. More importantly, what my answer of what JRPGs are about. I really feel that JRPGs, although they say it is about character, to me it's about the story and how moving and how important and how profoundly it affects the players.

RPG Site: And also the dynamic between the characters and their relationship and how it affected the overall story. To me, the overall story wasn't that important; it was about what are these people inside this story. What are they doing, how they are speaking to each other, and how they are reacting to what is going on. Is that sort of approach something you also think is important from that time?

Yura: It's important, but these games have taken a different approach. Sakaguchi-san was telling me about that for Chrono Cross or Chrono Trigger, it's not like it's about how much they have been speaking and how much the main character speaks, which is not a hell of a lot. It's not like a Western RPG where they kind of talk but it was a unique thing. I realy like Western RPGs, but I don't really find the appeal with them as I do Japanese RPGs. I am not saying that combat shouldn't be important, but the biggest sell for a JRPG is story.

Now, this JRPG project, Project Phoenix, is not really about a JRPG for Japanese fans. This project is a JRPG for the world.
RPG Site: You are of course a very talented composer who has worked for and orchestrated a lot of different soundtracks like Diablo III and Soulcalibur V. To put it another way, you are unproven in the world of lead game director and producer, and also you have a lead game designer (Vaughan Smith) that worked as a QA analyst on L.A. Noire. Leading this group of talented people, are you going around to different friends in the business to learn more and how do you think you can convince people that you are the right person to lead this charge? Not to make this sound like a job interview.

Yura: That's a very fair question. Look: let me answer the question before I get to that. The answer is that because I have been influenced by the West and by the East, I feel that it's very important that I design this video game in a way that satisfies my upbringing.

I'm Japanese, I was brought up in Sydney which is basically the West. The thing is, what makes Japan, Japan, and what makes the West, the West, is basically what comes down to functionality for the West and reasoning and crazy but awesome design in Japan. In Japan, they don't really care about the reasoning or the functionality. As long as it's cool, it's like, let's do that!

It's like how Sakaguchi-san said that you have to have an awesome character that really draws you in and the world drops everywhere around him. Everything gets made from the character. It's not really about the world, and to me, that sounds weird because - I'm not criticizing the way it should be made. If I'm making a game, I want to have a proper world that's believable and that people can relate to and then have a character that's created from the world, who lives and thrives in that world, which makes it more believable.

That's really important to me. Unless I can achieve that, I think I have failed, so we're really working hard to make that work and making an awesome story as some of the Final Fantasy games have been.
RPG Site: There were games where players remember the characters. They remember Lavos and what he was doing to the world, and also the faith of Crono and his team. It was the same with Final Fantasy VI. It was Kefka who is the most craziest, most evil person that has ever existed in video games. It sounds like you are trying to really hone in on that?

Yura: Yeah. I don't really want to talk about the bad guy in our game, but that's part of my function [on the team] is that it would really ruin the story so I don't want to talk about it. But this is the type of stuff I do want to talk about - the person who seems to be the bad guy but not really being the bad guy. At the same time, I want to take the Studio Ghibli approach and the difference between theirs and Disney's. In Ghibli, what may seem is not what it really is, whereas with Disney it's very clear-cut. If you see a bad guy, he's probably the bad guy.

RPG Site: With Final Fantasy VII where Cloud started off as the normal hero but then later on becomes way more than that. Is that the type of games you're drawing from?

Yura: Kind of, but I'm also drawn in from the story from Warcraft as well.

RPG Site: It seems like some of the game design comes from Warcraft where it is an RPG but it has strategy elements in it. Are you looking at those games too?

Yura: Yes, I am. Absolutely. Not just in gameplay, but also the story aspects of it. I really don't like the Tolkien-esque approach. I love the world of Tolkien. However, the story was made in an era where the East was so exotic, and people weren't too concerned with being, oh, let's call it racist. They didn't really or weren't really friends. They can't just call up Japan and say, what's up, let's Skype. We have had some differences. Now, it's really international and we understand that we are all the same and we're humans.

The Lord of the Rings hinged on a lot of racism and not really understanding how the world really works. I really don't like the fact that goblins and orcs are just nasty creatures and they don't have any concept aside from wanting to eat you. I think it needs to be much more sophisticated. Again, I am a big fan of Tolkien, but it terms of the modern day approach, I don't think that really cuts it. It needs to have much clearer intentions about what their goals and aims are and that's a hint of what's to come with Project Phoenix in terms of story.

Okay, I haven't dodged your job interview question. I understand both sides of the game development process. I have been to places like Blizzard and they have shown me pre-release work. It's not like I have made it or anything but I have experienced a lot of the backend stuff. I have talked to and sat down with the Producer from Valkyria Chronicles and really talk about stuff.

I am not a lot different from the guys that have made these games. It really comes down to passion. Valkyria Chronicles was in development for years before they were greenlit by the company, so it's all about the passion that really drives us. The team I have, they have my full respect, and I trust them in what they need to do and what they are doing.

Vaughan Smith, I will be very honest, he was a classmate of mine. We knew each other since Year 7. He is a game writer for a local magazine, a novelist, he writes reviews for games online, he makes indie games, and he had a job doing QA at L.A. Noire. He is a big fan of Japanese RPGs, and he understands where we think where it fails in driving the goodness of JRPGs, and also what's so good about the West as well. We want to put those two together, and he really comes from the same place as I do. He really plays a lot of JRPGs.

As for me, I play a lot of video games. Some people think I don't know what video games are about because I am a musician. I am not a composer, by the way.
RPG Site: Oh, right. Yes!

Yura: I participated in the music side of video games, and I...

RPG Site: You sat on the director's chair.

Yura: I sat on the director's chair and when my people do all the jobs I play Starcraft. I am serious, when I have nothing else to do, and I have to hit the Escape key when my engineer asks how something is and I ask them to play it again.
All jokes aside, I understand the intricacies of both sides of development. I am a gamer myself. I used to be in a very high-end guild for World of Warcraft. My DPS was within the Top 10 ranking on not just that group or our server but also the world ranking.

RPG Site: People are going to look that up now. They're going to find out.

Yura: As a Retribution Paladin, I am pretty proud of myself. I was an avid PVPer not just in Warcraft but I also play a lot of First-Person Shooters and a lot of Gears of War. I love video games. That's where I am coming from. What I am trying to impress upon you guys is that I am a hardcore type of gamer. I go to the extent of dissecting game mechanics and design. For example, you have to do that for World of Warcraft when you are in a high-end guild. We usually down bosses really fast. That's a lot to do with raid leaders who are very diligent in their work, and so I understand how the mechanics work and what makes everything fun. Which brings me to my next point - why an RTS?

RPG Site: That was actually what I was going to lead into, that Project Phoenix serves as more of a hybrid. What led you to implement RTS elements into a JRPG?

Yura: Okay, I want to warn you about JRPG. JRPG doesn't really have a fixed mechanic. Of course, a turn-based system inside of Dragon Quest has been very popular, but there's many types of JRPGs, and I really believe that JRPGs hinges on the story and the storytelling aspects. JRPGs are kind of like a musical or an opera, so to speak. They are trying to tell you a story. You get to see it, but you also control the characters a bit. That's what JRPGs are about. We need to make sure that the controlling the characters bit is really, really fun, and I had the most fun when I was playing Warcraft and Starcraft with those small team missions where you don't have to be at your barracks. I love that. I hate clicking so much.
RPG Site: Wow. You're playing Starcraft and you're not a fan of clicking.
Yura: Yeah. I mean, I love Starcraft, but I hate micromanagement. I hate being Project Manager. I don't want to be in charge of collecting crystals. I am a bloody Commander. I want to talk like Tychus (from Starcraft). Headbutt slugs in the face.

The thing about Starcraft is that when you get in with a bunch of Zerg charging your Marines and your Marines start firing on them, they only fire on them when they get in range. You're next to a Marine who is firing on them but you're doing nothing because they're out of range. In real life, would that happen? No way! If your buddy starts firing, you would start firing too. You would do something.

This is what Project Phoenix is about. We don't want to put too much micromanagement in it. I don't want to have to issue a chain of command issue. I don't want to be clicking so much because you are just one person. You are just the Commander. These guys are supposed to be pros. Even better than pros, they're supposed to be heroes.

This what I wanted to come to with an RTS. You are leading a bunch of heroes that knows what to do and when. You are just want to tell them how you want it done. Right now, there are three modes of play: Aggressive, Defensive, and Stealth. They each have special, individual skills as well. They are all auto-casted. You need heroes that need to know how they need to use it when they want to use it. But all the non-essential or the non-important stuff, you don't want to have to work with. They know better than you on where they should be standing or how they should be attacking.

RPG Site: It's the problem I had with Final Fantasy XIII. It was the illusion of control. You're telling them to get over here and they won't do it.

Yura: Right, and Final Fantasy is notorious for not being able to use terrain as a tactical advantage. Terrain is such a big thing of warfare. King Leonidas, if he didn't have the cliffs between him, he would have been dead in no time. Instant death at that spot. However, because they were tanks and were able to do all their fancy moves in a small, confined area, they could survive. And it basically comes down to that. You have 7 or 8 people you can control at once in a battlefield and you have hundreds of enemies. These guys are going to be awesome. They are going to carve through them - they are going to kill people by just shield bashing them.

RPG Site: It's good to hear that you are focusing a lot on the gameplay mechanics. I feel it is something that a lot of JRPGs have been forgetting. It feels a lot like style over substance in today's RPGs. It can be messy. So do you control each person individually or as a group?

Yura: You control them as squads, basically. You put 8 people into as many squads as you want to, and control them as you want them to behave.

RPG Site: With the success of the Kickstarter, the stretch goals are already providing a look at the scope that the game can develop into. Keeping in mind that this is a passion project for all involved, how are you keeping things under control in regards to quality control and timetables?

Yura: Well, I do run an orchestra. I hope that explains everything. That's like organizing over 120 people. Not just the orchestra, but there is staff involved, all the aspects of managing music...

I came from doing concerts with video game orchestras, and that's even worse because that's also managing people just coming to the concert and the volunteers. It's huge. Running a 20 man team - this is so easy! Everybody here are pros and they know what to do and they know what to expect from me. It's really easy [comparatively]. We just need to make sure we stick to a timetable. Yes, sometimes we go over and sometimes we actually finish things earlier, so we just have to adjust accordingly.

It's also all about honesty. I take the budget very seriously. Our group draws from people were successful already, so we are just going to split the profit at the end. We don't really require a big fund. Stefen had a 3D modeling team that really needed to get paid, so that's why we did the Kickstarter. In terms of the stretch goals, we are trying to do what we can. Right now, all of our music is synthesized, but if we get enough money, we really want to record with the Eminence Symphony Orchestra, but that would really cost a lot of money. It's funny being on the other side of this. You can't just give us $10,000 and expect us to go full orchestra. We would eat through it in five minutes.
I just want to explain that we are very conservative here at Project Phoenix. We don't promise easy stretch goals like other Kickstarters. This is the truth. I know how it works. This is very realistic. I never promise anything that is underestimated. After all of the fees, we would end up with a percentage of the amount needing for the game. If we ask for $400,000, we may only get $160,000 after it. We tend not to oversay our abilities, and in money to. This is where the trust lies. We don't want to say we do this for this much. We want to say maybe we can do this, and overachieve. We don't want to promise a lot and then fail to get it. Never would I do that. I'm just trying to keep it real.

We are a bunch of no-names, to be honest. People say we did all this and that, but it's not really like that. We set the goal at $100,000 because we aren't confident. I am very flattered with the confidence that people have in us. I am very sure we are capable of doing what we promise, but we are just a bunch of guys who kind of know what we are doing but we are more passionate about what we are doing. We only ask for the bare minimum because we just want to prove to the world that our concept is going to work.

Kickstarter has been about teams asking for money to make this huge game and then afterwards, they have to say they can only deliver half of the game now and do everything later. To me, I think it's okay to be late. People may be upset about it being late, but we want to achieve what the goal of the game is about. I don't want to release it until we are very proud of what we have made. Everyone is putting in their time. We are going to make something fantastic. We want to deliver the whole story of Marcus and his adventure, and to be able to exceed what people expect from us by giving a lot of content.

We just want to make a good game, and we want to live up to our reputation and our standard. That's why you can trust us. We are not about making money. We are protecting or exceeding our reputation, and doing something that no one has ever done. That's all there is about it.

RPG Site: It's very refreshing that you are owning up to the expectations that people normally have, and the questions and concerns people have.

http://www.rpgsite.net/articles/460-project-phoenix-interview-with-hiroaki-yura
 

drae

Augur
Joined
Aug 9, 2013
Messages
179
And part of another interview:

G: Project Phoenix has been defined a game with no clear good and evil. Does this mean that the player will be prompted to make moral choices? Will there be a branching storyline and multiple endings depending on those choices?

HY: I’ll be very honest. We are a very small team. It’d be great if we could make branching choices, but I think it would be risky for us. It becomes too complex and I don’t think our team is capable of making a sprawling multiple-endings game, as much as we’d like to.

We’re going to keep it simple and fun. It’s going to be linear, but players will be able to experience many, many side stories, and I think this way is better for us because it’s simple, and it’s effective. It also allows you to explore the lore deeper. You will see the characters make moral choices of course. There are some very heavy questions to be explored. It won’t be like a teenage JRPG like Pokémon.

G: You actually anticipated my next question. I was going to ask if it’ll be a light-hearted game like a Dragon Quest, or a deeper, darker-themed one like for instance Xenogears…

HY: We will have humor, but it’ll be like Final Fantasy IX, that had the perfect balance between humor and very heavy issues that each character has to deal with. One thing I can tell you about, which is announced…well, partially announced…is about Marcus Stern, our main character. His mother was the queen of the kingdom of Stern and she was signing a peace treaty with the orcs, but she was assassinated by an orc.

After that everything changed for the country and Marcus. The country became more xenophobic and created units of the army to hunt other races. Marcus goes against his mother wishes and basically joins an organization of xenophobic templars, killing a lot of orcs.

His real question is not about vengeance though. It’s about why his mother’s murder happened. You’ll be able to discover why as the story progresses.

G: So Racism will be a big topic for the game.

HY: Yes, it will be a big issue, and this is an issue that we wanted to explore, because racism is a serious issue in the real world today and it was even worse a a hundred or two hundred years ago. We should all be friends, internationally, and this is something people should reflect on. Misunderstanding is the biggest issue in racism.

It’s high fantasy, and the world is very similar to the novels by Tolkien, but the difference is that Tolkien wrote in an era in which racism was even more rampant and people during Tolkien’s time didn’t really understand racism because it was the norm. If you read his novels the orcs don’t have feelings, they’re always terrible, goblins eat people, trolls kill people, and they don’t have any morals at all.

I don’t think that writing a story like that isn’t sophisticated enough for us. Our world will be much more complex. Orcs will have reasons why they do what they do, and the reasons that lead to war will be much more sophisticated than those that are normally part of normal JRPG settings.

G: Is Project Phoenix going to feature romance between characters? How important is it going to be to the story?

HY: We are thinking to feature romance in our JRPG, but it’s not going to be the main theme. There are more important issues than romance, and our characters won’t have too much time for it.

The problem with JRPGs, or with Japanese games in general these days is that they try to satisfy the otaku, and that’s not satisfactory at all for most people. Just look at the Japanese “Moe” culture. It’s a representation of the otaku’s desires. Otaku demand their desires to be translated into games, like big breasts, big eyes or revealing clothes, but they didn’t use to be like that. It used to be more balanced.

It’s like art. When you listen to music or watch a painting, you need to use your imagination. Imagination is a key theme in Project Phoenix and is much stronger than what you can actually show. Having great and flashy graphics like Final Fantasy nowadays is not working because you lose the biggest weapon you have, which is imagination. This is why it’s failing.

In terms of our game we’re going to make sure that imagination plays a key part in the adventure by, one, making in game characters super deformed, and two, we don’t want to explain everything. So if we’ll have romance in our game, we don’t want to exactly show what happens. We won’t show characters kissing that much. We’ll just show that a little so the players can imagine what the relationship is like. I think this way is more delicate.

G: What are your plans for localization?

HY: I want to be very honest. I kind of want to apologize but also explain why I chose just Japanese and English as languages in the first place. Many European people can read English and I think it’s better to make the basic aspects of the game as well as possible before we include other languages like Italian, French, German and Spanish, but we are looking into it.

After upgrading the basic elements we’re looking into having a stretch goal to add those languages. I’d love to see more support from Europe, as the majority of the pledges are now from the United States and Japan. I want to ask the European fans not to loose faith in us…I’m going to tell you a new announcement exclusive to your website. The localization in Italian, French, German and Spanish will be in the $2.175.000 stretch goal, which is the next stretch goal we’ll add.

Some people think better cinematics or better animations or a new storyline are more important, but I think these are extras that we don’t necessarily need before localization in these languages. So I’d really like to ask people from these countries to help us push the Kickstarter campaign so that we can localize the game in their languages.
After the stretch goal about more languages we’ll upgrade the cinematics, the in-game animations and there’s actually another storyline that we call the “13th Legion” storyline, that is going to be a totally separate story about a completely different character that happens at the same time during the game. I can’t tell you the amount of that stretch goal…but it’ll be very expensive (laughs).

We have a core group that works only with royalties, but to make this storyline I’ll have to hire more designers. I can’t expect the people we have now to do it by themselves.

G: You should bring Sakaguchi-san on board!

HY: Sakaguchi-san (laughs)?

G: That would be great no? You have Uematsu-sensei already after all.

HY: Yeah but Skaguchi-san is a system creator, so he’d want to change the whole system, so we probably won’t have that (laughs). We can’t ask him to just do level design…that would be rude (laugh). Maybe I’ll ask him to join us for dinner instead.

G: With expensive wine like Uematsu-sensei says?

HY: Yes, Uematsu-san likes any kind of alcohol. Be it yellow, red, or white…he likes everything (laughs).

G: Will additional localization have voice acting?

HY: No, there won’t be voice acting. There isn’t just translation, but also bug testing to do for every language, and it’s very difficult. Unfortunately my French is only preliminary and my Italian is limited to my music education, so I can’t really listen to voice acting in those languages and decide if it’s good or bad. In terms of English and Japanese I can, of course.

Talking about the English and Japanese voice acting, the English one will be directed by Donna Burke, but we’re not going for anime approach to localization. English anime voice acting is…

G: Horrible…

HY: Yeah, I don’t like it. We’re going for a very serious approach, like films.

G: Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer to my questions. Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers to conclude this interview?

HY: I don’t know if I can answer all the questions, but it would be great if everybody could talk to us. There’s a lot of room for misunderstanding because there’s so much hope in people that want a good JRPG, and I used to be in the same shoes, and now I’m developing a game that hopefully everybody will like and delivering on everybody’s hopes.
We hope we can deliver, but we need feedback, because this should be everybody’s game. It’s not just for Japan, but for the whole world. We’re going to listen to feedback as much as possible, and to everything that is going to make our game better, because we want to make the best JRPG possible.

We’ll have a forum ready by the end of the Kickstarter campaign. It will have a section for backers only, but there will also be one open to everyone. You’ll also be able to become a backer even after the Kickstarter campaign, since we’ll have a Paypal option open for quite some time, so please give us as much feedback and advice as you can.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/08...s-his-vision-for-the-game-jrpgs-ps4-and-more/
 

Karellen

Arcane
Joined
Jan 3, 2012
Messages
327
This is a really weird Kickstarter. The supposed "strength" of this project is that they have a mix of western and Japanese people, which might be interesting from a game design standpoint, except that the only people here who have done anything of note are artists of some sort, so it's not really clear to me that there's anybody involved who knows much of anything about making games. Their designer's claim to fame is that he did frickin' QA, of all things, for LA Noire. The project director is a professional violinist who runs an orchestra. This whole premise is so backwards, I'm actually kind of impressed by the sheer audacity of it. Still, you can't make a decent game just from having pretty art, lots of text and nice music, even in the JRPG genre. Certainly not a real-time tactical JRPG. Maybe a visual novel or something.

Anyway, they don't particularly merit it in any real sense, but I'm still pleased that they're getting a decent wad of cash handed to them by naive fools - with any luck, that might make crowdfunding better known and more credible in Japan, and result in someone I actually care about (like Yasumi Matsuno, Yasumi Matsuno or Yasumi Matsuno) starting a project to make some awesome games. Here's hoping. And hey, it might be interesting to see what happens when a bunch of artist types and inexperienced industry nobodies are handed a bunch of cash to make a JRPG. You never know, it might be the next Xenogears!
 

Whisky

The Solution
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Messages
8,555
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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera
This is a really weird Kickstarter. The supposed "strength" of this project is that they have a mix of western and Japanese people, which might be interesting from a game design standpoint, except that the only people here who have done anything of note are artists of some sort, so it's not really clear to me that there's anybody involved who knows much of anything about making games. Their designer's claim to fame is that he did frickin' QA, of all things, for LA Noire. The project director is a professional violinist who runs an orchestra. This whole premise is so backwards, I'm actually kind of impressed by the sheer audacity of it. Still, you can't make a decent game just from having pretty art, lots of text and nice music, even in the JRPG genre. Certainly not a real-time tactical JRPG. Maybe a visual novel or something.

Anyway, they don't particularly merit it in any real sense, but I'm still pleased that they're getting a decent wad of cash handed to them by naive fools - with any luck, that might make crowdfunding better known and more credible in Japan, and result in someone I actually care about (like Yasumi Matsuno, Yasumi Matsuno or Yasumi Matsuno) starting a project to make some awesome games. Here's hoping. And hey, it might be interesting to see what happens when a bunch of artist types and inexperienced industry nobodies are handed a bunch of cash to make a JRPG. You never know, it might be the next Xenogears!

Honestly, I'd throw my money at any project that Matsuno is a member of. I say this despite the fact that he hasn't been apart of a memorable game team for some time now, save for doing one song for Xenoblade. Us weeaboos, we just have no reason when it comes to this great composer.

EDIT: I'm an idiot and mixed up Yasunori Mitsuda and Yasumi Matsuno. Evidence has been saved for the purpose of humiliating me.
 
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Karellen

Arcane
Joined
Jan 3, 2012
Messages
327
Anyway, they don't particularly merit it in any real sense, but I'm still pleased that they're getting a decent wad of cash handed to them by naive fools - with any luck, that might make crowdfunding better known and more credible in Japan, and result in someone I actually care about (like Yasumi Matsuno, Yasumi Matsuno or Yasumi Matsuno) starting a project to make some awesome games. Here's hoping. And hey, it might be interesting to see what happens when a bunch of artist types and inexperienced industry nobodies are handed a bunch of cash to make a JRPG. You never know, it might be the next Xenogears!

Honestly, I'd throw my money at any project that Matsuno is a member of. I say this despite the fact that he hasn't been apart of a memorable game team for some time now, save for doing one song for Xenoblade. Us weeaboos, we just have no reason when it comes to this great composer.

I'm... pretty sure you mean Yasunori Mitsuda, but yeah, now that I think about it, I'd definitely pay money just to get that guy to compose another real RPG soundtrack too. :salute: I guess I shouldn't make fun of this project for riding on having an iconic composer on the team, since Chrono Cross for instance is pretty much worth playing just because it has a great Mitsuda soundtrack (and some pretty prerendered backgrounds). How about another game with an insane scenario written by Masato Kato and soundtrack by Mitsuda? Now that'd be a Kickstarter worth freaking out about.
 
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Borelli

Arcane
Joined
Dec 5, 2012
Messages
1,260
Western and eastern designers banding together sounds awesome but the "from the creators of ..." part looks like it is actively trying to dissuade me from donating. Diablo 3? Halo 4? WoW? I don't care about any of those games. And what is exactly "Starcraft 2 series"? Is it a sequel to Starcraft 1 series?
 

Ninjerk

Arcane
Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
14,323
Anyway, they don't particularly merit it in any real sense, but I'm still pleased that they're getting a decent wad of cash handed to them by naive fools - with any luck, that might make crowdfunding better known and more credible in Japan, and result in someone I actually care about (like Yasumi Matsuno, Yasumi Matsuno or Yasumi Matsuno) starting a project to make some awesome games. Here's hoping. And hey, it might be interesting to see what happens when a bunch of artist types and inexperienced industry nobodies are handed a bunch of cash to make a JRPG. You never know, it might be the next Xenogears!

Honestly, I'd throw my money at any project that Matsuno is a member of. I say this despite the fact that he hasn't been apart of a memorable game team for some time now, save for doing one song for Xenoblade. Us weeaboos, we just have no reason when it comes to this great composer.

I'm... pretty sure you mean Yasunori Mitsuda, but yeah, now that I think about it, I'd definitely pay money just to get that guy to compose another real RPG soundtrack too. :salute: I guess I shouldn't make fun of this project for riding on having an iconic composer on the team, since Chrono Cross for instance is pretty much worth playing just because it has a great Mitsuda soundtrack (and some pretty prerendered backgrounds). How about another game with an insane scenario written by Masato Kato and soundtrack by Mitsuda? Now that'd be a Kickstarter worth freaking out about.

It's worth mentioning that even though he probably means Mitsuda, Matsuno is worth throwing money at.
 

felipepepe

Codex's Heretic
Patron
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Messages
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Terra da Garoa
New Update:

Greetings Gamers!

You’ve helped us to raise half a million dollars only five days after launch. Thank you all for your support, and help in spreading the word.

Some of you may have already seen the interview that was uploaded yesterday involving our director, Hiroaki Yura. I recommend that you check out the DualShockers interview, as it is well done and may provide you with additional information about the game.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/08...s-his-vision-for-the-game-jrpgs-ps4-and-more/

Please be aware that the following gameplay will be going through extensive playtesting; not just by us, but by our Kickstarter Developers, Alpha Testers, and Beta Testers be included. If we find out a mechanic does not work the way we intended, we will modify or change it completely for the betterment of the game.

Leveling & Skills

We are still deciding on a level cap between levels 80 – 100. Each level cap offers their own set of unique advantages and disadvantages. We don’t want to make the cap to high to where you have to needlessly grind the last 20 levels just to max out. We want our content to match your level, and provide you with a challenging yet fulfilling experience.

Leveling will work similarly to other RPGs. When you obtain a set amount of experience, you gain a level, and your stats increase. You will also gain a skill point that you can apply to one of two skill trees. We are not yet certain if you will receive a skill point upon gaining a level, or every two levels, etc. Either way, our intent is that it not be possible to max on each skill tree, even after reaching the level cap. This should provide multiple ways of customizing each character for any specific role that you require of them.

Character Classes

Although each class will start off with similar basic abilities, each will have their own different set of unique skill trees. We have announced four playable classes so far: Templars, Paladins, Pathfinders, and Battle Mages. More detailed information on Classes will be announced in future updates.

Squad Formations

During combat, you will control your characters by their appointed squads, and not as individuals. There will be around 10 playable characters on the field at any given time, and it will be up to you to maximize the party’s effectiveness to defeat the enemies. Any way that you choose to accomplish this is your decision.

Example: You create 3 squads for 9 characters. In the first squad you place 3 tanks, the second, 3 ranged, and the third, 3 healers. Then you set up the party formation so that the tank squad faces the enemy, the healer squad stays center to provide support to the other squads, and the ranged squad protects the flanks and rear.

You can mix and match the squads and characters as you wish. Include a tank, ranged, and healer in each squad, and then change their stance to match their role.

Squad Stances & Movements

Stances are applied to each squad, not an individual character. Stances are adjustable AI parameters that your squads will revert to when you are not directly controlling them. We currently are considering implementing three Stances: Aggressive, Defensive, and Stealth. Even while not in combat, your squads will still retain their stances, and actively choose formations and take up the appropriate positions when halted.

The reason for this update is because I want to give you a more clear idea of what we intend our combat system to include. We will finish the art and text for our major gameplay update next week, so I hope this teaser has gotten you excited for more ;)

-Cronus
 

felipepepe

Codex's Heretic
Patron
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Messages
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And from the interview:

Hiroaki Yura said:
I don’t think the game mechanic is as important. Game mechanics have to be fun and fulfilling. It doesn’t need to conform to one type of gameplay like for instance turn based classic Final Fantasy-like. That’s why I went for RTS. I think it’s a very natural progression. The only reason why they did turn based back in the day was because they could do nothing else. Nowadays we can take things to real time easier..
:mob:
Ok, totally not giving a single fuck for this retard and his game anymore.
 
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Joined
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Messages
4,499
Location
The border of the imaginary
Yasumi Matsuno got shafted by SquareEnix real bad in FF12.
Loved his other games though (Vagrant Story, FFT, Tactics Ogre)

Hope he makes a kickstarter. It would be freaking awesome to see what he makes with a PE like budget with full creative independence.
 

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