![]() ![]() Iwao: You can actually divide the themes in SO4 up into “big themes” and “small themes”, and the story that plays out on the surface would be the small themes. Can you explain the themes of the story for SO4? The previous games didn’t use a numbering system either, and the subtitle makes it feel like its own single work. I guess subtitles are sort of a tri-ace thing. It was a title that could be easily understood by people outside of Japan, too. It didn’t use any complicated terminology it was straightforward, orthodox, using words any layperson could understand. Yamagishi: As far as titles go, it was clear and easy to understand, which was big. Could mankind really survive after the third World War? We wanted to express the idea that our last hope may lie out there in the universe. Iwao: It wasn’t something we figured out right away. How did you decide on the title THE LAST HOPE? The many tri-Ace leads who headed up development on Star Ocean 4 notably absent from the interviews are Star Ocean series creators and tri-Ace co-founders Yoshiharu Gotanda and Masaki Norimoto. In that sense, this game really was a team effort from the entirety of tri-ace, I think. Iwao: Gotanda (and Masaki Norimoto too) also came to the battle planning meetings, and offered guidance on everything from the balancing to the controller handling. I had to really hit the books and study up on some technical issues in order to answer his criticisms. “Don’t you think this part could look a lot better?” “Doesn’t this desk feel out of place with the setting…?” Tons of comments like that. Sawamura: Yeah, Gotanda had a lot of pointers about the textures for the buildings and for the furniture models (for objects like desks). I think our art director, Eiko Sawamura, probably had it the toughest. Iwao: He would periodically check our progress, and offer his own very stringent criticisms and guidance. How was Yoshiharu Gotanda involved in Star Ocean 4? Yamagishi: Talks on SO4 began shortly after we wrapped development on SO3, and of the many possibilities we explored, everything started to coalesce around the idea of telling a story about the past. Yoshiharu Gotanda initially proposed that we create a story about the interval of time from World War III to the UP3, and that was how the development got started. Iwao: The Star Ocean games have all featured, as a main theme, the “Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact” (UP3), but we’ve never had a chance to explore how that pact came about. ![]() Hiroyuki Shiraishi – Battle Planner (tri-Ace) -To start off, please tell us what led you to tell a prequel story with Star Ocean 4, one that takes place at the very beginning of the Space Date (SD) timeline. Yoshinori Yamagishi –Producer (Square-Enix)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |