Check out this exclusive interview with Akira Tsuchiya (director of Ar nosurge) and Yoshito Okamura (director of Atelier series) on Koi-nya. English translation is here: First of all, we would like to thank you for this oportunity to interview you and provide the fans with information about some of their favourite sagas. Gust has a name and a history in the gaming industry for making quality games, some of which have been quite a success even in the Western market, as the Atelier saga, for example. 1. Although the Ar Tonelico games have reached the Western market, the previous Surge Concerto game, Ciel nosurge, remains unannounced here. As we know that Ion has a major role in Ar nosurge and that other characters from the same game appear in this as well, will this affect to the global understanding of the plot and character development in Ar nosurge? [Tsuchiya] Players will have no problem understanding the story without knowing Ciel nosurge. There are definitely many characters from the Ciel nosurge story that also appear in Ar nosurge. But while the story of Ciel nosurge is a prequel, the stories are independent of each other – for example, there aren’t events in Ciel nosurge that can only be resolved in Ar nosurge. Each character is presented with the assumption that players have no previous knowledge of them, so players can fully experience the appeal of all the characters by only playing Ar nosurge. 2. Prior to the Ar nosurge release, Gust was absorbed by Koei Tecmo in Japan. How has this affected the development of the game and the future of this franchise and other Gust games? [Tsuchiya] Koei Tecmo is a large organization, so we definitely benefit from their powerful development tools. The in-game engine we’re using in Ar nosurge is created by Koei Tecmo, and the performance of the engine is far beyond the engine that we used at Gust prior to joining Koei Tecmo. We will continue to use these tools in our game development, so I think you will find a further improvement in the graphical quality of our games. 3. In Ar nosurge, the player can play as Delta and Casty or as Ion and Earthes, two different teams whose stories are intertwined. What was the most difficult part to plan and develop in order to differentiate both parties at battles and world exploration? [Tsuchiya] We weren’t consciously trying to differentiate between the parties; this is because in Ar nosurge, the “Zapping” system is an essential feature. If it wasn’t possible to switch (or “zap”) between the two parties in stages and battles to advance the story, it would’ve been an unbelievable challenge. You’ll find out what this means once you reach the middle of the game. For this game, being able to battle and explore the world by switching between the two parties is not just a feature of the game system, but the game world itself. 4. Anime visuals, moe characters and slice of life comedy have always had a great presence in Gust games (not only in the Ar Tonelico/Surge Concerto series, but also in the Atelier series). Ar nosurge does not seem to be an exception and this tendency is quite present in a lot of RPG games produced in Japan in the last years. In the past, Atelier games for example, or other of the most famous JRPG games in the Western market, were not like this. Do you think this tendency is the right one or that the Japanese otaku market has forced game companies to change the way they develop games? [Tsuchiya] I can’t answer on behalf of other game creators since I don’t know what they think about this. My own personal production stance is that I’ve always wanted to create products that have elements of “moe characters and slice of life comedy,” and these are the types of games that I am creating. So it’s not really a matter of this being something that the market is demanding; instead, I’m creating the kind of games that I want to create. In the past I worked as a writer for scenarios in the Atelier games, and when I wrote scenarios featuring these things (moe characters and slice of life comedy) the Atelier game director would reject my scenarios! So speaking from a personal viewpoint, I’ve always wanted to make things like this, and when I reached a position to do so, coincidentally more of these types of products also appeared in the market. But at the same time, of course I am also influenced by the market and so I think it also led me to wanting to create these kinds of titles. Currently, there is a huge amount of moe themed anime and games in Japan with a high affinity, and we are enjoying all of this content on a daily basis. Compared to the past, the walls between the various content have been lowered, so while you might be devoted to a specific type of content, I think you can naturally accept different content as long as you find them enjoyable. The point is, I’m an otaku to the core! 5. With the release of Atelier Shallie in Japan this month, the Dusk trilogy will be complete. Can you tell us something about the future of the Atelier franchise? Is Gust thinking about the new hardware for the next trilogy? [Okamura] We will decide if the Dusk series will end with Atelier Shallie based on the fans’ reactions to the games, but for the next title we do want to consider bringing it to the new consoles. Especially with the next Atelier title, we’d like to create something that would be considered the new standard in Atelier titles so that fans can enjoy the games over and over again. For example, it might be reliving past Atelier games, or completely new ways to synthesize, or a combination of these things. 6. In the last years, PS Vita has received the most recent Atelier games in the form of enhanced editions. Has Gust thought about releasing new editions of older Atelier games? The first games of the series were released only in Japan and it would be interesting to see them arriving to the West for the first time. [Okamura] For the first games of the series, unfortunately we don’t have any plans to release new editions of them. The biggest hurdle is the huge cost involved to update everything since the data and graphics are from previous generations (PS, PS2). However, lately there are mobile games that use the resources of older titles and they’ve been getting good reviews, so we do have an interest in seeing if we could use some of past resources to create something new. For example, if you were to organise the images of all the items that have appeared in the Atelier series from the 1st title to the latest 16th title, you’ll see that in a single game roughly 100 – 300 items appear. For materials there are more than 1000 types of graphics that exist, so just by using these items and graphics maybe we could create some kind of “Alchemy” game. 7. Though Gust is a company well-known for its RPG series, you have also released some games from different genres along your history (Welcome House, Hresvelgr...). It has been a while since the last time you made one of those titles, have you thought about making a little change of pace again? [Tsuchiya] Yes we have thought about it. The environment surrounding games has changed. A decade ago the popular choice was RPG games in which players would sit down in front of the TV and play for hours at a time, but currently games on portable devices where you can play for short periods of time are popular. And in terms of the in-game world, the trend in Japan is shifting away from imaginary stories to more realistic and modern themes. So in order to respond to these changing needs, we’re always looking for new genres to create. In fact, “Ciel nosurge”, a Japan-only game that is related to “Ar nosurge”, is such a title that was created when looking for a “game for the future generation.” Since it’s a very different kind of title, it’s extremely difficult to bring it overseas for overseas audiences to play, which is unfortunate. 8. Recently, a PS Vita version of Ar nosurge, Ar nosurge Plus, has been announced in Japan. Probably, this is Koei Tecmo’s decision and not yours, but, as other Plus ports of Gust like Atelier Arland series have reached Europe, do you think the same thing could happen in the future with Ar nosurge Plus? [Tsuchiya] If people who play Ar nosurge enjoy it enough to request the Plus version, then definitely I think we could release it overseas. So I hope that many people will play the game, and provide us with a lot of feedback. 9. Finally, we would like to thank Gust for their time to answer our questions and we would like to ask them to share a few words with koi-nya readers, who have been waiting Ar nosurge since the announcement of the game in Japan. What can they expect from this title? [Tsuchiya] Visually it’s a game that focuses on the moe characters, but the game content is based in a very sci-fi world. There is meaning to everything in this world, and it is comprised of a very precise history and world setting from 5000 years in the past to planets in the far reaches of the universe. In addition, the “game” itself is included as one element of the game world. You and the PS3 that you own are also part of the Ar nosurge game. This is something you will definitely feel once you reach the middle of the game. Unlike other RPGs, you will step into the world of Ar nosurge and can save that world. This feeling is something that you couldn’t experience in games up until now. Even in Japan, when this ‘trick’ was revealed, there were many users who commented that “they saw the light.” Even if the visuals are not your style, if you’re a fan of sci-fi works, I want you to definitely try this game. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Let us thank you again for this opportunity. We wish you the best of luck with Ar nosurge Plus, Ciel nosurge Offline and all future Gust games!
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 10:01:03 +0000
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