This week's interview is with Japanese indie developer exeCUTE. This small development team has been around since 2011 and showcased their games at events such as Comiket and Digital Games Expo. They have produced one full game called Fantasy of Alice, a turn-based strategy, and is in the process of developing a second called Rasetsu, an ARPG.
Part 1 of the interview discusses the influences on the demo of Rasetsu, touches upon the JRPG and WRPG divide, and offers some teasers as to what will be included in future versions.
An Interview with exeCUTE, Part 1
Interview by: Douglas Schules; Translation by: Douglas Schules
Daedalus Machine
First off, I’d like to say that Rasetsu has a different feel from the other exeCUTE title I’ve played, Fantasy of Alice. Can you tell us a little about how you developed the concept and story for Rasetsu? exeCUTE Although it's simple, the origin [of this difference] is that we've made a Western style fantasy but this time we wanted to make a Japanese flavored one.
The main character, Rasetsu Raki, was a character who was originally supposed to appear in a different game scenario. That scenario was conceived over 10 years ago. I don’t think that I’d use it now, but I figured that I could use just the characters so that’s what I did. Raki was one of the companion characters, and my favorite one. When Raki became the protagonist, I loved the Rockman X series, so I wanted to design a partnership like Rockman and Zero's. Raki is a red oni, so I thought I'd make her partner Yatsuha a blue oni. Also, Raki uses a samurai's fighting style while Yatsuha uses a ninja's.
As for the story, in order to realize as compact a development schedule as possible, we thought to make the game shorter but, ultimately, it turned out to be a difficult voyage because it became 1.5 times longer than the original story. DM So how does this relationship between Raki and Yatsuha appear in this game? Are there plans to be able to play as both characters? exeCUTE Raki and Yatsuha are apprentices to the god Bishamon. We are planning to use Yatsuha for the update or the next project, if there is one. DM Playing Rasetsu reminds me a lot of other action RPG games such as Ys. Was this one of the game’s influences, and were there others? exeCUTE Ys is certainly a major influence. Rasetsu also draws from the Triforce of the gods of Zelda, and Rockman X. While Ys is really interesting, I think it could be more so if it was a little faster. When I played Ys I felt it was agonizing to gain levels. I thought it might become less monotonous if the game implemented hack and slash elements and let players rapidly become stronger. It's a 3D game, but in terms of how the game feels when played I wanted to make, as much as I can, movement that's crisp, like the 2D games from the Super Nintendo era (especially Rockman X). DM It's interesting that you bring up the difference between "western style" and "Japanese style" games, because this is a huge topic in America and Europe, especially when talking about RPGs. Based on what you've said, I assume you think that there are qualitative differences between JRPGs and WRPGs. What, in your opinion, are the aesthetic, gameplay, narrative, or other differences between the two? exeCUTE When I mentioned "Western" and "Japanese" I meant in terms of scenario, not genre. But it's important so I'll answer. Originally, since Japanese didn't call their RPGs "JRPGs," there wasn't any familiarity with this difference, right? (This is the first time I've heard "WRPG"). I also like open-world types games, but I like fascinating stories and characters better. Basically I don't think there's much merit [in analyzing the differences between the two]; it's similar to asking "Do you prefer live action movies or animation?” DM In terms of the RPG elements of the game, I noticed that it’s rather easy to gain levels. Because of this, the player quickly becomes powerful and enemies aren’t much of a threat. What reasons did you have for that choice? exeCUTE We're still adjusting that. Because it's a trial version, we made it easy to level up. Still, because I think it's fun to easily level up, I'm thinking to make the max level around 400 instead of 99. DM The game I played was obviously a demo, so what ideas do you plan to implement for the finished version of the game? exeCUTE Basically, from here we plan on adding more content, so while there won't be any major changes in specifications, the types of techniques will broadly increase, and drastic adjustments to the enemy AI will be made. Compared to now, the final version will have a different feeling. DM Do you have anything specific in mind? exeCUTE If you sell components to the weapons store, the number of weapons available will increase, so the hack and slash elements will also be broadened. There are also plans for camera work for flashy techniques. DM Easter Eggs are fairly common in games from American developers, but a bit rarer for Japanese developers. I think, though, that one of exeCUTE’s developers appears in the main village. Can you say a few things about this? exeCUTE I simply wanted a place to explain the trial version and makes excuses, so I made the character to speak on my behalf (laugh). Besides, it's a normal doujin game, so I thought I'd do whatever I liked, and I might include parts like that to some extent in the final version as well. DM What's your anticipated timeline for finishing the game? exeCUTE I really wanted to finish it in summer this year, but it's taking more time than I thought. I hope to finish it just in time for spring next year.
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