During our recent outing to Japan we nabbed the only U.S. interview with Mistwalker head Hironobu Sakaguchi and got some exclusive screenshots as well. Find out the latest on Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, downloadable content, and how Sakaguchi-san feels about rescuing the Xbox 360 in Japan.
Game Informer: We saw Lost Odyssey for the first time at Tokyo Game Show, and were wondering if we could get some more information on The man who cannot be killed for 1,000 years. Has he been cursed in some way?
Hironobu Sakaguchi: There is a reason why this man lives for 1,000 years, but that secret will be revealed at the very end of the game. It would be like revealing the ending of The Sixth Sense. [laughs]
GI: In light of this immortality, how will players actually lose in battle?
Sakaguchi: The game will not end because some of the characters are immortal. So the story never ends. There is one character that has a mortal soul, so he dies. But there are situations where youre immortal, so you can keep fighting, but there is no chance of winning. In that case, you have to flee from the battle. Just because you have immortality does not necessarily guarantee victory in every battle.
GI: The trailer featured a very large scale battle, will we see a lot of massive army battles or will it switch gears over to smaller conflicts like three-on-three, for example?
Sakaguchi: There arent a lot of large battle scenes. Its primarily five-on-five, or something of that nature. You get to control a team of five characters and carry on the battles.
GI: Can we talk a little bit about the battle system? It looked to be very standard turn based style. Are there going to be any special features that will make the battles stand apart from other RPGs?
Sakaguchi: Theres one huge feature that Im trying to incorporate into the combat system, but its just a little premature to reveal at this time.
GI: Switching over to Blue Dragon, you spoke at the Microsoft press conference about trying to portray emotion to the player. Your stated goal is to get players to cry upon completion of the game. How have you worked with the storyline to create a lot of these moments in the overall dramatic presentation?
Sakaguchi: The storyline is very deep. Each character his or her own story and emotion around that. But my intent is to have players make a choice. So when Kluke is suffering theres a lot of grief around it. Gamers can actually go shopping instead of helping her out. There are actually a lot of choices presented before the gamer. You need to make the right choice or choose the way you want it. So theres a high level of interactivity in the game to allow you to really be immersed in that storyline.
GI: Does this mean that players will be able to go through the game multiple times and make different crucial choices in regards to the characters and the events around them?
Sakaguchi: Lets just take Kluke, for example. There are two characters trying to win the heart of Kluke and each character is embarking on creating a special ring for her. She is free to choose whomever. Now each character, apparently boys, try to create the ring with the intention of protecting her with some sort of magic charm. But theres a situation where Kluke says, Oh, thats useless.
You actually put in a lot of time and resources. There area a lot of items that you can use to create the ring, and you put so much emotion and time into making the ring, and then she shoots you down. Creating a ring is one thing. But actually involving a character in the overall creation of the ring, thats where there are many ways of experiencing the emotion of the character. So its not just a collective effort where you make the ring, but actually gauge the response of Kluke from what you do.
GI: What about Microsoft and Xbox 360 has helped make the decision for you to bring Mistwalker titles exclusively to the system?
Sakaguchi: [Takes a crack at PlayStation 3. Laughter ensues. No translation is provided] As you may know, Mistwalker is a creative production company so working on what we call pre-production, working on the scenario and the storyline and how we incorporate it into the game. When we were finished with the pre-production of Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, [Yoshihiro] Maruyama-san, who used to head the Xbox 360 efforts in Japan, actually was with Square before while I was on board, approached with the opportunity of moving on to mass production of these two titles. So the timing worked out great for Mistwalker and for me, and thats why I decided to take a huge bet on the Xbox 360.
GI: Do you plan on putting any future Mistwalker titles on other next generation consoles?
Sakaguchi: Other consoles? I dont know. Im just focused on Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey at the moment. There are no plans at this point.
GI: A lot of people think believe that the Mistwalker games will either make or break Xbox 360 in Japan. Do you feel any pressure to bear this kind of burden?
Sakaguchi: Theres lots of pressure and I want Microsoft to help with it [laughs]. Just kidding. Theres actually no pressure. Im rather excited because Mistwalker (and just me personally) is focused on entertainment software. Hardware is also important, but I primarily focus on creating very good games that sell well. Take Lost Odyssey, for example. It will be localized into eight languages and, along with Blue Dragon, will be sold in many parts of the world including Korea, China, and India.
GI: And the U.S. [laughs]
Sakaguchi: [laughs] Not just major markets, but minor markets as well. Everywhere in the world. The fact that a lot of gamers who are very passionate about RPGs and great entertainment software get to have their hands on the games that I create is a cause for joy. Im interested to hear what gamers in India have to say, for example.
GI: The Xbox 360 is very big with online play and downloadable content, are you able to discuss any plans to utilize these features in your upcoming games?
Sakaguchi: We are currently in discussion in regards to downloadable content. Our focus is to ship the game, and afterwards the plan is to create downloadable content and publish it. Were technically able to incorporate downloadable content, so please stay tuned.
GI: Obviously, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are both RPGs, but they seem to cover very different sensibilities. Can you sum up what your main goal is with the bright stylings of Blue Dragon versus the dark edge of Lost Odyssey?
Sakaguchi: Blue Dragon has a lot of bright sides to the story and the characters, but there are betrayals and double crosses. And the objective is to allow the gamers to grow with the characters through thick and thin, through a lot of problems. But the objective again is to create a heartwarming experience. So when theyre done with the game theyll go, What a beautiful game it was. What a happy ending. What a happy story. Thats the emotional story around Blue Dragon.
On the other hand with Lost Odyssey, heres a man that lives for 1000 years. Hes very different. Hes very apathetic because hes seen grief and suffering for many years. But even this guy suffers and also cries. So its very emotional. The objective for Lost Odyssey is to get the gamers to think about what their life objectives are, to actually ponder over what life is about. Its very deep.
-Bryan Vore
