The Last Story details from the latest Iwata Asks
This information comes from Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, Mistwalker CEO Hironobu Sakaguchi, and AQ Interactive’s Takuya Matsumoto…
– Matsumoto and Sakaguchi would like players to be surprised when they see other player’s videos and see how they are different from their own experiences with the game
– No fixed camera in event scenes, players can control it somewhat
– When players see videos from the game made by others, Sakaguchi thinks gamers may wonder why the camera movement is different for the same scene
– Sakaguchi used a hand-held camera effect while playing to give the game a live feeling
– Matsumoto joked that Sakaguchi focused on Kanan during events
– Treasure boxes/drop items always random
– While playing online, choose your character and then can customize lines the character says while battling
– This system is possible due to the large amount of voice in the game
– Will hear your allies’ voices while on the move and during battle in addition to event scenes/dialogue sequences
– Before battle, the leader will give advice, will continually shout out orders in battle
– Sakaguchi wanted to use the voice lines during online play
– Sometimes will hear things that sound out of place, such as Yuris saying “Father… Father…” repeatedly
– Sakaguchi suggested keeping staff voices in the game (used during development and were later swapped with professional voice actors), but that never happened
– 6 players in co-op boss fights and competitive battle royal modes
– Sakaguchi thinks the battle royal mode will offer a different play feel from the main story part of the game
– Sakaguchi would like players to show off their clothing in the arena
– “Chain” system allows allies to take turns striking an enemy, building up more and more damage
– Matsumoto believes that the system with friends will increase the feeling of affinity
– Mages take time to cast magic, will be open to attack
– Unclear if you can use other characters during online battle royal
– Even with online play, the game has as one of its pillars a story that leads players to a goal
– Sakaguchi believes having a single story firmly in place is important
– Iwata feels that Sakaguchi has taken a different approach to making the players want to play again
– By giving more freedom, they’re making it so that players will think “What if I’d done this at that point,” and will play the game over and over again
– Sakaguchi thinks story can reach players of all types
– Sakaguchi also believes that, with the game’s controls and rules of the world, it’s necessary that players experience a large scale story once
– Sakaguchi wants players to enjoy the depths of the gameplay systems and the online play after they’ve fully submerged themselves in the game world
– Sakaguchi says the best game is one in which you get a second burst of flavor after biting into the gum the first time
Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!
