Another batch of details from the latest Rune Factory 4 Iwata Asks interview has been translated. Once again, producer Yashimoto Hirofumi was the main participant in the discussion.
The latest information is as follows:
– Hashimoto started out with Nintendo’s VS Tennis
– Hashimoto dreamed of making movies as a kid
– He ventured into the game industry since he wanted to have more of a personal hand in the creation of the final product
– Hashimoto wanted to work with fewer people as well
– With games, it’s at least somewhat possible to do independent work
– Hashimoto’s first company was SNK
– He contributed to a number of fighting games
– Marvelous was his next stop
– Even after this move, his fighting game experiences stayed with him
– Battles were a point of contention on the design board for Rune Factory
– There were concerns that battles might distant current fans who like Harvest Moon’s “peaceful life” feel
– After Hashimoto saw so much resistance, it compelled him even more to try it
– Hashimoto’s solution to the repetitive actions inherent in farming also stemmed from Hashimoto’s fighting experience
– Hashimoto wanted to make each movement satisfying
– Wanted to do more than make people feel, “Yes! I managed my own farm!”
– He wanted the satisfaction to extend to simple functions like the swing of a hoe or picking of crops
– Partially inspired by Pikmin, with Olimar pulling Pikmin out of the ground with a satisfying pop, and Yume Koujou: DokiDoki Panic
– Wanted to include a 60FPS frame rate
– This way each press of the button smoothly elicits an action from the character onscreen, leaving the player with a satisfied feeling
– Hashimoto stated that he could somehow already see the way the fans would react to the change because of his experiences with fighting games, where every installment to a series would introduce enormous changes
– He felt Rune Factory would one day spin off into its own series rather than one that just piggybacked off of Harvest Moon
– With Rune Factory 2 he placed special effort in separating the two series
– With Rune Factory 3, Hashimoto received fan-mail stating that people were being introduced to Harvest Moon from the Rune Factory games rather than the other way around
– Hashimoto gives himself and all of the staff three months to come up with anything and everything they can at the start of the creation process
– All planning ends after the three months end
– While this may sound harsh on the staff, Hashimoto says that he believes it’s very important for his staff to be conscious of a time limit from the very start
– Restriction forces them to work to the edge of their limits
– All ideas are put together and the team reviews the idea at the end of the three month period
– Because of this creation process, some features of previous games may be absent in the next installment
– Ex: There was a wireless and Wi-Fi function in Rune Factory 3, but not in Rune Factory 4
– Each game isn’t necessarily directionless
– Each game’s core has a theme and goal
– Harvest Moon: A New Beginning’s goal to “create a ranch story greater than ever before, now that we have full 3D capability”
– One way they did this was through the customizable farm house
– When the staff heard about this idea, they all froze stiff the moment the words left his mouth
– Rune Factory 4’s story theme is “a prince (or princess) who falls from the sky”
– Goal is to “experience a new fantasy on a new system”
– Although the 3DS’ 3D abilities are powerful, they weren’t what Harvest Moon or Rune Factory needed because the games weren’t about impact or impressive 3D graphics
– Hashimoto emphasized that this doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t use 3D
– Not using 3D on the 3DS would just be a failure on the part of a creator
– In A New Beginning, Hashimoto tried to create a wondrous world that declared, “Wow, now that Harvest Moon is on the 3DS, it’s gotten so interesting!”
– Company specializing in 3D animation was picked to make Rune Factory 4’s cut-scenes
– Over 10 cut-scenes in the game
– It’s the same company that did the opening for the first game on DS
– Has more voice to suck the audience further into the fantasy world
– Hashimoto was extremely unconfident about the movie when it was first shown during Nintendo Direct
– In the end he believed it was very helpful since it was like he was being brought one step closer to the audience
– Movie was adjusted based on fan reactions to certain parts
