A new Iwata Asks interview has been published on the Japanese Nintendo site. President Satoru Iwata and Rune Factory producer Yashimoto Hirofumi participated in the discussion.
Although the interview hasn’t been translated into English, a summary of the talk can be found below.
– Came about as a celebration of Harvest Moon’s 10th anniversary
– Wanted to use a more western-based idea for the game
– Idea was to place the concepts of Harvest Moon in an open fantasy world
– Initial inspiration stems from Dragon Quest
– Hirofumi liked to wander around the DQ world after beating the final boss and talking with the NPCs
– Openness and exploration is the best part of an RPG according to Hirofumi
– Wanted to include these elements in Rune Factory
– Rune Factory doesn’t just focus on the adventure or farming aspects
– Don’t have to go after the evil villain and dungeons; they’re optional
– You could enjoy the farm life or pursue your favorite girl (or boy) instead
– Equal amount of effort put into communication with other town inhabitants, farming, other events
– Hirofumi didn’t want a nameless NPC girl standing behind the store counter, saying the same line all the time
– He instead decided to introduce a character, name included, who would react to recent events and change her lines accordingly
– “I want to create a small but rich microcosm in the DS, where every single person’s lives shine like jewels in a treasure box.”
– Iwata compares the series to living in the Hobbit village in The Lord of the Rings
– Can achieve this in one way through movement of time, seasons, and weather
– These elements influence character actions
– Would play your “life” differently and would want to see how other characters are spending their time in different situations
– Hirofumi usually had a hand in design to create characters players would love
– Hirofumi loved designing
– This is why he wanted to create movies at first
– Rune Factory 4’s main theme is “passionate love, sweet marriage”
– More dating events
– Events are more dramatic
– Can go on adventures with your child and wife
– While the story is there, you can ignore the evil king and just farm , or you could defeat the evil king and go back to farming
– Hirofumi has been receiving letters saying, “I was supposed to make lunch for my husband, but instead I made it for XYZ [in the game] today!”
– These letters move Hirofumi more than anything else
– Voices of the players is one of the main reasons why he loves making games
– It’s this love of watching his joy become other’s joy and his plain old passion in the interest that gives him the energy and motivation to create both Rune Factory and Harvest Moon series at the same time
– Hirofumi would like to work on weekends if he could, but he’d get chased out if he stayed at the company for too long
– Harvest Moon/Rune Factory audiences differ
– Elementary school children and 20+ year-old mothers tend to play Harvest Moon
High school students and males in their mid-20s tend to play Rune Factory
– Some players have gone from Harvest Moon to Rune Factory and then back to Harvest Moon
