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Last Remnant Update
Four key staff members discuss Square Enix's first multiplatform RPG.
by Anoop Gantayat
June 1, 2007 - It feels a bit strange turning to an all Xbox magazine for the scoop on the latest Square Enix RPG, but with Last Remnant, we're having to do just that. Famitsu Xbox 360 scored an interview with the producers and designers of the multiplatform RPG which first debuted at the Square Enix Party a couple of weeks ago.
The main players in the four page interview with the monthly magazine are director Hiroshi Takai (battle system director on Romancing Saga Minstrel Song), chief artist Kimihiko Miyamae (background director for FF and SaGa titles), art producer Yusuke Naora (art direction on FF and SaGa games) and producer Nobuyuki Ueda (project management for the SaGa series).
The four first discussed Last Remnant's background and their personal involvement in the project. Ueda's role started when work on Romancing Saga Minstrel for the PS2 finished. There was talk within Square Enix of creating an original, new brand, and Ueda was placed in charge of the planning.
Following up on his role with Romancing Saga, Takai seemed to have a particular interest in the Last Remnant battle system, despite being the project's overall director. He revealed that planning began with the idea of making an RPG with a new type of battle system, something that he hoped to be of a larger scale than that of Romancing Saga.
Naora and Miyame are filling a number of roles for both the artistic and technical areas of Lost Remnant. Naora is handling the character design work and all 2D artwork. Miyame is managing the character and background modeling, motion and textures. As this is his first project using Epic's Unreal Engine 3, getting used to the engine was quite the task, he admitted. Early work with the engine involved getting lots of characters on screen for the battles.
There has been some concern that the battle system may be too complicated. The four addressed those concerns. Takai likened the battle system to that of a standard RPG, where the fighting begins only once you've input all your commands. Players aren't required to issue difficult commands in real time.
Ueda also brushed off concerns about managing a large number of characters in battle, noting that you can issue commands to "unions," groupings of at most five characters. Expanding a bit, he revealed that you can freely edit your unions, and based off your choices and the current set of enemies, your command options will change. It's possible that you'll be presented with a bunch of attack options, or you may end up being able to select "flee" and nothing more.
Takai addressed one of the more mysterious sides of the game, the tension gauge. During battle, a bar at the top of the screen (visible in our old screen shots) indicates the current status of enemy and ally forces. If you make effective movements, your tension gauge will rise and you'll win battle. But make inappropriate movements, and your gauge will drop and enemies will come in for attack.
It's possible to make sudden changes in the tension gauge, effectively changing the direction of battle. If, for instance, the enemy forces are using two unions to fight a single union on your side, the enemy will be at high tension. If you manage to defeat the two unions, the enemy tension will drop suddenly, and you'll be in the favorable position.
Moving away from gameplay, the two art supervisors fielded a few questions about the game's art direction. Originally, there was some talk about using a fantasy-style setting for Last Remnant, but Miyamae wanted to keep the game from looking like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. He also wanted something that would look somewhat European to Japanese players and somewhat Asian to western players, resulting in the use of a middle ages style of setting.
The trailer that attendees of the Square Enix Party got to see was pretty early, Miyamae revealed. While the trailer was all realtime, texturing and modeling work were only at the 30% level. On the note of realtime versus pre-rendered, Naora stated that the development staff is attempting to use realtime wherever possible, although he feels many will think they're looking at movie scenes.
Last Remnant caused considerable noise at its announcements due to some of the firsts it represents. Aside from being Square Enix's first Unreal Engine 3 title, it's also the company's first multiplatform title (we're ignoring FFXI, of course) and its first worldwide simultaneous release (we're ignoring Europe, of course). Ueda feels that, although the development environment can be tough, multiplatform has strong merits, most notably that it allows people to play the game without having to purchase new hardware. The simultaneous release seems like an obvious choice, as Takai revealed that Square Enix's North American staffers offered their opinions on story, visualization and other areas.
Surprisingly, Square Enix isn't cutting corners for the localization of the game. While the Square Enix Party trailer had English voices, the Japanese version of the game will likely include full Japanese voiceovers. Takai's wording made it seem that Square Enix is considering giving Japanese players the option for English or Japanese voiceovers; if this is the case, perhaps we can hope for a similar option in the western version.
Players can expect around 30 hours of play time to clear the game, Takai said. The team isn't considering mutliplayer network play for the game, although we may end up seeing network content that benefits single player play.
The four wouldn't give a specific release date. In fact, Ueda joked that development is regressing two steps back for every three steps forward. That still sounds like progress, and at least when development does finish, we won't have to tack on an extra year for the localization.
Four key staff members discuss Square Enix's first multiplatform RPG.
by Anoop Gantayat
June 1, 2007 - It feels a bit strange turning to an all Xbox magazine for the scoop on the latest Square Enix RPG, but with Last Remnant, we're having to do just that. Famitsu Xbox 360 scored an interview with the producers and designers of the multiplatform RPG which first debuted at the Square Enix Party a couple of weeks ago.
The main players in the four page interview with the monthly magazine are director Hiroshi Takai (battle system director on Romancing Saga Minstrel Song), chief artist Kimihiko Miyamae (background director for FF and SaGa titles), art producer Yusuke Naora (art direction on FF and SaGa games) and producer Nobuyuki Ueda (project management for the SaGa series).
The four first discussed Last Remnant's background and their personal involvement in the project. Ueda's role started when work on Romancing Saga Minstrel for the PS2 finished. There was talk within Square Enix of creating an original, new brand, and Ueda was placed in charge of the planning.
Following up on his role with Romancing Saga, Takai seemed to have a particular interest in the Last Remnant battle system, despite being the project's overall director. He revealed that planning began with the idea of making an RPG with a new type of battle system, something that he hoped to be of a larger scale than that of Romancing Saga.
Naora and Miyame are filling a number of roles for both the artistic and technical areas of Lost Remnant. Naora is handling the character design work and all 2D artwork. Miyame is managing the character and background modeling, motion and textures. As this is his first project using Epic's Unreal Engine 3, getting used to the engine was quite the task, he admitted. Early work with the engine involved getting lots of characters on screen for the battles.
There has been some concern that the battle system may be too complicated. The four addressed those concerns. Takai likened the battle system to that of a standard RPG, where the fighting begins only once you've input all your commands. Players aren't required to issue difficult commands in real time.
Ueda also brushed off concerns about managing a large number of characters in battle, noting that you can issue commands to "unions," groupings of at most five characters. Expanding a bit, he revealed that you can freely edit your unions, and based off your choices and the current set of enemies, your command options will change. It's possible that you'll be presented with a bunch of attack options, or you may end up being able to select "flee" and nothing more.
Takai addressed one of the more mysterious sides of the game, the tension gauge. During battle, a bar at the top of the screen (visible in our old screen shots) indicates the current status of enemy and ally forces. If you make effective movements, your tension gauge will rise and you'll win battle. But make inappropriate movements, and your gauge will drop and enemies will come in for attack.
It's possible to make sudden changes in the tension gauge, effectively changing the direction of battle. If, for instance, the enemy forces are using two unions to fight a single union on your side, the enemy will be at high tension. If you manage to defeat the two unions, the enemy tension will drop suddenly, and you'll be in the favorable position.
Moving away from gameplay, the two art supervisors fielded a few questions about the game's art direction. Originally, there was some talk about using a fantasy-style setting for Last Remnant, but Miyamae wanted to keep the game from looking like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. He also wanted something that would look somewhat European to Japanese players and somewhat Asian to western players, resulting in the use of a middle ages style of setting.
The trailer that attendees of the Square Enix Party got to see was pretty early, Miyamae revealed. While the trailer was all realtime, texturing and modeling work were only at the 30% level. On the note of realtime versus pre-rendered, Naora stated that the development staff is attempting to use realtime wherever possible, although he feels many will think they're looking at movie scenes.
Last Remnant caused considerable noise at its announcements due to some of the firsts it represents. Aside from being Square Enix's first Unreal Engine 3 title, it's also the company's first multiplatform title (we're ignoring FFXI, of course) and its first worldwide simultaneous release (we're ignoring Europe, of course). Ueda feels that, although the development environment can be tough, multiplatform has strong merits, most notably that it allows people to play the game without having to purchase new hardware. The simultaneous release seems like an obvious choice, as Takai revealed that Square Enix's North American staffers offered their opinions on story, visualization and other areas.
Surprisingly, Square Enix isn't cutting corners for the localization of the game. While the Square Enix Party trailer had English voices, the Japanese version of the game will likely include full Japanese voiceovers. Takai's wording made it seem that Square Enix is considering giving Japanese players the option for English or Japanese voiceovers; if this is the case, perhaps we can hope for a similar option in the western version.
Players can expect around 30 hours of play time to clear the game, Takai said. The team isn't considering mutliplayer network play for the game, although we may end up seeing network content that benefits single player play.
The four wouldn't give a specific release date. In fact, Ueda joked that development is regressing two steps back for every three steps forward. That still sounds like progress, and at least when development does finish, we won't have to tack on an extra year for the localization.
Eternal Sonata Update
Music to the eyes.
by Hilary Goldstein
June 15, 2007 - Here's the good news: Eternal Sonata is complete. The bad news? Namco-Bandai is holding on to the game until September, making RPG-starved 360 owners suffer through the summer. What makes the wait all the tougher is that our recent playthrough of a previously unseen level gave credence to our belief that Eternal Sonata is going to be a sleeper hit.
Set in the dreamworld of Frederic Chopin, Eternal Sonata is the surreal tale of the famed composer's final hours before death. Though the premise is certainly strange, the world of Eternal Sonata doesn't appear to be overtly abstract as can happen with some Japanese RPGs. In fact, in our time with Chopin and his musically-inspired companions (Beat, Jazz, Allegretto, et al.), we've found the game world to be charming and inviting.
Namco's latest demo of Sonata was set in Chapter 4, about halfway through the 30+-hour game. Chopin and his nine allies have traveled to the kingdom of Baroque to seek aid in combating the evil Count Waltz. Unfortunately, with Baroque in the midst of war, a ship cannot be spared for the party and so the group is forced to travel by foot through the lava caverns. Yes, even in a game steeped in musical references, there's still a lava level. We said it was different, but it's still an RPG.
As we've detailed previously, Eternal Sonata features a hybrid combat system. It's a mixture of turn-based and real-time combat. However, unlike other RPGs with a hybrid system, the combat in Eternal Sonata evolves over the course of the adventure. In the early goings, you have a five-second action gauge per character with unlimited tactical time. That means you have a lot of time to perform multiple actions and can take as much time as needed to choose what to do. Fast-forward to Chapter 4 and you have four seconds for actions and zero tactical time. It's still turn-based in that control moves from one character to the next (the camera whips quickly to the character taking action) but it's much more action-focused by the midway-point in your adventure.
The purpose behind this is to grow the challenge of combat in ways other than tougher enemies. Sure, the monsters in the lava caves are going to knock you around a lot more than the first creatures you encounter in Eternal Sonata, but the speed of combat (and your tactical decisions) increase the further you progress.
Part of the tactical aspect is manipulating light and shadow to your advantage. In the lava cave, one of the creatures appears as a giant fish when in the shadows, Sure, a big fish isn't that terrifying, but it also proves more difficult to block (an active command you'll need to master in order to survive). But get that fish in the light and it transforms into a large, freakish cockatrice-like creature. Sure, it's bigger, but it's also slower. At the same time, you need to consider where to position your own character, because their powers and skills change when in the shadows. If you have some skill, you can dance at the edges of the shadows, alternating your type of attacks in the short period of time you have before the action gauge runs out.
To add another wrinkle to the light/dark dynamic, one of the common monsters in the lava caves casts it's own light. If your character or one of the other creatures gets close to these floating torches, they will be cast in light. So if you have a monster deep in the shadows, but you want him transformed, you can try and lure one of the torches towards it.
Our only real concern is that the basic attacks in combat might become a bit repetitive. The standard attack button (A) gets tapped a lot. And from our limited play time, it's hard to see too much variation in the patterns. Hopefully there's a bit more depth to be discovered in the combos. On the plus side, Eternal Sonata does not use random battles. You can see (and avoid) enemies on screen. When you encounter a group, you zoom in to a battle board and are fighting in mere seconds.
Eternal Sonata is a beautiful game with an incredible amount of detail. The Chopin-inspired theme is an exciting change of pace from some of the other highly-anticipated RPGs coming to 360 this year. While all eyes are on Mass Effect and Blue Dragon to deliver, don't overlook Eternal Sonata. It could well be one of this year's most pleasant surprises. And if nothing else, at least you can count on the music to be fantastic.
Music to the eyes.
by Hilary Goldstein
June 15, 2007 - Here's the good news: Eternal Sonata is complete. The bad news? Namco-Bandai is holding on to the game until September, making RPG-starved 360 owners suffer through the summer. What makes the wait all the tougher is that our recent playthrough of a previously unseen level gave credence to our belief that Eternal Sonata is going to be a sleeper hit.
Set in the dreamworld of Frederic Chopin, Eternal Sonata is the surreal tale of the famed composer's final hours before death. Though the premise is certainly strange, the world of Eternal Sonata doesn't appear to be overtly abstract as can happen with some Japanese RPGs. In fact, in our time with Chopin and his musically-inspired companions (Beat, Jazz, Allegretto, et al.), we've found the game world to be charming and inviting.
Namco's latest demo of Sonata was set in Chapter 4, about halfway through the 30+-hour game. Chopin and his nine allies have traveled to the kingdom of Baroque to seek aid in combating the evil Count Waltz. Unfortunately, with Baroque in the midst of war, a ship cannot be spared for the party and so the group is forced to travel by foot through the lava caverns. Yes, even in a game steeped in musical references, there's still a lava level. We said it was different, but it's still an RPG.
As we've detailed previously, Eternal Sonata features a hybrid combat system. It's a mixture of turn-based and real-time combat. However, unlike other RPGs with a hybrid system, the combat in Eternal Sonata evolves over the course of the adventure. In the early goings, you have a five-second action gauge per character with unlimited tactical time. That means you have a lot of time to perform multiple actions and can take as much time as needed to choose what to do. Fast-forward to Chapter 4 and you have four seconds for actions and zero tactical time. It's still turn-based in that control moves from one character to the next (the camera whips quickly to the character taking action) but it's much more action-focused by the midway-point in your adventure.
The purpose behind this is to grow the challenge of combat in ways other than tougher enemies. Sure, the monsters in the lava caves are going to knock you around a lot more than the first creatures you encounter in Eternal Sonata, but the speed of combat (and your tactical decisions) increase the further you progress.
Part of the tactical aspect is manipulating light and shadow to your advantage. In the lava cave, one of the creatures appears as a giant fish when in the shadows, Sure, a big fish isn't that terrifying, but it also proves more difficult to block (an active command you'll need to master in order to survive). But get that fish in the light and it transforms into a large, freakish cockatrice-like creature. Sure, it's bigger, but it's also slower. At the same time, you need to consider where to position your own character, because their powers and skills change when in the shadows. If you have some skill, you can dance at the edges of the shadows, alternating your type of attacks in the short period of time you have before the action gauge runs out.
To add another wrinkle to the light/dark dynamic, one of the common monsters in the lava caves casts it's own light. If your character or one of the other creatures gets close to these floating torches, they will be cast in light. So if you have a monster deep in the shadows, but you want him transformed, you can try and lure one of the torches towards it.
Our only real concern is that the basic attacks in combat might become a bit repetitive. The standard attack button (A) gets tapped a lot. And from our limited play time, it's hard to see too much variation in the patterns. Hopefully there's a bit more depth to be discovered in the combos. On the plus side, Eternal Sonata does not use random battles. You can see (and avoid) enemies on screen. When you encounter a group, you zoom in to a battle board and are fighting in mere seconds.
Eternal Sonata is a beautiful game with an incredible amount of detail. The Chopin-inspired theme is an exciting change of pace from some of the other highly-anticipated RPGs coming to 360 this year. While all eyes are on Mass Effect and Blue Dragon to deliver, don't overlook Eternal Sonata. It could well be one of this year's most pleasant surprises. And if nothing else, at least you can count on the music to be fantastic.