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media:Today, I also ask the two of you to give me some advice. First of all, I would like to trouble you to tell you again about the game summary of “Wolong: Fall of the Sky” that was just released a few days ago.
media:So under what circumstances did the producer of Mountain Interconnect with the production team of this work?
media:What parts are Yasuda Producer and Yamaji Producer responsible for in this work?
Yasuda:I am in charge of overseeing Team NINJA as a whole, and I am the person in charge of the entire development work. The Yamashita producer is in charge of the publicity aspect that I always worry about, focusing on “how to tell players what the game is about”.
media:Specifically, what are you worried about?
Yasuda:Although we are confident that as long as players touch the game in person, they can understand the fun of the game, but there are often people who look at it from the perspective of “Team NINJA’s game must be difficult anyway?” (laughs).
media:It turns out that the brand of Team NINJA works also includes the difficulty of the game.
Yamagiwa:After I joined Team NINJA, I felt that even the young members of the team had a completely uncompromising sense of production, and it was a team that completely failed the brakes in a positive sense (laughs). So in order to be able to clearly convey this kind of attention in the team to all players, I pay special attention to bringing an objective perspective into the game.
Add jumps and a new system to make the battle more intense
media:Speaking of the new action role-playing game produced by Team NINJA, there should also be an option to make “Nioh 3” next, so I would like to ask why you chose to use Romance of the Three Kingdoms as the stage?
media:When it comes to the Three Kingdoms, it usually describes the war between the armies, the heroes who can stand up to one hundred, and the communication with many generals with rich personalities. In what angle will it be described in this work?
Yasuda:Because the company has launched many strategy simulation games and Mushuang series action games in the past, it does give people such an impression. Since the era of the Three Kingdoms is a chaotic world and the situation is very chaotic, it should also be a good theme for creating a killing game. Of course, there are also stories about fighting side by side with many charismatic generals, or confronting them head-on.
media:Really looking forward to the activity of these generals. When it comes to killing the game, the first thing that comes to mind is a powerful enemy. If it is slaughtered by the fierce generals in the Three Kingdoms, it is indeed very acceptable. In the trailer, you can also see the appearance of a character who looks like Lu Bu. If Lu Bu really appears as the boss, it will really make people feel like “Ah, I’m going to die now”.
Yasuda:That’s right, even if you get knocked down, it should be quite acceptable. Even for people who don’t know much about the Three Kingdoms, it’s obviously an incredible character, not to mention how people who are proficient in the Three Kingdoms would see it. Because there are many military generals with unique personalities, I hope everyone can like these generals appearing in the Three Kingdoms through this work. However, there is a possibility that it will leave psychological scars instead (laughs).
media:Which part of the Three Kingdoms is used this time?
Yasuda:It started with the “Yellow Turban Rebellion”, which can be said to be the prologue of the Three Kingdoms. The “Wolong” in the name of the game refers to the dragon that is very in the state of flying but lying on the ground. This has something in common with the situation of the completely unknown protagonist of the game. Although when it comes to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, you will think of many heroic dancers who are famous all over the world, but they are all “wolong” before they become famous. Because I wanted to describe this part, the current game name was used.
In addition, I also think that if we start from the prologue, players who have not been exposed to the Three Kingdoms should be able to understand what kind of story this is.
media:Knowing the period of adoption, it is possible to predict which generals may appear.
Yasuda:If you have any thoughts of “I hope to see this general appear”, let us know as soon as possible that we are better to do things (laughs).
Regarding the design of generals, although it will match the dark and abandoned world view of this game, special attention should be paid not to make it too weird, and people will not recognize what generals it is.
media:What kind of existence is the game protagonist controlled by the player in this work? Is it possible to choose which forces to join?
Yasuda:Although he lived in the era of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he was an unnamed brave army who never left his name in history. There is no specific faction and country to join, and players will not choose which faction to join in the game.
Yasuda:That’s right, appearances, including gender, can be made by the player themselves.
Yasuda:Because China also has many charming legends, monsters and monsters, this setting is also adopted in this work. In fact, many of the monsters in Japan are modeled after legends originally from China.
In addition to generals, the game boss will also have monsters and monsters, and there will also be a mixture of humans and monsters.
Yasuda:The biggest change is the addition of jumping, and the concepts of endurance (スタミナ) and frame are not used. The degree of freedom of action has been improved compared with previous works, and it also allows players to conduct three-dimensional exploration in the level.
media:You can jump, and if there is no endurance design, the action should become more intense, right?
Yasuda:Indeed, in the Chinese martial arts that everyone imagines, that is, the so-called kung fu fighting method, there should be a direct counterattack when dodging or parrying the enemy’s attack. This kind of action can be said to be a combination of attack and defense. This work also added a combat system that will alternate offense and defense in an instant, and the action is very Chinese.
media:The new combat system is really exciting. So I would like to ask if this game has a difficulty setting for preparation?
Yasuda:No, because we feel that it is important to enjoy the same game experience on a single difficulty, so that players can get a sense of achievement from it. On the other hand, the game contains the elements of collecting excellent equipment pairs by defeating enemies and exploring levels. At the same time, it is also possible to cooperate with other players through the network, so there will not be insufficient reflex nerves or skills as action game players. If it’s not good enough, there’s no way to clear the state of the game.
Yamagiwa:There will be weapons such as big swords or double swords, etc., which everyone thinks of when they hear Chinese martial arts.
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media:Now that I know that there will be a variety of different weapons, I start to pay attention to the action. In Nioh, the rhythm of stillness and movement is represented by a system called “Remnant Heart”, right?
Yasuda:Because the character movements will have a Chinese martial arts style, which is quite smooth and at the same time has a high degree of courage, I think it should be able to feel the unique rhythm of this work. At the same time, because we also attach great importance to a solid sense of weight and a realistic sense of operation, we will not be biased towards the fantasy style of flying.
To have a fair death for fulfillment
media:Now there are many more works called killing games, so is there any difference between this game and other games of the same type?
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Yamagiwa:Because it is a high-intensity game, it pays more attention to the feel. If the player can’t manipulate the character in his own way, or if his intentions are not reflected in the game, it will feel unacceptable. If it becomes like this, I may not want to challenge again, and I will not think that it is my own problem in the face of mistakes.
Yasuda:We focus on the excellent feel as an action game, and the merciless enemy action logic, allowing players to immerse themselves in the world created by combining these two levels, grow in it and get more sense of accomplishment. The essence of the game is to achieve goals and feel your own growth. We think that if you want players to feel these things more directly, the key is solid quality. A low-quality killing game can only be called hell (laughs). So we create our own uniqueness under the premise of being especially careful not to fall into this kind of problem.
media:Even if it is a high-difficulty game, it is not enough to simply increase the difficulty. After all, players also want to have a way of death that they can accept.
Yasuda:If you care too much about making a killing game, it’s easy for the development team to just want to kill the player. If you really take killing the player as your goal and create a difficulty that the player doesn’t want to overcome at all, then it will become a waste of money. … Having said that, every time we launch the trial version, we receive harsh comments from many players, so we still have to pay more attention.
media:Because of the increase in the number of games played, the appetite of the gamers of the death-killing category has also been raised. For those places that are not well-made, they should be mercilessly and severely corrected.
Yasuda:Since all players are actively growing and their learning abilities are high, we don’t think it is necessary to simply reduce the difficulty. However, if it is not fair enough, it is easy to have severe corrections. Therefore, for example, in the scene where the enemy will launch a surprise attack from the head, it will also be very careful to design it so that if you stop and look up, you can find the enemy, leaving room for players to develop themselves, and design a fair game.
Yasuda:It is the use of “a crushing defeat”, which refers to a complete defeat, and the internal organs are scattered on the ground and covered with soil. It is a Chinese idiom story, and the same usage was introduced and created in Japan.
media:Seeing this death message makes people feel as if they can’t cheer up, but I hope you don’t give up the challenge to clear the level (laughs). So at the end, please say a few words to the players who are paying attention to this game.
Yamagiwa:Because this work is a completely new work, it is also a work with many challenges for us. The Three Kingdoms will be described with a dark world view, and a challenging game in the style of Team NINJA will be created. Please look forward to this work closely.
Yasuda:There’s still a lot of things that can’t be revealed yet, but we’ve prepared a lot of different new systems. The trial version is also under active review, so please look forward to it.
media:Thank you both for being interviewed today.
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