RPGSite Interview with Intelligent Systems

[Jedi]

 

https://www.rpgsite.net/interview/8711-fire-emblem-three-houses-interview-intelligent-systems-nintendo-talk-bringing-the-beloved-strategy-rpg-series-to-switch

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For the first time in over a decade, Fire Emblem is set to make its presence felt on the big screen once again. Last seen on consoles back on the Wii, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems' strategy role-playing series has had a major change of fortunes since then: 2012's Fire Emblem Awakening saw an unexpected surge in popularity for the series, breaking series sales records and going on to be named RPG Site's favorite RPG of 2013, the year of its Western release. 

It's fair to say that Awakening changed everything for Fire Emblem, and since then the series has been on something of a tear: an all-new sequel, a lovingly-crafted remake, an action-focused spin-off and a hugely successful gacha-based mobile release have all served to expand the series - but Fire Emblem: Three Houses is arguably the most important release of all.

Three Houses is an all-new game on all-new hardware, and a great chance for the series to expand its reach and audience to complete newcomers while delighting fans. The Switch is also arguably perfect for Fire Emblem, with its combination of portability and big-screen action ideal - you can grind on the go, but dock and settle in for more difficult, nail-biting encounters or RPG downtime at the game's new school-style setting.

RPG Site got the chance to sit down with two key members of the creative team driving Fire Emblem Three Houses: director at Intelligent Systems Toshiyuki Kusakihara, and Genki Yokota, the director of the game on Nintendo's side of the fence. We spoke to the pair about fan expectation, how returning to TV screens is changing the game, and the thinking behind the shift to a school setting. Here's our chat.

 
The rest is in the article and, there are some interesting nuggets of information. Funny how this in particular was addressed. Although I do like the idea that the concept of the 3 houses were based partly off Sigurd, Quan and Eldigan's backstory in FE4.

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RPG Site: So, let's talk about the school side of the game... what was the thinking there? Was it inspired by any other school-based stories? The comparisons that seem most common among fans is to think of Persona or Harry Potter as a point of reference...

Kusakihara: In truth it's not from Harry Potter, or Persona, or anything like that - it actually links back to an older Fire Emblem. Back a long time ago, we developed a game for the Super Famicom called Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. When you look at the story, the three characters were from a monastery - they were friends, they worked together - and then they have to go to battle against each other. That's almost the same plot as that older game, if you look at that. So we had the image of this old game in mind before  - that's maybe our most significant influence on this project.

Edited July 9, 2019 by Jedi

[Sentinel07]

I find it hilarious that they mentioned Sigurd, Quan, and Eldigan going to school together as their inspiration, because that is exactly what the monastery reminded me of.

So many people making comparisons to Persona, but it reminded me of Genealogy more.

[Timlugia]

I hope our lords fare better ending than the trios in Genealogy.

[Jedi]

19 minutes ago, Sentinel07 said:

I find it hilarious that they mentioned Sigurd, Quan, and Eldigan going to school together as their inspiration, because that is exactly what the monastery reminded me of.

So many people making comparisons to Persona, but it reminded me of Genealogy more.

I feel partly ashamed I didn't think of it sooner being fairly knowledgeable with the entire franchise. I was too busy having fun with my own Harry Potter and Trails of Cold Steel comparisons to really think about it deeply.

[Hauke]

This is super interesting. So the crests are Holy Blood, the time skip... the school setting with Quan, Eldigan and Sigurd. The game takes some inspiration from Genealogy. I really like it, that genealogy was their inspiration

[Cysx]

The clues were definitely there, but hearing it officially makes me really happy for some reason. And to be fair, Eldigan and Quan aren't at all on the level of Sigurd as far as the plot of Genealogy goes, so that parallel wasn't that easy to see. Granted, for all we know this could happen with 3H too.

[timon]

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Kusakihara: There was a very great advantage of proceeding with this sort of story - when you look at the older games, you meet a lot of new characters one after one throughout the story. You get to know them in an uneven way, and you might know some better than others when you get to the last part. With our new system, all of the characters are here from the beginning of the game, so you have time to get closer to them, to build a good, deep relationship with them. That's a very different approach for us concerning relationships between characters.

Now, I know this may not be literal, but it worries me. I've said it before, but the fact that the characters join at different times and for different reasons was always a big thing for me, having a random guy that appears in the middle of the battle and now you have a new unit, always an amazing moment. With the roster from the get go it could get boring and I feel like it could take away characterization and relationship instead of bringing it.

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

Had a feeling that was the case while it was very obscure but to be fair Persona is very popular and more well known with the JRPG academy setting so if anything that help it gain more recognition and intrigue with JRPG fans of this setting. 

[Jedi]

25 minutes ago, Cysx said:

The clues were definitely there, but hearing it officially makes me really happy for some reason. And to be fair, Eldigan and Quan aren't at all on the level of Sigurd as far as the plot of Genealogy goes, so that parallel wasn't that easy to see. Granted, for all we know this could happen with 3H too.

The other two house heads might be rather out of focus compared to your own, but who knows. 

[Rakath]

22 minutes ago, timon said:

Now, I know this may not be literal, but it worries me. I've said it before, but the fact that the characters join at different times and for different reasons was always a big thing for me, having a random guy that appears in the middle of the battle and now you have a new unit, always an amazing moment. With the roster from the get go it could get boring and I feel like it could take away characterization and relationship instead of bringing it.

So I did a quick running of the numbers on cast size for FE3H vs. Everything else. The only way you can really make this 'work' is if you can get all almost all the other house rosters into your party by the end? All revealed characters (who are not slithering) nets us a total of 40 recruitable (including Byleth and the house leaders). FE4 and FE8 go lower than that depending on the math. FE4 has 24 gen 1 and 39 gen 2, FE8 has 34 not counting the postgame recruitment of dead characters.

And that still feels low to me? If there are two per house you can't recruit we're down to 36? And Rhea or Jeralt is definitely going to die. So that makes it even lower...

I think there have to be a few late game units, there just... have to be. Alongside some cool way to recruit units from other houses in War phase. (I'm guessing supports across houses so if you build a support between Mercedes and Petra, one could talk to the other in the war phase. As an example.)

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These are my numbers of cast sizes across the FEs of eras past. The separated sections (+) are when the characters are a different gen/army in the game. Fates is- oh god there are so many variables there I just gave up and cried. Dark Dragon and Mystery have the same as the first number on Shadow Dragon and New Mystery, so I didn't bother listing those.

Small numbers that aren't Fates are postgame/dlc characters.

• Genealogy: 24 + 39 (63)
• Thracia 776: 52
• Binding Blade: 54
• Blazing Blade: 44
• Sacred Stones: 34 + 10 (44)
• Path of Radiance: 46
• Radiant Dawn: 73
• Shadow Dragon: 52 + 7 (59)
• New Mystery: 45 + 32 + 6 (83)
• Awakening: 30 + 13 + 6 (49)
• Fates: 47 + 21 + 5 + 13 (86)
• Echoes: 17 + 17 + 5 (39)
• Three Houses: 24 + 16 (40)

 

[Book Bro]

Very interesting that Genealogy was their main inspiration. I never made the connection as far as the lords being ex-classmates.

[Ertrick36]

Official confirmation that the game was inspired by Genealogy.

I mean, it was obvious with the crests, but this interview solidifies that.

Which is great, imo.  Genealogy is possibly the best written FE game.  I imagine the first part of the game is like a sort of recreation of the time Sigurd, Eldigan, and Quan spent together in the academy.

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Come now!  How could you forget?  All those years ago, when we were students at the Belhalla academy?  You, me, and Eldigan.  Dear friends and fierce rivals in equal measure?  Surely you recall that night, talking late about our hopes and dreams, and pledging our aid to one another in times of need?

Props to Project Naga for this translation.

Also...

Spoiler

Yokota: In this game, you'll enjoy time as a teacher, too. Becoming a teacher changes a lot - you have to take care of your students, you have to teach them a lot of things... so you can really have a different kind of relationship with them when you compare it to other games.

I just read this as: "You'll feel even more awkward about getting into a romantic relationship with these characters because we did our utmost to simulate an actual teacher-student relationship."

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Kusakihara: ... and more recently [I've been playing] Skyrim and so on.

Which one, though? lmao

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Kusakihara: There was a very great advantage of proceeding with this sort of story - when you look at the older games, you meet a lot of new characters one after one throughout the story. You get to know them in an uneven way, and you might know some better than others when you get to the last part. With our new system, all of the characters are here from the beginning of the game, so you have time to get closer to them, to build a good, deep relationship with them. That's a very different approach for us concerning relationships between characters.

You know...  I'm not as concerned about this point as others are.

Because honestly, I feel a lot of the rosters get bloated and the lategame recruits almost always feel like afterthoughts.  They feel like they're just there to serve as backup in case you royally screw up, especially in the Archanea games.

I think it'd especially feel like a bit much to have a lot more given the systems in place.  Between the progression system and the battalions, I think it's better we have fewer characters.  I'd rather not have to tutor 70-some characters and manage the battalions they bring with them.

[Gregster101]

Since they said Genealogy of the Holy War was their main inspiration for Three Houses, now I'm really thinking it will be the next Echoes styled remake after they're done with Three Houses.

[Rakath]

14 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

You know...  I'm not as concerned about this point as others are.

Because honestly, I feel a lot of the rosters get bloated and the lategame recruits almost always feel like afterthoughts.  They feel like they're just there to serve as backup in case you royally screw up, especially in the Archanea games.

I think it'd especially feel like a bit much to have a lot more given the systems in place.  Between the progression system and the battalions, I think it's better we have fewer characters.  I'd rather not have to tutor 70-some characters and manage the battalions they bring with them.

It's a balance of gameplay vs. story? On a story level, yes, having less characters means you're not spreading writing so thin (Radiant Dawn's roster is part of why it didn't have proper supports), they get more focus and more traits to explore and look into. Having a smaller roster overall is better for writing.

On a gameplay level you can't make it 'acceptable' to let a character or 4 die with a smaller roster size. This could be a shift toward Casual/Phoenix being the 'main' mode for gameplay (away from Classic 'death is permanent'). You need enough roster size to fill in gaps. In this view a smaller roster size is a big disadvantage.

Without the other houses, a conservative estimate of your possible units late game is disastrously low (24, by current known data). Just- in case you let anyone die that's a lot of detriment to your party.

[Sentinel07]

5 minutes ago, Gregster101 said:

Since they said Genealogy of the Holy War was their main inspiration for Three Houses, now I'm really thinking it will be the next Echoes styled remake after they're done with Three Houses.

Guess it depends if they let Kusakihara have his way or not, since he admitted he wanted to do Binding Blade next.

Genealogy should be next though. It's been a long time coming.

[Hunter Nightblood]

On an unrelated note

Plz make this happen Atlus.

[Gregster101]

21 minutes ago, Sentinel07 said:

Guess it depends if they let Kusakihara have his way or not, since he admitted he wanted to do Binding Blade next.

Genealogy should be next though. It's been a long time coming.

Yeah, while Binding Blade might be the more sensible and safer option due to Roy's popularity in Smash, Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776 need remakes much more than Binding Blade imo

[Sentinel07]

23 minutes ago, Hunter Nightblood said:

On an unrelated note

Plz make this happen Atlus.

And if it happens, tell them to actually dub it this time. Leave the songs in Japanese if they want, but I want to understand what the characters are actually saying. That was seriously the biggest reason I passed on the game.

Do that, and I'd actually consider getting the game should they port it.

Edited July 10, 2019 by Sentinel07

[Armagon]

59 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

You know...  I'm not as concerned about this point as others are.

Because honestly, I feel a lot of the rosters get bloated and the lategame recruits almost always feel like afterthoughts.  They feel like they're just there to serve as backup in case you royally screw up, especially in the Archanea games.

I think it'd especially feel like a bit much to have a lot more given the systems in place.  Between the progression system and the battalions, I think it's better we have fewer characters.  I'd rather not have to tutor 70-some characters and manage the battalions they bring with them.

Gotta agree with you here. I'm not opposed to having the traditional way of getting new units but a lot of the times, people don't use the later joining ones unless they like them and/or are good. 

Besides, having everyone from the start is probably only gonna apply during the school phase. During the war phase, i can imagine we'll gradually recruit characters again. 

24 minutes ago, Hunter Nightblood said:

On an unrelated note

Plz make this happen Atlus.

Please. Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Xenoblade Chronicles X are the two games i want released from Wii U purgatory.

 

[Ottservia]

5 minutes ago, Sentinel07 said:

And if it happens, tell them to actually dub it this time. Leave the songs in Japanese if they want, but I want to understand what the characters are actually saying. That was seriously the biggest reason I passed on the game.

Do that, and I'd actually consider getting the game should they port it.

Personally I'm not so mad about the lack of a dub(cause honestly I can at least understand how jarring it would be for the languages to suddenly switch on a dime like that. it's the primary reason I only watch idol anime in sub). I'm more concerned with is if they're gonna censor the game or not cause that's just bullshit

[Busterman64]

I could definitely see the inspiration from FE4 for the gameplay, but I'm actually really surprised that this game is inspired by FE4 even to the story!

(And it's even more hilarious because I finally decided to fully playthrough FE4 while waiting for FE3H a couple days ago, so that's some grand timing right there!)

Honestly, as I see it:

Eldigan=Edelgard

Quan=Claude

Sigurd=Dimitri

 

Comparisons aside, I honestly love that they're taking this angle!

 

Also:

41 minutes ago, Hunter Nightblood said:

On an unrelated note

Plz make this happen Atlus.

ALL. MY. YEEESSS!!! 

I don't care what some say...this game was great and deserves a port. Literally all I need to never look back at the Wii U(also need those DLC costumes too)...and Pikimin...and Xenoblabe X(didn't play that one but have played 1 & 2 which are great and more people need to play it 👌👌)

Edited July 10, 2019 by Busterman64

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

I really do hope TMS#FE does come to Switch eventually uncensored and with new features!

Edited July 10, 2019 by Dorothea Joestar Arnold

[BZL8]

One was killed in an ambush.

One was beheaded.

One was incinerated after being betrayed.

 

I am curious to wonder if similar fates will befall Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude and their armies.

[Sentinel07]

59 minutes ago, Gregster101 said:

Yeah, while Binding Blade might be the more sensible and safer option due to Roy's popularity in Smash, Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776 need remakes much more than Binding Blade imo

And unlike Genealogy, Thracia 776 doesn't even need that much adjusting. Sure, there's the BS stuff to adjust a little, but for the most part it plays similarly to the GBA FE games.

[Siskan]

2 hours ago, Rakath said:

I think there have to be a few late game units, there just... have to be.

My guess is that the war phase will work like most other games in the series, with traditional recruitment during battles. But I obviously don't have any proof. It'd be a bit disappointing if that wasn't the case though.