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FE9 Developer Interview Translations (from 2005)


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I finally got time to translate some developer interview stuff on FE9 from 2005! It's rare to see developer interviews on this game, so I'm excited to share them:

Interview from Nintendo's Online Magazine (Full)

Interview Highlights from Nintendo Dream (May 2005)

There are fun little tidbits for Tellius fans to enjoy, so please give it a read.

Sources/original JP are listed on the posts. Enjoy!

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Spoiler

"We did not just want someone to clear the game [only] due to putting lots of time into making a strong unit, as it is not just geared toward those who enjoy RPGs. We want people to skillfully maneuver their limited pool of units."

"The enemy units this time should be considerably smarter. We revived a number of thought-routines that were substantially reduced in in the GBA version. So, the enemy now performs actions such as healing themselves as they please, and will be reasonably more difficult."

This is funny to hear about such an easy game as FE9.

Spoiler

"Since we were particular about it being made with 60 frames, please enjoy its operability."

I tell you h'wat, the more things change...

Spoiler

"In retrospect, I get a strong impression of it being about love between parents and children. There are various forms of family relationships, and various forms of affection. When you look at the recent news, there are many saddening cases [related to this]. I think the basis of human relations are familial ones… and when faced with life and death in a war, the rawest and most unfiltered emotions are the ones that come to the forefront."

Ah, so the main theme of the Japanese game was not originally supposed to be racism. How surprising. I'm utterly shocked.

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Thank you for this and the FE7 interviews Kirokan, your work is always appreciated.

So...

  • Positive receptiveness towards Hector allowed for Ike to take his courser tone. (Wasn't SS a filler side-project developed concurrently with PoR? That'd explain no mention of Ephraim here despite a similarly rough nature.)
  • Titania is because IS's male staff was horny and they didn't want to ogle an at old man Jagen, duly noted.
  • BEXP was never intended for the brokenly infamous "Marcia BEXP dump", it was all about catching your weaklings up to par. An intentional anti-Arena mechanism too.
  • The Laguz transformation mechanics have usually been criticized (and, their 1-range lock doesn't help in Enemy Phasius), but it's slightly redeemed knowing they were trying to come up with something different from prior Manakete gameplay mechanics.

And...

"By the way, the concept of “constitution” which appeared on characters in The Binding Blade and The Blazing Blade includes armor and equipment. However, since this wasn’t clearly stated anywhere, there were mistaken thoughts on some of the more delicate female characters in illustrations, such as “Is she actually a gigantic woman?” (laughs). Partly for this reason, “Radiance” separately displays constitution (before factoring armor) and weight. One’s mental image is important."

Definite clarification on what Con means. But this doesn't explain why female mounties have less Aid in GBA.

 

17 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

This is funny to hear about such an easy game as FE9.

"Better AI, but garbage enemy quality" was concurrent in IS's development at the time. Advance Wars: Dual Strike, released two months after PoR in Japan and two months before PoR in the US, had a similar issue. Whilst still much stupider than a human, the Dual Strike AI was perceptively improved compared to AW1 and Black Hole Rising, at the price of its Campaign mode even on Hard being a total joke 80% of the time. AW1's AI was formulaically horrendous, if you gave the insane troop and property edges it had in order to compensate to the Dual Strike AI, DS would've been a bit tougher than AW1.

 

17 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Ah, so the main theme of the Japanese game was not originally supposed to be racism. How surprising. I'm utterly shocked.

Whilst Ike might be a flavorless potato with some dirt still on it, as opposed some prior lords who were flavorless potatoes who were finely julienned and delicately layered into a casserole dish for a potatoes au gratin for the long dinner table of a cultured monarch*, Ike is still the main character of PoR. Racism doesn't relate much to Ike, other than how sheltered-ly special he is for not being racist and making fast friends across the divide. He is supposed to be the star at the center, even if he looks dim compared to the other heavenly spheres to you.

Of course, what the developers intended for the main theme of a game to be and how it worked out in practice are different things. When Ike is being bland and the Black Knight that is the most personal conflict of his is not around, it's understandable how the supposedly secondary themes can override all.

These developer notes paint a scrapped version of PoR that suggests a more personal tale of mystery and revenge was at work for PoR. But for the picture they provide is not complete, it's wholly possible said road not taken could've been involved racism stuff en route to discovering why Duke Persis murdered his vassal Ike's unnamed-in-these-notes father.

*I eat plenty of potatoes, but they contribute nothing to taste, they're terrible by themselves. They are but starchy, sturdy vessels upon which salt, pepper, oil, butter, cheese, sour cream, chives, and many other ingredients possessing flavor but lacking substance are laid. Such are some FE lords, the potatoes upon which the ensembles of secondary and tertiary characters heap true taste. Protagonists are overrated.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
Offense was caused, sorry.
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2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

*I eat plenty of potatoes, but they contribute nothing to taste, they're terrible by themselves. They are but starchy, sturdy vessels upon which salt, pepper, oil, butter, cheese, sour cream, chives, and many other ingredients possessing flavor but lacking substance are laid. Such are some FE lords, the potatoes upon which the ensembles of secondary and tertiary characters heap true taste. Protagonists are overrated.

Just making the text smaller isn't going to prevent me from seeing them. Good thing you said some, not all, but then you went on to say they are overrated. 

However, the implication behind such a statement is that people shouldn't rate them as highly as they do which is basically saying that the fanbase is wrong. 

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3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Whilst Ike might be a flavorless potato with some dirt still on it to be devoured with just a smidgen of butter by an impoverished mid-1800s Irish person

I am Irish and I find this offensive.

Please submit an apology or I will be forced to make a call-out post on my twitter.com

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1 hour ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I am Irish and I find this offensive.

Please submit an apology or I will be forced to make a call-out post on my twitter.com

Sorry if the Irish mention was offensive.😰 My sincere apologies. I'll edit it out.

It originally read only "flavorless potato with some dirt on it", but my liking for history and wanting to extend the contrast later set up with the "cultured monarch" led to the inclusion of the Irish. A bit of unserious flowery prose. No harm was ever meant to the good people of the Emerald Isle, who only starved and subsisted on tubers because the English (and Welsh and Scottish I guess) elite stole the rest of the island's agricultural bounty for itself. Part of a long history of Irish oppression under the English that originated as far back as... Henry II in the 1100s?

Again, I am sorry for what I wrote. I haven't interacted enough with someone Irish or of Irish heritage or interest to realize how bad that was. My education regarded it as a push factor that drove Irish to America and as evidence of why extreme monoculture is bad agrarian practice (again, not that the Irish had voluntary choice because English overlords), but not quite conveying the sheer tragedy of it from what I remember. Now that you have made that point to me, I'll never reference it in such a way ever again.

 

It was merely to say that Ike, even if his status is non-noble, can be boring, just as I find Seliph to be boring, and Seliph is the opposite of Ike in terms of societal origin. And since Ike can be boring, seeing his quest for revenge for his father's death as not being primary is reasonable.

 

 

2 hours ago, Icelerate said:

Just making the text smaller isn't going to prevent me from seeing them. Good thing you said some, not all, but then you went on to say they are overrated. 

However, the implication behind such a statement is that people shouldn't rate them as highly as they do which is basically saying that the fanbase is wrong. 

It was italicized because I didn't mean it entirely. It's partly a reflection on me personally not exactly being in love with most FE lords, and because I've been a slightly annoyed that lords always top the popularity polls. But, I understand why people love lords- as the main characters they inherently get a lot of screentime and attempted development.

And, I've realized there is no "magic strata" of characters who are superior to the rest. Not the protags, not the supporting actors, not the littlest of peons. Where you fall in the structure of importance doesn't entirely matter to a character's quality (but, particularly in the older games, it does to a degree).

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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21 hours ago, This boi uses Nino said:

😮

So wait should I read both or does the top one have the highlights and the rest?

Sorry for making it unclear! The second is a summary of highlights of a separate interview that has some crossover info, but that may also offer some other small tidbits, so I encourage you to read both. : )

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