ONM interviews Intelligent Systems

[Shadow Stalker X]

http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/50069/features/the-making-of-fire-emblem-awakening/?page=1

Since Awakening holds a center focus of the interview, I thought it best to put it here. It seems at least that IS gives a slightly different explanation in regards to the reason for the characters' "feet" as well.

[arvilino]

Quite a bit of stuff that was revealed from the other interviews, but Inigo being the first character developed for the game is pretty interesting. I sort of wonder why a child character was done first.

[Shadow Mir]

What I'm more interested in is why is Sumia's support list so damn limited.

[shadowofchaos]

What I'm more interested in is why is Sumia's support list so damn limited.

The answer's pretty obvious.

And the fangirls won't like it.

[Tables]

Notable point in this: It mentions Future Past, suggesting at the very least we're going to get that as downloadable content eventually. I know there was a little doubt about what (if any) DLC Europe would get, given the total lack of anything scheduled.

[Aethel]

First of all, thanks for posting this. I like to read these kind of interviews, even though the feet part is not so clear for me. It's true that most of the time your eyes are glued to characters' upper body (no pun intended), but since I'm quite the fussy guy about details... Nah, nevermind. It's nice to read what the creators think about their game (I like IS' works), specially since I read in one of my country's magazines something about that Awakening could be the last FE if the sales were not good enough.

Seems that they are more than good, and that answer about a HD FE in progress for WIi U was... ambiguous :)

[OrangeCrush980]

I really hope there isn't a Wii U FE game. IS would just cheap out on the graphics and I'd be down $300.

[Book Bro]

I really hope there isn't a Wii U FE game. IS would just cheap out on the graphics and I'd be down $300.

I'd rather they just stick to the 3DS this gen mainly because I don't have a Wii U

It might not be a stretch to say they will since their last console FEs didn't do so well. They might not be willing to risk a bigger budget.

[Tamanoir]

I can't seems able to read it...

Is it normal ?

[Book of Ereshkigal]

Not loading for me either

Trying again...

[Tables]

For those of you who can't see it: Here's a transcript (made a few minor formatting changes, but content is unchanged)

Nintendo is currently running a great promotion which enables you to buy three 3DS games from a select list and get a fourth for free. If you haven't already got Fire Emlem: Awakening, we stronly recommend that this should be your fourth game. While you may never have played a streategy RPG before, Awakening is very accessible and newcomers will love the stories behind the characters and you follo wthem through battlies, marriage, birth and, of course, death.

Advance Wars may look friendlier on first glance but as you fight, you'll get to know the soldiers on your team and you'll want to spend more time with them. Now, in an interview with ONM, Intelligent Systems talk about the making of Fire Emblem: Awakening, how they found the right balance between beautiful artwork and gameplay, challenging missions and accessibility. We even found time to slip in one question about Animal Crossing.

The first Fire Emblem game was released in 1990 in Japan but it took until 2004 for a Fire Emblem game to be released in the UK. Why do you think it took so long and do you feel that western audiences enjoy strategy games like Fire Emblem?

Tohru Narihiro (producer) Fire Emblem is a fusion between turn-based strategy and an epic storyline. Each game has a huge amount of text to tell the story. The problem of translating and implementing all this text is one of the reasons why it took so long. With turn-based games You can spend a long time thinking and planning so they are well suited for the kind of people who don't like action games so much or who enjoy playing board games. One of the themes in Fire Emblem is the bonds between the characters. I'm sure that all kinds of players will enjoy the feeling that each time you play a new story is being created.

Masahiro Higuchi: There was already a base of war simulation games in the West so we were confident that people would respond well to it. There were actually attempts to have a Western release before, but the large amount of text and complexity of the setting ended up delaying this. We were finally able to bring the series to users in the West with Rekka no Ken, simply called Fire Emblem (Game Boy Advance) in America and Europe, and I'm pleased to see the huge positive reaction to the international release of Fire Emblem: Awakening.

Fire Emblem: Awakening has scored extremely highly with the majority of critics in the West - was that a surprise to you?

Masahiro Higuchi: Yes it was. It makes me very happy thinking that perhaps the reason for getting such reviews is due to all the efforts we made for Fire Emblem: Awakening on Nintendo 3DS including the new art style, game system, processing speed and how we made it really feel a true part of the Fire Emblem series.

Kouhei Maeda (director): It was a very welcome surprise. I'd heard that games like Fire Emblem aren't really very mainstream in the West so I was very happy to hear that it was received so well. I'd like to thank the reviewers and everyone who played the game.

Nami Komuro (Character Planning): It was a surprise. I'm very glad that people in Europe and America are enjoying this game.

Genki Yokota (Nintendo Director): I was really surprised. I'm very happy that people in Europe and America like the game too.

The game includes a great deal of ideas from older Fire Emblem games - marriage, the world map, a customisable player-character etc. Given that many of these older games never reached the West, do you consider Fire Emblem: Awakening a sort of "greatest hits" package for those who might not be so well acquainted with the series?

Kouhei Maeda (director): Yes, our intention with Fire Emblem: Awakening was to take fun parts from lots of different games in the Fire Emblem series and pack them into this single game. There are lots of ideas from games that weren't released outside of Japan in there so I hope you really enjoy them.

Nami Komuro (Character Planning): Yes, right from the beginning we were describing the concept for Fire Emblem: Awakening by saying it was taking the best bits from all the games so far, so "greatest hits" package would fit perfectly. Even if you've never played Fire Emblem before, if you play Fire Emblem: Awakening you'll be able to experience all the best parts of the previous games.

Do you think Fire Emblem: Awakening is a good entry point into the series for people who haven't played a Fire Emblem game before? (George Harrington on Facebook)

Kouhei Maeda (director): Yes. We tried to make it the most friendly game for newcomers we've had in the Fire Emblem series. So this is the perfect game for people who haven't played Fire Emblem before to get into the series.

Nami Komuro (Character Planning): I think it's a perfect entry point. We worked hard to make Fire Emblem: Awakening accessible for even first time players. For example, we created both a special simple user interface for beginners and a normal user interface for statuses and information shown before battles. We've also included lots of tutorial cards, an auto-battle feature and made lots of improvements so even people who haven't played any Strategy-RPGs before at all will be able to play Fire Emblem: Awakening without any problems.

Actually I kind of wish that when I played Fire Emblem for the first time a few years ago it had been Fire Emblem: Awakening that I played first. That's just how much this game takes into account first time players.

Genki Yokota (Nintendo Director): I would really recommend this game to first time players too. There's absolutely no problem if you don't know any of the previous games. I'd also recommend it if you've been interested in Fire Emblem games before but never played them.

Fire Emblem is unusually difficult and complex for a Nintendo series - was that a conscious decision to buck the trend? Have you ever been asked to tone down the difficulty?

Kouhei Maeda (director): We never made a conscious decision to go against the style of other games. However, I do think that there is a value to consumers in offering a game which is fun in a different way from other Nintendo games. As for whether we have been told to make it easier? Well that's a secret.

Nami Komuro (Character Planning): Actually with Fire Emblem: Awakening we consciously tried to make the game as close as we could to the normal stance for Nintendo in terms of being accessible and easy to play. There are lots of people who are fans of strategy-RPGs on the staff so as development went along the maps got more and more difficult. But personally I was one of the worst one or two people at Fire Emblem and I remember complaining about not being able to catch a thief and pleading to the director to make maps easier because I couldn't complete them. I might have been the one who put the most effort into making the game easier...

Genki Yokota (Nintendo Director): My opinion is that the most important thing is to create a game that people want to play even though it's difficult. I'm always trying to work on the balance with this.

Fire Emblem: Awakening is a very good-looking game: was the focus on art a priority or is the gameplay still at the heart of development?

Toshiyuki Kusakihara (Art Director): I've very pleased to hear that from you since I was in charge of the visuals. What we tried to do with the visuals for Fire Emblem: Awakening was to find a style that would work for Nintendo 3DS. Since Nintendo 3DS supports stereoscopic 3D we put effort into making the most of this feature in particular. We first decided to portray the maps and battles in 3D and then implemented lots of new ideas like camera control and being able to change the point of view in the battle scenes so that we could really draw out the benefits of the 3D.

The clouds of dust that fly up when characters do something in a battle are there to help the world feel more real. We also worked on the graphics for the characters, too; they now have a much greater range of expressions which will hopefully make it easier to get emotionally involved with them. We also included some special animated sequences for the more exciting scenes. As for your question about whether the priority is art or gameplay, our goal was actually to create a synergy between the gameplay and the visuals. I think we managed to have lots of different parts come together to complement each other and create overall something that feels vivid and alive.

7. The art style in the cutscenes is fantastic, what was the inspiration behind it? (Lewis Tremaine on Facebook)

Toshiyuki Kusakihara (Art Director): Yusuke Kozaki was responsible for the still artwork for Fire Emblem: Awakening and the company who was in charge of making the cutscenes, Anima, put in a lot of work to make sure that his touch could still be seen there. Also, something new that we were tried was to include real world assets into a cutscene. (I think these scenes will be quite memorable for the player)

You can also watch the cutscenes in 3D, making them even more immersive. The reason that at some points there are scenes from a first-person perspective is that it isn't possible to change the cutscenes according to what the player's avatar character looks like. I think this actually makes the cutscenes feel more involved because it's like the player is seeing the world through their own eyes. We also intentionally made it seem like the romantic cutscenes (the Rank S support conversations) are from your own perspective. When your partner confesses their feelings to you the background turns pink and sparkles, this is because when you are in love it feels like the world is shining like this. (Although this is a bit of an exaggeration!)

Genki Yokota (Nintendo Director): We asked Anima to really make the world come alive in the 3D cutscenes and opening and they came through for us beautifully.

8. What was the hardest part in making Fire Emblem: Awakening? Oh, and who is your favourite character from the game? (Sam Kenealy on Facebook)

Kouhei Maeda (director): The hardest part was the question of what we could do to make Fire Emblem appeal to as many people as possible. Personally, I like all of the games in the Fire Emblem series, but it's still harder for me to explain what's fun about this type of game than with other genres. I spent a lot of time thinking about how we could get lots of people to like the game. My favourite character in Awakening is Tharja. I love her unusual personality.

Masahiro Higuchi: The hardest part was creating the characters. We needed to make it so that people would be interested in marrying each of the characters so we worked hard to make it so each of them has a different appeal. And since you could end up clearing the game without using any of the children apart from Lucina, we gave each of them strong personalities so you wouldn't feel like they didn't need to be there.

We worked hard with the Future Past add-on content. As I said, each of the children have strong personalities and it was a big challenge for me to portray how they survive such a desperate situation while still demonstrating those personalities. The final part, Future Past 3 has enough text and animated sequences to rival even the last chapter of the main story, so please be sure to check it out once it's released.

Nami Komuro (Character Planning): )My favourite character in Fire Emblem: Awakening is Inigo. He's the first character I made and the first character we properly established in Fire Emblem: Awakening so he's quite a special character for me. Inigo taught me about the suffering and joy that comes from creating a character. But I still love all the other characters just as much.

Kouhei Maeda (director): It was difficult trying to have the game still feel like Fire Emblem while making it into something that people could see had changed and improved. My favourite character is Marth. He is an important character that was part of the plans right from the beginning so we've been together a long time. He's also got the most different types of picture!

We heard in an Iwata Asks that there was a discussion about whether to set a new Fire Emblem game on Mars! Is there any chance we could see something like that happen in future?

Masahiro Higuchi: Mars was simply one suggestion at the time, right now the chances of it happening are quite low. However we are actively trying to come up with new ideas for the game system and the setting and to create games that will surprise people in new ways.

10. Why are the character's feet so tiny? Once you see it, you can't un-see it! (Joe Odran Doran on Facebook)

Toshiyuki Kusakihara (Art Director): The 3D character models are used mainly for scenes in the game where motion is needed and our first step was to think about what these characters should look like on the Nintendo 3DS screen. We thought that it was important that even when the whole 3D character model is on the screen that the player can still clearly see the character's face. So we decided to give the characters relatively large heads and small feet. (Making the characters about 5.5 to 6 "heads" high.)

We wanted to focus the game resources and the player's attention on the face and the top half of the body so we intentionally reduced the detail in the lower half, especially below the knees. We actually made the proportions of the legs intentionally follow the line of the legs when wearing high heels. Lots of people have said that this actually makes them notice it more, but I think this just shows how we were able to give the characters such a distinctive look.

Span class="crosshead"> [sic] As a studio, you've had great success with Nintendo 3DS. Fallblox and Pullblox were excellent as was Paper Mario: Sticker Star and now we've got Fire Emblem: Awakening. Do you think you're doing your best ever work on 3DS?

Masahiro Higuchi: Thank you very much. The Fire Emblem team wasn't really very involved with Fallblox, Pullblox or Paper Mario: Sticker Star, but it will be encouraging for the staff to hear such praise since they are still part of the same studio. I hope that we'll be able to continue to deliver new surprises and entertaining games in the future.

Kouhei Maeda (director): Thank you for your praise of these games. They were all developed by different teams at Intelligent Systems, but regardless of the team everyone here is working hard every day to create the best games we can.

Fire Emblem started out as a console game and you've released games on Wii. Would you like to release an HD Fire Emblem game for Wii U?

[name missing] I'm glad you seem to be interested in an HD Fire Emblem, but unfortunately at the current time I can't make any comments about any future games. Thank you for your understanding.

Of course, the other strategy game you work on is Advance Wars. Many fans would love for it to return. What do you think separates Fire Emblem from Advance Wars and would you like to bring it back?

Masahiro Higuchi: One of the main differences is whether you can build more units. In Advance Wars the main part of your army consists of weapons such as tanks and it's possible to just build them one after another. However, the units in Fire Emblem are characters you can be emotionally invested in, they are important people that you can't just build more of. At the same time there is also human drama between the characters, telling a spectacular story. While they are both turn-based strategy game they are quite different experiences each with their own strengths so I'd encourage anyone who hasn't yet played both series to give them a try.

Kouhei Maeda (director): An obvious difference between Advance Wars and Fire Emblem is that one has tanks in a modern war setting, while the other has knights in a fantasy setting. But there is also a big difference in the gameplay with one being strategy and the other being role-playing strategy. In addition to the pure strategy elements, Fire Emblem adds role-playing elements with the characters on your side growing and gaining in experience as they fight. This results in the player becoming more attached to these characters as time goes by than they would to simple units. Whether or not we have plans to bring out a new entry in the Advance Wars series is a secret.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Tables

[shadykid]

I really hope there isn't a Wii U FE game. IS would just cheap out on the graphics and I'd be down $300.

you mean it'd be going on a dying platform and would return to FE9-11 bomba status

[C.C.]

People had doubts about the 3DS as well, so don't count out the Wii U just yet. At least it isn't the Xbox One... -shudder-

[shadykid]

People had doubts about the 3DS as well, so don't count out the Wii U just yet. At least it isn't the Xbox One... -shudder-

3DS's "sucking" was much better though

at least it has a chance to bounce back because it's not a year in already, unlike some other handheld....

Edited May 31, 2013 by shadykid