Kirokan Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 (edited) Hey everyone, the SMT X FE blog updated with Director Warata Hirata's commentary, I decided to translate it for anyone who is interested. My blog post here. There are more pages with another director, character designer, and producer. I hope to get to those later. Nice to meet you! June 9th, 2015 Company: Atlus Chief Director / Game Design for Illusory Revelations#FE Wataru Hirata Hello! I am Wataru Hirata, Chief Director of "Illusory Revelations#FE." I was previously involved as the Director and general support in "Radiant Historia" and "Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey" It's been two months since the official announcement of this title... I imagine that by now not many people are still surprised. Similarly, I too was surprised, saying things like, "No way! THIS is the collaboration with Fire Emblem?!" This was despite having worked on it myself, too! Thinking about it, I remember when the first Fire Emblem released 25 years ago. It reminded me of someone's masterpiece theater anime with such a soft touch on the package design...contrary to expectations [of how it actually was.] "This is enough to make a die-hard computer RPG fan like me feel like absolutely nothing!" --said my younger self when totally destroyed by this game. You would mutter "This is merciless..." each time you would lose an ally. In the end of the first time through, you realize you have an insufficient amount of allies, and so have poor fighting strength overall. You would weep and start the game from the beginning to get it right this time. It was a true wolf in sheep's clothing. Day after day, it was a desperate attempt involving using the Reset Button countless times, saying things like "I have to do things THIS way this time! Not what my predecessors did in their previous attempts! Yes! Ahahahaha!" Reset -> Cry in bed -> Eat -> Try again harder -> Reset -> Cry in bed -> Take a bath -> Try again harder -> Reset... it was a vicious cycle. I played through so many times while lamenting at how it was so dreadful to the point of being toxic. This was my precious innocence I lost when I was introduced to the game. After that, my miserable fate would continue. My Super Famicom Reset Button broke, and the replacement for it got stuck. While playing the Game Boy Advance on the train, I noticed I missed my stop because I was too busy reading my enemy's movements. When I did notice, we were at the final stop [of the train line]... I had to take a taxi back home. Though, I think back fondly on that now. Ahaha... Anyway, enough writing about my love for the series now... The truth is, I'm actually a little bad at Simulation Games (awkward smile) "...Hey, what?!!" is the general response I get for admitting this. But I love Fire Emblem. Somehow... Ever since Fire Emblem was released, it changed the so-called Simulation Game genre. I felt it was no longer simply about "winning in the end." Rather, it was about tactics and the various ways one could go about achieving victory. I always thought the idea of throwing mass numbers of units who lack any real value at the enemy to achieve victory was a poor idea. There are a lot of games like that... Fire Emblem is a Simulation RPG with a very different approach. Value toward your units was a big aspect in this! They don't come back when they die! You cannot win with just logic alone! Beyond simply winning, drama unfolds as you cut through the enemy lines and achieve victory with your personal favorite characters! (I suppose that is a lame way to say it). ...You become quite numb to it the more you play. Each time you move a unit one square, each time you attack the enemy, a story is created in your head. "Gah! Draug is dead! The Castle is overflowing with Knights because of me! Everyone take a roundabout path and perform a surprise attack!" "Ro--Rogggerrrr!!!!" "I am the only one able to cross over this mountain as a Pegasus Knight! I shall come running to assist my comrades! I have to save them!" That was the gist of it... it was a little painful, huh? But I think this is the real charm of Fire Emblem. We at Atlas consider characters to be of utmost importance. When you look at it that way, it seems like a collaboration between Atlas and Fire Emblem was more likely than it may have seemed at first. (Laughs) With both things like likes and dislikes joined in, it cannot be expressed in one word. However, after playing it, perhaps you will will get a sense of what it is... I guess it's fate. "The Femme Fatale of my youth! I've been waiting! With years of grudges!"...is not what you say when you run into your long time crush by chance. But, from the start of development through the changes over the years to where we are now, I hope that everyone can see the reflection of 25 years of my thoughts and feelings on this series. No matter the changes, I feel that the true contents of the game should be the things that are talked about from now on. This is the first time I've actually expressed my sentiment toward Fire Emblem, I think. (Laughs) Finally, a little screen shot... This is a particular dungeon in the game. It appeared briefly in the PV in the April 2nd Nintendo Direct. Does it seem different than before? Things like the floor material being improved, objects being added, etc. The April 2nd PV is not the final image [of the game] at all. We intend to improve the quality of the game step by step from now on. Please look forward to it! Edited June 9, 2015 by Kirokan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sentacotus Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Excellent work Kirokan. Well if nothing else its good to see that the director holds Fire Emblem up in such high regard. I was kind of hoping for more details about the game itself but by the sounds of it looks like we will be getting some soon. I laughed particularly at this snippet right here Day after day, it was a desperate attempt involving using the Reset Button countless times, saying things like "I have to do things THIS way this time! Not what my predecessors did in their previous attempts! Yes! Ahahahaha!" Reset -> Cry in bed -> Eat -> Try again harder -> Reset -> Cry in bed -> Take a bath -> Try again harder -> Reset... it was a vicious cycle. I played through so many times while lamenting at how it was so dreadful to the point of being toxic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirokan Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 Excellent work Kirokan. Well if nothing else its good to see that the director holds Fire Emblem up in such high regard. I was kind of hoping for more details about the game itself but by the sounds of it looks like we will be getting some soon. I laughed particularly at this snippet right here I loved that part too. I'm hoping that the other three may reveal a bit more, but I doubt it! I have not read them yet as I have been busy... I'm sure we'll see more info soon enough too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sentacotus Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 There is also E3 coming up. Since Zelda U isn't so much as making an appearence and Nintendo has been hush hush about the NX it wouldn't suprise me if it was part of their digital presentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoNameAtAll Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 (edited) Excellent work Kirokan. Well if nothing else its good to see that the director holds Fire Emblem up in such high regard. I was kind of hoping for more details about the game itself but by the sounds of it looks like we will be getting some soon. I laughed particularly at this snippet right here As funny as that snippit is, SMT had its fair share of reset moments too. Particularly IV. The fiends, man. The fiends.. Especially Red Rider...mind you, they're optional in SMTIV, but I've heard horror stories of SMT III's Matador. Edited June 9, 2015 by NoNameAtAll Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentASM Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Good job! I noticed a few bits where the text didn't flow too well, but overall it was great. Just one tiny nitpick: "Atlas" should be "Atlus", since it's spelled that way in English if you look around XD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirokan Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 (edited) Good job! I noticed a few bits where the text didn't flow too well, but overall it was great. Just one tiny nitpick: "Atlas" should be "Atlus", since it's spelled that way in English if you look around XD Thanks, I also got his name wrong it seems. xD When I looked at your main post. I saw Sliconera already translated both pages magnificently. He had an odd way of talking/typing... so was pretty hard to do. He's very here and there...scattered and rambl-y. And darn, I know and love Atlus yet still spelled their name wrong. xD I got it right at the top but not at the bottom. Fixed on the main blog post. I should really just look around to see if others translated it already next time, huh? xD Edited June 9, 2015 by Kirokan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radiant head Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Thanks for the translation. Doesn't seem to have any new info, but oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soanevalcke6 Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 As funny as that snippit is, SMT had its fair share of reset moments too. Particularly IV. The fiends, man. The fiends.. Especially Red Rider...mind you, they're optional in SMTIV, but I've heard horror stories of SMT III's Matador. Fiends in Nocturne are the easiest in the series because they are required for the true ending, instead of just being bonus battles like every other SMT. Also, Matador isn't that hard, but a lot of new players to SMT Hit a Hard Wall with him because they don't buff/debuff, which is actually really important in SMT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessie Spoon Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Interesting read, especially about him expressing his sentiments towards resetting; the FE devs have at least twice expressed they'd rather players actually adhere to the permadeath mechanic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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