Two months have passed since the previous Vestaria Saga update and, today, Kaga broke the silence with some good news.

Note: All images belong to Shouzou Kaga.

In his new update, Kaga clarifies that progress on his game is going well. While he’s there, he also explains various changes and briefly comments on how his game is currently shaping up.

Before reading on, if you missed it, Kaga stated back in October that the story of Vestaria Saga will be told through two standalone games–the first of which will be releasing during Summer 2016.

Progress has been smooth (release is expected during this Summer)

It is Part 1 of 2. The foreshadowing has yet to be finalised, but the first half of the story is complete.
Expected to be 21 chapters long (including the prologue).
The Manual (gameplay instructions) and World Guide (supplementary information about the world view) can be referenced in the game itself.
Gameplay tips will appear in the game (note: because of the high level of difficulty).
For those who have difficulty still, a walkthrough will be provided on a website.
The sidequests described previously have been removed.
Right now, multiple blog readers are helping to play-test the game. The game is very challenging, but mostly well-received.
There were plans for 45 recruitable characters, but because of gameplay reasons (specifically an issue with the preparations menu) we squeezed them down to around 35.
While each chapter map is very large, they are rich with events to justify the size of the maps.
Those inept at strategy RPGs cannot beat the game (my assertion).
We’ve removed randomised elements as much as possible, but the content is still complex since there are many “memory game” elements.  [See note below]
I have a hunch a no-reset playthrough can be accomplished by skilled veterans. You can even complete the game with a third of the characters alive. Please give it a try!
Currently, 14 maps have been finished and 7 remain. So you could say two-thirds of the game have been done (but map number alone isn’t a definitive measure).

That’s all for now. Because there’s been silence for 2 months, this is my report for the time being.

Postscript: I forgot to add a blog image!

–Shouzou Kaga from his blog (translated).

[Translator’s note: “Memory Game”–I couldn’t find an equivalent English term–is a very broad category of games with learnable patterns. Such games include 2D scrolling shooters, action games, fighting games and quiz games.]