Tag Archive for Interview

Three Houses: Developer Interviews with RPG Site and VG247

July 10, 2019 FE Three Houses, News 7 comments

After the interview with Jeuxvideo, the developers of Three Houses were also interviewed by RPG Site and VG247. Given the timing, these probably happened around the time of Japan Expo in Paris.

The interviews are light on actual details about the game, but since we know a lot about the premise and core gameplay (plus they are unlikely to answer questions that are too specific), the developers were quizzed about more general things.

We’ll start with RPG Site’s interview. This one has some interesting questions about the inspirations for the game.


Left: A marketplace from the cancelled game. Right: The market in Three Houses.

The folks at RPG Site have really done their homework because they asked if Three Houses borrowed any inspiration from the cancelled Wii Fire Emblem game. In the cancelled game, players controlled multiple characters as one unit, a bit like the battalion system in Three Houses.

The developers said they didn’t directly borrow any ideas from that game, but they did say they often think about discarded ideas from throughout the series. Funnily enough, Kusakihara was the director of the ill-fated game and that’s where Yokota first met him.

Next, RPG Site asked if the game was influenced by Persona or Harry Potter (when considering the school setting). Actually, the game was based on the academy days of Sigurd, Quan and Eldigan from Genealogy of the Holy War. This was easy to guess, but it’s nice they acknowledged it.

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Three Houses: Jeuxvideo Interview with Developers (80+ Hours per Route, Koei Tecmo’s Involvement)

July 5, 2019 FE Three Houses, News 19 comments

The on-going Japan Expo in Paris has been the source of some recent Three Houses information.


(Image via Jeuxvideo)

Toshiyuki Kusakihara and Genki Yokota, who came for the Three Houses live demonstration, were interviewed by Jeuxvideo. I am unfamiliar with French, but fortunately, machine translations are pretty good (unlike how they are for Japanese).

To begin with, they mentioned how this is the first home console Fire Emblem since 2008’s Radiant Dawn, which was released on the Nintendo Wii.

They discussed Koei-Tecmo’s familiarity with tactical simulation like games, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Nobunaga’s Ambition to name a few. Saying that their passion for the genre, along with them handpicking developers who liked Fire Emblem to begin with, was part of why the project has gone so smoothly.

Intelligent Systems managed the artistic direction and game design while Koei-Tecmo did the programming.

The folks at Jeuxvideo compared the calendar system to Koei-Tecmo’s Atelier franchise–how you progress through the game while following the calendar, trying to prepare yourself for what the game will throw at you next.

Next they go into the differences between the Monastery and My Castle (from Fire Emblem Fates).

Yokota: The My Castle system was interesting because you could build it up yourself. But the ambitions we had with the Monastery were much larger and harder to achieve using a similar system. We wanted to give this feeling of shared life; while you created your own My Castle from scratch, in Three Houses, it is already established. The characters have lived there for years and, for them, it’s a place of life that they can call home. So it was designed this way to create that kind of mood. Read more

Dragalia Lost x Fire Emblem Heroes Dated & Casual Fan Interview

April 14, 2019 Community, News One comment

Last month, during Dragalia Lost‘s six-month anniversary broadcast, “Dragalia Digest”, a crossover with Fire Emblem Heroes was announced. Recently, the duration of this crossover was shared: 26th April to 14th May 2019. For now, that’s all the information we know.

Unrelated to Fire Emblem, 26th April is also when Dragalia Lost is revamping its summoning system, following user feedback. From that date, Wyrmprints (cards/accessories) will be axed from the summoning pool, leaving only Adventurers (characters) and Dragons (to transform into).

That’s not all as Golden Week is just around the corner, which usually equates to lots of gifts and incentives for players (as you may have experienced in Heroes already). So if you’re thinking of trying out the game because of the crossover, you’ll be starting at a really good time!

Naturally, we’re a Fire Emblem (and spin-off) fan site, so we won’t be discussing Dragalia Lost in depth. However, we’re guessing more than a few of you are intrigued about the game. Because of the crossover and since it’s also a Nintendo-published mobile RPG like Heroes. (If you’re not already playing of course!)

For those not aware, Dragalia Lost is a fantasy action RPG developed by Cygames, who are perhaps most well-known for their free-to-play browser game, Granblue Fantasy. Many popular mechanics in Dragalia Lost made their start in Granblue, such as Adventurer Stories and special Gacha draws where you can choose a 5★ character of your choice.

Many other gameplay elements, especially upgrading and uncapping mechanics, are similar to mechanics in Granblue, so there’s likely some inspiration. Additionally, Granblue is perhaps most well known for its Collaboration events, featuring crossovers with popular anime and game titles. Now Dragalia Lost can experience those, too!

If you’ve got some spare time, we wrote a preview for the game for Nintendo Players UK. Likewise, we wrote some beginner and intermediate tips, which you’re welcome to bookmark if you ever decide to fire up the game.

Also, to celebrate this rare crossover, we chatted to some fans–among our staff and the Fire Emblem community–who played both Dragalia Lost and Fire Emblem Heroes, to share their thoughts of the former.

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Genealogy of the Holy War Roundtable Discussion from 1996

February 21, 2019 News 2 comments

Artist and translator garmmy has uncovered a gem from the distant past: a roundtable discussion with Shouzou Kaga, the creator of Fire Emblem, from the “Genealogy of the Holy War Fan Special” book.

 

In this discussion, three hardcore fans from Japan met with Kaga to chat about Genealogy of the Holy War, which had only released recently. The book was printed back in June 1996, so there isn’t anything new per se, but there’s still loads of really cool tidbits.

The discussion itself is in Japanese, but garmmy has translated it in its entirety–and you can read it in full on their blog. As the blog mentions, the discussion goes over big spoilers for the game, so be wary if you haven’t played or finished it yet.

Below, I’ll share some highlights from the discussion, as well as provide some (hopefully useful) commentary.

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