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GoNintendo Children of Mana roundtable interview (CoM details, Square-Enix Wii tidbits)
Mom Brain worked her ass off tonight. I don’t think she liked playing the part of RawmeatCowboy! She started the roundtable interview at 9:30 p.m. EST, and has been working straight through up until 10 minutes ago. She willingly held back from sleep to put together this article for you (if you listen to our podcast, you know how much she loves her sleep)! Get ready for tons of details on Children of Mana, from gameplay decisions to inspirations. There is even a little Wii talk as well! You can read the entire article below.
Hey kids, Mom Brain here! I’m fresh off my first big interview! RMC is here with his feet up, eating pizza, and basking in the glory of watching me do all the work for once. Let me set the scene. I joined a round table conference call with Mr. Kouichi Ishii (executive producer of CoM and Sr. VP at Square Enix), his cohorts, a translator and a few other sites to discuss Children of Mana. Oh, and just in case you were thinking twice about reading this, there’s a little nugget of Wii info in here for you too.
So, Kouichi Ishii has worked on FF I,II,III, directed FFXI, and is involved in World of Mana project. I feel the need to note that he sounds like an incredibly brilliant and creative man. He talked about how his games are strongly influenced by experiences he had as a child. Ishii draws inspiration from the love of making things, and abstract memories of childhood movies and books. He explained to the group that his aim for CoM was to “try to create a good feeling 2d action game for Nintendo DS”. In fact, he placed a great deal of emphasis on how the game feels. More on that later…
One of the recurring themes of the discussion was the multiplayer functionality of CoM. Ishii is probably most excited about this aspect of the game, while it seemed that most people were a little disappointed about the limited lack of Wifi functionality. However, Ishii wanted CoM to feel like Secret of Mana. He wanted to create a space where people could play with others that were close (in proximity) to them such as brothers, sisters, friends, etc. as opposed to those that are far away (in proximity) from them. Perhaps the most positive aspect of CoM’s multiplayer functionality is that several players can pursue the main quest simultaneously. Ishii stated that multiplayer function may make the game seem more lively, complex and unpredictable. It’s also important to mention the players will be playing cooperatively within a limited area as opposed to competing against each other. Also, we learned that the dungeons in multiplayer (and ONLY in multiplayer) are randomly generated. Ishii pointed out that this option gives players greatest replayability and differences in the feelings of battles.
When asked about the challenges the CoM team faced during development, Ishii said that the biggest challenge was having set forth the goal of creating a great feeling 2d game, and pushing to see how far they could realize the goal. He cited that the DS allowed Square-Enix to see their vision reach its potential. The two major reasons why the DS lent itself to CoM were the touch screen/stylus and the wireless multiplayer abilities.
For those of you who are fans of the series, you will be seeing some familiar faces and names. However, there is only a slight connection between the games, but it is not based on story/history but more of an abstract connection. Some characters have reappeared but they are characters that have been reborn from one game to the next. Think of it as karma. You are seeing a different person being reborn with some similar personality traits.
Another feature of the game that was mentioned was the “pinball effect”. This feature causes enemies to bounce off their surroundings. The drive to create this effect in CoM came from Ishii’s experience with FFXI. He wanted players to feel like they were actually touching and interacting with things in the game. He found the pinball effect to be a novel way to create this feeling in CoM.
Ok, you’ve been good, so I’ll give you your Wii goodies! When asked if Squeenix was going to bring the Mana series to the Wii, there was some good natured laughing before Ishii said, “The idea is currently being considered with a lot of foreword momentum. In general there is a great amount of possibility for development on Wii. It presents tremendous potential.” Eeeee! Also, as we already knew, Squeenix will be bringing us games on the Virtual Console. Sadly, they are not sure exactly which games we’ll be seeing yet. I should also say that when Ishii was asked about a Secret of Mana remake, his answer was, “If the fans want it, we will certainly consider doing so.”
If you’re worried about the look and style of CoM, being that it’s a 2d game, you can stop worrying. The decision to make CoM 2d was simply aesthetic. It has nothing to do with the DS’ hardware. Ishii said that the 2d style simply fit what he was going for with this game. As for the future, he will decide on 2d vs. 3d depending on what he feels is best for the game.
Speaking of future games, he did take the time to discuss the upcoming Heroes of Mana game. It seems to me like this was his answer to what he feels the industry is lacking. Ishii really likes real time strategy games, but the types that have been appearing in the market are rare. So, he created a game to give him what he wanted. Ishii noted that the stylus was a great way to bring people back to strategy based games. Good for you, Ishii.
So, that’s that! An hour’s interview, four hours worth of work. It was all worth it. I hope you enjoyed reading all the awesome CoM info. Get a good night’s sleep and have a great Friday!