Lost Sphear dev feels today's RPGs don't leave room for imagination

Lost Sphear just came out on Switch, and it's no doubt a throwback to RPGs of previous generations. That's exactly what Atsushi Hashimoto, director of Tokyo RPG Factory, was aiming for. One of the big motivations for going old-school comes from Hashimoto's belief that today's RPGs take away the imagination of the player. He shares this thought in an interview with Verge.

“I believe one of the appealing points of RPGs from the ‘90s is that they left room for the imagination. I feel that this element may be fading away nowadays because graphics in games are now able to depict things in such detail. When we develop our games [at Tokyo RPG Factory], we take great care to leave room for the imagination and we want people to experience that, even with a modern game.”

I can definitely see where Hashimoto is coming from. A lot of the imagination of older games has been replaced by the fidelity and horsepower of today's platforms. It's not a bad or good thing. It's more of a personal preference for players.