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Multi Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes From Suikoden Creators

Read an update from Siliconera:

The developers have begun preparations to record Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes voice acting. In the Steam page update’s “Murayama’s Monthly Development Report” section, Yoshitaka Murayama brought it up.

According to Murayama, preparations have begun for Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes voice acting recording. The number of characters in the game that will need accounting for poses a unique challenge, as the game is fully voiced. The voice actors for the three main characters (Noah, Melisa, and Sei) were announced at the Tokyo Game Show. However, many more voice actors and lines will need to be recorded to cover things like battle lines, town chatter, and incidental dialog. There are over 100 characters in the roster and almost 80 different lines per character just for battle.

Murayama estimated that, at the moment, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes voiceover will reach more than 60,000 lines. To get that done, he said, will take “a single army of voice actors.”

As for the rest of the update, the team uploaded some celebratory Halloween art featuring the “self-proclaimed magical girl” character, Mellor. It also profiled an enemy called the Maiden-Revenant.

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Dev interview by Twinfinite:

Giuseppe: When you originally launched the Kickstarter campaign, did you expect to receive this much support from your fans?


Yoshitaka Murayama: I was actually quite uncertain. At one point, I was even considering pushing back the launch of the Kickstarter. Yet, the outcome turned out great and that was a great surprise.


Giuseppe: While it’s great that Kickstarter exists and lets developers connect with fans directly to finance new projects, I personally find it a little bit depressing the fact that, especially in Japan, I’ve seen some big publishers failing to support veteran developers and even their own beloved IPs, especially JRPG ones. Is that something you’ve noticed as well?

Yoshitaka Murayama: When I started Eiyuden, the Japanese gaming industry was in a state that you could define as cold, and it was very difficult to pitch a game like this. In general, it would have been a very challenging thing and many game developers were affected by this situation.

Luckily, with the power of Kickstarter, I was able to prove to publishers that this game has potential by showing the reaction from the users. That was very important.

Giuseppe: it’s interesting that today even western publishers are supporting Japanese developers, like 505, when Japanese ones don’t step in.


Yoshitaka Murayama: Historically, Japanese publishers have always had their in-house studios, and those used to drive all of the development and planning of the portfolio. In general, Japanese publishers were not used to supporting independent developers and working with external teams, letting them be the drivers of new projects.


On top of that, the Japanese gaming industry also was not used to letting developers co-own the IP of their games.


Giuseppe: I guess that with your Kickstarter campaign, you proved a few points to a few people. Do you think this Kickstarter actually convinced Konami to remaster Suikoden?


Yoshitaka Murayama: I think at least it made an impact.


Giuseppe: How long have you been thinking about Eiyuden and how long have been planning the game?

Yoshitaka Murayama: I’ve had a very vague idea of the main story and of the mechanics for a long time. About one year before the Kickstarter campaign, those ideas began to gradually form into more concrete plans.


Giuseppe: This is interesting. When I interviewed you at Tokyo Game Show 2019, you told me you had something planned. Was it Eiyuden?


Yoshitaka Murayama: Yes. At that time a certain level of planning was already going on.


Giuseppe: So I guess I was among the first you told about this (laughs). Speaking about Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising, it has a completely different gameplay system. Why did you plan it as an action JRPG while the main game is turn-based?


Yoshitaka Murayama: First, let me explain Rising’s background: when we launched the Kickstarter campaign, Hundred Heroes would take three years to develop, and that is too long to keep the users’ interest. Rising was promised during the campaign and intended to retain the players’ interest during the long development process.


Of course, Rising had to be developed on a limited budget as well, so I felt that a mini-version of a JRPG wasn’t very realistic to create. Instead of doing that, given the conditions, I felt that an action game was more reasonable and realistic.

Giuseppe: How do you feel about the reaction of the press and the public to Rising? I think it has been received very well. Also, did you learn anything from its development that you’re going to use in the main game?

Yoshitaka Murayama: In general, I think we got very positive feedback from users. I also noticed that many were very passionate about Rising’s characters coming to Hundred Heroes. I’m very happy about the response from the users.


I have geared the design toward fans of classic JRPGs, so I was very cautious about the balancing and the difficulty level. I did not want to make it overly difficult because many fans aren’t used to playing action games.


However, during development, some of the developers were arguing that we should make the game harder and more challenging. I understand where they came from, and looking at some of the feedback from the users, I think the basic game should be geared toward everyone, but one of the things I’ve learned is that it’s always good to provide more challenges for some users, perhaps additional difficulty modes.


Giuseppe: Despite the fact that Rising was more of a bonus for Kickstarter backers, I’ve personally heard about many who purchased it on its own, without having backed the original campaign. Do you think Rising actually helped bring more eyes to the main game and increase awareness about the Eiyuden project as a whole?


Yoshitaka Murayama: My goal is to awaken and help develop the fanbase of JRPGs, and I think it’s very good that new fans have joined the Eiyuden fanbase, so I’m happy about what happened with Rising.

Giuseppe: Is development progressing smoothly?


Yoshitaka Murayama: Of course, we have faced challenges in the past, but now the development of the game is in the mass-production phase.


Giuseppe: You seem to have included some innovation in the way your game looks. Battle scenes have a completely different perspective compared to what I’m used to seeing in other turn-based JRPGs. How did you come to this design?


Yoshitaka Murayama: From the beginning, one of the core concepts of the game was to fuse pixel art with modern computer graphics technology. For example, we use effects like depth of field and we animate the pixel art visuals in a very lively way.

Giuseppe: What’s your favorite aspect of this production, something that makes you happy when you see it on the screen when you look at the game? On the other hand, was there something that was particularly challenging?


Yoshitaka Murayama: My favorite part of the game is seeing 2D pixel characters animated in 3D environments. For instance, there are huge 3D monsters in the background and 2D characters leap to them to attack them. It’s a perfect merging of 2D and 3D. That element is definitely one of my favorite aspects of the game.


Speaking of challenges, the 3D graphics for the environments weren’t easy to create. On top of that, camera control is very challenging. I want to achieve a very natural camera control supported by a certain level of AI technology. It’s a very delicate balance and I’m making a lot of requests to the programmers to make it happen.

Giuseppe: One of the interesting and perhaps challenging aspects of having a Kickstarter is that you have to keep your users in the loop, enabling a higher level of transparency compared to traditional game development. How do you balance this constant flow of information with preserving surprises and plot twists?


Yoshitaka Murayama: It’s true that controlling information is not easy. Interestingly, I often go to our Discord server, and I hear from the users that they also do not want to be spoiled about the plot before they actually play the game. They also want these aspects to remain a secret for now. This is interesting to me.


I’m controlling the reveals with a very delicate touch. For instance, I reveal a character’s visuals but withhold information on how they’re going to appear in the game or what role they’re going to play. I’m being very careful about the information we share.

Giuseppe: You’ve written many stories in your career. Is it a challenge while you write a new story, to avoid bringing back elements from older stories you’ve written before? Or perhaps that’s something you actually like to do?


Yoshitaka Murayama: When you work on the story of a game it’s very common that you don’t get to implement all of the ideas that you have. Usually, you have to cut a lot of your ideas, and only a part of what you initially envisioned makes it into the final game.

As a result, since I’ve worked on many games in the past, I have a sort of toolset of unused ideas. So, of course, I’ve been leveraging these ideas that I did not get to use before during the creation of Eiyuden’s story.


While I rarely use ideas that were implemented in older titles, I do use some that were initially devised for these games but weren’t actually used.

Giuseppe: Do you have any message or insight that you’d like to share with your fans, especially those in the west?


Yoshitaka Murayama: The phase of development in which we had to engage in trial and error is already over. Now we’re in a phase in which we go straight toward the objective with mass production of assets and implementations.


Some areas of the game already have very solid gameplay and overall, I feel very positive about what the game is looking like and what it’s going to look like in the near future. So you can count on us, and I believe we’ll be able to provide you with a really good game.


I believe that JRPGs are a very complex and deep game genre that can entertain a wide audience of people in many ways. I really want Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes to stimulate the JRPG genre and draw even more fans to the genre, contributing to the growth of JRPGs. This is my hope.
 
dev posted this on hot springs lol:

Simply putting characters into hot springs is tough in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. One scene alone means X(100 + α) more cuts to make (lol).

To that end, and to avoid panicking down the road, I’m doing my own work whenever I get a chance. But in doing that, I’m faced with a number of questions.

For example, “Isn’t it weird for this character to wear a hat in the hot spring?” or “They’ll have to tie their long hair up before getting in the water,” are just for starters. What about what they’re wearing under their outfits?

I approached one character after the other, putting together bath time versions for each, and after a while it’s now possible to tell who is who, even in their bare pixel form! How cool is that?

I was actually a little worried.

You see, usually changing the costume, accessories or other distinctive features like a character’s hairstyle on their pixel art is likely to make many of them look the same as one another, especially as there are so many. But that didn’t happen this time. The individuality of each character is pretty clear.
 
Dev Posted this:

Murayama
Happy holidays!
This is our third new year since starting our campaign for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes back in July 2020. I knew developing a JRPG would take a long time, but this has taken longer than I anticipated.

Looking back on it, it’s had its share of tough moments.

We spent months ahead of the campaign’s launch preparing what we would need. Of course, there was a lot of work involved in creating the trailer video and putting together the game content we could show, but shooting the live-action movie for the campaign trailers was a challenge.

We shot the whole thing in one day, but had to walk between each of the shooting locations. At key moments, I was dressed in a yellow shirt with a cloak and pots and had to raise my voice. By the time we reached the last scene in the evening, I was so exhausted that I lost my voice.

Not to mention, there was one scene where I shouted “Eiyuden!” to summon my friends to come and help me, but apparently there was some background noise so I had to record that part again later…all on my own.

But I did it. In a nearby playground.

A lone man, recording himself shouting “Eiyuden!” I must have looked so suspicious.

And with that in mind, thank you again for all of your support this year.
Please continue to support us just a little longer next year.

Kawano
Kawano here.
The end of the year has really crept up on me so soon it surprised me.
How will you be spending your new years?

My work on the character illustrations is approaching the final stages, but there’s still work to be done, so I’ve also been helping a little with the pixel art recently. In particular, pixel art of the ingame food.

I’m pretty nervous about having my work amongst that of all the wonderful pixel artists, but I wanted to focus on showing delicious food that each of the characters would enjoy. Like the kind seen below (although this may not actually turn up in the game).

Murakami
Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone, Murakami J here.
It’s become that exciting time of year again.
We don’t typically use the term “happy holidays” in Japan so it feels a little weird for me to say, but I think this excitement is universal at this time of year. That being said, these past few years, I’ve been more impatient than excited that a year has already passed, and haven’t been able to enjoy it at all (lol).

I’m going to work really hard to make sure Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is released so I can finally enjoy the year end celebrations.

Other members of the team may have mentioned this already, but we’re finally reaching out to our premium backers. And once again, I am reminded of the difficulties that come with taking care of and communicating with so many backers from so many different environments, all while juggling production of the game. I apologize for all the awkward correspondence.

I’m sorry for any concern or anxiety we may have caused over the course of this project, but we’re doing our best to ensure that we meet your requests to the best of our ability. If you have any concerns then please check with the team at eiyuden@theyetee.com and thank you in advance for your cooperation.

And that’s where I will leave you for today. It’s a little early, but I hope you have a wonderful new year.

Murakami J

Komuta
Komu-nichiwa and komu-banwa everyone. Happy Holidays!
What’s that, the third time I’ve wished you all a happy holiday now?

I feel like I’m saying the same thing every time, but whenever I do get in touch with you all I remember that we’re making Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes together with you, and that gives me the strength to keep going. Thank you all so much!

Production on Eiyuden: Hundred Heroes continues at a clip as we start to incorporate components into the main build. Various problems may arise as we insert prototypes and confirmed specifications into the build and we have to solve these one by one, but we work with the team every day to find solutions.

Sometimes our discussions are amicable, sometimes they’re controversial. And sometimes, we’re forced to change specifications altogether. But then we get ideas to turn these changes into positives and the team works together to improve the final product. This year was one we were able to use to further add to that level of perfection.

We were also finally able to show off some in-development footage at Tokyo Game Show this year. I think we got across everything we wanted to.

As for our Premium Backers who supported us with the Become an NPC, Become an Enemy, Add your Cat to the Game, etc. tiers that will be added into the game itself, we’ve recently sent emails out for. These are to confirm the details for your promised content. Thank you for your patience during this long wait!

We’ve already received responses from many of you, and have been soothed by the photographs of everyone’s cats, dogs, and other pets (lol).

We will make a start on creating the data that will be incorporated into the game based on all the information we have received. And if you haven’t gotten an email yet, the please check the following:
Twitter eiyuden@theyetee.com

This message ended up being kind of clerical, but we’re now in the final stages of the game’s development. We’re going to start showing everyone screenshots of the game from the beginning of next year, so we hope you’re looking forward to that.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!
 
latest update:

Komuta D’s Sneak Peek​

Komu-nichiwa. Komu-banwa. Director Komuta here!

And this month, I'd like to give you another sneak peek at what's happening behind the scenes.

The content for Komuta D's Sneak Peak #2 is the "Auto Tactics".

Ta-daaa!

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So what on earth is Auto Tactics?

In Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Auto Tactics is an auto-battle system that makes for an easier and more rewarding experience for those that find fighting normal enemies to be a pain in the butt.

Huh? But Auto systems can only be used against weak enemies that are a certain amount of levels lower than you, right?

No, no, no. Even with the default settings you can run headlong into any fight against normal enemies and that party will handle the rest. They'll even heal themselves if things are looking dicey.

I can't go into any more detail into what kind of system it is just yet, but I would encourage anyone who finds battles tedious to use it from the get go.

And that's a wrap on this month's Sneak Peek! I hope you look forward to the next one!

Murayama's Monthly Development Report​

We had a six-hour meeting with a large group the other day, including our publisher 505 Games. Our meetings are typically held online, so it's been a long time since we've met face-to-face like this.

A video game is both a creator's project, but also a product. If these two aspects aren't balanced properly then the game can become either a purely self-indulgent art piece, or an empty imitation that has lost its heart as a game.

Sometimes I'm asked what kind of game it is that I want to make, but to me what I want to make the most is a game that many people will enjoy.

Ultimately that's tied to how fun the game is and its storyline. But what will make players happy is an extremely difficult question and despite searching for a long time, it's still a tough one to answer.

When I say "many people," as happy as I am to sell a lot of copies, being proactive and getting to know the people connected to the game is important too.

That's why I appear at shows the publicists ask me to attend, answer surveys, shoot my own videos, wear goofy costumes and film embarrassing skits.

Even so, sometimes a creator has their reasons for not accepting a publicity request that comes up, which then results in a six-hour long meeting.

That being said, I consider that a part of my job as a game producer.

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During that six-hour meeting I was finally, FINALLY able to receive some of the merchandise for Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. I'm quite pleased, and like the tumblers in particular.

A Word from the Team​

It feels like it's been a while since I wrote a Message from the Team! Komu-nichiwa. Komu-banwa. Director Komuta here!

Development is in the final stages and it's carnage on the development floor, but we finally got to incorporate the live background music we recorded the other day!

I like the moment when the sound enters the game production process the most because it's like I can finally feel the world with all five senses. It gave me serious goosebumps and couldn't help but get excited.

I can't wait for you all to hear it too!
 
Game is officially delayed to 2024.

New gameplay video:
 
looking good.
 
TGS 2023 trailer, niiiice

 
Demon_Skeith said:
It just wouldn't work for 1-6. How would scenes like this:


Be done in 3D?
Click to expand...
Sort of in a similar way like FF7 Remake upgraded FF7's Crossdressing stuff lol
 
They posted cardgame minigame:

Komuta D’s Sneak Peek

Komunichi-wa, komuban-wa. Director Komuta here.
I’m back again with another sneak peak for you!

You can play a variety of minigames as you progress through the story of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. And I’m going to give you a quick look at just one of them: Card Game!

It’s a very simple game where players play cards from their hands on the table and compete for three positions, but it’s actually pretty deep.

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The higher the total of the numbers in the upper left corner of the card = the higher the strength and the better the position you get. Like other card games, matching card colors, numbers or creating combinations with numbers in sequential order gets you bonus points.

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Not only that, cards with the same patterns as their friends have skills that activate various effects when certain conditions are met. Hildy's card is a powerful one that increases your strength by +3 just by playing it.

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Some skills are more effective than others, such as those that increase strength if the card colors are different, or others that straight up take away points from your opponent. It’s not a simple matter of building decks and play styles that differ depending on the characters your opponent uses. Buy card packs in the game to acquire cards, and build your own unique and powerful deck to become the best card battler!

That’s all from me today.

I hope you’re already looking forward to the next sneak peek!
 
new trailer:
 
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