read latest Kondo Interview using google machine translate so translation can be a bit weird lol :
――It's been almost three months since the product was released, but how about the response of "The Legend of Heroes"?
Mr. Kondo: It 's a big game, so I've received various opinions in detail, but I think it was well received in total. Somehow, from the impression of the title, I think that there are many people who imagine something like "The Legend of Heroes: Sky Trail the 3rd" (hereinafter, Sky Trail the 3rd), but the main scenario is "Sky". It's more slamming than it was in "The Legend of Heroes the 3rd", and I feel that I was quite satisfied with the abundant elements of interaction.
――In a previous interview, it was impressive that the next title was something that even people who had never touched the "Sen no Kiseki" series could touch, and that it included things that could not be said in "Sen no Kiseki". But why did you decide to create "The Legend of Heroes"?
Mr. Kondo: It's a title that wasn't originally planned. Immediately after "The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki IV -THE END OF SAGA-" (hereinafter referred to as "Sen no Kiseki IV") was over, I started the title after "Sou no Kiseki". The core members who have been involved in the locus series have been involved in it for a long time, but for the company, I always wanted to let young members steer and do one title.
After "Sen no Kiseki IV" is over, the engine will change by the time the next title is released, so I think there will be a short period of time. The title started with "Why don't you try one?" I have decided that I will not be involved in the details, so I will concentrate on producing, not on the idea or direction of the game.
However, to make it easier for them to think about it, we started with the theme of the final edition from "The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki". In it, they also decide on the idea of three routes and the main character. There were twists and turns about "C", but let's talk about it later with spoilers (laughs).
--(Lol). It was an impression that the identity was intentionally hidden even in the promotion.
Mr. Kondo: There are various reasons, but it would be more exciting to know who you are if you don't know. That is the biggest.
――In drawing the three routes, the first attempt of a cross story that progresses in parallel was adopted, but was that also the idea of the staff?
Mr. Kondo: Although I gave the title of the final version from "Zero no Kiseki", there was a request from the user to show the part that is told in the ending of "Ao no Kiseki", but that ending. If you make the contents of the game as it is, it will become thin. After all, it is only said that a small number of people who left the empire stood up and controlled it and became independent. From the point that something might have happened to Lloyds a little more, there were things that I could not draw with "Sen no Kiseki" and greedy ideas that I wanted to connect to the next title, and as a result of pursuing them. That is the shape.
――The so-called zapping, or the experience of moving to another route when one route has progressed to some extent, was fresh in the locus series.
Mr. Kondo: The viewpoint sometimes changed during the quests and episodes, but basically the main character was fixed and there was no major change. I think that the symbolic scene in "The Legend of Heroes" is the scene where "Group VII" and "C" pass each other in the Imperial City, but in fact, I was worried about it. The fact that I haven't done it before means that the system is new, so there will be a lot of problems, and I was watching with a little excitement, but I'm glad that he managed to put it together.
――What was the difficult point in actually working on it?
Mr. Kondo: There are simply three scenarios. The text volume of the whole scenario is about the same as "Sen no Kiseki IV", but in the end it is more difficult to have three main characters and prepare for each of them. Young people share that and some people write scenarios.
Such a method was also the first in the locus series, but the episode of the << C >> route came out from a young person, and it was born from the idea that it did not come out if it was me or an original member. I'm glad I tried that kind of thing.
Also, at this timing, it was difficult to deal with everything such as what would happen if I flew to the Shin-Mugen Corridor and returned here. In the past, every player would follow the same path, but this time there are various ways to play depending on the player.
――The true / dream corridor was prepared as an element that connects the three routes and is an element of replay. What kind of content did you think about this?
Mr. Kondo: What I was most concerned about was that I could hardly play an active part in the main story even though I put out so many characters (laughs). After all, there are various customers, and while we receive a lot of user support and fan letters, there are tremendous requests for this character to play an active role.
From the beginning, it was necessary to have a dungeon that could be captured in common, and in a sense, a shadow country of "Sora no Kiseki the 3rd" as a place for various characters to play an active role. So I got a consensus with the team side. Also, if it is simply a 3-route format, there may not be a place to level up well, so it is also meaningful as a place to level up.
The rest is still an element of replay. There are so many characters, there are growth factors, and there are items that are collecting items, but there is no field in the main story alone. I think it was indispensable for people to feel that as a response. There are so many elements that I think it's overkill on the way (laughs).
――Speaking of play time alone, it's not inferior to the main story (laughs).
Mr. Kondo: I played with "Magical Girl Magical ☆ Alisa RS" after it was completed, but I was surprised that it was made so much.
--There were a lot of mini games, didn't you?
Mr. Kondo: Since the system has a "flash trail" in the first place, the work of programmers started from making mini games.
――Because I had the impression of a mini-game so far, I was surprised that "Magical Girl Magical ☆ Alisa RS" was a more serious shooting game than I had expected.
Mr. Kondo: I was even told in-house that "Isn't this going to be sold?" (Laughs). Perhaps they were given the opportunity where they wanted to do it themselves, and that's VR.
――It's your first time to support VR, isn't it?
Mr. Kondo: Originally, the engineers wanted to do it, but I thought it would be difficult to establish it as a single product, so I decided that I might be able to do it here as well. I did.
At first, it seemed that I was greedy for various things, but when I actually tried it, there were many things that I had to think about VR-specific, and in the end I felt that it was organized in that way. I was trying to make VR in time for the product version, but due to the fact that I could not pass the regulation and the influence of the new coronavirus, it was decided at a later date.
How did you implement the high-speed skip mode, Variant Rage, etc.?
――I think that it overlaps with the part of the replay element mentioned earlier, but it was personally helpful to be able to automatically equip weapons, armor and quartz this time.
Mr. Kondo: I think that the customers of the locus series first think about it when they hear about the "creation locus" system. I get such opinions from the support on a daily basis, but on the other hand, there are people who want to assemble the equipment themselves, so if I remove it and rearrange it without permission, I get quite angry (laughs). At the same time that the balance is difficult, if you do so, problems will easily occur, and since there are a lot of items anyway, it is best to automatically select the most suitable equipment from the equipment you have like this time. It is implemented because it is well-balanced.
――If you don't want to worry about the equipment, you can get around to some extent even if you equip it automatically, and it became easier to customize after equipping it automatically, which was a well-balanced impression for me personally.
Mr. Kondo: I think that the frequency of party changes is the highest in the past this time, so without that kind of thing, we wouldn't be able to do it when we were checking (laughs). As for the convenience around that, social games are very convenient, and some customers are experiencing such things, so even though it is a console game, I am conscious that I have to deal with it to some extent. By the way, there is.
――In the case of Rean against Lloyd, I was wondering how to draw it because it ended beautifully in the "trajectory of the flash".
Mr. Kondo: For Rean route, homework has been given by the "Sen no Kiseki" team, and that is the "other person" in the example. I think that is the most important source of the line route. In addition, Rean's story is an episode that approaches the mystery of that world, so it also has the meaning of pretending to develop in the future.
Also, I had to talk somewhere about why the routes were divided at that time. It seems that he hadn't decided whether to do it in the "Sou no Kiseki" or in the next work, but it seems that he decided to do it in the "Sou no Kiseki".
――It is true that if there is no such story axis, you will only deal with the event.
Mr. Kondo: If you do so, the line routes will look like they are connected, so we have to prepare a solid axis and proceed along it.
――I personally thought that the << C >> route was a very unique party, and it was fresh and interesting.
Mr. Kondo: The person in charge of the << C >> route scenario is dark but deep, and somehow the exchanges proceed with fun members, so I'm good at talking like this time. At first, there were only routes for Lloyd and Rean, and then the << C >> route was added ...