Kondo Interview from Taipei GS 2024, translated by Hansuke:
About Kai No Kiseki and the Kiseki series:
-- In Kai No Kiseki, what level of technology has the continent of Zemuria managed to reached?
This information so far looks as if the story aspect is trying to make progress within the Kiseki universe.
President Toshihiro Kondo(Here after Kondo): In fact, in the Republic Arc, the level of technology has been quietly developing behind the scenes, and there are organizations outside of the Republic that are making technological breakthroughs. In this game, they will have an opportunity to showcase that technology.
--In the newly released images from the stage event, we seem to see the back of Rufus, will there be any more storylines related to him in "Kai No Kiseki" this time around?
Kondo: All of the characters just announced will appear in Kai No Kiseki, so stay tuned for those. There will be more organizations and more characters involved in this game than in Kuro No Kiseki, so the ones that we've released are just a small portion of the story. These will be revealed later on in the future.
Will Kai No Kiseki unique position will be Kuro No Kiseki III or act like a set up game like Hajimari No Kiseki?
Kondo: Although the postion feels like a mixture of Haijmari No Kiseki and Kuro No Kiseki, the game setting will be in the Republic which continues where it left off from Kuro No Kiseki, as to why we didn't called this new game Hajimari No Kiseki II or Kuro No Kiseki III is because Kai No Kiseki is the culmination and the beginning of heading towards the climax of covering of the entire series. Although there will be plenty of returning characters in this game, it will be different than Hajimari No Kiseki since this game will be setting up towards that climax. In addition to past characters making their appearance, there will also be brand new characters that will be making their debut in Kai No Kiseki along with past characters that made their appearance in past games but not described in full detail will be in Kai No Kiseki along with different organizations and such.
Do you know how much Kai No Kiseki will advance the story for the Kiseki series? Will Kai No Kiseki will be the final chapter of the Republic Arc?
Kondo: I’ve said before we probably reached about 70% by the end of Kuro No Kiseki II, at this particular point we probably culminate about 90% of the entire Kiseki series by the end of Kai No Kiseki, which will solve a lot of the mysteries surrounding the continent of Zemuria. Kai No Kiseki will also bring the end of the Republic Arc.
--Is Mr. Katsumi Enami still the illustrator for "Kai No Kiseki"?
Kondo: Yes, Mr. Katsumi Enami is still in charge of the illustrations for "Kai No Kiseki".
-Is the new female character that was initially revealed in "Kai No Kiseki" the same courier lady that had appeared before?
Kondo: Oh, I can't just answer that.
-The Kiseki series have become a huge overarching story, so is there any recommendation for newer players of which game to play first if they are getting into the series, or is it okay to start with Kai No Kiseki?
Kondo: It's hard to answer that question, we didn't say specifically which game of the Kiseki series would be the best to start with, you don't have to start with the first one, and there's a different approach to start the series halfway through. The Kiseki series has been going on for 20 years, and we are aware of this issue regarding newer players. In fact, we have already been preparing a new work that can be used as an introduction to the Kiseki series, but it cannot be revealed as of yet, and we hope to disclose it during the 20th anniversary of the Kiseki series, so we ask that players to please wait for a little while longer.
--Is this unannounced work, which cannot be publicly revealed yet, a remake of an old game?
Kondo: There may be some people who feel that it should be that specific work, it's not possible to give a definite answer to that question at this point in time, maybe it is, maybe it isn't, we've been eager to respond to the anticipation of the fans of the Kiseki series, so please look forward to a future reveal and being officially published.
-Will the story of Kai No Kiseki be intertwined in two different place this time, or will a group of people will embarked on a long journey?
Kondo: In this game, Van will make the his appearance, and many other characters will appear one after another, so it's probably feel like a another group reunion in a way, and respectfully it's similar to how Hajimari No Kiseki does it that we're going to have various events gradually advance the story, and it's going to feel like we are going to be moving from place to another place. The setting of this game is mainly focused in the Republic, and there will be a variety of organizations that will make their appearance. Some of the names of these areas that were revealed in the live event just today will be specifically featured in Kai No Kiseki, so I hope you'll take note of them!
Will the graphics and the in-game character models get a upgrade in Kai No Kiseki?
Kondo: Some of the character models will be improved on, but overall it's basically improved and expand using Kuro No Kiseki as the standard template. The development team is improving the shader aspect of the game, however I can't say at this current time how final version of the game will be at.
- Kuro No Kiseki received a large update patch to fix some problems after launch, maybe some players have beat the game before the update patch comes out, will Kai No Kiseki avoid such a situation this time?
Kondo: Of course, I would like to avoid that if possible. Falcom started as a PC game developer company, so patches are a very familiar way for us, and in fact, we have developed a lot of patches for PC games in the past, but at that time, the president of the company was very strict, and wanted to make sure that the Version 1.00 was within expectations of perfect, and then there were cases where patches were made, but the president wouldn't allow them to be released. Of course now, we would liked to have had the game perfected by Version 1.00, but there were times when we couldn't finish it until the release date and needed to release a patch, or when we finished it and the development team wanted to add new elements to make it even smoother, which it leads of creating the major update. We're working hard to get the game in perfect form, and we hope that players will be satisfied.