Famitsu Interview with Katano and Ishiwatari @ TGS 2019

https://gear-project.tumblr.com/post/187689102604/famitsu-interview-with-katano-and-ishiwatari

Famitsu Interview with Katano and Ishiwatari

Source.

Translation: Gear-Project (Me)
(Read the GG+Interviews tag on my blog for older entries).

At the Sega Atlas booth at TGS 2019, a stage event was held for ARC System Works’ “GUILTY GEAR”.  On the stage, General Director Daisuke Ishiwatari of ASW and Director Akira Katano took the stage to introduce the appeal of the game.  In the PV that first became public, a forceful battle was shown, participation of May one of regular popular characters in the series was also announced.

After the stage event, I was able to interview Mr. Ishiwatari and Mr. Katano, and published this article.

[It was commented at the event that this is not a sequel to GUILTY GEAR but a completely new work, but there isn’t any X or number in the title?]

Ishiwatari: We didn’t give this a subtitle or number at the time, but we’re exploring how we should treat this new work.

Katano: I’m making it clear that it’s not part of the Xrd Series.

In this title, I’d like to emphasize the stance of creating a new fighting game with ARC System Works, a brand new work for GUILTY GEAR.

[Is the Xrd Series now complete with Rev2?]

Ishiwatari: In terms that being a game I worked on (Under soley Ishiwatari), you can think of it as complete with Rev2… However as part of the story on the whole, the series continues.

Katano: Rev2 is not scheduled to be upgraded as a game in the future.  I would like to follow up on the people who still play it right now, but that’s not something I can promise you at this stage.

[When you watch the PV, you can see that the video work side is improving, but as a fighting game, does that change the system drastically?]

Ishiwatari: As a fighting game, I think it will be a response system that will change a lot as GUILTY GEAR, rather than compared to the Xrd Series.

[Including May that was announced today, four characters in total have been released at present.  I don’t think you can say anything else at this stage, but what is the total number of characters for the roster?]

Ishiwatari: Because everything is being remade, labor has occurred in its own way.  I don’t think all the characters from previous games will appear from the timing of the release date (2020).

Katano: I think many of you are wondering how the continuity follows from Rev2, but I’m making this game from scratch as a completely new work.  None of this will deviate from the previous work’s story, so expect it to include aspects of it.

As much as is possible, we want to make a game in a way that will meet all your expectations.

[In the first PV, there was a character with dreadlocks who was completely new, what kind of character is he?]

Ishiwatari: I was able to present that character by showing more visuals that no-one had ever seen before, and it was part of the appeal that it was completely new, but I still can’t say much about him.  Let me just tell you that he has something to do with the HISTORY of Guilty Gear.

[In recent games by ARC System Works, there are many support systems that are easy for entry level beginners to access, but does this work contain some kind of system that is easy for beginners to enter?]

Ishiwatari: The fact that there is a follow-up for beginners suggests the game is difficult to play in the first place, so I have my own interpretation.  In that sense, I think about a game that doesn’t need to follow that kind of trend.  If it is a complex system like conventional GUILTY GEAR games, with multiple system/mechanics, we are developing this work by throwing all of that away and reconsidering things from scratch.

Katano: I think it’s closer to keeping everything simple, rather.  Since we can’t talk about specifics just yet, it’s an ideological statement for the time being, but I hope it will be a title that can be played by a wider range of people, rather than a mechanism built to follow beginners in to ASW’s world.

Ishiwatari: It’s easy to think about the way the game itself has shaped up (so far), but the entrance is simple.  The depth of the game was not cut out.  I want to make this work a deep fighting game like we conventionally do.

Katano: I wish I could get rid of the fact that it’s going to be difficult to look at (and play).  In conventional games, there is also a system that allows combos to be played by a series of buttons, and I think there are many people who were able to enter fighting games genre via that route as a result.  Even if such a system is implemented, with good mechanics in it, there currently isn’t any.  Even if there was a back-to-back combo, it doesn’t seem easy from the point of view of people who don’t play fighting games, and I think they (still) don’t know what’s going on.  In this game, if you don’t usually play fighting games, you want to cherish the way the game plays and actually SEE what’s going on.

Ishiwatari: That’s our ‘key word’.

Katano: Not everything has been decided because it’s still under development at the moment, but I would like to make the game a game that can touch a wider audience in a way that is different from the usual approach of ARC System Works.

Ishiwatari: When I was making the GUILTY GEAR SERIES in the first place, I had a problem that I couldn’t solve because of how much I “knew” about GUILTY GEAR.  With this new GUILTY GEAR (work), we are in the process of reviewing whether or not that problem can be solved.

Katano: Even in Japan, Guilty Gear was built very strong, meanwhile from the starting line, even people who played the games for a long time changed with each numbering.  I’m not denying that, but there’s also the idea that if you want to market the game as a “completely new game”, it might be better to make it a flat game system for a variety of players.

[What are your new challenges and goals in this work?]

Ishiwatari: I think the game itself is the challenge, rather than what we should do with this part.  "GUILTY GEAR", but I was thinking about where to power up so far.  However, in this work, as GUILTY GEAR had up to now, being built from scratch is something that’s never been done before, and I think in that instance leaving things that way was good up to now.

Katano: Up to now, the GUILTY GEAR SERIES and ARC System Works games have had a lot of approaches towards Japan, and Japanese players have been very strong (as a result).  I would like to take on the challenge of approaching the entire world further through the game system and promotion.  I don’t want to play a game that you can’t play unless you’ve played the original GUILTY GEAR or someone who was born and raised in the game center (arcades).  I hope I can play equally on ANY device!

Ishiwatari: GUILTY GEAR has mainly been in Arcade Game Centers, and there are many people who play with Arcade sticks, and we were developing games based on that.  However, if you look overseas, the penetration rate of arcade sticks is very different, and there are many people who are playing on the pad.  Well, there’s part of me thinking more than ever about what to do if I play this on the pad.  Competition becomes difficult if you press so hard in to it, but this time it’s just “GUILTY GEAR”, so let’s stop competing for difficult combos.

[May appeared in the latest PV, and I got the impression that she has grown up, in the current time period, will this be a time-skip future story beyond Rev2?]

Ishiwatari: I think that the change in time period is not set in stone, but the design was able to be considered as things changed.  As a world setting, it is being continued as a basis, but it’s not a story about a distant future.  It’s still a story after Rev2.

[Speaking of GUILTY GEAR, it is also one of the attractions that the music and BGM are composed by Mr. Ishiwatari and used in these works.]

Katano: I’m asking Naoki Hashimoto to do the theme song for this one, just like in Xrd.  Ishiwatari is also in charge of the music.

Ishiwatari: Just like how the pattern has changed, it may be that the location and routes have also changed (in his music).

[The most interesting part of the PV was the scene where the character swept away and the stage changed.  From the perspective of ASW’s past works, I think there is a system-like function rather than just directing, but do you think about that?]

Ishiwatari: Our exclusive patent is to balance fighting games and incorporate them into our philosophies no matter what we do.  It’s definitely not just a production.

[ARCREVO AMERICA 2019 seems to be able to hold several demos, what kind of game will be played there?]

Katano: It’s not full spec, but you can play something that’s easy to understand about the game.  Please wait for more information about the available characters.  It was also announced that it will be released on the PlayStation 4, but it is not an exclusive title to the PS4.  For other measures, please wait for more information.