4Players: Hello, could you please introduce yourselves to our readers. What were your tasks in developing Lost Odyssey?
Fukugawa: My name is Daisuke Fukugawa, I was the director on Lost Odyssey.
Kaminagayoshi: My name is Takehiro Kaminagayoshi, I was the product manager on Lost Odyssey.
Fukugawa: I was in charge of development, leading the artists, programers and designers. This project was very complex. There was a lot of participation from the artists at Mistwalker like Mr. Sakaguchi, Mr. Inoue and Mr. Uematsu. I was in charge of the coordination between the artists and all the others.
4Players: How was the collaboration between you and Mistwalker, Sakaguchi and story-writer Kiyoshi Shigematsu like?
Kaminagayoshi: The game itself was created by the collaboration between Mr. Sakaguchi and those who were in charge of the game systems. There was a close relationship between Mr. Sakaguchi and all of them. We created the game as one team. With a character designer like Mr. Inoue we had to transform all those characters into 3D. The story was created by Mr. Shigematsu and we had to consider how to implement it into the game. It was no one-way communication, there was a lot of exchange between for example Mr. Inoue and our team.
4Players: When did you start development and how did the Unreal Engine 3 fit in there?
Kaminagayoshi: We began in 2004. At that time we had the option to create an engine on our own or to licence an existing one like the unreal-engine.
4Players: Were you satisfied with the results?
Kaminagayoshi: Yes, we were most satisfied.
(grins suspiciously)
4Players: Did you have any ideas you couldn´t implement into the final game?
Kaminagayoshi: Technically speaking we had never faced the fact to abandon any elements. But sometimes we had to reduce content to an appropriate volume considering game systems or storage.
4Players: When designing the characters did you go for a more sinister and realistic look in the first place or did you start off with a more traditional Japanese RPG-style?
Fukugawa: Initially we wanted to depict human beings. So we wanted to create a story more mature to adopt that from the beginning.
4Players: Lost Odyssey uses 4 DVDs. Did you have any troubles splitting up the game or is this only due to amount of lavish cinematics?
Kaminagayoshi: We were relieved to be able to put the game onto 4 DVDs. Not only because there are so many cinematic scenes, also for the story including character models, battle-scenes and the whole game world. So the space was really needed.
4Players: How many of the cinematics are pre-rendered?
Kaminagayoshi: You will get about four to five hours of real-time event scenes and half an hour to one hour of FMV cinematics.
4Players: Did you make any changes to the non-japanese versions? Did you adjust the difficulty level or implement any extras?
Kaminagayoshi: No, it's all the same.
4Players: What part of the game are you most proud of? And what was the most difficult part to convert into the gameplay?
Kaminagayoshi: Mr Sakaguchi wanted to depict human beings. Therefore he placed value on the importance of facial expressions, which was one of the reasons why we used a motiuon capturing system. And we're proud of having succeeded to integrate all this properly and also the script of Mr. Shigematsu.
Fukugawa: One of the difficulties we faced was the volume of ressources that is so important for the second next generation machines. The question on how to reduce the volume was one of the biggest issues. But we're proud of the result. It's a very balanced game in terms of scenario, story-telling and battle scenes.
4Players: How long is the game itself? Before its release Sakaguchi assumed between 40 and 50 hours&
Kaminagayoshi: 40 to 50 hours, that's correct.
4Players: Are there already plans for a conversion on another plattform like with Blue Dragon that will come to the Nintendo DS as well? And how are the chances for a sequel?
Kaminagayoshi (laughs): You have to ask THEM!
(pointing at Microsoft staff)
Microsoft PR: Well, I don't think so...
4Players: Thank you very much for the interview and good luck for the European release.
