The output of Forspoken is imminent, since recently postponed to January 24, 2023. A real creative enigma if ever there was one, the next title of Square-Enix developped by Luminous Production keeps questioning his intentions. To find out more, we had the chance to interview the project directors during a press event dedicated to the game, during which we spent 3 hours with the controller in hand. We also refer you to our recently published preview, where we try to describe what will be done Forspoken, which looks more and more like a real hybrid UFO. But time for questions / answers with Takeshi Aramaki (Studio and Game Director), Takefumi Terada (Co-Title Director), and Raio Mitsuno (Creative Director).
Forspoken and its universe
- The release of the title is imminent, how do you feel about that, was it a long development?
Takeshi Aramaki: I don’t think the development took that long. But creating a new license for Square Enix was definitely a challenge. Since it’s a completely new game and doesn’t belong to a saga or a series, we didn’t have any obstacles regarding the story or the game design. I’m just happy to know that we are close to the release and to be able to share this project with everyone.
- What were your main inspirations for creating the Forspoken universe?
Raio Mitsuno: There are several parts to this answer. I’ll start by saying that by creating this new license, we also wanted to create a whole new world of fantasy that differs from what is usually done. By taking a character from our own world, who understands how the world works as we perceive it, and catapulting her into a whole new universe with completely different rules. This allowed us to make her react as we would react if such an event occurred. This was the basis of our concept.
But to go into more detail on the design part, we really wanted to create a “modern-fantasy” universe, we wanted to keep things modern while offering fantasy as everyone imagines it. This shines through on Frey, the main character of the game. Apart from the cape, all the clothes she wears come from our world. The world of Athia is a magic and fantasy universe in which things go wrong, animals similar to ours have been transformed into bloodthirsty creatures because of the mist. All these familiar things that are transformed, this is the basis of our idea. If we had chosen a character already living in this world, it would have been difficult for people to project themselves.
- Was using the face of actress Ella Balinska for your protagonist a choice that came up in the early stages of development? Why this choice ?
Raio Mitsuno: Frey was the first character we created. We started from the inside, what is his personality? His daily life? What does she like ? How does she express herself? We really thought of him as a fundamentally human being. When we crossed the road to Ella Balinska for dubbing, it was obvious, it ticked all the boxes. The determination we were looking for, the sense of humor, the slightly youthful side that we wanted to bring to her, Ella really resonated well with this character. And then we said to ourselves: But why not model the character under his features? Ella and Frey are almost one and the same person.
Engine, gameplay, lifespan…
- What do you think are the greatest strengths of the Luminous Engine and why was this engine essential to Forspoken? Did he present any difficulties?
Takeshi Aramaki: Since it’s an in-house engine, the teams had the advantage of a know-how already present for the development. We really know him very well. It allowed us to add components and new features everywhere and in a fluid way. No loading time on PS5, same thing on PC with direct storage support. We were really able to work quickly and efficiently with this engine and the new technologies.
- Magic is based on the elements. Can we expect it to be possible to combine different spells to create unique effects?
Takefumi Terada: There is no system for combining spells or creating new ones. We opted for a system with several very distinct magics. Fire will be more for close combat, for example, while nature spells will be more for mid-distance combat. Our goal here was to provide LOTS of different spells that people can find their own way to play by upgrading the spells they like. The concept is to offer a huge variety of spells to experiment with at your leisure.
- The heroine is also solo and has no team to provide dynamics. How did you go about it so that the game is not “too quiet”, so that people do not feel too alone?
Takefumi Terada: One of the key elements we’ve introduced is ‘Cuff’, the bracelet attached to Frey’s arm. He makes sure Frey doesn’t feel alone in this new world. She comes from another universe and does not understand what is happening to her. Cuff plays the role of guide, both from a narrative point of view and in gameplay. It helps Frey to move quickly from places to places for example. You really have to see it as your main traveling companion.
- Making Forspoken an open-world, was this a preponderant choice in the development? Or has a more linear direction already been mentioned?
Takefumi Terada: Forspoken has always been an open world from the earliest stages of development. We had experience of Final Fantasy XV to create large spaces, we now had to push the genre further, and tell the story in a new way in an open environment.
- What is the estimated lifetime to complete the story “in a straight line”? And 100%?
Takefumi Terada: Since it’s an open-world game, the playing time ultimately depends on the person playing. In a straight line and to see the credits scroll, I would say that between 25 and 30 hours seems to me a good estimate. But that would be missing out on too many things. And it’s very hard to say how long it would take to complete Forspoken 100%. The world has so much to offer.
Western influence and anecdote
- Luminous Production is a Japanese studio, however you chose a lot of Western artists and writers for development (Amy Hennig, Bear McCreary, Garry Schyman), what did you seek to accomplish to Forspoken with these choices?
Raio Mitsuno: We learned a lot from Final Fantasy XV, we knew we were good at practicing magic and its use, in storytelling, but we could still make progress. In Final Fantasy XV, the action was often separated from the narration for example. And with the opportunity to create something completely new for a huge audience, we thought, “Why not team up with some great talent out West?” To truly bring this story and its characters to life. We had no idea of creating an entirely Western game. We just wondered how to bring the “best of the best” back to this project, to make it the best game possible.
- do you see Forspoken like a “Final Fantasy with a very western vision”?. Aren’t you afraid of losing that “Japanese soul” that characterizes this kind of game?
Raio Mitsuno: Like I said, we really didn’t want to make a Western game (laughs), we just wanted to create a whole new experience. As a Japanese studio, there is definitely a Japanese essence in Forspoken from which we cannot detach ourselves. We’ve had a few comments describing our game as a Western-Asian hybrid RPG. This was not our basic intention, but it is an evolution directly linked to our multicultural team and coming from all over the world. We didn’t have it in mind, but the game naturally evolved towards it during its creation.
- What could you tell our readers so that they can understand where they will be stepping into buying Forspoken? For you, what are the strengths and determining points of the title?
Takefumi Terada: What we consider the most important points is the parkour as well as the magic system. We really hope that people will enjoy exploring this universe by running and climbing its mountains and other landforms, to find its enemies, its objects, its events, and discover all that this world has to offer them.
- Last question: do you have a development story to tell us? Something that stood out to you?
Takefumi Terada: (laughs) It’s actually an anecdote from the press tour we’re doing right now. In England, the journalists told us: “Don’t you think the apples in the game are huge? I then told the others who assured me that the apples were exactly the right size, that they had measured them correctly. In short, it’s very unsettling to present your very ambitious new game and to see that the first feedback you have is about…apples in the game (laughs).
We strongly thank Takeshi Aramaki, Takefumi Terada and Raio Mitsuno for granting us this interview. Forspoken is still scheduled for January 24, 2023, and will be released on Playstation 5 and PC.