Eine deutsche Fassung dieses Interviews befindet sich hier.  

At the Games Convention Leipzig, we had the opportunity to talk to Hiroya Hatsuhiba, Scenario Creator and Director of Eternal Sonata and his colleague Hideo Baba.

Thomas Nickel: To start this interview, please tell us a bit about you - what’s your name, what’s your role in the development of Trusty Bell / Eternal Sonata?

Hiroya Hatsushiba: My name is Hiroya Hatsushiba. My role on Eternal Sonata was Scenario Creator and Director.

Thomas Nickel: Tri-Crescendo started out as a company providing sound in Tri-Ace games. However, starting with Baten Kaitos, you developed games yourself. Please tell us a bit about the company and its history.

Hiroya Hatsushiba: Originally Tri-Crescendo was founded by the sound team of Tri-Ace. From the start of the Tri-Crescendo company, we didn’t like to be limited to making just sounds and music for our games, we wanted to make the game itself as well. Since Baten Kaitos, we have been doing all parts including sounds, planning, art and programming.
 
Thomas Nickel: Eternal Sonata is a very classical Japanese RPG on an American gaming system - the XBox360. Tell us what you think about the system and what made you choose it as your platform for the game.  

Hiroya Hatsushiba: I think Xbox360 is a well balanced piece of hardware. Obviously the processing capabilities of this machine need to be increased but otherwise, the hardware is very developer friendly. When we started to develop the game, Xbox360 had not been announced and we were developing the game for Windows. Then Xbox360 was released and we decided to make the game for Xbox360 instead.

Thomas Nickel: The subject of the game - the dying Chopin dreaming of a fantasy world - is a rather sad outset for a game. Tell us why you chose such a melancholy setting.

Hiroya Hatsushiba: Most of the people in Japan know the name of Chopin; however, most of the people who know of Chopin think he is just some great composer without knowing any more about him. Most of them have heard Chopin’s music but not a lot could put his name to it immediately. By blending the actual person, Chopin and elements of fantasy, I was hoping that the people who haven’t known Chopin at all would know him better through this game. 

Thomas Nickel: Music seems to be an important factor in Trusty Bell. There’s Chopin, the heroes are named in musical terms - is this subject also reflected in the gameplay itself?

Hiroya Hatsushiba: Basically, music is not a part of the core gameplay itself. However, as our company started from music we wanted to build the concept of the game through music as that is our area of expertise. There are many musical factors in the game and everything is united by music in some way.

Thomas Nickel: You’ve always worked with the composer Motoi Sakuraba. How do you work together? Tell us a bit about the importance of music in your games, especially in Eternal Sonata which revolves around the character Chopin.

Hiroya Hatsushiba: Music is very important in Trusty Bell. A music motif has been used for all aspects from composition and sound effects to the design of character’s accessories, town symbols and so on. We have been working with Mr Sakuraba for quite a long time so we didn’t need to hold meetings to explain what kind of music we needed for the game. He understands what we need straight away and that it is really helpful. It is very difficult to express music by sentences which explain features. This could narrow the imagination of the composer. Therefore, we just brief the atmosphere of music and leave the rest to Mr Sakuraba’s feelings.

Thomas Nickel: Another question about Chopin - what made you use him as focus of the story? How did you research the real Chopin? Did you e.g. contact his living relatives?

Hiroya Hatsushiba: People who love classical music and people who love games are totally different types of people. It is a shame that some people don’t have a chance to listen to the great music of Chopin. I wanted people who love games to listen to the Chopin’s music so I put him in the centre of this story. When we were creating this game, we took references from books and the internet so that people who were not previously interested in Chopin at all can get into the game easily.

Thomas Nickel: Many games today use muted colours and grim setting. Trusty Bell however sports a very bright, colourful look. How did you come up with the overall look of the game?

Hiroya Hatsushiba: There are many development teams in the world who are aiming to create photorealistic games. Their aim is to make it look like the world we live in. It’s like all of them are racing towards the same goal so that visuals are judged by just one set of values. I think this is very risky and narrowing the possibilities of computer graphics, which can show a great range of expression. We think there should be another goal rather than competing at racing speeds with other developers. Therefore, we aimed for a look which is not a copy of the real world but one of unique colour within a world born from our own creativity.

Thomas Nickel: Your previous games, Baten Kaitos 1 and 2 surprised players with very well thought out, complex battle-systems. Trusty Bell however seems to approach the battles in a more classical fashion. How do you decide on an actual battle system? What factors are important?

Hiroya Hatsushiba: We value exciting playability which everybody can get into very easily. If we use quite complex systems such as in Baten Kaitos 1 and 2, the systems are received well by hardcore gamers but other people will stop playing the game before they start to really have fun. Therefore, we used a battle system which will change gradually in Trusty Bell. In the beginning, you might feel it is too easy but it gets difficult little by little so you will still be interested much later into the game.

Thomas Nickel: Which experiences from the Baten Kaitos Games could you use for Trusty Bell? Did you take the players opinions into account?

Hiroya Hatsushiba: It is not just Baten Kaitos but we review issues and points every time we finish a product. All of our team members discuss the issues after completion of a product so that we won’t make the same mistakes again. We also listen to players’ opinions. However, we don’t take players’ opinions directly into account too much as I think such a game will be too predictable and the game will be less attractive as a result. Therefore, we retain the parts on which we can’t compromise and deal with the rest flexibly.

 
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