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Fire Emblem devs talk Western release, series future, tiny feet, Wii U chances, Advance Wars return
A portion of an ONM interview with the Fire Emblem: Awakening dev team.
ONM: The first Fire Emblem game was released in 1990 in Japan but it took until 2004 for a Fire Emblem game to be released in the UK. Why do you think it took so long and do you feel that western audiences enjoy strategy games like Fire Emblem?
Tohru Narihiro (producer): Fire Emblem is a fusion between turn-based strategy and an epic storyline. Each game has a huge amount of text to tell the story. The problem of translating and implementing all this text is one of the reasons why it took so long. With turn-based games You can spend a long time thinking and planning so they are well suited for the kind of people who don't like action games so much or who enjoy playing board games. One of the themes in Fire Emblem is the bonds between the characters. I'm sure that all kinds of players will enjoy the feeling that each time you play a new story is being created.
Masahiro Higuchi: There was already a base of war simulation games in the West so we were confident that people would respond well to it. There were actually attempts to have a Western release before, but the large amount of text and complexity of the setting ended up delaying this. We were finally able to bring the series to users in the West with Rekka no Ken, simply called Fire Emblem (Game Boy Advance) in America and Europe, and I'm pleased to see the huge positive reaction to the international release of Fire Emblem: Awakening.
ONM: We heard in an Iwata Asks that there was a discussion about whether to set a new Fire Emblem game on Mars! Is there any chance we could see something like that happen in future?
Masahiro Higuchi: Mars was simply one suggestion at the time, right now the chances of it happening are quite low. However we are actively trying to come up with new ideas for the game system and the setting and to create games that will surprise people in new ways.
ONM: Why are the character's feet so tiny? Once you see it, you can't un-see it! (Joe Odran Doran on Facebook)
Toshiyuki Kusakihara (Art Director): The 3D character models are used mainly for scenes in the game where motion is needed and our first step was to think about what these characters should look like on the Nintendo 3DS screen. We thought that it was important that even when the whole 3D character model is on the screen that the player can still clearly see the character's face. So we decided to give the characters relatively large heads and small feet. (Making the characters about 5.5 to 6 "heads" high.)
We wanted to focus the game resources and the player's attention on the face and the top half of the body so we intentionally reduced the detail in the lower half, especially below the knees. We actually made the proportions of the legs intentionally follow the line of the legs when wearing high heels. Lots of people have said that this actually makes them notice it more, but I think this just shows how we were able to give the characters such a distinctive look.
ONM: Fire Emblem started out as a console game and you've released games on Wii. Would you like to release an HD Fire Emblem game for Wii U?
Masahiro Higuchi: I'm glad you seem to be interested in an HD Fire Emblem, but unfortunately at the current time I can't make any comments about any future games. Thank you for your understanding.
ONM: Of course, the other strategy game you work on is Advance Wars. Many fans would love for it to return. What do you think separates Fire Emblem from Advance Wars and would you like to bring it back?
Masahiro Higuchi: One of the main differences is whether you can build more units. In Advance Wars the main part of your army consists of weapons such as tanks and it's possible to just build them one after another. However, the units in Fire Emblem are characters you can be emotionally invested in, they are important people that you can't just build more of. At the same time there is also human drama between the characters, telling a spectacular story. While they are both turn-based strategy game they are quite different experiences each with their own strengths so I'd encourage anyone who hasn't yet played both series to give them a try.
Kouhei Maeda (director): An obvious difference between Advance Wars and Fire Emblem is that one has tanks in a modern war setting, while the other has knights in a fantasy setting. But there is also a big difference in the gameplay with one being strategy and the other being role-playing strategy. In addition to the pure strategy elements, Fire Emblem adds role-playing elements with the characters on your side growing and gaining in experience as they fight. This results in the player becoming more attached to these characters as time goes by than they would to simple units. Whether or not we have plans to bring out a new entry in the Advance Wars series is a secret.
Full interview here
ONM: The first Fire Emblem game was released in 1990 in Japan but it took until 2004 for a Fire Emblem game to be released in the UK. Why do you think it took so long and do you feel that western audiences enjoy strategy games like Fire Emblem?
Tohru Narihiro (producer): Fire Emblem is a fusion between turn-based strategy and an epic storyline. Each game has a huge amount of text to tell the story. The problem of translating and implementing all this text is one of the reasons why it took so long. With turn-based games You can spend a long time thinking and planning so they are well suited for the kind of people who don't like action games so much or who enjoy playing board games. One of the themes in Fire Emblem is the bonds between the characters. I'm sure that all kinds of players will enjoy the feeling that each time you play a new story is being created.
Masahiro Higuchi: There was already a base of war simulation games in the West so we were confident that people would respond well to it. There were actually attempts to have a Western release before, but the large amount of text and complexity of the setting ended up delaying this. We were finally able to bring the series to users in the West with Rekka no Ken, simply called Fire Emblem (Game Boy Advance) in America and Europe, and I'm pleased to see the huge positive reaction to the international release of Fire Emblem: Awakening.
ONM: We heard in an Iwata Asks that there was a discussion about whether to set a new Fire Emblem game on Mars! Is there any chance we could see something like that happen in future?
Masahiro Higuchi: Mars was simply one suggestion at the time, right now the chances of it happening are quite low. However we are actively trying to come up with new ideas for the game system and the setting and to create games that will surprise people in new ways.
ONM: Why are the character's feet so tiny? Once you see it, you can't un-see it! (Joe Odran Doran on Facebook)
Toshiyuki Kusakihara (Art Director): The 3D character models are used mainly for scenes in the game where motion is needed and our first step was to think about what these characters should look like on the Nintendo 3DS screen. We thought that it was important that even when the whole 3D character model is on the screen that the player can still clearly see the character's face. So we decided to give the characters relatively large heads and small feet. (Making the characters about 5.5 to 6 "heads" high.)
We wanted to focus the game resources and the player's attention on the face and the top half of the body so we intentionally reduced the detail in the lower half, especially below the knees. We actually made the proportions of the legs intentionally follow the line of the legs when wearing high heels. Lots of people have said that this actually makes them notice it more, but I think this just shows how we were able to give the characters such a distinctive look.
ONM: Fire Emblem started out as a console game and you've released games on Wii. Would you like to release an HD Fire Emblem game for Wii U?
Masahiro Higuchi: I'm glad you seem to be interested in an HD Fire Emblem, but unfortunately at the current time I can't make any comments about any future games. Thank you for your understanding.
ONM: Of course, the other strategy game you work on is Advance Wars. Many fans would love for it to return. What do you think separates Fire Emblem from Advance Wars and would you like to bring it back?
Masahiro Higuchi: One of the main differences is whether you can build more units. In Advance Wars the main part of your army consists of weapons such as tanks and it's possible to just build them one after another. However, the units in Fire Emblem are characters you can be emotionally invested in, they are important people that you can't just build more of. At the same time there is also human drama between the characters, telling a spectacular story. While they are both turn-based strategy game they are quite different experiences each with their own strengths so I'd encourage anyone who hasn't yet played both series to give them a try.
Kouhei Maeda (director): An obvious difference between Advance Wars and Fire Emblem is that one has tanks in a modern war setting, while the other has knights in a fantasy setting. But there is also a big difference in the gameplay with one being strategy and the other being role-playing strategy. In addition to the pure strategy elements, Fire Emblem adds role-playing elements with the characters on your side growing and gaining in experience as they fight. This results in the player becoming more attached to these characters as time goes by than they would to simple units. Whether or not we have plans to bring out a new entry in the Advance Wars series is a secret.