Interviews
Nippon Ichi Discusses What it Was Like to Develop The Spiritual Successor to Disgaea – “Phantom Brave”
“With a grid-less game system, players are allowed to move about freely on the map, which opens a new array of opportunities for battle tactics and strategies.”
Who doesn’t love anime-style backgrounds and characters?
Who doesn’t love a magic ray of light?
Or enormous magic spells that conjure up memories of Aeris?
The RPG market isn’t what it used to be, but there are still a few dedicated developers out there who are doing their best to make the best role-playing games.
Nippon Ichi, maker of the beloved RPG Disgaea, came back this year with a spiritual successor that received both fan and critical acclaim: Phantom Brave.
What was so great about it? Why did it appease so many players? And what does it take to bring a Japanese RPG to the States? Haru Akenaga tells all in this interview.
Phantom Brave is said to be the spiritual successor to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. How are the two games similar? Does Phantom Brave feature any of the same mechanics or characters?
Haru Akenaga: At first glance, Phantom Brave may seem similar to Disgaea, but players will realize quickly that the game is actually quite different. The game system, story, world setting, and the overall feel of the game is different from Disgaea. However, Phantom Brave does retain the characteristics of Nippon Ichi's strategy RPGs. Players might find familiar faces in Phantom Brave, but the new game system gives these characters a new fresh appeal to them. Disgaea fans might want to look out for hidden characters!
This game is unique in that it doesn't use grids. What makes this an improvement over other titles in the genre?
HA: Getting rid of grids was our way of giving a little more freedom of choice to the players. In a grid, based game system players are forced to make decisions based on where the tedious little square boxes are located on the map and that gets a bit annoying. With a grid-less game system, players are allowed to move about freely on the map, which opens a new array of opportunities for battle tactics and strategies.
Over 400 skills and magical spells were designed for Phantom Brave. Talk about them.
HA: More is better, simple as that. It gives some extra incentives for the hardcore gamers to master all the skills and magic spells out there.
Watch your step.
Are any of the skills or spells exclusive to one particular character? Or can all of the characters share the same traits?
HA: Yes, there are hidden skills that are exclusive to certain characters, but you can learn how to use it with a simple trick. No, I cannot tell you what the trick [is]. :)
How many characters will join Marona on her journey?
HA: Well, I will just say a whole army of characters. And I mean that literally.
What is the story like? Is Phantom Brave a comedy like Rhapsody and La Pucelle?
HA: Unlike Disgaea and La Pucelle, Phantom Brave has a serious storyline. It is a new step for Nippon Ichi, but I believe players will enjoy the heartwarming story of Marona and her sidekick Ash.
How do you begin the localization process? What's the first thing you do?
HA: Localization process generally starts by a good solid translation of the original Japanese game. After the translation, a professional English editor will edit the translated text to westernize the material. A Japanese joke will not necessarily sound funny in English, so this is where the editor has to be creative.
Skilled with a sword, not with a comb.
Development teams per game keep growing and growing – how many people are needed to convert a Japanese game for another region?
HA: Surprisingly not too many, for a game like Phantom Brave you will need about 4 to 5 people and that number includes a PR person, so it really isn't too many.
Does the language barrier make it hard to tell the story the same way in all game markets? Not all words or meanings translate the same...
HA: Most people seem to assume that the more important the text is, the more difficult it is to localize, but this is not true. Terminology and jokes for instance seem to have little literary value; however, to a translator they are the most challenging to translate. For instance, a joke in Japanese may not necessarily be funny in English; the localizer must be creative in order to make any sense out of that joke. Therefore, yes, language barrier does make our localization process much more difficult.
Thank you for your time.
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