Taking inspiration from East Asia and particularly Japan, Marvelous is looking to draw more eyes to its Story of Seasons spin-off series with the lush cherry blossoms, solemn snowfields, and lovely architecture. Oh, and the beautiful romance candidates, of course.
Ahead of the game's 30th May release, we hopped on a call with Guardians of Azuma's producer, Hisashi Fujii. This is his first time working on the Rune Factory series, having previously produced the zombie survival game DEADCRAFT. That's quite a change!
We wanted to dig into the inspirations behind the newest Rune Factory game, so we asked about the new Village Building mechanics, the East Asian influence and aesthetics, and who Fujii-san's favourite romanceable heroes are...
Nintendo Life: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma looks like the biggest game in the franchise to date. As a first-time producer for the series, what were you most excited about to bring to the series?
Hisashi Fujii, Producer: Up until now, the main elements of the Rune Factory series were action-RPG and farming elements. And this time, of course, there's a completely new setting, the country of Azuma. So this allowed us to introduce the village building elements, which we think are a new element of the game cycle. And that's the biggest new element that we wanted to bring.
Why was now the right time to introduce village building to the Rune Factory series? And what does it bring to the usual Rune Factory gameplay cycle?
The idea of village building was there from the beginning of the project. The reason I wanted to do this is because, by using the East (Japan) as a stage, we thought we could recreate the original Japanese landscape.
Images: Marvelous
Not only that, but we also wanted to customise the game and buildings, and I hope that the players can experience all of that. That's what I'm working on — a kind of traditional Japanese setting; not just one that exists, but one that the player can actually impact themselves, that they can create, whether it's sort of traditional buildings or other elements.
It looks and sounds like Japanese and Eastern culture has really inspired a lot of the gameplay choices the team has made. How much fun was it to dig into those cultures?
We looked at models of the background, and people who did the art design, and tried to recreate the Japanese architectural style. Of course, as a producer, I wasn't the one actually doing that kind of research [laughs] but we had background modellers and artists who really did a lot of that, to sort of convey that world to the players.
Going into the game itself, this is the first Rune Factory title where you have two protagonists and depending on who you pick, the other protagonist will be a main character within the story. How different was it working with two lead characters, and what challenges did you face trying to make them both feel unique?
The two protagonists appearing in the same game together in the same story together first appeared in Tides of Destiny, but we found there were a lot of players who really wanted to be able to romance the other, so that was kind of the impetus.
Image: MarvelousAs a part of that, we had to think, 'How do you implement both of these characters as characters in the story in a way that will feel natural?' So if you choose the male protagonist, then, the female protagonist is in sort of an antagonistic role to start, and then you can become friends with them later on. And then if you choose the female protagonist, the opposite is also true.
So, the thing we really struggled with was how you create characters who can essentially fill both roles so they're not completely different characters, but they are of course unique. They're their own characters.
Something that's been built upon is farming, and here it's been both simplified and expanded. What were you most conscious of improving in the farming gameplay? And what do you think fans will be excited about?
Compared to previous games in the series, the farming elements have been simplified for players, yes, and so elements that players may have found... like work, have been reduced. As you develop the village, more people will come to [the] village and they can participate in the farming. So there's some degree to which you can assign tasks.
The NPCs who are named — if you can become closer with them, not just romance candidates — you can't assign them to do tasks, but there are many, I guess you could call them 'minor NPCs' in the village, who you can assign tasks to, whether it's helping on the farm or collecting lumber.
Images: Marvelous
With Sacred Treasures, what went into the design of those and how did you combine the gameplay elements for farming and combat with the Japanese-inspired culture?
Unlike in previous games in the series, there's not really magic in the classical sense, so we wanted to replace what was magic with these Sacred Treasures. What we chose were things that are familiar in Japan, like the Umbrella, for example. And we just thought of different ways in which they could be used to both attack and develop your village.
A similar question for weapons, then: You've introduced the Talisman and the Bow. Why did you choose these weapons in particular, and what new gameplay elements do they bring outside of combat?
We chose these weapons because they add an element of Japanese-ness to the game — they kind of have a Japanese quality to them. Also, they're both ranged weapons types, and in past Rune Factory games, the main ranged option was magic, but there weren't many weapons that could be used at range.
Images: Marvelous
We found that adding two new ranged options as main weapons would basically give players who weren't necessarily as comfortable with classical action gameplay another option. In the case of the Talisman, it will follow the enemy, so it gives a different play style for a different kind of player.
With the addition of seasonal villages, have there been any changes to events or festivals, or is the calendar system similar to previous games?
So there are four villages each based around a different seasons, but there are still four seasons. Basically, the seasons will pass, and if there are Spring-specific events — one of the Spring events is The First Pilgrimage where you go to the shrine on the first day of the year — they will be held in the Spring village. So Seasonal events will be held in their specific villages.
Image: MarvelousA big draw of Rune Factory is the romance candidates. We've already talked about romancing the other protagonist, but for Guardians of Azuma, how do the candidates' personalities differ from previous bachelors and bachelorettes?
With 16 different characters to romance, the personalities are quite varied. Guardians of Azuma features bachelors and bachelorettes with all manners of character arcs: some are introspective, some are mature, and some are overtly comedic.
It was important to us to craft complex and well-defined characters who feel 'human' and grow as people over the course of the game. Some characters in Guardians of Azuma are grappling with inner struggles, such as personal guilt or understanding differing ideologies.
With that said, longtime fans will appreciate certain personality types with classic Rune Factory themes; Iroha is the relatable girl-next-door and Hina from Rune Factory 5 returns, having grown into a mature young woman.
Okay, let's end on a fun question: If you had to pick, who's your favourite romance candidate?
So, I love all of them (laughs). If I'm forced to say, among the male marriage candidates, my favourite is Kai, and among the female marriage candidates, my favourite is Matsuri.
Images: Marvelous
This interview has been edited lightly for clarity
Thank you to Hisashi Fujii, interpreter John Wheeler, and Sonia Im for taking the time to speak to us and for setting up this interview.
Are you looking forward to the next Rune Factory game? Let us know in the comments.
