Interview: Behind the Scenes of Shin Megami Tensei

Author Ed Moore interviewed Atlus Japan's Eiji Ishida and Kazuma Kaneko all but the Shin Megami Tensei series of games (likewise famous as MegaTen) for his clause in Put out 279 of The Escapist. What follows is the full transcript of that interview.

Stylized fiber design is one of MegaTen's strengths; the use of line, color in, and blending is absolutely iconic and very striking. How do you search and design a demon's appearance and imagery and collaborate with some other developers to bring the demons to life?

Kazuma Kaneko: Thank you very much for your congratulate. When I design demons, I start by researching their profiles in legends and folklores. Gods and demons that look in myths greatly reflect the environment, polish and customs of the area they arise from. For example, both Zeus from Greek mythology and Thor from Norse mythology are thunder gods, but their attire and equipment are rather different. I get all that info in my head first, past give the demons new take form, sometimes in accordance with their orthodox envision, and in other multiplication giving them a modern reading. Once that's done, the only thing left is for me to draw them in a pose that fits their character.

Whenever I fuse or recruit a new devil, I always run down its profile to learn about its background. I sense that you ingest a strong respect for mythology, folklore, and philosophy. Why serve these elements interest you, and what experiences in your past glorious you to incorporated them into MegaTen?

Kaneko: "What's at the destruction of the cosmos? Is there an end?" I think almost people have asked this kinda question at some point in their lifespan. Personally, I just bon thinking about things suchlike that. Even though human race are part of the universe, nonentity knows why the universe exists, or how mankind came into being. A humanities approach shot is the only way we can get through any kind of conclusion. That's exactly what myths are-philosophical explanations of the universe and valet de chambre-and wherefore I love myths indeed much. The demons in the Megaten series all seem with these questions. It's not wrong to put under everything into sword-shaped "good" and "evil", like in other games, but what's right and wrong can be completely different, depending on your position and perspective; information technology's very ambiguous. So I say, why not let each player tackle that enquiry of what's right and wrong?

MegaTen games sport very creative settings for role-playing games. Instead of castles, elves, OR other Hesperian fantasize tropes, they feature film sci-fi/cyberpunk elements and absorbing alternate dimensions and realities. What inspires you to gestate these imaginative places?

Kaneko: Because MegaTen is all about the mediocre lives decent inconceivably unordinary, IT has to constitute adjacent to redbrick society somehow. To carry out that, we a great deal adapt concepts theorized in fashionable skill into the game. Concurrently, though, a huge number of gods and demons from all ended the world seem in MegaTen. They also have a close relationship with our lives, but information technology's more from a folkloric viewpoint-you might consider that to be the analog approach, as opposed to the digital approach of science. We lay the foundation of the games by ligature science and folklore-cardinal seemingly disagreeable approaches-together with philosophical system. That's what makes the Megaten settings unique.

There are and then many things I take up inspiration from that I can't allude on altogether of them, but Hera's one example. In Japan, there is a Buddhist sutra named Hannya Shingyo. It's a philosophical teaching of how a person should live, containing the phrase "Shiki-soku ze-kuu, kuu-soku ze-shiki." Literally translated, it says that things with shape in reality have no physical body, and it's the things with no mould that have shape. It can be interpreted in a mixed bag of ways, but the basal idea is that the earthly concern is in constant motion and everything is transient, so anything therein world arse be seen differently, depending to combined's personal perspective. I think about this and the quantum mechanics concept of Schroedinger's Quat as pretty suchlike … That's benignant of how I ordinarily ejaculate up with ideas.

Do you have a favorite devil or a race of deities from a certain mythology? If so, why?

Kaneko: Citizenry expect me this question much, but having drawn many gods and demons, every myth is soh fascinating and every demon is so dear to me that I but force out't pick nonpareil demon as my favorite … I'm sorry. For the myths, though, I like the Old Testament of the Scripture. Many myths in the world share traits wish the triad of deities, duality such as good and evil, the creation of the worldwide, and the flood lamp. Simply because the Old Testament is the nearly simple, it gives ME the idea that IT might actually embody the root of whol the myths.

Why has MegaTen endured as a dealership over the past 20 years, and why has it become more than touristy in the West recently? Do you think it's because of the demonic themes and mature message?

Kaneko: MegaTen games are designed and then that the player's decisions as the protagonist regulate the course of the chronicle. Within that story are umteen characters-bad guys who pit the protagonist and others who want to befriend him-and each of them has their own motivations. Frankly, that's how information technology is in the real life, too; I'd even go so Army for the Liberation of Rwanda American Samoa to enounce that events in the world of Megaten are metaphors for the real worldly concern. So for those of you who played a MegaTen game when you were young, I'm sure you'll consume a different see if you play the same game now. I think that's why the fans have loved and supported the series for so long.

Suchlike Western RPGs, MegaTen involves reflective choices with variable degrees of consequence. I had a recent experience with Nocturne where I had to consort or disagree with a philosophy representing power and hierarchy. Spell my choice didn't alter the general plot, information technology determined if I would face a strong foreman operating theatre a weak one. I replayed this part different multiplication to experience each the latent outcomes but ultimately chose the more difficult boss (because fighting puny enemies wasn't satisfying to Maine) and the game rewarded me with more experience. As a designer, I thought this was very clever, and I recall more developers should try harder to bring out significant and influence players' feelings victimisation mechanics, rather than hand-hewn-scenes. How would you like to explore surgery expand upon elements of choice in future Megaten titles?

Kaneko: The branching storyline that's dependant on the musician's choices is an established system, so I'd expect to a fault many extra elements to lawsuit an overabundance of choices in the brave. One direction I'm considering is for each Megaten subseries to have a unequalled type of consequences for the player's choices and enhancing it in a sense that suits that specific subseries. Some other is … The new game console trends began changing the way of life people play games. I'm thinking IT would be nice to incorporate that into the player's in-lame choice-making, and thereby enhance the gameplay experience.

Megaten has used different slipway of conveying a taradiddle see to players. Some MegaTen games utilisation voice dialogue, schoolbook, and cut-scenes, (Persona, Digital Devil Saga) while others are more minimalist, placing greater emphasis on the tonus, aura, and mechanics (Nocturne). Which narrative style do you prefer, and why?

Eiji Ishida: The purpose of each narrative style is a little different from others, so I can't simply compare them, but my personal preference is the minimalistic approach. I equivalent the way it makes you feeling that you're an active part of the story. The player should forever be at the center of the story; event scenes with the subjective opinion of the player help maintain that feeling.

Also, this isn't about the visual aspect, but I like the dialogue-trend storytelling very much. (We ready-made an effort to practise that as much as we could when we worked on Strange Journey.) When the players are confronted with questions and choices that shake the very reason for their actions, they think, "Humans, what should I do…?" Those tense moments when the players are sucked right in to the game are, to me, the meridian of in-game storytelling. Happening a side notice… In Fallout 3, I barely couldn't decide on what to behave at the Tenpenny Tugboat. I finally made upwards my mind, and later… I really regretted it. But that's what I'm talking about! You pot only get that kind of experience from issue scenes in games! It's so awing!

MegaTen has a reputation of beingness very challenging. In a typical game, there are hundreds of demons, evil bosses, and tons of role player skills and stats bedspread across dozens, even a hundred hours or more of gameplay. How do you take out off this big balancing act on so well and living the experience fresh, piquant, and stimulating over such long periods of playday?

Ishida: I consider that for any challenge, the important thing is to make both the goal (the pay back for overcoming the challenge) and the means to attain that finish clear to the musician. Information technology's really basic and nothing out of the mediocre. However, I remember that is the single most determinant point when developing games; information technology's what gives the players the feeling of accomplishment. Strange Journey consists of many different systems, simply the game is planned so these systems form a lattice toward one goal: to kill strong enemies and subdue tough parts of the dungeon so the musician ass impress on. As long as the goal and the means are made clear, the players can control the work to their liking. That makes the process itself an enjoyable experience, and when the players achieve the goal, they get a strong sense of acquisition. (If you just digress round a labyrinth and reach the finish circumstantially, you won't accomplish anything and it's decidedly not fun, right?) The secret to keeping the actor's worry level and motivation high is to provide them with lots of objectives, and make sure the game systems that let the players accomplish those objectives mathematical function well. I'm sorry my answer became kind of conceptual, but if I go into details of each system, this interview will release into a book… But hey, if you guess about information technology, you rump see how the concept of "a goal in sight allows you to try petrous" applies to some games and real life!

One of the things that I sleep with about MegaTen is the boss fights-they are diabolical opponents that will exploit errors and crush you for mistakes. However, even in defeat, it feels feminine, and when you figure out the right scheme, it's selfsame profitable and addicting. How do avoid frustration and reach this balance?

Ishida: This will be a continuation from the previous dubiousness, but regarding Other Journey's difficulty plane, the staff and I focused happening one matter: to clearly point the players the reason for losing the battle. If the players can examine the engagement and understand why they lost, they can figure out how to win the battle, and, as I said in the last question, they butt control the process to victory themselves. So… To achieve that, we decided to enforce a simple theme-rock-scissors style struggle organisation where the outcome relied heavily happening the preparation made anterior to the conflict, not the tactics. We designed the organisation so the players would think, "I unregenerate because I didn't architectural plan out my party properly… I'll work on demon optical fusion and make a daemon that helps me win the battle!" Yes, in Strange Journey, it's not the battle that the players need to put off their thoughts into, IT's the demon optical fusion! If we made the battle organization as complex A the daemon fusion, the players wouldn't personify able to tell the cause of their defeat-whether it was their demons, or something they did wrong in battle. If they don't know why they lost, they can't have their vote out, and the battles simply become overmuch tussle for them. Since we wished-for the game to go around roughly demon nuclear fusion, the battle scheme all over up being quite lanceolate. But keeping the battles simple enabled us to make the gameplay surprisingly straightforward, logical, and abysmal.

What did you get a line some user user interface design from developing SJ on the DS, and how do you think this testament profit future MegaTen games?

Ishida: The biggest advantage the DS has over separate systems is that you can use one of the two screens purely for displaying information. It allowed U.S. to keep things like donjon maps and foe information along showing at totally times, which led to emphasise-free gameplay. But it also meant that so far, we had been designing the game port, which relied on the players' memory, forcing them to not revolve about the gameplay fully. Comparing a ace-screen system to a two-screen system is a trifle too extreme, just being able to realize that was a huge plus for ME, as an RPG developer. From this experience, I learned to be strongly conscious of the players' data processing load, when design the game interface.

Do you playact other games? If so, which ones do you savour, and why?

Kaneko: I play divers kinds of games, but I swordplay games wish Tetris the most, where I keep doing the cookie-cutter affair over and over and try to get a high score. I guess I experience more enjoyment out of beating my personal make than competing with other people. I also like first-person and third base-someone carry through games. I'm a oversized bailiwick fan, so I really fetch into games that fund meticulous attention to firearms and gears. I've been wanting to make a MegaTen game like-minded that, but such an task is difficult to accomplish… It's discouraging.

Ishida: I most certainly sport other games! I late concluded Red Dead Redemption. While I was shocked by the closing portion of the story, I was deep moved by the development team for devising the decision to go therewith ending, whether the players praised IT or disapproved of it. As for the kindly of games I enjoy, I like games with dynamic visuals and all immersive gameplay. In that feel, Scarlet Assassinated Redemption was just perfect. Besides those, it's hard for Maine to keep my pore along unmatchable thing, so I bed games that dedicate you lots of freedom and choices. I start doing one thing… but when I grow world-weary, I can try something different… That's definitely my kind of game.

Is there anything you hindquarters share with your fans outside of Japanese Archipelago to reach them something to anticipate? For example, what unused technologies interest you? Do you have a vision of how Megaten leave evolve? What kind of work would you the likes of to do next?

Kaneko: Information technology's whispered for ME to resolution this interrogate, only… As I said in the previous question about giving players selection, recently there have been changes to how we play and relish games. I manage like to come up to that.

Ishida: I'm worthless to say I tail't disclose any information just about our current projects, but I'm personally concerned in AR (augmented reality) technology. You get out, and when you view through with a camera-or symmetrical your own eyes-there's a MegaTen demon on Wall Street! I'd jazz to make a gimpy like that. "I detected there's a huge demon named Beelzebub at an intersection in Shibuya! Let's go beat it!" "If we posterior incur a hundred people in collaboration, we can summon Metatron! We'll touch tomorrow in front of Tokyo Big Great deal!" Doesn't that sound exciting?

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/interview-behind-the-scenes-of-shin-megami-tensei/

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