Fairy Tail 2 Interview With Original Creator and Producer of the Sequel
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Fairy Tail 2 Interview With Original Creator and Producer of the Sequel

Fairy Tail 2, the PlayStation 5/PlayStation 4/Nintendo Change/Steam title which permits gamers to relive the climax of the extremely common magical battle fantasy collection Fairy Tail, was launched on December 13, 2024 (December 12 in Japan and Asia). To commemorate the launch, we performed a particular interview with Hiro Mashima, the creator of the authentic Fairy Tail collection, and Hiroshi Kataoka, the producer of the recreation Fairy Tail 2!

IGN: Thanks each for taking day trip of your busy schedules to affix us right now! As Fairy Tail 2 was launched on the twelfth (in Japan and Asia), to start with, may you inform us about how this title started – the way it was proposed (by Koei Tecmo) to Mashima-sensei?

Kataoka: 4 years in the past in 2020 we launched the first Fairy Tail recreation, however it solely coated up till the Tartaros Arc. The ultimate chapter, the Alvarez Empire Arc, remained as pivotal and unfinished ‘homework’ from the earlier recreation, and we felt that the most fun half completely needed to be tailored, however it took us rather a lot of time to consider the finest approach to adapt it right into a recreation. As soon as we had roughly settled on the content material that we thought would work, we offered our proposal of the recreation define which included each the major story and an authentic storyline. How did you are feeling once you first noticed it, Mashima-sensei?

Mashima-sensei: Once I noticed the proposal this time, whereas it was an RPG, there have been motion game-like parts which made me very glad.

Kataoka: This time there generally is a chain of combos in battles, so the approach it performs is near an motion recreation.

Mashima-sensei: Sure, the fight system has modified from the earlier recreation! I believe it’s actually cool.

Kataoka: I believe that one of the strengths of RPGs is having the ability to take the time to showcase grand, elaborate strikes. Nevertheless, since this recreation incorporates action-like parts and options fast-paced battles, we confronted many challenges in enhancing the visible influence of linking combos with out disrupting the gameplay movement. We had been in a position obtain permission to create shorter variations of consecutive casting sequences of the identical magic spells, which I believe resulted in it coming collectively properly.

Kataoka: As you develop into rather a lot stronger on the discipline, you possibly can immediately knock out enemies with a single hit, defeat 10 or extra enemies with particular strikes and extra, so I believe the action-like really feel has elevated considerably, which has in flip actually elevated the gameplay really feel as a Fairy Tail recreation.

Mashima-sensei: Additionally, I believed the map was nice.

Kataoka: It truly is huge. Once I performed it myself and arrived at Hargeon, seeing the port unfold out earlier than me was actually transferring.

Mashima-sensei: Ooh! I’m wanting ahead to that!

IGN: When making the fields, did the improvement group concentrate on any particular factors?

Kataoka: On this recreation, the motive we made the world map seamless was to faithfully recreate the state of affairs from the authentic the place the Alvarez Empire is attacking from all sides, enhancing immersion and conveying a way of journey. In the early phases, gamers primarily discover the map following the story, however in the later phases, the explorable space expands considerably, providing a powerful sense of journey, so I hope gamers will attempt operating by means of the discipline.

Mashima-sensei: I discovered it actually enjoyable to truly have the ability to stroll round this setting of the Kingdom of Fiore. The location of the cities are faithfully recreated as they might be in the authentic collection. I hope followers of the collection will sit up for that facet.

Kataoka: Moreover, on this recreation as gamers journey by means of the open discipline, they are going to see rather a lot of interactions amongst characters so I hope gamers will get pleasure from that as properly.

IGN: Are you able to inform us what sort of interactions we will see?

Kataoka: Since the open discipline is kind of massive, simply strolling round generally is a bit boring so we added conversations. Since exploration is finished in a celebration, we included varied dialogues that seize the essence of the Fairy Tail guild members. Moreover, for these enjoying a Fairy Tail recreation for the first time, we made positive that these conversations may also help them perceive the relationships between the characters.

Kataoka: For instance, they even warn you with traces like “I odor treasure” when there is a treasure chest close by or recommend “Let’s take a break” when there’s a spot to relaxation.

Mashima-sensei: Wow, that is superb! It actually offers the feeling of touring with companions, making the journey rather a lot of enjoyable.

Kataoka: For the earlier recreation, you usually talked about wanting a way of journey, so we had been meticulous in capturing that feeling this time.

Kataoka: Additionally, Plue is hidden all through the world.

Mashima-sensei: “Discover Plue,” proper!?

Kataoka: I hope gamers will attempt to discover him by counting on listening to his voice or from trace dialogues from companions.

IGN: We spoke about how the battle system had modified, how about the graphics?

Kataoka: It has been 4 years since the earlier recreation, so I believe the high quality of the fashions and motions have considerably improved! I’d must say we put the most effort into the facial expressions. Whereas we additionally labored laborious on this in the earlier recreation, the dev group labored laborious to make much more variations of facial expressions, so I believe we’ve been capable of have every character show an expression that finest matches the state of affairs for a lot of scenes.

Mashima-sensei: The standard is extremely excessive, and I used to be actually happy! Except for the fashions, I believe they’re referred to as stills? The only illustrations had been all so spectacular I’ve misplaced a bit of confidence (laughs). There was an illustration of Natsu and Zeref going through one another and it had the identical influence as the drawings I did again then. Even now, I nonetheless suppose it would’ve been good to make use of as the field artwork.

Kataoka: Once I shared that story with the particular person chargeable for it, they had been extraordinarily thrilled.

IGN: I might wish to ask about the recreation’s story as properly. On this installment, gamers can relive the Alvarez Empire Arc, which is the climax of Fairy Tail. Have been there any challenges in growing the story portion of the recreation?

Kataoka: The unique collection featured many one-on-one battles, however for this recreation we wished to create Fairy Tail vs. Alvarez Empire group battles, so we consulted on making small changes to the order of battles and improvement of the story. And we obtained rather a lot of recommendation and ideas for changes to the story improvement and dialogue to make it even higher, so I consider we achieved a really clean and coherent gameplay expertise.

IGN: By the approach, do you, Kataoka-san and Mashima-sensei, have any favourite characters or scenes from the Alvarez Empire Arc?

Kataoka: The whirlwind of developments in the Alvarez Empire Arc that included the unraveling of mysteries and the decision of plot twists are what I vividly keep in mind being amazed at each week when it aired. There are such a lot of iconic scenes and traces, however for me, the second when Erza all of a sudden stops Natsu and Grey actually struck me and that scene is etched in my reminiscence.

Mashima-sensei: Thanks.

Mashima-sensei: For me, I believe it could be August. I believe that issues that had been added to the setting later, together with the foreshadowing of the battle with August, labored properly and it’s a component that I actually like. Even when the whole story is not included, I would like the battle itself to be thrilling.

Kataoka: We have made positive to faithfully recreate the story, and I believe the ultimate scene turned out rather well.

Mashima-sensei: I am wanting ahead to that!

IGN: So that you got here up with August’s setting later.

Mashima-sensei: I usually provide you with concepts in a while. In fact, even once I say “later,” it is normally a couple of episodes earlier than it is mirrored into the story. In the case of August, it labored notably properly. I’ve heard many individuals say they had been fully fooled by it. “It wasn’t Larcade, it was you!” (laughs)

Kataoka: I used to be fully fooled as properly. (Laughs)

Mashima-sensei: August was a really sturdy character in the authentic collection, so I hope the battle with August is as difficult in the recreation as properly.

Kataoka: Sure, he is an extremely sturdy character as a result of he can copy magic. Even when studying the authentic manga, I puzzled who could be stronger if he fought Zeref. And of course, he is fairly highly effective in the recreation.

Mashima-sensei: It might be an issue if he is too sturdy, although (laughs).

Kataoka: In any other case, gamers won’t have the ability to end the recreation (laughs). We have made him fairly sturdy as the ultimate buildup earlier than the battle with Zeref.

Kataoka: One factor I’d personally wish to ask is how way back did you determine on the content material of the ultimate chapter?

Mashima-sensei: I used to be fairly torn till the finish about whether or not Zeref or Acnologia could be final. As a result of I expanded the story a lot, there have been many issues that had been added later. For instance, there is a character named Dimaria who can cease time, and she was so highly effective that I could not determine how she could possibly be defeated, so the sudden look of “that character” was an concept I got here up with afterward.

Kataoka: Oh, actually!

Mashima-sensei: It felt like dwell storytelling! There are rather a lot of situations the place it could have been higher with out sure settings… Whereas I’ve repeated some of these regrets, it’s enjoyable to create a narrative as you go alongside!

Kataoka: And was there any explicit motive behind having 12 members in the Spriggan 12?

Mashima-sensei: Initially, I made a decision on 12 companion characters who would play energetic roles. From there, I then determined that every of them would defeat one of the 12 enemy characters. Nevertheless, Erza ended up defeating two of them. (laughs)

Kataoka: That’s true. (laughs)

Mashima-sensei: In video games, it is normally one thing like ‘4 Heavenly Kings,’ however right here we’ve 12. (laughs)

Kataoka: As the ones making it, I truthfully contemplated, “12, huh…” (laughs)

Mashima-sensei: I think about creating the fashions should have been rather a lot of work.

Kataoka: However I used to be decided to guarantee that combating all members of the “Spriggan 12” would undoubtedly occur, so I informed the improvement group from the begin, “Battle all of the Spriggan 12! It is a should!”

Mashima-sensei: That is fantastic to listen to. I am wanting ahead to it.

IGN: Along with reliving the authentic story, this recreation additionally contains an authentic storyline. How did the improvement of the authentic story come about?

Kataoka: From the second we first proposed the recreation, we mentioned that we wished to incorporate an authentic storyline. And truly Mashima-sensei requested that the authentic story be very well-developed, so we put rather a lot of effort into it. For the ultimate boss of the authentic story, our concept of battling a selected character at the very finish was the solely half proposed from the very starting.

Mashima-sensei: I believed all the authentic situations had been nice. I believe it’s clear that rather a lot of laborious work has been put into them!

Kataoka: Thanks. Since the major story is kind of severe as it’s the ultimate chapter, we wished one thing to carry out the lighthearted and energetic really feel typical of Fairy Tail that may be extra informal to play. We even puzzled if we would get in hassle for going overboard… (laughs)

Mashima-sensei: It wasn’t an issue in any respect! (Laughs) It was enjoyable!

Kataoka: That’s good to listen to. I’m actually glad you loved it.

IGN: Talking of authentic content material for the recreation, in the Digital Deluxe version, there’s an in-game characteristic referred to as Atelier Lucy. Might you tell us extra about this?

Kataoka: After the earlier recreation, Mashima-sensei talked about on X that “it could be good to have one thing like an Atelier Lucy,” and that’s the place the concept started. The IP producer of the Atelier collection (Junzo) Hosoi additionally welcomed the concept, so we proposed it, obtained approval and made it occur. Since matching the synthesis system in the newer Atelier collection would make it a bit too difficult to play, we’ve put in a easy system, and I consider it’s very enjoyable.

Mashima-sensei: That is actually nice. I additionally love the Atelier collection, so although what you made this time is a parody, it would not really feel out of place in any respect. If there is a sequel, I might love for it to be totally developed.

IGN: Would it not be good to also have a collaboration title like ‘Atelier Fairy Tail’?

Mashima-sensei: Sure, I’d like that to occur sometime (laughs).

Kataoka: Truly, we’ve included acquainted parts from the Atelier collection, like Barrel!

Mashima-sensei: I used to be actually glad once I found that. There have been fairly a couple of character variations too!

IGN: This recreation contains additionally features a wealth of DLC corresponding to outfits and a further state of affairs. Have been there any explicit facets you centered on in creating these?

Kataoka: For the DLC outfits of playable characters, we wished to create a way of togetherness, so we included outfits from the 8-Island restaurant the place they labored in the authentic collection, formal put on with a marriage motif, and college uniforms to evoke a picture of college life. As for the extra state of affairs, I personally actually preferred the Battle of Fairy Tail episode, so I believed of combining it with a sizzling springs theme.

Mashima-sensei: Each time new outfits had been despatched over, I’d say, “that’s superior!” I believed it was incredible that every character had their very own distinctive outfit reasonably than everybody sporting the identical factor. It was extremely artistic and spectacular.

Kataoka: There are even characters sporting glasses with the college uniforms. (laughs)

Mashima-sensei: The designs are really superb! I would like everybody to see all of them!

Kataoka: We’re additionally contemplating some absurd battles in the Area, like combating Zeref, August, and Larcade concurrently. Think about going through six members of the Spriggan 12 directly. (laughs)

Mashima-sensei: Are you able to even beat that? (laughs)

Kataoka: That is the place gamers might want to stage up their characters and hone their expertise. (laughs)

Mashima-sensei: That sounds thrilling.

IGN: To shut, may you share a message for these eagerly anticipating the launch?

Kataoka: We have saved you ready a very long time since the earlier recreation, however the launch is lastly right here. Our whole group has poured their love for Fairy Tail into this venture and with the cooperation of Mashima-sensei and everybody at Kodansha we’re lastly at completion. We have created one thing really pleasant in of course not solely the story, however the gameplay too, so I hope you may give it a attempt.

Mashima-sensei: I actually suppose this work is crammed with love for Fairy Tail, and I am actually wanting ahead to enjoying it myself, so I hope everybody will sit up for it too.

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