At this year’s Tokyo Game Show, GameSpy got to see a trailer of the upcoming Xbox 360 RPG Infinite Undiscovery under development at tri-Ace, the same folks that brought you Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile. After the presentation, they got to chat with Director Hiroshi Ogawa of tri-Ace, and Producer Hajime Kojima of Square Enix, about their latest adventure.

Due to the length of the interview, it can be found under the cut.

GameSpy: Tell us a little bit about Infinite Undiscovery.

Hajime Kojima: It’s a collaborative effort between Square Enix and tri-Ace, and its our first endeavour on the next generation. The genre for the game is action RPG. It’s similar to the games tri-Ace has put out thus far in having action battles, and that action has been brought to the forefront even more this time around.

GameSpy: What does the title mean?

Hiroshi Ogawa: Undiscovery is obviously a word we’ve created. The meaning is involved with the concepts of the game, which are discovery and impact. Over the course of the game players will discover many things that are hidden, and those things will have an impact on the development of the game and how things go. There’s basically an infinite number of undiscovered things in the world, so Infinite Undiscovery.

GameSpy: Can you tell us a little bit about how the real-time fighting system works?

Hajime Kojima: The actual battle controls are somewhat similar to Star Ocean 3. But the major difference is that whereas, say, in previous games, the field and battle situations had been separated, this game moves seamlessly in the encounter from field into battle. Movement and battle are seamlessly integrated in real-time, so while in battle you’ll see huge things in the field — large monsters, and large tsunamis that affect the situation and how battle plays out. One of the key elements is the overwhelming sense of things in the background that come to affect those in the foreground.

GameSpy: Why release exclusively for the Xbox 360?

Hiroshi Ogawa: After making RPGs on the PS2, we really wanted to do something on a system with higher perforamnce. If you’re talking about XBox Live, we plan to somehow involve it in the development, but as to the specific contents, I can’t really speak to that right now.

GameSpy: Is the entire world seamless? Is there a world map, or can you travel from place to place all in one seamless environment?

Hiroshi Ogawa: The traditional-style world map isn’t present here. It’s something more like the movement in Star Ocean 3 on a larger scale. As for villages and towns versus the outside world, there is a bit of loading there. The size of the fields will be much larger than Star Ocean 3, though, so there won’t be loading so much, just in very few places.

GameSpy: What can we expect to see from the next generation beyond prettier graphics and seamless world loading?

Hiroshi Ogawa: One key element in the gameplay is the AI of the party members, which has been really been taken to a level where it almost feels as if they’re people. So you can control the lead character, Capel, and the AI of the other characters in your party almost makes it feel like a multiplayer experience. It wouldn’t have been possible on the earlier hardware, but this time around we’ve been able to make an AI that is so close to a human.

GameSpy: Can you give us an idea of the types of things you’ll discover in this world?

Hiroshi Ogawa: Discovery really bridges all over the game. At the most basic level, discovering the enemy ahead of time will give you an advantage in battle. If you discover a sign that a tsunami is going to occur, you can react to that.

GameSpy: How you go about upgrading weapons and improving your magic throughout the game?

Hajime Kojima: It’s pretty traditional in defeating enemies and earning experience and learning magic as you go. You gain weapons and magic dropped by enemies and found in treasure chests. Of course, that by itself would be pretty boring, so there are certain things you can add to weapons and combine with magic that affect the play. I can’t really go into specifics right now, though.

GameSpy: You’ve mentioned tsunamis a couple times. How much do environmental changes affect battle techniques?

Hiroshi Ogawa: There’s a large focus on the moon in the worldview of the game. People derive power from the moon, and that’s how the world comes to prosper. After that, the moon is bound in chains, which is where the story begins, and the power of the moon is lost to the people. The tsunamis are linked to the proximity of the moon, and, as the people derive their power from the moon, it has an effect on them as well, so the environment does come to affect the world in many ways.

GameSpy: What design elements are being used to appeal specifically to Eastern or Western audiences?

Hiroshi Ogawa: It is being considered on a worldwide scale, so naturally there are certain Japanese design elements such as the shapes of the characters and things like that, but it’s based more on the maker and not the market. While we do consider what users in different areas will appreciate, it’s more about doing what we want to do than pleasing particular people.

GameSpy: Do characters from your previous games make any cameos, or do you otherwise reference your development history?

Hajime Kojima: The world is all-new, and the system is completely new as well, so in that way it’s divorced from everything before it, but anyone that’s familiar with tri-Ace might have a suspicion that they’ll seem something familiar. We’re right in the middle of development right now, so as much as we’d like to put that in, we’re not certain that we’ll be able to.

GameSpy: How does the party system work?

Hiroshi Ogawa: The active party members are the lead character, and three others, so it’s a party of four. The AI approach is something that’s simple and easy to change on the fly. This is different from the other games where you go into your pause menu and have to stop there. The time spent preparing for battle is very important, so that once you get into battle, the things you need to change on the fly are easy to accomplish.

GameSpy: Which games have the team members made in the past?

Hajime Kojima: The director, Hiroshi Ogawa, was the main planner on Star Ocean 3, and he was also involved in Star Ocean 2 and Valkyrie Profile.

Hiroshi Ogawa: The producer, Hajime Kojima, has been involved in everything since Star Ocean 3, which includes Radiata Stories, Valkyrie Profile 2, and this game, Infinite Undiscovery. The composer is Motoi Sakuraba, who has composed for all the tri-Ace games to date. I can’t disclose the character designer at this time.

GameSpy: What lessons have you learned from the previous titles you’ve worked on?

Hiroshi Ogawa: I’ve worked on many titles to date, and I’ve always sought to improve each time, and though I can’t give a specific example of one thing, I think it’s key that I’ve never been satisfied, or chosen to settle for what I’ve produced. I’ve always wanted more, to use the hardware more, to put more into the game, and I think that’s a key element of my work process.

Hajime Kojima: The key this time was the increased performance of the hardware, and so I really wanted to bring in dynamic graphics, and bring the action element that tri-Ace has always had to another level.

GameSpy: How long do you project Infinite Undiscovery will be?

Hajime Kojima: It’s very difficult to say because we’re right in the middle of making it, but you can expect 30-40 hours of gameplay.

GameSpy: Are the cinemas pre-rendered, or real-time?

Hiroshi Ogawa: Most of the cut scenes are in real-time.

GameSpy: Does the appearance of each character change based on the gear they equip?

Hiroshi Ogawa: Not so much their bodily appearance, but the weapon will change.

GameSpy: Does the critical reception of previous games affect the design of later games? Do the points that GameSpy and other outlets bring up make it into the design process?

Hiroshi Ogawa: We don’t believe in changing anything just because of something that was said, but it draws our attention. We obviously notice it, and if we agree with it, then it’s something we’ll change, but we’re not going to change it just because someone didn’t like it. It’s important to balance the intent, and the opinion. Our intent is reaching the player, and when you see those opinions, you see if that intent is coming through. It’s important to balance that and make sure it’s getting through.

GameSpy: What’s it been like creating your first game for the Xbox 360? What hurdles have you come across?

Hiroshi Ogawa: The biggest hurdle was that we had to design an original game engine from the ground up. All our old engines wouldn’t work. That was the biggest task. One of the major features of the new engine is what we call a “film simulator,” which gives movie-like looks to things, so it brings out brighter colors and enhances the sense of depth perception. By doing something new like that, it’s great to have it, but then to make it mesh with everything else opens up a whole new can of worms.

GameSpy: Has tri-Ace faced any particular difficulties making two large games on next-generation hardware simultaneously?

Hiroshi Ogawa: Having two projects at the same time isn’t that difficult. The company is built to handle two titles at the same time. We have the people we need. The benefit of having two lines is that there are elements of both cooperation and competition, to a certain extent, that drives each person to try harder.

GameSpy: What’s the biggest problem facing next-gen developers?

Hiroshi Ogawa: Really, fulfilling the potential of what’s in there. Making it perfect and maximizing everything is really the challenge at this point. Other things that you could just pass off before… if you were to make this table that’s in front of us you can’t just do it like you used to, where it’s kind of like a basic color object, you have to make it very clear, down to the smallest detail, when you’re working on a level.

GameSpy: What about Infinite Undiscovery do you think will appeal to RPG players who might not be familiar with tri-Ace’s past games?

Hajime Kojima: While there is still something in there for the fans, this game has a lot of action and RPG elements interwoven in real-time that are completely different from the other tri-Ace games. Given the new system, and the action elements in it, I think it will appeal to people who aren’t necessarily fans of the previous games.

GameSpy: You’ve built your reputation largely on PlayStation machines. Are you worried that some fans might not follow you from one platform to another?

Hajime Kojima: Particularly in Japan, the PlayStation 3 installed base is larger, but a lot of the people who have 360s are core gamers, and a lot of core gamers play tri-Ace games. While I can’t say that I’m not at all worried, I’m confident that the core gamers will pick up the game. I’m not worried in America, because there’s such a great installed base for the 360 there.

Hiroshi Ogawa: From the development side, regardless of the hardware, we’re just focused on making a game that anyone would want to play.

GameSpy: Though the Star Ocean games are action games in a sense, they don’t really require quick reflexes, or precision aiming, or anything like that. Will those elements by a part of Infinite Undiscovery?

Hiroshi Ogawa: You don’t have to have great reflexes to play the game, but there is more going on, at a faster rate than in previous games.

Hajime Kojima: It is a Square Enix RPG at heart, and though it does tow the line, if it did involve those reflex elements, it would just become an action game, and we want to maintain the fun of an RPG.

Hiroshi Ogawa: Even if you’re not good at the game, it’s still fun. But if you get used to the game and become good at it, it’s even more fun. It’s fun either way.

GameSpy: How have team structures and budgeting concerns changed as a result of moving to next-generation hardware?

Hiroshi Ogawa: Everything has gotten bigger in general. Design is probably the element that’s most expanded, since everything in the game needs to be designed more closely. That’s the area where cost has grown the most. Of course, programmers and planners are able to do more, which is a good thing, but it also means they feel driven to do more, so the cost also increases there, but not as much as design. The other thing that’s changed is specialization. Whereas before you could have the same person doing maybe three different things, now you have a specialist for camera work and things like that. Specialization has become a key element in development.

GameSpy: Why did you decide to build your own engine, instead of just going with Unreal Engine 3, or something like that?

Hiroshi Ogawa: tri-Ace has always used its own engines, so we don’t even think about using someone else’s.

GameSpy: Are you considering a simultaneous international release?

Hajime Kojima: We’re right in full-force development right now, so whether we can get it out at the same time, we’re not sure, but we’ll do our best to make sure there isn’t a big gap.

→ Original Interview Source