Horii Yokoyama

Here’s an English translation of the interview with Ryu ga Gotoku Online director Horii and scenario supervisor Yokoyama from Weekly Famitsu 9/13/2018. Again, no source link, but the magazine is available to buy here: Bookwalker

 

Talking to the developers of Ryu ga Gotoku Online

The other day, right after pre-registrations opened, it was still a mystery as to what sort of game this will be. So we got two of the development team to spill the beans!

Director – Akio Horii – a creator who’s managed many console games and online games. He was the main planner on Phantasy Star Online 2 Ep3.

Scenario supervisor – Masayoshi Yokoyama – the chief producer of the Ryu ga Gotoku series. The man who’s managed the scripts for the series, for this one he took charge of everything, set up the backstory and supervised the whole scenario.

This game is huge! You’re not going to run out of things to do.

—— First of all, can you give us an outline of the contents of Ryu ga Gotoku Online?

Horii: In broad terms, the genre will be social RPG. As for how you play the game, basically you collect cards, construct a deck, and use that deck to clear battles and advance the story. Because this is a continuation of the Ryu ga Gotoku story, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio drew up the scenario, we had Nagoshi making sure it fit with the rest of the series, then Yokoyama took care of the fine details. Being able to fully enjoy what the Ryu ga Gotoku series has built – this world centred on organised crime and all its exhilarating battle action – on PC and smartphone is really special.

Yokoyama: Ryu ga Gotoku Studio put all our efforts into this game. Not just the scenario, the development of the design of the Kamurocho setting, even the interface and menus, a lot of key staff members from the Ryu ga Gotoku series put in a lot of work so we could call this a legitimate continuation to the series. You could say that every part of it is so Ryu ga Gotoku-like, we don’t even think about it as being a new genre of game.

—— So you’re saying you were able to capture the essence of Ryu ga Gotoku?

Yokoyama: The story too, it’s not just reading words on the screen, there’s also plenty of impactful movie scenes that will be a vivid reminder of Ryu ga Gotoku. By the game’s nature, it’s different to play, but we’ve imbued it with as much “Ryu-ness” as the system would allow. 

Horii: For example, the way the series allows you to “play the town”, it’s the same here – you can go in familiar cabaret clubs, you can help out characters in shops, and get rewarded for doing stuff.

—— Sounds great! By the way, I have a question about this game’s main story. This one, and the home console game you’re still working on, part of the story is the same in both, but there’s also parts where the two versions develop differently, is that right?

Yokoyama: Yes. In August last year, we detailed Kasuga Ichiban’s early life and how he joined and left the yakuza in a prologue movie (which can be watched on the official site, and I translated it here and here) and that part is common to both games. Specifically, the episode of Ichiban going to prison is the same, but the characters appearing and how they’re connected differs depending on the game. Since each story stands alone, it’s absolutely not like you won’t understand what’s going on if you don’t play one of them. And whichever one you play, it’s the story of Kasuga Ichiban’s life. 

—— What chapter will we be able to play up to at launch?

Horii: The first part goes up to Chapter 11. The thing is, it’s not just the main story sections, while you can play that of course, there’ll be so much else to do as well. (laughing)

Yokoyama: It might feel like, “All that content, delivered all at once, really?” but we’re throwing it all out there from the start. (laughing)

Horii: Of course, it’s not that the main story’s finished in 11 chapters. After the launch, we plan to add to the story bit by bit.

They’re coming back as cards!? It’s like a “Ryu-fest” battle

—— What do you expect the difficulty level of the battles to be?

Horii: When you’re playing, it’s your strategy, the composition of your deck etc, that are most important. Also, the battles proceed in a semi-automatic manner, so it’s easy to play, but there’s also character Heat actions and “battle items” you can use while fighting, so we recommend you find your own best way of managing battles. We want you to use it all to build your own knockout battle style.

—— So, the player can choose how to play depending on their preferences and circumstances.

Yokoyama: Yes. However, while action is a given, your deck composition is really essential. When you get into the second half, if you don’t have recovery cards for example, you’ll be in trouble. So make sure you pre-register, to get the SSR Sawamura Haruka card we’re giving away – it’s a really excellent recovery card. It’s a must-have, I would say.

—— By the way, can you tell us about the familiar Ryu ga Gotoku characters appearing on the cards?

Horii: Of course! You can recruit characters who are no longer central to the story, and characters who are “maybe” dead, as cards. 

—— Can I just check, am I right to think that you’re saying the appearances of these characters are kept separate from the main story?

Yokoyama: Yes, that’s right. You obtain the cards featuring these characters as you progress through the story and make allies, or from event stories, etc., there’s various ways of obtaining them. However, none of them are connected to the main story. In the end, as Kasuga Ichiban is the protagonist, no matter what kind of deck you compile, the main story will be the story of Kasuga Ichiban. 

—— So they won’t appear as allies outside of the deck, then.

Horii: No. Honestly, the team argued a lot over whether or not to have past characters reappear as cards. But Nagoshi and Yokoyama both said, “If we’re going to make the fans happy, we have to think of some way of bringing them in.” So we ended up thinking if we’re going to do it, let’s go all in. By the way, if you satisfy certain conditions, you can also open up exclusive character stories.

—— So you can make the fans happy, even without having the characters directly involved in the story of this game.

Yokoyama: To give you an example, the kind of thing we’ve done is that we take a character from the past who’s dead and reveal a hidden episode from their past. “That time, before fighting Kiryu, actually this thing happened …” There’s untold stories to tell, so you can look forward to seeing them in these episodes.

The first step towards the dream of everyone being able to enjoy Ryu ga Gotoku

—— So, to finish, could you talk about why you’re enthusiastic about this game?

Horii: We made this game so that people who say, “I’ve heard of Ryu ga Gotoku games, but I thought you could only play them if you own a console,” can now play them too. The baton has passed from Kiryu Kazuma to Kasuga Ichiban, but if you start with this one, I think you’ll definitely get to appreciate the charm of Ryu ga Gotoku games!

Yokoyama: The Ryu ga Gotoku series up till now has been a great success on Playstation consoles. But the world’s changing. You used to only be able to enjoy films on big screens with big sound, but now with the introduction of DVDs etc. for home use, the battlefield’s shifted, and we were thinking about how you could enjoy entertainment like Ryu ga Gotoku, on home consoles of course, but also on PC and smartphone, in multiple ways. As a creator, having people play my game, the thing I made, whenever, wherever – that’s one of my dreams. I think Ryu ga Gotoku Online will be the first step on the way to that dream. And for people who are like, “Oh, I used to play Ryu ga Gotoku …” I really want you to play this one too. 

—— A powerful message, thank you. By the way, will you be showing it at Tokyo Game Show?

Yokoyama: We are intending to release new information about this game at Tokyo Game Show 2018. And we’re busy working on merchandise featuring the series’ new face, Kasuga Ichiban, so you can look forward to that too!