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Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of Final Fantasy, is bringing co-op multiplayer to his latest creation, mobile role-playing game Terra Battle. Multiplayer battles were always part of the plan for developer Mistwalker, and Sakaguchi said the addition was partly inspired by the growing popularity of eSports.
In Terra Battle's multiplayer mode, up to three players can team up to and face off against enemies together. I played a demo in which three of us were tasked with taking down a summon--a powerful being-- and one smaller enemy, a minion of sorts. This smaller enemy would respawn each time it was killed until we finally destroyed the summon.
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GameSpot's Top 10 Games of 2023
Thompson: The Pop Culture Icon’s Strange Legacy - LoadoutFirearms Expert’s FAVORITE Weapons Of 2023State Of Gaming Handhelds In 2023How Lies of P Cracked the Souls GenreLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Ichiban Kasuga Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Saeko Mukoda Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Chitose Fujinomiya Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Eric Tomizawa Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Kazuma Kiryu Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Koichi Adachi Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Yu Nanba Character Spotlight Trailer
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Now Playing: Terra Battle Announcement Trailer
Combat in Terra Battle takes place on a grid, with characters taking up one square each. The layout is similar to Fire Emblem titles, but Terra Battle allows you to move multiple characters at once by using one to bump another. For example, selecting one character and moving them in a circle around the grid will move any characters in your path. Bumping against one character's right side will move them one square left. This applies to every direction. In multiplayer this is helpful because you can easily help maneuver your comrades into position alongside and enemy to sneak in a few extra attacks.
While one player is taking their turn, the other two can still be active. Repeatedly tapping on the screen helps recharge the Summon drive, which will allow your team to summon a powerful being if you line up a character with a floating letter "S" on the grid. These summons do more damage and are especially helpful in the case of respawning smaller enemies.
In a recent interview with GameSpot, Sakaguchi said, through a translator, that while he doesn't think role-playing games are dead on console, he does believe the mobile space is offering more varied experiences for the genre.
"The touchscreen is a big part of it," he said. "If there are any new features people will expect, it will be on mobile. It depends. I can’t really say RPGs are dead on console and everything is going mobile, but I feel that everything comes in waves.”
Sakaguchi pointed out that eSports are becoming more popular, with many players turning to MOBAs and multiplayer shooters to hone their playing skills. These eSports players, Sakaguchi believes, are using games as a way to put themselves out there. Mistwalker has already held several eSports-like events with Terra Battle, in which players team up to take down a boss. With more people wanting to livestream, compete, and showcase themselves playing games, eSports are something game designers may want to keep in mind moving forward.
"I see eSports as a different platform that hasn’t gotten big in Japan yet, but the players are there, the interest is there," he said. "I see a lot of good in eSports.
"One of the main components of Terra Battle's download starter was I wanted to have a festival-ish feel, where you have a bunch of different people coming in," he added. "Players in eSports want to get themselves out there. We added a camcorder feature in Terra Battle where you can record your gameplay and load it up. I believe that the generation now is the 'me' generation that has the 'I’m better than you' kind of people. I think it fits the mold right now. The game is just the vehicle."
Sakaguchi noted that he has tried some MOBAs, but unfortunately feels he's not very good at them.
"I stink," he said.
Despite his growing interest in eSports, Sakaguchi still holds the JRPG genre higher in his heart. He began like most of us do--as a fan of the genre--before going on to develop games. He believes that story is the most important element in role-playing games, as it's the feelings these games evoked in him that drew him to JRPGs in the first place.
"I see the importance of players feeling closer to characters if they’re using their imagination to connect the dots. I feel there’s less distance between the game and player."
"It started on the Apple II with Wizardy," Sakaguchi said. "There are a lot of RPGs I played in the past that made me realize story needs to be in the game. Obviously there are a lot of games where it only requires quick reflexes and it’s an action type of game. But I feel that there needs to be sadness, there needs to be happiness, there needs to be a story, there needs to be some sort of feeling in the game.
"One of the reasons I’m sort of blocked off in this JRPG genre is I look up to Kazuhiko Torishima," he added, mentioning the former Weekly Shonen Jump manga editor. Torishima currently works for Shueisha Publishing Co in Japan, but in his time at Shonen Jump he had a heavy hand in developing the first half of Akira Toriyama's series Dragon Ball. Torishima is also mentioned in the "Special Thanks" section in the credits of Final Fantasy 7.
"And what I learned was, characters are important and they need to stand out and be memorable. Those are the values I put in the game, where players needs to connect with each and every character," he said.
Sakaguchi's Terra Battle focuses on its grid-based combat, but through fan feedback he's learned that many players do spend timing reading character entries and other lore literature built into the game. For the veteran designer, it's not all about fancy graphics--it's about making a story players connect with.
“I started off with characters being very important along with storytelling, but then people, especially with Final Fantasy 7 going to 3D...it’s a different way of storytelling," he said. "Other games went open world, big budgeted, online. Those are the big things happening right now. But in terms of Terra Battle, I learned that people do read the texts and profiles and what I’m learning right now is people use their imagination to connect the dots in the story. I’m not going against those big-budget 3D ways of storytelling, but I see the importance of players feeling closer to characters if they’re using their imagination to connect the dots. I feel there’s less distance between the game and player.”
Terra Battle has been downloaded nearly 1.4 million times, and Sakaguchi is expecting that number will grow in 2015 when the new content hits. A console version of Terra Battle is not off the table, but not in the planning stages just yet. As far as the mobile market is concerned, Sakaguchi said he's not married to the space. It all depends on what ideas he has, and whether or not he can fully stand behind them.
"My main thing when making a game is it comes from an idea. Then the rules are very important, and it's important to get those rules across to the user," he said. "But I have to come up with those rules and ideas. Without ideas, I don’t feel the need to come up with a game that I’m half-assing and don’t completely believe it. I’m not going to force the game out there."
Mistwalker is hoping to launch multiplayer in Terra Battle in mid-January. Terra Battle's download starter is currently available for free on iOS and Android.
Alexa Ray Corriea on Google+
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