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This interview was conducted with Matsukawa san, Kawano san, and Saruta san. Scans are provided by Howling Guild. Please thank her.
Left Side of page
(Side caption next to picture of the Hero of Suikoden 4)
This boy is the hero!
This time, the Hero is a "Tenkai Star". His age is unknown. He used to be an orphan, and it seems like he is hired as a servant for a feudal lord in the countryside. During the game he gets the Rune of Punishment.
The Hardship of Making a Character
The Hero for this time has been released to the public. As you can see this hero, whom Kawano san has said as "being established as in his late teens", is quite a bishounen. His outfit is unique, but "compared to the 3rd game the character's body proportion increased, making it much more realistic. Then I thought that I would like to draw muscles, so I decided to try out this kind of design". (Quotes by Kawano) The bandanna and the leather gloves "are added to be eye catching because the body proportion decreases and becomes smaller in a game". (Kawano) So there are instances where the model is first created in the game before the art is made.
Right side of page
A Ship Will Be Used for Traveling in the 4th Game. What is the Story Behind It?
(Personal thoughts of GENSO: The interviewer does not know anything about the Genso Suikoden games. She's quite annoying)
Komukai (interviewer): I've heard that this "Genso Suikoden" game is a RPG that has an enormous fan base, but what is it's appeal? Since it's called "Suikoden", is it a game that takes place in China?
Matsukawa: It doesn't necessarily mean that it must take place just only in China. Certainly "Suikoden" uses the Chinese tale where 108 ordinary people come together from different backgrounds and a group of bandits become a government army as a motif. This is shown by having 108 unique individuals and having a headquarters, but the important point is that it is telling a story about "people interacting with people" and "people and country". It is never a RPG where you go defeat an evil devil king or go fly out to outerspace at the end. That's why the enemies are never fully evil, and they have a reason for doing what they do. This is the probaly the reason for the games being supported by the fans.
Komukai: I've heard that the popularity of the characters is very high in this game.
Matsukawa: Yes. There are 108 characters, and we purposely have each of them strongly show their unique qualities. It is without doubt that there are many fans of the characters, so we hope to keep it vital for the 4th game.
Kawano: We conciously are aware of the point that both the enemy and the ally have various standpoints. I make sure that those personalities can be seen through the characters' graphics.
Komukai: This hero is very good looking. I thought that his outfit was very nice.
Kawano: Thank you very much. Since this hero possesses the Rune of Punishment and that makes it a little dark, I wanted him to wear blackish colored clothes that was never been used before. But since I used the color black for the boy, I could not use black for the other characters and I suffered quitely. (laughter)
Komukai: I see. Since this time it is a progression from the third game to the fourth game, what type of things should we look out for?
Saruta: We are still not at the point where we can show the story, the time period selected, and other characters.
Matsukawa: Although the time related stuff is still secret, for the time being we will just say that a ship will be used for travel.
Komukai: Why did you decide on that?
Matsukawa: There isn't a deep meaning to it. The reason was something like, "Hey, we haven't had ships make that much of an appearance." This time since we wanted to progress the first one to something of the present, we decided to challenge ourselves with something new that has never happened before.
Komukai: There will be a presentation at the next Tokyo Game Show?
Saruta: Since this time it will be a video presentation, we thought that we would like to show a digest of all the good parts. If one looks closely, there will be surprise(s) that will make him/her gasp "what is (are) this (those) character(s) doing here?" This will especially happen for the long time fans.
Kawano: We are in the process of working on it as we speak.
Komukai: The release is during this year, right? Oops. Since it's 2004, it's next year?
Matsukawa: Yes. There is still a year before the release. The announcement is a little too soon, but we just wanted to say that "we ARE making it". Please don't forget about us. (laughter)
Komukai: I see. I'll look forward to it.
(Personal comment of GENSO: These are little featurettes that the magazine had along side the actual interview. They are comments by the magazine and not the Genso Suikoden IV staff members)
Genso IV
What will happen here?
Battle System?
Although the battle system interests us the most, it does look like the magic attacks using the runes have substantially powered up. We hope for a flashier graphic and presentation compared to Suikoden III. Let's definitely check it out at the Tokyo Game Show venue.
(Side text next to picture of a character possibly using magic) Is this picture show the usage of magic? Magic was available for usage in the previous games, but none were presented as flashy as this one.
(Side text below picture of a character and some animal type person fighting) Is the right character one of the kobolds? It has been said that the battle party will be grouped with the buddy system this time again, but the details are still unknown.
Genso IV
What will happen here?
Characters?
We are interested regarding what type of characters will appear as the 108 stars, but we are especially interested in knowing how and where the characters in the previous games are connected. It's vital to check out the footage for TGS!
(Side text below picture of Eleanor Silverberg) Will the strategist Silverberg family make an appearance as expected in IV? The meaning to her line make one anxious!
(Side text next to picture of someone standing at the edge of the ship look at a seagull) Could this person with the pointy ears be an elf? Since they should receive an award for perfect attendance in Suikoden 1 through 3 (laughter), their appearance seems without doubt.
(Bottom left of the page in pink)
The Stage For This Time is the Ocean!
The stage for Suikoden IV will mainly be the islands surrounds by the great ocean, Island Nations. Traveling in a ship was possible in Suikoden II, but there was a limitation due to being in 2D. But this time, by looking at the screenshots, it will be very exciting seeing that it may be possible to come and go freely on the ocean completely. It is certain that this game will be fun to play even without the knowledge of previous games, but one of the reason for its popularity is the subtle connection between the worlds within the series. A fan of the series will definitely be interested to find out which characters will make an appearance. Since it's the Island Nations, it's possible to think that there will be characters who are connected to Amada and Nanami making an appearance..?
(Sidetext next to picture of a beach) This stage CG is reminiscent of tropical places like Hawaii with the beach and the palm trees. But there are also pictures indicating the contrary with scenary of Medieval Europearn style towns. What time period is this staged and where?
(Side text below picture of ships) Crossing the vast ocean by ships. This was not seen previously. Weren't the Island Nations further south of Kanakan, south of the Toran Republic in Suikoden 2? Is there a connection?
Traveling By Ship Mainly?
In IV, one will travel over the ocean using ships. Please take a look at the beautiful graphics. Also, an image CG of a castle like structure has been released, and it looks similar to the headquarters in Suikoden III. Is there a connection?
