Left to Right: Yusuke Naora and Hiroshi Takai


Quick-time events have always been a divisive game mechanic for gaming audiences. Why did you decide to integrate them into your otherwise tactical battle system?
HT: The menu-based battle systems traditionally found in JRPGs can leave players sitting idle for long periods of time without making inputs. Last Remnant’s critical triggers were really just a way to involve the player more fully during battles, not just on a cerebral level with tactical considerations, but also by testing their reactions. We appreciate that some players don’t like this kind of mechanic in the RPG battle system and that’s why we included the option to turn them off completely.


Do you have any frustrations with the Japanese RPG genre in general? How have you addressed these frustrations in Last Remnant, a new IP for which you were free to lay down a fresh template?
HT: There were various elements to the game that we decided to approach in a different way to traditional Japanese RPG design, but by far the main innovation is with the battle system. Most JRPGs have a small, close-knit team of young people who are seemingly the only ones able to save the world. Everyone else sits around idly and watches them. We thought: ‘Why not allow the player to recruit large numbers of soldiers to the cause?’ It was this thinking that eventually led to the recruitment and large-scale battles that define Last Remnant. We’re hoping that this different approach will answer some players’ frustrations with the usual template.


Are you looking to develop Last Remnant into a long-running series or is it envisioned as being a standalone product? And apart from the Japanese market, how much will the possibility of a sequel depend on the success of the game in the west?
HT: We’re definitely open to continuing the story and we’re looking forward to seeing how the fans react to this new game world. However, the team has been working hard on this title and now have a bunch of ideas for other games that we’ll hopefully be able to investigate. We aren’t looking for a certain sales threshold before we’ll consider doing a sequel. We just want Last Remnant to do well at retail and to be critically well received.


Most contemporary Japanese RPGs star teenage lead protagonists. As many of Square Enix’s fans are now into their late 20s and early 30s, would you like to create a game with older, more diverse leads?
YN: The format of the RPG lends itself well to having a teenage protagonist. Usually you’re playing for many hours, taking a character on a journey from a relatively weak state to one of power and maturity, a gameplay journey that mirrors that of a teenager moving into adulthood. That’s certainly one of the reasons it works well having young protagonists. That said, what you say is true not only for fans who are growing up with the RPG, but also for developers who were working on titles such as Final Fantasy V when we were much younger, but who are now more mature people. We sometimes wonder what we’re doing dealing with such young protagonists in our games, characters who don’t necessarily speak to us as adults. There’s no pressure internally on how you have to make a character. But you do find that there’s an expectation of how a protagonist must look for Japanese gamers.