Kawazu: Originally I am a big fan of older titles like Wizardry and Ultima.GameSpy: Anything more recent?
Kawazu: As you are aware I don't have time to play as many games as I'd like, but my preference right now are RPG, simulation, and strategy games.GameSpy: What kind of reception is the team expecting for Romancing SaGa in the United States.? Unlimited SaGa wasn't received terribly warmly, and the SaGa Frontier games were pretty popular, but not huge. This game has changed to be much more 3D, however, so I was wondering what you're expecting.
Kawazu: I believe that the American gamers have been expecting a game that's similar to Final Fantasy that's full of flashy graphics and CG cutscenes. I am hoping to create a game that has quality gameplay that hardcore gamers can enjoy. I believe that the SaGa series offers challenge to gamers.
GameSpy: I'm interested in the style of the character art -- the squat, super-deformed characters. Is that a reference to the original SNES game or do you just like this style of art?
Kawazu: The character style when brought into a 3D environment seems to be more original and appealing than a more realistic style, in that going for a more artistic background blends better. Using a range of motion in this unrealistic style is also more easily believed.GameSpy: When you make decisions such as on the art style, do you take into account the Western market or do you target the game just for Japan?
Kawazu: As you know every region has its own preferences. This game wasn't made strictly for the Japanese market. But since different regions have their own preferences, it's impossible to satisfy everyone. So in the end, we decided to create a style that we ourselves like and that's how we evolved this style. We're not excluding the world simply to appeal to Japan.GameSpy: SaGa has been around almost as long as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but it's not well-known to gamers internationally. Is there any way to make U.S. gamers aware of its history?
Kawazu: When players they play games. They don't necessarily play the game's history. With this title especially, we don't think that knowing the history will necessarily make the gameplay any better. So what we decided to do was to create the best title that we possibly could.GameSpy: That's true, but how does the history of the series affect development, and come together in this latest game?
Kawazu: Looking at the other games there was an interest in creating something different and not be ruled by my past decisions. Each time I make a game aware of my series, the Final Fantasy series, and the Dragon Quest series. I do receive some influence from those titles, especially because I'm in the same company. But each title that comes out, I try to make it different and completely fresh.
