Nintendo And Mistwalker Talk The Last Story Development For Wii

[man-bear-pig]

The Last Story director Hironobu Sakaguchi and character designer, Kimihiko Fujisaka have participated in the latest Iwata Asks segment to talk about their forthcoming JRPG for the Wii. Here’s a few interesting details regarding the game’s early development process:

• Monolith Soft had to learn Nintendo’s way of developing games
• That means starting by developing a fleshed-out prototype instead of a fully-established story
• With Mistwalker, Nintendo initially didn’t approve of The Last Story’s scenario
• The original world the game had was too bleak
• Changing to a more fantasy-style setting helped enhance the characters as well
•  “It’s actually easier to bring out realistic human dimensions in a fantasy setting.” – Sakaguchi
• Lazulis City was based on the idea to create a location that players would be able to familiarize themselves with
• The town is also made so that subtle differences and changes stand out
• “Early on one of the passers-by will barge into you with their shoulder and say: ‘Hey! What are you doing?’ But then when the hero has become a little more established, they’ll say: ‘Oh, I’m terribly sorry!’ That’s a really nice feeling.” – Sakaguchi
• The game was originally about the drama between a man and a woman
• It changed to being a story about companionship
• The story didn’t change, but the underlying themes did

Source: (I accidentally clicked out of it and I don't remember the name)