Development work on The Last Story is complete, so Mistwalker head and The Last Story director, Hironobu Sakaguchi, is taking a break and playing some games for a change.
Sakaguchi revealed over Twitter that he imposed a no-game ban on himself during The Last Story’s development, so he wouldn’t be distracted from work. The one game he did make an exception for, however, was Xenoblade, which he says he played right after it released. Like The Last Story, the Monolith Soft-developed game was published by Nintendo.
He also tweeted briefly about The Last Story itself, with regard to the game’s sub-quests and dungeons, and how they tie into its story.
“There are several sub-quests in The Last Story from small ones to big ones with dungeons,” Sakaguchi wrote. “Events and NPC which are the quests entrances are located at some specified sections which comes with scenario/story. It’s possible to advance without clearing these quests, though.”
There will also be no mounts in The Last Story, the way you can ride Chocobos in Final Fantasy games, Sakaguchi revealed. To help make getting around faster, you can use the map to instantly move between certain locations. However, Sakaguchi hinted, you will get the opportunity to ride living creatures in some form — just not for transportation.
Sakaguchi then proceeded to mention the game’s dungeons and how the dungeons are connected. “Almost all dungeon maps in the castle and city are connected. For example, a hidden stairs in the castle’s courtyard,” he wrote. “Other places are connected without “road”. I emphasized “tempo/rhythm (of game playing)”.”
Sakaguchi concluded his Last Story tweets by firing off a quick bullet list of facts about the game while revisiting dungeons:
- Minimum dialogue
- Select members upon entering
- Treasure chests that show only upon revisiting dungeons
- Different balance and adjustments upon revisiting
- No levelling up
- Loot in the form of items and money
- You can leave the dungeon whenever you like
After he was done tweeting about The Last Story, Sakaguchi carried out a brief Twitter conversation with Manami Kiyota, one of the composers on Xenoblade, who told him she was looking forward to his game.
Published: Jan 10, 2011 08:25 am