Falcom Aims to Make Hajimari no Kiseki a Hub That Connects Past Series to What’s Ahead

Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo talked about The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki in a recent interview. [Thanks, Ryokutya2089.]

Here are highlights from the interview:

• “It was previously announced that Hajimari is the beginning of the end as a restart that leads to the series conclusion. This wasn’t just a message for the fans but one for the staff as well.”
• “This time it’s not about working along plans as we’ve done until now, but story and systems are just some of the new things that we must think of.”
• “The story of Hajimari is also a grand prologue. We’re aiming to make it a hub that connects to all the series up until now.”
• “For this reason, we’ll work with things we couldn’t fit into past titles like Crossbell’s independence, or countries and areas that were only mentioned by name.”
• “We also plan to show what happened after the Calvard presidential election.”
• “There’s an after-story for the characters that appeared in Erebonia.”
• “There’s the main scenario featuring the three protagonists. There are also flashback-like episode scenarios. The main scenario volume is about 70 to 80 percent of Trails of Cold Steel IV.”
• “You’ll form parties of five to six characters on venture all the places. We’ve also prepared a new system for transportation.”
• “The battle pace doesn’t change much from the Trails of Cold Steel series, but battle strategies are different thanks to new character Crafts.”
• “There’s a full-blown Magical Alisa shooting game. You can also enjoy story elements.”
• “The girl carrying the plush is basically “3 to 9” (Name of books that appear in Trails of Cold Steel IV).”
• “There’s a character who’ll act as the backbone to what ties together next.”
• “We have another development line already working on what’s after The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki. It might have cooperative elements.
• “I hope to finish it before my time for retirement arrives (laughs).”
• “The game engine for Hajimari is fundamentally the same as The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV. The next series that is simultaneously in the works will use a new engine. Everything including the graphics has evolved considerably. We can’t show anything yet but I personally want to show it as soon as possible. And of course, Hajimari no Kiseki has evolved from Trails of Cold Steel IV.”
• “For Ao/Zero no Kiseki on PS4, it would be difficult for a save data bonus from PSP. We’re thinking about having something with Hajimari.“
• “The feedback we got from Ys IX: Monstrum Nox‘s motion capture tech is implemented.”

The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki releases for PlayStation 4 in Japan in Summer 2020. Check out the game’s first screenshots and details in our previous report.