Interview: Another Eden Begins Producer Shinnosuke Hirasawa and Director

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Ahead of the game’s launch, Final Weapon had the chance to interview Another Eden Begins producer Shinnosuke Hirasawa and director Yasutaka Onaga about the upcoming RPG and its development. Producer Hirasawa and director Onaga shared insights into how and why development of Another Eden Begins started, details about the game’s new features and changes, and what sets the new RPG apart from the mobile game.Get the full interview below.Another Eden has been in service since the Japanese launch in 2017. What inspired and motivated the development team to create Another Eden Begins? When did development start?Shinnosuke Hirasawa: We’ve wanted to develop a console version for a long time and had even announced it during a livestream.

Encouraged by strong player demand, we began development in earnest, with the team fully assembled and production ramping up about two years ago.Another Eden Begins marks Another Eden’s debut on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 consoles. What are your thoughts on returning to console game development with this title?Shinnosuke Hirasawa: A lot of live-service titles, no matter how wonderful their stories or gameplay, become unplayable once their service ends, making it difficult for new players to discover and experience them.Console titles, however, can remain playable for decades. Fans, like myself, can preserve the games they love and carry their stories across generations.

Those games can then transcend their era and continue to be discovered and played by new generations.Through Another Eden Begins, we want to give Another Eden a future, so that people can continue to enjoy it for generations to come.Similar to a remake, will Another Eden Begins retell the story of Another Eden and involve completely new plot points?Shinnosuke Hirasawa: This title broadly follows “Part 1: The Cat Beyond Time and Space.” However, we’ve reconstructed the story with a new interpretation, adding many new episodes and stories involving the characters along the way, so both longtime players and newcomers can enjoy a fresh take on the game.Another Eden Begins will feature more than 10 endings and New Game+, so player actions and choices are integral to story progression.

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Are players free to obtain any of those endings first? Will there be criteria that must be met before being able to reach subsequent endings in New Game+?Yasutaka Onaga: To see the multiple endings, you need to first complete one full playthrough. Once you reach the end, you can start New Game+ to unlock the new endings, some of which require specific items or certain choices to be made.What were some changes and new additions made to the combat system of Another Eden Begins?Yasutaka Onaga: One major change is the UI overhaul where the controls were changed from touch to controller, including a more classic command-based battle UI and optimized controls for Another Force.

These changes preserve the exhilarating feel of the mobile version while giving it a fresh new look. Battle visuals and lighting effects have also been enhanced, and we hope players familiar with Another Eden will particularly enjoy these changes.New additions include “Chain skills” and “Valor Change.” Chain skills are skills that trigger automatically after you accumulate enough Chain Points through certain actions. The requirements are fairly lenient, allowing them to trigger frequently and resulting in fast-paced battles.Valor Change lets you switch your current party with an “Another Party,” providing a powerful way to turn the tide of battle by recovering with a fresh party or exploiting a favorable elemental matchup.Was there any player feedback from Another Eden that helped shape the new game’s combat and overall structure?Yasutaka Onaga: The biggest area was the UI.We rebuilt it from the ground up to support controllers, incorporating player feedback to address usability issues in the nine-year-old mobile version.

While retaining the qualities that make Another Eden what it is, we repeatedly refined the UI for a more intuitive experience.We recently held a hands-on preview event in Japan for Another Eden fans, and we were relieved to receive a very high overall satisfaction rating of 4.8 out of 5 in the participant survey.Yasunori Mitsuda composed the main theme of Another Eden Begins. Are there any new compositions and arrangements that Mitsuda and Procyon Studio contributed to the game as well?Shinnosuke Hirasawa: Procyon Studio has added new arrangements and other music for the game.