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Sigma Harmonics first info

S

Soul4ger

Member
Teasel said:
you know it's nice to see the "let's do the everything we fucking want" square instead of the "let's milk final fantasy 7 like the fat cow is it" one
Click to expand...

You think there's a chance, maybe, that because they've milked some of their more popular IPs, they're able to make games like this...?
 
S

soul

Member
http://www.famitsu.com/interview/article/1214469_1493.html

- Interview with CHIBA HIROKI, KITASE YOSHINORI and NAKAAKI YUSAKU.
- Game was designed for the DS on purpose.
- The game will be enjoyable by all RPG fans, not just mystery fans.
- "Sigma" is a word that has a meaning in the game.
- Story divided into chapters, and each chapter a new mystery occurs (mainly murders). The player has to solve it in order to advance.
- The "mystery man" with the black clothes will reveal himself at around 50% of the game.
- Summer 2008.

9vcadu.jpg
eiut85.jpg
 
L

lsslave

Jew Gamer
Hopefully the success of "The World Ends With You" doesn't affect this game much in the bringing-it-to-NA area... just can't seem to find hype for that one but totally want this game
 
C

charlequin

Banned
soul said:
- Game was designed for the DS on purpose.
Click to expand...

This implies entertaining things about Square-Enix's usual development strategy.

Wada: Hey Yuji Hori, how is Dragon Quest IX going?
Hori: Great! I've been working very hard on it.
Wada: And you're designing it for one of our powerful next-generation high-definition machines, yes?
Hori: Of course! I sat down here and started developing it for -- FUCK!
 
E

ethelred

Member
charlequin said:
This implies entertaining things about Square-Enix's usual development strategy.

Wada: Hey Yuji Hori, how is Dragon Quest IX going?
Hori: Great! I've been working very hard on it.
Wada: And you're designing it for one of our powerful next-generation high-definition machines, yes?
Hori: Of course! I sat down here and started developing it for -- FUCK!
Click to expand...

After that frightful exchange, Horii goes on to defend himself by explaining that he had been hoodwinked and bamboozled by Akihiro Hino before ending with the memorable line "We didn't land on the DS; the DS landed on us!"

Wada-san then nodded and walked off.
 
B

bafflewaffle

Member
some more details on that interview

Famitsu recently posted an interview with some key members of the Sigma Harmonics development team, so we busted out our dictionaries to decipher all we could about Square Enix's recently unveiled DS adventure-RPG. Hiroki Chiba (FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus, Chrono Trigger), the director and originator of this concept, Yoshinori Kitase the producer ( and longtime director/producer in the Final Fantasy series), and Yusaku Nakaaki, the character designer (who did work on Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core, but was never the main designer until this project), had a lot to say and a lot more to hint at.

While the team from Dirge of Cerberus was still providing online support, they had already started thinking about their next project. Chiba had been into Showa era mystery writers like Seishi Yokomizo and Rampo Edogawa as a kid, and he was inspired to create a similar vibe in a videogame -- all the better if you could hold it book-style on the DS. They didn't want to explain too much about the title choice, just noting that it tied in heavily with the sound theme in the game (plus Sigma is the main character's name). After being charmed by Nakaaki's work on Dirge of Cerberus, Chiba requested him to Kitase because "not using Nakaaki's drawings would be a horrible waste," even though he knows "there are lots of awesome designers at Square Enix."

Despite aiming for a 30s to 40s Showa era vibe, what they decided on was a parallel world Tokyo. In it, Sigma Kurokami, a stylish, bespectacled "sound user" whose family guards a huge clock sealing away the demon Ouma, ends up having to time travel and fight evil with his classmate and childhood friend, Neon Tsukiyumi. The pair seek to solve an increasingly complex string of murder cases. Solving one chapter's case changes the past which leads to a new murder. "The characters who appear are about the same, but the plot outline and puzzle are totally different," explained Chiba.

Instead of cutscene animations there will be scrolling illustrations. They have over 800 already, not only from Nakaaki, but another illustrator from the CC team following his lead. "I think it's rare for a DS game to have such a high volume of illustrations, but the number is still increasing," Chiba laughed.

They wanted to create a system with more depth than just figuring out who the killer is and inputting his name. Depending on how you reason out the case (and where you place "sound stones" on the Go board-like grid) the game sounds will change. Kitase commented, "When reasoning, there aren't correct or incorrect answers, but there are out there solutions and close solutions, or a midway solution. Since that's something the player who reasons things out grows to understand, they'll be able to play the game many times." It also seems like the boss encounters could be different depending on how you go about solving the puzzles.

The battle system looks to be as deep as the rest of the game, and you'll even find yourself in some RPG-style dungeons. While Chiba refused to confirm that Sigma never fights first-hand, it's usually Neon in the ring. She is possessed by a god and can enter a trance to use its power. Sigma generally stays out of the way and gives directions by performing music (with his baton, maybe? We're really keen on finding out more about his special weapon which can conduct not only sound, but time as well). Apparently, there is also a card battle element as well, since Neon is described as a "card user." In addition to just leveling up, you'll find new attack patterns by collecting these cards.

If you're having a hard time imagining how all these elements are going to fit together in one game, you're not alone -- even the interviewer seemed a bit confused. Chiba talked about how stubborn he was (and the others agreed) on including as many of his cool ideas as possible, "I was thinking, 'I can't take out things that will be interesting!'" Another major "gimmick" in the game hasn't even been revealed yet, but apparently it surprised even Nakaaki. As usual with these interviews, we're left with more questions than answers, but since Sigma Harmonics is set to ship this summer in Japan, at least some of the mysteries should be revealed soon.
Click to expand...
 
E

ethelred

Member
Yes, I'm really pleased that they're making another new brand. It's always great to see Square doing that these days, even if I don't hold out hopes of them becoming like their PSX/SNES selves again.

Still, like I said in the FF4 thread, I think this is one of the best advantages handheld development has to offer a big developer like Square -- it lets them try new things with a smaller team, lower budget, and less risk. Having a smaller team can let you give valuable experience to those you think are younger, possibly up & coming, designers (this was one of the highlights of the PSX/SNES era, when sort of a "new generation" of developers got their start making their own games for Square, like Matsuno, Tsuchida, Tokita, Takahashi, Ito, Kitase, etc.). And lower risk allows for more experimentation -- certainly we saw that with World Ends, and it sounds like Sigma has a lot of experimental ideas thrown in, too.

Hopefully they'll keep this sort of thing up.
 
C

Chris Michael

Banned
I'm a bit more curious on how the battle system works and what the dungeons will be like. If this game is what they're pushing it to be then it has potential to be very good I believe.
 
D

Durante

Member
Between this and TWEWY Square finally seems to have figured out that going full 3D on DS is a bad idea. For a company known for its mastery of visual style, art and graphics programming I expected this realization sooner.

I'm also happy for the hardcore Nintendo fans that can finally admit to themselves again how awesome Square's games are after self-imposed 10-year long hiatus.

If this comes close to TWEWY in sheer overall quality (and I'm positive that it will) then Square will easily become my favourite developer on DS.
 
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