IGN: Tell us about the concept of the Living Battlefield.
Natsuki Isaki: In the living battlefield, the player can experience the massive scale of group combat where multiple armies from both sides, intensely battle through missiles, gunfire and explosions. This creates an action-packed and interactive style of entertainment, unlike battles in movies, which are scripted and not interactive. Fully utilizing next-gen technology, you can control a plane that is capable of flying at any direction or altitude at mach speed, and you determine the outcome of the mission since you are the ace pilot.
Technically speaking, there are two big features. One is high-tech control of mass NPCs, and the other is the reinforcement of visual effects that are not static. Please let me explain each of them.
In the NPC control, not only are there many NPC's but also each NPC has a unique feature. For example, some enemies are 'good for enemies in the air,' 'good for enemies on the ground,' 'good for occupying the opponent's base,' and 'despite the lack of strength, good for high-tech information warfare,' and they capture components of real modern combats.
They act systematically, set up units, and try to accomplish a number of different missions. For example, some battle crafts try to get command of the air, some tanks try to break through the enemy's defense line, some helicopter units try to conquer the enemy's facility, etc
Those missions simultaneously occur in real time. Imagine the real battlefield. The success or failure of a mission changes the complexion of war, as if it was a living creature. For instance, even if a tank unit breaks through the enemy line, if you fail to take control of the airspace, a player still might be at a disadvantage. But once you conquer the airport as a main base, you can take advantage of the air battle no matter how strong the enemy is. The importance and influence of each mission in Ace Combat 6 changes the outcomes of individual missions and delivers the massive real battlefield dynamism. Your skills as an Ace pilot determines the outcome of the game and how well you do. So even if you clear the game the first time round, it is well worth playing it multiple times through because of the complexity of each mission. I'm worried that in the future when Ace Combat 7 comes out, users will say, "I'm still enjoying 6 so I can't buy 7 yet!
Also each NPC has its own character with its own name. You can feel the satisfaction of a successful operation or the desperateness of defeat, which will give you the realistic feeling of fighting as a unit. The player also has the option of talking directly to a NPC. If you have helped them in a previous mission, they would give support to return the favor. I consider games as something that gives you an interactive experience, games should not be solely based on if you win or not. I want you to create your own active heroic story that books or movies can't allow you to do in the same way.
Let me also take this opportunity to talk about non-static visual effects.
Thanks to the capabilities of the next gen system, the glossy terrains in Ace Combat have been dramatically improved. And not only that, we put a lot of effort into the non-static visual expressions such as flying missiles, machine guns, explosions, smoke, airplane tracks, etc., which alter according to the action of the player or NPC. Every visual in Ace Combat 6 has been dramatically improved from photo-realistic views of allies and enemies exchanging shots, views of friend's bases being attacked and being engulfed by smoke and flames, the weltered airplane tracks caused by dogfights and missile fire from the friends' units gathered in response to your call, etc., etc... These non-static visual affects all come together to give life to the battlefield while allowing players to feel the fierce and powerful realism of war when playing the game.
