Nintendo And Mistwalker Talk The Last Story Development For Wii

The Last Story director Hironobu Sakaguchi and character designer, Kimihiko Fujisaka have participated in the latest Iwata Asks segment to talk about their forthcoming JRPG for the Wii. Here’s a few interesting details regarding the game’s early development process:

• Monolith Soft had to learn Nintendo’s way of developing games
• That means starting by developing a fleshed-out prototype instead of a fully-established story
• With Mistwalker, Nintendo initially didn’t approve of The Last Story’s scenario
• The original world the game had was too bleak
• Changing to a more fantasy-style setting helped enhance the characters as well
•  “It’s actually easier to bring out realistic human dimensions in a fantasy setting.” – Sakaguchi
• Lazulis City was based on the idea to create a location that players would be able to familiarize themselves with
• The town is also made so that subtle differences and changes stand out
• “Early on one of the passers-by will barge into you with their shoulder and say: ‘Hey! What are you doing?’ But then when the hero has become a little more established, they’ll say: ‘Oh, I’m terribly sorry!’ That’s a really nice feeling.” – Sakaguchi
• The game was originally about the drama between a man and a woman
• It changed to being a story about companionship
• The story didn’t change, but the underlying themes did