In the coming days, Koei Tecmo and Mindscape (Australia / New Zealand) are set to launch Gust’s latest JRPG Ar Nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star across the international market. I was recently able to pose a few questions to Akira Tsuchiya, Director of the Surge Concerto series, discussing the game itself, its release outside Japan and future releases. The complete discussion can be found below:
First of all, congratulations on deciding to publish Ar nosurge in the international market. What do you think are some of the game’s defining features which will help it stand out within the JRPG gaming market?
The visuals of Ar nosurge focus on “moe” type characters, but the content of the game is a diehard sci-fi world. Almost everything in that world has a meaning, and it is derived from the history and elaborate setting of worlds from 5000 years ago to those in the distant universe.
In addition, in this title the “game” itself is included as a part of the world. The player and the player’s PS3 are both a part of this game called Ar nosurge. This can be felt when the players reaches the middle of the game. What sets this game apart from other RPGs is that the player can enter the world of Ar norsurge and save it. This sensation cannot be experienced in any other game. In Japan, where the game was released earlier this year, there were many players who said that they felt like they had awakened to the truth when this ‘trick’ is revealed.
Even if the visual style is not to every person’s liking, I hope players who enjoy sci-fi works will play this game. They won’t be disappointed.
For those not familiar with the game, can you describe a bit about its storyline and setting?
It is the story of a civilization from many eons ago who had lost their planet due to an accident. They departed aboard a spaceship on a never ending journey in search of a new home planet. They drifted along while being in a cold sleep until one day when they awoke to find themselves surrounded by the roots of gigantic trees, and in peril as mysterious beings known as Sharl attacked humans.
Eventually people began to gather and settled into life aboard the spaceship. They built a city in the dark depths of the spaceship, and began to believe that this was their home planet and lived life as such. The mystery of the suddenly appearing Sharl and the people fighting to bring peace; where is the fate of this spaceship headed? In order to solve this riddle, the main character Delta and the heroine Casty depart on a journey. What awaits them is an astonishing truth that nobody knows. Will humanity be able to escape this terminal situation? Their fate lies in the hands of the players.
With Ar Nosurge serving sharing many similarities with the Ar Tonelico universe, what are some of the new and returning features that should be a highlight for those familiar with Gust’s previous games?
The new feature that players can enjoy is the Zapping feature. There is a reason why we use the Zapping method which is not normally used in RPG games. I think that fans of the Ar Tonelico series will be interested in the world setting and the grand backbone of the game, but and their main amazement will be with the Zapping system. This game world cannot be properly presented without Zapping. In fact, Zapping is not just a part of the game system, but a part of the game world itself. I hope people will play this and experience this new sensation.
For returning features, I can confidently recommend the “world of the mind” (in Ar Tonelico it was called Cosmosphere, and in Ar nosurge it is called Genometrics), and the “item synthesis events.” The world of the mind was a key feature of Ar Tonelico, and in this game it goes even deeper for a much more exciting and extreme experience. The item synthesis events have even more hidden secrets, so please look forward to it.
It has previously been confirmed in screenshots that “Ion” from the Japanese exclusive life simulation game Ciel Nosurge will be making an appearance in Ar Nosurge. Given it seems to be quite likely that Ciel Nosurge will never be released outside of Japan, will gamers miss out on anything important having not played the first game?
There are definitely many characters from the Ciel nosurge story that also appear in Ar nosurge. But while the story of Ciel nosurge is a prequel, the stories are independent of each other – for example, there aren’t events in Ciel nosurge that can only be resolved in Ar nosurge. Each character is presented with the assumption that players have no previous knowledge of them, so players can fully experience the appeal of all the characters by only playing Ar nosurge.
It has already been shown that you have commissioned a new English dub for the game. Can you provide some idea of what proportion of the game will be dubbed vs just text, and like the Atelier games, will you be providing gamers with the option to switch between English and Japanese dubs?
Yes, there is definitely the option to switch between the Japanese and English dubs. In the main story and world of the mind, about 2/3 of it is dubbed. The key events in the game are fully voiced, so do not worry.
Ar Nosurge Plus has already been announced in Japan for the PlayStation Vita. Do you see it as a possibility that you would be able to publish this edition internationally at a later date if Ar nosurge succeeds in the western market?
If people who play Ar nosurge enjoy it enough to request the Plus version, then definitely I think we could release it overseas. So I hope that many people will play the game, and provide us with a lot of feedback.
