游戏设计师上田文人、gen DESIGN 以及 SIE Worldwide Studios JAPAN Studio 所描绘的《食人巨鹰 TRICO》的愿景,将会是一部壮阔精彩的作品。 但是在开发最终阶段发现了预料之外的 BUG,要将之修正并带来《食人巨鹰 TRICO》开发团队心中所描绘的体验,我们得出了时间不足的结论。
As ardent fans of Fumito Ueda’s past games can attest, the audio component of his projects – both sound and music – play a vital role in immersing the player in a rich fantasy world. Many gamers who hear the theme from the 13th boss in Shadow of the Colossus, for example, will immediately recall standing atop a sprinting Agro in pursuit of a gigantic snake like creature soaring over a barren desert.
The aural presentation in The Last Guardian is no less crucial for achieving the full experience of exploring this new world with Trico. Determinedly composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Takeshi Furukawa and gracefully performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, Trinity Boys Choir, and London Voices at Air Studios, the music of The Last Guardian is laden with emotion — and often haunting. It powerfully complements the story of this boy and creature, alone amidst ancient ruins, working together as they seek a path to freedom.
We’re happy to announce that a The Last Guardian Composer’s Choice PS4 Music App of the score featuring 19 tracks will be available separately at launch via the PlayStation Store. The soundtrack app supports both stereo and surround playback, and also allows users to export all the tracks as stereo MP3 files via a compatible USB drive. The soundtrack will also be available via iTunes at a later date.
For audiophiles and collectors, a Vinyl release of the OST will be available in December. We’ll have an update on exact release timing and pricing for that version at a later date.
Lastly, for owners of PlayStation headsets, a custom audio mode for The Last Guardian will deliver a fine-tuned audio experience engineered for maximum immersion. If you own a PlayStation headset compatible with the Headset Companion App, be sure to download and activate this special mode when you play!
With the PS4 launch of The Last Guardian just weeks away, take a gander at our new CG trailer that debuted in US theaters this week.
Last week I spoke with celebrated creative director Fumito Ueda about his personal inspirations, the connections between The Last Guardian and Shadow of the Colossus, and how to expand the influence of the videogame medium. Read on for highlights from our conversation!
• On realizing the full initial vision for The Last Guardian:
“I’m going to be little hard on myself here… but to say I’ve done everything 100% is not completely true. As a creator, there’s always a little more you feel you could have done. When I finished Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, I felt exactly the same way. Having said that, I think the staff from Sony and Gendesign has put everything, every ounce of energy we had, and poured it into the project.”
• On the personal inspirations behind The Last Guardian:
“Trico is a hybrid of sorts, a mixture of a cat, a dog, a bird, and the like. It might represent a motif. When I was younger, I grew up in a home that had a bunch of animals. My experiences with them are great memories that I still have. In creating Trico, I didn’t really have to do any specific research because it’s a creature that obviously doesn’t exist. But it’s really all based on my childhood memories, the way I interacted with the animals, the way they reacted to me.”
• On comparisons to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus:
“The way I see it, maybe they are from the same world, or the same universe. But anything further than that is really up to the player’s imagination. Everyone has a different level of relationship with the two previous titles, so we wouldn’t dictate that it is or it isn’t. It’s up to the player.”
• On his proudest accomplishment with The Last Guardian:
“I would have to say that it’s what we were able to accomplish with the character of Trico. Its behavior, everything about it. We were basically breathing life into a creature that has never been created, a new character, which is very difficult. How does it feel to actually feed Trico? I want players to experience what that feels like.”
• On other gaming inspirations:
“There are some games that have opened my eyes and influenced me in big ways. Prince of Persia is one, and Another World. This may come as a surprise, but Virtua Fighter is another… What they all have in common is the intricacy of the animation. I’m always curious in finding ways that animation can help breathe new life into characters — that’s an element that will always appeal to me.”
• On expanding the appeal of videogames:
“It’s a difficult question to answer, but I think that maybe a lower barrier to entry or skill required. And I’m not saying that games need to be easy or casual or anything like that. But when you think about the origin of video games, arcade games, you put in 100 yen and you got to play for maybe three minutes. There’s basically an end, or a restriction, that is placed. Sometimes that can be a little intimidating.”
“On console games, there’s no need to put a time limit or game over screen — we want people to play longer. But again, whether it’s skill requirements, or continuous challenges until you feel like giving up… if they felt slightly more accessible, then maybe more people would enjoy playing video games. Having said that, as long as we define what we do as video games in this business, then the experience needs to be very unique [to that medium]. Striking that balance is not an easy task.”
• On the long-anticipated launch of The Last Guardian:
“It’s quite simple… at the end of playing through the game, if the player feels the existence of Trico, like it’s really there, then we have accomplished what we set out to do.”