Square Enix has released a video detailing the improvements made to Project Octopath Traveler in response to the feedback survey for the September 2017-released demo.
The demo was downloaded over a million times, and the feedback survey saw 45,000 responses.
The development team has already made a number of changes in response to the feedback, including areas such as map traversal, visibility, user interface, event scenes, and the battle system.
For more details, watch the video below. For users who may be unable to watch the video, we have also provided a transcript.
Transcript
[Opening]
Producer Masashi Takahashi: “The reception to the demo exceeded our wildest expectations, with over a million downloads worldwide, and 45,500 responses to the survey. We really can’t thank you enough.”
Director Keisuke Miyauchi: “The overwhelming response to the demo really motivated the entire team.
Takahashi: “We’ve taken each and every one of your comments into careful consideration. Today, we’d like to give you a preview of how development is progressing.”
Miyauchi: “Your invaluable and profuse feedback has helped us find so many ways to refine the game.”
Takahashi: “Now, I’ll let each member of the team explain the improvements they’ve made.”
[Map Traversal Improvements]
Lead Programmer Satoshi Hasegawa: “One of the issues many of you raised was that it was a hassle to get around. In the demo, you had to toggle between walking and running with the B button. We’ve made it so that you run automatically by pushing the analog stick all the way. Many also mentioned that movement was too slow in general. So now, if ou hold down the B button while running, you can run even faster than before. To maintain game balance, the encounter rate goes up when running at full speed. It’s something of a trade-off, but this way, it also gives players who want to battle more often the option to do so. We’ll also be adding a ‘fast travel’ option that wasn’t available in the demo. We hope thse refinements will help players get around the world with a minimum of stress.”
[Visibility Improvements]
Lead Artist Mika Iizuka: “Likewise, we received a number of comments asking us to improve visibility—to make traversable areas stand out more, we’ve adjusted wall and floor colors, and added visible landmarks, among other changes. We’ve also added a feature that didn’t make it in time for the demo: a ‘radar’ to point players to exists, entrances, and important destinations. To improve general visibility, we’ve also added settings so players can adjust screen brightness and the intensity of the ‘HD-2D’ filters that some found distracting.”
[User Interface Improvements]
Lead Programmer Yutaka Watanabe: “We’re also doing our best to address concerns regarding the UI. Many of you expressed that the position of save slots made it too easy to accidentally overwrite your progress, so we’ve already fixed this. We’ve also added additional save slots for the full game: nine, plus one autosave, for a total of ten.”
Iizuka: “We’ve also adjusted the size of the help text, which many of you mentioned was too small and difficult to read.”
Watanabe: “Sadly, we can’t show you everything, but we’re doing everything we can to further streamline the UI.”
[Event Scene Improvements]
Watanabe: “Next, let’s talk about event scenes. First off, rest assured that the skip function that wasn’t in the demo has already been added. Now you won’t have to watch the same scene over and over when the going gets tough.”
Hasegawa: “We’re also planning to add a replay feature, so you can watch scenes again if you want.”
Watanabe: “A number of you, particularly those of you playing around the world, expressed concerns about message display speed. So we’ve increased the default speed, and made it customizable in the settings menu.”
[Battle System Improvements]
Lead Game Designer Kota Oosaki: “Finally, the battle system. To both those of you who enjoyed the battles, and those who found them difficult—thank you for your feedback! While the core concept of the battle system hasn’t changed from the demo, we’re continuing to refine game balance so that battles provide a good challenge without being overly frustrating. We’ve also yet to show you how battles go with a full party of four, and there are some more important elements we can’t reveal quite yet, so pleas stay tuned for future updates!”
[Closing]
Miyauchi: “This only scratches the surface of all the improvements going in, so please rest assured we’re doing everything to bring you what’s still to come.”
Takahashi: “Our team is hard at work making Project Octopath Traveler the best it can be, so we hope you’re looking forward to it.”
Project Octopath Travelers is due out for Switch worldwide in 2018.
Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment announce Super Mario animated movie
任天堂正式宣布将与《小小兵》电影制作商合推「玛利欧」动画电影
转载 - 巴哈姆特(https://gnn.gamer.com.tw/6/158586.html)
除了电影确认制作中之外,日本大阪环球影城主题乐园的任天堂电玩角色主题园区「SUPER NINTENDO WORLD」也正在建设中,整个园区会以两层构造的巨大综合区域构成,带来全世界最新的多种游乐器材、商店与餐厅等设施。
网罗创造《玛利欧》的宫本茂和任天堂游戏创作者原班人马,以及环球影业主题乐园创作团队共同参与的「SUPER NINTENDO WORLD」 ,预计在 2020 年东京奥运开幕前完工与玩家见面。
Illumination Entertainment, the animation studio behind Despicable Me and Minions, and Nintendo have started development on a Super Mario movie project, Nintendo announced.
The role of producer for this project will be shared by Illumination Entertainment founder Chris Meledandri and Nintendo company director Shigeru Miyamoto.
Both Universal Pictures and Nintendo are funding the movie, which will be distributed worldwide by Universal Pictures.
Detective Pikachu ‘Get Ready to Crack the Case!’ trailer
Nintendo has released a new trailer for Detective Pikachu introducing new features, characters, and gameplay footage.
Here is an overview of the new elements highlighted in the trailer, via Nintendo:
Trouble in Ryme City!: Ryme City is a place where people and Pokémon live together. But recently, many friendly Pokémon are behaving oddly for no apparent reason. While Pikachu and his friend Tim search for Tim’s father, Harry, they unwittingly stumble into the mysterious case of the problematic Pokémon. Can they solve the mystery and also find Tim’s father? Cue the dramatic music…
The Mysterious Mewtwo: While many different Pokémon appear in Detective Pikachu, the one who seems to hold the biggest connection to the overall mystery is Mewtwo. How is Mewtwo connected to everything? And why does Mewtwo know Pikachu?
A Colorful Cast of Characters: Many charming characters roam the streets of Ryme City.
These include Pablo Millan, owner of Pikachu’s favorite café; Frank Holliday, an inspector at the Ryme City Police Department; and Meiko Okamoto, a camera operator for the local TV studio. Meeting and interrogating all of these characters throughout the game is part of the fun.
In related news, Nintendo also announced that a special demo for Detective Pikachu will be released in Japan in early March.
Tatsumi Kimishima will retire as the representative director and president of Nintendo on June 28, and current director and managing executive officer (among several other titles) Shuntaro Furukawa will take over, Nintendo announced.
Furukawa, who is 46 years old, first joined Nintendo in April 1994. Outside of director and managing executive officer, he is also the current general manager of the corporate planning department, supervisor of corporate analysis and administration division, and is in charge of the global marketing department.