Being a fan of the Fairy Tail manga and anime, I was excited to hear the announcement of an RPG styled video game. There are so many interesting characters and a fantastic depth of lore.
PowerUp! recently had a chance to Interview Kikuchi Keisuke the producer of Gust Co.Ltd’s new game.
I kept the questions as spoiler free as I could, for both the game and the existing media.
Fairy Tail
PowerUp! – Is there an open world element that allows for exploration?
Kikuchi Keisuke – FAIRY TAIL is not an open world title. Each field has a limit to how far you can travel within it, but the cities, Magnolia and Crocus, are very spacious. In some cases, battles occur within these cities as well.
PowerUp! – The battle system puts a fire in my belly, will it be supported by a skill tree or equipment system as you level?
Kikuchi Keisuke – By completing requests, the points you receive can be used to increase your character’s rank which allows them to obtain new skills.
Materials you can obtain from the field areas or enemies can be used to create Lacrima, which acts as an item you can equip. Creating strong Lacrima is one of the game’s main goals, as these items have various parameters and elemental properties.
Here, Kikuchi is saying we’ll see a few standard RPG tropes, mechanics wise. This makes Fairy Tail easier for players to get into, even if they’re not into the anime. With some familiar JRPG elements, players who enjoy the genre will be easily able to jump right in.
PowerUp! – Is there going to be a 100 year quest on the quest board?
Kikuchi Keisuke – Yes, there is. By meeting specific requirements, an S Rank Quest Board will appear. In the same way, as it appeared in the original manga, it is featured on the second floor of the guild.
This is good news as it may lead to some good end game content. Getting an S Rank on the Quest Board sounds like it’s going to take some doing so, hopefully it will keep players engaged and invested even if the story content has been completed.
PowerUp! – One of my favorite things is watching the main characters have little scuffles. Is it possible to start in house brawls between Natsu, Grey and Gahjeel?
Kikuchi Keisuke – Battle scenes don’t have any direct visual representation in the game, but we are preparing various events that include quarrels between different characters.
For example, similar to the original manga, Erza acts as a mediator during the fight between Natsu and Gray in order to reconcile their issues. She does this through an event that arises from a request the player can accept.
PowerUp! – Will any of the original anime voice actors be reprising their roles?
Kikuchi Keisuke – Yes, we are delighted that the Japanese voice actors from the FAIRY TAIL anime will be reprising their roles.
This is great news for any fans of the anime. It also means that the voice acting will be premium quality in the game as well. One thing that I had to ask as a follow up though…
PowerUp! – How many times was the voice line “I’m all fired up now” recorded?
Kikuchi Keisuke – Natsu says it in a lot of different parts of the game, so see if you can count all of the times he says that line!
I couldn’t help myself with such an opportunity.
I’m a big fan of the manga’s main antagonists. So I had to know if they were making an appearance.
PowerUp! – Will we be seeing Zaref or Acnologia through the course of the game?
Kikuchi Keisuke – While they will appear in the story, they won’t take part in any battles.
I’m still unsure what platform I want to play it on yet, so it would be a shame not to get an opinion of sorts. Lots of Switch ports are somewhat lesser than their PS4 or Xbox counterparts, so I wanted to make sure I was playing the best version.
PowerUp! – Will the Switch version differ in any way from the PS4 and PC?
Kikuchi Keisuke – Each platform will not have any content disparities. However, the graphics for each version will be optimized according to each platform’s specific hardware.
Thinking back on all the content produced from Fairy Tail. Now that it’s finished it seems strange to release it after the hype train was at full steam. The anime concluded in 2016 so bringing out a game in 2020 seems like the boat’s been missed a little.
PowerUp! – Why is now the right time to make a Fairy Tail game?
Kikuchi Keisuke – While it may have been appropriate to release a game like this while the anime aired, once the series ends you can finally see the full picture of the series as a whole. I think this allowed us to look back on many aspects of the series and use that point of view when developing FAIRY TAIL.
Thanks to Kikuchi Keisuke for his time.
