Seite 2: Ōkamiden: Interview mit Motohide Eshiro und Kuniomi Matsushita

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PlanetDS.de: Hi! Can you introduce yourself to our readers? What do you do at Capcom of Japan and in which way are you involved in the development of "Ōkamiden"?

Motohide Eshiro, Capcom: Hello I’m Motohide Eshiro. I directed "Onimusha 2" and "Shadow of Rome", and produced "Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth". My duties for "Ōkamiden" cover a wide range of tasks such as controlling the schedule and the budget for the development and running the promotions.

PlanetDS.de: The DS action adventure is supposed to be a direct sequel to the PS2 and Wii original game and continue the story. Can you tell us a little bit about the general plot of the new game and how the new characters fit into it?

Motohide Eshiro: "Ōkamiden" is set in Nippon, a few months after the events of "Ōkamiden". After Amaterasu has gone, the Yami starts to intrude upon the place again. Then Chibiterasu, Amaterasu’s son, appears and cooperates with his partners and gets over difficulties in order to bring back nature and peace to Nippon. "Ōkamiden" is not a direct sequel of "Ōkami" but a completely new title which builds upon the same game-play and the world of "Ōkami". Chibiterasu is the new main character for the title together with a boy called Kuni. He is the first partner who Chibiterasu meets at the beginning of the game. Kuni is the son of Susano and Kushinada as you know, both of them are from "Ōkami". Other than them, you will meet more attractive characters in "Ōkamiden".

PlanetDS.de: "Ōkami's" setting was set up in a more grown-up world. With Chibiterasu and Kuninushi you started up with to very young characters. Why did you take this step? Do you think you can broaden the target group with this measure?

Kuniomi Matsushita, Capcom: We are building "Ōkamiden" as a new title for the brand, not a sequel of "Ōkami". We wanted to show a distinctive difference from "Ōkami" while maintaining the links to it. As a result of this, we ended up making youngsters as main characters. Being only a pup, Chibiterasu himself will not be able to save the world alone, but he has a chance if he gets together with his partners. This system, controlling two youngsters at the same time, was not in "Ōkami" and we thought this feature would enable us to add more depth to the title. We thought that the combination of a puppy protagonist and child partners will help portray the sense of ‘challenge’ and make the storyline much more interesting.

PlanetDS.de: The DS game includes new enemies known as "Ōkamiden" - what kind of enemies are they and how is the player supposed to face this new threat?

Kuniomi Matsushita: As new evil returns to the world, there is a variety of new monsters with new moves and attacks appearing. They are too strong for Chibiterasu and he needs to team up with his partners to fight against them.

PlanetDS.de: After developing the original game for Wii and PS2, in which way did you have to downgrade the graphics or other aspects to make "Ōkamiden" fitting for the considerably weaker DS?

Kuniomi Matsushita: We don’t particularly think the DS is any lesser than other platforms. The DS has its own strengths which other consoles don’t have. However, due to the limits of the polygon count and texture capacity of the DS, it was a lot of work to fit everything in the DS such as keeping the picture quality the same as "Ōkami". We also scaled down the characters in order to minimize the camera movements and to retain the same atmosphere as in "Ōkami" even in the relatively smaller screens.

PlanetDS.de: The original "Ōkami" was characterized by a long play time and many characters - how long will players need to complete "Ōkamiden"?

Kuniomi Matsushita: It might take 25 to 30 hours to complete the main story. We have also added many sub events so there’s more for the players to enjoy.



PlanetDS.de: You seem to sell a lot of "Ōkamiden"-related merchandise in the Japanese e-Capcom store, for example special towels or stuffed animals. How important is this kind of marketing in Japan and how do you plan to promote the game in Europe, for example at gamescom 2010?

Motohide Eshiro: We sought ideas for merchandise from many users in Japan, asking them what they wanted to have and adopted their most wanted ideas. Our main purpose of this plan is to make fans happy for they are enthusiastic about the series. We feel the same for users wherever they are so taking this into our account we are currently working on our PR plans in NA and Europe.

PlanetDS.de: With the Nintendo 3DS coming out what is your opinion about the 3D console? Have you already had a chance to try out the new handheld?

Motohide Eshiro: I tried the 3DS at E3 for a first time and its 3D images were absolutely stunning. I felt this platform is going to bring in something special that other consoles haven’t achieved so far. Being a game creator, of course I would really like to develop games for this.

PlanetDS.de: Do you think it is possible to see the "Ōkami" series on the Nintendo 3DS in future?

Motohide Eshiro: First and foremost, I’m concentrating on promoting "Ōkamiden" so that it can be delivered to many users.

PlanetDS.de: Can you tell us anything about current future plans? Are you developing new games for consoles or handhelds anytime soon?

Motohide Eshiro: Actually I’m engaged in several projects other than "Ōkamiden". Hopefully we can provide some good news for you soon!

PlanetDS.de: To conclude, Is there anything you would like to tell our readers?

Motohide Eshiro: We have been working very hard on this title putting a huge amount of effort and love. We really hope all the fans will enjoy it. We are still at the development stage and we hope you all will love it when it’s finally released. Thank you!

The interview was held by Jakob Nützler [Miroque] for PlanetDS.de.

Thanks to Motohide Eshiro, Kuniomi Matsushita and Capcom for their kind support.