Koei Tecmo recently announced that the Gust-developed JRPG would be delayed to further polish the game. While delays are unfortunate, they often times give developers the extra time needed to make the game the best that it can be.
In the case of Fairy Tail, Noisy Pixel was able to ask Koei Tecmo producer Keisuke Kikuchi how the team has used the time to improve the game in terms of new mechanics or systems. In short, Kikuchi-san shared, “We utilized the additional time to brush up on various aspects of the game, including gameplay mechanics, game balance, and visual effects.”
However, the producer then went into detail about the improvements and how they affect the user experience by addressing three major game mechanics that the team focused on.
Kikuchi-san says, “First off, Fairy Tail’s creator Hiro Mashima oversaw and helped create new Unison Raids, all of which are exclusive to this game and did not appear in the original manga. We are confident players will enjoy these new attacks which can only be experienced in Fairy Tail.”
The producer continues, “Our team also improved the rank system, a feature in the game which allows players to upgrade their favorite character. Points received from completing requests can be freely assigned in order to increase a character’s rank. For example, as a mage increases in rank, they learn new skills and gain access to additional features. This allows each character to become stronger in aspects that differ from those received when leveling up.
Players can also utilize various materials to produce a variety of equipable Lacrima. Our team increased the total number of available Lacrima and improved their functions so that players can make even greater use of this system.
In addition to game mechanics, we also worked on a number of other aspects of Fairy Tail. The camera and visual effects during battles were improved, along with lighting and object behavior in order to enhance the game’s atmosphere. Character animations and facial expressions during events were refined as well.
Finally, we made great efforts to increase the balance of boss attack patterns and attack strength, along with fine-tuning the distribution of experience points among party members and in other aspects of the game as well.”
It seems that the team is putting in an effort to deliver a well-crafted license JRPG experience, which is not something that the community is used to. This also proves that a short delay could greater affect the player’s experience and had these improvements not been implemented by launch, the game could have greatly suffered for it.
Fairy Tail is coming to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on June 26 and June 25 for PC.
We’ll be sure to share our full interview with Keisuke Kikuchi soon.
