Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, the interview with Masakazu Hirayama and Masaaki Yamagiwa of Team Ninja

Wo Long

A few days ago we had the opportunity to try Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, the awaited action of Team Ninja, which had already convinced us during the first beta, while showing perhaps too many features in common with the two Niohs. The test was very positive and showed not only Team Ninja's willingness to detach further from their latest works, but also an attentive ear to fan feedback, thanks to a long list of changes related to (mostly constructive) criticism. received.

Intrigued by the many changes made to mechanics and systems, we interviewed the director of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Masakazu Hirayama, and the producer Masaaki Yamagiwa, to try to find out some additional information. Unfortunately, as often happens, a little has been lost in the need to translate the answers from Japanese to English, but some interesting information about Team Ninja's approach to game development has nonetheless popped up. Let's see what they told us.

The interview

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty has already changed a lot since the first beta. We talked about it with the director and the producer of the Multiplayer game: The deviations seem very different compared to the beta. Easier and more fun to use and more forgiving (even if they still don't start at frame zero). Did you rely on the feedback received during the first beta to change them?

Hirayama: Regarding the deviations, which are the perfect dodges in the game, we had a lot of feedback from the demo that they were a little difficult to use. Therefore we have intervened to make them more fun and more intuitive. For example now, even if you are a bit far from the enemy's attack, the detour works the same. We generally want the player feeling while using the deflection to be really great, because it is one of the main elements of Wo Long.

Yamagiwa: Some players also pointed out to us how difficult it was to tell if an attack had actually been deflected successfully or not, so we also worked on elements such as the sound or visual cues of the maneuver.

Another thing we noticed in the demo is the loot changes. The system seems simpler and less overwhelming than Nioh, and the drops seemed fixed. How did you change it in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty?

Hirayama: weapons will still drop from enemies, but in Nioh a myriad of different weapons could drop from certain opponents, and this feature will be changed a bit in Wo Long. More specifically, in Wo Long we want to focus on action and combat rather than loot. Also, we want players to focus a lot on the so-called "wizardry spells", our magic system. The focus is more on magic than on weapons this time, to be honest.

Yamagiwa: similar to what we saw in Nioh, there will be the possibility to upgrade your weapons from a blacksmith, this element will also remain in the game.

Apparently the choice of a historical setting for Wo Long depends a lot on Koei Tecmo, who has a support team scenario dedicated only to this type of titles. fund the magic. It feels heavily rebalanced and much less "breakable" than before. How did you intervene on his elemental system?

Hirayama: We specifically made sure that the hardest to use spells are now more efficient and easier to use. We also tried to give the more powerful spells more weight, a much more noticeable effect on enemies. The magic system is based on the five elements, and these elements are its central pillar. In some ways it is comparable to a job system in an RPG: in this game the builds depend on the elements the player focuses on.

Yamagiwa: in the demo we have allowed players to use a myriad of spells without particular requirements, but in the finished game it will be much more important to choose wisely which elements to develop and the spells to use. In the final version of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty we will add a lot of additional usable spells. We already have a lot of functional builds and useful combinations of powers; we hope players will enjoy all the options offered. function ready (fn) {if (document.readyState! = 'loading') {fn ()} else {document.addEventListener ('DOMContentLoaded', fn)}} ready (function () {window.addEventListener ('message', function (event) {let target_origin = 'https://aff.netaddiction.it'; if (event.origin! == target_origin) return; if (typeof event.data == "object" && event.data.hasOwnProperty ( "type") && event.data.type == "embaff") {let embed_id = event.data.embed_id; if (embed_id == '1589') {document.querySelector ('#_ aff_embed_1589'). setAttribute ('height ', event.data.embed_size);}}}, false);}) Why this fascination with historical settings? Do you tend to create games based on real history because it is easy to convert an era full of wars and charismatic figures into action, or do you have a real passion for historical research?

Yamagiwa: actually at Koei Tecmo we have a lot of experience on titles with historical settings - just think for example of Nobunaga's Ambition - so we also have a dedicated team, the Scenario Team, which has a real treasure at its disposal of historical documentation and resources to which the software houses that work with us have access, like Team Ninja now. They help them create really detailed stories, and their input at work is important. This is the first game based on the three realms of Team Ninja, unlike other Koei teams who have already covered the period, and it is a big challenge for them, but they are trying their best and these exchanges of information are very useful.

A sort of historical fidelity is important to Koei Tecmo and it is also seen in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Considering the importance you place on fan feedback and how many changes you have already made since the first beta, think about offer another beta before the game is released?

Hirayama: Our first demo was specifically for next gen consoles, and we heard many gamers eager to try the game on other platforms. We are therefore considering a possible new opportunity before launch for a wider group of players to try the game. We hope we can.

Yamagiwa: It's really great for us to get all this feedback from fans through the demos. We get a lot of great suggestions - we provide polls for fans to tell us what improvements they would like. We also get a myriad of positive comments, which motivate the team a lot while they are working on the game. In the future we want to continue creating our games alongside the fans.

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