Nabeshima producer interview telling the real intention of postponement of "Armored Core V"

"Armored Core V" whose release date was postponed until January 2012 from the original launch schedule while receiving the expectations of many fans. I have interviewed the producer Toshifumi Nabeshima who is responsible for the producer of the series for the reasons of that postponement and the thought to be put on this title.

ARMORED CORE V OFFICIAL SITE | Armored Core V Official Site

Table of contents
· Why was the release postponed?
· What kind of company is from software
· What kind of armored core is it?
· Armored Core V is a stage title different from previous series
· Overwhelmingly expanded strategy
· Even if the online element expands, it can be played by one person
· What about communication means?
· Status of overseas deployment of Armored Core
· Why "kick"
· Download contents and recommended for assembly for beginners
· In the product version, about 50% of users can have a territory

Sasazuka North Odakyu Building with From Software that develops and sells Armored Core.


The first and third floor to the tenth floor are from software offices.


Producer Toshifumi Nabeshima who has been developing and producing "Armored Core" series for 15 years with from software.


◆ Why was the release postponed?

GIGAZINE (hereinafter, G):
Regarding Armored Core V, there was an announcement on August 1, and the release date was postponed until January 2012. First of all, I'd like to ask you why the release was postponed. Where was the main cause of the postponement?

Toshifumi Nabeshima Producer (Nabeshima):
The biggest thing is due to the reverberation of the closed beta test. To do closed beta tests in home games is not very popular in Japan, but as much as that, we also emphasized that much.

The beta test version has a rough cut place, or the function is limited, and there are quite a few unimplemented parts, but it was quite a repercussion and received various opinions. I participated in each of 5000 pairs of 10,000 people, both PS3 and Xbox 360, but I got a lot of feedback on winners who played at a considerably high rate.

Nabeshima:
There is a talk about how to respond to that feedback and it was a policy from the beginning that it is "to do as much as possible", but since we received quite a lot of opinions, the implementation period itself of the beta test itself There was a case that it shifted a little behind and there was a judgment that it was difficult to hand over the product in a form that reflected the opinion received properly when thinking about the remaining time until the release, and consulted with the company .

Until now, I have made ten pieces in the series called Armored Core, but this time Armored Core V is making the most time among them. As seen from the company, it is made with great effort as a product, so in a sense, not to regret or to do everything that can be done, this was postponed.

G:
Is this development period about three years?

Nabeshima:
Well, it took me about three years. It is an unusual period as Armored Core, is not it?

G:
That is to say that it is not the reason why you can not play as a game completely like a problem on the way of online, but various opinions have come out as an echo, "It takes time to reflect this" .

Nabeshima:
In the beginning of the test, several problems have appeared, but as for it, there is a word to say "as expected", but since it is still a game with large online elements, if you do not do a large scale test I thought that there was obviously a problem that it would not come out.

Because there was meaning as a beta test to give it out. It is natural that solving it there. However, as for the postponement of this time, it was because there were many things that I wanted this opinion in opinion rather than saying "It takes time to cope there."

I've also done beta testing of PC games, but since I have experienced that it did not change so much when I saw things that came out in the end, for the people of the consumer who are not used to such phenomena, There was consideration that shock would be big. Considering that, it is the actual situation that it was judged that it will be put out after reflecting exactly as requested exactly.

G:
What is the title that is doing the closed beta test for home use?

Nabeshima:
As far as I know, in Japan it is probably because of Xbox 360Monster Hunter,Phantasy Star Online,laterFinal FantasyIs not it? If you are using FPS overseas, there are a lot of titles for beta testing even for home use.

G:
If it is still in Japan, as a culture of home titles, does not it popularly release after doing a closed beta test?

Nabeshima:
This is a little related to the nature of the game, but for a long time there has been a culture of "one things to play alone", and there are many people who still fall behind on the element of online I think that it is.

Currently, not only the game but also the society as a whole has come to be compatible with the online environment, but as for home games, I feel that the progress of that part is slow. I think that beta tests will not be too common due to such circumstances.

G:
Although the period of beta testing has increased in relation to PSN, from the user's point of view, it is also a part that I do not know well how much it affects development. Does that influence cause considerable trouble in development?

Nabeshima:
It was a difficult timing in terms of timing. It was just feeling that I was praising the place of online function. Even development was in a condition that it could not be connected to the network, so after all it was only making it possible to make it on the client side, and it had become a feeling that it would be unknown unless waiting to connect. There is no doubt that there was not a little influence.

G:
I think that fans were also looking forward to the closed beta so much that there was also an atmosphere that you have to start closed beta immediately after restoration.

Nabeshima:
I agree. There are places where the schedule has changed significantly. But when I have done it for 3 years, there are many things around me.

Even during the March 11 earthquake, I was just planning an event on the 12th. I was about to do an event to show the real screen of the play screen in Akihabara, when the equipment was packed in a box on the development floor, the shake came.

It was an event that I was doing with other companies, saying "I was shaken but it's going to be like it now", so I called the company immediately, but it was a situation that I could not make myself understood.

G:
It was such a timing.

Nabeshima:
There was also a story saying that it was better to go to a refuge once.

G:
When the PS3 version closed beta test started at the beginning, it was that there were some problems of matching. In this regard, is it ok to say that the main cause of postponement of release is not due to online trouble?

Nabeshima:
I agree.

G:
This time I posted articles on GIGAZINE because it was decided to postpone release, but I was surprised by the reactions of Twitter etc. There were few criticisms on postponement and there were many favorable reactions. In the meantime, it seems that there is a sense of trust with the fans that have been built in the series for many years, but was there any expectation that the fans would wait for the decision to postpone?

Nabeshima:
It is not personally like that. After all, when I was a user, I was really looking forward to buying a game and it was a shock to get what I had hoped would have come out soon.

In other words, it is a promise to say the release date. As I said that it will be released at that timing, I think that we should keep as much as possible to do it. It is a complex feeling that you can say "Good to postpone", but basically I feel sorry.


Nabeshima:
In the game there is often a postponement of release, but it is impossible to think of in normal work. Is not it a major problem that the delivery date will not be in time? Considering that, I think that it is still funny, and I am very thankful that you can wait, but I do not think there is any reason for you to make Dhara dara, and I think that I must do it firmly.

G:
Recent games are now available for updating online, so I think for the time being we will release the image and there will be images in the fans trying to manage the update later. I think that fans also feel that they are trying to release it after completing it in its complete form without solving it with the update.

Nabeshima:
As a matter of fact, updating is not like a PC game, it's not a mechanism that makes it so easy. Besides, it is also a high-priced product, so it's not good to get things halfway.

After that, there is something like the business model that I've done under the premise that I can buy the finished product, so there is also a sense that it seems that I can not get a consensus quite well in the way of updating. I think that the download content as an additive element or the like is beginning to be generalized at last but it seems that the property is different from other general applications or products based on the network, is not it?

◆ What company is from software

G:
Originally from software, the predecessor was to develop business applications for large general-purpose computers.

Nabeshima:
I founded it 25 years ago. I entered the game about 17 years ago.

G:
That means that I have been making applications for about 8 years. What kind of applications were you making at the time?

Nabeshima:
I entered the company 15 years ago, 96 years. It was half past those days. Half of the staff is making games, half are doing system development of the business so far, I have been adopted as a staff of the game side, and I am only doing game development, so not much details However, it seems that he was developing a management system for food feeding of pigs.

G:
Really? I did not know it at all.

Nabeshima:
I heard the story that JA's system and so on are being made. Was it the original remnant, before, all were developing with suits. JA and something like that are going out with such a tough place, so we will also go out and so we will obviously work in a suit.

So it is not just for games but for private clothes. Everyone was doing development with a suit until about 10 years ago. On the contrary it was interesting to be rare. I was told something like "I'm really a suit" (laugh)

G:
By the time Nabeshima joined the company, alreadyKingsfieldWas it about when the development of it started?

Nabeshima:
I entered when I was making a prototype of the original Armored Core just after Kingsfield III was released.

G:
Were there such things as they were able to do so just because they were developing business applications to create the first generation of Armored Core?

Nabeshima:
I really did not join the game at the beginning of game development, so I do not know the details, but from business point of view it seems the president was feeling stalled in the traditional business model. It was a time when things like the first IT bubble ended.

There was something like a sense of crisis that something must start differently. Originally it seems that the president personally liked the game, some people said that some of the staff liked games, and he was talking about making a game for PC for a while. From the time it was recklessly thought that he wanted to do with polygons.

G:
From that time on? That is before 95 years old.

Nabeshima:
It was before. It seems that I could not do such a thing and it was torn down. Playstation comes out there, and if it were this it would be able to do it. With an arcade,Virtua FighterIt was around that time. As it was able to do so, it seemed like I could do it.

So when I first started, I've heard that it really started with a programmer alone, with no graphics or modeling persons or people making sounds.

In terms of know-how, I think that it was probably something that all of them were staff members that made the system, but I think that it was probably quite chaotic, although it is probably not so (lol)


G:
Suddenly it comes from 3D modeling.

Nabeshima:
It is said that the guy who was doing the program yesterday was doing modeling "What is modeling"? In the story I heard, because I did not know how the game is made, if I made it to the end of the end, there was no ending, and I began saying "Ending is necessary, is not it?"

Because business applications usually do not have endings. By the time "I usually have something, stuff roll" and so on, there is no longer time.

G:
That is amazing.

Nabeshima:
I do not know if it's true or not, but there was such a story.

G:
Until now, I think that not only the Armored Core series but also from-software model is overwhelmingly superior to 3D modeling, but it seems to be attractive as a company like commitment to 3D modeling as a company Do you have it?

Nabeshima:
To say it sticks, or to put it other way, it can only do it. It is because there is not much stuff like that since I have not made a real 2D game or anything properly.

This is also a hearing, but besides the feeling of wanting to make things like 3D games that were rare at the time, I think that it was also a successor manufacturer as well. At that time, there were already many manufacturers who have been developing since the era of Super Nintendo Entertainment. It seems that there was a strong part that I must differentiate because I had to break into that place.


Nabeshima:
3D modeling is an area that none of the existing makers has done, so in that sense it would be side by side. I've heard that it was an idea that there might be opportunities if I try hard towards it. Especially this time "Armored Core V" can also be praised for the robot modeling and animation being amazing, but on the contrary we can only do it.

I also do not like it. I am also not good at 2D, and it is impossible for the team staff of Armored Core, in particular, to say that they are cute girls. When I say a girl or the like, I feel a really cool face, so I'm a modeler or something (laugh)

G:
Conversely, such a company is also unusual now.

Nabeshima:
That's why I think it's weird (lol)

G:
That being a very special company.

◆ What kind of armored core is it?

Armored core is known as a game that fights by making mecha by himself, but was there already such a game of concepts at that time?

Nabeshima:
I think that it was 2D game. It may have been novelty to make it 3D and move three-dimensional.

In the early days of the Armored Core, the president was responsible for the leadership, but the president was saying that the idea itself is not so special. If you want to customize limbs yourself and want to make a robot is a boy, everyone dreams.

I think that it is a game whether how it can be realized in a concrete form rather than a part of the idea "Yes, I wanted to do this" I think that it is a game, so if you do not do it properly I remember being talked.


G:
It is said that it was such a feeling since the beginning.

Nabeshima:
I've been upgrading what I have been in since the early days, such as basic game nature or basic mechanism, and have been doing so far. I think that it was good that the place that I made a solidly in the first place was good.

G:
I think that the series called Armored Core, not limited to the first generation, has a somewhat special view of the world. It is a world view that there are a lot of business entities, the main character who does not have a specific name receives a request of a mission from there, is fighting as a mercenary, but this setting is inspired from existing works Or are they things to do?

Nabeshima:
It was completely different when I was making the first armored core. I think that it was a very solid feeling. It's like "I am somewhat amurotic!" That made a robot based on the design drawings left by my father. The president did not like it and came to me just entering at that time and said, "Think of something new".

The setting of the world view is born due to restrictions on the system. Because it is PS as the first armature core, there are parts where specs can not catch up with what you want to do.

For example, the setting of the first world is that humanity lives in the basement and there is a town underground. At first, that was said by the programmer "I can not do outside." It is told that it is severe that the plane is infinitely spreading in the space, and it is said that "Where can you do" and it was told that "It can be done in a closed space". Well then, let's say that everyone lives in the basement.

In such a way, it gradually became a taste that SF color gradually entered, and it has come to the direction that general talk such as army or state does not suit well. It is said that it seems a little surreal, or that the setting that seems to have some part leaping up is right.

As myself became a mercenary, received various requests, and there are various missions, various parts come out and it is a premise to play with combining it,I had a game design that I wanted to do various things firstWhat is it? Who is asking for myself as well because they are receiving money so some people are paying money. From the point that he probably will be doing business, he was in the form of a company. It seems like a setting like something like a company that is not military or something like a corporation is catching on the world is gradually born.

G:
It is a feeling that the view of the world was made closely intertwined with the game design.

Nabeshima:
Especially in the past it was more common to do such a way of making. As you can play the game first, like this game you like thinking about the settings and the world view that match it.

Regarding the main character of the Armored Core, it was the concept of creating a favorite robot by himself, so there was a part that there was no match with the mechanism if there was clearly what the hero's profile looked like.

The concept of the game is that you want to do various things like that. That's why the hero is like you are a player, as a worldview, I feel like I'm alright like the feeling that I do what I want to do with mercenaries and do not do what I do not want to do It is getting. After all, there is a place where I wanted to have a consistent mechanism that it is a game that I do as I like.

◆ Armored Core V is a different stage title than previous series


G:
Compared to the previous series, Armored Core got the impression that it turned "V" this time and it changed quite a lot. It seems that there have been changes in quite a lot of parts, but I would like to ask about why each change was made.

First of all, it is about the expansion of the online element, but about this is Nabeshima Producer was a concept that had been from before?

Nabeshima:
The circumstances will be long, but first of all"Chrome Hounds"I made a game called this, which is also produced by me, but it was something I did with Sega.

This time "V" is based on Chrome Hounds in a sense, there is a part made by developing the system made with chromehounds. As for the title "Chrome Hounds", aside from sales, there was also a story that I had an impression that at that time I was doing quite interesting things, there was also a story saying that I will make a sequel for a while, but I can not realize it in the end did. I had a feeling that I wanted to do it once more if I had the opportunity.

So, when I was planning to make "V" this time, I thought that I could do it in a way that made use of that mechanism. It is currently "V" in Roman numerals, but originally I announced it with the figure "5". When I made it over a year and made it to a certain extent, when I looked at it again, "2" became "3", like "3" turned to "4", "4" From saying "5", it was the same way of change as before.

So I was wondering if this was really the case, both myself and company. It is a sense of crisis that if you do not go to another stage newly just in the series that has been doing long, it probably will be falling right as it is.

With such a sense of crisis, I talked about "I will try to redo it once more over time." Then, if you change fundamentally by saying what you do newly, there are already only online elements.

The series called Armored Core has developed a lot of parts to play with alone for ten years. Even if I mess around with offline elements further, whatever you do it will only be a minor change. At least, I thought that it seems that it only looks like that from the user.

So, it was decided that it would be better to develop the online part that had not been much challenged so far. So, I tried to combine the elements of Chrome Hounds well to create a new armored core. That was two years ago.

G:
It took about a year or so before it started to change.

Nabeshima:
It's about a year. In general, Armored Core is made in about a year or two or so. Perhaps, I've been making Armored Core in this company for about 15 years, and it's all involved from the first one, since it is fifteen. On average it puts out one a year.

Originally, at the time of "5" I was thinking to do it with the same feeling, but when I was doing with that nori, I am new as it is, but after all I think that was "it was". Well then it probably will not be.

As a company, the title Armored Core is also a title that has been a sign for a long time, and since it is a title I would like to cherish from now on, I will put in another leop here and rebuild it fundamentally, as a new game It was two years ago that I came to the conclusion that I have to make products that I can recognize.

G:
I heard that there was also a story saying to abandon the name "Armored Core", was it just about that time?

Nabeshima:
That was about a year and a half ago. After talking about making changes, I talked about going to a different stage in the first place, then I developed to the story that if it is a new game I do not need the name "Armored Core" is. On the contrary, there was a feeling that I do not want to see anything that is on the extension of the "Armored Core" so far.

Of course, those who are on the extension line of the series understand to the person who knows by looking at the design of the robot, but I was about to bring it to a different stage from now. The tangle entangled from there talking about the title about about half a year about negotiation. I had been doing things like 'This week's title draft' (laugh)

G:
That means that it has changed.

Nabeshima:
I wanted to tell you somehow that it's changed. So, I heard a story saying "Let's change your name." After all it became "Armored Core V".

◆ Overwhelmingly expanded strategy


G:
Expanding the online element, it is said that it is almost a different game, but the setting of the size of the robot himself operated, the so-called "AC" itself is also smaller. What was the reason for this change?

Nabeshima:
Originally the "Armored Core" series has a part that has made Uri fighting fast, but I made it with the concept of trying to make it to the ultimate point with "4", is not it? It worked well on its own, but on the other hand the meaning of the topography has disappeared as an adverse effect.

For example, in complex terrain, townscape etc., there is no way to move on Mach 2 or something. It is absolutely something that made the stage that there is a tower of the city in the lower part in such a space that it opened very much. In extreme terms, it was a game like an air fight like a flight shooter.

There, the purpose of "going to a stage different from the past" came in and I was conscious of the differentiation from "4" very strongly. It is necessary to make a big change to make it feel like "visual" or "game", even if anyone sees such a part.

Reducing the scale of the aircraft is also an idea that came out from the viewpoint of such differentiation. By making the size that was a bigger robot than the building until now is about the same size as the building or smaller than that It changes visually pretty. Then, by making that size, you will be able to do something like entering between the building and the building. It was a story about whether you could include gaming to use obstacles and hide from the enemy.


Nabeshima:
From there it changes in various ways, for example when you hide behind the building, you will see that there is a radar, so let's not let radar or something else. Besides, if you press a button like this, you can fly freely with Pyo, everyone will eventually fly, so the meaning of the terrain will be lost, so it will not be able to fly. Ultimately, I make it a mechanism of a game that requires ingenuity to fly. I am saying it easily now, but the change around here is actually quite troubled. There is also anxiety that whether traditional style can be changed so far.

G:
Even when I played the closed beta test, I got the feeling that the strategy has expanded tremendously.

Nabeshima:
I agree. It was on the premise that on-line teams would like to play, so if you feel like a universal robot or anything you can do with just one person like you have ever done, it's a little troubling. I think that such a thing as being a romant is very good and I think that it seems that a person who seems to overwhelm all alone will come out, but as a basic way of playing, cooperating with multiple members , I am aiming for a design that tries strategy and performs each role.

In that sense, compared with "4" and others, the performance of the aircraft also has a part highlighted in its characteristics. Not everything can be done by one person, there is clearly something weak, so let's cooperate with their colleagues to do something. Please turn around so that you can make good use of your friends' power, I am making a game design like that.

G:
In the past series, there is an image that thrusts in a single machine while a lot of enemies are full, and it has an image that it bursts down, and even when it is a closed beta test of "V", leave the tunnel like that feeling When I went there, I was surprised to be shot down in a moment by taking a cum shot of the tank. Oh, this is different from the past.

Nabeshima:
Especially when "4", the feeling of going into the enemy was strong. It is a bit deep story, but it is a place I struggled especially in development, and even if I play in development, I will go down if I find an enemy.

As a concept, I wanted to make the difference between "good" and "bad" somewhat clear, so it is a parameter of a part or a place like a performance of an aircraft, but it is larger than before I am making a difference. For example, if you hit a bad guy, you take it to the balance that you can not win normally if you shoot from the straight on a one-on-one basis.

However, despite the fact that the development team is talking about that kind of thing, if you actually play, you find the enemy all the time, go down and go down and talk to me like "Do not you think it is too strong? That's it. "No, that's why you're telling me that you are bad" (laugh)

Under such circumstances, if you know that the enemy is strong, you want me to think "retire". Once I withdraw and contact a friend, I would like cooperation like "Please come to help from a strong guy!"

However, even in development, we can not necessarily be aware of it, and we are doing a lot of ingenuity in order to get there. For example, even if it is expressed as "hit bullet", there are cases where it is not effective depending on compatibility even if you shoot enemies, and bullets hit so that you can visually understand "I'm not working" It is supposed to bounce off.

Then there is something like the reconnaissance function called scan mode, and you can see enemy parameters, but at the same time your energy recovery will be faster during that mode, energy recovery will be faster If you use it with a feeling to use it, since the enemy can be examined, I am making it thinking that it will be like a movement like "He is stronger than me".

G:
Indeed, it was such a scan mode. I did not understand well about that, so I did not use it much in the closed beta test.

Nabeshima:
Please use it (lol)

G:
But after all, the sense of "retiring" was very strong and I used the sniper rifle well even in the matchup. With the series up to now, the sniper rifle did not have a strong impression so much, but this time I felt that whether retiring and keeping the distance shooting would be very advantageous. As a trend, there was also an impression that the number of people using sniper rifles is increasing, at the end of the closed beta test.

Nabeshima:
The current parameters are provisional only, but I was grasping that there was such a flow in the closed beta test period, at first it was hard and strong tanks became popular, then two weights became popular, To counter it, the sniper popular, this time the sniper is awkward to aim and the lightweight two legs are fast becoming popular. Perhaps, I think that if I continue a little more I will go around and go back to original (lol)

G:
I wonder what kind of trend of such assemble was also the series so far.

Nabeshima:
There is nothing, but I feel it is fast. In the past, when there was something popular that "this is strong" everyone gathered there, everyone gathered there, but this time it is a team warfare, so it's all team warfare, because everyone understands that it's risky to do it all, Some people make fashion assemble and some make it a fighter that devised for that support. When I did it, there were some discoveries like "Oh my, support me is stronger".

G:
Measures It means that the aircraft body is also easy to be born early. There is a feeling that it is doubling the fun of assemble when it comes online.

Nabeshima:
I agree. Because it is not only my own story.◆ Even if the online element expands, even one person can play


G:
Another big change, there is the impression that the design of the aircraft has changed considerably compared with "4". At the time of "4", the line was very thin and beautiful design ... ...

Nabeshima:
"4" was a handsome guy (laugh)

G:
On the other hand, this time I thought that aircraft of tanks like tanks came out and I felt like I felt like I went back to the first generation, but was this a deliberate change?

Nabeshima:
Well, there is also an intention to completely differentiate it there as well. There are parts due to the fact that the world view has been changed so far, but there was an intention to first make it possible to understand that "4" is a glance at first glance.

"4" is a form of fighter aircraft, is not it? Form like a modern fighter. In contrast, "V" is a tank. It is also an "old" tank. On the surfacerivetI can see something like that, I do not know such a stealth or such. I was talking about doing a feeling that a boy would like it very much.

G:
Although there is an image of Chrome Hounds when it says chariot, I thought that it was also based on Chrome Hounds that I was going to do it in team warfare too, was it big?

Nabeshima:
Personally, there is an idea that if you have the opportunity to make "Chrome Hounds 2" you could have done something like this, there is a part packing it in "V" this time.

One of the reasons I made it to team warfare is that when making online, the online of "Armored Core" is basically a match-up, and users actually playing battle are very enthusiastic and enthusiastic Although there are, in the total number of such users there is data about 10% of the whole.

There is something I want to manage there and, given the reasons, people who are good at battle are very good. From the people who do not do it, I think there was something like a wall that would make me fall aside when I got mixed in there.

In addition, although I got to talk a little bit ago in a while ago, if it is for home use, the movement of users to the online has become dull and it is said that online play itself is scary, or it is a strange story, "I want to do with only one game" I think that sense is also one side. But I wonder if I managed to break it somehow it would not be new.


Nabeshima:
Closed beta tests are still often told on a battle base, but as a development team I am planning to make games that can play "battle" instead of feeling making competition games. Even in the closed beta test, there are no scenes like online mode or offline mode, and I have already connected online from the beginning.

Even in the territory mission, it seems to me that the system is such that the other party does not have to go through the boundary there and try to do it once in the meantime.

Even in the past match up, people who are good are superfluous, but those who are enjoying it even at the wrong are pretty well. Although I lost something, I thought it would be fun if I tried something like something, interesting, or something like that. But, as far as the mechanism was, the walls were so expensive that I could not bring the user there. I am thinking about doing that as a very big factor in the mechanism of this time.

G:
In that sense, even one person can play without problems. When I played the closed beta test for the first time, I played alone, but I know that I can not win even if I fight alone, if I decide to hire a "mercenary", I hire it very easily I was able to do it. Negotiating to hire is not necessary at all, if you select a person who seems to be good from the list and press the button, you join the member without permission, you can play team game very easily even by one person It was.

Nabeshima:
I care about the team warfare as well as the part that makes it possible for one person to play at the same time. Although it will be another story, the contents of the time I was making the "5" I mentioned earlier are all included in "V". There is a part that we strongly appeal to the new online part, but there are parts that were part of the Armored Core so far, the scene fighting AC on a one-to-one basis, the free match, etc. I have it all.

It is such an image that there are all elements of Armored Core so far, and the structure of the online territory mission wraps the whole thing. So, even in the online part, even those who have been playing alone with the past series have thought of various mechanisms that they can not play without a friend. Mercenaries are one of them.

Mercenary was not able to communicate with voice chat, and that was pretty troubling, but there was something that was more comfortable. I was wondering if there was a pretty sense of not being able to talk to talk to or talk to someone who did not know.

There used to be a questionnaire in the closed beta test, but it was pretty broken. As a development side, I thought that players wanted to play easily, and there were also a considerable proportion of those who said it would be easy as it is now.

◆ What about communication means?

G:
Regarding the communication part, I felt like playing the closed beta test, it was difficult to match the timing of the invasion and I thought it would be nice to have a simple text chat.

Nabeshima:
I have implemented the text chat function itself, but it is a bit of a doubt whether to let mercenaries do it or not.

Text chat itself is a mechanism to use fixed form sentences, but I'd like to be able to edit it. I think that it is best to send a message by choosing from about 20 pieces of fixed content, considering the play with the pad for the home, but how to set up a strategy by the team, how to communicate I think that it is different, so I want to be able to rewrite the contents freely.

G:
Indeed, before reintroducing the battle, it was originally rewritten, and in actual battle it would be selected and sent from there.

Nabeshima:
That's right. I tried to be able to change its contents as I want it. But then, as soon as possible, mercenaries will be able to send me content. It is unpleasant content, and it probably will not be pretty bad for someone who is disgusting.

G:
So, it will be in the form of trying to limit team members.

Nabeshima:
For the moment I think so. But it is a difficult problem.

G:
There may be people who have resistance to voice chatting, are not they? Even inside the team, "Voice chat is not really ...".

Nabeshima:
Chrome Hounds is also basically voice chatting, but at that time it was totally said by members of development too. "Put in text chat absolutely, I can not do it because I am ashamed of voice chat". "It is impossible" when asked "Is it impossible to do with me?" (Laugh)

About 6 years ago, text-based chat is mainstream, is not it? There was also a staff called "Absolutely impossible".

G:
At the time of the closed beta test, there were members to play at home, but it seems that it was a slightly strange scene after all while playing a voice chat where there is a family next door.

Nabeshima:
Regarding voice chat, there are people who have resistance, and it is natural for people who are sleeping next to each other if it is an environment to play games. So, I was talking about getting a text chat from the beginning.

I am thinking to make it possible for employers to send things like short messages to mercenaries. Mercenaries can read or not read. In addition to that, I intend to make sure that those who hired before are known. The employment screen of mercenaries is like friendship degrees, and those who played together many times will go up. When it got higher to a certain extent, let me invite you to "Do you want to join the team?"

G:
I see. Even if you are playing only as a mercenary, it is nice to have a chance to enter a team somewhere in it.

Nabeshima:
I agree. I think that the neighborhood is a very subtle place everywhere. Especially Japanese people. The Americans have an atmosphere like "Do what it is, let us hear more voices."

What I felt was that when I went to Europe for a presentation a year ago, I got about 5 companies interviewing the local game media jointly, but I was asked "Is there resistance to voice chat communication?" I did it. I wonder what is Europe like.

Everyone was positive on the spot, but when the interview was over and I tried to go home, the person sitting in my head was saying "I could not say a bit ago, but I can not do that ...". I do not want people in Europe to be all right, they say that they wanted to know that some people were useless, so they came to say. I guess those people are still cute, I thought they were cute (laugh)

In the case of Japan, it may be better to say that the difference between people who are used and those who are not used is big. Now there are official fansite sites, some people do it very positively in such places, while some people say "get in and out of our teams steadily", "it's impossible for such a thing to be like that" There are people there. I think the difference there is intense.

G:
I have to make sure that both are enjoyable.

Nabeshima:
I think that I have to make it a product that breaks the wall there. You can put both elements in, and only one of them wants to do one thing, you do not mind it. But until now there was a wall there and the other side of the wall could not be seen, so try to make each other visible. So, if you are interested, try doing it, I'm going to work on a mechanism like saying it is funny.

◆ Armored Core overseas deployment situation

G:
What is the situation overseas expansion of Armored Core series?

Nabeshima:
We are selling in North America, Europe and Asia. But, there are things like robot things, and it seems that the user is the most in Japan. I had an alliance with Namco Bandai this time, so I would like to proactively act overseas as well. Regarding overseas, I think that it will be launched in the direction of a game that can be played by a team rather than a robot one.

There was a very enthusiastic person overseas, and in this closed beta test it was only for users in Japan, but there were many requests that I wanted to be able to participate abroad as well. Now, Facebook has a fan site, but there are around 1,700 people registered there.

In the past, I have been doing various events with overseas players, and I also do events where Korean champions and Japanese champions fight.

G:
Will it be possible to organize such competitions easily when online?

Nabeshima:
In Europe, I think that there is a problem of delay, and in reality it is a bit difficult. It is a fast-paced game, so online lags have a lot of impact.

In the past series, it is the impression that we can actually connect with Japan realistically and play comfortably until about the West Coast of the United States. When going to the east coast, it seems that it becomes difficult a game like a serious game if it goes a little uncomfortable and goes to Europe.

◆ Why "kick"


G:
I will return to the game system story, but this time the element of "kick" was added. I think that this is a very surprising function for users who are playing from traditional works, please tell me about the process of adding this.

Nabeshima:
From a person who is doing the series it is so. As a challenge of the series, as a game of shooting game, there were things that the enemy could not be seen well if the enemy was far away. I could not see whether the bullet was hit or not, and while I was shooting, there was a situation like "That one was dead?"

In the sense of sense of accomplishment or exhilaration, it is really ideal to become like 'Oscher!', As I can see the fact that Baan really caught me, but I will definitely be shooting a missile away from where I am. There was a part like the eternal task from the first work.

So, as for "V", I felt like shrinking the battle distance. Using a building or the like, I approach the opponent and approach and fight. I wanted to shrink it from at least "4". If I could do it, I could see enemies well, so I wonder if the sense of accomplishment comes out more.

Another story and this is one of the eternal tasks, but there is a part "Why do you type in humanity?" Perhaps there is no answer anymore, it seems to be impossible to think, but since there are hands and feet attached, there are some functions and I want to do something with my hands and feet, There was a story that.

These two reasons stick together, this time the system "kicking with the feet" has been added. Even if it attacks or attacks, I also wanted to have a way to fight in close proximity. Even in the past series there was a proximity weapon called a blade, but since we use one frame of weapons, try to have different means of attack.

While it became possible to kick with your feet, you can now switch weapons by the hand. There used to be a "hanger weapon" from the front, but it was a form that brought from anywhere so far that the weapon changed, if you do this properly visually it would be cool.

So, this time I started to properly catch and release the weapon properly, grab the next weapon and bring it. Will it also become persuasive power with hands on?

G:
There was a story of wanting to shorten the battle distance, but as a proximity weapon, the weapon "Pile bunker" which is popular among fans "Tsukitetsuki" has also appeared this time. Is it still part of sticking point?

Nabeshima:
What percentage of those who have a great sticking attitude towards the users rather than we are (laugh)

For the time being, when I give out the information of a new work, there is a person who asks for the first time to open the door "I do not know what this blade is", but this time some people want me to do melee battle, There are blades and heat piles, because they are there. Actually there is another proximity weapon, this weapon has three attributes, but there is a different kind of weapon for each attribute.

G:
It seems that adding the attribute this time also contributes to the enhancement of strategy, but there was an intention to eliminate the extremely strong assemble pattern in team warfare Is it?

Nabeshima:
I'm going back to the concept story, but I felt very strongly that I wanted to lower the entrance threshold. For example, energy is not reduced at all this time with normal boost. Well, I thought that it would have been one of the reasons that it seemed difficult for disadvantages to arise when taking ordinary means of transportation, and I wanted to get rid of barriers around that.

Meanwhile, as it is an action game, there were also things that "get pleasant pleasant" must be there. There is a condition that a beginner can move it as it is, from growing from there, when I see a person who got better, I have to make it think that it is totally different. It has a wide frontage, deep inside.

Under such a goal, while simplifying operations and doing what makes boost easier to use, we must also pursue the depths. Among the assemble, the parameter is deverted, and the part "What I mean, I do not understand it" is that it is OK. If you make it easy, as nothing will remain in this game.


Nabeshima:
"KE (live ammunition)" "TE (chemistry)" this time thought to add another element to think about when it is thought that we should keep the complexity so that it will not be a game just hitting buttons, "Bullet)" and "CE (optical bullet)" are introduced.

Since it is a team warfare, I think that I want you to think about whether it is better to align all 3 attributes in a well-balanced manner or somewhere to bias it.

◆ Download contents and recommended for beginners Assemble


G:
Currently, it is said that parts are over 500 at 11 sites, but are there any plans to download elements such as downloading parts online?

Nabeshima:
I am thinking, but I think that I would like to carefully download parts and strong parts are supposed to be charged, so there are opinions where users can be divided as well I think. As a basic policy I think that I do not want to buy strong parts by download.

Instead, the performance is the same, I think that the design is somewhat different, or what I can boast that I have is good. For example, I am relaxing in an ordinary horn but I am having a corner. Performance is the same, but (laugh)

G:
Even though I actually played it, the operation seemed quite intuitive, so I thought the hurdles for beginners to go down much. However, for those who have never played the series at all, I think that I will be confused by assemble first, but are there any assemblies recommended for beginners to play for the first time?

Nabeshima:
First of all I think I will arrange some parts. It is not a beginner pack, but as long as I have dozens of parts from the beginning and assemble within it, I feel like I can do a moderate aircraft as long as I do not do something so far.

From that point, if you get accustomed and want different parts, more parts are sold to the shop. You can try buying something similar to the part you used to date, or you can try buying completely different kinds of parts.

G:
This time, I felt it was possible to create a sharp-pointed aircraft with a very strong feature in assemble. In past series, because we had to deal with every mission, we tended to make a general-purpose aircraft by all means but this time I thought whether it was easy to make a fuselage with specialized performance considerably However.

Nabeshima:
I agree. As for the mission, we can supply it in the middle and change the assemble on the way, so we can do that kind of way of playing. When a very strong enemy AC appears in the middle of a mission, I think that it is also ant way to change assemble to a countermeasure aircraft at the previous point.

Also, although the content of the assemble can be saved individually with data, I think that I will put some model of model for beginners from the beginning. A so-called standard fuselage is prepared and if you do not know for the time being, please use it. From there, when you get used, change the legs of the aircraft and use it as a weapon.

G:
I felt that the characteristics of the type of legs were very good this time, but are there any concepts to do this in each type?

Nabeshima:
The biggest factor for determining the characteristics of the aircraft by the legs is also in "V", but in terms of team warfare, the role of the legs, this part is a part that does this , I thought that it would be easier to make those who clarified it.

For example, if you have two legs, type with short range battle on the front line, type with sniping with 4 legs, type with a tank that will ambush or protect the target if it is a tank, I tried to make it possible for the user to think about how to complement or more specialize.

You can make an aircraft that sniper while taking action, depending on how you assemble it. However, it is hard to make a universal aircraft more than the series ever.

◆ In the product version, about 50% of users can have a territory


G:
In this closed beta test, there was only one map, but will it be added more in the product version?

Nabeshima:
I agree. I think that it is a feeling that the person who has the territory defends and the person who does not have the feeling will attack, but in the product version, the person who has the territory has his own You can customize the territory and it will take the form of other players to capture it.

So, in the product version, not only the type of map, but also customized riding on it will result in an infinite pattern. I think that it will become contents with considerable playful response.

G:
In the closed beta test of the PS3 version, I got one territory when I made a team, but what will happen to the flow of acquisition of the territory in the product version?

Nabeshima:
In product versions rather than the fact that I get the territory for free, it is not only wrest from someone. If the player first to have a territory, must not have nobody, because the NPC characters will appear as an interim owner, it will be in the form of take away from it.

Basically, the territory exists beforehand in a state where the number has been decided in advance, and in the closed beta test at Xbox 360, only 2000 territories exist for 5000 pairs of 10,000 participants Is not ... In the PS3 version, there was another part I wanted to test a bit, so if you dare to scatter the territory and wait in the defense game, occasionally there were circumstances where no enemy came, but with the product version you have a territory It is an assumption that the number of people there will be much less.

However, there is no intention to reduce so much, there are areas of about half a minute for the participants, if the top 50% or so, I can have a territory, "I wonder if I can have a territory about 50% too? I wish I could have a feeling like that.

G:
In the end, I would like to have a message for the fans.

Nabeshima:
Because it is a series title, there are people who have been playing for a long time and I think that some people said they knew for the first time this time, but this time "V" is a new stage for the Armored Core series so far I make it with a feeling that I am playing games. I would like to do something in various places from now on, so please try it if you see it somewhere.

We are expanding the online element greatly this time, but we are making it easy for people who are not familiar with online play to make it easy to play and also for elements that can be played alone, at least the same as or higher than the previous series Is prepared. In addition, I think that you are interested in online.

I'm sorry I postponed the release, I will do my best to be released in January, so thank you.

G:
Thank you very much.