Mucha info nueva, ademas parece ser que este juego podria ser la 1a entrega de una nueva saga de Aya brea.
Concept and Switch to PSP
The concept of The 3rd Birthday, said Kitase, is to carry over the world view and taste of Parasite Eve, but create a completely original title featuring a greater emphasis on the Aya Brea character.
Square Enix originally announced the game as a cell phone title. According to Tabata, it was originally planned to be episodic, with each episode playing out like an overseas drama (this refers to stuff like 24, Lost and Heroes).
The reason it was changed to PSP, said Kitase, is because the quality of the gameplay and cut-in effects exceeded the framework of cell phones. Also, they wanted to push the game on a global scale.
The episodic nature of the story's construction is still in place, said Toriyama. They're currently doing voice recording, and the voice performances will apparently be like what you'd find in an overseas drama.
The Changing Main Visual
The change in platform resulted in a vastly different main visual. I thought this part of the interview was so neat that I wrote a separate story about it.
Action RPG
The 3rd Birthday has in the past been described as a TPS, or third person shooter. Asked if the game's genre is TPS, Tabata said it's an "action RPG." You use guns, but it's not something where you aim and fire at enemies. Instead, it's "lock-on action," where you use a lock-on button to lock on to enemies. To this, the game adds the the Overdive system and RPG growth elements.
Overdive
As previously detailed, Overdive is a skill Aya has that lets her consciousness take over the bodies of NPC soldiers who are spread out across Manhatten to fight the invading Twisted creatures. The skill is an integral part of both the storyline and gameplay.
Toriyama explained the story part. Aya is a former FBI agent and now a member of a federal organization called C.T.I, or Counter Twisted Investigation. She's the only person capable of using the Overdive skill, which is mankind's "trump card" in defeating the Twisted.
Aya is not particularly good in combat, but she doesn't actually enter combat. She remains in C.T.I headquarters and sends her consciousness out to the various battle fields via Overdive.
Tabata took up the gameplay part. Using Overdive, you can make Aya's consciousness jump instantly from one NPC soldier to another. You'll then be able to take control of the NPC.
You might have figured this out already from the screenshots, but the game changes the enemy's graphic into Aya. This, explained Tabata, is done in order to make the game easier to understand in terms of gameplay. Aya's body isn't actually there though -- just her consciousness.
For the most part, you can think of Aya's life as being one with the NPC into which she's dived. Tabata did note, however, that they're planning on adding a system where Aya's development will add some support to the life of the NPCs.
Due to the Overdive system, The 3rd Birthday has some peculiarities with how it handles death. Let's say an NPC is about to die. You can perform an Overdive, which puts the game into slow motion. As long as Aya is still conscious, she'll be able to jump over to another NPC, even if the NPC she's in has zero life. You can see this zero life Overdive happen in the E3 trailer.
There are multiple classes of NPC soldiers, but the standard type die off quickly. And violently too, it seems. When attacked by a Twisted, the NPCs experience a sharp pain and spurt out blood.
Although he questions the moral side, Tabata expects beginner players to make use of the zero life Overdives frequently -- that is, dive into a soldier and use it for direct attacks until it's about to die, then dive into another soldier.
Advanced players, however, will be able to play more strategically, diving into a soldier to position it on the battle field, then jumping to another soldier to position it in a separate point. You're controlling the battle field, in other words.
Tabata detailed some strategic possibilities here. You can, for instance, attempt to draw an enemy towards one soldier, then dive into a soldier behind the enemy and thus aim for the enemy's back. This is a basic strategy for the game. You can also position troops against special walls to make them perform group attacks.
The game isn't a strategy title, though. The pressure will gradually build up from the enemy. You'll have to decide when to combat enemies by strategic use of Overdiving, and when to make a soldier go into battle head-on.
Action appears to actually be the focus. To help get a sense the balance between action and strategy, Kitase explained that the staff is emphasizing the game's action tempo, and adding a strategic taste on top of that.
You'll usually find between three and four Overdive targets appearing at once on a field, said Tabata. This varies depending on the area. I'm not sure if Tabata is saying that there will be this many Overdive targets throughout the entirety of a stage, or if this is the number you'll have in your immediate vicinity at any given time.
The NPCs have a variety of weapons. As detailed earlier, you can see what weapons are available before deciding whom to dive into. You'll need to consider each weapon's special characteristics and how compatible they are with your current foes. Sample weapons mentioned by Tabata include a shot gun and a sniper rifle.
Even though you're using the NPCs' weapons, there's a customization component to the weapon system. Separate from the NPC weapons, you'll be able to bring your own customized weapons into the fight. While your customized weapons may be more powerful, they're limited in ammunition, so in general, you'll end up relying on the NPC weapons.
There seem to be some other customizations for Aya beyond the weapons. Tabata said that, similar to past entries in the series, you'll be able to make yourself stronger through customizations.
He also hinted at some sort of special new ability for Aya, of similar fashion to the Parasite Energy that appeared in past Parasite Eve games.
Nudity
Fitting the game's concept of "featuring" the Aya character, a large section of the interview is about the character.
One of the keywords for the game is "Lost Past," said Toriyama. Aya is not fighting for her friends. Instead, she's in a section of C.T.I, fighting with the thought that she has no place of her own except for the battle field.
It should be noted that when they mention "past," this doesn't mean you'll be seeing characters from past Parasite Eve games. In terms of story, The 3rd Birthday is completely new, explained Toriyama. The game features, for the most part, original characters.
The Aya character has "a secret." This secret plays into why the character has a different air about her when compared to the first two Parasite Eve games. Apparently, something happened in Aya's past, and she closed up her heart. She's become a character who feels weakness from that past happening.
I never played the older Parasite Eve games, but it appears there was a shower scene of some form involving Aya. Famitsu asked if there will be a shower scene in The 3rd Birthday. Tabata would only respond "We understand how great the expectations are."
While it's not clear that you'll see Aya in the shower, you will see lots and lots of flesh. Her clothes apparently tear apart during battle.
Tabata explained that the clothing is actually equipment. You can apparently send her out sleeveless, and this will end up showing off greater skin when her clothing tears during battle. However, she'll end up incurring more damage with this weaker clothing. The more resilient clothing, when damaged, won't show as much skin.
So how did this system come about? It looks like this is the handy work of Tetsuya Nomura.
According to Tabata, Kitase told the staff to not make the game in such a way that it would end with just one title. Additionally, the staff was hoping to potentially bring the series to a console if this first entry received support from players. This is where Nomura came into the picture. He had the idea that if the game were brought to a console, it would be interesting to have Aya's damage shown by her clothing being damaged. They ended up including the system in The 3rd Birthday as a test.
You might have noticed something totally incongruent about the tearing clothes. If Aya is only sending out her consciousness to the NPCs, and the game is only showing Aya's body for convenience, how can her clothes be tearing? Famitsu asked if the tearing clothes are meant to be Aya's own image. Responded Tabata, "No, it's probably just our image."
Outside of the tearing clothes, you'll also get to see Aya partially naked during the event scenes where she performs an Overdive. Said Toriyama, "While in overdive, she's just a consciousness, so the image is nudity. However, when she lands, she's clothed. It's pretty embarrassing."
Twisted
So what are the Twisted creatures against whom Aya wages battle? According to Toriyama, the FBI wasn't able to figure out their true form, but it's believed they've come from the future.
Famitsu asked what exactly their form is supposed to be, to which Kitase zinged, "They're twisted." Kamikokuryo joked that as part of the design, you're not supposed to understand what they are.
More seriously, Kamikokuryo said that the keyword for the design is indeed "twisted." This is how they're shaped, but the term "twisted" also applies to their related effects, the blood spray, and the space around them.
Outside of just the look, it's supposed to be difficult to anticipate where they're going to move or what they're going to do next.
All this is apparently meant to give a feeling of fear that you're being attacked by these strange creatures.
Wireless Functionality
There won't be any. Tabata said The 3rd Birthday is being made as a "top class single player game."
I'm not sure what this has to do with multiplayer play, but Tabata decided to use a car analogy here. "The battery consumption is also severe... it's like a Ferrari. The fuel economy is bad, but we have confidence in the content."
Okee...
Meaningless Numbers
So how far along is The 3rd Birthday? Tabata came up with an original response to this question: the game's quality is 70% while the game as a whole is 50%.
Kitase Gets His Hands Dirty
Kitase is the game's producer, but he also seems to have a hidden role on the game: stage creator.
He said in the interview that Tabata requested that he make the stage data himself for a section of the game just prior to the climax.
Tabata joked that Kitase would often say that he left his soul with Final Fantasy VII spinoff Dirge of Cerberus. Tabata asked for Kitase's help on The 3rd Birthday, another gun game, in order to help him get the soul back.
No, I don't know what they're talking about either.
Start of a new series
In closing comments, Toriyama chose some slightly odd wording to hype up the game. "Until Final Fantasy Agito XIII comes out, this will be tops on PSP." Sounds like he's also promoting Agito!
Toriyama also said, "A game and story that you won't believe are on PSP await, so look forward to it."
Adding to the talk of a console entry above, Kitase suggested that The 3rd Birthday could be the start of a series. "We ask for your support so that this title can be the starting point for a new series."
Hey, who let Tetsuya Nomura in here?
The site decided to include a comment from Tetsuya Nomura to close off the interview. This was also included in this week's print Famitsu.
Said Nomura, "There are many who call it Parasite Eve 3, but it's not a sequel in the Parasite Eve series but a new piece of content called The 3rd Birthday. The tense battles that have a horror-action style, the event scenes which aim to be the highest level on PSP, the cut-ins that are made with overseas movies in mind -- we believe you'll be able to enjoy a somewhat adult world."