THE STORY: ALEX AHAD
What can you tell us about the civilizations of Ajna's world? Is it like a chaotic warring-states period? Is it all old-world fantasy or will we see the typical anime-RPG dashes of high technology? One background is a city built with giant gears…
Alex Ahad: Ajna's world is a fantastical setting, but with civilizations that could be comparable to examples in our world. The primary themes and focus from Ajna's perspective are in a world that has a dharmic inspiration, such as Buddhist and Hindu mythology. The most prominent example is the presence of Sumeru, a massive, cosmic mountain at the center of the world. However, many of the regions she will come across are not limited to a single setting. For example, the city built with giant gears is from the Iron Kingdom, an empire rapidly expanding as the result of a rigorous industrial revolution, based on Victorian-era London. Also, the politics of this world are indeed with much turmoil. Various large political entities are vying for power and resources, and Ajna will definitely run into them along her journey. Even at the beginning, she will feel the effects of war when her village gets attacked by forces of Lord Ravannavar and the Navar State, who have taken over the region that she lives in.
What sort of threats is Ajna up against? Who is Supreme Lord Ravannavar and what is Kala?
After the attack on her village, Ajna wages war against Supreme Lord Ravannavar and his Navarian forces. Kala is a goddess of destruction that had attacked the world some years ago. During that attack, Lord Ravannavar had somehow appeased the goddess and received a boon from her, granting him incredible power, durability, and mastery in both magic and combat. Even though she has since been sealed away, he has been an advocate of the dark goddess, silencing any in his nation who do not side with Kala. He and his dark armies have been gaining strength as of late. Perhaps the seal placed upon Kala is weakening...
What is Ajna's ultimate goal in this? Is she avenging someone, trying to find herself, or searching for something?
While avenging her father and village is part of her motivations, Ajna's main driving force is doing the right thing with the power she has.
[Hey, I could back the $350 tier and then Cristina Vee could leave me a message in the same voice she used for Four in Drakengard 3 and tell me that my interpretation of the character was completely correct and not terrible nonsense.]
The Indiegogo is purposefully vague about just what these Incarnations are. At the risk of spoiling too much of the story, can you tell us more about how Ajna recruits them? Are they ghosts? Are they incarnations that she's helping toward enlightenment?
The Incarnations seem to have some sort of spiritual connection to Ajna. They are not dead, and are living individuals with their own lives and stories. Yet, they also seem to represent aspects of Ajna as well. However, in order for Ajna to truly take them into herself, she has to gain a better understanding of what kind of people they are.
Valkyrie Profile introduced each recruited Einherjar with a story sequence. How much storyline will we see for the warriors Ajna picks up?
Rather than every Incarnation's story being introduced as an independent story sequence, they're all tied together into Ajna's main story. You will encounter their story from Ajna's point of view as she encounters them. Some Incarnations will have more robust stories than others, though.
THE GAMEPLAY: MIKE Z
You've listed Super Metroid as an influence. How complex will the dungeons be in terms of puzzle solving? Will you use enemies as tools, as Metroid's Ice Beam (or Valkyrie Profile's ice magic) allows? Will we see anything like the crystal switching from Valkyrie Profile 2?
Mike Z: It's difficult for me to answer a question like "How complex will this be?" since a lot of my design comes from iteration and experimenting. But I can say that I greatly prefer the Metroid style of "What do I need to do to get where I need to go?" rather than the traditional RPG "Find and destroy five statues to open this door" puzzle setup. So most things will be organically presented as progression rather than specifically presented as "solve this.”
I do expect lots of "organic" problem solving, though, since one of the other major things we're doing is making every weapon and upgrade have an impact on your movement in the world, either by adding a new movement technique, allowing you to pass obstacles, or combining with another movement technique to make it more effective. For example, when you have the bow and arrows, and later on meet Razmi [the fire mage in the prototype] she'd teach you how to shoot fire arrows. Super Metroid was excellent at combining powers like this, and is what I see as the gold standard.
Using enemies as tools is definitely going to be a part of Indivisible! Ice Beam, Crystal Hunter, and other similar weapons are not only fun, they allow designers to make puzzles that at first glance don't even look like puzzles. I love that! You can already see this used in the Indivisible prototype, even without a weapon specifically for it. To complete a Zen run [no enemies killed, one of the two speedrun contests running] you need to bring an enemy from earlier in the level down to the boss to help you pass the boss without fighting it.
As far as crystal switching...well, remember up there I mentioned new techniques combining with old ones? One of the things I've been imagining since we started brainstorming this game is, after you have the bow, meeting a mage who is able to teleport to places or objects they've already contacted. This skill would be your fast-transport skill to return to earlier areas, but Ajna would also be able to combine it with the bow, allowing her to shoot arrows and then teleport to where they land.
That exact skill may not make it into the final game—though I'm not going to forget about it—but I hope it helps illustrate our approach for Indivisible.
[Cool Mint Ajna deals more damage AND freshens your breath!]
How easy will it be to avoid fights? Will the later dungeons force you into more encounters?
There will of course be enemies that you simply can't avoid, like mooks blocking passages or boss fights, but I don't want to force fights on you, rather I'd like to give you incentives to fight. Leveling up is the obvious one, but that's sort of downplayed in Indivisible. Ideally combat is fun enough that people would choose to fight anyway, but learning new attacks, effectively healing, gathering drops, and training your Incarnations are also reasons to fight. And since enemies are visible and chase you, there's the fact that in order to avoid fights you'll have to be very good at movement, because the enemies are, after all, trying to catch you.
I am toying with the idea of running from battle also being detrimental, not in the usual "oh you dropped some money, poor you" way, but for example fatiguing your characters some in the next fight you encounter, so your actions come back slower, and having that stack. Or incrementally increasing the rewards you get for consecutive fights. Things that encourage you not to run, rather than simply requiring you to fight.
I should mention that in the prototype it's possible to clear the entire thing without defeating any enemies, via a trick at the end to get past the boss. I've been asked multiple times if that can be possible in the final game, and the answer is a strong maybe, but it would require significant skill to accomplish and not be possible without being intimately familiar with how the game works. It would definitely not just be just walking past enemies.
Will the player be able to decrease battle speed to make the game easier—or increase it to make combat more like a crazy-fast fighting game?
Variable battle speed is something I hadn't thought about until this question! I don't see why not, although if I did it, it would probably only affect the speed of the action bars, rather than slowing down enemy attacks so they are easier to defend or anything like that.
I guess I'm sort of hesitant to say yes, just because I think it's possible to strike the right balance without offering that option. My philosophy for gameplay design is simple: If you have to offer an option, you should go heavily think about why, and see if there is some way to solve the problem better, or if it really is a matter of taste and can't be solved otherwise. In the prototype, battle actually speeds up as you earn more characters and actions, to the point where having all four characters with all their actions makes battles almost twice as fast as they are at the beginning. This sort of solution, where you gradually acclimate players to a new system and then push them harder once they know it, is my preferred method of design.
Now that you reminded me it's a possibility, though, we'll definitely experiment with it.
The Indivisible demo didn't seem to have healing items. Will the final game feature expendable items of any kind, or do you prefer to leave them out?
Me, honestly, I'd prefer to leave them out. I dislike relying on expendable items and I really dislike the "kill enemies…get money…buy expendable items…go tank battles using those items" game loop. Being able to heal outside battle is nice, but perhaps that could use leftover Iddhi instead, or require visiting your Inner Realm, which can be done anywhere, to utilize your stored calmness, rather than just buying and using potions. That's not everyone's view here, though, so I am sure they will feature in some form.
As much as possible, though, I would like to avoid having fixed resources like MP and instead rely on renewable resources. Wild Arms 4 does this to an extreme, where you just heal to full after every fight and you can't even use healing items outside battle, except to restore the reduced max HP of allies who were K.O.'d. I think that's a bit extreme, but I would much rather have healing and restorative items be the exception rather than the norm. The prototype already restores your party's health based on how much Iddhi remains at the end of a fight, so even allowing that mechanic to increase in potency as you level can go a long way.
[Roti! Get back here! You need changing!]
You've said you want to put Dual Tech attacks, in the ol' Chrono Trigger style, into the final game. How would those work?
We want to try, yep! But rather than just being given the attack for knowing some skills and then selecting the dual attack from a menu to do it, I want to try a more active-participation style. I always liked the spell combining in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, where timing mattered.
Of course it would take iteration to come up with a final design, but the basic framework I'd start with would be: having the appropriate characters in your party, either during enough battles, events, or at significant times, would increase their affinity for each other—having them contribute to enemy kills together would probably also help. Once their affinity is high enough, executing the appropriate attack with both characters simultaneously would trigger a small, "Hey, let's try this, how 'bout it?" cut-in and they'd learn the skill and do it once. After that, attacking appropriately with the two characters simultaneously would do it any time.
If that turns out to be annoying, there is the alternate method of having team attacks be boosted supers –so, once you learn the skill, you do a super with Zebei and during the superflash press the button for Ajna, and they would do the dual attack that way. Like I said, I prefer to create a prototype and iterate, rather than design on paper.
With Indivisible designed to be an RPG that rewards and encourages skill and familiarity, how do you think it'll do with fans of traditional RPGs that emphasize leveling up and messing with stats?
I prefer not to try to predict the future. I think we'll make a fun game, and the people that enjoy it will enjoy it. Indivisible will still have stats, they just won't be affected by traditional RPG means—that is, grinding is not recommended the way to overcome difficulty in the game. A lot of the RPGs I love have stats, they just don't place a huge emphasis on min/maxing. Better equipment in Secret of Mana or Legend of Legaia is better, but you don't necessarily have to care how much if you don't want to - just know that it is better.
If your idea of a good time is spending ten minutes per turn optimizing your Calculator attack in Final Fantasy Tactics, Indivisible may not be the game for you, sure...but if you enjoy a fast-paced combat system where skill, reactions, and quick thinking matter, then it totally is.
ART: ALEX AHAD
How do you go about designing characters with pop-culture references, like Naga Rider's tokusatsu look or Phoebe's warrior-princess outfit? What sort of designs have you discarded because they didn't fit with Indivisible's aesthetic?
Alex Ahad: Right now, we technically aren't throwing out any designs because we would like a large pool to choose from for the final headcount. That being said, I don't mind characters that have an inherit humor and/or clever absurdity to their concept. It makes them more fun and interesting.
[Left to right: Xena, Kamen Rider Gold, and Yan.]
Yan, who appears to have no arms, is a unique character. What was the inspiration for her?
I suppose you don't normally see characters like this represented in games that often. Plus having characters whose style and abilities are immediately visible is always fun. Obviously, Yan would be very agile and incredibly adept at doing various kinds of kicks. It's also pretty fun draw her, because of her unique shape and the fact that she is relatively simple to sketch.
Most of Indivisible's characters appear less overtly sexualized than the Skullgirls cast. What motivated that?
“Less is more” is one way to put it. We are aiming to have a larger variety of character designs and shapes, in comparison to the overall shapes of the characters found in Skullgirls. While we will still have sexy characters for sure, it will be a more diverse roster, with characters that have different types of appeal.
Is Roti wearing a diaper, or is that an eggshell? A cloud? That's actually just the fur pattern, similar to the fur pattern on adult tapirs. It just happened to look like diapers to me, so I kinda played that up a bit when designing Roti.
NERDY VALKYRIE PROFILE QUESTIONS: MIKE Z
[Spoilers follow]
In the original Valkyrie Profile, do you think Kashell and Celia had a thing going?
Mike Z: It's very heavily implied that they had feelings for each other, but to me it's one of those strong-friendships-where-nobody-says-anything-until-it's-too-late things, because it just seemed to me like they'd have made it more explicit if the characters themselves knew they were together. Llewelyn and Millia hug, etc, but those two never even hold hands. I felt really horrible for Celia, although I never actually liked her, so that might be why I think of it this way.
I imagined Kashell with Jayle, myself, after they were recruited, because they seem like they would work well. That and I looooooooved Jayle.
What do you make of the wedding dress at the beginning of the first Valkyrie Profile?
Oh, that part was really clear to me! The thread goes from Platina's death in the field of flowers, to the wedding, then that scene cross-fades to Lenneth standing in the field of flowers. So that field of flowers brought back partial memories of a very strong love for someone, but since they're sealed she can't remember who it is. She sees herself as a bride waiting expectantly in an (empty!) chapel for her groom to show up, not knowing if he will.
We're shown later that the weeping lilies are strongly associated with Lucian, a memory strong enough to break her seal, so the similar setting evoking partial memories even at the beginning makes sense.
Which path did you like best in Covenant of the Plume?
Honestly? I wasn't a fan of Covenant of the Plume, to the point where I didn't finish it. So this isn't a good question to ask me. The battle formation stuff and the choice of permanent deaths affecting the plot were neat, but it really didn't grab me the way Valkyrie Profile did. And it was the third game but wasn't about Hrist—it wasn't even really about a Valkyrie! What the heck. I didn't care about...what's his name, Wylfred? at all. Poor guy. What would you want to see in Valkyrie Profile 3: Hrist?
Hah! Plot or systems?
Plot? I'd like to see VP3: Hrist's Humongous Hibernation take place across the multiple periods she's awake, instead of focusing entirely on one period. Maybe even start from before Lenneth and Silmeria exist—Hrist is the eldest, that's gotta mean something. Show me her side of the events of the other games. Show me why she's so harsh. Show me where her disdain for mortals comes from. Weave everyone's story together. Let me wear that dope black armor! And definitely tie up some things. I wanna know why Brahms has Silmeria in that crystal, and why that's apparently a good thing. I wanna know why mortal Arngrim is present in separate events hundreds of years apart. I wanna know why Odin is such a jerk...I'd like Hrist's Hamstrung Horrorshow to provide perspective about the overarching Valkyrie Profile universe. Why is sympathy for mortals discouraged? Why do gods get to be gods? Who created the Valkyries?
Systems: Should I say I'd want battle to be more like Indivisible? Probably not, but I'd want battle to be more like Indivisible. Get rid of attacks giving me more AP for longer combos like in VP2 ("Get a load of get a load of get a load of this!"), and give me some set rules so there is a box within which players need to experiment and optimize. But make it less strictly turn-based, like Indivisible (sorry), and allow me to combo after PWS's—Freya can sort of do that in VP1. Leave me able to position my team around enemies, that was really fun. Don't require me to over-attack enemies, eww. And I actually liked the Charge Turn mechanic from VP1 better than the "do anything whenever" from VP2, but I would really like to see mages be differentiated instead of all having the same spells.
Er. So y'know, I haven't given it much thought.
Maybe there is a chance after SO5.
