Tales of Vesperia
Hideo Baba: I think that’s probably one part of it, but I think a bigger issue is that a lot of Western games take an open world and sandbox approach. Japanese people take that in one of two ways.
The first is to react the same as Western gamers, and be in awe of being able to do anything and go anywhere. But a lot of Japanese people think, ‘Oh God, I have to do that much?’ I think a lot of Japanese gamers feel that way, and that’s likely the bigger problem.
SPOnG: You released Tales of Graces F for the PS3 and that’s coming out in Europe next year. How much of the elements you added and changed was based on feedback from fans?
Hideo Baba: We heard two major voices from the release of Tales of Graces for the Wii. One feedback was that they wanted to see an after-story - players were curious to know what happened to Sophie and Asbel after the main adventure ended. The other reaction was that people really wanted to play it on the PlayStation 3 [laughs]! So we spent a lot of time serving both comments there.
Tales of Xillia
Hideo Baba: A big aspect of deciding which platform to develop for depends on what console the fans actually want to play on, as well as the platform’s characteristics. The Tales series is an RPG, so a lot of RPG fans want to sit down and relax to really get into the feel of a game.
That experience largely comes from a home console. So in that sense - and taking into account that Xillia was a great hit in Japan - while I can’t promise anything, I’m thinking of doing another Tales game on a PlayStation console.
SPOnG: What your feelings are about the performance of the original Tales of Graces on the Wii? How do you feel the fans and particularly the Wii audience took to it?
Hideo Baba: I think Tales of Graces on Wii was a success. The audiences were happy with it judging by the purchaser questionnaires. But a big part of the feedback from those questionnaires was that, along with being very happy, they said they wanted to adventure with Sophie more, or they wanted to play it again on PS3. Those kinds of voices were strong, so we made Tales of Graces F. But if I was to compare Graces on the Wii and Graces F on PS3, I’d think the Tales series fits the PlayStation platform more.
Tales of Vesperia
Hideo Baba: [Chuckles] Probably the character in itself is very cute, and the appeal of being a Vocaloid is a pretty new concept. Especially putting a character on a Vocaloid is seen as a new thing to do by companies. In some ways too, Hatsune Miku is seen as a virtual idol - not real life, but a virtual one - and so a lot of men see her as cute and hot. That’s one reason why it’s spreading.
SPOnG: Production IG usually creates animations for the Tales series. Why did they not end up working on Xillia?
Hideo Baba: Well, it’s not that we got in a fight with Production IG or anything [laughs]! Since Xillia is the 15th Anniversary title, we wanted to put a lot of emphasis on a new art direction. We wanted to carry that across to the title animations too, which is why we went for another studio this time around.
In fact, the studio we use is called Ufotable, and I discovered them whilst seeing their work on Gods Eater. The Gods Eater team is situated right next door to the Tales team, you see, and I ended up looking at a draft storyboard. I was really surprised by the completeness and perfection in Ufotable’s work. So I wanted to work with them and make a new wave of animation style in Xillia.
Tales of Xillia
Hideo Baba: I don’t choose the studios I work with by name value alone. Of course, Production IG is a very good and famous company, not to suggest otherwise [laughs]! But when I want to make my visuals, I want to be able to completely visualise it in my head or on paper, and I knew that after seeing Ufotable’s work that it was the best company to turn to for Xillia.
For an example of their work... have you seen Xillia’s opening movie? There’s a scene where the camera goes around in circles - all of that is hand-drawn. No CG whatsoever. Taking that into account, you can get an idea of just how good they are. Ufotable is really making a name right now for being one of the top animation creators out there.
SPOnG: Does Ufotable have their own animations and stuff?
Hideo Baba: There’s one film called Kara no Kyoukai, and an anime series that’s on air right now called Fate/Zero. Fate is a very famous series. If you have a chance to see any of them, you can see that the quality is not something you usually see in a 24-episode story series. It’s very high quality and what they put in is unimaginable.
Tales of Xillia
Hideo Baba: I’m asked this question often, and every time I can’t seem to find an answer. You know, every single title I’ve worked on has my love poured into it. I don’t have a child of my own, but I like to feel like each of the Tales games are my children in some way. Of course, there are memories of the good times, and the hardships, throughout development, but I simply can’t pick one game.
SPOnG: Every family has a favourite child though!
Hideo Baba: [Laughs] Okay, okay! Hmm... It’s very difficult to pick a title, but if we’re talking characters, then Leon Magnus in Tales of Destiny stands out for me. He’s not actually the main character in that game, but his way of living, his life, the depiction of it... it means a lot to me.
The character is actually quite young, but he throws his life in order to protect the one he loves. That’s not something that everyone can do. So his way of living, and his philosophy on how he wants to live, created a strong impact on the audience who played Destiny and people that were in the same age range. So in that sense it’s even more memorable for me.
SPOnG: Thank you very much for your time!
Hideo Baba: Thank you!