Fate/Grand Order Interview – Nasu Kinoko Discusses the End of FGO, What Comes After (4/4)

4gamer has published an interview with Type Moon writer Nasu Kinoko regarding Fate/Grand Order, conducted by 4gamer writer and FGO official radio show MC Mafia Kajita.

マフィア梶田が切り込む「Fate/Grand Order」。奈須きのこが追求する理想と，やがて迎える終焉のカタルシス #FGO https://t.co/SmXvB9Dpgs pic.twitter.com/SQZ3RlGUdJ

— 4Gamer (@4GamerNews) 2018年12月28日

Part 3 of this interview is available here

Nasu says that half of his time is now spent on FGO. While older Type-Moon fans say that FGO is shallow, it only looks this way initially as a result of them widening the gate so that more people can enjoy the game. He says that the core of what they are doing has remained unchanged, and that they are aiming for a game where players who stick with it will find that it is the same old Type-Moon, and hopes that they will stay till the end. While it is different from older Type-Moon works which started off aiming entirely at core audiences, it is fundamentally the same.

Kajita next points out how in some cases, smartphone games reach a limit to how much they can be patched, and end up releasing an entirely new game client, and asks how this applies to FGO. Nasu says that this is being handled by Takeuchi, and that until the current FGO ends, the game client will remain as it is, as they are working on the feeling that the technical limits will come around the same time as them finishing doing everything they want to in FGO. Kajita says that he doesn’t think FGO could end entirely, and Nasu says that they do want to make something entirely new with a new system built from scratch, and that he is already thinking of what this will be.

Kajita asks if FGO will really end with part 2, and Nasu says that going by the plot he wrote, it is to end with part 2, and that he intends to do everything he can and wants to before it ends. What he is afraid of is players saying that they want to see what happens next- To which Kajita says that he is sure that they will- And Nasu says that would result in FGO depicting what happens “after the end” which is difficult but not impossible. He does say however that this would be like seeing the best ending in Undertale, and then heading towards the worst ending of your own volition. Kajita points out how ending the game with part 2 would leave players with a huge sense of loss, and Nasu says that this is what is what he is aiming for; He wants everyone to feel what he felt when he cleared Final Fantasy IV. He says that he has already communicated everything regarding part 2’s final chapter’s gimmick, plot and ending to the development team and writers, and has obtained their agreement on it, and Aniplex is also on board, with Aniplex CEO Iwakami Atsuhiro having agreed on Type-Moon taking the lead when the project first started. Nasu says that he wants to make a game that will fill players with both a sense of loss and pride, and that it would be wonderful if he could make “something after” in a great form that nobody expects.

Nasu is next asked about recent games he has played, and he says that while he has been too busy to play many games, he has managed to get some time off on recent holidays, and that he played Undertale recently. He says that Undertale is a game that makes player remember something they have forgotten, that has both a “pure heart that believes in games” and a “jaded mind that knows about the limits of games”, and says that it is basically “Dangaronpa 1-3 all in one”, Danganronpa being the first playthrough, Super Danganronpa 2 being the pacifist route, and New Danganronpa V3 being the genocide route. Nasu says that playing unique games are a good reference point, which result in new ideas. He has also purchased Marvel’s Spider-Man, but has not yet gotten a chance to play it. Nasu also makes sure to watch one movie a week, and reads novels while in transit.

Kajita next asks Nasu about his favourite movie of all time, and Nasu is unable to choose and comes up with three: Big Fish (2003), Adolescence of Utena (1999), and Gattaca (1997). He says that Gattaca’s depiction of in-valids aspiring and succeeding in the end is encouraging, and that Big Fish at first seems sad, but ends with the viewer satisfied that the father had a happy life, and that he simply likes it as a creator’s stance. When asked about recent movies that he liked, Nasu mentions Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, saying that it was clever how they switched the theme from a board game to a video game, and that he also liked Jack Black in it.

Nasu says that inspiration attained from movies is also of use in game development, and says that for example when asked about what the visuals should be like for something, he might answer “something like the final battle from Man of Steel”, and that movies are a perfect reference material for visuals.

Kajita next asks if he has anything he wants to say to players, and Nasu says that he would like to turn FGO into a game that everyone is satisfied with, and improving battles is part of that. He understands the requests for an option to skip noble phantasm animations, but wants to resolve this by making noble phantasms that players do not want to skip to begin with, such as combination noble phantasms.

Nasu says that he has proposed combination noble phantasms as a way to make battles more interesting both gameplay and visual-wise multiple times. Noble phantasms have individual compatibilities, and if it were made so that players would think of how to link them together, this would result in more game-like trial and error. He uses Super Robot Wars’ simultaneous attacks and combination attacks as an example of what they would aim for, and says that ideally players would be able to derive great joy from seeing combination noble phantasms deal massive damage, and that of course these would have to be speedy so as to not ruin the game’s tempo.

Finally, Nasu says that he will continue working with Delight Works to help FGO grow. He says that while humans cannot fly, creators either look for a way to achieve flight through other means, or do absolutely everything that they can at the current point, and that with FGO they are the latter, but he has not yet given up on reforming the game.