Xbox Community Network ci ha fornito una intervista con Masanori Takeuchi di From Software, il produttore di Ninja Blade, nella quale viene spiegata la storia del gioco ed alcune delle caratteristiche del titolo. Ve la proponiamo di seguito, in inglese.

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First up, can we talk about From Software and your history of ninja games? It’s quite an impressive one, isn't it?

Masanori Takeuchi: From Software entered the world of consumer video game development along with the launch of the original PlayStation, with a completely real-time 3D RPG title called King’s Field. With its unique technology, King’s Field had a strong impact on the golden age of turn-based JRPGs, and it received enthusiastic support from users. After its release, we went on to release the mecha action game Armored Core, allowing users to choose from hundreds of millions of customizations, and putting From Software on the map as a publisher and a developer.

Since then, we’ve been actively releasing titles for all the various platforms (PS2, GC, DS, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, and PC), and we are continuously honing our development skills and technological flexibility. In 2003 we acquired the sales rights to the Tenchu ninja stealth games, and we’ve been continuing the development of the series.

Tenchu is a series of stealth action games, starting on the original PlayStation, which provide players with a realistic depiction of ninjas. Acquire, the developer of the original Tenchu title, is still hard at work developing the latest titles in the series. From Software has had a long partnership with Acquire, and we look forward to making many wonderful ninja games with them in the future. Over 3.5 million copies of the games in the Tenchu series have been sold worldwide.

Now we’ve developed Ninja Blade, a new ninja game that utilizes the know-how we’ve acquired through our work with the Tenchu series, while taking a totally different approach to gameplay.

 The game looks gorgeous – especially the cut scenes. Were graphics a high priority for you? What in particular are you proud of?

Masanori Takeuchi: From the start, Ninja Blade was planned to take advantage of the Xbox 360’s powerful graphics processing capability. For that reason, we’ve really been throwing a lot of our energy into graphic production for this project.

In particular, we put tremendous effort into the “Quick-Time Event” scenes. We went to a lot of trouble to make thrilling graphics on the level of Hollywood action films, in which ninjas fight against huge enemies and do everything they do with flawless style.

 Let’s talk about the story. Tell us a bit about Ken Ogawa. What sort of writing, films, etc. influenced the storyline?

Masanori Takeuchi: For the story, we tried to express ideas and feelings that we felt had not been satisfactorily treated in ninja games before Ninja Blade. Namely, the fact that many games depict ninjas as killing machines, rather than human beings. In Ninja Blade we feel realism to be extremely important, and we considered the proper depiction of the human element to be equally essential in the telling of the story. We first made the character of Kanbé with that in mind. As Ken’s father, he is a ninja master, a man who knows the art of the ninja inside and out. On the other hand, Ken is inexperienced as a ninja, and we learn about Kanbé’s way of life as a master ninja through the lens of that inexperience. Japan has no shortage of ninja novels and comics, and I feel that they’ve probably had a strong influence on our story.

 Tell us a bit about Ninja Blade's setting. You've talked about 'Modern Realism' with the game's locations being modeled on real buildings! How does that affect the style of the game?

Masanori Takeuchi: In this game, mysterious parasites that cause any living creatures to turn into bloodthirsty monsters are spreading throughout the world, and the goal of the game is to stop this. Ken and Kanbé are fighting to prevent the parasites from spreading.

We set the game in the modern era so that the ninjas could be fighting not only samurai and enemy ninja clans, but all sorts of different adversaries. We decided that establishing a modern setting would allow us to have a dynamic game that takes advantage of 3D space more than any ninja game before it, complete with battles atop towering skyscrapers. I’m confident that we succeeded in that goal.

 As part of that, you chose to set the game in modern times. What influenced your decision there and what sort of difference does it make?

Masanori Takeuchi: I touched on this a bit in my answer to the last question, but for us the most important thing was creating a strong sense of realism for the player. The Tenchu games are set in medieval Japan, which is an era very far away from our own. It occurred to us that making the setting modern would let players relate more to the time period and give them a greater sense of realism, which is why we decided to do so.

 You've mentioned that the game has adaptive difficulty. How does that work? Will it still be tough enough for people who want more of a challenge?

Masanori Takeuchi: The game’s adaptive difficulty feature is aimed at players who have trouble beating the game even after many tries. We adopted this feature based on very opinionated feedback with regards to a well-known Tecmo ninja game. In that feedback, a large number of players felt that the game’s difficulty level was too high. For this project, we’ve performed countless playtests to ensure that the game will be fun while maintaining challenging and rewarding gameplay. I recommend the “Hard” difficulty setting for fans who want to play through the game again at a higher difficulty after beating it once.

 The game seems to contain some fairly impressive weapons. Is there a set of weapons in the game you find the most exciting?

Masanori Takeuchi: There are three categories of weapons in Ninja Blade: the Oni-Slayer Blade, the Twin Falcon Knives, and the Stonerender Sword. Each of them has its own traits that set it apart, and you’re free to choose which one you want to use. I want players to use this freedom to discover the combat style that suits them best. Players can find weapons, and then combos, that fit their own playing style. Ultimately, players will be able to perform high-level techniques, using combos that link together attacks in real-time from not just a single weapon, but multiple different weapons.

 Let's talk about enemies as well. Apparently there are a lot of bosses and sub-bosses to fight... and you can fight on the side of buildings!

Masanori Takeuchi: Enemies come in many forms, and are all formidable foes whose defeat will require a mastery of your three types of weapons, combos, and ninjutsu. However, you don’t have to be in the dark about each enemy’s characteristics and weaknesses. You can use your “Ninja Vision” ability to understand the weaknesses of your enemies. In particular, you’ll find yourself wanting to make the most use of this while fighting against bosses. As for battles fought while falling down the side of buildings, this is the sort of exciting situation you’d never find in other ninja games. I hope players will enjoy fighting the various enemies that populate Ninja Blade’s world.

 Exciting stuff! What about the mechanics, that seems to be a big focus. Tell us about the Ninja Vision and the Todome.

Masanori Takeuchi: For Ninja Vision, we incorporated the ninja ability to quickly analyze various aspects of the world into the game system. Using Ninja Vision will make it possible for players to know their enemies’ weaknesses, get hints to solve various puzzles in levels, and more. Also, while using Ninja Vision, players will see game events go by in slow motion, much in the way professional sports players do when they’re “in the zone.” Players will find this useful when fighting bosses, and it should help them in beating levels.

Of course, there’s a limit to how much players can use Ninja Vision. If a ninja uses it too much, his eyes will get tired, making objects on the screen harder to see. While this is happening, Ninja Vision will of course be unusable, and players may find themselves getting into unexpected trouble due to things being hard to see. Players have to be prudent in deciding when to use the ability.

The “Todome Blow” is a special finishing move that players can perform on bosses after weakening them a considerable amount. This is to give players a strong feeling of catharsis that they won’t find in other games when they beat strong bosses. Players must be careful, though, not to let weakened bosses recover. I encourage players to muster up their courage and strike a Todome Blow as soon as they can!

 And there are quick-time events as well, right? How have you implemented that and what do you feel it adds to the game?

Masanori Takeuchi: The quick-time events in Ninja Blade are extremely distinctive. They’re longer and cooler than in any other game, and there are more of them. Instead of feeling simply like they’re watching a movie, players may experience the illusion that they’ve become the protagonist of a movie. These aren’t standard cinematic scenes in which all you can do is passively watch.

 Time for a bit of partisanship – how do you feel Ninja Blade compares to older ninja action games? Where does it fit in the action game landscape?

Masanori Takeuchi: I would say that Ninja Blade has greater realism and is more cinematic than other ninja games. Also, more importantly, other ninja games were designed for older game platforms, or are simply upgrades of games on older platforms. In contrast, Ninja Blade is a game that could only happen on a cutting-edge game console.

 Is there any possibility of Ninja Blade getting DLC on Xbox LIVE in the future? Is that something you'd ever consider doing?

Masanori Takeuchi: We’re currently considering the possibility. We might do it if there’s enough demand.

 Speaking of downloads, will there be a demo on Xbox LIVE? What sort of content can we expect in it?

Masanori Takeuchi: The demo will be available from Monday, March 9. It contains roughly 15 to 20 minutes of content, and lets players get an idea of standard combat as well as half of the first boss battle. I feel that players who play this demo will get a good idea of just how great Ninja Blade is.

 Thanks for your time!